"Never have to start sentences with I should've"

Thank you again to everyone who submitted questions for me!!!  This week might get a little long, so you might want to grab and snack and a cool drink and settle in.  

A brief note about the titles of last week's and this week's posts: the Peace Corps office here has all of these cool historical Peace Corps marketing posters.  Last week's title was probably the most famous slogan of the Peace Corps.  But I like this one too because I think it is perfect for me getting to do this now--I didn't want to miss my opportunity and be left to say "I should've done that when I had the chance."

To your questions!!!

From my niece Lexi and her friend Sophia: What is the biggest challenge you've faced so far? This might seem like a weird answer given how different my life is here, but for me the thing that challenges me the most is the lack of solitude. I do LOVE people, I genuinely do, but I think a lot of you know that I deeply value my alone time. There has been very little of that since I left home. It's not an insurmountable challenge, but it's definitely a real one for me. Are there banana groves? (Sophia) There are SO MANY banana fields!!! They are really something to see. When Lexi comes to visit, she'll take lots of pictures for you! Can you explain more about what the peace corps does? (Sophia) Excellent question! The Peace Corps was started in 1961 with a simple goal in mind--to promote peace and friendship around the world while helping countries meet their need for trained people. Peace Corps is a volunteer position, which means I don't get paid for doing this. I do get a "living stipend" which will pay for my rent, utilities, food.  Peace Corps helps in 6 different sectors—education, health, agriculture, community economic development, environment, and youth in development. What is the weirdest experience you've had so far? (Lexi) One weird thing that happened was a few weeks ago when a friend and I were trying to get a bus.  Usually the drivers wait for the bus to fill up, but sometimes they will ask where you are going and then give you a price to go now.  We negotiated a price and then he did the regular route and stopped and doubled the price.  My friend said “you told us X EC (the currency here)” and he just repeated the price.  I said “we’re getting off this bus.”  And we did. Are there pirates? I suspect that the Caribbean Sea is not exempt from pirates!  Not totally unrelated fun fact: Pirates of the Caribbean was filmed in parts of St Lucia. What animals have you seen that aren't in the US? The birds here are all different—I need to practice getting to know their names!  There are mongoose here, which I didn’t see in WA, but have seen in HI.  The other would be gekkos.  Up until now, I have been living in pretty populated places; when I move in a couple weeks, I will be in a very rural place—I’m hoping I’ll see more critters there!  What was the carnival thing you saw? Are there other unique traditions (Lexi)  Carnival is a BIG deal here—Monday and Tuesday were holidays—like Christmas is a holiday in the States.  It’s a celebration that features bands (music, dancing, costumes), calypso, soca, steel bands, and j’ouvert. Other holidays (that we don’t have in the states) include Corpus Christi, Whit Monday, Emancipation Day, Jouneyen Kwèyol, and Boxing Day.  What have you experienced there that you haven't experienced anywhere else in the world? (Lexi) There is a lot about this experience that is so different from when I’ve traveled in other parts of the world.  I think the overriding thing though is that I’m entering into all of my interactions from a different place—I’m going to be living here for over 2 years.  I’m not a tourist visiting an amazing place for a couple of weeks.  I’m going to have a home and live and work here.   

From Sara: What are some of the cultural differences you are noticing?  Oh boy, there are a lot.  So I’ll paint with a broad brush to capture some of those that are the most striking to me.  1st–the pace of island life.  It is much slower than the states.  I knew this before getting here due to previous travel, but living it really is a whole different level.  Gender norms are a big one for me–men and women have very traditional gender roles.  Many (if not most) women do work outside the home, but they are still expected to do all of the housework (cooking, cleaning, etc) and caregiving.  There is an overall formality especially in the workplace that we don’t really have in the US.  This ranges from the clothing to the interactions you have with the principals, other teachers, students.  

From Vanessa: How does your previous training (both as mentee and mentor) influence your current work at St. Lucia? Or have you had to start from scratch? I haven’t had to start from scratch and I have found that my experience as both a mentor and a mentee has been really helpful.  As a mentee now, I find myself in the “receptive mindset” where I am open to feedback and full of curiosity and lots of questions/information seeking.  That’s a skill, and I’m thankful for my past mentee experiences for equipping me with the tools to make the most of these opportunities.  Our group ranges in age pretty dramatically–half our group is in their 20s and the rest of us are 50+.  I have definitely been mentoring some of the younger trainees.  I’ve really enjoyed that aspect and I feel like it’s also helping alleviate some of their stresses and helping them figure out how to make the most of this experience.  

From Shad: Whenever I engage with cultural sensitivity awareness on any level - training, new language etc - I'm astonished at ways in which I need to grow into a less culturally centric vocabulary, habit of speech or habit generally. Where are you growing in this way - what is your newly heightened awareness like? Where are you finding the biggest challenge? Thank you for this question, Shad!  You made me stop and think about this more consciously.  I’ve been going over my interactions with folks in my head and I think what I’m realizing is that my habit has just been to be curious.  I’m asking questions ALL of the time.  Part of what the Peace Corps strives for is cultural exchange, but honestly, I haven’t really been talking about America or how we do things unless someone explicitly asks.  Although when my PC mom insisted on washing dinner dishes I asked her to please let me do them because in my house if you cook, you don’t do the dishes.  LOL.  All that said, my new culture awareness comes with some challenges for me.  As I wrote above, gender norms are something that I now have to deal with in this culture.  Pardon my Star Trek reference, but being in PC is a bit like following The Prime Directive.  I think another challenge for me right now is the language.  We are taught by an academic who is focused on pronunciation and writing.  Kwèyol is an oral language so my PC family can’t spell any of the words when I ask them “how do you spell that?”.  We’re also being taught a very proper/formal way of speaking, which doesn’t seem to be what we will encounter when we are speaking.  So the immersive language experience of living with a host family isn’t that immersive.  But, my PC mom has taught me useful words and phrases–so while I’m worried about passing my language exam and think I’ll probably be able to muddle through when I get to my community.  

From Phil: In a world of global citizens, what is one misconception about US citizens you've encountered? I think my experience thus far has been unusual because almost everyone I’ve met from St. Lucia has had some experience with a Peace Corps volunteer in the past (Eastern Caribbean was one of the 1st PC posts in 1961).  So there haven’t really been any misconceptions per se.  However, I have had conversations with more than one person about gun violence in the US.  Let me be clear–this is not an invitation to start a discussion in this blog about guns and gun violence in the US.  I am merely going to report the substance of the conversation I’ve had with St. Lucians.  The general sentiment seems to be that our lack of response to mass shootings and inability to change gun laws is beyond comprehension.  They don’t understand why we are ok with people walking into a school and killing babies.  They don’t understand why anyone needs an automatic weapon or why anyone needs to own several guns.  I will tell you–at least one of the people I had this conversation with is a gun owner.  Getting back to Phil’s question–perhaps a misconception in this instance was that I spoke on behalf of all Americans on this topic.  I made it clear that I did not.  

Y’all made it to the end!  Thanks for your interest and for hanging in there!  Here's a couple photos from class this week. And yes, I am making a pig nose in the one on the left. LOL. I appreciate you all!!!