Dead Rooster

Yes, Anna, I do believe in karma.

For those of you who haven’t heard about my sister sliding down a flight of stairs on night, I tripped the next day, dropping my laptop, a glass of water, busting my iPhone. $120 later I know it was because I laughed at her. Karma.

Well this morning it happened again. I walked outside to find one of my neighbor’s 8 roosters that crow NONSTOP dead in the street.

Side note- Have all the farmers I’ve encountered in my 26 years trained their roosters to only crow in the morning? Shouldn’t there be an ordinance about how many roosters you can keep in the city limits? Has anyone heard of rooster shock collars? Why would anyone need 8 roosters, wouldn’t one rooster get the job done with 10 hens? These are all questions I want answered.

Anyway, one of the little terrorists died this morning and I can’t say that I feel sorry for him. A few neighbors were looking at him from their balcony across the street and I said “Good riddance” out loud, one neighbor said “Good dinner.” That’s karma Rooster. Let that be a warning to the rest of your comrades keeping me up at night.

So, as I’m standing over Rooster gloating at his death, contemplating if taking a photo would be over the top, and hoping that he has a communicable disease that will soon wipe out his entire clan; his owner came out of another house with a look of horror on her face. Apparently the murder just took place. Maybe she thought to herself “I haven’t heard Rooster #5 crowing in the last 15 minutes, I wonder if anything has happened to him, maybe I’ll go check.”

Now this is my favorite part- she looked down at him and then looked at me, and actually assumed I killed him!!! “You did this?” she said. “No ma’am, I did not” I answered and walked away. But what I wanted to say was “Lady, I’m wearing white slacks from the Gap. Do I really look like I just killed a rooster?”

OBVIOUSLY if I was going to kill her roosters I would dress in black and sneak out of the house in the middle of the night with one of those coconut slicing machetes and a slingshot… not that I lay in bed at 4 a.m. planning my attack or anything. To do list today: researching if rooster murder is a punishable offense on this island.

Partisanship Drama

If you think Washington DC is too partisan, stay away from Dominica.

  To begin, there is the current party in power- the DLP- the Dominican Labour Party. The Prime Minister Roosevelt Skeritt is the leader of that party and the deputy is the Mayor of the town, His Worship Cecil Joseph. (Yeah, the whole “His Worship” really threw me for a loop) Anyway, they are my favorite party because the Mayor comes in our office to say hi and chat with everyone, and I think he is very nice.

Another major party is the Dominica Freedom Party (DFP) led by a female, Judith Pestaina, with whom I think I will get to meet and interview for my project. There are smaller parties here as well, Dominica Progressive Party (DPP), the People's Democratic Movement (PDM), the Dominica Liberation Movement (DLM), and the Dominica United People's Party (DUPP). However, the party with all the drama is the United Workers' Party (UWP) whose leader is the former Prime Minister, Edison James.

So the UWP, after losing Edison’s seat as Prime Minister, began losing seats in parliament. For the last 10 years has really been dwindling until now, the drama is that there are three of their members of parliament boycotting their responsibilities in protest to “irregularities” from the last election in January (that’s three out of 21 members of parliament, all the others are DLP.) So the DLP said that if they wouldn’t do their job, their seats would be replaced. (I think it makes sense!) For a while, the UWP had organized a People’s Parliament, which I guess we would relate to holding town halls all over the island, but now are in the midst of trying to get people to boycott the by-elections which would replace the three from boycotting parliament. Crazy. Would we put up with this? Stay tuned for July 9^th for the replacement elections and I'll letcha know what happens! 

All that to lead to the reason I began this post and it is because of the rather interesting albeit unsuccessful campaign the UWP lead against the DLP. I’m breaking it down REALLY simple here, based on what I have overheard or been told, but basically they used this Question tactic to make people question the current administration. ALL over the island, big blue question mark speech bubbles were nailed to trees and light poles to make people remember to question the government when they are in their car driving through the rainforest, or along the beach. (Side note- when I was bumming a ride from two German tourists, they actually told me that the question marks were for if you got lost… they just weren’t really sure how they helped you find you way back. I wonder what bus driver told them that!) Obviously, these questions are pictures here, and as you'll see, one of them is even backward! I became obsessed with them for a few days. 

