Life in Fond St. Jacques

Sorry I’ve been a putz about posting stuff these past few weeks. Internet access has been sparse, but now that everyone is settled into their own places, I should be able to mooch off a friend not too far away who has access in her house. Anyway, here’s a little info about my pad, the community, and other fun stuff.

Settling In
So after living with 3 host families in different communities, I’ve finally just this week moved into my permanent residence in Fond St. Jacques, a 2 bedroom house (enough room for visitors!). It’s cozy, but definitely has more than enough space for me. Having never lived alone before, I’m excited for this new experience and hopefully won’t die of malnutrition because of my lack of ability to cook much of anything besides cookies and German chocolate cake. J Side note – I wrote this part of my post a few days back and have since successfully cooked curried chicken with rice, pizza, cornbread, and of course, cookies. Yay for the Peace Corps cookbook.

The Community
I couldn’t have asked for a better environment to live in for the next two years. My community is very close to a protected rainforest, so it’s lush and green because of the abundant rainfall. It’s set in a valley with small mountains surrounding it, so there are plenty of gorgeous places to hike. There are a few waterfalls nearby, a couple of which allow for a bit of swimming. Soufriere, a city right on the coast, is about 3 miles away and has a nice beach as well as grocery stores, etc. I won’t have to make too many trips to the store for fruit and vegetables, however, because between my place and my neighbors there are oranges, grapefruits, limes, sugar cane, avocadoes, cocoa beans, dasheen (kind of like a potato), and plantains. To top things off, on the backside of one of the mountains behind my house is an active volcano; if that thing blows, I’d face a fate similar to that of a chicken walking into Bojangles (who wanted extra crispy?). Speaking of natural disasters, in the middle of the night last week we apparently had an earthquake registering just around a 5. It didn’t cause any damage, but shook things up a bit…not too much though, because I didn’t even wake up (darn!)

Who’s the White Guy?
I’ve really enjoyed getting to know people in the community. At first some people looked at me strangely and asked if I needed directions, but after telling them who I was staying with (everyone knows everyone…literally), people were very friendly and curious about where I’m from, what I’ll be doing in the community, etc. Meeting so many people and having the same conversation over and over again was tiring though. I think that when I’m placed in new situations where I’m not completely comfortable I tend to be naturally introverted, so forcing myself to be extroverted and sociable day in and day out was draining. Now that I’ve gotten settled down and don’t have to explain quite as much to people since most of them know who I am even if I’ve never met them (news travels fast), I’m not as tired. My neighbors are very friendly and are nearly all related. My landlord’s mother had 19 children, and is currently alive and kickin’ at the age of 105.

A Honking Culture
I think I mentioned the public transportation bus system in a previous post, but I don’t think I mentioned the element of honking. Unlike in the States, where it seems that honking is utilized almost exclusively in a negative context, here the horn has many purposes. Yes, it’s still used in the “get the heck out of my way” context, but people also honk in quite a few other situations. If a bus speeds by another vehicle it honks, just to let the other vehicle know it’s there and is passing it. A lot of drivers know each other and some buses even have clever names written on them (i.e. Rush Hour), so they’ll also honk as they drive past one another. The roads here are oftentimes narrow and windy, especially on the west coast where I’m at, so oftentimes buses just honk around turns to let cars they could potentially run into know they’re coming. And lastly, people sometimes honk at people they know or their friends’ or families’ houses as they speed by just to say hello (they don’t stop though). My most recent host mom is especially cautious driving on the particularly windy road from our community down to Soufriere. Most drivers just give a little beep beep around turns, but she lays it on hard around every turn. So, between all the windy turns and people she knows in the community, she’s pretty much laying on the horn the majority of the drive. I think she might have replaced the rooster as Fond St. Jacques’ official wake-up call every Saturday morning on her way down to the market.

Church
The majority of people who are religious here are Catholic. Despite not being Catholic, I’ve been going to mass with my host family the past few weeks. Although it’s kind of awkward not knowing the prayers or participating in communion since I’m not confirmed, I have enjoyed the messages and the worship. The worship is plugged in with electric guitars, keyboard, etc. and incorporates the Caribbean reggae flavor into traditional hymns, which is really cool. I plan to keep attending the services while I’m here and hopefully might be able to eventually play my violin with the worship team.

Country Western Music
While on the topic of music, I forgot to mention in the music section of my last post that in addition to the reggae, calypso, folk, and hip hop, country western music is extremely popular. Who would’ve thought? Now it’s important to note that I’m not referring to modern country music like Garth Brooks or Kenny Chesney, popular artists in the States. We’re talking old school twangy country from decades ago. I honestly don’t understand how it could have infiltrated this wonderful country, but nevertheless it’s here, and in full force.

My Community Involvement
So you might be wondering what I’m doing now that I’m done with training and am in my community. Well, during the first 3 months we’re supposed to focus on integrating, so they discourage us from jumping off the deep end and starting major projects right off the bat. The Fond St. Jacques Development Committee requested a PCV, so they’re my base from which to start. I’ve met quite a few “stakeholders” in the community…principal of the school, leaders of groups, etc. and have been gathering information about assets, areas for improvement, etc. The Development Committee is hoping that I can develop some programs for youth (ages 15-35). The concept of youth is obviously different here. Young adults don’t simply move out when they’re 18, as in the States, but rather live with their families much longer. It’s more convenient and oftentimes they don’t have the financial means to move elsewhere. I think that because people aren’t individually established until a later age, youth therefore encompasses a larger age range. Anyway, so I might be working on developing more activities to engage the youth of the community, as football (soccer) is the only main activity, and isn’t extremely organized. I’ll also very likely teach some violin lessons, which I’m obviously excited about. An Irish guy donated 4 violins to the secondary school some time ago, but they haven’t really been used much. The violin is part of traditional folk music, but it seems to be a dying art and very few people know how to play it. In addition to giving lessons to a few students from the school as well as a teacher, I hope to also write out a music book of traditional folk songs.

Working at the School
Starting this next week I’ll be helping out in the primary school for a few hours each day in different classes so I can get to know the staff and students. All of the little kids I see always say “hi Mr. Ben,” but I swear I haven’t met ¾ of them…so I’m hoping that will change. I’ll be working primarily with the kindergarten class, as there are 35 students under 1 lucky teacher. I’ll also be helping out the 3rd grade teacher with teaching some basic Math. I won’t be working as extensively in the school for the entire 2 years as I will be for this first few months, but I thought it would be a great avenue to get to know the kids in the community (outside of attempting to play football), and the teachers are more than happy to have the help.

Are You Married?
So after talking with people for a minute or two they oftentimes ask whether I’m married and have kids in the States. At first I thought it was kind of funny and odd that they wouldn’t think it a bit strange for me to leave a wife and kids in the States for a couple of years and jet off to the Caribbean, but then it started to make sense, because many people here have family members who are in England, the US, or Canada for work.

American Culture in the Caribbean
So I’ve noticed that people here, especially kids, are fascinated by American culture and think acting American is really cool. One night I told my host mom I was going to make a grilled cheese. She wasn’t familiar with the popular American dish and so I explained how it works. I then realized that we only had round rolls and were lacking any sort of flat bread, so it wouldn’t work. After establishing the fact that grilled cheese wasn’t meant to be that night and conveying that to my host mother, I decided to cook some eggs. A little while later, I noticed that my host brother had heavily buttered the inside of several rolls, had put cheese in them, and had smashed the rolls in the George Foreman grille. Needless to say, it didn’t work out so well. We got some sliced bread the next day though and got things squared away.

I hope to post some pictures soon of the area so you can get a better idea of what the environemtn actually looks like. Peace!