Rough Beginning, Great Ending

This week started off a bit rough.  I finally came down with the cold that has been plaguing my classroom for the last few weeks.  I felt miserable with my coughing, sneezing, and congestion.  Throughout the day people were giving me advice like “go take a sea bath” or “go on a jog, you’ll sweat it out of your system,” however I did not feel like walking to the beach nor going for a jog.  Najma told me about some medicine she took that I could get at the grocery store, so Abby was kind enough to go with me to get Histal DC.  Let me tell you that is miracle medicine because I felt soooo much better the next day! 

Monday was the first day I had to open school, so on top of being sick, I had to get up extra early to get to school.  Upon arrival no one was there. Why? Well a little over a week ago a sink hole appeared in the middle of the road right down the road from us.  They have closed the road and are rebuilding the bridge, but in the meantime traffic is horrendous as people have to go the long way around. 

Tuesday I had my first parent meeting which went well and opened my eyes to how conferences will go in the near future.

Wednesday, Teacher Robin was out for the day with a relative, so Najma and I had the classroom.  While a bit of a change, the school day went really smoothly and overall was a good day.  After school was a teacher workshop on child observation.  I felt like I was back in Observation and Assessment class. 

Thursday was piano at church and again I am reminded of how blessed we are to help.  I’m extremely proud of my students for practicing outside of lessons and working just as hard in lessons.  After piano, I had guitar lessons which are also going well.  I can officially play a G, D, and C chord! 

Friday was an early release from school. After school however we had a staff meeting that lasted until 4.  I was impressed that it didn’t go longer.  Pastor picked us up for CIA at church and we ended the night playing Taboo in which the ladies won both times!  We were pretty excited about the victory, the guys not so much!

Saturday we had planned on going to the beach, however that plan was squashed with the rain.  On the bright side, it was the first day I’ve been able to sleep past 7:15 when I am normally awakened by the sun.  It felt great to sleep until 8:45!  Instead of going to the beach our big adventure was a wet trip to the grocery store. The walk was actually very refreshing! At the store we officially met our neighbor Samuel who has lived in many places, but just moved to St. Lucia about 3 months ago.  The highlight of the day was the guacamole we made.  It was the best guacamole yet because we finally have our proportions right along with the right ingredient (tomato, shado beni, avocado, garlic, salt and pepper). 

As I’m writing this and thinking about today I can’t help but smile.  It was a great day! I finally made it to the beach, it has been at least 3 weeks, and not just any beach but Anse Cochon. Pastor Tom and Jennifer asked if we’d like to join them on the trip down south and of course we couldn’t pass it up!  This is a black sand beach that has snorkeling.  While the snorkeling was not quite as good as the last time we came, I was still able to see many fish and a gorgeous rainbow that appeared as it rained.  If only I had my camera to capture it! As we were leaving we also saw an agouti.  I included a google image of what this is below.   Abby and I ended the day watching the Packer game at Keebees where Kerne, Rhett, and Pastor Bram joined us. It was a great evening complete with burgers, fries, a Piton, and a Packer win! J

The BEST guacamole yet! 

Anse Cochon

This is what an agouti looks like.

                                         

I love St. Lucia! <3

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

Cruise ship concert

The cruise ship

Beautiful night!

My lovely roommates!

So blessed to live with these 2!

My mouth waters just thinking about eating them!

The food from the benefit concert was delicious! 

Tropical Wave

            This week a few new things happened.  I am proud to say that I have survived giving church piano lessons, my first guitar lesson, and my first tropical wave. 

Thursday was a rainy day and rainy night, but it was also the first night of piano.  Because of the rain, not everyone showed up.  In some ways this was nice because we were able to ease into piano lessons.  Our schedule is going to be full on days that everyone shows up.  Piano is from 5-7 currently, but will most likely stretched to 7:30 or 8 due to the amount of people signed up.  While this is a bit of a time commitment, I am so excited to use my gifts to serve at Trinity!  It will be a blessing to interact with members outside of the normal church setting.  On Thursday I also started guitar lessons with Casey.  Guitar is not as easy as it looks and who knew that it would hurt your fingers so much!  I have always wanted to learn guitar so Casey and I decided to trade and give each other lessons.  He takes piano from me and that is followed up by guitar lessons. 

Friday was unique to say the least.  I woke up in the morning to what seemed like a normal day.  It was a bit overcast, but nothing seemed too out of the normal.  I decided since it was a cooler day, why not break out the long maxi skirt.  (It has been too hot for me to wear anything but my short skirts.)  I was looking forward to a day of rain because when it rains it’s actually cooler and I am for once not sweating.  I assumed we’d have indoor recess because of how wet it was from the day before, but I never expected what was to come. 

