The Bus Experience

This whole experience can be summarized as letting a mouse loose in a maze; I am the mouse, and the maze is the country of St Vincent; the goal is to find my way home safely via the bus system. 

Step number one: Find the bus terminal. It was about 4pm after Day 1 of Phase II training ended at the Peace Corps office in Kingstown.  My host mom had given me a very brief tour of the city after she picked me up from the Peace Corps office on Saturday when I arrived.  She pointed it out, but between her dialect and all the new sights, sounds, smells and fatigue, it was a bit of a struggle to remember exactly where I was to get the bus.  Luckily every one is extremely helpful.

So after training, another volunteer and I set out for the bus terminal together.  In fact we all (~12 volunteers in all) set out to catch our bus back home, but at different times and different directions.  I’m not quite sure how, but I think 75% of us ended up at the same terminal, but from completely different paths. Anyways, at first we went to the wrong bus terminal; there are two main terminals.  One for buses that go to the Leeward (west) side of the island, and one that goes to the Windward (east) side of the island.  The thing about buses in St Vincent, or any of the Caribbean islands, is that there is no set schedule.  Buses just come and you just pile in, until you can fit no more bodies. 

Step number two: Get on the correct bus. After finally making my way to the windward bus terminal, which happened to be in Little Tokyo, or the fish market, I needed to figure out which bus was the bus going in my direction. I asked a very kind woman who told me where to stand for my bus.  The next major thing to point out is that buses here are not really buses.  They are more like minivans.  They aren’t labeled with the final destination or anything like that, but instead have sweet rims, or have different sayings painted on the front to represent the attitude of the driver or something else. For example, swagger, cash money, krunk, krank, respect with a backwards E, street wize, captain, dogg, bling bling, I could go on and on. So the best thing to do is just to ask where the bus is going.  Luckily, my host sister, who drove me to the PC office this morning, quizzed me to see if I remembered where I lived so I could get back. 

Some of the vans that run from Mespo to Town. Pink=Venom, Yellow=Fusion.

Step number three: Once on the bus, I wasn’t really sure how to let them know when I wanted to get out.  I guess they just know. This seems to be a common theme among my fellow volunteers; we all have theories for how the conductor (the person who opens the van door, collects the money ($2.50 for me, which is about $1 US), and alerts the driver) lets the driver know. It took about a little over an hour to get home.  All of the streets are narrow, but paved, and extremely winding and steep. It’s a wonder there aren’t more accidents.  In fact, from what I hear, accidents are fairly rare.  There really don’t seem to be rules governing the roads.  Cars pass other cars, even on curvy parts of the road, with frequent use of the horn to alert oncoming traffic and the car being passed.  Cars are always swerving to avoid the ginormous potholes.  The driving skills are really quite impressive. I don’t know how the other passengers aren’t falling all over the place.  I am tossing and turning at every turn. I can’t seem to keep myself still.  I guess it will come with practice and being able to know the next turn.

Each bus ride truly is an experience all its own.  Each ride is different.  There is no rhyme or reason.  Some drivers take “short cuts” to avoid all the rush hour traffic leaving Kingstown, and each short cut is different from the last.  It’s a good way to see some parts that I wouldn’t normally venture to. Another thing I should mention is that the vans cram as many people as they can into the tiny and very hot space.  One van I was in had 23 people in it. Kids on laps, tiny babies in the arms of their mothers, packages, bags, groceries on laps, under the seat and feet, bags of concrete, you name it, its on the bus with you.

One after noon on the way home after training, one passenger had a beer.  Once he finished, he requested the bus driver stop at the next bar so he could get another.  So there we waited for a few minutes while the passenger got another beer.  That was quite the entertaining bus ride!

I will be updating this as more interesting bus rides occur!

Bread Pudding

• 4 Loaves of Bread
• 6 Eggs
• 2 Can Evaporated Milk
• TONSSSS of Nutmeg
• TONSS of Cinnamon
• Alot of Sugar
• Raisins
• Cherries

1. Cut loaves of bread into chunks and put in a large bowl.
2. Mix the milk, eggs, spices, and sugar together.
3. Add over the bread.  Fold the bread so that all pieces are covered with the milk mixture.
4. Bake at 350F until golden brown on top.

Breadfruit Salad

• 2 Roasted Breadfruit
• 1 can Mixed Vegetables; Carrots, green beans, peas, corn, etc
• Couple stalks of Celery
• 1 Onion
• 1 Green Pepper
• 1 Whole Garlic
• Alot of Mustard
• A good Amount of Mayonaise
• Generous Amounts of Black Pepper

1. Roast breadfruit, peel the shell, cut out the center seeds, and then cut into small chunks. -or-
2. Boil breadfruit. Cut breadfruit into 4 sections, boil with salt, and peel after cooled.
3. Add all ingredients and mix together.
4. This dish is the equivalent of potato salad.

