T-Day....so full...so good.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.
So what are you thankful for? Do you know? Do you need to think about it for a moment?

Today was a good and very filling day. But let me backtrack to last night.

Brandon and I made the trek from north leeward to the Mespo on the Windward side to go see our pal Shelby--the secret keeper of apple pie making. We had ourselves a blast making apple pies entirely from scratch....lots of dough, green apples, and plenty cinnamon & sugar later we were doing awesome We made 5 pies, but only 4 made it to the feast. Of course, we had to taste test the pies for scrumdidiliumptiousness and it most certainly was. We even had apples filling mix leftover and we super snacked on it....I think we need a dentist stat. I haven't had that much sugar in a long time and we got mega-giddy. ^_^ Shelby fed us an awesome chili she made the night before and fried up some breadfruit chips to go with the guacamole we we also made. It was a blissful food night. In the morning, I climbed an orange tree and helped pick some lemons in her backyard to make for a super breakfast, but it couldn't compare to the yummy times awaiting us. (pics below)

The Taiwanese (Republic of China) Embassy had approached Mr Cool, our boss, about opportunities to become more involved with the Peace Corps. It wasn't long until the Ambassador offered to host our Thanksgiving Day event and join their volunteers with ours. The Taiwanese have 4 volunteers on St Vincent, each working in a very specific area for 2 years. The Ambassador is currently working with the Vincentian government (and after his gov't) to begin crafting their volunteer program to be more similar to the Peace Corps model of local community residence and activity. How cool is that? We were informed that the Taiwanese have a strong civil society and take great pride in their international outreach. They are certainly quite active here, much to the benefit of the Vincy people.

All of the traditional American dishes were prepared by volunteers (except for a pie and cheesecake) and the Taiwanese contributed their own native dishes. It truly was a feast to behold and no offense to my fellow volunteers to worked hard on their dishes--but I totally pigged out on the Taiwanese food! There were many vegetarian options from both groups. The atmosphere was very pleasant and the climate was great for the day. There was so much food leftover that the embassy provided us with little plastic bags to make our own take-away. Wonderful! So I currently have some very tasty treats awaiting me in my fridge for tomorrow. ^_^ (pics below)

In other recent stuff
--This was in the newspapers from this past weekend, but I forgot to mention it previously. I found this both funny and scary...
Recently, 2 boys--11 and 12--managed to sneak into the airport after dark over the fences, cross the tarmac, gain access to a jet that was staying overnight, feast on snacks and drinks, and fall asleep to be discovered the next day. Now that is a bit funny for kids, but think of what they could have been...scary.

--I wanted to hang out a bit with the other volunteers after we had our T-Day celebration, but I had to get back to my village for a 5pm meeting. I got there a bit late, 25 min or so, which many Vincy's would still consider on time. Who was there? Nobody. >.< Could a couple of people gathered and dispersed before I arrived? Those who were in the area for other reasons told me that nobody else had been around there for awhile. That was the only downer today and it was an important meeting for a tourism group I'm working with.

--Got into an interesting topic later this evening. There is an upcoming netball (similar to basketball and typically played by women) tournament and there was a woman arguing with a man about the required uniform to play the game. She said that her team would like to have the permission to wear pants (I think we could have called them shorts) as part of their uniform instead of short skirts. The man said that he is going strictly with the rules which are international and declare that women must wear the skirt as their playing uniform. It got rather heated and was my first sighting of a gender inequality--since boys who played didn't have to wear skirts. A previous tournament hosted by other people did allow women to wear pants upon request. This time the woman said that she felt it was indecent for a christian woman to wear such things--even with tights underneath. After I left them later, I asked a couple younger (potentially more open-minded women) in the village about their stance. They promptly defended that women should wear skirt regardless and men wear shorts for netball. Puts a spin on the gender perspective.

And now....pictures. ^_^
--oh yeah, I'm rapidly earning the nickname, paparazzi. It's fun to have a nickname, but I haven't figured out if it is given in fun or annoyance yet...














So Good...

Warm welcome from Ambassador Lee

Showing us US states with the names in Chinese. Way cool.









They were surprised at how well I could use chopsticks, even right or left handed

What appeared to be a small racket was actually a bug killing device of coolnes. ^_^

They doubted my ability to eat pumpkin pie with chopsticks.....I won. Btw, hats off to Steph for making a super scrumptious pumpkin pie.

