Jounen Kweyol

Look how Lucian I am! Yes, I was able to dress in the traditional wear of St Lucia for the big celebration of their culture and heritage, Jounen Kweyol. Our school had a wonderful time celebrating and my co-teachers pulled quite a trick on me. A few weeks back, on of my co-teachers asked to borrow on of my skirts to take to her seamstress for the pattern. She said she liked it so much and wanted to have one made for her. I happily handed it over. When it was finally returned to me, inside the bag was this beautiful kweyol skirt made with madwas (the name of the fabric seen above). I was in such shock, I had no idea the teachers had this skirt made for me! It was so thoughtful since that night before, I was sitting and wondering what in the world was I going to wear to school for Jounen Kweyol. I love it so much, I also wore it to church the following Sunday!

Some of the fun activities the school did were bamboo bursting, which replicates a cannon using a big piece of bamboo, kerosene, and of course fire. With the open end of the bamboo pointed away, there is a hole at the closed end that you pour in the kerosene. Then you light it, putting it out after, to heat it up and then you blow out the smoke to create the pressure in the barrel and then hit it with more fire in the hole and this creates the explosion and very loud boom sound that the kids love and pretend to be afraid of like these girl, and boy in the photo below. You can imagine why people lose their eyebrows often when doing bamboo bursting.

  

The little cars are called caboways. The boys got to bring these for racing and judging and boy, they took every opportunity to “repair” their caboways, even when there was nothing wrong. They would turn them over and take off a few wheels just to put them back on again. They take their racing very seriously. If you look at the top of the pushing stick, they have a device that steers the car with strings attached to the wheels.

There was lots of food of course. There was coco tea with dumplings, coconut cake, golden apple jam, salted pig tail bouillon (I do not recommend pig tail…its got a very unique taste) saltfish and smoked herring and lots of breadfruit. They had a presentation of their culture and I helped with the power point and videos which was a fun way to be included since I was learning along with the kids. They spoke in Kweyol all day and I understood quite a bit of it. There were exhibitions of traditional kweyol tools and items like pots, farming tools, and medicinal plants since everyone uses the bush to cure everything! The last activity of the day was a presentation from every grade on the stage. Many did little dances and songs while the upper grades did skits of how St Lucians used to live. The picture below is some of the girls demonstrating how the ladies would go to the river to wash their clothes. Overall, it was great to see the school embracing their culture and to see the kids all dressed up and excited.

Return to the Mangroves!

     

Here are some pictures of our trip to the Mangroves.

Library Project Begins

I am happy to announce that our library plan has begun. The school I teach at has a library that needs some TLC so I have gathered the teachers together to help. We are sorting through junk that has been stored in that room for way too long. We are also sorting through the books. The books they have are dated, many from the 60’s and are damaged beyond repair. Many are also donations which sadly means that they were books no one wanted and under the belief that every book is valuable, were given to schools in the Caribbean. There are adult fiction books which I quickly gave away. I found a whole book series for Canadian children to learn about their country. Why do we have Canadian education books?? We have random study guides for books that we never owned that were just mindlessly donated and have just been sitting on dusty, spider covered shelves. There are too many books about snow and polar bears…probably more from Canada. It’s a big task but I have shared with my fellow teachers the questions that must be asked in order to determine what books are worth keeping. Is the content relevant? Is it age appropriate? Is the book in good condition or fixable? I was very grateful for their time and help today after school and we got quite a bit of work done. To show my appreciation, I made a pan of brownies for those who helped. They don’t eat brownies here, nor are their desserts very sweet or rich. Many teachers only ate half and saved the rest of their brownie for later…I think I could have eaten 3 of them. They are requesting I make cheesecake for next time. I am worried my little oven won’t be able to handle that. I am struggling trying to keep the temperature steady so that things cook properly. Anyway, after we clear out the library and sort the books, we will clean EVERYTHING, including the books we are keeping and then organize them into grade levels. I am so excited for the library to be used and for students to be able to have books to read and take home.

I forgot to mention that I have recently become the new piano player from my church in Vieux Fort…yes, it’s a very scary job but I know it will force me to improve my skills in music. I wish I had the means to practice during the week. The school has a keyboard but no power cord for it…

The picture below is passion fruit! It is my favorite fruit to make juice with. I made some on recently, it is so delicious and easy to make. You only use the “frog eggs” in the middle. The juice is around each black seed and after scooping out the middles of many passion fruits, you blend it up and then strain it, adding water throughout. Then you add sugar and you are done. I don’t put as much sugar as my neighbors but it still tastes very nice.

