a few pics to be followed by a Christmas Post!!

The First sweaty picture is of me on top of Gros Piton. The second picture is before the hike when we went to see how cocoa sticks are made. It took all of my strength to crank the cocoa grinder, I could not imagine doing that everyday! The third picture is of the cookout we had on my porch. I inherited the Peace Corps Grill along with my house so the girls cooked us some delicious chicken. My new puppy, PJ Sparkles. He was named after a doll that Heather and I had when we were little. So far he has been a challenge but also a joy to have in my life. The last picture is of some Peace Corps ladies before we went out to a concert. It was entitled, Lovefest, and although I did not fall in love I had a great time.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

November 25th, 2008

   How is the weather in the US? Here it is about 80 degrees and sunny. Not my typical Thanksgiving week weather. Sorry for the sporadic nature of my posts, I am never sure when I wrote the last one so whenever I have free time I like to knock out another one. I am sure everyone is wondering, and yes, I will be having turkey this year! All of the Peace Corps volunteers are having a Thanksgiving feast. Imagine a Thanksgiving potluck with about 25 people and 3 Turkeys!!! I am really exited but my stomach is already hurting in anticipation of all of the food I will stuff into my mouth. Yummmm!!!! We are also having an American Football match between the volunteers. I will be sporting my Denver Broncos jersey so hopefully I represent for my team. Basically from here until next year my work is slowing down significantly. The schools are all in exams and they let out on December 13th. Then they return January 5th. The holidays are a time of celebration where work is much less important than spending time with ones' family. In other words, I do not have much to do these days. The football skills training I am doing is still going well and it will continue into break so I will have something to do no y Tuesday and Friday afternoons. i would also like everyone to know that I have a new addition to my family. NO I am not pregnant!!! I am getting a puppy :) ! On Thanksgiving he will be 6 weeks so he is ready to come home with me. Currently his name is Cupid because he is white with 2 brown spots shaped like hearts. I am going to change his name but I am not sure exactly what I will call hi. Once I spend more time with him i will decide on a name that fits his personality. I am sure that everyone is thinking, what breed? We do not have the luxury of breeds unless you want to shell out a ton of money. He is a mongrel but he will grow to the size of a golden retriever. I am very excited to add him to my family and since the Holiday season is so slow I will spend the time training hi. Do not worry, I realize that a dog is a HUGE responsibility but I have weighed the pros and cons and I am very excited to add a loving member to my family. 

   I go to the office a few days a week to occupy myself. Everyone in the office is very friendly and they love to joke around and have a good time. I am finding it more and more fun to go to the office. I feel lucky to have such great colleagues to work with. I can't wait until school starts again next semester so that I can start doing some real work. Right now the plan is for me to start after school programs at the primary schools such as: Environmental club, Health and Wellness Club, and Girl Guides (also known as Girl Scouts). I am also trying to start a female football(soccer) team at the secondary school. It will take a lot of time to put all of these programs into place but I am excited to have concrete ideas to work on. I am starting to make more friends in my community. Sometimes I joke that all of my friends are either under 1 years old or over 40 years old but I am starting to meet a wide variety of people. It is just a matter of walking around in the Village and being as friendly as possible. My face gets sore from the constant smile on my face but it is worth it when someone says hello back to me. It is even better when they remember my name, it makes me feel welcome, like I am starting to fit in. Another method to fit in and get to know people is to work on my proficiency with the language (patois). My colleagues in the office are always speaking Patois so I am going to make a serious effort to learn it over the next few months. I have been slacking on my Patois  studying since I left Peace Corps Training so I need to take it upon myself to learn the language. I will update everyone on how that goes in a few months...Maybe I could save it for my  New Years Resolution...? We shall see. I am currently waiting to act as secretary for the Committee to plan activities for Independence Day. The meeting was supposed to begin at 10:00 AM and it is 10:45 and there are only 4 of us for the meeting. It is a great example of life in St. Lucia. Most activities do no start on time. We are definitely on "Island Time." It is quite the adjustment in mindset. I always get to meetings on time and it is usually just me and the meeting chair for awhile until everyone else arrives. Oh well, I would rather be early and have to wait, than to make everyone else wait on me.

   Since it is the week of Thanksgiving I would just like to thank everyone for supporting me through this interesting experience. This blog is e-mailed to all of my close friends and family and I wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving and a wonderful holiday season. I have always the luxury of being home for Thanksgiving but since I am gone this year I finally have an appreciation for family gatherings in the spirit of giving and love. I miss everyone very much.

Sending my Love from the Islands,

Kelli

A few pics!!

1.Some of the girls who live near me. Wenda, Josanni, Dowanika, and Tricia.