To follow up the question bubbles, pieces of 8x10 white paper are glued all over town- on buildings, over street signs, with these lists of questions like “Why won’t Skeritt tell anyone how much he paid for those trash bins?” and “Nurses have questions about why they don’t get paid more” etc. I LOVE finding a new question I haven’t seen before, it makes my day. However, I would like to recommend to my friend Mariah and all the Dem candidates running in November 2010- (Go Beebe, Blanch, Elliott, and Causey!) don’t just paint the town with blue with question marks!

Thank You Clinton School Faculty!

I would like to dedicate this post to thanking the faculty that I have reached out to during my IPSP. Within minutes of sending Dr. Bavon, Dr. Williams, Dr. Standerfer, Marie, and Joe questions or comments they all got back to me immediately and were more than helpful, supportive, and encouraging! 

Dr. Bavon was right on the money helping me to find the specifics I was looking for regarding primary data collection. Dr. Williams continues to be an inspiration regarding transformational leadership, even outside of the classroom. And today, Dr. Standerfer helped me reframe the approach I am taking and reassured me of my purpose on the island. Marie spent almost an hour skyping with me a few days ago, listening to me talk though my IPSP goals and work plan, to which Joe said was “one of the strongest work plans that has come out of IPSP this summer.”  Joe Says Yes!!!

I wanted to publically thank everyone because it’s very reassuring to know that even when we are so far away we have such a strong support network of talents at Sturgis. Thank you! 

Laughing at Myself

Yesterday was one of those days that turned into a comedy of errors and to keep from crying you just have to laugh at yourself. Do other people get caught in the rain while they are locked out of their apartment while waiting on an electrician running late to a scheduled meeting with Marie? For Real. I fear it’s just me…

Apparently the only hot water I’ll be seeing this summer will be with the bottles of water that I leave out and begin to boil because of the heat in my apartment (still no hot water or fridge.) Day twelve and I just stare at the broken hot water heater while I splash freezing cold water on myself to rinse off in the shower. And as a follow up to what was really going on with my TV- this is so cool- The power button doesn’t work one bit, gotta just start changing the channels to get it to come on. It’s like magic- or at least I tell myself.

I still stop by and see my friend at the Colgate store every day (I figure if I ever go missing he will be the last person who saw me walk down the street) but I found the grocery store Mecca yesterday. (Thanks for the encouragement David M! You were right!) I only had a few dollars in change on me, but I wandered the aisles for almost an hour just looking at all the new foods I will try one day and enjoying the air conditioning in the frozen foods section. Jonathan always makes fun of me that I could go into Kroger in the Heights for one thing and disappear for hours… I really see wandering the Whitchurch IGA turning into a weekly activity.

Anyone want to send me mail? I’ll secret message you my address because apparently strangers from Portugal are reading my blog. Thanks Momma for the letter you sent to the sweet elderly couple down the street. I decided to knock on their door on my way back from the grocery store but they refused to give me the card until I spent about thirty minutes in their formal living room visiting about Bill Clinton. “But why are you getting your mail here?” they asked over and over again, and then when I finally explained that the numbers were just transposed and I really live a block away they said that they would safely deliver any more mail I received.

I don’t want to turn into a TV junkie but it’s a great way to stay in and save money. I am so glad Ali didn’t give creepy Kasey the rose last night, but I swear if Ty has a girlfriend I’m going to drive to Nashville when I get home and kick his butt. And wow- trueblood is getting OUT OF CONTROL. It’s really starting to dominate my Sundays when I read my Sookie Stackhouse Southern Vampire Series books all day, and watch the newest episodes at night. For anyone who has watched TB, have you ever tried to describe it to someone? “Well there are these vampires, and they are trying to Mainstream. And there are these townies who are doing V- which is vampire blood and it makes them trip like ecstasy. And last season there was this religious right cult trying to kill all the vampires, and this ancient greek devil worshipper woman, but this season they just introduced werewolves.” I quickly lose credibility in conversations (probably like I just have on this post.)