La Marguerite

This week, our school celebrated the flower festival La Marguerite. Its a wonderful tradition where people dress up, make lots of yummy food and sing songs while dancing in parades and in communities. In honor of celebrating a patron saint of the island, people dress like a royal party, with a king and queen, princes and princesses, police, nurses, cooks, priests, and even farmers. They line up in order and march in a large circle, singing traditional songs with African instruments. It was so fun to see my students dressing up and participating in the parade on Wednesday! I got to tag along and though it was hot and the kids had to stand in the sun for a long time, I think they had a good time too. I did get a pretty bad sunburn which cause quite a commotion when I returned to the school. “Miss, why are you so red?? Are you sick? The SUN did this to you??!!!” They then asked me why white people even go outside in the sun…I told them that we like to work on our tans. Mine is coming along nicely 🙂

On Friday, the school had their own La Marguerite parade in the courtyard with all the students. They all dressed in their finest, in blues, purples and white. I was able to see  most of it, but I also was having a site visit from Peace Corps. My supervisor came to see how I am doing and to meet with my principal and counterpart teachers. It was a great visit and a boost of confidence knowing that I am on track and have the support of the school staff. After our meetings, we were given a bowl of Caribbean bouillon, a one pot of fish or other meats, ground provisions, veggies and broth made in clay pots over a wood fire. I was lucky to eat mine in a  traditional calabash shell that was dried and rubbed with turmeric. Calabash was used to make many eating utensils and plates. This whole month is Kweyol Heritage month and next week will have even more celebration on Jounen Kweyol  on the 24th. I can’t wait for more Kweyol food!

I received permission to post pictures of my students from my principal. So here are some pictures of La Marguerite and my yummy lunch.

Teacher’s Appreciation Day

On Friday, St Lucia celebrated Teacher’s Appreciation Day! There was an assembly before dismissal, which was a noon since the teacher’s needed a half day to celebrate all the appreciation they received. At the assembly, students read poems and sang songs to show their gratitude and then each teacher was called up one at a time and students gave little cards, gifts and hugs. Although the students didn’t have many supplies, they did a great job making cards and little notes for their teachers. They used lined paper from their notebooks and were very creative in their folding. There are a few bushes of flowers on the school grounds…I should say there were bushes with flowers since they all got picked for teachers as well. A few teachers even got a little chocolate – I was one of them! I was so surprised to receive so many notes and flowers and chocolate. Even thought I am not one of their main teachers, it was so sweet of my students to think of me. I think one too many of the upper grade boy students came up for a hug though.  Too much appreciation from them 🙂 Many of my notes simply said I love you miss. It was so nice! Then the teachers all went out to lunch together at a restaurant by the beach. I am so glad I went, it was a much needed bonding moment. We walked along the beach and took pictures and had a lot of fun “cracking jokes” as my principal described it. The teachers also agreed to take me along on their next fishing trip! They are going to teach me how to fish without a rod. I will probably be terrible at it. They mentioned some other fun adventures too. One thing I really love about working at my school is working with this group of teachers. They are very welcoming and love having a good time…a really good time 🙂

What to do with a Pumpkin?

My wonderful host grandfather who is always working hard gardening and tending to the property I live on recently gave me a pumpkin he grew! I was puzzled on what to do with a pumpkin since its not on my list of favorite vegetables. I have quickly  figured out that Halloween is not accepted or tolerated in the Caribbean. This was learned when I asked if they celebrated Halloween. With shock and horror, they quickly change the subject since to them, its a day of black magic and voodoo, which is alive and well in the Caribbean. So I couldn’t really carve my pumpkin for the end of the month, even if I really want to. Could you imagine people walking by my balcony and seeing my carved jack-o-lantern and telling the entire community that their Peace Corps Volunteer is involved with black magic and celebrates Halloween!! Big no-no.

So I did the next best thing. I roasted my little pumpkin and made soup! And it was delicious! I added carrots, onions, apples, and potatoes and blended it all together with some chicken stock. I added cream and I ate two bowls of it! I really tastes like Fall which I just remembered is happening back in Wisconsin. You forget when you live in an eternal summer. I have stored some of this soup in a container for my dear host grandfather. The next time I see him, I will be share it with him. Halloween crisis averted.