Jacks of all trades?

Busy lil bee...
Rain still came on and off through the weekend. Looks like it might be starting to break now that we are getting several hours at a time without showers.

This past Saturday kept me doing lots of stuff all day.
---Got up to meet up with some of the primary school local boys to go down to the beach. Not sure why, but the older kids never seem to want to go-maybe they are just too cool. This group was a bit smaller than normal, but it was still fun. We really didn't get to swim in the ocean since all the heavy rains have made the sea very rough and very dirty (estuary at the beach with all the junk washing down >.< ). So the kids decided it was better to swim in the river estuary....lots of playing catcha (what they call tag).
A shortcut--Crossing the river in Spring Village on the way to the beach

Me and Lex--I think I am his favorite person in the village since he always wants to hang out.

Wading at the river mouth to get to the better side of the beach

Dem kids having fun

---Almost as soon as I got back around noon, made a quick lunch and skirted down to Clive's Black Struggler's Bar. This is were I usually 'lime' (if I'm hanging out) and am training to become domino master. ^_^ The neighbors had widened a drive road and they had to knock down part of the bar's shed for the work. So the local guys volunteered to rebuild it better than before. Last weekend they laid the concrete and blocks--I got to help this weekend with the carpentry end of things. Some of them were very happy to see me wanting to help and they got all excited handing me a hammer and nail--showing me where and how to use them. A couple thought it would be funny to get a pencil in my ear and tape measure on my hip, then show me to the others as a newly transformed carpenter. Actually, I think I put in about 6 nails, but I did help moving things along up on the framework. Although many of they guys do not have much of a formal education and some nothing past primary school, they are all tradesmen and build things all the time. It was cool to see them working live a bee hive, back and forth with all the little jobs. So I was a bit of the odd man out anyways. No worries; they were glad to have me there. I didn't get to stay until it was finished....had to get ready for a meeting at 5pm.


Rebuilding the frame





can you spot the one Vincy in action pose... ^_^ As soon as they know a camera is pointing, they love to pose.

wannabe carpenter for a few hours

---From kid sitter to carpenter to meeting organizer.....we had a fairly decent meeting this time around with my host organization--SUDO. It was a longer meeting, over 2.5 hours, and we covered a lot of ground. Now the trick will be to move forward on some of the things we talked about. SUDO runs the village library/internet cafe. The library doesn't keep any of the local papers, nor does it have easy access to any info 'Vincentian'. Some kids needed help to find info on local government ministers and our only resource was the computer...which are not always available. We are also hoping to start decorating the library with themes--since there is a large concern with people not really using the library portion and only using the computers. The group identified a lack of book diversity as a possible problem....so if you know of places willing to ship older books and other useful library type stuff....let me know.

My boss came by for the early part of the SUDO meeting to help address a joint concern (mine and his) about my organization's lack of response and function. It took 3 weeks now to gather its members for a meeting, of only 6 people, and that I'm assigned to the orgnaization and I've seen them perhaps 3-4 times as a group since I've arrived on St Vincent. Later in the meeting, I began to address some major concerns I've had about the structure, records, and general functions of the group as an NGO.....they didn't like what I had to say and I think it may have opened a couple wounds. They fall back on the good history and experiences SUDO has done for Spring Village.....so I hope to spend some time with its members and build the missing historical documentation to help strengthen the group. This should help close the wounds. Many of the various activities I am researching right now--steel pan & music, public speaking & debate, drama & dance, tutoring activities--all can be sponsored by SUDO, but I just don't trust them to take those reigns until they can begin to look more like a functioning NGO. They have been around for decades, but if it wasn't for the stories if its members and the communities stories, you'd hardly know they were around for more than a year. Sure, oral history is good and could be defened by saying they are a developing nation--but seriously? There are groups just as old that are the polar opposite in a positive manner that we will try to use as our benchmarks. Revival of this group is supposed to be one of my number one goals....it is the reason I am here. It will be done.


