All Good Things Must Come to an End

They’re here! My parents arrived safely on Tuesday night and the fun began soon after. I met them at the airport, we dropped their bags at the hotel and headed over to the Ti Bananne restaurant to toast to the conclusion of my unique adventure abroad. We returned to the room to assemble the treat bags I would give my students the following day at school, while I talked nonstop about some of the things I have learned here.

With “Treat Day” planned for the following day at school, I had no idea what to expect, but I warned my parents that there would be a lot of noise. They laughed it off while we packed the rental car with three suitcases full of school supplies they brought with them. Thanks to my aunt and her kindergarten class, and all of the effort my parents went through to transport the supplies, we were excited to be making such a large contribution to a deserving school. Since I had told a lot of the students that my parents would be coming that day, they were greeted with excited smiles and welcoming hugs. My dad made a quick speech and then, just as we hoped, the students and teachers were thrilled and appreciative of the gifts and supplies and their wide eyes and toothy smiles were priceless. As the all-school assembly continued, I was presented with a gift from my class as well as a song they had written. I couldn’t say thank you enough and I was so proud of them. It was hard to say good-bye as I fought back tears, but the glassy eyes of my students told me that I truly did make a difference.

With only three full days on the island, I knew I would have to pack each day with multiple activities to show my parents as much as possible. Therefore, after school, we headed over to Pigeon Point so they could have a turn climbing the Fort. We also stopped at the shopping mall, ate lunch at the marina and then made our way to Castries for the Festival of Lights. Marking the beginning of the Christmas season, the Derek Walcott Square was packed with people waiting to see the town light up for the first time of the year. Now the lights will stay lit until Christmas is over.

To celebrate my Dad’s birthday on Thursday (which is also a holy day in St. Lucia), Annabelle and I arranged an “Around the Island” tour for the day. We packed fifteen people into the bus and made our way down the Western (Caribbean) Coast and back up the Eastern (Atlantic) Coast. We began by touring the College of the West Indies – the only post-secondary school on the island – which stands right next to the monument in remembrance of the fourteen battles fought between the British and French for possession of St. Lucia. We continued along the narrow, winding roads (much to Mom’s discontent) and despite the slightly overcast (and very windy!) day, we were able to stop at various viewing points to take some gorgeous pictures. We also saw the shop where Casava bread is made and of course had to have a few samples. The other highlight was spending time at the Sulphur Springs to step in the warm, yet smelly, water. Supposedly, bathing in the stream is good for sore muscles and other body aches, but we were content with just getting our feet wet. The sulphur comes from the only volcano on the island which uniquely caved inward instead of erupting outward. Exhausted, but content with the jam-packed day, we made it back to the hotel in time for happy hour and then spent the rest of the night relaxing with the cool breeze.

Friday was sort of a catch up and relax day for us. Unfortunately, my parents still didn’t get to see very much sun, but we walked around Rodney Bay for awhile before packing up our suitcases and sitting by the pool. It’s a good thing they brought those extra suitcases of supplies that we left here, otherwise I would have had to leave quite a bit behind! That night, I confidently led my parents on the two-bus trek from the hotel to the Cherubin’s house for one last dinner with my host family. My parents had already met John and Brenda, but it was nice to sit down and actually have a conversation all together. Over a delicious meal and various drinks, we exchanged a few gifts and a lot of thanks. The highlight of the night for them was the snow my parents brought from home! Granted, they’re just little crystals that you mix with water, but it truly does look like the real stuff and they enjoyed that very much.

Over the past eight weeks, the Cherubins and everyone at school have helped me create so many stories that will remain with me forever. Despite my excitement to be coming home for Christmas, saying good-bye to my new family was very difficult. They all said I had exceeded their expectations and hope that I return in the future. All the words in the world could not express exactly what it’s like to spend eight weeks in an entirely new community and culture, but I want to thank you for following me along on my adventures. I was happy to share the good times, and during the not so good times, I appreciated the reminders that I have a whole support system rooting me on from home. This experience has truly been both eye-opening and life changing. I have learned so much about myself as a teacher, but also as an individual. It’s hard to believe that everything I had planned for for over a year is actually over, but I’m proud to say that I did it, I really did it.

Counting down . . .

It’s amazing how much I’ve learned and experienced in seven short weeks. Unfortunately, I’m already counting down my final days here, but doing my best to make the most of each one. I brought my laptop to school on Friday so I could show my students all of the pictures I had taken of them. They had so much fun looking at all of the pictures and I loved hearing them laugh and reflect back. They also enjoyed listening to some of the music I have, although they had never heard of most of it.

Friday night, I went out with the girls to celebrate one of their daughter’s birthday and just spend time with them outside of school. We took the little ones to Pizza! Pizza! and I secretly jumped inside because the place was a Lucian Chuck E. Cheese’s! No, there weren’t any electronic games, but you could still buy little toys, popcorn and snowcones as well as play on the huge jungle gym and jump on the two jumbo trampolines while waiting for the pizza. I’ve heard my students talk about this place and they often write about going there in their essays.