Finally- can’t believe how easy it is to keep in touch with everyone. I really feel for my classmates in India and Africa. My angel, Kolene, got me a free cell phone so I can receive calls for free and text Jonathan all day for what feels like free… I don’t think he has checked his bill yet though so we’ll see if that continues! Daddy has only called me once on Father’s day… I’ve never speed dated before but that’s what I compare the experience to talking to the Hendrix clan. Daddy: “Hi! How are you? Is it great? Are you having fun? Are you being safe? Gotta go, here’s mom!” Mom: “Hi! How are you? We miss you! Are you having fun? Are you being safe? Can’t talk long, here’s Carmen!” and so forth until I had talked to everyone for 5 seconds each. Skype is super cool too, when the internet is working. Its great because you can make the screen really bright to hide how sunburnt you are or really dark to hide not wearing a bit of makeup here.

That’s all for now- don’t worry, I’ll keep laughing at myself when I accidentally scream because a roosters flys at my face on the way to work, or when my blow dryer turns into a blow torch and sounds like a rocket launching complete with sparks and explosion, or when anime porn pops up on my work computer screen when my boss is standing behind me. I mean, I’ve only been here a week- she can’t possibly think that I was looking at that right? Patrick???

Island Adventures

In one day I was in a pool, the Atlantic Ocean AND the Caribbean Sea, and in a boiling river. I think that’s worth of a blog post if a latte is.

Here’s how it went down- I started out the day at my favorite hotel where I frequently pose as a guest in order to use their pool. Go figure I look like a tourist so it works. So I’m laying out for about an hour with a few quick dips to cool off when my friend calls with great news- she just got a car! That’s right, no more scary, death defying, raging maniacal, overcrowded, other peoples sweat and urine bus rides to get around- I’ve got a friend with a car! (I couldn’t help but sing “hanging out the passenger’s ride of his best friends ride, tryin to holler at me”)

So we take off to the beach. It’s a short drive on a one lane road in desperate need of construction and I vow we will come back every day but low and behold when we get to the ocean they seem to be doing some kind of construction right there in the water. The water is cloudy dirty and a crane is rearranging some rocks on a barge, not the best reading on the beach atmosphere. After I ran out into the water like a 2^nd grader and came back with mud on my legs (EW) we said “So Long Atlantic” for the day and drove about 10 minutes up the road to one of Dominica’s THREE HUNDRED AND SIXTY FIVE rivers.

The Layou is special because it has volcanic bubbles coming out of it, called a boiling river. Getting to the river required a bit of a hike, but since I wanted to rinse the filth from the ocean off my legs we trugged through the jungle until I could I jump in the beautiful river and float for a bit… Not quite to the boiling part because the current was strong (I once watched my sisters being rescued from a deadly river current and know not to mess with them.) Three swimming escapades all in one day is pretty cool; or so I thought.

Proud of our adventures and famished from our exercise we decided to retreat back to the metropolis of Roseau and have a snack at a tiki hut where I met the #2 and #3 most adorable boys in the world next to Riley Smith. After letting Rivo and Tiago (their precious names) play with my camera I decided to join them in crab hunting amongst the rocks of the Caribbean sea line and it hit me that I could actually swim (dip) in four bodies of water in one day!

Besides loving my project, I especially wanted to come to Dominica for a chance to explore the amazing natural resources. At my fingertips I have waterfalls, boiling lakes, mountains and national parks, beaches, hiking, whale watching and snorkeling… Dominica is even called “The Nature Island” remind anyone of another beloved state motto???

Where the Layou empties into the Atlantic.
One day we are going to go out in those little flat bottom boats!



Champagne Reef




I think Rivo will be quite the photographer one day.




The boys playing in the Caribbean at sunset.

Challenge!

Imagine me pouting, (it’s not hard- you’ve all seen it.) I want to have catchy little pun titles for my blog postings like all the cool Africa kids! Rwandering Through Kigali! Uganda Be Kidding! Thank YoUganda! That’s good stuff.

So, I am calling on my classmates for help- best pun gets a prize and a super special blog post shout out, as long as it has nothing to do with leather straps or and chains. (Some of you will get that. Sorry mom.)

