My 1st Vincy Christmas

The holidays are upon us!
Christmas has come and gone; Boxing Day was yesterday; and New Year's awaits...

I checked with some people in my community to see if there would be any holiday activities in my village. Things here are rather low-key and quiet (more than normal) in my village for Christmas, so that left me with time to spent on my own for the holiday. There was a party--also called a fete or bashment--at our community center late last night for Boxing night.

Now I've grown up around the Christmas holiday, but I didn't know what Boxing Day was. Sure, I'd seen it on calendars, but whenever I ask someone (even here) I didn't get an informed reply. Turning the to power of the internet and wikipedia--Boxing Day is supposedly a day of charity when gifts are given to those less fortunate. Some still hold that tradition but for many countries, it has become a bank and consumer shopping holiday. The mass retail sales are akin to the U.S. Black Friday/day after Thanksgiving sales. Snopes.com also disproved that is not the holiday to clear the post-Christmas boxes from the house.
Just figured in case anybody else was wondering too.....

We all met on Christmas Eve Day--although we didn't have a white holiday, we did have plenty of rain on and off the past few days.

So Christmas started with me collecting some goodies to bring up to Stephs and contribute to the food--I gathered coconuts from the tree in my backyard and sorrel flowers from the bush in the front and grabbed the breadfruit I was saving. At sun-up I went to the farm and harvested some dasheen leaves to make callalou. We had planted to make our feast with a Vincy theme. Took a van up to Chateau--no more than a 30 min ride--and met with Scott, Steph, and Laird.

The boys decided to go for a hike and wanted to go to Trinity Falls, an estimated 5 hour or so trip...but with all the on and off rain decided to hike Dark View Falls which was much closer. I would have taken pics of this part, but with all the rain decided against it. This was my 3rd time to Dark View and each time I find something new to explore. This time we learned of a mystery 3rd waterfall up in the hills and made it our mission to find it. After climbing around in mountain bush, vine, steep slope, and at time no trail at all--we finally found the location. Sadly, I was the only one to reach the 3rd falls since part of way up involved trusting some vines and climbing up--perhaps I should have been thinking a bit more of safety first... Next time I'm bringing some rope (yeah...I packed rope when I came here) and will help the others climb up.

We spent some time swimming in the 2nd falls and regressed to a elementary kids state--making a somewhat smooth rock into a water slide. Standing at the base of the falls and looking at our surroundings, I'd say that we all were capturing the moment--it was gorgeous. Our little expedition ended with a grapefruit harvest. Once before Scott, Steph, and I used a big stick to knock down some grapefruit; this time Laird and I went into the tree with a big stick and really whacked down some citrus goodness. We must have collected some 20-25 grapefruit at least. Laird stayed for a bit after the hike, but eventually went back home.

The rest of the day was spent hanging out. We roasted the breadfruit for the next day. Steph made an awesome pizza with eggplant, onion, and tomato. It was the firs pizza I've had since coming here. Yeah, pizza is available--but at EC$8 a slice in town, I haven't decided to go for that treat yet.

The next day was the day of food goodness. Before the food, we took a traditional swim in the sea and the water was great despite the heavy waves. For breakfast, we had oatmeal and banana fritters (courtesy of Steph) and some really good juice--a blend of orange, grapefruit, and coconut water. Around mid-day we walked to our APCD's (in-country boss) house, since he lives in Chateau, and sang to him 'We Wish You a Merry Christmas'.

Later on we made our dinner feast and all pitched in to make it taste even better. The deserts, ginger beer, and black wine were gifts from Steph's home stay parents. Sweet chunks with dumplings, callalou, steamed banana & plantains, fried breadfruit, mashed wild yam with garlic, onions, and honey, yellow cake, black cake, black wine, ginger beer, and sorrel drink all came together to form a mighty feast. We ate very well and had plenty of leftovers. We learned that blending the 3 of these holiday drinks was very tasty--bringing out our inner bartender. ^_^

Of course it wouldn't be Christmas holiday without one of the many over-played movies of the season. Steph had a copy of A Christmas Movie--which was selected over my copy of The Muppet Christmas Carol; rest assured that I will still watch the muppets later. lol. We played Uno, having forgotten how much fun that game can be. By then it had gotten really late and closed an awesome day.

