Sad news, Strike, and Playing Violin in a Kimono

I have a bit of sad news. My dog, Mr. Bojangles a.k.a Bo, recently died. As would occasionally happen from time to time but never cause much of a problem, his chain came unhooked one night. Usually if this happened he would come back by himself or a neighbor would come and tell me he/she saw him wandering around. This time, however, when I woke up the next morning I couldn’t find him. After asking around, a couple of my neighbors helped me look for him. We eventually found him next to the drain in front of my house, his jaw clenched close with grass inside of it. He apparently must have eaten some rat poison and was eating the grass to try and vomit it up. My neighbors helped me bury him under my grapefruit tree, which I’m grateful for. It was difficult to do, and he is missed, but I’m thankful to have had his company during the majority of my time down here. I couldn’t help but smile and think it a bit coincidental that a couple days after Bo died, the Obama family named their new dog Bo. A friend of mine jokingly said that he must have been reincarnated. I initially said that he must not have improved much in terms of his behavior from his previous life, as he didn’t come back as something better than a dog. But then again, if it is him, he is now living a life of doggy luxury in the White House, so he must have gotten something right, eh?

I’m still killing cockroaches like it’s a part-time job, but sometimes apathy takes over and I adopt the “in sight, out of mind” mentality. After all, if my neighbors all report the same problems despite spraying endless amounts of insecticide spray, what’s the use? The new development, however, is the sound of scampering coming from between the inside of my roof and the galvanized outer bit. At night I’ll occasionally hear feet pitter-patting around followed by a thud, as whatever it is running around bumps into the wall. I guess it must be a rat/mouse or something of the sort, but as I walk around my house I see absolutely no point of entry, which leaves me baffled as to how the little putz got in there. In the end, I honestly could care less whether it lives up there rent-free. As long as it doesn’t find it’s way downstairs, or worse yet decide to kick the can up there, we’re good to go. Too bad you already booked your plane ticket, Alison! Ha! :)

Several months ago the government promised the teachers a pay raise, a chunk of which was to take effect the end of this month. Given the economic crisis and absence of projected growth, the government has recently asked the teachers for deferral of their pay raise. Last Monday was supposed to be the first day back at school after Easter break, but the teachers’ union called a special meeting with the Ministry of Education to demand their promised money. The Union and the Government weren’t able to reach a compromise, so as the teachers did not receive their pay increase due on Wednesday, they went on strike Thursday and Friday. Today (Monday) the Union is calling another meeting with Government, so hopefully they will be able to reach a compromise so school can resume tomorrow. I can understand where both sides are coming from. We’ll see what happens.

Japan has an overseas volunteer organization equivalent to Peace Corps that is also in St. Lucia. One of the Japanese volunteers who recently finished her service worked at a home for senior citizens and disabled persons in Soufriere. She plays the piano, and put on a farewell concert for the people at the home. Another Japanese volunteer and myself joined her, playing the recorder and the violin. A couple of nights before the concert Emi (the Japanese volunteer) called to tell me that they would be wearing traditional Japanese clothes and were wondering whether I would also like to dress in Japanese attire. Sure, why the heck not? After all, how many chances does an American get to play traditional Creole songs with a couple of Japanese people for St. Lucian senior citizens, all while wearing a kimono? Check.