Im working with the Bureau of Gender Affairs to promote women’s rights- “No More Dominatin!” No? Here’s another.

It rains on average of 7 times a day here- “Roseau humid!” That was terrible. And some of you may not even know I’m in the capital city, Roseau, which is pronounced “row So.”

What about a typical average meal here? “Carib Beans and Cornbread!” Its especially not funny if it’s a lie. Ok- I give up. Team Africa?

I got a nonfat Cafe Latte today!!!

Heaven is a nonfat grande caffe latte from starbucks. I am ashamed to say that last spring I averaged one a day, well maybe 5 a week. The friendly drive-thru workers on broadway know jonathan and i by name and they way we like our drinks. "The usual for you today?" I thought, coming to the Caribbean, (I mean, its close to Colombia) that I would be in for a treat with some bold, locally grown coffee- wrong. Try instant knock-off instant folgers at best. That’s why I’m writing today… to announce I found the NEXT best thing to starbucks- Rituals! Their lettering is similar so I wonder if they are copy catting or I am just the luckiest girl in the world because at $7 EC my grande latte cost about $2.75- way cheaper fix when most things here are almost double what they cost in the US. Quality of today's latte- I give it a 8.5 because there was a little too much hazelnut and it was super super hot (which I did not want after my 20 minute sweltering walk to the coffee shop.) All in all, I just wanted to share that its gonna be a good summer, no more lack of caffeine headaches (because no one here believes in diet coke,) no more chunky thick DIY coffee (which was especially hard considering I don’t have hot water or a microwave.)I'm so happy I am going to start setting my alarm for an hour earlier each morning to get one!

Photos

Beautiful church photo from the boat- but so everywhere here is so impoverished.



Embarrassed to say I actually asked if this was a dinosaur, turns out it is a whale skeleton!




Kolene and I out on the town, she took me to the "Premier" spot on the island.



Snorkeling (with guide Brenton) around Champagne Beach. Look I was wearing sun protection!




Potluck Dinner with roommates last night! mmmm bruschetta and mangos and fish!

Friends and Interactions

I was so afraid that I was going to be all alone here; that I wouldn’t make any friends and that no one would talk to me. I should have known better…

Everyone I have been introduced to has been extremely nice and helpful and friendly. My landlord is an absolute doll; she wears a giant straw hat and brings us mangos from her tree. She introduced me to a man at the convenience store on my block who gives me directions and free cokes. Colgate is painted really big on the side of the store so we call it the Colgate store even though they don’t sell toothpaste.

I am even making friends with the people who sit on the same street corners every day. The guys in front of the Colgate store call out “Hey Shorty” when I walk by. The guys in front of my office call me Blondie, and I’m making friends with the banana and mango vendors who are parked on my walk to work. School girls call out to me about my clothes and ask where my dress is from or what brand of shoes I am wearing.

I live on the second floor of a house which has been divided into 4 apartments. Adele is a med student from Toronto taking his exams so we don’t see him much. Michael is 20 years old from Minnesota; he is working for a nonprofit playing with kids for the summer. And then there is my angel Kolene, she is older, but told me she had just been watching TV alone for 2 months until I moved in. Michael got here a few days after me and asked “What do you eat here? The food is so expensive” I told him Kolene has been sharing her meals with me. He asked if she would cook for him too if paid her. She refuses money so I told Michael we have to start sharing. So last night we had a potluck, I made veggies and bruschetta. Kolene fried flying fish and shared fresh mangos and pineapple. And well, Michael burned us some rice. Its kind of like we are misfits, we don’t have much in common, but after dinner we played Family Feud and it was so much fun I forgot to watch True Blood.

