Library Before and After

Before…

  

After!

  

I will try to get some better pictures of the whole room. We are still working on a few things but the reading corner is finished and is used daily. We sorted books by reading level and gave them fun names to refer to (Grade K – Grade 2 are Watermelon books, Grade 3 – Grade 4 are Banana books, Grade 5 – Grade 6 are Tangerine books). We also have sections for non-fiction, teacher resource and reference. Each class has a library period once a week and for the first week, I had a library training session with all classes so we could discuss how to behave in the library and how to care for the books. I also have the library open before and after school for the students to use. They love coming in and finding a book to read. The books that we received are amazing and just what we needed. Everyone is very happy and I hope to keep building the library to be used for literacy centers. I hope to have the art/game corner and the writing corner finished by the end of the term.

The month of May is literacy month…so I am glad the library got finished…and we have had some fun activities so far. We are doing a “catch me reading” incentive to reward students who are found reading without being told. We had Round Robin yesterday where teachers scrambled to read a story to every class in the school. It took all morning and it was so much fun. I would see that that Grade K’s room was open so I would hurry over with my books only to be beat there by the Grade 3 teacher. So I had to wait or find another class free. It was great to read to each class and share in the excitement with the other teachers. Today, we had police officers and bus drivers at the school reading to the kids. It was nice to show that other community members read too.

We have a poetry competition this Friday. I’ve been asked to be a judge. I think I will give all participants perfect scores. 🙂

New House and Dominica!

Since my last post, there has been quite a bit of changes. I will try my best to catch up. I now live in a new house in a neighboring community to my old one. My old house had a security issue so I had to move. I’m sad to not live so close to my school but I am enjoying my new place. Ruby was able to come along with me too and we have both settled nicely. I was able to host my mom, dad, and sister in my new house too. My mom came a week before break and helped me to paint the library at school and move. Then I had my two week Easter break from school and my dad and sister came to join us. We had a great time living the Caribbean life. Driving on the left side of the street, bugs, no AC, no water in the tap at one point, the list goes on. They told me they had a fun time, I’m glad I could show them my Peace Corps life, make them local juice and show them beautiful St Lucia. We got to go zip lining and snorkeling and even spend a day at Coconut Bay, a nice resort in Vieux Fort. Of course, we went to different beaches around the island. It went so fast, soon I was back at school. I worked really hard that first week to get our school library ready. The painting is done and I finally finished sorting the books we kept into reading levels. I got the wonderful news that 3 barrels of books that my dad organized and sent, with the help of so many kind donors, are at the port in Vieux Fort. I cannot wait to add those books to our almost empty library.

I then got the amazing opportunity to go to Dominica for a Literacy Conference! For a week, all the volunteers from St Lucia and Dominica came with one counterpart teacher to learn some best practices, the balance literacy approach and how to execute a successful intervention in the classroom. It was very information but didn’t leave much time to explore the lush, green Dominica. I did get to hike to an amazing waterfall and soak in some hot springs. Not too bad 🙂  I also saw some wildlife like the big giant iguanas and really pretty parrots. Summary: I will be returning, there is so much I want to do in Dominica. It was beautiful and the best island for the outdoor adventurer.

  

Boys Appreciation Day

This past Friday, my school hosted a Boys Appreciation Day. Girls often surpass the boys when it comes to school here in the Caribbean so in an effort to motivate the boys of our school, we had a special day for them. We prepared some fun speakers, like the Police Commissioner and a doctor. The boys had a fun time asking questions and seeing funny skits done by the girls of the school. One group of girls dressed as boys and it was pretty hilarious to see them act the way they see their classmates act. There were other tributes by the girls like dances and poems. The teachers even read a poem, I got to help out with that one. We fed the boys a huge lunch and then had the boys model for the school, showing off their casual, evening and sportswear. They loved every minute. The boys also got a dog tag with the school’s name and date to remember the day. I feel it was a successful activity in showing the boys that they are loved and appreciated. Every community has what they call “boys on the block.” These boys often are high school drop outs who don’t work, cause lots of problems and often are in the drug business. There are many rough paths boys can go down as they get older, maybe these kind of activities can help prevent that. Now the big question that is still being asked…when is Girls Appreciation day??

The day after, as volunteers, we also celebrated Peace Corps Week with an activity in Dennery. The volunteer there organized an environment awareness fair for the students at his primary school. Volunteers worked at different booths to help run the event. I was so excited to work the painting station! They drew a huge mural on the school wall facing the road of an underwater scene and my job was to help get the kids paint in the colors. It was incredible to see that there were more than 200 kids there…imagine getting 200 kids to paint that wall, it was quite a challenge. There were several volunteers at that station so it went on incident free. By the end of the morning, we declared it “adult painting time” and just let the kids watch us get more painting done. We had a fun time figuring out colors and using scaffolding to get to the very top. We didn’t quite finish but got pretty close. It was a fun project, I can’t wait to see it finished. Other stations were a clean-up garbage project, a mangrove maze, adopt a tree station, homemade bird feeders, recycled plant holders and basket weaving. There was a dancing station too where kids to hang out when waiting to rotate to their next station. It was a good motivation to get our own school library painted!