The next day it was a leftovers day and a few games of Boggle. If you have never played that one--I highly recommend it. We had thought the vans would be running on Boxing Day; we were wrong. So I began my nice long walk back to Spring Village--Scott living much farther opted to stay another night till the vans ran on their normal schedule. No worries, I got picked up part way by someone I knew and dropped off at home. I was surprised though at how many people tried to buy my cutlass from me...but I enjoyed their reaction when I told them that I actually used it regularly and wasn't interested in selling.

Later last night, one of the local guys XC (who I also do banana harvest with) was putting on a party at our community center. It was the normal....loud music and drinks. They started with a free party for the younger kids that ended around 10pm. After shuffling everybody out, we had a party for the adults that went till 3am. I finally got to bed around 5, but it was worth it.

Hope your holiday went well too.
Stay happy and well
ciao tutti
~your local wannabe jedi
~Shawn

Here's a few pics to wrap up:
Find the whole album on Facebook at this link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=5866&l=d8dc2&id=1627482248

freshly roasted breadfruit

starting to make the sorrel drink

our feast

YUM!

Steph with Ginger Beer, Me with Sorrel Drink, and Scott with Black Wine

XC and me dancing at the party--this would be a better pic if it was focused. >.<

Back home...

It hasn't been very long in the scheme of things since we left home.
I can handle homesickess very well, but of course I do miss a few things.

I was going over some pics I was transferring from the last blog and stumbled upon one I took with my phone a few months back with my cat. Ok--so he isn't really my cat, he is my parents cat, but I really dig that fat, purring ball of hair. He's really old (17-18yrs now?) and although he seems healthy when I left I do worry that he won't last my whole time of service.


I hear that it has gotten really cold and snowy back home in Chicagoland. I hear reports from some that it drops to -4F and that a recent snowstorm was to dump 8" of snow. While I don't miss digging my car out of a frozen wonderland, I do miss the chilly reminder of the seasonal change. Swatting a mosquito or wearing a tank top outside in December plays with my head. Perhaps many of you are thinking I'd be a fool to want to be back home right about now, but no worries. I'm content here and if you ever want to get away for a bit you know where to find me. ^_^

Tofu...yummy block of vegetarian goodness. It is available here, but its rather expensive on our budget. However, I have found a delicious alternative--chunks.


There are many more things I could list, but this looks good for the moment.

Moment, funny word. How long really is that; is it the same thing as now? Could it be that by the time you finish saying the word that it has already become the past?
Most of the time when I ask someone how they are doing, they reply good for now or good for the moment and never just good. Perhaps things here are viewed simply in the moment, the moment being all there is at that instance in time and not as a piece of the greater duration.
lol....enough of that for the moment.

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

Lights On, Lights Off

Lighting up can mean different things, depending on where you are and who you ask. Here is St Vincent and the Grenadines around this time of the year it means something special. Now is the time of the year during the pre-Christmas festivities of 9 mornings when the villages decorate an area of their village with holiday lights, make-shift decorations, and other bright and shiny objects.

Note--unlike back home where many people decorate the outside of individual homes, the vast majority of the people here decorate the central village area rather than individual homes.

In the early morning hours, people celebrate the part that is 9 mornings, but in the evenings the villages are light up with their holiday spirit. The people have more song and dance and some even stay up all night until after the next morning's festivities (typically between 4-7am). Things slow down a near complete stop here during the holidays, so I suppose that is how so people can afford the time to party as they do. Although I should say that many people still get up for jobs too....it isn't all fun and games.

The big stuff for 9 mornings happens in Kingstown and I haven't been a part of any of that yet. This is in part because I have my own difficulties getting up that early after taking part in the evening activities of my village. I have been quite active in helping with my community lighting up. We decorated last week a section of my village along a stretch of road next to a couple shops, an abandoned house, and an old police/agricultural station. We have a theme--expanding the joys of Christmas--but I don't think we represented it very well. Seems kinda hard to make that theme become a visual reality, but perhaps that my lack of artistic insight talking. The theme, along with other factors, was to compromise the basis for a village-to-village competition for the lighting up. The lighting up and judging will continue all the way to Christmas--so I don't know any of the competition result yet.