An interesting thing has been people’s perceptions about America. I came into the office Monday even though my “boss” will be out of town for a while, and find that two of my coworkers spend their days obsessing about the World Cup (which I understand) and the Lakers (which I don’t). They get in shouting matches about Kobe Bryant like nothing I’ve ever seen before- then look at me like I must be a zombie for not caring what is going on with the playoffs. One evening Kolene and I were out and a guy from the island came up and asked me where I was from. I said the US and he said “Duh, what state.” I said Arkansas and he said “Arkansas doesn’t even have a professional football team or a professional basketball team!” and walked away. I guess that’s a good way to discourage getting hit on. My favorite story was the teenager who was talking to me in the Antigua airport. We talked about the US and he said he had never been, but when I said I was from the south he immediately said in his best southern accent, “Hey yall, how yall doin?” I also made friends with two German guys who I sat by on the plane and then ran into at the beach. One of the first things they said to me was about the tragedy at Albert Pike. I couldn’t believe how well they had been keeping up with every little detail of the tragedy even though they were on vacation, and had never even been near Arkansas. It was really kind.

Everyone here loves Obama. My coworker wears a silver chain with an Obama dogtag on it. The waiter at a restaurant one night had a holograph of Obama on his beltbuckle, which I’ll admit, was pretty cool. Even the lady with who I shared a taxi on the way from the airport said she loves Obama, but that he was the US’s second black president, after to Bill Clinton! So I told her I was a student at the Clinton School and we became best friends.

My Apartment

Open the door, washing machine on the left, behind the washing machine is a kitchenette and a baby fridge. Walk about 5 steps forward and my twin bed is under the window and there is a TV and a vanity to the right. The bathroom is in between the kitchen and the bed. All clean, very decent, something like I would have seen in DC or New York, no big deal. I love it. Landlord said “hot water, air conditioned, internet, tv, just like America.” Cool.

This is what has happened with the apartment so far- I am not complaining, because I know more people live in far worse conditions, and some of my classmates live in huts with strangers, I’m just sharing my luck. Ps. Kolene is my neighbor, she is from St. Vincent which is also in the Caribbean so she doesn’t know any Dominicans. She has lived in the states and cooks me supper every night. I LOVE HER.

Washing machine- flooded first time I used it. I came in from my bus experience and wanted to wash my clothes so I started the load and started watching a Clint Eastwood movie and when the movie was over I set my feet down into two inches of standing water. The landlord said “You were supposed to put the drain pipe in the sink.” There was no drain pipe. Took two men three hours to fix it. There is no way that was my fault. What probably was my fault was sweeping the water out onto the deck until my basement neighbor came up yelling at me that I was flooding her house.

AC- costs a few dollars a day (you have to load on a card and enter digits into a machine) so I bought a fan. Fans are more economical, and I thought the sound would drown out the roosters crowing all day long and the voodoo man who I hear chanting in the next apartment over. Plugged it in and blew out all the electricity. I went and got Kolene and she said she couldn’t fix it, but together we walked and got Barry, the electrician from across the street. He came and took the fuse from the refrigerator to fix the fan, flipped the breakers back and said he would come the next day to fix the fridge. (He still has not been back hence I use the fridge as an ironing board.) In the Caribbean they have plugs that have three giant prongs, well the fan had two giant prongs. Wanna know what I did wrong? I didn’t put a safety pin or a key in the third prong in the outlet! Now does that sound like something we all learned on day one Never to do? Totally not my fault.

TV- the landlord turned it on for me the first time and I wasn’t really watching what she did. So after all the electricity went out and Barry fixed it all I thought I’d watch some TV but it wouldn’t turn on. I went and got Kolene. She can’t turn it on. I walk over to see Barry and he says if the TV is blown we are really in trouble because they are so hard to get and expensive here… he tells me to turn the TV on, wait a few seconds, and then start flipping channels. That works.

Hot water- back when I wasn’t running the air conditioner and didn’t have a fan it was so hot I didn’t want to take a hot shower. Now that I have a fan and am actually going into work in the mornings I would like a decently warm shower… so the first morning I asked my neighbor Kolene how to get hot water and she said, flip the switch before you get in. Monday- flipped the switch and jumped in the shower. No hot water. Tuesday, woke up, flipped the switch, brushed my teeth, turned on the TV, still no hot water. This morning I set my alarm for 5 a.m., flipped the switch, went back to sleep until 7. Got up, and got in the shower, still no hot water.

I’m gonna ask Barry to fix my refrigerator when he comes to fix the hot water heater. And I just know the internet is going next.

Bus Ride

I’m in Dominica! I’ve been here since Friday, a lot has happened so far, but I think the craziest was definitely on my first day here.