We also had a special visitor come to the house recently. Ruby’s sister Savannah came to visit us! It was so sweet to see them together. They played the entire time. There was no break. Ruby was so happy to have a friend and they had a fun time. Savannah has a lighter face and is much smaller. It was interesting to see how different they were. One is spoiled rotten, the other one is treated like a dog. I’m sure you can guess who’s who. Her sister had lots of ticks and fleas and wasn’t as social. She tried to ignore Ruby many times but Ruby wouldn’t stop troubling her. But Ruby would not share her toys, water or me! Her sister would come and sit on my lap and Ruby would then bite her, not in a playful way. Sassy girl. Besides that, I’m glad they got along well since Ruby will be staying at her sister’s house when I am gone for training soon. I feel like a mom getting some vacation time…

         

Ruby Update

Ruby is growing daily! She is much taller now and is finally growing into her giant head. I have made my front balcony escape proof so now I can leave her outside when I am gone…or just tired of her biting me. She is very troublesome but is so sweet when she is sleeping, as you can see.

  

Happy Independence St Lucia!

This past week, St Lucia celebrated their Independence. It has been 36 years since they were ruled by the British and to celebrate, they dress in the colors of their flag, white, black, yellow and blue. It was challenging but I was able to pull together some national colored outfits for school. On Wednesday, there was a giant rally where each school in the district got together to march (which kept getting interrupted by rain. We would line up then quickly run to the nearest house or shelter till the rain stopped. This happened several times, pretty funny to watch I’m sure) and celebrate St Lucia. The students showed the national wear, national dances and, in the Lucian way, gave many prayers of gratitude for the teachers, schools, and for their country. I got to chaperone our students and show off my singing in patois. They had the audience sing the song “Sent Lisi se yon joli peye” which I learned (since all the words are in patois, it was challenging) and performed at my swearing in. So I was really proud when I was the only one from our school that could sing it. The kids’ faces were priceless. “Miss! Who taught you that song??!!” It was a fun moment. I also got a chance to wear my dress that I had made. There was a problem with the bottom skirt so I had it remade. It still isn’t what I wanted exactly but it worked out. I wore my dress on Sunday to church too. They were impressed that I was so patriotic. But my favorite part of the Independence celebrations was Friday night. I was out pretty late with some of my fellow teachers. There was a meat and seafood festival in Vieux Fort and I am still thinking about all the delicious food I had there. I had chicken, the best pork wrap I have ever had and I even tried Lambi (conch…yeah, it tasted ok but was way too chewy for my liking) It felt like a fair with games, food, music and cultural performances. I wish they did these things more often, so I could get more pork wraps!

On Sunday, there was more celebrations and my friend and I went to check it out. We were just walking around and all of a sudden, the leader of St Lucia, the Prime Minister Kenny Anthony strolled in with wife. I mean, he is like the president of the island but he had no security following him or guarding him. No armored cars or police escorts. When I asked my friend why, she said he has declined all of that and would rather just be with his people. I know there are quite a few St Lucians who are not happy with him so it seems strange that he doesn’t fear getting attacked or threatened. Anyway, it was pretty exciting to finally see the leader of St Lucia so up close. I’ve actually met many government leaders of St Lucia like the Minister of Education and parliamentary representatives. I guess it’s just part of living on a small island. Everyone knows everyone.

   

My three co-teachers in their National Colors                      Celebrating at the Independence Rally

  

Students in their national colors

Left to Right : My friend/Relief Society President at church, Sister Worthington, ME in my dress I had made

More Running

Our school recently had their own Sports Meet where students competed against each other, each student assigned into a house (there are 3 teams, red, yellow and blue). The events included long and short distance running. It’s more of a track meet really. I got to help be an official and work at the finishing line. The kids had a great time cheering and dancing. At one point, there was a big dance party on the field and one of the kindergarteners got a little too inappropriate and was dragged out by her Aunt. It was quite a scene since the poor little girl was not ready to be done dancing. The red house were the winners of the sports meet and took many victory laps, shouting and cheering and telling all the other houses to just go home. They really take sports seriously here. The best runners from the meet were then selected to participate at the District Road Race. Schools from the whole area competed in a 3 mile run and all the kids finished under 25 minutes. Mind you, this is a race for kids under 13. It was really impressive. I got to help run a water station again and got splashed a few time from kids grabbing the cups of water as they were running by. Our school placed 6^th out of 9. From what I heard, this is an improvement from last year. What is interesting is the bottom 4 schools are all up in the mountains. They all say if the race, which is always on flat land, was up in the mountains, they would be the top winning schools. Perhaps next year they will move the district race to a more hilly location. Then we could have a chance at first!

  

Much Needed Hair Cut

I went to a hair salon in the North where many volunteers go. The hair cutter is from England and he knows how to cut our “Barbie hair”.  This was long overdue, as you can tell from the before picture.

Meet Ruby!