Friday around 9 it start to rain and rain hard!  I have never seen it rain so hard and so long in my life.  As I stood in my classroom, I watched our field fill with water and realized our windows were open at home.  Whoops!  Teacher Robin and Martina however were a bit more concerned than I was and told me I should go home, after all I do live just down the road.  By the time I got around to going home it was 12 and our road was flooded.  Martina and Mrs. Gustafe told me that I was going to have to go through the field which was soaked, so unless I wanted to ruin my shoes I should just leave them at school.  So that is what I did.  I have never walked through water up to my ankles before.  I walked across the field to get the keys from Tanya and of course by the time I got over there I was soaked.  The whole time I was thinking, “Why out of all the days did I choose to wear a long skirt today?”  One nice parent offered to give me a ride home and then back to school, so I graciously took it.  When I got home it was a mad dash to close windows and put a bucket down in the kitchen where the water was dripping from the ceiling.  Tanya was the only one who had left her windows closed, however water had seeped in through the wall and was along her floor.  Unfortunately, she had left her laptop on the floor and it happened to be right in the middle of that puddle.  I quick dried that off and changed my outfit in time to catch my ride back to school.   I am very thankful I left when I did or Tanya’s computer would have probably been toast and our water in our house would’ve been a greater problem.  After 2 days of letting the battery sit in couscous, I am happy to say that her laptop works! Hooray!

Saturday was a day filled with relaxing.  Jennifer brought us with her to the grocery store, which is always nice because we don’t have to carry our groceries home.  Saturday night Casey and Kerne were nice enough to walk us over to Pastor Bram’s house so we could play Settlers of Catan with them and Ravi and Sheena.  I am officially starting to enjoy that game, now that I know how to play it.

Sunday at church we had 2 couples visiting from the States.  One of the couples is from Victory of the Lamb in Milwaukee and asked if we would join them for lunch.  Pastor Tom and his family, Pastor Bram, and Mr. Erik and his family all went to Jambe De Bois.  It was nice to visit with both couples and get to know a bit more about them, as well as enjoy a tasty meal!  

Today is Monday and the ministry has called off school on the island due to a threat of more rain.  This made me very happy!  Last night our power went off in the middle of the night and I woke up sweating because my fan had turned off.  I was not able to sleep until it came back on which made me really crabby this morning when my alarm went off.  I had just finished saying to Abby and Tanya that I did not want to go to school when Abby read the message from Mrs. Murray stating we did not have school for the day.  It was like I was in grade school again as I jumped up and down and squealed in delight because I could go back to bed! Unfortunately, I couldn't calm down enough to sleep, but hey, at least I will be able to have a lazy day at home! :) 

The whole yard was flooded. 

So much rain!

Mud everywhere.

It's the little things that make me happy and remind me of home! :) 

This is our road.  So many potholes! 

Halloween week

     I cannot believe that October is over.  Interesting fact: most people in St. Lucia do not celebrate Halloween.  However don’t you all worry, I will get my chance to dress up at school’s Christmas party.  If I’m understanding correctly only the upperclass children really go trick-or-treating.  One of the local hotels has it, as well a few of the Bourgeois neighborhoods.  It was actually quite weird not seeing children in costumes or seeing the massive amounts of candy in the store.  It still does not feel like it is a November.  I don’t know how much more of this heat I can take! It is still extremely hot here and we are hoping that soon the cooler weather will come in.

            This week was a fairly normal week with the exception of Sticky Group.  Because President Crass from Luther Prep was the guest preacher this weekend, the normal group bible study was cancelled.  In its place though members from church got together and went to see the movie War Room in theaters.  While being a bit cheesy, it was overall good movie and it was fun to go with a group of people who we know well.  I still think one of the best parts about going to a movie is the air conditioning!

            During the day on Thursday, Abby and I headed to the bank at lunch to finish getting our accounts set up.  We were in and out in 15 minutes thanks to our banker who told us to just ask for her when we come in and skip the line.  For as much of a headache we were told the bank could be, Abby and I lucked out with our bank experience.  We came with all the proper paperwork and it was fairly painless.  Thursday night we enjoyed a nice relaxing evening watching the sunset at Spinnakers.  It was gorgeous! “The heavens declare the glory of God, the skies proclaim the work of His hands.” 

Monday's sunset from Pastor and Jennifer's house.

My favorite part about living here. Sunset at the beach! 

Happy hour at Spinnakers.

            On Friday, Abby and I had to go back to finish setting up our bank accounts.  We can officially say we have a bank account in St. Lucia which makes life a whole lot easier! Friday night Abby, Tanya, and I went out with Casey and Kerne from church to Keebees a restaurant where Rhett works.  We all enjoyed our time, although we still have yet to conquer how to dance like a Lucian.

            Saturday and Sunday were filled with relaxation, a few Skype calls, church, piano and pizza/movie night with Jennifer and Ian.  Following movie night Abby and I joined Pastor Bram and a few others from church to watch the first half of the Packer game.  Because of the time change the game did not start until 9:30 my time.  This made for a late night, but I am glad we joined them.  It was nice to finally watch a Packer game on a TV screen, not just my Skype call that Kelsey normally sets in front of a TV for me.  

           This week church piano lessons start and I must admit I am a bit nervous.  We’ll see how they go on Thursday! 

           One thing I really appreciated about church this week was the reminder of how important it is to memorize verses from the Bible.  When Jesus was tempted by the devil, he didn't go searching for the right verse, he simply quoted Scripture.  Knowing what the Bible says and being able to quote Scripture is so incredibly important when witnessing your faith to others.  Abby and I decided at church that we are going to start memorizing a verse a week.  This week's verse is from 2 Corinthians 4:16-17.  "Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.  For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all."