Monthly Archives: June 2014

Are you sure its not Dove Island?

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So, I have had an eventful weekend. So far, on Friday I went to school! It was so exciting to get out of our training classroom and actually put our learning to use. We conducted reading assessments as well as interviewed teachers, observed classrooms and I got to check out the library and speak with the honorary librarian there. It was a great experience to see first hand the differences between an American Elementary school and a Lucian primary school. There are no hallways, no cafeteria and lunch is an hour of freedom with very little supervision. The children are very respectful to the teachers and they wear very cute uniforms at all schools. The school I went to is currently becoming a “child friendly school” which means they are improving children’s health, promoting student empowerment, etc. One projects that is just taking off is student council. In the Eastern Caribbean, children are not encouraged to speak or share what they think or feel. There is a great expectation to quietly obey. By introducing student council, students are aloud a chance to share ideas and problems they may have. Its amazing how much one program can change.

Saturday was a packed day. I washed my clothes, ironed all my clothes for the week, cleaned, went to the market and around Castries with my host mother (the market was soo packed and had really good prices. Much more chaotic than farmer’s markets I used to go to. I got some super fresh bread with butter, it was so delicious. My host mom is going to make lots of juice so we got many different kinds of fruits, guava, passion fruit, 4 kinds of mango, soursok, love apples, etc.) When we were fed and ready, we made our way to Pigeon Island! Its a park now that you can explore and there are two peaks on the island. We were able to climb both and I was very tired after. But the view was just incredible. I also did not see a single pigeon but doves were everywhere! I also saw some little wild hermit crabs! They were so sweet but when you tried to hold them, they pinched you! The fort on the island was build by the English to defend from the French. 14 times, they went back and forth with controlling the island so that fort was used often. Then the moment I was waiting for. I got to go swimming! The water was so warm and refreshing and clear. I will be doing that again soon! Also, I learned today that if you call someone “fresh” here, its saying they are stuck-up. America is the opposite, fresh means your cool (like the Fresh Prince of Bel Air). When fish are very fishing smelling, they say it smells fresh…you can imagine the confusion before I figured this out 😊

Parties in the Streets!

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This weekend was VERY busy. Starting with Friday night, my host mom took me and some other trainees to a Street Party in Gros Islet! In the Caribbean, people go out late, like around 10 or 11pm and then dance and party till the early morning. We had to get back sooner than that but wow, it was fun. Yummy food, very loud music – all great songs to dance to – and quite a few tourists who came to join the fun too. They were barely dressed, drunk and provided much of the entertainment.The music was a mix of current American jams and their local music, calypso and soca.  They even played the Macarena and, to my surprise, the Caribbean people do not know how to dance the Macarena! I was under the impression that it was an international dance 🙂 But I will be sure to change that before I leave.

On Saturday, I had a little training and free time so we explored around the mall at Rodney Bay and also went to the beach! We are on the Caribbean Sea side and wow, the water the was warm and blue. I still regret not bringing my swimsuit! I know we will be back soon. Our host mom told us about how the hotels along the beach are trying to make parts of the beach private for their guests only but St Lucia laws say that the beach fronts belong to everyone. One thing I love about Lucian people is that they fight for what they want, they will fight to keep their rights to the beach. If they are being sold fruit that is too ripe, they will not pay full price or will ask for fresh fruit. If their internet goes down for 2 days, they will not pay for those two days when their bill comes. Its seems silly to point out but when I think about living in America, how many times did I say “oh well, I won’t worry about it.” I feel like I give in too easily but maybe that’s just me. 🙂 After the beach, I got to help in the garden! We planted kale, Chinese broccoli, ginger, green onions, parsley, etc. I also helped trim the sugar cane plants and got to use a cutlass, aka machete! It was awesome, but I kept getting bit by the ants. Apparently, very kind of ant here bites, even the very small ones. The pain goes away after a few minutes. To end the night, I made homemade marinara sauce with ground chicken and pasta for dinner. It went over really well, I was nervous…

Yesterday was awesome because I was able to go to church!! There is a branch of the LDS Church in Castries and I was able to attend. There were about 60-70 people there which was really amazing with 3 sets of elder missionaries! There are 3 more sets of missionaries down in the south where another meetinghouse is on St Lucia, including a set of Sister Missionaries. I wish they were up here, I would love to go out with them. Besides the missionaries, I stood out pretty well and they all first assumed that I was just visiting from a cruise ship or resort. But word spread fast and they soon were asking how long I was going to be here. Going to church in Castries was a very different experience. I have been to church in other countries before but this was very different. They love to share and comment so many would do so..at the same time. There was not very much discussion on the lessons, they talked about parenting for the majority of the time. It was a great experience to hear about their opinions and to hear their worries about the youth. They emphasized the importance of having your children earn instead of giving them whatever they want. They also spoke about how children are not as afraid of being beat for disobedience and that is why there is so much disrespect. Corporal Punishment is very common here and practiced often. The members were very welcoming and kind and I look forward to going again next week. When I got home, we ate lunch and then went to a fundraiser for a local church. One of our peer trainee’s parents were coordinating it so we went to see what a Lucian Concert is like. It started an hour late and was 5 hours long! There were some amazing singing and traditional dancing. There were a lot of skits, standup comedy and again, more food 🙂 

I thought I should share some Kreyol with you all since I am in the process of absorbing as much as I can. To say hello – Bozu (say it like you would in French, just a little different – which is what Kreyol mostly is, broken French) What’s up is  Saka Fete, and to answer in a cool way, you can say Mway La (i’m hangin) Lastly, I kept hearing about a green fig salad which is very traditional and often has salted fish in it…still can’t eat that one, but I finally figured out why I don’t see any figs around when they make it. Fig is banana in Kreyol. They have tons of bananas here. Lots of Ah ha moments here. Mway Ka Ale, Bonswa! (I’m going now, Bye!)