Our village has been sponsoring some evening sports, 5-ah-side football (soccer) and netball. After the games, there has been nightly on the street singing by village musicians and crowd-goers. A couple of the nights, I got to play "Santa". No I didn't dress the part, but I did have a bag of toys purchased by a local group to give kids after they went up to sing.

Some of the people in my village have been asking if the steel pan drums some of the kids and I have been cleaning will be ready to play for our evening activities. Well I got the drums finished and carried them up to our decorated area; I even collected some bamboo and made little stands for the drums to hang on. However, not only are the drums not yet in proper tune but we also haven't perfected making the sticks for the steel pan. We have been using sticks and rubber from a car tire tube. The kids were ecstatic and went next to crazy trying to play the steel pan. 7 drums among many kids doesn't go too far and some crowd control was needed. ^_^ It didnt last too long though, since 1) it wasn't really music but more like a cacophony and 2) one of the old village pan players took the sticks away and turned the drums over. He said they shouldn't play the until we make proper sticks, that they would only mash up the drums playing as they were. I'm sure the kids didn't like hearing, but just adds to the list of things to do.

Had an interesting experience with our lighting up...
Was trying to figure out Saturday night why we didn't have the lights on well after it got dark. Found out that although we were using electric current from the old police/agro station, we never got official permission to use it. The higher authorities found out and said that we were not allowed to use it. Somebody had negotiated permission to use it at the last minute to keep power until our juding (this past Friday). Seems this little fact slipped by all of us on the lighting up committee from one individual's dropping the ball. Lots of people were disappointed that there were no lighting up activities on a Saturday night. Therefore, after banana farming/shipment Sunday morning, I joined a couple guys to do some rewiring and redirected all of the decorations to pull current from a nearby shop...lights on to off to on again. ^_^

This little incident didn't impact our village too much and the festivities are continuing. However due to who it was that dropped the ball and how they handled it the situation, there is a growing conflict between myself and my attached organization. This is just fuel on that fire.

Either way, I'm glad everything is all bright again. ^_^
Here's some pics of putting together the lights. I wanted to have more pics from our activities, but I didn't have my camera on me at the time.






I know it's out of focus...most people here have not used a digital camera before..







I was collecting the bamboo to cut for the steel pan support



These didn't come out as clear as I had hoped, but you get the idea. ^_^
We still have lots of work to do on these drums.

stay happy and well,
ciao tutti
~your local wannabe jedi
~Shawn

Something FUN, but not so Peace Corps related and Fridays in town.

Got a link to a movie trailer my brother saw. Since he knows what a fanboy I can be, he sent it to me. Of course, I loved it and feel the need to pass it along.

Enjoy.



If you have problems seeing this trailer, hit the link below:
http://www.traileraddict.com/trailer/fanboys/trailer


Well, might as well throw in something about life here...Fridays in Kingstown (capital and main shopping area) are normally busy. End of the month Fridays are even busier since most people get paid then. Someone said that today was the pay day since next Friday is Christmas holiday time (the 26th? not last time I checked, but probably here...sure why not). Add in that this is the last Friday before Christmas for holiday shopping = very very very busy day in town and long lines at the grocery store as I have never seen them before.

mur. sometimes the holidays are great but their are ups and downs to everything.

Haven't really had a chance to go and see the 9 morning celebrations in town. Some of the festivities start as early as 4am and I haven't found any transportation (or will to get up) that early yet. I could stay over with one of the volunteers in town, but my community has enjoyed me being in the village in the evenings. Last night I held the gift bag for kids that sang holiday songs at our little holiday light decorated area of the village.

Stay happy and well.
ciao tutti
~your local wannabe jedi (fanboy signature??? ^_^)
~Shawn

Soufriere Hike

I've heard that others like to read about the adventures we have. Now I believe that everything we do is an adventure of some scale...some more epic than others. This one is certainly epic and was a great experience. I'll be happy to have this adventure again with anyone who visits and is up to the challenge......