Callaloo Something or Other

• Approx 4-8 bunches of Callaloo (type of spinach. Its actually the leaves of the dasheen).
• 1 Whole Garlic
• Couple tablespoons of Olive Oil
• TONS of Curry
• Generous Amounts of Black Pepper
• 2 Cups ish of Coconut Milk

1. Peel callaloo stems if old. Otherwise just cut the end of the stalk. Cut up callaloo into chunks, like lettuce.
2. Rinse with water and let them steep for a bit in water, but not too much water, after the leaves have dried a bit.  If you touch them, they can cause your skin to itch, so be careful.
3. Add olive oil and garlic to a pot. Let cook for a little bit.
4. Add all the callaloo, curry, pepper.
5. Then pour over the coconut milk.
6. Let it boil down for a long time.
7. Will turn to a mush.  Let it boil until all the water is gone and the consistency is like a paste.
8. This takes a long time, but remember to stir, otherwise it will burn.

This takes just like spinach paneer that you would get at an Indian restaurant. So good!

Stewed Pigeon Peas

• Olive oil
• 1 Whole Garlic
• 1 Onion
• A lot of Pigeon Peas
• 1/2 cup? Ketchup or tomato paste
• 3/4 cup? Sugar
• GENEROUS Amounts of Salt and Pepper
• 1 cup or more depending, Water
• Couple tablespoonsMargarine
• LOTS of Curry

1. Coat the bottom of a wok type pan with olive oil and add 1 whole garlic.  Add 1 chopped onion. Stir around and let brown or something.
2. Rinse pigeon peas.
3. Add pigeon peas to garlic and oil.
4. Add all the other ingredients.
5. Let boil for a while, I lost track but probably like an hour or more.  Might have to add more water. Add the end, you want kind of a thicker type sauce.

My First Weekend in St Vincent

So this concludes my first weekend in St Vincent with my homestay family.  Saturday didn’t really consist of much. We left our hotel in St Lucia promptly at 7am.  Only to have to wait at the airport for 4.5 hours to get our 20 minute flight to St Vincent.  We took LIAT, the local Caribbean airline, which stands for Leaves Island Any Time. This is definitely true, since we arrived in St Vincent only 5 minutes after we were scheduled to leave St Lucia.  The views from the oh so tiny double propeller airplane were magnificent.  We could see the vivid blue waters off the coast of St Lucia all the way to St Vincent.  Once we got closer to St Vincent you could see the mountainous terrain, albeit lush and green.  The water coming into St Vincent airport in Kingstown was the most amazing cobalt blue I have ever seen, it was practically glowing.  When the sun hit it just right, it looked like the color of aluminum.  It had a metallic hue and was just absolutely breathtaking with the reflections from the ripples caused by the waves.

Once we landed, we proceeded through customs and all that, only to wait (because we were so early, which never ever happens) some more for our Associate Peace Corps Director (APCD), Mr Cool.  We were all pretty anxious and excited to meet him and every man that pulled up in a van, or any man that got out of a car in the parking lot, we speculated that it was Mr Cool.  At first, we didn’t think we would be waiting that long, so we continued to hold our bags.  Never wanting to give up hope that Mr Cool was going to show up any minute, we hesitated on putting our bags down (this meant we had to pick them back up-and they were quite heavy).  Eventually, we believed that if we put it down, it meant that Mr Cool would show up.  One by one we put our bags down, but with not much luck.  So much for that theory.  At any rate, Mr Cool came to the rescue and retrieved us from the airport and we proceeded to pack all our bags on a bus and head to the Peace Corps Office.  We were greeted by current Volunteers and some more staff. We had a tour of the office, a light snack, and soon enough or host family’s were there to pick us up and bring us “home” for the next two months.

Once “home”, I was pleasantly surprised.  Well I should say before I got to my homestay.  My Host Mom drives a Lexis. She drives on the left and drives on the left.  Which, to me, is pretty confusing.  She doesn’t seem to be affected by it though. So, back to my homestay.  My Host Mom owns and operates a grocery store.  The store is on the first floor and the house in on the second floor.  And its huge and very lavish! They have a housekeeper 5 days a week, wireless internet, every kitchen gadget you could imagine. They also have 6 pigs, 80 chickens and grow some other veggies and things.  My room is in the front of the house and I share a bathroom with my Host Sister, who is 27, and works for a financial firm in Kingstown. The bathroom is pretty big too.  (Pics of all this and more to come soon). So, for the rest of the day I just hung out with my Host Mom for a while and unpacked my stuff and organized my room.