---Sunday was another action packed day. I was supposed to get up and be outside on the road by 6am to meet up with a group of banana farmers. A bit of celebrating from completing the shed construction from the night before helped me to oversleep a bit. Got up by 6:30....and missed the truck. Tossed on my waterboots, backpack and cutlass and began the LONG walk up the road, 'up da mountain' as they say. The walk through the village was good, as I got lots of suprise and positive comments from people here since they got to see me doing things and dressing just as they do for farming. Once I got out of Spring Village proper, I was on new turf. I'd never walked up the road this far....and was surprised at how long the road went--and I didn't even go all the way up!!! This is a really long road...not sure just how long yet, but there are many farm plots along the way. I think I walked a good 45min at least until I saw the first truck. Not the guys I was supposed to go with, but I knew them anyways so I spent the day with them--RasBen, XC, and their wives.

(lol...worked with them the whole morning and I don't know their names yet--yes there is something awkward when everybody already know your name and you don't know theirs. It is commonplace for now.)

The guys showed me around the banana trees and got a laugh at my cutlass--apparently I didn't need it for banana farming. They use a small wickedly curved knife to cut and trim the bananas. Most of my work was washing the bananas in a solution to slow the spread of 'crown fungal rot' as well as bagging and boxing bananas. I got to eat a yellow one (no clue where XC got it from) and it as great. We also had some fresh paw-paw (paupaya) and tangerines; always best super fresh. When we finished at the boxing shed, we loaded the truck and picked up a few other banana farmers & their boxes along the way. We stopped at the Fair Trade shed where a few others would be doing quality checks on all the boxed bananaas. Those boxes would be purchased by the Fair Trade group and loaded onto a big truck and shipped out. Most of the bananas we harvested go to England.


Evergreens in SVG!!!

RasBen clipping bananas

XC in the back of the truck

A banana shed on the mountain road, but not the one we worked in

Busted...washing the bananas in a preserving solution.

Bagging dem bananas--6 to a regular bag, 8 if they are smaller and into 'kid-pack' bags

Boxing up the bags for later shipping

RasBen in the back with our boxed up bananas


---A quick wash and lunch back home and it was off to the Sunday football game. It was decent game and we had our usual social party afterwards till about 9pm. That was also the norm, but what stuck out was the 15-20 minutes music that I really didn't expect to hear from the djs. Typically they play more localized music, Caribbean dance flavors. They started to play a big band song--swing, swing, swing--as well as other American music like Karma Chameleon and some unknown country song. Moreover, everybody dancing along was loving it, some even singing along. Now I love when people around the world share and enjoy music from all over, but in the weeks I've been going to these little functions this was a first experience. Not a bad one at all, just different--a good time.

That makes for a busy weekend and long blog...

Stay well and happy
ciao tutti
~your local wannabe jedi
~Shawn

Searching for green gold and now free texting!!!

Another day in Caribbean...
For some of us--like our Florida volunteers, the weather patterns and warmer climate this time of year are normal. Personally, I've been in warmer places, but I don't think I've ever gone a full year without seeing a 'northern' winter. A couple people back home tell me about how cold it is getting and snow will be right around the corner. I certainly won't get any of that down here. A bit strange, even surreal to the mind--wet and dry season only, when I'm used to 4 seasons back home. Speaking of wet--it's still raining plenty here. It's now been 7 days straight with breaks in-between the down pours; heard it is supposed to go through Saturday. No worries for me though, just makes transportation a bit more difficult (they don't like driving in the rain and don't drive as late in the evenings) and tends to keep people from attending meetings in the village.

Spring Village is a more rural village, mostly farmers here. Even many of the people who don't farm as a livelihood still maintain some sort of agriculture to supplement themselves. One of the major things they farm here is banana. There is even an organization called Fair Trade that correlates the farming efforts and production. I got all excited to hear that there were so many banana farmers here and figured that it would be raining bananas. I really like them--they taste great and are extremely good for you. Funny thing--I can't really find any for sale. I'm surrounded by banana farmers and don't see any on the street corners here. Sure, I can find them in town--but I want to try and buy more of my local foods in the village if I can.