The past Friday the 12th, about a 10 Peace Corps volunteers, 2 Canadian volunteers with a visiting friend, a British volunteer from the Richmond Vale Academy group here on SVG, and 2 Vincentians from Georgetown embarked on a the quest to cross from the windward side of Georgetown to the leeward side of Richmond via the hiking trail of the volcano--La Soufriere (somewhere around 4000' above sea level). Sadly, our Taiwanese volunteer friends really wanted to come but couldn't get the spare time to join us. So if any of you are reading this--I'll hike it again with you when we have a free day. ^_^

For those that have seen maps of St. Vincent--there is no road yet that spans the north end of the island to connect the windward and leeward highways. The only way I know of without crossing directly through mountain bush or boating around is the Soufriere trail. Scott and I looked a the map afterward and we estimate our trip to probably have been 7-8 miles, but it was full of ups, downs, and twists.

Some of us spent the night over in Georgetown with fellow volunteers to make it an easier morning start and let me say that we had a delicious dinner. Steve made a great spaghetti sauce with chunks (veg friendly meat alternative) and Scott's garlic bread turned out very tasty--kudos them both! ^_^

The group met early and we got a kick-off by 8am, right on schedule. It was a bit of a walk from Georgetown to where the side road towards the trail began. We paid a couple dollars each (about $30 total) to pile in the back of a dump truck and hitch a +/- 3 mile ride up the side road through banana fields to the trail head. It was well worth the cost and saved us lots of time we needed later on.

The trail head had a nice info sign and we were surrounded with greenery. The trail was wide and well-maintained. Most of the time we had canopy cover with breaks in the foliage providing wonderful views of the surrounding forest. Bamboo grew in thick patches and its shed bark littered the floor with other leaves. The sounds of the birds and breeze danced in the air and we hiked along in a great mood. Our group split up into three groups on and off based on hiking speed preferences. We were very good (IMO) about making sure nobody was left behind or felt like 'dead weight' as well as taking occasional breaks. Overall the whole place was alive and beautiful and most of us were trying to capture as much as we could with cameras and mind's eye moments.

After awhile, the forest began to thin a bit as we could see misty fog blanketing the valleys and treetops. It gave everything a grey serenity. I really enjoyed the brightness of the day without the harsh direct sunlight. The grey mists also helped bring out the green color of the forest and the flowers. We came across what looked like old river beds of flattened rock where we had snack time and photo ops. By the way, plantain chips are mighty tasty. I also became a small hero offering some dates I picked up for the trip. While some were hanging out, I took a moment to follow some of the rock bed off the main trail and found some cool alcoves. It didn't really go anywhere that I could tell, but looked still looked neat.

The trail lead onward until the trees lessened and we were surrounded in mist and mountain shrubs. We followed a small gorge up he the side of the volcano. Here the winds were really picking up and the mists became light rains for moments at a time. From the twists in the path and mist, we had no clue how far from the top we were until we were nearly at the crater itself! At the top many chose to put on some warmer clothes with no shelter from the winds. We had lunch up there, again my jar of peanut butter (a travel food must!) came to the rescue. ^_^ Other groups coming up to the crater joined the area and there was an overall good atmosphere. It was perhaps here that most of us felt we conquered our trip. It didn't matter we still had a long way down (really long...), we were at the top of the Vincy world.

Inside the crater, there was a small pond to the side and a large rock dome covered with plants in the center. Clouds rose from the crater and joined the clouds that passed us by. From time to time, the clouds broke and we could see a gorgeous skyline surrounding the crater. In the distance we could see the north leeward town of Chateau and ship on the sea. I had heard of something called Soufriere grass, a specific variety that only grows up near the crater. Tradition is to pick a piece to carry back, but I realized than none of us knew what this grass looked like and all the grasses looked like the normal grasses elsewhere. lol--better luck next time.

We walked along the crater rim looking for the trail down the leeward side. Some of us went ahead early so we could climb down into the crater itself. On one side of the crater, people had secured large iron spikes into the rock and wrapped large rope to help descent into the crater below. It was a long way down and the small rocks were sharp, causing more than a few scratches to us on the way down. Inside the crater, everything seemed so massive and we so small. Sulfur permeated the air and we walked towards the rock dome. Of course, we had to have our victory poses and I went up the dome a bit to shot the smoking rocks. It was just after this that I had my only real downer of the whole trip. Because the sulfur smoke kept moisture on my camera, I kept wiping it with a cleaning cloth from my camera pouch. I forgot to zip the pouch shut and inadvertently lost my 3 extra camera specific batteries down into the crags of the boulders. Totally bogus. That oops means that I won't be able to take the barrage of photos I usually do until I get more batteries. Sadly, I wasn't able to shot nearly as much of the leeward trek down as I wanted to since the only battery I had left (in the camera) had died. Boo. >.<

(hint hint, if anyone feels like sending me a holiday gift, this link will take you the kind I lost and can be found at many different retailers....I wouldn't normally ask, but it sucks losing the batteries.)

