Getting Used to Time

As of tomorrow we will have been here for 3 weeks.  I would say that we are pretty settled into our home, although in the last few days a few more critters have been found in our home.  Hopefully we can keep this to a minimum though!

This last week the concept of time has really hit me.  This week was filled with teacher meetings and classroom prep.  The meetings rarely, if ever, started on time.  They also always ran longer than expected.  Pastor Tom told us that we may have to change our mindset on time.  He said that if a meeting is supposed to be an hour long that we should double that time and if it ends earlier than that it was a good meeting.  Hopefully by using this trick, I will become less frustrated as meetings run long.

Another thing I'm having a hard time getting used to is not having free access to a printer.  To make copies here is a process.  For instance, if I have something I want printed that I found online or had saved on my computer I first have to send it to the office to get printed and then if I want multiple copies I have to fill our a form and place it the copy box to get additional copies of it.  Therefore, the process of making a copy may take about 3 days to get accomplished. The people in the office are great though and I do appreciate all the work that they do for us.

While timing of things is still something I am getting used to, I will say that many positives came from this week. Here is one from each day.

Sunday:  We went over to Pastor Tom's house.  We spent some time cooling off in the pool, eating pizza, and watching Divergent.  It was nice to get out of our house and spend time with Ian, Pastor Tom, and Pastor Bram.

Monday: Tanya, Abby, and I enjoyed a nice cold glass of wine after a day full of meetings.

Tuesday: We had meetings at the local hotel.  It was nice to have a change in venue and we enjoyed being in air conditioning for the day!  We also had a GREAT snack and lunch at the hotel as well as dessert!

Wednesday and Thursday:  I got to meet some of my students during our 2 hour orientation! As of right now there are 29 Kindergartners that are split between 2 rooms and 3 teachers.  I am very thankful for my teaching partners and am excited to meet the rest of my students when school starts on Wednesday! :)

Friday:  Abby and I went to CIA (Christians in Action).  This is a group of people who are out of high school through mid 20's.  It was nice to meet some new people around our age and get to know them a bit better.  We had a bible study and played Taboo.

Saturday:  Abby and I woke up and went over to church to help clean.  Again we were able to interact with some of the people that we had met at CIA.  Later on Tanya, Abby, and I went to the mall and found some shops where we will be able to buy our Christmas gifts and souvenirs.

Sunday:  It was so nice to make it to church and worship with the people we have been building relationships with.  Now that I know more people, I am feeling more comfortable.  It's nice to see familiar faces and talk with them.  We made plans to go watch Insurgent at Pastor Tom's house that night, on Tuesday we are most likely going down Soufriere with Junior (a guys from church), and on Thursday we're going to the Landwehr's for supper.  We're excited to spend time with these people from church!

For those of you who have been wondering, Tropical Storm Erika that hit Dominica did not really affect us.  So far with these tropical storms, we have seen maybe a little extra rain and have noticed the humidity a bit more and lack of breeze.  We are keeping the people of Dominica in our prayers! From what we've been told, most hurricanes go north before hitting St. Lucia, however we are in hurricane season and there is always a chance that we could get hit by one.  I am not worried though, we have many people looking out for us on the island and even more so, God is watching over us!

Pastor Tom has one great view!

My huge plate of food from the hotel. 

Been here over a week!

Initially I was writing every day, but there are less and less new things to comment on or add to to the blog.  I'll recap you all on week 2 of living on the island!

Monday we had the day off so Tanya, Abby, and I headed out to check out some shops at the mall and then of course hit the beach.  We've learned that we will not be buying much in the terms of clothes and shoes here, as they are pretty expensive.  A simple cotton dress you could get at Walmart is sold for about 100EC (roughly 40 US).  While not everything is not that outrageous, I still think we'll stick to the clothes and shoes we bought if at all possible.

The beach is still definitely a highlight, although sometimes we get annoyed with all the "hey pretty ladies" that we hear from the native males.  We have learned not to respond or simply say "no thank you" and for the most part they leave us alone.  With 3 off us around we always have each other too, which has been a huge blessing.

On Tuesday we started classroom prep.  We cleaned our classrooms and I helped Teacher Robin (my co-teacher) out as much as I possibly could with going through the Reception boxes.   Now that the boxes are finally empty, I have been able to set my room up a little better.  (Pictures at the end of the blog.)  To my surprise I have more materials and activities for the children to use than I thought.  Most of these materials are Montessori materials, with the exception of the few that I was able to stuff in my suitcase.

Tuesday was also the day that we were able to see Pastor Tom.  It was very nice to see a familiar face again.  He brought us to the phone store and we were able to get our phones set up with island numbers!  This was a relief as we have been relying on wifi for communication, now we at least have a little money to make calls if need be.  Pastor Tom felt bad about not being here when we arrived so he sent us back home with a delicious dinner of macaroni and cheese and chicken that a lady at church made.  Let me tell you, it was the best food I had had all week!  I'll post a blog on food another day.

The rest of this week was filled with setting up my classroom and teacher meetings.  Last night we went to the beach to see the sunset.  Unfortunately the sunset was pretty lame, however we did get some pretty tasty drinks during happy hour at Spinnakers (the local restaurant/hut).  I think we will be making that a weekly tradition from now on as it gets us out of the house for a little while after dark.  It gets dark here around 6:30, so we are not able to do much after that and our bodies still think its bedtime.

The Playground 

There's a reading corner in the back

Desks for children and activities in the back

Circle Time and Calendar Area 

Church and the Weekend

Today Abby and I were able to make it to church.  This was definitely a highlight for us!  We were very thankful for Pastor Bram who picked us up at 7:45.  We were just a few of the many people he picked up this morning before church.  Since church started a little after 9, we had a little extra time to spend reading the Bible and looking around the church.  We helped turn on the fans and positioned ourselves in a spot where we would be able to enjoy those fans during the service.