Tuesday night I got a knock on my door. It was one of my friends in my community. She was holding a box and said she had something for me. She told me that she was sure I was lonely, living alone, so she thought this would help. Can you guess what was inside?? A little tiny puppy was staring up at me. I was in shock! I didn’t know what to say…It was so cute and little that of course I couldn’t say no. So I took her in and I am so glad I did. I was stressed at first. I wasn’t ready for a puppy, I had to make my house puppy safe first. Then I made some food for her – really nice food, thank you. I made a porridge of rice, veggies, chicken and gravy. She loves it, so spoiled already. She is only 8 weeks old so she is too little to eat the dog food they have here. As for potty training, last night, she scratched at the door to go out! Then she did her business. She is a smart little dog. There are still a few accidents but overall, she is learning fast. She came with fleas of course but I got some soap to wash her with and it killed all of them. I also gave her medicine for worms, her little tummy is probably full of them. She still sleeps a lot and loves to cuddle. But her favorite thing is biting. I am trying to stop her from biting so much but that is just what puppies do. I have decided to name her Ruby and I have no idea what kind of dog she is. I think she is part Chihuahua. I wonder how big she will be. I do worry about leaving her at home so long since I have school all day but she seems to be ok these past few days. My friend also kept a puppy for herself, Ruby’s sister Savannah (I think that’s her name) and she told me I can drop Ruby off any time I have to stay anywhere overnight. So things should work out fine. Sometimes I laugh at myself because I know the people here do not consider having a dog as a lot of work. When I tell people I have a puppy, they are shocked to hear that I keep her inside. They all try to give me some twine or string to tie her up outside. Completely opposite cultures when it comes to pets.

She has made a huge difference already and I am glad I have her. I have a lot more to do now when I am home and things are not so lonely any more. Just today, I was working on my garden and I let Ruby run around. She was so hyper, she was racing around the beds and trying to dig holes everywhere. She is still too little to do any damage. But at one point, I saw her running with one of my green onions in her mouth. Wish I had my camera. She is very sweet. Let’s hope she stays that way!

     

Sneaking into Sugar Beach

Our school’s sponsored walk went wonderfully two weeks ago. All the kids got to participate and the walk followed the river that cuts through our community. The beginning half was a beautiful hike through the bush, ending with the long, exhausting crawl up the long mountain incline of our main road for the second half. You can guess which part I liked the most. The students were such good sports and finished the walk in under 2 hours. I hope to do that same route at least once a week. Later that week, we had our Road Race or marathon as they call it, up the same, terrible hike up our main road but the kids actually ran the whole way up. I couldn’t believe it. I was very grateful for my assignment to manage a water station. We filled small plastic bags with water to hand out which was easier for the kids to run with than cups. It was a very smart idea. They often make homemade icicles the same why. Unfortunately, two of our students passed out from the race afterwards and had to be taken to the hospital. They are both fine now, one had an asthma attack, which no one knew she even had asthma in the first place, the other student passed out while we were on the phone calling for an ambulance. I was able to once again use my first aid skills. I am very grateful for my first aid training, I have used it a lot while being here. I feel I am slowing becoming the school nurse since I end up helping many student with little injuries and aliments here and there.

We only had a half day of school the day of the race so I went up to Castries for the night. I was able to spend time with my host mom and fellow volunteers. We went out to eat and did a little shopping. It is always nice to get out, even just for a day. The following week at school, I was able to present our new online newsletter to the parents at the PTA meeting. It was well received and after passing around a sign up/contact info sheet, as well as meeting parents the next day at conferences, I have 51 parents on board. I am so excited to have so many names and I hope that this can be a good first step to improving communication and parent involvement at the school. I was also excited to get included in some parent teacher conferences. I was able to share some positive feedback on the student I work with as well as give some advice and tips for parents who want to help more at home with their child’s education. That was a good feeling. I can see some parent workshops in the future, after we build a better relationship with the parents and the school.

This weekend, I met with some volunteers and we went on the Tet Paul trail, located in Sufriere. This hike has amazing views of the iconic mountains of St Lucia, the Pitons, as well as a panoramic view of over a fourth of the island. I love being high up and I was so excited to see Vieux Fort from the north side. I’ve only seen it from the south. I swear I could see my house from there…Here are some pictures of our group and the views we saw.

 

After the hike, we got special access into one of the best resorts on the island, Sugar Beach. A friend of a friend got us in and I felt like we were going to get busted at any moment. We were constantly being asked who we knew, if we had permission, etc. I couldn’t believe we stood out that much. I took a little pride in knowing that I don’t completely look like a tourist. That is a big accomplishment here. It was worth all the hassle. This resort was breath-taking. We kept pinching ourselves, checking if it was real. The sand was white, the water was so clear and the whole place is located in a cove between the two Pitons. We got a clear view of another lifestyle far from volunteer one. We took full advantage and went for a swim. It was so surreal to experience. I also learned that the best location for snorkeling and scuba diving is in this cove as well. I have full intentions of returning soon.

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.