2. The Peace Corps Volunteers at the Halloween party.

3. Rihanna after I gave her my Madras sash for Creole day.

4.  A few of the boys from Piaye and me at Creole Day.

5. Drinking the coconut water at the Host family celebration at Pigeon Point.

6. The sunset from my porch. 

7. Hallie, Haley, and I having a photo shoot at the Gros Iset Street Fair.

8. A view of Choiseul Village from the huge hill I have to walk up and down everyday! 

I graduated!!!

It is official, I have graduated Peace Corps training! This is almost as exciting as graduating college, except that we were only in training for 7 weeks and unless you really mess up, everyone graduates. It is exciting though that I don't have to go to Castries anymore. I am in my community for good! This Thursday I have a meeting with my point person (my boss in the community) to discuss my 3 month work plan. This will give me more direction with my service because for the time being I just kind of float around and do whatever I can. For example, this week I am going to the school (which is where I am typing right now) on Tuesday. Then Tuesday afternoon I am going to the "Centre of Excellence" which is a training facility for young athletes. I volunteered to help coach the football players in skills training and today is my first day! I don't want to take on too much responsibility because I know that the program meets twice a week after school, and since I will be working with 13 schools in my district developing after-school programs I should keep my time after school open. Alright, so I have been learning Patois for 7 weeks now and though I am far from fluent, I think that incorporating a new language into my vocabulary has hurt my English. So I apologize from here on out for any grammar, punctuation, spelling or poor word usage for the next 2 years....

I DIGRESS... Tomorrow, (Wednesday) I am attending a meeting to plan events for Independence Day on February 22nd. Then I need to go to Vieux Fort to get money out of the ATM. (Side Note: I have to travel 3o minutes by bus in order to get to an ATM, so I need to keep an emergency $4 stash around near the end of the month. ) I need to get money because I have been out of propane since Saturday morning. Since my stove runs off of a propane tank I have been with my over for a little while too long. It did teach me some alternative cooking methods though. I have had tuna salad sandwiches for a few days and I realized that I can use my coffee maker to heat up water for noodles. Needless to say, I am currently starving and getting money for another gas tank tomorrow is a necessity! On Thursday I am meeting with Mr. Mathurin (my Point person) and after I set up my 3 month work plan I will have more direction for the next few weeks. Friday I am planning on going to Soufriere to hang out with some of the other volunteers. Unless my point person has other plans for me. The Peace Corps has taught me to be flexible and more laid back. Otherwise I would have had about 7 nervous breakdowns already. Luckily, I came in with an open mind and that has helped me a lot!! I am trying to think of a few cute stories to share but right now my mind is blank... Last weekend was "Jounen Kweyol" or Creole Day. It is the national holiday celebrated in St. Lucia and Dominica and it is a celebration of the Creole Culture. Many people dress up in traditional outfits made with Madras fabric. It is a plaid with red, yellow, and green. Most of the Creole outfits involve the fabric. The day was celebrated at the school on Friday and then on the field for the entire community of Sunday. We had a good time, drank a few too many Pitons (that is the local beer), and learned a lot about St. Lucia culture. I can't think of any good stories right now, I am still waiting for internet to be installed at my house so once it goes in I will be able to write exciting stories and hopefully post some pictures. Until then, I have a lot of photos up on facebook. I hope everything is going well in the United States. We are having a Peace Corps Halloween party on Friday and then an election party on Tuesday hopefully to celebrate my candidate's big win!! We will see... I love and miss everyone and hope that you are having a Happy Halloween!!!

Love,
Kelli

A little Info...

Hello Everyone!
So I am still having issues with the picture thing.. Everyone can expect them in three weeks. That will be one of the first things I do. I am also going to make myself a hammock!! I think I am going to use the Madras print (which is the national print) to make a sweet hammock for my porch. How is the weather back in the U.S.? I am jealous that the weather is starting to get cold. I feel like I have exciting things to tell everyone but I can't think of them right now....

Last weekend it rained for three days straight and our water turned brown. I was still able to shower but we avoided drinking it. (yet we still cooked with it). I guess we were lucky though because a lot of the communities around us had their water shut off! People living as close as 10 minutes away did not have any water for a few days! Yikes! One of the volunteers' families actually showered (i.e. naked with soap) outside on the back steps. Just thought that was funny!

