Week #16

Wow. How time flies. We have officially completed was our last week of classes before exams and Christmas practice. 

On Sunday, Kirsten, Tanya, and I went to Anse Cochon to go snorkeling with Pastor Tom, Jen, their son, and a family friend. As soon as we got there, it started raining, but the sun was still shining. God blessed us with a fantastic and vibrant rainbow, which ended on the beach close to where our towels were. We found the end of the rainbow! 

In school this week, I began reviewing with my students for their exams next week. My goal was to convince my students that they should not be fearful or nervous while taking exams--exams are a time to show off how much they've learned. I am excited to see how well they do!

This week Kirsten and I bought ICE CREAM, which we ate with the apple crisp Kirsten made on Wednesday. It. Was. Heaven. It finally started feeling like fall around here, just in time for winter to arrive in the States.

Thursday was Thanksgiving. It was an odd feeling going to school knowing that family and friends back at home were enjoying eating turkey and watching football all day. After school, we went to Thanksgiving Dinner at Pastor Tom and Jen's house, which is the largest Thanksgiving party I have ever been to. There were about forty-five people in attendance, and the food was endless. I haven't eaten that well in a LONG TIME. I even drank coffee at 8 pm, just because it was Berres Brothers coffee from Watertown, WI. We ended our long Thanksgiving day by going to KeeBees bar and watching the first half of the Packer game with Pastor Bram, Ravi, and Mr. Erik from church. Because of the time difference, the game didn't start until 9:00 Lucian time, and we finally called it a night around 11:00. It was a laaaaate night, considering I'm normally in bed by 9:30.

On Friday, Kirsten and I got to satisfy our Domino's pizza craving. We were curious to find out if it was different from the Domino's back at home, and we were quite pleased to find out it tasted exactly the same! 

I just realized I talk about food a lot. And I'm not sorry. I think food is what keeps me sane when life gets crazy. I am eager to get home and RELAX in a little over two weeks!

Beautiful Anse Cochon

In health this week, we learned about dental hygiene and practiced flossing with egg cartons!

We LOVE our apple crisp and ice cream.

How to Teach/Not Teach Piano to the Visually Impaired

Kirsten and I have begun volunteering our time after school on Thursdays to  teach piano lessons at church. After school, Pastor picks us up at 4:30, to make the long drive through traffic to get to church by 5 for our first piano lesson. Lessons normally go until 8, which makes for a long day, but it is awesome to work on our relationships with people from church. Between Kirsten and I, we have 10 piano students so far.

This last Thursday was my first lesson with a man from church who is visually impaired. He plays percussion in the church band and has been interested in learning how to play the piano. My first thought? This is my first time teaching piano. How am I going to make this possible? The answer: teamwork, communication, and lots of understanding. 

We started the piano lesson by getting used the the piano, feeling the black and white keys. At first, I felt ignorant calling them the white and black keys--he couldn't see the colours, so I started saying thin keys on top, which is a lot more time consuming to say than black keys. Finally I just explained why I called the keys black and white. We felt the keys, finding groups of two and groups of three black keys. I explained how to find C, by feeling for a group of two black keys and sliding down to the left. He explored the keys and was able to identify the keys by going up and down and saying the note names.

Then it hit me, how do we learn songs?! I was frazzled. I opened up a piano book to a random page and read him the notes of Ode to Joy, a few notes at a time. It worked well at first, but then after a few measures, we were talking past each other and I am fairly certain I was confusing him to no extent. Finally, we took a deep breath, clarified the notes, and he was able to play through the whole first line of the song, remembering every note in the correct order. 

I asked him what I could do to help him be successful, mentioning that I was going up to the States in a few weeks for Christmas, and he asked if  I could find Braille piano books for him, and Braille note labels for the keys. I am eager to bring back the Braille resources to help him learn piano!

I am POSITIVE I am going to learn as much, if not more, than Mr. Richard. Clarity of words is SO IMPORTANT! After just one piano lesson, I am realizing that I take my sight for granted. I sat down at the piano with my eyes closed after the lesson, and it was incredibly challenging. What an amazing blessing it is to have sight and be able to see all of the other blessings God has given to us! As challenging as the half hour lesson may be, I know that God will bless both Mr. Richard and my efforts and we will both be learning!

