Solid Day

Today has been quite a fun and successful day. I spent the morning cleaning my home preparing for an afternoon party for the young children in my village. Note: I bought a thermometer and the temperature at 8am was 94degrees. My landlord's niece visited me a few times to look at the decorations and check out what I was baking. Mid-morning I walked up the road with her to buy some chicken for her "auntie". It's always a good feeling when I make it out of my house and up the road (meaning, walking up at least half of the mountain-therefore seeing other community members).

Returning home I frosted and cut the cakes, made the FlavorAid punch and mini PB& J's. From there I was hanging balloons and setting up the craft table. Here I set coloring books, crayons, markers and paper, glitter pens, magazines, string, glue sticks, ruler, pens and pencils.
At 1/2 past 1pm I had my first party guest; my host brother. About the same time came a friend bringing along his 2 year old son. He got the music going and the majority of the children arrived at 1:45. They were such polite guests, they grabbed plates and cups and asked for snacks, cake and punch. After eating they were content coloring, playing dominoes and running around. At a few points of time I had atleast three children tapping me on different sides, "Julie, can I have some water?", "Miss, can I use the toilet", "Some cake please?"....
I had three helpers, a "DJ" and two high school girls tending to the craft table. At the end of the two hours there was very little to clean up, the girls took care of markers and things and all of the food was gone, not a single crumb left. I immediately mopped the floor because there were at least three spills to my memory. Besides the pile of dishes in the sink, which I will get to later my house is already back to it's tidiness.

A CRAB! Really?

I was in my bathroom yesterday and heard a clicking sound. First I ignored it assuming it was something outside the window. But once it continued I quickly noticed two little pinchers trying to claw their way up my shower drain! Ugh. My friend took off the drain to try and get it out but it went back down eventually. I think I am safe now.

Kindergarten Field trip

Scott's Head is at the southern point of the island where the Caribbean Sea and Atlantic Ocean meet. This picture is showing the Caribbean Sea and it is very calm, as you can see.

Behind me is the Atlantic Ocean
The village of Scott's Head, from the division between the waters

View from the village of Gallion. A point of interest as a lookout. Some days you can see Martinique, but not at this particular time. It would be to the left as well (south)

Track practice

After doing a warm up and a few drills on the field Maria and I took the team to the beach to do sprints. The boys, as well as us coaches seemed to enjoy the practice much more. Practice on the beach is nice and cool, as cook as it can be here. Between drills the boys soaked their feet in the water and kicked around a football (aka soccer ball). They also took their turns trying to get the coaches into the sea, fortunate for us, they were unsuccessful.

During a break the boys had fun in doing flips with the lightest of the pack. However, as you can see, the flips did not happen... but they sure threw him high.

Graduation

The secondary had their graduation on Friday which I attended. In some ways its was very similar to a ceremony in the states, speeches, valedictorian, certificates and awards, etc. However there were a few differences and this video will give you an idea. I absolutely loved it!

Afterward families took photos and ate food, like back home. I did ask about graduation parties and it seems as those are not something that happens here as far as open houses. However there are a few parties and people's houses to celebrate the gradutation of all the seniors on a few given days.

Sunrise

...A picture is worth a thousand words

Work... and randoms

So maybe you're thinking I don't work down here since I don't talk about it much. So I will inform you of my work thus far. I am still attending the primary school twice a week and spending time with the youngsters whether it's reading, drawing or just playing sports. But I cannot skip a day or they notice, I rode the school bus with them yesterday getting to another village and several of them said, "Miss Julie, you not coming to school again, man?" So one day I miss and they notice. Just being around them makes for a productive day I have found.

Two other days of the week I am coaching the high school students track club. We are just starting it now, I am the Public relations officer as well. We are forming the club starting with the Castle Bruce Secondary students, because its most accessible for them but hope to expand it over time for it to be the entire South Eastern Track Club. I am excited to have such a large role in something like this. Being outdoors practicing in the hot sun and bathing in the river after is phenomenal!

Committees I am on are the Disaster Relief which is currently preparing for hurricane season. The P.S. Drama Club which is just now starting so may take time to become official and run smoothly. I am more so the secretary for the students. The president is a great leader and has written plays and set up meetings, but much goes into starting clubs with gaining a sponser, writing letters, raising funds. I'm not sure some youth realize how much committment it takes. But I am willing to type out the scripts for them to have that one less thing they need to do, so I'm behind the scenes but there as a resource for them. I have been recently asked to attend the meetings of Agency on Aging so I am thrilled to have the opportunity to work with the elderly in the village as well. That first meeting will take place this coming Saturday.

I say my work is 24/7 because anytime I am not "working" I am spending time at the bus stop or the local shop to visit with others and continue to integrate and learn more about the village. Although it's not tough work it is a big part of my work here, being accepted and welcomed is so very important. I need to be a part of the community, not just an American who has come to work for 2 years and lives "down the road".

Good news! For some of you that know.. I have been waiting for over a month now for a dinner table and yesterday it arrived! I have yet to see it though because I was heading out for the night when the delivery came. I will let you know how wonderful it is :)