HIIIIII!!!

I'm already writing another blog...and i know you are excited. It has been raining on and off for a while now, which is a weird coincidence because it is the rainy season. we are all very confused as to what this odd sensation is, but i believe it is called "cold." The winds are stronger and the sun has been shielded by thick, dark rain clouds so we are less lethargic and miserable and more confused and underclothed.
Yesterday was Independence Day, so all of St. Kitts basically shut down in the name of 25 years of post-colonial success, which is something i will definitely dance to. i went with my host mother and brother to a "parade" which was just various public servants, boys/girls scouts, and a military band standing in their uniforms at the Cricket stadium. It was nice to see the pride and patriotism that the people have for their country which is one of the most economically and socially developed countries in the West Indies. They paid plenty of well-deserved homage to the long journey from slavery and British rule to an independent federation with a national identity and culture.
Afterwards I layed around at home for a while as the rain ran it's course, and then my host mother took me to the Baptist church for a barbecue. I love going there for social events because i feel a real sense of community and family interaction. The kids were playing cricket and a couple of them took me around the surrounding field to where there was a guava tree, and i proceeded to eat several too many. My host mother had cooked the national dish of saltfish, dumplings, and yams before we left so i was physically unable to indulge in the barbecue, but it looked and smelled amazing. I did get to drink starfruit juice which is exponentially more delicious as a drink rather than a fruit.
I am enjoying myself, but I feel incredibly transient. Our lives are basically in limbo until training is over and we are living on our own. I cant wait to feel like a member of a community, both in the way people see me and the way i see the people and places that are around me. I know it will take time, so until then, i'm trying my best to enjoy the journey. today i was walking and a monkey jumped down from a tree right in front of me which was pretty much the highlight of my week.

Hope youre doing well
paz

Changes?

Hi!
Week 3 of St. Kitts is making steady progress. I dont feel at all like i'm in the Peace Corps yet, although i'm starting to re-evaluate what that really even means. Over the years i guess i developed some very naiive images of Peace Corps volunteering that ignored the emotionally strenuous process of community integration and constant, unwanted attention. Regardless, i AM noticing some changes, whether they may be physical, emotional, mental, or just imagined. allow me to share them in attention deficit-friendly list form:

• I'm dirtier. Somehow, I have an unwavering ability to collect all sorts of dirt and unidentifiable bacteria under my fingernails. I am however not the only one, and yes, this makes me feel better about the whole situation. A few of us volunteers have hypothesized that it may be from scratching our skin because it accumilates so much dirt and grime,but maybe that's a question that's best left unanswered.

• I love cold showers. LOVE them. they never fail at making me happy.

• I'm confronted with different culinary dilemmas. Being a vegetarian isn't the most common thing here in st. kitts which doesnt lead to a very sympathetic understanding of why i forbid to eat meat. for example, my host mother, who is catering to my dietary demands like a saint, asked me to help her prepare dinner by scraping residual feathers off of the raw chicken wings. she then proceeded to show me how to BREAK THE BONES in half with a knife, releasing all of the remaining blood and blood-saturated bone marrow. but at least i wasnt ingesting it..?

• I'm itchy. someone once told me that digging your fingernail into a mosquito bite makes it itch less, and that someone was a dirty liar. i am still searching for the most satisfactory way of dealing with these unrelenting mosquito bites that doesnt involve fire, knives, forks, or hungry goats.

• I'm meeting my neighbors. GOATS. they have become my new neighbors, and if anyone knows me they know i am one of the most tolerant human beings when it comes to the scents that animals release. i love skunk smell, zoo smell, animal shelter smell..you name it. my host mother becomes incredibly vexed over the goats because they poop all over her yard, destroy her garden, and do other socially unacceptable goatish things. i, however, LOVE the goats, and i find great comfort in hearing them outside my bedroom window. you have to admit, theyre better than a peeping tom.

• The people are keeping me sane. the children here are absolutely positively unquestionably the coolest people i have ever met in my entire life (no offense to any readers that arent kittitian children). They love to touch my hair and they think for some reason that my kind of hair is better than theirs (THANK YOU WESTERN POP CULTURE INFLUENCE), so i am constantly having to tell them how beautiful they are and how much i wish i had hair and skin like theirs. and i do. i am pale and ghostly.

• I've learned how to be a friendly, well-mannered stranger. saying good morning, good afternoon, and goodnight to people i know and don't know is one of the most valuable lessons i will take back to the states, and i can say that with confidence, regardless of the fact that i havent even began my service.

hope all is well in your lives.

paz