- I have an amazing host family! Charlene, my host mom, is 25; Timor, my host dad, is 30; Timmax is my five-year-old host brother and Shaqueena—Queenie—is almost ten months old!
- I am eating chicken, fried rice, curry, plantains, LOTS of fresh pine (pineapple), fish, bellange (eggplant) and pine tarts! I can make bake and roti, two different kinds of bread…with a little guidance at least.
- I have no running water in the house, but a pipe pumps it into my backyard. That’s what I use for (cold) showers, washing dishes, and making tea—my family drinks it but I can’t be cause my body has no resistance to all the creepy crawlies living in it.
- We have two dogs named Blackie and Brownie. Yesterday, Brownie peed on my leg. Maybe that’s his way of accepting me into the community?
- Speaking of peeing…outhouses aren’t really that bad. Unless you get locked inside one, which happened to me once. Bobby pins and watches are good tools for escape.
- Speaking of peeing, again…I have a pee bucket called a “tinny” that resides under my bed. It’s kinda awkward to use but preferable to braving the outhouse at 2AM.
- We have generator-run electricity from 6PM to 10PM every night!
- St. Cuthbert’s just got a computer lab a few weeks ago—incredibly good timing, no? Especially since that means wireless internet access in the youth center that we use as a training building! My host parents are both taking computer classes three times a week, and they’re really excited to practice their typing on my computer.
- I have two hammocks in my house—my host grandma made them!
- Aforementioned house is two stories, made of wood…downstairs is a big kitchen and a small shop that mostly just functions as a bar in the evenings. The bedrooms are upstairs--I do have my own room, but I only have a sheet for a door.
- Timmax, my host brother, loves playing slapjack and listening to the Beatles on my iPod.
- Queenie, my host sister, is crawling up a storm, and I’m fairly certain she’ll be walking before I leave. She’s also fascinated with my glasses, or as Timmax calls them, my “specs.”
- Lizards hang out in my room at night.
- I met someone with a pet anteater yesterday.
- I’ve been to two birthday parties since I’ve been here!
- My days start early…I run with some other trainees at 6AM most mornings, then I bathe, eat breakfast, and go to class at 8. I only have a five-minute walk to my classroom, which is a small cement building right next to the primary school (which means that the kids come and stare in the windows at us on their breaks). Training lasts till about 4:30, when I go home and help with dinner. By 9:00 I’m exhausted, and by the time the lights go out at 10 I’m usually asleep!
- Training is on several topics: safety and security, health, cultural integration, and technical training in education.
- I’ve taken the 10-minute walk down to the river to swim or bathe a few times with my family. They call the river water “blackwater”—it’s the color of strong tea.
- The first time we went down to the river, we saw a snake! It was bright green and it swam across the river, and then my host dad beat it to death with a stick.
- Next Wednesday, March 16th, I will find out my permanent placement…and then on Saturday I’ll go there to visit!! I am really, really, really excited to see the community I’m going to be living in for the next two years.
Twenty is a nice, even number, so I’ll stop here...I have to go home and cook pumpkin and roti!
