Mango is my new enemy!!

How sad is it to live on a tropical island and not to be able to enjoy the splendor of its most popular fruit?!!!! Well... very sad indeed!!! It's mango season once again, and only 3 mangoes into it and I have developed a rash and burning lips which lead us (Michele and I) to believe Mr. Mango is the culprit. Apparently the mango is related to poison oak and ivy, and recently I developed a rash on my wrist that looked like poison oak... and I wondered how could that be?! But alas, this rash followed by the most uncomfortable burning sensation on my lips left little for us to ponder. This is too bad, because I really LOVE mangoes. Guess I'll just stick to bananas :(

A little side note: be sure to tune into the new reality show "Pirate Master", it was filmed on Dominica, one of our Peace Corps Eastern Caribbean islands. Hopefully it will show some beautiful shots of the Nature Island.

A lovely Saturday :)

New skill to write on resume: hairdresser. Liz and I decided to make good on our promise to do each other's hair. Nothing fancy, a simple trim. We decided to go to Marty's house and do it since she has a decently spaced back yard and some new puppies!! And as always, she offered us
some great food and sweets!! It's like going to grandma's house!!

Whoa... it's been 3 months!!!!!!

Wow, time has flown by. I remember after Christmas I just couldn't wait until my mother came to visit in February, and now that has come and gone and other things happened and before I knew it we are in May!!!

The last few months have been a hodge podge mix of activities and projects and travel. I spent most of March caught up in the whole World Cup Cricket frenzy. The entire region of the West Indies hosted the event, and some of the first round matches were played here on St. Kitts. We hosted matches between Australia (who subsequently won the World Cup in Barbados), South Africa, Scotland, and the Netherlands. I volunteered at the gates during matches and loved the fact that I basically got to meet everyone that came through! Hearing all the different accents was a trip! Here are the Australian fans after their team beat South Africa:

Australia wins



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It was then a week after the cricket chaos before I headed out onto the Easycruise for my week long vacation. I embarked here on St. Kitts and then "cruised" on over to neighboring islands St. Barts, St. Martin, Antigua, Anguilla, and even sister-island Nevis!! It was a long needed break. It felt so nice to just be me again, and to be able to wear shorts and spaghetti strap tanks and to once again know how a Nachos Bell Grande tastes.... ahhhh. For one glorious week I was no longer a 24/7 Peace Corps volunteer, instead I was a 24/7 young American... woo hoo!! Beach and tropi drinks helped me wash away the last 8 months. It was spectacular!

Though my cruise was great, I was actually very eager to get back from my vacation. I felt like I had been renewed and was now ready to tackle my many issues with working on the island, and I felt like I could finally see what my role would be here. But as soon as I got back and checked my hundreds of email, I forgot that I was signed up to travel to Trinidad for an HIV/AIDS capacity building workshop. So 4 days after for stepping off my Easycruise, I was on a LIAT jet heading over to the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. I went with a local HIV/AIDS support group here on the island, as well as with fellow volunteer Elizabeth. We spent the week attending sessions and participating in group exercises all aimed in educating and empowering the groups we worked with to become stronger voices and advocates for PLWHAs (People Living With HIV/AIDS). But as well all know, all work and no play can make people go crazy. So we did have our chances at the end of each day to venture into the heart of the Capitol, Port of Spain, or to rendezvous out by the pool. And near the end we all enjoyed a farewell party.

Now that it is back to work as usual, I find myself trying to figure out what work is. I have been affiliated with the St. Christopher Heritage Society, and while I was on vacation the Executive Director resigned. So when I got back I needed to establish my relations with them again and am now working with their interim management (their council members). So far it has gone well. I do 2 days a week with them, and am currently working on doing a medicinal/traditional plant display for their office. I've also been gaining some interest in helping them do a display garden with medicinal plants and herbs. It seems to be a project that many other locals would be interested in helping with. So we'll see.

I also spend 2 nights a week volunteering with the St Kitts Sea Turtle Monitoring Network and the nest surveys that they are doing with the Leatherback turtles. We monitor a nesting beach of theirs here on the island from around 9 pm to 5 am. It is very tiring come morning, but well worth it. I was able to see 2 the other night and it was amazing to see how big these girls can get. The first one had a shell length of over 5 ft!! Yep, that's bigger than me!!

And lastly, I am now having English/Japanese lessons 2 days a week with my friend Kayako from Japan. Her husband is a Japanese UN volunteer here on the island and myself and another volunteer have split the week in teaching her English. I teach her one hour and then she teaches me another hour of Japanese!! Just another thing to do to help kill some time, and trust me, there is a lot of it over here!


Well, that was just a short summary of the last few months just so I can catch ya'll up on what is going on over in this region. I will really try harder from now on to update a little more often so that I may be able to elaborate on some of my experiences, and even indulge on some of the funny things that can happen over here.

Check out my albums because I do have some up from cricket, the cruise, and some extras.