I see plenty of plantain, but no banana. haha, I learned by doing that ripe yellow plantain is still tricky to get out of it's skin and really doesn't taste good at all when raw. I managed to get another member of the banana family--called a fig (not to be confused with the date type of fig). It is smaller, chubby, and a bit sweeter--and they need longer to ripe. There is also another member of the banana family here called a grindy--also rather tasty. Grindy, fig, and banana are all ok to eat ripe--so those will be the ones I search for later. Plantain are nice, but I'd rather eat ripe than cooked fruit. Sunday, I am supposed to be getting up early (5am?) to meet up with some of the banana farmers and go work with them in the mountain. I've seen them coming in before, boxing up blue bags of banana that go onto large flat bed trucks to be exported later. They told me that if I really wanted banana, it's best to get some from them when they come back from the mountain. ^_^ The hunt will soon be over! lol, I've also learned from them that there are 2 sub-types of banana....but I can't recall their names. One is more like what we find back home and the other is a type that is preferred here. Perhaps I will find the difference. I joked with one of the locals that we should do a blind taste test and see if they can identify which of the banana types they are eating.

Banana, Fig, Plantain. I haven't seen red banana here, but the grindy looks more like the red ones--only yellow when ripe.


Yesterday I finally got to deliver a letter to the Ministry of Education officially requesting that I be allowed to use the school's computer lab to teach computer classes. The school principal says that it is ok, but I needed her to give me the letter--which I've been waiting for +/- 2 months now to receive from her. Finally, Tuesday I drafted the letter myself and brought to her for her edits and signature. Sometimes we just have to do things ourselves...now I wait for the red tape to clear and I will have some very happy locals. ^_^ The only thing I don't like about the computer lab is the operating systems on the computers. They used to have older desktops, kinda slow but usable for sure, that had Windows XP. Some time before I arrived, the ministry had them changed to these little box things (smaller than micro cases if you've seen one) that don't even have floppy or cd drives on them--just 2 usb in the front. I think they are flash memory based (didn't see a fan on it either) since I was told that we aren't really supposed to store things on them. Worst part about them--they are running Windows CE. It is windows, but doesn't run like the conventional windows system that I'm used to and I don't know much of anything about it. I believe that it is similar to what you might find on a PDA running a Windows environment, like 5.0. So there goes all the little training and educational software I was going to use--it's not compatible. Time to get creative again. ^_^ Good times, that's why I'm here.

Keeping on the nerd train...
I was playing around with the plug-ins available for Mozilla Firefox and came across yet another reason why Firefox RULES! They have a plug-in called WataCrackaz AutoSMS; crazy name huh? But this little toolbar (which I usually stay away from toolbars) allows you to select a global region, choose a cell carrier, enter a telephone #, and message to send (suggested under 100 characters) all for FREE!!! Since it sits in the toolbar, I just have to be online and use the toolbar--too simple! Not extra websites to visit or log into. Simply awesome. I've sent a couple texts out back home--but not sure yet if they actually got them. Sent one to my phone here and I got it within a matter of seconds. Sweet....

Getting my yellow fever vacination tomorrow. I don't need it to live here, but one of the other volunteers is taking a trip to South America soon and it is required for her to go there. They needed 3-4 people to get the vaccine in order for it to be feasible to sent the vial to St Vincent.....so I volunteered (yet again....that word is becoming common in my daily life huh?) to get stuck. Not sure if there will be any side effects, but at least I will have the vaccine in case I go on any interesting trips to the Central or Southern Americas.

The PCVs and our staff will be celebrating Thanksgiving this year Thursday the 27th. Our boss, Mr. Cool, has stated we will be joining celebrations with the Taiwanese volunteers and their staff on island. I didn't even know the Taiwanese celebrated Thanksgiving. If they don't, perhaps this is just a good time for cultural exchange. I've met one of them here already, very briefly, and I'm excited for the event. They are making some of their national dishes and we are going to be making some of ours. I am with 2 others on pie duty. I was intending to make 2 pumpkin pies, was even going to make everything from scratch. However--the cost was getting too steep for me, scratch or from canned. So looks like we are having a bunch of apple pies instead. Strange that the apples here are imported, but will be cheaper to create. I've never made apple pie from scratch before so this will be a learning experience. Pie day will be Wednesday. ^_^ Yum. I think we are baking a test pie to see how it goes first....double yum.

Stay safe and well.
ciao tutti
~your local wannabe jedi
~Shawn

Gotta keep on the bright side

Rain ah come.
It's been raining here (at least on the north leeward) for a few days now. Sometimes it comes and goes in intervals and sometime is just comes and comes and comes... Usually when it rains for several days, the land tends to loosen a bit and earthslides become frequent. Outside of transport difficulty and outside stuff closing down during storms--I actually enjoy the rains. The sounds of pounding rain on the roof or just watching it from my porch is soothing. Haven't taken another walk in the rain yet....maybe later.