I went to bed fairly early, after talking to my mom and slept “in” til 930.  However, I was awoken by the fiercest rain I have ever heard, not once but twice!  I sprung out of bed in a panic until I realized what it was.  After I woke, I showered (with hot water), cleaned up my room a bit more and ventured out into the living area. For the rest of the day, I learned how to cook authentic St Vincent cuisine! I learned how to make callaloo (which is pretty much spinach paneer) and it was so delicious; stewed pigeon peas (again very good); and breadfruit salad (potato salad); for dessert I learned how to make breadpudding.  Recipes will be up at a later date. This took the majority of the day.  Afterwards, I went for a walk around the village with my Host Mom’s good friend who is visiting for a while from England (but is originally from St Vincent).  Here comes that fierce rain again, as I write this blog entry.

While on our walk, which was very hilly, (it goes without saying that I was sweating profusely), we ran into a fellow volunteer.  What are the chances! After the walk, we got ready for church.  I went to my Host Sisters Boyfriends church.  I think the denomination was Pentecostal.  There was much singing and clapping.  It was hard to understand, but from what I could understand, the Pastor talked about being “home” which made me sad a little bit as well as happy.  This is home for the next 27 months. 

More to come later!

Need my sleep, I have a long day of training ahead of me tomorrow in Kingstown.

Im Actually Going to Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia, St Vincent that is.


So today concludes the first week of Pre Service Training (PST).  We have covered the very basics of PC policies and procedures, some common health problems and how to deal with them and/or prevent them, health and wellness, nutrition, Safety and Security.  We took a trip to Castries for a scavenger hunt, managed our way on the bus system (which is more like an overcrowded mini van), where we learned how to treat the common cold and fever with bush remedies (lemon grass, peppermint, bay leaves, and some other things). We have ended each training session with a trip to the beach to swim, watch the sunset. you know.
Tomorrow morning I will fly from St Lucia to St Vincent, where I will continue my PST for two more months.  During that time I will live with a Homestay family so that I can effectively integrate into the community and culture. I will attend training sessions three times a week at the Peace Corps office in the capital, Kingstown.  One day a week I will be visiting my work site, a high school in the Mesopotamia Valley, for observation. Upon completion of PST, I will be sworn in as an official Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV) (currently I am a Peace Corps Trainee (PCT)). Surprisingly, wearing business clothes has not been too bad, considering that it includes black dress pants and blouses in 85F heat.  I have acclimated to the weather rather quickly.  Luckily, too, there is almost always a cool breeze, which helps with the heat. No AC though.  But I actually prefer it that way.

            There are 44 volunteers in total, 12 of which are going to St Vincent.  The ages range from 22 to 66.  There are a fair number of retiree volunteers, and two married couples. The volunteers come from all over the country with a concentration originating from the Midwest (Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, etc) and California and Texas. There is one from Philly, one from Delaware, and one other from NY.  Every one has a very different background; from what they were doing before PC, what they studied in school, and their views and beliefs, and lifestyle in general.  For the most part every one is pretty cool.  However, it was very striking to me, how similar and yet how vastly different we all are.  This leads me to my next point-The peculiarities of PC EC.  PC EC comprises six island nations.  However, all volunteers have a week of PST in St Lucia, PC EC’s headquarters, together.  After the first week, we are all dispersed among the six island nations.  This is unfortunate because in the extreme circumstances that we are in we have already formed close relationships and now we are being separated.  We will all meet again in St Lucia in May of 2012 for Mid Service Training.
            Now on to thoughts about being a PCT and living in another country.  Right now, it feels like I am away at summer sleep away camp.  We play games at night, hang out on the beach after training, get to know one another, go to “activities” (training sessions), etc. I think the realization that I will be living and working here for the next two years has not really sunk in yet.  We talk a lot about integration and being culturally sensitive, but none of this will seem relevant until I am fully immersed and alone (which will happen starting Saturday). This week has been quite an overload of information all at once.  It was a bit overwhelming at times. And I am willing to bet that it will only get worse in terms of overwhelming with information and in every other aspect. In summary, every thing is very overwhelming right now.  there is alot of things to juggle and take into consideration all at once.  On the surface, adjusting to this endeavor is going well, but only time will tell. 
More on my inner thoughts later, but i need to go to bed now! Gotta be up at 530am to leave for St Vincent! So excited, nervous, anxious, curious, etc about what life will be like the next two years and especially in the next few weeks!