Un-Lucian Weather

We have been experiencing some interesting weather down here. When we first came to the island, we were amazed that rain showers lasted about five minutes and then the sun was out once again. This past Friday, we were at school when around 10 am, the clouds broke open and it poured rain. The rain was coming down so hard, I had to use my REALLY LOUD teacher voice so my students could hear the words for their spelling test. I was amazed when the rain kept coming down for about four and a half hours. Parents were rushing to pick up their children. They were telling stories of how the roads were flooding, town was a chaotic mess, and roundabouts and bridges on the main highway were being closed. The rain finally stopped around 2 and it was an eerie calm. The sky was still gray, and the air was cool. The yard in front of the school was one ginormous pond. We were able to leave school once all the students were picked up, which was around 3 o'clock.
I was very thankful for a few things. None of my students cried, even when thunder crashed, lightning lit up the sky, and the power went out. I was thankful I got to work on my relationships with the students whose parents came late to pick their children up. I had three students who were teaching me French, Spanish, and Arabic. I was thankful I did not have to worry about getting home, since our only challenge was dodging pot-hole lakes on our minute walk down the road. I was extremely thankful our wifi and electricity came back on shortly after come home from school. I am thankful my roommate's laptop is fully functioning again after getting saved from the huge water puddle that leaked into our house. God kept everyone safe through the storm, even the man who was sucked into the sewer system by means of an open manhole cover was rescued. Never a dull moment in St. Lucia...
Yesterday at church, a couple was visiting from Wisconsin, and the wife turned out to be one of the teachers who taught at St. Marcus while I was student teaching there last year! The small WELS vibe can be felt all the way from St. Lucia!
School was cancelled today due to inclement weather, which has not been seen yet. I am definitely enjoying the day off by doing laundry, practicing piano, starting a new TV series, and maybe even a NAP! Yes, cancelled school is probably more exciting as a teacher.

Jounen Kweyol

Today at school. we celebrated Jounen Kweyol, which celebrates the French and African dialect that is spoken here. St. Lucians are extremely proud of their culture, and today was an intriguing look into the vibrant and colourful culture.
Everyone was dressed in Madras, which is a colourful striped fabric. Each class prepared a performance which demonstrated a particular part of the culture. The grade one classes prepared a "Battle of the Flowers," representing the two different flower festivals in St. Lucia, La Marguarite and La Rose. Other classes danced, sang, and played instruments. The entire performance lasted two and a half hours, and it was extremely hot. You can only imagine how well all of the children were sitting by the end! Once the performance was over, we went back to our classroom to eat bouillon, a kind of stew. At the upper campus, teachers were selling a variety of national food such as saltfish and breadfruit. As hectic as the day was, the children did a beautiful job and I can officially say I have survived the first half of the term!

Vive La Marguarite!

Yesterday at school, we celebrated one of St. Lucia's flower festivals, La Marguarite. The colors for La Marguarite are maroon, blue, violet, silver, and white. Students came to school dressed as queens, kings, princes, princesses, flower girls, doctors, nurses, policemen, governors, governors' wives, and flag bearers. The children in Preprimary through Grade 2 came to school in their outfits, which proved to make for quite the crazy day. (Note from the teacher: if the daily schedule is different AT ALL from the normal routine, children go crazy and do not listen very well.)
At 9 o'clock, we lined up to parade around the school's fields as we sang our La Marguarite songs. I was amazed at how many parents were there to take pictures of their kids and watch them parade around a field a few times. It's weird to know that there are a large number of pictures out there of adorable children dressed up so nicely, and then Teacher Abby all awkward in the background. Children waved flowers above their heads as they sang Creole songs. I had tried my best to learn these songs so I could sing along. I don't know how great my pronunciation was, but I sang loud and proud. It was already very hot by 9 o'clock, so after twenty-five minutes of parading, flower waving, and Creole song singing, we headed back to our classrooms.
Because it was a special day, not much was accomplished for the rest of the day. Next week, we celebrate Jounen Kweyol, a festival which celebrates the French/African dialect (Creole). On Wednesday, all of the students will put on a performance for the parents, so all the teachers are looking forward to another crazy day. I am getting quite the cultural education here!

Thanksgiving!

