St. Lucia : 3 Months Down

Today I was staring out the window and watching a hummingbird sucking nectar from one of our plants when it hit me. Wow! My life has changed quite a bit in the last 3 months. For example when I first arrived, I was shocked at the amount of crabs I saw. Not many people can say they see crabs every day, but I can. In the States, all the birds are flying south for the winter, but here I can still marvel at the beauty of a hummingbird. I’m blessed to live in St. Lucia and enjoy God’s beautiful creation with the amazing people I have met! It’s the middle of November and it still hasn’t quite hit me that I am 30 days away from being back in the States for Christmas when I will get to see my family and friends. I’m excited to experience the cold again and to actually be able to enjoy a warm cup of coffee. I’m excited to eat the many foods that I’ve been missing, but I am also excited that I will be able to leave the cold behind again and come back to my life in St. Lucia.

This week started off on a positive note. All of the schools in St. Lucia were called off due to an impending storm that never came through. I was very thankful for the day off as I hadn’t slept well the night before. In the middle of the night the power was turned off which means my fan stopped running. I woke up sweating and couldn’t fall back asleep until the power turned back on and I was able to get a little air circulating in my room. I had woken up crabby and not wanting to go and when I got my wish, of course I was too excited to go back to sleep. Overall though a good day of getting things accomplished!

Tuesday was Sticky Group and the night we celebrated Jen’s birthday. Sheena made some yummy chocolate cupcakes and we brought Pringles for the group to snack on. While at Sticky Group we talk about the sermon from the week, but we also have been planning the Advent by Candlelight service. This is what our group is doing for the congregation this year and I’m really excited to be a part of it!

Thursday was piano lessons and unlike last week, this week was packed! Abby and I had lessons from 5-7:30 which got stretched to 8. I’m excited that we can do this for church and it’s nice to have quite the variety of people. I am currently teaching Laurie, Ravi, Augustina, and Casey on Thursdays. I am also teaching Ian on Sundays. We are blessed to have students who truly want to learn how to play. After piano lessons are over, Casey gave me my 2^nd guitar lesson. I realized how hard it would be to learn guitar with only having lessons once a week, so Casey agreed to give me a 2^nd lesson on Saturday afternoon.

Friday after school we went out for happy hour and fries at Spinnakers. It was a nice relaxing way to finish off the week. We may make it a new thing: French fry Fridays! J

Saturday Casey and Kerne were nice enough to join us on our adventure to the market. It was nice to go with Lucian’s who knew how to take the bus, as well as where to go once we got to town. Abby, Tanya, and I enjoyed looking at all the things that were for sale and got some of our Christmas gifts figured out. After the market, we made macaroni and cheese and cheesy garlic bread for the guys. Casey gave me my 2^nd guitar lesson for the week and I can now say that I know how to play Jingle Bells on the guitar! Just in time for Christmas!

This week I was able to try some Dewali desserts and boy were they good! I am not sure what I had, it may have been Gulab Jamun, but it was delicious! It was basically a donut soaked in sugar and my sweet tooth was loving it!

Sunday was church and Sunday School. I am coming down with a cold, but not letting that get in the way of events that are happening. Tonight I went on a cruise ship for a concert. While it wasn’t necessarily my favourite music, the money was for a good cause and I was able to enjoy some delicious snacks with good company.

Next week I open school and I am not looking forward to getting up extra early. Oh well! Maybe I’ll be able to get more work done than I think!

“Therefore, my dear brother, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourself fully to the work of the Lord because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” - 1 Corinthians 15:58