Ok, I realized recently when talking to my family on the phone, that I haven't really explained the basics of St. Lucia. Before I arrived here I knew nothing about this Country except that many people come here on honeymoons. I was under the impression I would be living in a grass hut.... I WAS VERY WRONG!! We have all of the amenities of houses in the United States. I should preface this statement by saying that my host family is very wealthy compared to the community. But we have almost everything the same as the United States. .. computers, internet, clothes washer, car, toilets, sinks, showers.....We don't have a clothes dryer or dish washer, but they definitely aren't necessary. We live a very nice life. I should also note that there are people who live in extreme poverty. In Choiseul at least 30% of the community is living under the poverty line. But where I am moving I will have running water, a clothes washer, an over, a refrigerator, but I will not have warm water or a dryer.. Oh yeah, and I will also have a madras hammock!!! :) Just throwing that out there! Anyway, sorry this wasn't very interesting but I wanted everyone to know that I am living very similar to the United States.

Love!!!
Kelli

September 15th, 2008

Hello Everyone,

I seem to remember saying that I would update the blog in a few weeks, but so much is happening that I am going to update again in order to avoid one huge long entry Because I know from experience that no one will read. (Cough,my long e-mails from Prague,cough) So anyway, everything in Saint Lucia has been going really great. Just a note, there are definitely times when I feel homesick, and I miss friends and family, but it would be selfish of my to tell everyone of those sad times, when there are so many happy ones to go along with the bad ones! By the way, another reason to update the blog...I told myself I would work-out today and this seems the best method to avoid actually working out. I should also be doing my laundry but I donÕt think that will be happening anytime soon either.. So you see, nothing has really changed!!!
Over the past week I have had some amazing experiences. I started my internship at the Secondary School. I am shadowing a very nice teacher, who has been teaching for a long time and she is really good with her students. I go to the school every Tuesday and attend all of her classes which are English and Literature. The first day she just introduced me to her class and I observed which is what I will be doing next week as well. Then, the third week I will help to run a lesson or co-facilitate. We haven't talked to much about it yet because when I met her she wasn't aware that I was interning with her. Ooops! Oh well, she handled it well and was very welcoming and nice to me. I have still been going to Castries three weeks. When I am feeling especially ambitious I read on the bus rides back and forth. Last week I read The Nanny Diaries in three days! I am currently reading Crick Crack Monkey for one of the classes I observed. Yep, my homework from the first day is to read an entire book!! It will help me follow along better in class though.

On Friday night my host family and I went to a going away party for a volunteer who has served his 2 years and is leaving Monday (which will be today once this is published). He has given me some great advice and been very helpful over the last two weeks. Saturday, I went with some of the other volunteers to the Sulphur Springs in Soufriere. It was a lot of the fun. The sulphur bath is free!!! We decided not to pay for the tour of the volcano because it is $12.50 EC or $5.00 US and frankly all we are getting paid right now is money to travel to and from Castries. Basically, we live in strange place where we are all very poor but because we look like white tourists, everyone thinks we are rich. But there are also privileges to being white (cough, like in the United States, cough). Although occasionally we might be charged a little extra at the market, or the bus driver might try to cheat us out an E.C. on our fare, overall there is a system of white privilege in place here. I am still doing some research (i.e. having casual conversations with my host sister and others around town) but I think it has to do with supporting tourism, and the belief that white people who visit can support the economy, but I think it also goes back to the slavery experienced by St. Lucian people. Anyway, I could write about this forever so before I bore all of my non-ethnic studies relatives and friends I will switch topics.
I thought it would be interesting to discuss riding the bus. I have had the pleasure of talking to a few of you back home and everyone asks, how is St. Lucia different than home? There are many similarities and differences. The bus system is a great example of differences. The buses, also called mini-buses, are actually large vans. Depending on the van they fit between 13 and 16 passengers. You wait at designated 'bus stops' and when you see one coming you stick out your arm and wave it up and down one or twice. DO NOT WAVE TO THE BUS DRIVER!! He will wave back and keep on driving. (Luckily I was educated on the system early enough that I haven't experienced that one!) If you succeed in pulling him over (1. I have yet to see a female driver so the 'he' is appropriate. 2. He will not pull over if he is full. This causes some volunteers trouble, but most of the buses headed out of Choiseul have a few seats open) you hop in. One interesting aspect of the culture is that upon entering the bus, it is polite to greet everyone with a "Good morning," "Good afternoon." or "Good Night." (NOTE: Good Night means the same thing as Good Evening, but the first few times I heard it I was very confused) These greeting are also used with everyone you walk by on the street. I walk by some Elementary age children on my way to stop and everytime I say "Good morning" they return the "Good morning." It is one of the charming aspects of my village because in Castries, it is less friendly.... I digress...Once you get on the bus, you hold on for dear life while the driver drives around the hills, twists and turns. Dramamine is not supplied but it would be nice before bus rides. Once you reach your individual destination you use one of a few commands to make the bus stop. My choice phrase is "Stopping Please," other options include "Stopping Driver," and "Bus stop." Then you jump out on the side of the road. (The cars drive on the left side, they call it the "Good side" here since so visitors call it the wrong side of the road) You pay the driver through the passenger side window and continue on your way. At first it was stressful to learn which stops to go to and to focus enough to get to your own stop, but by this point isn't too bad.