Climbing up and down the crater wall took a bit out of us and we enjoyed another brief break before finding the trail down. Thankfully, Mark--the British volunteer--had done this hike before, but only from the leeward side. He identified which path we needed to take down, which certainly helped because some of us had already gone another path. It took a little bit to regroup, but had we all followed the wrong trail (there were no signs) who knows how far out of our way we might have gone.

The trail down leeward was a stark contrast to the windward trail. Most noticeably, whereas the windward trail was well-kept the leeward trail was at best a bush trail. The majority of it until under the tree cover was overgrown and the trail could barely be seen. At times, the trail thinned at points so much we had to grab patches of vines to help walk without slipping down the muddy slope. Rain came more often and took mini breaks under the tree cover. I got my first sting from a Jack Spaniard when walking through the bush. For those that don't know what a Jack Spaniard is....think big wasp. It got me on the inner side, last knuckle of my ring finger and it stung like heck! Good boy scout I was, I brought my travel 1st aid kit and a quick swab with a stick kit left it nice and clean.

The leeward trail wound down and back and forth much more than the windward side and across slopes descending into the Richmond valley. At some point, the trail merged along a 'dry', deep riverbed walking on black sand and tall earthen banks. We could see root structures and it the whole thing seemed out of some sort of Indiana Jones film, just waiting for some booby trap to spring. There was even a point in which we encountered a bat cave area--gladly we took a higher trail so that we didn't have to cross their turf and cause them any trouble. The riverbed eventually widened and opened up to the sunlight taking us into the final stretch of the trail. Oddly, there were nearly no signs as we exited the trail and it dumped us directly onto the beach with the sea in front of us.

It was about 1630-ish by this time. We were told the hike would take +/- 8 hours to complete, so that wasn't too bad given our breaks. Although we finished the main hike, we still needed to walk a bit down the beach towards the road. We had to cross a river and a couple streams and we it deeper in spots than we were expecting. I got my cell phone well (it was in my pocket) and the screen has gone screwy. I've left it open to dry since then and hopefully it will be alright. Good thing I brought my unlocked phone from home and the sim card works fine with it here. Once we got to the main road, we were supposed to walk another 45 min or so down to Chateau where some could catch van ride home. However by this time we were concerned that we wouldn't have made it back in time for the vans and a couple of us were extremely beat from the hike--it would have taken much longer than 45 min. Fortunately, I have the phone numbers of a few van drivers and arranged one of them to drive up to where we were for a rescue. ^_^

Great day...long day
Glad I did this one in a large group. It was lots of fun with only a few poopy exceptions.
Now, I'll be better prepped for the next trip. ^_^

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

Drum roll please.......
AND NOW---Pictures!
^_^
These are just some selected pics, but you can find nearly all of them in my public photo albums:
Album 1 of 3
Album 2 of 3
Album 3 of 3

Oops, forgot to hit on Rule #1

Last night I posted again and meant to cover what I call Rule #1. Seems I got wrapped up in talking about almost everything else and forgot to mention this part.

For me, Rule #1 isn't some formal policy from the Peace Corps or even a neighborly suggestion from community members. It's a personal code that I am trying to follow, just guidelines that I try to keep in order to make my time in the Peace Corps not only enjoyable, but effective. I'm sure that many people create little rules for themselves that govern their daily behavior. Some of them stem from religion, personal goals, professional values, etc. So any one individual's rules are likely to differ and I wouldn't expect my rules to be the right choice for others--just me.

So what is Rule #1?
--Stay on target.
Simple and straightforward. More or less--it means to me that I joined the Peace Corps for reasons and I'm here to do a job. Sure that job also comes along with the general adventures of life, which can pull a person in any direction at any time. So whenever I encounter choices to make here, whether it is project planning and activities or simply how I converse with the people here, I run everything through my rule filter first.