Church is a bit different here.  While the service started a little after 9, people trickled in from the start until part way through the sermon.  Another difference is the music.  At Trinity they have a band that plays all the music.  This morning the band consisted of guitar, flute, percussion, and steel pan (at least I think that's what its called).  Tassia and Evodia from MLC were in church this morning so we were able to see and talk with them for a little bit before they head back to school this week.  It's always nice to see familiar faces! I took some pictures of the church and you will find them at the bottom of this post.

The people at Trinity were very welcoming to us and we are slowly learning names and trying our best to remember them! :)  This morning was the 2nd time we were able to see some of the people from church, since we saw some of them on Friday night at the children's play that some of the children from church put on.

The play on Friday night was very fun for us to watch.  It gave us a taste of the St. Lucian culture.  Pastor Bram drove us there and back (again we were just one of many people he dropped off).  Pastor Bram got a flat tire on the way back so we got back pretty late from the play.  We are thankful though that we were at a member's house though and that Pastor knew how to change a flat!

As for yesterday, we made it to the market and later at night headed to the Marina for a drink.  We left while it was still light out so we were able to walk to the Marina, but by the time we left it was dark so we took our first bus ride back to our road. We've been told it's not safe for us to walk back at night. Because Tanya, Abby, and I are all white, we draw lots of attention, particularly from males.  We've gotten good at ignoring their comments, saying no, and walking away.

  

Our Street, Rodney Crescent 

Trinity's playground for the Preschool

Rows of chairs with many fans to help keep people cool face the engraved altar.

Our First Days

As I am writing this I would say that I am feeling better about the move.  Yesterday was filled with many positives.  We officially have wifi! That was huge.  We no longer have to sit in the field outside of the Montessori Centre to use school's wifi (although I'm sure the couple of teachers who saw us doing this got a kick out of it.)  With wifi I was able to Skype with Kelsey and my parents last night.  It has also been easier to stay in contact with people here, as almost everyone has whatsapp.
Yesterday we were also able to make it to the beach (about a 30 minute walk). We're definitely enjoying our time on the beach and its a great way to cool off!  We were very productive with our time and walking and got lunch at the supermarket on the way to the beach, as well as groceries on the way back.   Our last highlight was getting fans!  Last night was the first night that I didn't turn my A/C on in the middle of the night because I was hot.  The fan makes a huge difference!

As for today, we had a new staff meeting in the morning and came back to clean.  We headed to the beach this afternoon which was perfect and tonight Pastor Bram will be picking us up to go to the children's play at Trinity Lutheran Church. I'm really excited to see some familiar church faces!

Here are a few pictures of our house for whoever would like to see! :)

Our living room

Dining Room

Kitchen

My bedroom

The Marina

The school I will be teaching at.

Ahh... I could get used to this! 

My new home... well the bottom anyways!

1st Night

Today I moved to St. Lucia.  How many people can say that in their lifetime?  I live on an island… I don’t think it has quite hit me yet.  The morning started at about 2:30 A.M. for me and is still going at 10:30 tonight as I write this.  I wouldn’t say that today has been an easy day.  It was definitely not easy saying goodbye to my family this morning, or last night, or a few days ago.  Toting around my 50 lb. carry on also was not easy, but the coffee pot made it and I am sure I will be thankful in the morning! J We arrived safe and sound in St. Lucia at about 2:30 where we were met up with Mrs. Murray’s niece who gave us a ride home from the airport.  Upon arrival we were able to bring our bags in the house and had about 10 minutes or so to look around and decide what we wanted to go buy at the stores.  Two workers at the school helped and advised us on what was a good deal and what we should wait on.  It was quite the adventure and very overwhelming, but we managed and were very thankful for the extra help!  After spending some time at the store we came home and enjoyed our first meal in our apartment! Abby and I split cheesy potatoes and some beef tips.  While not the best food, it was very satisfying.  I apparently forgot to eat today so all I had eaten up until about 8:30 tonight were the 4 biscoff cookies I had on the plane.  Eating gave me a second wind and we started the cleaning.  Our apartment was nasty! So we’ve been cleaning and putting away our things all night.  While not unpacked, at least I have a start!  Two downsides so far, It’s hot and we have no Wi-Fi at our house yet.  We’re feeling a bit cut off from our family and friends, but I guess it has given us some quality cleaning time which we needed!  

Well I best get some sleep.  Hopefully I can, but without my A/C/ on we'll see! Oh and it's noisy from all the bugs outside, but so far only 1 small bug in our house!  Let's hope it stays that way! :)

Here is us at our first St. Lucia shopping experience! We all made it safely!

Prepping to Leave

Well I'm a week out, so I decided I should find a nice blogging site to keep people posted on my year in St. Lucia. I am hoping that I will take time to post on this, so that my friends and family can keep up to date on my latest St. Lucia stories. :)  

A week from now I will be on an airplane flying to Atlanta and then to St. Lucia.  I must admit, I am nervous.  I think that nervousness comes from the unknown: the unknown of living in a new country and the unknown of what my first class will be like.  I think every first year teacher would admit that they are nervous though so that's probably an okay feeling to have.  With that nervousness comes excitement though too!  I am so excited to spend time with the members of the Trinity Lutheran Church, as well as enjoy beautiful St. Lucia! When I went to visit in May the members were so welcoming.  I can't wait to become involved with the congregation and meet even more people! 

Anyways this week is being filled with spending time with family and friends, as well as packing.  Will everything fit in my suitcase?  I guess we'll just have to wait and see! :)