New Morning Routine

In an effort to become Lucianized, I wake up at 6am and wait at the main road a few times a week. For those who have to drive to the store to get their bread, in St Lucia, the bread comes to you daily. If you wait by the road in time a white, passenger van with bags of bread decorating the dashboard passes by and you can buy bread for $2.00 EC, around $0.80 U.S. You just have to not over sleep which is a common occurrence for me. But the bread van has a very unique horn that you can’t miss as it makes its way up the road. I now have perfected the timing of when I need to get out of bed and when I have to leave my house by listening to the horn that goes off every minute or so.  I have also become friends with the “bread man” who likes to ask me a questions everyday about my new Lucian life or exchange some witty banter which is hard when you have just rolled out of bed. I don’t even try to look decent. He recently has been saving bread for me that he knows I prefer which is often sold out before he gets to my house. Its nice to have these connections.

Now, after getting my daily bread, I am setting a goal to walk in the mornings which is the only sane time to walk since during the day is so hot and humid. It very peaceful and quiet to walk so early in the morning and by the time I am done, I can feel the heat rising as the sun gets brighter. I can literally feel the humidity coming and I quickly run home to my fan and cool shower. I will soon add another activity to my morning routine. My kind host grandfather who cares for the property I live on has just put some garden beds in my front lawn for me to use for my own personal kitchen garden. I am so excited to start growing my own food. With the rich, volcanic soil and constant rain and shine, you can imagine gardens flourish here. Pictures to come soon!

Field Trip to the Mangroves

Today, Grades 3 and 4 at my school got to go to the Mangroves reserve in Vieux Fort for a fun little outing. And I was so excited to be invited to come along. For those who haven’t watched National Geographic or do not live anywhere that would have mangroves, they are the trees with the long roots that grow over brackish water (salt and fresh water mixed together) at the mouths of rivers leading into the ocean. They help save the island from erosion and also protect fish and other animals. But what I didn’t know is that St Lucians make their charcoal from mangrove trees! They now have an agreement about how trees are to be cut and how often so that they can preserve their island from being eaten by the sea. Now, what was disappointing was the miscommunication from the staff from the mangrove preserve and our school. They did not inform our school that students need to wear casual clothes since the tour through the mangroves is, as you can imagine, very dirty and muddy. Since they all came in their uniforms, we were not able to explore or really participate in the field trip. I was really disappointed and I felt so bad for the kids who just had to sit and listen to the information. They said we can come back again, not sure if we will. I might have to go and explore on my own. I did see them making charcoal using pits in the ground and burning the mangrove wood under dirt mounds. There were holes in the dirt that allowed smoke to exit and that was the highlight of the field trip…smoking dirt 🙂

American Pizza!

St Lucia celebrated their Thanksgiving this past Monday so for my day off from school, I had two of my 6th grade students over at my house to make lunch. When I asked them what they wanted to make, they instantly said pizza. They were so kind as to also write up a shopping list of what I needed to get for our little lunch party. Caribbean pizza of course is very different than what I am used to. The list included frozen pizza crust, cheese, ketchup and hotdogs. Sometimes they throw some corn on it too. Well…I wanted to share some of my “culture” and I also didn’t want ketchup and hotdogs so I splurged on ingredients to make American pizza. The girls came over that morning and we started by making the dough. I took this opportunity to teach them about yeast and they were a little weirded out when I explained how its alive. They did not like to get their hands sticky with dough so they watched for the kneading part. We had the dough rising soon and I let them have the fun job of grating all the cheese. They were very good kitchen assistants and soon we had a great looking pizza. They were so excited, they kept saying how it looked like the pizza on tv…they also kept saying the “pizza pizza” jingle from Little Caesar’s comercials. We had some leftover ingredients so we also got to make some calzones. They just kept calling these dal – the stuffed bread from India with lentils and spices inside which they eat often here. When I thought we were all done cooking and ready to set the table, one of my students suddenly pulled out a container of fish pieces and told me that she brought it for lunch too. She had cleaned the fish that morning by herself and seasoned it for us. And she is 10 years old…so we fried up her fish and enjoyed it with our pizza. There was enough for both girls to take home some slices to their families. You can imagine how many students on Tuesday all wanted me to make them pizza. Word spreads fast in this school.