Kansas Rocks, The Mutt, School, and Lucian Mannerisms

So even though I’m on a small island in the middle of the Eastern Caribbean, far from my land-locked home-land, I have still managed to find an abundance of connections to my glorious home state of Kansas. I met a fellow PCV from Kansas who just finished her service and is heading back to Kansas City after a post Peace Corps trip to Italy. Also, the current priest in the Catholic Church is moving to Dodge City, Kansas (slaughter house city!). Finally, I spotted a not so inconspicuous white couple in church a few weeks ago, and come to find out they had just gotten married in Kansas and were here in St. Lucia on their honeymoon. Yes, I’m certainly not in Kansas anymore, but at times I start to wonder…

So if you didn’t have the chance to look at my pictures online, you might not have found out that I got a dog. His name is Bojangles (what else would it be?) and he’s quite the character. He’s a couple of months old and has just successfully learned to sit. He’s a frisky ankle-biter, but he keeps me company and makes sure there’s never a dull moment. Here pets are treated quite a bit differently than in the States though…no little doggie treats, fancy food, bringing them inside, etc. Quite a few seem to be strays and are fed chiefly table scraps. People largely seem to be afraid of dogs, I think because many are raised to be guard dogs and bite.

Speaking of pets, I sometimes feel like the local dog when at the primary school, because quite a few of the kids come up and “pet” me. Every day at least a few of them come up and rub my head or arm hair. Their hair obviously has a different texture and arm hair doesn’t really exist here, so I suppose they’re curious what it feels like. I don’t really mind at all, but it’s a bit awkward when someone you don’t know just comes up and starts rubbing you.

So playing the violin has turned out to be a great way for me to become more visible in the community and has opened quite a few doors. I volunteered to play a traditional folk Creole song I had learned at a beauty pageant fundraiser for Creole day, which was based in Fond St. Jacques. For the pageant 5 older ladies wore traditional Creole cloths, danced to folk music, etc., and musical and dance acts were scattered throughout the show. I think that people were surprised that I was able to play a Creole song, and so it was well received (I got an encore!). Since then, I’ve had the opportunity to play with a traditional drumming group while walking alongside people pulling a giant log from the rainforest (another traditional Creole activity…they use it to make a boat), with the church choir, and for 3 schools in the area. I hope to keep playing with the church choir and also join the drumming group. Many people have also expressed interest in learning the violin, so I’ve just now worked out a schedule for giving lessons starting next week. I’m very thankful that I decided to bring down my violin and I look forward to seeing where it takes me.

Working in the school has proved to be a challenging, frustrating, yet rewarding experience. Part of the difficulty stems from the fact that corporal punishment is used here as the primary disciplinary measure. I don’t personally feel comfortable using the same methods, but that’s what the children have come to respond to. Consequently, the kids don’t really respond much to just a loud tone of voice, and so it’s hard to keep the kids under control when in large groups. At the same time, however, I’ve enjoyed helping a small group of 5th graders with reading and the 3rd graders with Math.

When I first starting thinking about doing the Peace Corps, I envisioned living in a hut, cooking rice and beans every night, and having virtually no connection to the wider world. My living situation, however, has proven to be very different than what I had imagined. Instead of a hut I’ve got a house with ample space, instead of rice and beans I can cook most things available in the States, and instead of not having any clue about what’s going on in the wider world I’ve got American cable TV. At first I thought to myself, am I really in the Peace Corps? Isn’t part of the Peace Corps experience supposed to be all about living simply and not having all the luxuries available in the States? I’ve come to the conclusion, however, that even though I have some of the physical comforts that might not be available to most PCVs in other countries, the core of the experience, which includes fitting into a place where you’re obviously an outsider, adapting to an unstructured environment, and figuring out where and how best to help out, is the same.

I’ve been going into town once a week for tutoring in Patois (Creole) with a fellow PCV. It’s coming along, but I find that people speak so fast here in Creole that it’s hard to pick out individual words and make any sense of it. I’ve been enjoying learning more of it though, and enjoy the laughter that usually follows when I bust out a line or two of Patois.

So Lucians have certain mannerisms that I find quite amusing and enjoy imitating, especially when in the presence of other PCVs. The first is a verbal "eh eh?" in response to a statement that someone doesn't necessarily agree with or questions. It can also be used when someone is just annoyed with somebody else. It's hard to truly capture it's hilarity in writing, because there's so much attitude put into the "eh eh?" The other notable Lucian mannerism is the lip smack, which like the "eh eh?", is used when someone is annoyed with someone else or thinks that what the person said is crazy. In fact, the two are often used in combination, with an "eh eh?" followed by a lip smack. I personally am a big fan and am still working on perfecting my lip smack... :)