I was considering going to Bequia for an event yesterday/today and really wanted to go....however I felt the call of responsibility in my community, so I remained in my village to do my job. So instead of going, I was supposed to meet with a person who has the records for the community center where I work. She moved to another village and is nearly impossible to get in person. SUDO (Spring Village United Development Organization) also called a meeting at 1700; considering they are not only my host NGO that requested me to be on SVG but also because they almost never have meetings (3-4 since I've been here), I felt compelled to be there. Guess what? The records person I was supposed to meet never came--personal reasons. This just delays my getting the community center electricity fully restored. SUDO? Another no show. Of all its members (however few there may be), I was the only person beside the librarian--who was working--who happened to be there and the librarian left shortly after I arrived. Figuring for island time, I stayed an hour and half until I completely gave up. If participation like this continues, it seriously undermines my presence here. Gotta keep the chin up and keep talking to people--just put more time into 'street talk'.

Local news:
--Previously I mentioned the teachers union strike due to certain parts of a reclassification process. They eventually when back to work in the schools after +/-2 weeks of industrial action so the kids would not suffer more than what they had with the lack of instruction. Although the teachers did return to the classrooms, they were not done with their protests and requested mediation and sit-downs wit h government. Government has since refused and I feel that things here are going to get a bit bumpy. I'm not taking any sides on this one, not that I should be anyways.

--The whole island has been on fire with talk about President-elect Barack Obama's election victory and the papers have been lit up with opinions and articles on the topic. Everything from a good day for the black people to expectations of leadership & administration to comparison of US politics to SVG politics. Personally, I'm split. I really enjoy having the chance to learn about what's going on at home on a person to person basis and get excited to be talking global/US politics; we're not supposed to talk local politics/opinions. However, when I buy a newspaper--I read all 3 weekly papers--I'd hope to see more than article after article consisting of much of the repetitive rhetoric. Note: According to a paper this week, 2 people here have named their child Barack already--one in July and another after the election victory. That might not seem like that many, but there are only 110k people here and do the math for newborns...

--Papers have articles that claim crime is on the rise and the stories to back it. Every week now I'm reading about murders, violence to others and property. Even now, the articles state there is social conflict as the people claim there is also too much police brutality.

--I don't know much about the sport of cricket, but the news is also blowing up over something called the 20/20 match and how the West Indies team beat England and won US$20million. That's a ton of money for players from developing nations-or any nation for that matter. I wonder what they will do with it.

--Updates on building an international airport are supposedly on target. Too bad it isn't expected to be completed until 2011. : ( Sorry guys, but that means no direct flights from the US here.

I heard that it is getting rather chilly back home. Strange for me to know that it is mid-November and not see what I know as 'fall'. 2 seasons here, wet and dry.

I found a few pics taken by other volunteers.....here ya go:

The 2008 election crew

Some of us on the Mustique Independence Ferry Ride

Aw....Haruka's umbrella broke. Go Go Gadget multi-tool ^_^

This was awhile back already....from a birthday party. Veg Oreo! 2 vegetarians and a vegan. Good times.
Stay safe and well.
ciao tutti
~Your local wannabe jedi
~Shawn

Meeting Meetings Meetings

I am seriously going to have to work on organizing all of my notes and filing system. For now, I've been using a notebook the Peace Corps gave us during training to contain all the info I come across during meetings or other functions in my village. Those pages and the extras I tuck into the pages are starting to add up and I find myself attempting to cross check other recorded dates during a meeting and taking too long (well, the Vincentians don't seem to mind).

I'm not really sure about the 'work schedule'--if it could be said that we really have one--of most of my other fellow volunteers. Most everybody else that I am aware of works with the schools or similar institutions during the day and may have an evening activity they lead. My duties seem to be more 2nd shift--going to all sorts of meetings once more people from my area get in from work. This has been leading to some late nights on my part, but I don't mind since I don't have many early morning duties as of yet. That will change....

