Basil Heaven

In an effort to manage my out of control basil bushes, I decided to make some pesto! I would have loved to have a food processor but my little blender did a good job too. Making the pesto was an investment since almost everything I needed is imported and expensive (came to a total of 70ECD for everything but the basil and garlic…at least those were local, thank goodness) but it was worth it. I used about a fourth of my basil to make that huge bowl of delicious pesto. I’m sure you can guess what I had for lunch afterwards. Now I am going to try to get some of my neighbors to eat it! Sometimes they are not very comfortable with trying new things. I need another idea on what to do with the other three-fourths of my monstrous basil before it goes to seed. Also, this week, I will be sure to get some pictures of me at my school events to post.

  

Perfect Sweater Weather

Well…I must confess. I wore a sweater today. For the past two weeks it has been very windy with low humidity, which has been wonderful! I love it, it feels like May. Still warm in the afternoon but the nights and mornings are cool. This morning was rainy and yes, I was too cold. So I wore a sweater to school. Honestly, I think it was 75 degrees. I can’t believe I was cold today…

The first two weeks of school have been great. I am getting lots done now and I feel much better about the school and my assignment. I now have 4 intervention groups, I co-teach in 2 of my classes and I have put together a plan for an electronic school newsletter in an effort to improve communication with parents. It has some big issues such as parents having internet access but the staff and I feel like it’s worth a try. I was able to meet with the PTA president and she is happy with the idea too. We are co-planning some fun activities to get involved at the school as well which would be a great step in building academic support at home. The library is slowly starting to get cleaned and organized and our next step will be to paint. I got a great tip about some treatment for wood and shelving that stops termites so that may be a solution for our infestation. I just want the books to be safe.

The coming week will be pack with activities. We have a national choir concert that our school is participating in, a sponsored fun walk, Nobel Laureate week, and a road race where the students will be racing up the entire road of my community. I am “running” a water station and I’m glad since my community is on a mountain and I have trouble just walking up that road sometimes. It’s sports term so there are lots of events that are on the calendar. I hope I can keep getting work done, the students are very excited about sports. Very excited.

Breaks are never long enough…

For the two weeks of Christmas, I was so blessed to have my friend Jaclynn visiting me. We had a wonderful time walking around in my community and school, meeting many of my children, going up North to Castries, enjoying the beach and just spending time together. Lots of movies and yummy food, which was worth the investment. She was such a huge help to me with the Christmas program at church. She helped me play the many songs on the program and even played a special version of the final song, Silent Night. Along with songs, some being special musical numbers by the missionaries, the primary and a mother/daughter duet…and maybe a piano solo by me, there was an elder who read the nativity story verses. They also had a member speak on Christmas. There were a few glitches but overall, it was a good program. I was glad it all came together. There were some moments of flexibility, esp. when I discovered that I had no children from primary to sing when church started. Luckily, three kids came in time for their song.

We were also lucky to attend the Christmas party at church. My favorite party was our makeshift nativity scene done by the primary. I had a fun time draping bed sheets on the kids and tying towels to their heads. Poor “mary” was not feelin’ it so she was pouting the whole time. We had some shaggy rugs on the kids’ backs for sheep but they didn’t seem to want to stay to see the baby Jesus. And our 2 year old decided to do some breakdancing in the middle of the scene…sometimes kicking the basket we had as the manger. It was a precious moment. Christmas passed by so fast but thanks to Jaclynn, we had a beautiful Christmas tree, lights and presents wrapped under the tree. She even brought stockings that we hung in the window. She was great company and comfort being away from home for the holidays. I am forever grateful for her!

Jaclynn also gave me a very special present, something that really means a lot to me. She researched and found a former Peace Corps Volunteer who collects the Peace Corps stamps that have been made since 1961 when Peace Corps started. So for Christmas, she got me a stamp that was put out in 1971 for the Eastern Caribbean region that is preserved in a glass pendant. It’s a little piece of PC history that I am so happy to have. I can’t wait to show it off at the office in Castries! Everyone will be so jealous…

Break is almost over now, I am trying to get the last of my days of relaxing in as well as working on harvesting my cucumbers. I have so many right now, though I know I had more of them growing. I think some have disappeared over night but I am happy to share :). My basil is also almost to my waist, it’s the most beautiful basil I have ever seen. I need to make some pesto soon! I have more basil than I know what to do with. But soon school starts, on Monday, the start of Term 2!