the dead don't worry about mosquitoes

Buried by buddy Murphy today in good Vincy style. People from all over gathered in and around the church area. Many people didn't bother with the church service part, although they were very well dressed. Once the services were over they put his casket into the hearse which would drive slowly up the village towards the graveyard. While the hearse drove on, they would be followed by steel pans and boom drums playing merry songs--most of them gospel. The people trailed all around in a 'jump-up' of song and dance, much akin to a road party. We sang and danced our way all the way up to the cemetery.



After the pastor said a few words, his body was laid to rest. Even in nicely ironed dress clothes, I still grabbed a shovel and helped toss the dirt to cover his casket. We don't just make the burial ground even with rest of the ground--it becomes a mound that creates perhaps a 3' high dome of dirt. Then the mound is covered with little flowers, various leaves, and small plants that are just rammed into the loose dirt. We dance in circles around the mound while holding lit candles that are then placed into the dirt to burn themselves down. From the cemetery we have another 'jump-up' back down to the village for refreshments.

It might be just me--but I don't think I've fully acclimated to the West Indies weather here yet. Sure, we have our cool spells and all the rain we've been having has helped, even though that spiked the humidity. :( So even in my white shirt and under my umbrella, I was still cooking. You can imagine what sort of mess I might have looked like after a couple jump-ups. Maybe I'll be next....


Even still, I managed to find good times dancing in the street. I'm pretty sure the locals who were looking on had a good laugh and great time. There was a very old woman doing a little dance to the steel pan and the crowd was smiling at her and gave her space. So what did I do? I jumped right next to her and mimicked her every move, causing an eruption of laughter and surprise. Just my style I suppose. There was another good laugh as we were coming back down and one lady started to wind up on me (local style of dance--most easily identified by front to back dry humping, intensity varies). Integrated as I am and not really giving a hoot, I joined in and again it seemed I was a crowd pleaser. Oh the things I do for integration...

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But yes, the wet season is coming in force. Today there were like rain sprinkles, even though the clouds looked happy and fluffy--so strange. Friday night and Saturday brought with them torrents of rain. Now that I've gotten myself a scuba mask and fins (YEAH! ^_^), I was supposed to go with a couple guys to go dive fishing in our bay. Too bad all the rain clouded the waters--from the stirred up sand and the dark runoff coming in heavily from the river estuary in our bay. So diving was rescheduled till further notice. boo.

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Finally figured out what was wrong with my throat and got a cure.

Actually, that would be too easy wouldn't it? Went back to the ENT doctor Wednesday. Said good news is that red swelling on the vocal cords seems to have abated, however the polyp is still there and has become more refined and pronounced. He didn't say if the latter was good or bad... For now, I get to wait until my inhaler comes in the mail and use that for a few weeks. If significant change isn't seen, the doc is recommending a surgery to remove it and then send it to the lab for analysis. The procedure he says is rather easy to do and he has done several at our local hospital in Kingstown. Until then, I'm still very hoarse but need my voice to work.

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St. Vincent and the Grenadines is currently undergoing a draft bill to propose a new constitution for the country. The constitution currently in place for almost 30 years now ever since SVG gained independence from England. The current government has been gathering and reviewing information to develop this new version. Much of it is the same, but there are several big changes. I won't got the drawn out stuff, but I did see a few things I wanted to note. It seems that SVG is trying to do like many states back home and put a legal definition for marriage.

The proposed constitution defines marriage to be allowed between a person who is born biologically male and a person who is born biologically female. My dear readers--let's not hold debate on this, as I'm sure opinions are split. I am doing my best to stay apolitical, but I must raise an eyebrow at the determinate of being 'born biologically'. What about those few people who are born to both genders? I suppose their intention is to rule out those who have changed genders, but it still makes for a messy hot-button issues. Certainly not as hot-button as back home, but there are those who disagree with same gender marriages that yet don't think it belongs in the constitution.

Actually I had an enlightening discussion with a Vincentian about this topic. This person, who is qualified to speak on such matters, told me that the EU offers quite a bit of funding for various projects. However there is a large quantity of that funding that has some portion of it with requirements that relate to LGBT issues--a sort of if you want the rest, you'll have to include this type of funding. He spoke of increasing pressure on the West Indies islands to reduce the homophobic attitude, but it appears the majority of people simply are not interested in that sort of change. So while he did not say it directly, such constitutional clauses like a heterosexual only marriage and retention of buggery laws would allow a country to reject the sections of such funding as it might challenge sovereign constitutionality.



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Not sure what it is, but for some reason my bathroom seems to be the base of operations for an army of mosquitoes. Ok perhaps not an army, but surely enough to be very annoying. I thought I found a spot near my toilet that led to who knows where and I thought they were coming in from there. I plugged it up with a towel and that seemed to keep them to a minimum. Now, they're back and I see them flitting about in the corners of my eyes. So for now, I am hunting them one by one--trying to keep ahead of the reinforcements.

It will be an epic battle.....