I've been filling my mornings typically with trips to town and trying to network myself a bit. So far, I've set up shadow time with the SVG Nat'l. Inst. of Technology, a government based organization that facilitates computer literacy courses (the International Driver's License or IDCL) and other advance IT certs (MSCE, MSCA, CCNA, A+, web design, etc.). As soon as I lock down a training facility, I will be teaching the ICDL courses as well and maybe even get a cert myself so I can do advanced work here in Spring (but that can get really costly). I also got to learn where the Lands Department resides--where I can get copies of land surveys and the Physical Planning Department--who carry blueprint info on building structures and requirements. Visited Central Planning at the main government building and am learning the structure of the various ministries and who to contact when I need information or resources. Hopped over to the Ministry of Culture's office and got to meet a research officer, who I hope work with more in the future as I try to revive a few of the cultural CBOs here in Spring Village. Tried to get into the Lions Club and learn more about a recent public speaking event they held--but they were closed. Made contacts at the Center for Enterprise Development (CED), another government organization whose purpose is to train and help promote small businesses here on SVG. Yesterday and today, I got to become more involved with the work of the Community Development Field Officers. So my networking list and how to reach them grows.....because as many of realize that it isn't always what we know, but who we know...

I haven't officially started the tutoring sessions yet. Having a bit of trouble getting the electric current reconnected--between the red tape procedures and the treasurer of the center moved (taking the records with her). Once we get current again, I will not only get the tutoring going, but I can start working closer with the area CBOs. Until then, I might have to try using my place as a meeting location... Not sure if I like the idea, but I haven't seen many alternates yet. I'm being asked more and more frequently by people here when I will start teaching the computer courses and again I'm am waiting the red tape to clear.

Other groups on the table to work with:
--help develop my host group SUDO, a development organization. I hope they will grow to become the keystone of my village CBO framework
--kickstart a 4-H club for leadership growth and youth activities
--form Spring PAC (performing arts club) which would house 3 divisions of interest
--the revived drama group, once renown for its works, but mysteriously went dormant as a group
--the revived steel pan music group, another dormant group but would be open to all musicians
--include a newer public speaking & debate group with possible links to Toastmasters (found out they are here on SVG, but haven't met that group offically yet)

On a more day to day note
I totally failed when trying to juice a guava. I got a bunch of them, mostly rather ripe already, walking back from the beach with a group of kids. I tried to just use my little juicer on them, but made a mess with the pulp and tons of tiny seeds. Ended up with some sorta-decent variety of guava water. Found out this evening when I asked, I was supposed to boil them down with the skins on until the pulp got all mush and just strain it out.

Got some sort of giant foam block for a bed....it slowly makes a large 'dimple' where you are laying. The first few nights were strange, but fine. However, I'm starting to notice lots of lower back pains. Not sure if this is from the foam block or my slouch (which I am trying to be more aware of). No worries, if it persists I will be sure to see my medical officer first thing.

Got to start playing dominoes a bit with the guys near one of the shops. I wasn't very good-trying to play with a partner and not really able to effectively read the board yet. Will probably go back on Thursday when they play again.

Tomorrow night, after my meeting with the local tourism group--I will be venturing out to a playing field with my spotting scope and hopefully a few of the youths and maybe even adults. The moon is nearly full and it should look really nice. I don't have a stand for it and I don't like rigging my camera tripod for it because the kids are too rough. I think I'll grab my cutlass and use the morning time to make a bamboo and rope tripod. ^_^ Go Go Boy Scout Engineering.

Had some tea with my host parents on Sunday evening. We mixed two local bush plants--guinea pepper and shadow vinny--to get a real bold flavor. Very nice. Although I get teased by them every time for not wanting any sweeteners for it.

Before posting this blog, I read in another volunteer's blog about how she feels that the 2 year thing is starting to sink in as a reality. I couldn't agree more. For myself, I wouldn't say it was an uncertainty of why I'm here or a homesickness, more like a reality check. I'm here and things really are different. It is the little things I notice here that remind me where I am. Not just the heat, but long waits for vans that don't pick you up or the interesting times trying to roast my breadfruit for lunch with tiny sticks and the neighbor brings me better sized wood. It is accepting that while I have lived away from my home area before, this will be my first winter without snow (which I actually enjoy). It was thinking that this was a good time in my life to join the Peace Corps and within 3 months of joining, I learn that 2 sets of friends back home are getting married to make it now 3 sets of friends getting married and I'm not sure/doubt I'll be able to attend. My friends are very important to me, so that bothers me. Yet, I feel that the work I will be doing and the reasons why I am here are also important as well. Time to suck it up.