Ok, this is getting dangerously long so I am going to end it now. Again, I miss everyone and send my love! I hope everything is well at home and I will talk to you all again soon!!

Love,
Kelli

I made it to my homestay!!

Bonjour, Sock-a-fet (that means whatÕs up? it is the phoentic spelling for Patois. I just invented it but Patois has only been a written language for a few years so it could be close...Language class starts Friday so I will let you know!) anyway....

Hello Everyone!!
So although it has only been a week since I last wrote, it feels as if a lifetime has passed. I am currently living in St. Lucia with my amazing host family but I will back up a little to catch everyone up..... On Wednesday afternoon we arrived in St. Lucia. As soon as we exited the plane it was hot and humid. It was raining a little so the humidity was extreme. None of us really noticed though because we were so excited to be there. Thirty-nine of us flew to St. Lucia and at this point we have been dispersed to St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and St. Lucia. My group in St. Lucia consists of 13 trainees although there are already about 20 or 30 volunteers on the island who have been living here for awhile. Once we arrived we were taken to the area for our training. It was a nice place, a Catholic retreat place and we had an amazing view! Hopefully I can attach some pictures. The only problem was that the building that my group slept in was up a ton of stairs!! By the time we reached the stop everyone was breathing heavy and sweating a ton (but I am pretty sure the sweating part can be applied to my Peace Corps service for the next 2 years.) We spend 4 days at the retreat place going to class everyday to learn about policies and procedures. It was long and boring but I am sure that it is necessary. My only other complaint is that I was attacked!!! by the mosquitoes, or some sort of insect. I am hoping to attach the picture of my legs but they were covered in itchy bites. Some people said it looked like bed bugs, others said mosquitoes, I am not sure, I just want them to go away. They are slowly starting to fade but they still look nasty. The mosquitoes are much better at my house now because I have screens on my window! and a fan at night that keeps them away. Anyway, after the mosquitoes feasted on my body I was happy to be meeting my host family on Saturday. (Seriously though, I had atleast 60 bites on my arms and legs, it looked like a skin eating disease...)
We said bye to the other volunteers who went to the airport and we were driven to the Peace Corps office in Castries. My family got me around 11. Clara is my host-mother and Keam is my host-brother. He does not live with us though because he has his own place closer to Castries. Later in the day I met my host-sister, Jen. She is 24 and she lives at home so we have been getting along very well. (DonÕt worry Heath, you wonÕt be replaced, but she is very sweet and we have A LOT in common! so it is nice to have her around) My host-mom is also really great. She has had at least 3 other Peace Corps volunteers stay at her house so she knows the routine. She wants me to be very comfortable at home so she does everything she can to help me out. She even bought me Honey-nut Cheerios!!! On my first day of training I had to take the bus to get to the office in Castries by 9:00. Just so everyone knows, I am living in a town named, Choiseul. (The Peace Corps has a policy about giving away to much information about oneself so that might be removed later). It is the farthest town from Castries. To be there by 9:00 I have to leave my house at 6:30. I ride 3 different buses for a total of around 2 hours with about 20 or 30 minutes walking and I finally arrive at the office. There are a few people who live at my first stop though so I can ride with them and it makes things a little more exciting. On my first day though, Clara drove me to the first stop and talked to the driver of my second bus to make sure that I got to the right stop. Then, once I made it to the office I had to call her to let her know I arrived safely.
I went to Catholic Church with Clara on Sunday morning. She goes to the 6:30 service!!! Yikes! It was early, but also just early enough to still be slightly cool. She told me she is usually late for church and I wasnÕt sure what she meant until we arrived at 6:50 to a 6:30 service. But it turns out that we had the preacher who talks a lot so the service lasted until 8:30 and we were there for more than half of it. After church she took me to visit a girl who is a volunteer in the next town over. She has been here for a year so it was great to talk to her and get her perspective. Saturday night I was really extremely homesick and Clara felt bad for me so she made me meet Jessica to have some to talk to who I could relate with. Hanging out with Jessica was great because she answered all of my questions and made me feel better about a lot of things I had doubts about, and now I have a friend close by who I can hang out with for the next year! She does work with a lot of the kids in her community so they all came over to hang out! Even though there were some wild and crazy kids, for the most part they were adorable! It was a great reminded of why I wanted to join Peace Corps. Not just to help out the people of my community, but mainly to help the kids and hopefully give them the tools to achieve things they never thought they could... Okay, that is sort of a corny rant but the kids made everything easier. We took them to the beach and played and hung-out. Anyway, I havenÕt done much so far except for successfully making it into Castries yesterday, and going to church. Tomorrow (which is more like ÒtodayÓ because it will be Wednesday when I have internet at the office so I can post this blog) I am picking my players for fantasy football because apparently some of the volunteers have a league and they invited me to join! That is all of the excitement now. I am very happy, and very excited to begin this incredibly long journey. I think I am going to a play on Friday with my host mom and sister. They said it is in Patois but they will translate for me, it should be interesting. Then next Saturday my sister and I have plans to have a day in Canaries of shopping, going to see a movie and eating dominoes pizza!!! That is definitely something to look forward to! I hope everything is going well in the states, sorry I can't make my e-mails more individual but when I move into my own place I should have internet so I can send everyone messages... Until then it will have to be one general message.

