Hello Ladies and Gents! First off, I am alive and kicking! I have been living on the island of St. Vincent for 6 weeks now and each morning when I awaken, I find myself having a 3-second span of not knowing where I am. This whole adventure still feels a little surreal at certain instances; when this has become the moment I have been waiting a long time for. I am enjoying every minute of it, submersing myself in a completely different culture and environment. Each person tells their own story, and in this crazy cyber age, this blog shall become mine to share my experiences in the Peace Corps on the island nation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
Rewind! So much has happened already but here is a quick recap:
- DEPARTURE: I landed in Miami, Florida on August 24th and met the other 38 volunteers in the Eastern Caribbean group, also known as EC 78. We had an intensive 3-day orientation and embarked to St. Lucia for another 4-day orientation. Besides the massive amount of information, procedures, and precautions we obtained, PC fed us so much food! I was not used to eating full meals for breakfast, lunch AND dinner. I’m so very grateful though because the food was delicious and I definitely left no room for scraps. On the 30th, we had to say our goodbyes and each island grouping flew to St. Kitts and Nevis, Dominica, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent (also known as the SVG!) When we landed, I met my host-family whom I’ll be living with for 7 weeks (I’m currently starting Week 6). They are such wonderful people and I am lucky to have been placed with them.
- THE JOB: My area of assignment is Youth Development. I will be starting work after training (2 more weeks!) at a primary school of 300 students along the central Caribbean side of the island. Remedial reading is the school’s number one issue they are facing. I’ll be working with the 4th and 5th graders in small groups of 3-5 students on phonics and reading comprehension. There will also be room to develop some after-school programs, and I’ve been making contacts with a couple of community organizations that need assistance.
- THE KIDS: I have been interning at the school 1 day a week and each time I go, my heart just lights up from seeing and meeting all of the school-children. They are so curious, full of energy, and they seem to have an obsession with my hair. A lot of the girls will come up and start touching my hair and one almost poked my eye out with her finger (not with a Red Rider beebee gun either). A couple of the kids stopped by the house and we sat on the porch and I taught them Go-Fish and Memory. It’s been such a long time since I played Go-Fish, so I might have instructed them on the incorrect rules of the game.
- FOOD: Yumminess is indeed abundant here. I have been eating everything from roti (curry wrapped in a tortilla-like dough), pelau (chicken and rice with spice), calilloo soup, boilin (meat and dumplings boiled together), plantains, jackfish and breadfruit (breadfruit is this huge potato like vegetable/fruit that can be cooked with just about anything), macaroni pie, chicken pie, and scalloped potato pie. Note: there were no graham cracker crusts used in the making of these pies. There is even an ice cream truck that comes around in the later evenings and on Sunday afternoons. I have yet to taste the mint chocolate chip. There are a lot of American food products in the capital a ½ hour away. Although, a tub of Breyers ice cream is priced at a whopping $35 EC.
- CLIFF-JUMPING: I figured if I could leap out of a plane at 10,000 feet, jumping off a cliff at 25 feet would be quite easy. It wasn’t! A group of us went to this beautiful spot on the northwestern part of the island and trekked a good 45 minutes to reach the cliffs. We passed by fields and fields of banana trees with a couple of locals carrying machetes as they passed by. When we were at the top, I was pacing back and forth a number of times before I finally did it. I plugged my nose, leaped up as far as my legs can take me and went straight down, feet first. Water still went up my nose though. The hike up to Sofriere Volcano is next on the list. They say it is still active and has not erupted since Good Friday, 1979.
- HELLO, GOOD DAY: In the rural towns, each and every man, woman, and child greets you as you’re walking down the street. Greetings range from: hello good day, good morning, good afternoon, and goodnight. It is very inviting. There is constant interaction going on and it’s an everyone-knows-everyone community. I have been writing names down of all those I have met; yet the names do escape me. It is going to take some time.
Peace and Love,
Leigh