Today is Thanksgiving in St. Lucia. It is nothing like American Thanksgiving. No American football is played, and no turkey is consumed. St. Lucia just really loves its holidays, and St. Lucians especially love days off of work and school. This year, I get to celebrate Thanksgiving three times: St. Lucian Thanksgiving, Canadian Thanksgiving (one of my roommates is from Canada), and American Thanksgiving. I want to share just a few of the things I am thankful for:
1. I have 17 students who I get to watch grow. They are excited about learning and they show me an insane amount of love and hugs. Also, my co-teacher and assistant teacher are an amazing support system and help me with whatever I need.
2. I am thankful for my two roommates who put up with me. I cannot imagine moving to and teaching in St. Lucia alone. They are currently teaching me how to cook, and are being very patient with me. Last week while making mac and cheese, I accidentally dumped the cheese packet into the boiling water. Last week I almost set the kitchen on fire by lighting the gas stove which had been on for a while. (Long story... making brownies in a gas oven is tricky.)
3. I have an amazing boyfriend who is extremely patient with me. Long distance relationships are challenging, especially when both people are busy and trying to work around each other's schedules. It's not easy, but I know that our patience will be worth it.
4. Our church family, especially the pastor and his wife, give us rides when we need them, take us to amazing beaches, host pizza and movie parties, teach us how to grocery shop and prepare food down, and make us feel at home down here.
5. God has greatly blessed me by allowing me to call St. Lucia my home for the year. Pictures do not do this gorgeous island justice.
6. My family and friends back home--I appreciate all of you and your support. The initial adjustment period here was hard. Being able to Skype, see faces from home, and catch up on life makes the distance feel not so extreme. I am looking forward to seeing as many of you over Christmas break!
7. Food. I am so thankful for food. When we first arrived, I ate like every meal was my last. Now, I realize that God will provide for all of our needs and I do not have to worry about starving. Which was never going to be an issue, I just really like food.
In short, God is good. "Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever." 1 Chronicles 16:34

Week Three

Wow. Just wow. Week three is already done. In just three months, I will be back in the States for Christmas break. I have been in St. Lucia for five weeks, and I am amazed at how far we have come from the initial culture shock.
Despite my fears about grade one, I am already seeing amazing growth in my students. My students are getting better at having listening ears on and controlling their voices, something that stressed me out when I first started. My students are buying into our "team and family" culture, where we encourage, respect, and love each other. After just three weeks, my students give me several hugs a day and tell me that they love me. During read aloud time, students make predictions where they start off their sentences by saying, "I predict..." (I find this to be a big win for grade one students.) My students love love LOVE props, something we did in Milwaukee to encourage each other. So far I have taught them Ballin, Hot Chili Pepper, Two and a half claps, firework, and the Incredible Hulk.
Kirsten and I have both been asked by the church to teach piano lessons and Sunday School. They are giving us time to settle in, but I am sure we will be off and running with those activities in a few weeks. It is interesting to have a separate church and school, something that we would not have if we were teaching back in the states, but we enjoy getting to know different people and being able to build relationships with a variety of people.
The highlight of my week outside of school was probably eating brats for supper last night. We splurged $20 EC ($8 US) for five brats, and it was the perfect way to end a busy school week! Nothing like brats to remind you of home.
"I can do all things through him who gives me strength." Philippians 4:13

First Full Week of School--Check!

It completely blows my mind that I am a real teacher. 

The first three days were full of meeting my 17 grade one students, setting up routines and procedures, and team building. I have been incorporating several things I learned while I was teaching in Milwaukee, such as sitting in STAR, tracking the speaker, Do It Again, props, A LOT of positive framing, and 100%. Holey moley, is it a lot of work to establish this kind of culture in a new setting! Consistency is the key. My students are adjusting well to the routines and procedures, but it is still early in the school year. I am excited to see their growth as the year progresses!

This year, I am teaching Language Arts, Math, and Health. My first week of lessons was hectic. I would come home from school and be completely exhausted. I am just assuming that is just the life of a teacher. At the end of the month, the special classes start, which means I will have FREE TIME during the day when my class goes to Library, French, Spanish, PE, Computer, Dance, Tennis, and Swimming. For now, we are filling in our free time with Language Experience Stories, read alouds, sentence writing, and lesson extensions. 

Grade one is definitely a challenge for me. I am not used to having students call out without raising their hands. I am not used to having students come up to me and poke me to get my attention. I am not used to having students tell me random stories that have no connection to what we are talking about. I am not used to having to repeat myself over and over and over again. I am not used to having to use simpler words that six-year-olds understand. We are currently working on staying in our seats and raising our hands to talk and having our listening ears on. Again, consistency is the key.

While I was teaching in Milwaukee, I was reminded that you choose your attitude, and your attitude effects everything. I am choosing to be positive. I know that God will bless my work here. I know that I will grow to be a better teacher. I know my hard work will pay off. I know that there will be difficult days, but God will work them out for my good. When I was feeling down the other day, God gave me the words I needed to hear: "I am He, I am He who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you." (Isaiah 46:4) 

BLESSINGS of Living In St. Lucia

We are blessed like CRAZY down here! Here are just a few of the blessings that we enjoy down here.

1.       Supportive school faculty- The principal and supervisors have demonstrated in just the past two weeks that they will do anything for us, whether it is to drive us to places we need to go, bring us fruits and vegetables from the market, and checking in on us to make sure we are alright. We are so well cared for here, which is huge when family and loved ones are so far away.

2.       Church- I love attending Trinity Lutheran Church. The two pastors and members of Trinity are extremely welcoming and make us feel right at home. People are constantly offering to give us rides and teach us how to cook Lucian food. I am excited to be a member of Trinity Lutheran Church for the next year!

3.       Roommates- I am blessed to have Tanya and Kirsten as roommates. Not only do they cook delicious food (huge bonus for me…) but they both put up with my weird quirks and odd humour.

4.       PANCAKES!- Even though we are living in a foreign country, we can still make pancakes, mac and cheese, popcorn, and tacos—my comfort foods here. As much as I love trying new foods, it feels good to be able to make food from home.

5.       Technology and WIFI- I am very lucky to have WIFI at both home and school, which makes communicating with my family, friends, and boyfriend much easier than having to rely on hand-written  letters  every few weeks. Technology is a blessing!

6.       17 students, assistant teacher, and co-teacher- I am blessed to have 17 grade one students this upcoming school year, as well as an experienced assistant teacher, Teacher Allison, and supportive co-teacher, Teacher Darnelle. I have a great feeling this will be a wonderful and enjoyable school year.

7.       Location- First of all, our home is gorgeous. Tanya, Kirsten, and I all have our own rooms and bathrooms. Plus, there is plenty of space for visitors (hint hint…) Second, our home is a minute walk from school, a seven minute walk to the grocery store, and a fifteen minute walk to banks, grocery stores, shops, and two malls. We live in a safe neighborhood and we can walk to pretty much wherever we need to go.

8.       Beach- They say here in St. Lucia that wherever you are, it’s only a ten minute walk to the beach. Tanya, Kirsten, and I were advised to be careful of some beaches which were not safe. We walk 30 minutes to “The Ramp”, which is a very populated (safe) beach. Jumping in the water feels AMAZING after the long walk. How many other people can say they go to the beach at least three times a week?

God is good. All the time. I look forward to seeing all the ways God blesses us this next year! 

Challenges of Living in a Foreign Country

It is AMAZING to live on a beautiful island like St. Lucia, but there are also several challenges I am facing living in a foreign country.

1. Communication- This is probably one of my biggest challenges right now. Even though people in St. Lucia speak English, the accent and pronunciation of certain words makes it difficult at times to understand. One example of this is that the word "ear" is pronounced like "air." (I am hoping and praying that I will pick up part of the accent during my time here, because it sounds awesome.) When we first arrived, I had to focus very hard on the speaker to understand what they were saying. Now, it is a little easier to understand, but I still find it challenging to follow conversations when nationals talk to other nationals, because they speak faster with each other than they would talking to Tanya, Kirsten, or myself.

2. Food- Food is ALWAYS on my mind. Food is my passion. We have access to lots of amazing food down here (sugar cane, coconuts, the most delicious bananas on EARTH, passion fruit...) but I miss a lot of food back home. I talk about this all the time, and I am probably driving my roommates crazy, but it is so hard to see people on pinterest and facebook posting delectable recipes and pictures of food back in the states. I have made a list of all the food I will eat during my three week vacation back home for Christmas, and it gets longer every day. I am pretty sure I will gain all of the weight I've been losing back in those three weeks.