Love, (I learned how to say it in Patois but I already forgot!),
Kelli

P.S. I met a current volunteer, Tameron in Choiseul. He gave me the GRAND TOUR (which involves about a 5-10 minute walk from one side to the other). It is a great little community and I am hoping to be a useful tool in youth development. I also got a preview of his house and it is amazing!! It has 3 extra beds and a place on the porch to hang a hammock...and the most AMAZING VIEW!!! I am really going to try to live in his place. He moves out on the 15th so I am going to talk to my supervisor today and try to secure a place there when he moves out. I just realized that I can't get my picture posted yet so it will have to be in 7 weeks when I can hook up my computer to the internet! Ok, everyone needs the computer so I will talk to you later! I love everyone and miss you all!!!

Almost There!!!!

Hello Everyone!!

      I have been in Miami, Florida the past 3 days for "staging." It is the preparation before we head to St. Lucia for Pre-service training. The past 2 days have been filled with group sessions where we have learned about Peace Corps Policies and procedures but not too much about our specific islands. Tonight we are all re-packing our luggage in hopes that it follows us to St. Lucia. We have to check out of the hotel at 6 A.M.!!  But the lack of sleep will be worth it when we arrive to St. Lucia. Upon arrival we are going to a hotel for 3 days of training and then on Saturday we all get to move in with our host families!! I will be staying on St. Lucia but other volunteers will be flying to their countries in the Caribbean. Most likely I won't have the internet for a few weeks so even though I don't have much to say, I am writing a quick update. I will also be losing cell phone coverage tomorrow morning :(

    There are a few interesting things I learned through-out the staging. #1 I will be learning Creole, (I think I said that in my last blog but I found out that only the St. Lucia volunteers learn Creole so I feel very lucky) #2 I am planning on getting a dog on the island!! Although the locals view animals as wild I have always wanted a dog and my biggest fear is being lonely, so this way I can have the best of both worlds. A dog and a companion!!! I am very excited. Alright, I have some serious packing to do so I am going to conclude with a quote from our staging workbook... "People cannot be developed: they can only develop themselves." -Jules Nyerere

Love,

Kelli

P.S. Usually I check all of my posts for grammar and the sort but I am too busy for that so please excuse my punctuation and grammar errors!!

Pre-departure message

To My Loved Ones,

    Just wanted to introduce everyone to the blog I will be keeping during my time in the Peace Corps. I was going to try a mass e-mail but this website seems to be easier to use and I am hoping to update it about once a month, but that all depends on my accommodations. Here is my current update.

    I leave Sunday morning, August 24th and I am heading to Miami, FL for a 3 day pre-service training known as staging. After the 3 days in Florida I will be flying to St. Lucia and living in a hotel for 1 night, and then with a family for the next few weeks while I continue my training. Once I am sworn in for Peace Corps service I serve 2 years. Oh, by the way, I will be spending my time in St. Lucia, thus the title of my blog. ; ) It is an island in the Eastern Carribean so I can finally be the beach girl I always knew I was!  

    Really, this entry is to introduce you (and me) to this blog and hopefully it is a way for us to keep in touch while I am away. The support from my family and friends is really important and will certainly help me through the process. I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has supported me since I began the application process last fall. 

    Currently I am scared to death, but also super excited to start my service. I am sure I will be going through many challenges such as: learning a new language, kweyol (creole), learning to live by myself, and representing the country while also staying true to myself. It will be a difficult journey but I am excited and glad that I have found an outlet to share it with you all!!

                                                                                            Hugs and Love,

                                                                                             Kelli