I'll admit that I don't always know what I should be doing with my time here or if what I am doing is perhaps the best usage of my time/skills--but I think that is normal for most of us. So the target I'm trying to stick to isn't always very clear. Perhaps I could describe it as more of a 'gut' thing. Yeah--not very logical for those that know me. However, I do know that I am going to keep trying to do my best and working one day at a time.

Why would I talk about this? Well, normally I wouldn't--but I feel like venting it as an outlet for not desiring to fully disclose to some of my community members how I feel/rational. This also extends into Rule #2. Yeah, I have quite a few--I'm a bit of a list maker. ^_^



Rule #2 is simply put--no drama, but I often allow this to be directly interpreted as 'no relationships'. No, I don't mean the generic meaning of relationship formed by meeting and working with others. I mean the closer relationships like courting, dating, intimacy, etc. I have nothing against other volunteers who choose to follow such decisions. Instead, I would offer support of their choices and wish them the best. Yeah, I understand that people say that 2 years is a long time and what happens happens. Although people back home should know I can be awfully stubborn when I get a particular mindset and goal in mind--I'm driven.

I'll agree that a relationship with a Vincentian is a great way to integrate within the community and gain insight perhaps unattainable from an outsider's perspective. Yet, I really think that any relationships formed here would be a direct violation of Rule #1. I'd lose sight of what I'm focusing on because I am busy thinking about the relationship. Of course there are other reasons as well--such as social acceptability here and the potential for unwanted drama should a relation go sour. The latter is certainly a big concern I am not willing to take from dating a local or volunteer. For me, it is better to 'walk alone' during my service and ensure that I don't do something that could make my time here unpleasant or worse--cause me to desire an early termination.

So back to why I'm writing this now that Rules 1+2 are known. During the past week, I've been engaging with people in my area no more or less than I usually do--but there are a series of questions that are becoming more frequent. Most of the questions center around my 'involvement' with a local girl. They want to know if I 'with anyone here' and after I tell them no, they want to know who I'm interested in and when I plan to get local girl. These sorts of questions have popped up from time to time since I've been here--but I can't believe how often I hear it lately. Daily is a minimum. It was usually from just guys at first, but nowadays it comes anyone--guy, girl, anyone I'm sitting around at the time or working with.

Sadly, even if I was to go and tell them I have someone back home as a first line defense--it doesn't make any difference. Nearly anyone I'm talking to about it doesn't seem to think that there would be any problems with dual (or more) relations and find it to be common and even acceptable. I tried to go neutral in my responses initially, but that got me plenty of funny looks. Lately, I tend to reply with the 'not ready yet' and 'having multiple relations is disrespectful'. That seems to go over better, for now. They reference how many volunteers have found great relationships here and many have married after service. Again, those that know me better would know what some of my personal views on marriage are and that is a conversation that I'm not willing to have with most people here.

It just seems that if I was to really open up with my community members about what I really think and feel about relationships, how I should/should not approach them, and what sort of people I'd be interested in...I would be put into a really awkward situation here and I don't want that. For now, I have a great relation with the community in general and they are very happy with me here. I'd like to keep it that way, so I vent it for all on you.

Hope ya don't mind. ^_^

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

Up and down and all around.....and Rule #1

Been a crazy week. Can't even recall what day it is from time to time, since I bounce around so much lately.

Yes, I'm still scrubbing the steel pan. It has been a very long process and the results are slow to come. The kids are excited, but I've been losing help with it given all the other community activities starting up. We have series of events for the Christmas holiday called 9 mornings. You can find more info on what it is here: http://itsninemornings.com/video/ While most of the activities are held in the capital, Kingstown, we still have some things energizing people here in Spring Village. A few people have organized what are called 5-ah-side sports competitions for netball and football (soccer). Most of those are running games every day until Christmas I believe. Also as part of the 9 mornings, most of the villages of SVG participate in what we call the 'lighting up' where each village decorates with holiday lights, props, and other festive decor with a particular theme and are judged accordingly. Our village chose the theme "expanding the joy of Christmas", but I'll be honest to say that most of use are not creative enough to figure out how to make that a visual message with lights. There has been much McGuyver-style rigging and the lights are expected to launch tomorrow night. We will have other activities, food, and music then as well. Because of all of this, most of the kids have left me cleaning the pan on my own...that and they really just want to start playing with them now but they are not ready yet and attention spans are faltering.

