End of September Already?

This week was 10x better than last week, just because of the fact that I'm feeling better.  (I have taken a break from roti because the curry was upsetting my stomach.)  I think my students are beginning to understand the routine of things and everything is coming together.

I also am getting into a routine both at home and at school.  On Tuesday, I had my first staff meeting after school.  It went 2 1/2 hours long and made Tuesday feel very long.  Tuesday night was also the first night of Sticky Group.  Sticky group is a smaller groups of people from church that get together to enjoy each others company, as well as take a deeper look into Sunday's mornings message.  While it got to be a late night, I am going to enjoy Tuesday nights at Pastor and Jen's.

Wednesday was the first day that my class had P.E.  While I do love my class, it was nice to be able to take a little bit of a breather when they headed outside to have P.E. with Coach.  I am looking forward to next week when most of our other special classes begin as well.  After school was our typical planning meeting and I was able to go home and finish off those plans for the following week. Wednesday night Jennifer brought us to the store to show us what she buys for food (particularly meat). From the meat that we bought, we were able to make chicken taco meat in the crockpot, as well as pork roast.  We are liking that we now have a source of protein in our diets. 

Thursday Pastor Tom came over to help me set up a U.S. IP address.  While this may seem like a silly thing to be excited over, it definitely made my day as I can now keep up with the television shows that I watch in the States.  We are also able to listen to Spotify and Pandora again, which means I can keep up to date on the latest songs in the States.  

Friday night was spent cleaning and relaxing.  We again had Scruffy (grade 3's turtle) for the weekend.  He has shell rot so Tanya has to keep an eye on him. For a turtle Scruffy is very entertaining and we don't mind having a "pet" around.  On Friday we took Scruffy outside for a walk.  We all went out and watched him on the porch.  On Saturday Scruffy went for another walk, but this time in the grass.  He tried to make a run for it and even made it through our neighbors fence before Tanya could catch him.  Sunday, Scruffy got out of his cage and climbed onto our keyboard. (He must've wanted to learn how to play.)   He is a very talented turtle and can just about get out of anything.  

Saturday we were very excited to spend some of our day shopping for Christmas presents, as well as go to the beach.  It has been awhile since we've made it to Reduit Beach and we were excited to go, relax, and cool off for the day.  

Sunday again was church and Abby played piano in the service along with the band.  It sounded lovely.  I sat in with the youngest Sunday School class, as in 2 weeks I will begin teaching Sunday School for them.  I am looking forward to being able to teach Bible Stories to children, as I haven't been able to do that yet this year.

This weekend I was so very thankful to be able to talk to some family and friends via Skype and Whatsapp.  They help keep me going.  Technology has made it very easy to live in a different country.  Over 2000 miles away from family and friends, but that distance seems minimal when I am able to communicate with the people that I miss in the states.  

I am very blessed to live here and I thank God for all the people He has put into my life both in the States and here that have made my transition easier.

Our pretty flowers tree

Scruffy goes on a walk.

Scruffy gets through the fence.

Island life!

The buildings are so colorful. I love it!

Food and Week 3 of School

As promised here is a little bit on what I eat in St. Lucia. We have a gas stove in our house which is where we do most of our cooking. We use our microwave occasionally as well and once we clean our oven we can use that too. We are hoping to use the crock pot soon, but are waiting for Jennifer to bring us to the store to show us what meat she uses in hers.  

Every morning for breakfast I wake up and make myself some eggs and toast.  We don't have a toaster so I make egg in a whole on the stove.  I normally finish my breakfast with a banana and peanut butter, as well as a bit of cold coffee.  Saturdays Abby and I make pancakes for breakfast.  Often I will put some of my banana in a pancake and top my pancakes with peanut butter and syrup.  A great weekend treat! Abby and I also bought cereal and every once in awhile will eat Honey Bunches of Oats or Frosted Flakes with some milk. 

Snacks include many fruits that are grown on the island.  Sweet oranges, watermelon (on a rare occasion), and bananas are my top choices, but I've eaten mangos, plums, ackee, five fingers, passion fruit, breadfruit, and others.  We have freezie pops for when we are hot and sticky, and buy popcorn often as it a cheap snack that we enjoy making. 

Lunches I am now eating at school.  School lunches are very basic, but I think they will suffice.  The meals are prepared right at school and the menu rotates every other week.  They make spaghetti, roti, pizza, macaroni and cheese, potatoes, etc. I have decided to lay off the chicken roti for awhile though as it upsets my stomach.  

