Caterpillars!

Once a week I do arts and craft projects with the Grade 4 students at the Primary School. This week we made Caterpillars! One of my FAVORITE crafts and I wanted to share it with them!

Crosses

About two months before Christmas I received an e-mail from Alicia were she forwarded me an e-mail from her friend back in the States asking if I was willing to help. Of course I cannot say No to a friend asking for help!

It was an e-mail asking for 100 local and homemade crosses for Alicia’s church in the States. They do a Good Friday activity for the children and at the end they like to send them home with a cross. Alicia asked me because you knew I had the student power and the creativity mind set. I have to admit 100 crosses overwhelmed me slightly but I love a good challenge.



After speaking with Mary (A PCV) we decided we would use a part of the coconut branches to make the crosses and than local madgros (the National Fabric) to get the cross together.

With the amazing older students and a little touch of my love by me and Alicia after the students finished we were able to make 100 plus crosses within the first half of the day.

In exchange for the cross, Holy Trinity Church of New Jersey has donated $150USD for the purchasing of books for the Library!

Christmas Craft Camp!

This Christmas time I was very busy with many activities which really made it feel like Christmas time this year, more than last. The finally Christmas activity I did was put on a four day, two hour Christmas Arts and Craft camp through the Roseau Public Library.



We had about 20 to 25 students there ranging from five to fifteen. Just a few days before the camp I received an amazing package from Grandma, My Mom, Jennifer, and Courtney that was basically a life saver! It had cute Christmas crafts in them, glitter, and treats for the students at the end of camp. We made Christmas ornaments, angels, Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer, snowmen, and many more.



My favorite was the last of course because we always have a party! This year, we did a craft in the first half and during the second half of camp we decorated Christmas Cookies and I was able to be Santa’s little helper filling up their homemade paper bag Christmas Stockings with all of the goodies from my family and Courtney! It was such a joy for me to watch the students decorate their Christmas cookies with frosting, colored sugars, chocolate chips and snowflake sprinkles. During decorating, I was working with the five to eight year old children and I had asked them if they had decorated cookies before and only two little hands of the ten rose! It was pure and simply joy to see them eat their creations and the fun they had covering their cookies as high as possible with sugar!



I also joke that when I have children all of the bad karma of sending children from my camps home with a sugar rush will get me tenfold with my children.



Another camp, another success!

DBS Christmas Competition

-The Winner and I-

Since the 1970s DBS Radio Station has been putting on an Annual Christmas Song Competition. This year nine individuals and one group ranging from fifteen to twenty-five years old wrote their own Christmas songs, submitted the song to DBS and than a judging staff picked the top ten to perform at the event.


-The Producer and myself-

I was given the opportunity to help with the planning and production process of the event. It turned out to be a very long and at times stressful day but worth it at the end. I ran the final rehearsal the morning of the event then went home to quickly bathe, dress, and grab some food before heading back within an hour.



I was back stage for the event making sure the artists were ready and communicating with the sound/tech guys to make sure everything was fine on their end. It was a great show and an amazing turn out!



These young individuals carry a lot of talent and I am excited to see where they go from here!

Christmas Carnival

Before school closed for Christmas Break, the teachers came together to have a Christmas Carnival at the School. There were games for the students to play, prizes to be won, snacks to eat, and bouncing castle to release all of their energy! Even Santa made it down from the North Pole to pass out sweeties to all of the students!



I was in charge of the bouncing castle tickets and such of a softy many of the students bounced for free because I could not tell them no if they did not have enough many.



The day was a lot of fun and the majority of the students came to the event. It was also a lot of fun to see the parents participate in the event with their children. I even got to jump in the bouncing castle!

Christmas Parade!

For the three months prior to Christmas I was on a committee to help plan a Christmas Parade, the first annual actually! We met weekly, did radio interviews, and made phone calls after calls trying to get the support of business houses. At the end of the day, it was a huge success for the first annual parade. We had about 10 different social groups march in the parade, seven business houses, three different Santas, and vendors selling their chicken, popcorn, and ice cream for the people who gathered in the football (soccer) field afternoon. My favorite part was a the end of the event they shot off fireworks!



There were many bumps in the events, corrections they will need to make next year but we have the general public of Dominica sensitized to the thought of a Business House Christmas Parade. I will be sad to miss it next year but greatly I was part of the event this year!

There is nowhere I would reather be!

I hope my 2011 reflects how I spent New Years Eve. I had such an amazing New Years Eve weekend. I spent it with Alicia at her house and three of her closest friends from the village. Alicia just returned from a trip to the States and brought back New Years Eve goodies like hats, crowns, horns, balloons, and lays! It was pure joy that night and we even got to watch the ball drop in New York City! The powers of the internet!



There were many moments when I just thought:
“There is nowhere I would rather be than exactly where I am”



To all my lovies: I hope your 2011 brings you more joy, laughter, and love then you know what to do with. I hope you achieve every last goal you have in mind plus a few others that come your way. I hope you learn to embrace every situation and individual like it could be life changing. In one way or another you have impacted my life and I can only wish I have done the same for you.

Fifth and (Maybe) Final Time!

Yes! I achieved my goal! I did the Boiling Lake five times! It was an amazing day and the weather was very good to us! Since Alicia and I are such pros we did not even get a guide because WE lead the way!

The LOVE of the Sea

I find this amazing Peace by the water, clarity in my thinking, a relaxation in my body I cannot create anywhere else, and an unspeakable calm. I am not one to jump through the waves or splash with friends. Rather I lay; I sit, and take in the sound of the waves meeting the rocks, the trees swaying in the wind, and the sounds of human nature which surround me.

I have found my secret spot where I love. It is really not a secret or has an amazing beach (the beach is actually rocks) but it is close to home, has an amazing vibe, and a dock where I find myself sitting, thinking about what is next, feeding fish with students, and walking hand in hand with a frightened little boy trying to be brave.

I want; no I NEED to live by the water again!

Humans and Nature

I just finished the book ‘The Samurai’s Garden’ by Gail Tsukiyama. It is an amazing book that kept me company many evenings and days throughout the past two weeks. Towards the end it had many correlations to how I am feeling about the end of my service approaching in the next four months.

There is a passage I wanted to share:

‘ “Isn’t it interesting, Stephen-san,” he said, “how sometimes you must cut away something in order to make it grow back stronger?” “It may seem lonely and barren at first, only to flower again in the spring.” … “We aren’t so different, human beings and plants. We are all part of one nature and from each other we learn how to live.”

… “I won’t say we human beings still don’t have much to learn. Sometimes we love and hate without thought. We expect too much from one another, and often we are wrong. Take that flower,” he said, pointing to the crepe myrtle. “it has a short life span, but you know just what to expect of it. The leaves are turning yellow-orange, so you know human beings have much longer lives. And that makes for many more complications. But in the end, Stephen-san, you can only look back, hoping everything happens in your life is for a purpose…. If it is important, it will stay with you.” ‘