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Lastly, I recently read another volunteer's blog-->Karen on St. Lucia, where she credited some photos to her friend and linked to a site displaying all sorts of trash issues. More than 9 months here and I'm glad that I still get ticked off as seeing all the garbage here on the streets, rivers, and beaches. It isn't as bad in my village as compared to the larger town areas or Kingstown--where some streets smell terrible from it. However, the trash situation here was put into context when I saw some of these linked pictures. Sure, I know garbage is a problem in many countries--developed and developing alike. Not too long ago, Italy had it's own garbage crisis where it was piling high in the streets of Napoli and much of it got shipped up to Germany. Unfortunately, the rise of populations, consumer habits, and mass production are contributing to a booming catastrophe just waiting to happen. The answer isn't as easy as reduce/reuse/recycle or use less packaging--the economics and politics of garbage goes much deeper.

Check out the photos I saw by clicking on this picture below:


Stay safe and happy,
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

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:

Ready.....Steady.....GO!!!

And it's official! I am now a fully-fledged volunteer, with all the right and duties and ups and downs that come with the role. ^_^ On Monday, the 20th, we had a good-sized ceremony at a government center with several officials and people of note. It was conducted by our boss on SVG, Mr. Cool, and our country director, Margo (out of St Lucia). One of our group was nominated to give a speech it was awesome. Normally I would have taken a ton of photos, but I was sitting in a 'special section' for us....so one of the other volunteers took some good ones. The local media crews filmed the whole thing and they told me I could get a digital copy later....just have to follow up on that.
--Here's a pic of EC78, our crew. Kudos to us, nobody quit! Actually, nobody quit from any of the EC78 crew--including those that went to St Kitts & Nevis or St Lucia. Our staff is so pleased--they say that usually 10% of volunteers drop before training ends.



So becoming a regular volunteer also means that I'm now on my own. Saturday and Sunday I moved into my own apartment in the village. It's a cute little place--kitchen, bathroom, main room and 2 bedrooms--yeah I can have guests. There are a few issues that I won't discuss here....but I will say that a previous volunteer (a couple years ago) made a real hard time for the landlady which is causing grief for the Peace Corps now. I'm in a spot that is conviently located for the places I'll be working and the locals can pass by regularly. Because lots of kids pass by there and they know my name--I get shouted out regularly. I'm still getting used to them calling out my name and when I answer, they don't. I guess they just like to same my name. ^_^

Tomorrow I am going to town to try and negotiate getting my cable internet installed. The dsl here (Cable and Wireless) is down regularly--even though the locals say it is better than the cable internet provider (Karib Cable). What sucks is the massive deposit they require for 'non-locals', even though we are here by request and will be here for 2 years. Sure we get that deposit back (or should), but coming up with the cash right away is not cool or easy. I suppose complaing doesn't help. I mean, I was expecting dial-up and for the cutthroat price of around 10% of my monthly allowance I will get a whopping 1.1 (supposedly) Mbps 'high-speed' service. It really makes me appreciate my job with Comcast back home...

For those that keep tabs on the weather--Hurricane Omar had done a quick sweep and passed over the north end of the island chain, hitting St Kitts & Nevis. Gladly, all of the volunteers and I'd hope the locals are all ok and safe. The waves caused from the hurricane came all the way down here in force. It destroyed lots of fishing boats and jetties on our northern coasts. Even Kingstown, on the southern end, of St Vincent had high waves. The pic below was taken near one of the bus terminals. Previously, there were wooden stalls that lined the row and the waves destroyed them all and washed them down the street. The wave in the pic is probably 10 feet or so high over the cement wall--probably 16 feet or so altogether as it hit the land.



Today, I attended another meeting of the Cumberland Valley Environmental Group--an organization here in the village. They meet to discuss a project that will be going on with the nearby beach. The government had requested tourism facilities be erected around SVG to help cope with the collapse of the banana trades here. After several years, this project should soon be ready to break ground and finish before the end of 2009. Although the government requested it and the European Union is helping fund it and will operate with a non-government team here, the local community will be responsibile for it after it is complete. Unfortunately, I'm learning that the community really isn't on board with this project and feel very closed out of the process. The project team is looking to me to help bring aspects of this group together and train them; whereas the local group will need my help to try and find advocates to bring them into the project process. This one will end up becoming some delicate balancing acts and seems to be one of my first activities....

I'll also be starting my 2nd pupil for computer training. The group's secretary does very well with records and seems to do a good job. She doesn't know how to use a computer--so I'll be showing her how to maximize her secretarial duties. Hopefully my payback will be learning/meeting more people here in the village. I haven't met too many adults yet and this will be a good inroads.

I think the NGO Developer role that I've been assigned to will be a good fit for me and will become a double positive. On one side, I'll be helping the people of Spring Village with skills training and organizational development and on the other side, I'll be gaining massive amounts of practical experience that will assist me in graduate school and hopefully politics & policy.

Before I kick-off here, I thought I'd toss up one last photo....
After our 'graduation', the other volunteers who have already been here a year invited us for a swim & chill on the beach at a place called Beachcombers (total tourist area and not our normal place to go). I decided it was time for another tasty round of coconut water and for only EC$2 ($1.50 away from tourist areas) it was still cheaper and better than a soda. There are 2 common kinds of coconuts--the kind you usually drink they call here a waternut. It was a bit strange to me at first, but it's growing on me. I guess this shot is a bit of a caribbean classic.




The SVG independence day is coming up on the 27th. On Sunday the 26th, I hope to be going on a trip to the island of Mustique--land of the rich and famous--on a special independence boat ride. Still have to figure out how I'm getting to town and back for that--since the buses don't usually run on Sundays...more to come later.

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