Dinners after school so far have been very simple.  Rotisserie chicken, bread, potatoes, onions, ground turkey, minced beef, salad, cucumbers, fruit, green beans, and pasta- spaghetti or mac and cheese.  While I'm sure I"m missing a few things in this list, I think that this has hit most of the foods we have eaten.  This week we splurged and bought brats to eat.  We paid more money than normal, but I think it was well worth it! 

Desserts at the beginning were rare in our diet.  We splurged one day and bought ourselves a butterfinger candy bar.  Now that school has begun though, we have had plenty of cake around.  Abby and I almost always bring home cake for each other.  I'm glad someone else shares my sweet tooth! Abby and I also splurged and bought 3 packs of brownie mix at Mega J's (like Costco) and last weekend we made our first batch.  We were very thankful for Pastor and Jennifer who let us make the brownies at their house last Sunday, since we don't have a pan yet for our house or a clean oven to use.

This week was fairly similar to last week, but included our first parent meeting.  It was nice to meet many of the parents that I will be working with.  Wednesday night we finally made it to the beach for happy hour, which we all enjoyed very much.  Friday morning our gas for the stove ran out so Mrs. Murray brought Tanya to go pick some more up after school.  Being that we use the stove for every meal, we were happy to get that taken care of right away.  Abby and I went to CIA at church.  It was nice to be around people our own age, but man did we come back tired!

Today Jennifer took us to the Pink House.  It's a restaurant with a pretty view and good food.  It's a great place to relax and enjoy each other's company. We also visited Mrs. Flemming, a member at church.  While visiting she gave us simosas (an Indian fried food), peanuts, and sprite.  The simosas were delicious! Mrs. Flemming is such a sweet lady and in some ways reminds me of Evelyn Faught.  She has many flowers in her yard and actually is the lady who brings flowers to church every week.  They are always lovely! 

I included a few pictures from the week for you all to enjoy.  

Last Saturday on the Atlantic Ocean

Lots of seaweed, but still gorgeous!

Tuesday was a bit embarrassing. We all accidentally matched...

The Pink House. Such a lovely place for lunch.

View from lunch

Beautiful pottery and painting is done here!

The cute kitten that wanted my food.

The Pink House

Meet Scruffy. Grade 3's class pet.
He is now the 3rd turtle we've had to watch over the weekend.
He is more entertaining than Abby's turtles though!

School has Begun!

Well the day finally arrived! The first day of school was last Wednesday and it went smoother than I expected.  I forgot how tired I get after a day of school.  Since then school has gone well.  I have two completely different groups of children, each with their own sets of challenges.  I am hoping as routines form, the days will become smoother.  Most days I come back exhausted from the day. In fact this last Monday I was in bed and asleep by 8 p.m. I look forward to taking a nice cold shower at the end of the day and the sleep that I am able to get.

Despite being tired, last Thursday night we went over to the Landwehr's house for dinner.  It was very nice to get away from the house and school and enjoy time with their family (plus we didn't have to make dinner for ourselves). :)

Friday night Mrs. Murray brought us to Gros Islet night.  Gros Islet night is every Friday night in the fishing village.  We enjoyed some fish for dinner, as well as got to see where the street party is.  It was a fun and relaxing night, but when we got home we all showered and went to bed.

Saturday was a lazy day.  We didn't want to do ANYTHING.  We ventured out later in the afternoon to get some groceries, but other than that we spent our day watching Netflix and working on school stuff.

Sunday was church and after church Junior and Shenelle took us to down south to Soufriere.  Soufriere is where the beautiful Pitons are, as well as the Sulphur Springs.  We loved seeing the different parts of the island!  On the way down we stopped and got Cassava bread.  If I am remembering correctly cassava is a root.  There were many different choices, but I had banana cassava bread.  We stopped at a Junior's previous school he taught at and enjoyed lunch on the beach.  Junior and Shenelle's daughter Nia was my little buddy for the day.  I held her in the car all the way too and from Soufriere.

This week I have been tired, but functioning.  As my school schedule stands right now, I am teaching one group on Mondays and Wednesdays, and the other group of children Tuesdays and Thursdays.  I would say that this is a positive for me, as am able to go through the lesson with one group and then improve on the lesson the next day.

Well I made it past the halfway point of the week! Looking forward to two more days of school and then a much needed weekend.

The Fish Fry 

Gros Islet night 

First day of school selfie 

How we stay sane

The cockroach I found my first day of school... 

"Baths" that drain water from the sulfur springs

The Pitons (well one of them)

Sulfur Springs- the active volcano I believe

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!