Wanting to spend as much time with my host family as possible before I leave, I woke up early on Saturday to bathe, get some work done and get out by the shop to see what was going on. I know Christmas is right around the corner, but Lucians sure take celebrating to the extreme. By noon, almost everyone already had a few drinks in them and was laughing and singing along with the radio.

I didn’t stick around long enough to see what time the gathering dispersed because Annabelle and I planned on spending the afternoon at Pigeon Island with her daughter and a friend. A hot spot for weddings and other events, the park is a beautiful historic landmark scattered with ancient war forts, jails and canons. We climbed to the top of the hill – a piece of cake compared to Gros Piton! – and were able to look out over the entire northern part of the island. Annabelle highly suggested I return here for my own wedding, so start saving your pennies now! ;)

As the start to the many good-byes I will have to say in the next week, the principal of the Monchy Primary School invited me over for lunch with her family on Sunday afternoon. The meal was delicious and the company was warm and welcoming. She has a beautiful house which overlooks Rodney Bay, so when I wasn’t out playing with the kids and the five new puppies, I was enjoying the view.

For one of our last hurrahs in the classroom, the students and I decided to have another dance party, but this time we wanted to make it official. Four students were chosen to be the judges and I handed out slips of paper with numbers on them to create the order of contestants. We had a great time playing “Monchy Idol” and the comments from the judges were priceless!

This whole good-bye thing is going to be much harder than I thought, but I guess that just goes to show how influential these people have been on my life. All of the teachers planned a going away dinner for me on Monday night and it was fun to relax and share stories with them outside of our usual school environment. I still haven’t quite gotten used to “Lucian time,” but for a dinner that was scheduled to begin at 7pm, I was quite surprised when we didn’t sit down to eat until 10 o’clock!

Parent-student-teacher conferences went really well today and I found it quite interesting to meet the parents of my students. It’s funny how similar the students are to their parents and a lot of their behaviors obviously come from home. Unfortunately I won’t be around to see if any of the improvements that I suggested during the conferences are actually made, but I hope to keep in touch with Ms. Hall and hear good things.

All day, I was excited for my parents to get here and I can’t wait to show them around school and my home life tomorrow. I’m sure my adventures with them as I wrap up my trip will be just as exciting as the past seven weeks.

And we’re into the home stretch. My, how time flies! After a low key weekend so that I could rest and recoup, I was ready to go Monday morning. I even got up early to head up the hill a ways to watch the sun rise. Standing there in awe, I cleared my mind and simply appreciated the beauty I was surrounded by. All weekend, conversations were buzzing with chit-chat about the earthquake and some of its damages. Some people had feared for their poorly structured homes, while others feared for their lives. The conclusion to each conversation I’ve heard is that the earthquake was a wake up call to start getting our acts together, especially in time for Christmas. We must take nothing for granted and live each day to the fullest.

At school, all of the teachers and I were busy grading exams and filling out report books, but of course, the students are still there and come first. Monday morning, I showed them a little art project I had learned when I was about their age and that kept them busy for quite some time. I still had some work to do in the afternoon, but I quickly realized that allowing them to “socialize quietly” was not going to work. Instead, we cleaned up the classroom and I taught them how to play “Heads Up, Seven Up,” which they loved.

I think I’ve exhausted every summer camp game I could think of and even though my students liked most of them, their attention spans are still about as long as my pinkie finger. They would not try the “Human Knot” because they didn’t want to have to hold hands, but when I asked for suggestions on what we should do, they hinted at a “Dance Party.” Not sure what that meant, and leery because we didn’t have any music, I hesitantly agreed and allowed them to move the desks to form a circle in the middle of the room. Before I knew it, three boys were drumming on their desks to create a rhythmic beat and two students were inside the circle dancing along. Relieved that the students were not fighting for once, I stepped back and observed the smiles on their faces as they patiently took turns stepping in and out of the center. It’s amazing how so much of this culture revolves around dancing and how unifying it can be. I had to laugh when I noticed that the boys were on one side of the circle while the girls were on the other – which reminded me of MY sixth grade dances years ago – but what was different was that the boys were just as eager to dance as the girls. And boy, could they dance! In my next life, I would liked to be blessed with half as much fluid motion as these kids have at such a young age!

I’ve also found it interesting to observe my better students often off in a corner quietly coloring or playing games like Parcheesi and Yachtzee while the dance party fills the room with noise. Sometimes they stand around to watch the others, but usually they find peace in the quieter activities. I took the opportunity to play with them and realized that these are some very intelligent kids. They devise strategies, play carefully and actually continue playing until the game finishes, unlike the students with the previously mentioned attention spans. ;) It has been so fascinating to observe the dynamic of the class now that instruction is over for the term. They have gelled so much and are even a little exclusive when students from other classes try to join their games. Their grade books are complete and I’m looking forward to meeting their parents when they come to pick up the grade books on Tuesday.