Sarah and Judy did familiarize me with the busses in the Caribbean while in St. Lucia. (Think 15 passenger van with seats put in, stuffed full of people hanging out the windows that are rolled down, reggae music blaring. In Dominica, as opposed to St. Lucia, there aren’t even bus stops, or routes. Drivers just drive wherever they feel like turning, and stop whenever they feel like stopping.)

Imagine me on my first day, I’ve got my braided pigtails, water bottle, gigantic sunglasses, and I’m going to see the ocean. I hail a bus, ask him if he is going to the area I want to go and climb in after a lady exits. As I sit down the lady is paying for her fare and she says to me, “Don’t sit there the seat is wet” and we drive away. Its rainy season, we are by the ocean, in the most humid place in the world- everything is wet, all the time, and I couldn’t even tell it was wet because I was already covered with sweat but I said to the driver inquisitively “The seat is wet?”

The driver turns around and I get a good look at him, long dreads, crazy eyes, and he starts screaming bloody murder “You pissed in my seat?! White Girl jump out of my bus, you can’t piss in my seat!” Mind you, we are going flying about 50 miles an hour on a one lane road with chickens and goats and children walking out into the street. The bus is loaded full of people, no one says a word. No one even acknowledges that this raging maniac is about to make me jump out of the bus. So he’s driving, turned around looking back at me screaming “I make you pay to clean the seat disgusting white girl! Jump out! JUMP OUT ” and in the middle of words he goes “BLAHHHHH” and shakes his head like Exorcist. Seriously, this goes on for a solid two minutes which is a long time for a maniac to be screaming at you. There are a thousand things going through my head, Do I curl up and tuck in my shoulder when I jump? Momma is going to be so mad at me for picking this island. Is there any way to prove that it wasn’t my pee?

Finally, he breaks out in the BIGGEST, grin, pearly white teeth and says, “Got ya.” Absolutely the most unfunny joke anyone ever played on me. And I probably sat in pee.

Halfway House

What I am about to say is very important. Someone once "Meow"ed at Judith Marie Watts.

Moving on. I am extremely grateful for the generosity of Judy and Sarah for letting me sleep on their sofa (really a bench with cushions), and eat their Pringles (almost the whole can), and wait with me at the Post Office while I mailed a Father's Day card (which I forgot to leave in AR). I got to St. Lucia yesterday afternoon and leave very early tomorrow for Dominica. A taxi driver met me at the airport with my name on a sign and answered 1,000 questions on our hour drive to the city Castries, as well as took a picture of me in the middle of a tropical storm. I called St. Lucia my "Halfway House" because girls took me on a very lovely walk through a cemetery and for a 60 mile an hour bus ride with 17 other people (the size of a church van)... experiencing St. Lucia with them is kinda like a stepping in a kiddy pool before I jump into the big scary Dominica deep end of the pool all by myself!

St. Lucia is really beautiful, my favorite things are the views of the homes painted all different colors on the steep mountainous hillsides. But honestly, its not all beaches and suntan oil here. These girls really have their IPSP together (and are really making me freak out about getting a late start on my project!) Today I sat in on two meetings in which my classmates talked about the hierarchy of needs of the people here and how the radio programs they are working on will change their attitudes and behaviors. SO great! We walked out of one meeting feeling like we just left a Social Change class!

Countdown

99% chance I am going to remove this post anyway, but since I just spent 10 minutes picking out the colors for my blog I thought I would write a little something about what’s been going on.

Countdown is 9 days from departure. My ‘To Do’ list consists of getting a PO Box and picking out a new camera for the trip, returning shoes to Dillard’s, and making sure all my bills are set up to automatic withdrawal (why I haven’t done that years ago I don’t know), and about a million other tiny things I have no idea how I will ever be completely READY to go. I need my Momma.

I’ve enjoyed perusing my classmates blogs as well- props to Dewi (are you a professional blogger??), Hallie (love the photos), Trena (awesome background!), Patrick and David and Ryan (YALL ARE SO FUNNY!) and Anna (“Things you take for granted”). Links to them all will come soon! Love to all!