I've also helped at our regional area football competition finals last Sunday and the awards ceremony last night. The game was played well, but near the end sportsmanship took a dive. It is very unfortunate when grown men lose their control and begin to fight on the field. Sports is a major components of people's lives here and most youth look up to sports figures--both professionally and locally. It is a shame when those role models act in such childish ways. That wasn't the only fight of the night. As we were cleaning up from our usual social fund-raiser after party, some drunk guy decided to take one of the empty bottles I was carrying in bins and smash on another nearby guy. The second bottle he grabbed missed the target and smashed onto the case I was carrying--covering me in glass shards. No, I wasn't really hurt--just a few scraps and I didn't come into contacts with other open injuries (HIV safe!) Yes, I did follow up with my boss on it for those concerned. Again, I was more upset with the potential for stupid actions among people. The results from the actions of a few had caused our sports association to find a new venue for our awards ceremony as the local police would not allow us to have another social in that location. Bogus, but understandable given circumstances.

It seems as if a project might be forming...
I am making the required contacts to have a rather dilapidated old community library in dire need of repair under the ownership of the Catholic Church negotiated for sale to the community. Once it is ours, I will work to raise the materials for repair and I've already gotten the support of the tradesmen in the village for labor. We will plan to rebuild this structure as an annex of the community center which will hold the steel pan and other instruments as a music center. Should this turn into a project, it will take some time until it could actually be completed--updates will come as things develop.

Our local area tourism group is planning a cook fund-raiser for tomorrow night at the lighting up ceremony. I will be helping with the prep and labor. Should be good times. Although I'm happy to be working with this group, I will say that we are very disorganized and for the most part a wish-washy committed lot. I hope to help instill better structure and spirit into the group--again a long term thing for sure. Honestly, I don't know why this tourism group is separate from another greater regional association. The larger group's North Leeward name implies they would cover the village area of Spring Village, but still we have a segregated smaller group. The larger group is much more organized, established, networked with other contacts and does just about everything I'd hope our smaller group could aim for. Keeping them as our example will be a striving goal for this NGO development.

This past Thursday-Saturday morning, I met with many of us to hike the volcano--Soufriere. It was a great experience and one worthy of it's own blog. The next day after the hike, Saturday, I went back up to Dark View Falls with Scott and Steph--it was a good time and we harvested some tasty grapefruit from a tree for breakfast. After the other 2 went back, I stayed at Dark View to meet with my village's adolescent group who came up for a day trip activity. They teamed up with a nearby village of Troumaca's youth group for a picnic. I learned that there is a 2nd falls above the main falls of Dark View and I climbed up a small trail to see it. I didn't have my camera (boo), but I think it is better than the main--very pretty.

Today was a meeting with an IT Business group and interested locals who either already have a business or have start-up business ideas that would like to receive help and training on how IT and e-business can boost their business ventures. Keeping in good Vincy practice (although they were not Vincy--Finnish and German), the 9 am meeting started at 1030--but outside of that it was a good meeting and I had the opportunity to talk to them more on the side since I'll be instructing computer classes very soon.

Although my schedue as seemed rather full--I would expect most of my 'work' activities to come to a near grinding halt. Most of my expected duties require working with others and groups; with the holiday season here, things come to a veritable stand still. I'm not sure what to entirely do with myself during that time--yeah, I'll be festive with everybody else. Yet, I feel compelled to my workaholic nature to do something 'productive'.

I'm not sure if it is hearing all the variations of Christmas music on the radio--both original songs and Caribbean adaptations--but I've felt the draw to listen to lots of classical music lately. I have a decent assortment with me and have been enjoying its dancing melodies while typing this tonight.

And now for the following, the favorites--pictures:


Lil' iguana in a tree on banana harvest day

Yes, that is a tray of green bananas on my head!

From the trees, to the shipping, to your supermarket--Fair Trade, these go to England

Mixalot and I scrubbing away










Stay well and have fun
ciao tutti
~your local wannabe jedi
~Shawn