I read a very interesting blog....requires myspace to view it:
Great lil story and analogy with real events; even better if you like Batman

wow....it's late 1:15 here now and WAY past my bedtime.
More to come later I'm sure.

Stay safe and well
ciao tutti
~your local wannabe jedi
~Shawn

Internet hurrah!

Its official! I got my Karib Cable internet installed today for my whopping 1.1Mb service at EC$90.85/month--around 10% of my figured budget. Time to see what it can do. ^_^ Once I lock down a headset for a decent price, another volunteer might be able to let me use an extra set--skype is just an install away.

For those cable dorks out there....I got a free modem with the install, which I hope means that I get to keep it and bring it with me. It is an Arris cm550a. What I don't like is that it is only 110v and not 220v compatible out of box. That means I have to use my 300w transformer I brought with. I was hoping that I would only have to use it on some occassions, since it will probably use up more electricity that I actually need--which is expensive. Oh well...that's life for goodies I suppose.
Downstream
Freq/Power: 99.000 MHz -7 dBmV
Signal to Noise Ratio: 34 dB
Modulation: QAM64
Upstream
Freq/Power: 28.000 MHz 52 dBmV
Channel Type: DOCSIS 1.x (TDMA)
Symbol Rate: 2560 kSym/sec
Modulation: QPSK
The tech said they are allowed to have an up threshold at 60, but I don't put much confidence it that. Aw...they are only running Docsis 1.x Supposedly they will be starting digital service here soon....and I can only imagine the headaches they are about to experience.

stay safe and well.
ciao tutti
~your local wannabe jedi
~Shawn

The Attic--our election night party ^_^

Today is another good day in the fate of the world.
I am very proud to join so many people, not just in the U.S. but around the world, to celebrate in Senator Barack Obama's victory on 4 November.

The U.S. embassy out of Barbados invited Peace Corps volunteers through all the islands to go to designated venues for election night parties. "The Attic" was the chosen local here on St Vincent. It is a night club venue here with small jazz bar feel. Honestly, it was nothing like anywhere else on St Vincent I've walked into yet. Not to say that the rest of Kingstown in low key--I haven't been to many places here yet. However, this place looked as if it would have been at home on many Chicago corners.

When I opened the door to the place, I was greeted with blast of air conditioning...something that really took me by surprise given it gets much cooler here at night. The inside was decorated for our event, with nice tableclothes and topware. The embassy provided buttons in support of both candidates and cute little pins with attaching U.S. and SVG flags. There were a few small tvs suspended to the ceiling beams, but the real eye-catcher was the projector and screen that filled a good portion of the performance stage. It was CNN for hours--I was as giddy as a sports fan watching the superbowl or world series.

I was extremely pleased to find out that our host--the person running The Attic--was a big supporter of our purpose and was gracious to accept the embassy's rental request. He was so excited to watch the election results, he kept the place open until both candidates gave their speeches--which was one of my biggest concerns coming to the event. The embassy offered us free food--all little morsels and fruits/vegetables, but really tasty. The bar was rather pricey, as to be expected in that sort of venue, so I kept my beverages limited.

Many of the volunteers attended this event and it was good to see so many of us coming out together from all over the island. It was great for the embassy to offer us this opportunity (especially when not all of us have tvs-like me-in our homes to watch it there). I will some of us (sadly) left early or had to find unusual arrangements for after the party, because neither the embassy or the Peace Corps helped us to get back home or a hotel for after the venue. Late night in town is a vacant area--ghost town-like--and the only way home are taxis too expensive for us. So I crashed on some tile floor space in an undisclosed location and went on my merry way the next day.

At The Attic, there were more than just volunteers. There was also a representative from the embassy, who was full of stories and information for our questions. There were also many other Vincentians who had received invitations from the embassy. I got to meet and talk with the heads of a local political party. lol....they wanted to get their picture with me. They were dressed in pressed shirts and ties, actually nearly all of the guests were very nicely dressed. The email from our Peace Corps staff told us it was a casual event, so I was in a t-shirt and bandana. Oops! @_@ Oh well, it makes for an interesting picture when he shows it around. But it makes us appear not as professional--I don't like that.