3. Heat- At the end of each day, Tanya, Kirsten, and myself are WIPED OUT due to the heat. It's a real thing. Especially after walking 30 minutes to and from the beach, all we want to do is each something, rinse off, and go to bed. It's a hard life... ;)

4. Early Sunsets- The sunsets are beautiful here. (We have yet to watch a sunset from the beach though...) We are living in a safe neighborhood, but we have been advised not to walk outside at night. Right now, the sun goes down around 6:30 pm. In a few months, the sun will be setting around 4:30. Because it gets dark here so early, we are limited to staying at home when it gets dark. We do have access to public transport, which we have tried twice so far, so if we needed to go somewhere after dark, we have a way.

Despite these challenges, there are so many blessings here, which I will write about at a later time! It is comforting to know that God is with us throughout any challenge and that He is blessing our work.

The Market

This morning, the principal at our school and one of the teachers picked us up to go to the market in Castries, the capital of St. Lucia. Castries is about a 15-20 minute drive from where we live on the north side of the island.
The market is quite the hectic place. There are so many smells all at once, it becomes a little overwhelming. We started by the fish section in the outdoor market, which is definitely the smelliest part. When we stopped for fish, the three of us foreigners almost immediately became the attention of many men. A few called to us, and one even came up behind us and talked to us, but we just ignored him. First of all, we were wearing our sunglasses, which helps like CRAZY to ignore people. I know that sounds really weird, but it helps a ton! (I felt #fierce.) Second of all, I had a hard time trying to understand all that was being said by the men. It makes me feel almost dense to not be able to understand what people are saying to me. Many nationals talk too fast for me to understand, and the accent at times makes it difficult for me to understand the first time around. Communication is probably the biggest challenge for me right now, but hopefully with concentration and practice, improvement will come.
My roommates and I were able to purchase a variety of fruits and vegetables for very reasonable prices, compared to prices in the grocery store. The principal was so nice to buy us coconuts! The man selling the coconuts sliced into the coconut with a large knife. (If I would have tried, I would have definitely cut off my hand.) We first drank the water from a straw, and then the seller hacked the coconut in half, so we could scoop out and eat the coconut jelly that is inside. Until today, I really had no clue what was all up in the coconuts. Now I know! I have not yet tried the coconut jelly, but maybe soon. We bought sweet peppers, watermelon!!!!, pineapple, mangoes, cucumbers, and lemons at the market today. I am extremely excited to eat the watermelon tonight for supper! It's the small things that make it feel like home here.

What We've Learned so Far

I have been given the incredible opportunity to teach for one year in St. Lucia. I am living with a friend from my college, and another teacher from Canada who has taught in Vietnam. Today is our fourth day on the island and so far we have learned many things:

1. I stick out like a sore thumb. And I always will while I am here. I have white skin and blonde hair. When walking down the street, people will stare. Better just get used to being stared at when we are in public.

2. I do not understand electricity and voltage and wattage at all. So far we had burned out our coffee maker and Magic Bullet because the converters do not always work for every appliance. I can't really explain because I do not understand. Just hoping and praying my crock pot makes it out of St. Lucia unscathed.

3. Sometimes it is OK to greet people. Other times, you are better off being rude. For example, at the beach, random men will come up to you, either to sell you something or to just be creepy. My roommates and I are learning how to not be so nice (as Mid-westerners and Canadians usually are) and dismiss these people with a "No, thank you" or completely ignoring them.

4. Similar to #3, I learned that if you do not buy conch shells from the random man selling from his paddle board at the beach, he may attempt to run you over with his paddle board. I was firm with him that I did not want to buy one, he eventually floated away, and then a few minutes later was floating past, narrowly missing me. Granted, this may have been an accident. A "excuse me" or "watch out" would have been nice.

5. Grocery shopping is hard. Especially when paying in EC (Eastern Caribbean), the currency used down here. 1 US dollar is equivalent to 2.67 (or so) EC. For example, a can of soup was about 4.75 EC, which to me seems like a lot for a can of soup. But when you convert it to USD, it is only about $1.75. Our last grocery bill was a little over 100 EC, which seems like a lot of money, but it is only about $40 US. Being a frugal person is hard here, since most food is more expensive than in the States. A head of broccoli is roughly $24 EC, $9 US. No broccoli for me...

6. Grocery shopping is hard when you don't know how to cook local food. Or just food in general. PERSONAL GOAL: Learn how to cook.

In general, the teachers at our school are very welcoming and will do basically anything for us to make us happy. They drive us to stores and help us figure out service plans for our phones. Living in a different culture feels like being lost. I am very much enjoying the time I have spent here so far, and I am eager to learn more and begin teaching!