St. Lucia : October has Begun

Good morning everyone! It's Monday and it's a holiday! I only just found out about this holiday last Sunday, but all week I was looking forward to a 3 day weekend! The holiday is Thanksgiving, however Thanksgiving here is no where near as big of a deal as it is in the states. Most of my children didn't even know it was Thanksgiving. I'm just thankful for a break and I'll take any that I'm given! From what I'm told, St Lucia celebrates the most holidays compared to any other country. This will be a nice bonus to living and teaching here! :)

October has just begun and life is starting to settle down. Here is a little recap of my week.

On Monday night Abby and I were invited over to Pastor Bram's for a cook out. He made brats on the grill and they were delicious! Abby and I wanted to contribute something to the meal, so we brought over brownies. Apparently Lucian's really like their brownies because the whole pan was gone before we left. I guess we know what we can bring to other people's homes when we are invited! While at Pastor Bram's we started to learn how to play Settlers of Catan. This is a game that is often played among the people from church, so we were thankful for Sheena, Ravi, and Casey who began to teach us.

After school on Tuesday Jennifer took us to the beach to go swimming. This was the first time that I actually went for a swim on the beach. Most times when we go to the beach, we walk the 30 minutes and all we want to do is cool off, but this time I decided a little exercise is probably good for me. Tuesday night was Sticky Group, in which some really good discussions happened, plus it is always nice to see people from church throughout the week.

On Thursday I survived my first earthquake (although I didn't even know that it had happened). It happened at about 2:30 in the afternoon while I was teaching. While I know of some people on the island who did feel it, I did not know about it until about 4:00 when Jennifer took us grocery shopping. We really appreciate Jennifer and all she does for us! Letting us tag along to the store so we can learn about the different foods, as well as buy some groceries that we don't have to carry home is such a blessing!

Friday was a bit crazy at school. I think the children realized a long weekend was coming up and there was just excitement in the air. Friday night Abby, Tanya, and I went on a Sunset Cruise aboard the Pirate Ship. After getting home from school we rushed to change, eat, and walk to the Marina. We were told to arrive for 4:30 so that we could pay and we were in such a hurry because we thought we were going to be late. We couldn't find the office to pay and we began to panic just a bit. Well our panic was for nothing. We again were reminded that we are living in St. Lucia as the guy we paid remarked how early we were. I guess I would still rather be early than late, but we were the only ones aboard the ship until about 4:55. In general we really enjoyed the cruise. While there was really not a sunset, we still had a great time on the ship with some free food which included a small burger and free drinks. It was a nice and relaxing time and in some ways made us feel like tourists.

On Saturday, Stacy picked us up and we enjoyed the nice beach by their house. It was part of a resort so we were actually able to sit in beach chairs for the first time since getting here. The beach was gorgeous and well worth the walk down and up the hill! Staci also made us some really good salsa chicken in her crockpot. I really enjoy spending time with the Landwehrs and it is so kind that they invite us over to their home every now and then.

Yesterday morning we went to church and were able to witness 2 adult Baptisms and Confirmations. These 2 adults, who are also sisters, will be working with Abby and I to learn how to teach Sunday School. The goal is that they will be able to teach without our help before we leave. It was a very cool for us to see these two ladies getting baptized and confirmed at church.

Yesterday afternoon Jennifer took us to Donkey Beach with some of her friends. This beach is located on the Atlantic side so the waves are a lot stronger. It's really cool to be able to see God's creation in different ways. Looking at the waves and how strong and powerful a single wave can be is just mind boggling sometimes. It was again such a relaxing time on a gorgeous beach. We hiked around a bit and then took a "sea bath" as they call it here. A sea bath is basically when someone just goes in the water to cool off. I love spending time at the beach and being able to not just go to the same beach every time is pretty amazing!

Last night we made our first batch of guacamole which was made from the biggest avocado I have ever seen. It was easily the size of my fist. I think we will be buying avocados from now on when we see them!

Since today is a holiday I am looking forward to the resting at home. I need to prepare a bit for school, as well as clean and go to the supermarket. We also may attempt to make some salsa from the tomatoes we have frozen. Hoping it turns out as well as the guacamole!

This whole weekend we have caught ourselves saying, "and this is home." Not many people can call an island home, but we can. It's a hard life, I know! :)