People here follow U.S. politics rather closely, perhaps out of general interest or due to SVG's close ties (socially, economically and otherwise) to the U.S. It is commonplace for you to walk down the streets of Kingstown and the villages and hear people discussing U.S. politics and current events. I hear more U.S. political talk than I do local party political talk. Perhaps that will change, now that the major solitary event is over. Yet, it makes me sit back and consider just how little talk I recall hearing back home over our political state of affairs. Very little indeed either on the streets or in the offices. hum...... Sad that we'd have to go in search of it to get decent political discussions back home.

well, that was our night in a nutshell.
I'm adding the end speeches of the night in case you missed them.
They were really the best speeches I've heard in a long time.

--Senator McCain's speech was exemplary, honorable, and extremely dignified. I really think that if his campaign took the high-road his speech did, then perhaps some of the results would have been more in his favor (altough it doesn't change the reality of his positions). His speech was exactly what will be needed from his party in order to look forward and help unify us and prepare for the struggles we know are awaiting the American people.

--Senator Obama's speech was one of the best I've heard from my adult lifetime. His speech was the setting stone for this historic occassion and the key-point to unify this country. I greatly appreciated his calling out to everyone and his humility in asking for the support of everyone--that he will be a president for everyone. I believe those words. Perhaps he does not personally have all the skills and experiences yet in every subject area for the presidency, but I have the utmost confidence in his overall judgement & rationality as well as his ability to govern closer to the middle & his embrace of all people. His speech was able to well upside of me the same sort of spirit that I belive motivates others to greatness. His words brought tears to people across the world. His voice resounded our future.

--I know that in the past, I have said that I love my country and all the opportunity it offers but that I often disliked my government and the roads they have chosen to travel. I feel that the future before us will be one that is extremely difficult, but I am proud to step forward to support this government. I am proud to be working for the government under the mantle of our new president-elect. Although the Peace Corps is just a fraction of the U.S. Government--we are still representatives of our country and I am proud to be under President-elect Barack Obama's leadership. Let's see what new trails shall be blazed.

Stay happy and well.
ciao tutti
~your local wannabe jedi
~Shawn

Election Day!!!

Today is the big day!
I hope that anyone reading this will have voted today, at least if you're an American and of age.
The U.S. Embassy on Barbados has rented out spaces on the various islands so that the volunteers can gather in groups to watch the results. Our location is a late bar in Kingstown and I really hope that we will get to stay for all of it. Even if someone is declared the winner, I'd like to see the full results as they come in. Sadly with the U.S. recent day-light savings time--since SVG doesn't use it--we are now 5 hours behind Pacific Time. >.<
The rough part will be figuring out where to sleep tonight or how to get around. It will be REALLY late to try and get any buses and taxis are out of our budgets. There are 2 volunteers that live 45 min walk or so from where we will be, but I don't know how many of us can fit into their apartments... Oh well, sardines we will be.

On a different note, some of the local kids and I had our first rock session with general "garbage" we found lying around. We used some old plastic bucket lids, aluminum cans with rocks, plastic bottles, a wood board, small scrap piece of pvc tube and other goodies to make what most would call noise. Eventually we figured out a beat and maybe with enough practice might make something out of it. ^_^

Met last night the village committee that runs the community center. They were happy to have me working with them and we are seeing eye to eye on several things. However, I think that it will be some time before I can get electricity through the building where I need it--mainly the study room I am assembling.

My new home is coming along nicely. I do need to get some air fresheners for the bathroom. There seems to be a funky smell coming from somewhere--maybe the water. There are outside toilet pits with venting tubs....maybe it is coming from there. I haven't pin-pointed it yet, but the air fresheners should neutralize it. I hope. @_@
I did offer to put up a few pics of my place so you'll find some below. good times.

Did an another cooking experiment last night with success. ^_^
I used the local dasheen leaves, which I only seen used to make a local dish called callalou, and cooked it down with eggplant, canned tomato, garlic, onion, and green pepper. Add some spices as it cooks down and finish it by using the excess water to cook linguine and presto! One pot tasty goodness. ^_^ I made too much, lol, so I'll be eating my creation for a couple of days. Well, looks like I'm back on lots of carbs....there goes the 10lbs I lost already. hahaha

Stay well and be safe.
ciao tutti
~your local wannabe jedi
~Shawn

my place: