Back to Island Life

After a wonderful 3-week-long vacation visiting friends and family in the COOOOOLD Midwest, Kirsten and I have returned to our beautiful island home!
While I was home, I got quite spoiled not having to plan suppers or cook for myself. The first couple days of being back were an adjustment, realizing that we have to stock up on food, and actually prepare meals in order to stay alive. I am striving to become a better cook, and this week I learned how to make popcorn on the stove! What an achievement! You have to start somewhere...
It felt quite odd to be back, spending our time in the classroom and being reunited with our kiddos. I am so proud of my students, who hopped right back into the swing of things, but still showed signs of exhaustion and were often tempted to put their heads down on their tables. No way jose! Not in my classroom!
In my classroom, we started writing SHOUT OUTS to each other. It is heart-touching to see the smiles on the children's faces when a classmate reads their name and compliments them for doing something well. I even have dedicated part of my limited wall space to post the shout outs, and will send the shout outs home with the students after a week or two. I pray this will bring my TEAM and FAMILY even closer as we build each other up!
Kirsten's sister, Kelsey, is visiting the island for two weeks and is staying with us. The other day, she made supper for us, which was DELICIOUS! She is quickly learning the ways of the island and seems to enjoy spending as much time as she can at the beach, which is where we are headed later today.
One of the first days back at school, another teacher commented how I had gotten "chubby" over break and how I must have enjoyed myself being home. Five months ago, this kind of comment would have made me upset, but I have adjusted to the directness and bluntness of Lucian people. Nevertheless, I have been waking up early before school to exercise. I have even started doing yoga before bed. It's a new year, and I am trying new things!

Kirsten and I love our Packers!!!

Last night, Kirsten, Kelsey, and I met with Professor Hunter from MLC and his wife at their hotel for supper and drinks, as Kirsten and I shared stories of our experiences at school and church and life in general. We are giving him our OFFICIAL decision soon as to if we are staying or receiving our assignment in May. Prayers are appreciated!
This weekend, we are looking forward to relaxing, the beach, being reunited with our church family tomorrow, and probably a bit of school work. Can't complain!
"Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love." Ephesians 4:2

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