Part I Midpoint

View of the Atlantic Ocean from our school

August 8, 2007

Hey! We have made it half way through Phase One of training! We have classes all day every day, some night meetings, and planned activities on the other days. Jim and I went to Seventh Day Adventist church service with our homestay "Mom" on Saturday (lots of singing and an inspirational sermon), and on Sunday we had a pot-luck beach party (great sampling of local food plus beautiful water and scenery). "Mom" is teaching us a hymn to sing with her at the talent show next Saturday night -- in English and Patois!! (paa-TWA, which is the local French Creole language, now secondary to English) Quit laughing out there!!! The people here don't know we can't sing!

Our group of volunteers is also planning an Activity Day for next Wednesday. We will help the children to paint murals on two walls of the school, and have games and a litter-collecting contest. We wouldn't miss a minute of it, but we do crave some time to ourselves. I guess they're trying to teach us that we are already on duty 24/7.

We are starting to fit in a little. As we walk along, the local people wave hello and everywhere we look is a beautiful view. Instead of saying "Hi how are you?", the saying is "Are you OK?" To which the usual reply is "Yes, I'm good" [sic] We have to pinch ourselves to be sure we are really here and we are really on this adventure.

Our two main frustrations are 1) We are frustrated with "Saint Lucian Time", which is very loose!! Meetings starting within an hour are considered "on time" and waiting is a valid passtime. Very disconcerting to us time-conscious Americans!!! We continually remind ourselves that WE are the odd-balls here and need to learn the local ways. 2) We are frustrated with being cut off communications-wise. No leisurely browsing e-mails or surfing for information on the Internet. Time, equipment, and Internet connections are at a premium. It isn't logical for us to buy cell phones yet. We haven't figured out the land-line/calling card thing yet. We feel lucky that the neighbor drove us to town to get electric adapter and battery charger for laptop and camera. We'll take whatever progress we can achieve!

This IS the rainy season, although for the first week it only rained after dark (like Camelot). Yesterday that all changed: It poured off and on all day. Our Dollar-Store plastic ponchos kept us dry and cozy -- from the knees up anyway. The rain brought a welcome cool (maybe 75 degrees) break from the heat.

It is fun to watch the visual changes in us as we become used to our new lifestyle: Skin seems to tan all by itself, indoors. Hair frizzes, curls, or goes straight and comes loose from pony tails and barrettes in the humidity plus breezes plus open windows in the vans we take to the various training sites. Mirrors (like clocks!) are rare around here. Clothing needs to dry quickly, either because the weather is sweaty hot or rainy wet. We walk a lot, so comfortable waterproof shoes are best (translation: Tevas, Crocs, Keenes, etc). The humidity in the air makes moisturizer and hand lotion redundant -- unless they contain sunscreen. Dental floss is highly prized after lunch for getting the fresh mango from between your teeth.

We may be a bit more motley, but still smiling, bright, helpful, supportive, and eager. Jim is valiantly using e-mail and fax to process the paperwork for the sale of our condo. Yes, we are in escrow... for less than we hoped, but it's getting done!
What's Next???