WWWW?????????? [a purging session]

Sometimes I wonder...how the hell did I end up here? Who are all these people around me? What am I doing here? Where am I going with all this? Whyyyyyyyy did I join the Peace Corps!?

Think of it like this: you embark on this grand and epic like journey and imagine all sorts of adventures that will be had and fascinating characters you will stumble upon. You imagine yourself being of service to the community, offering up all the skills, knowledge, and energy you can...warm hugs and lots of helping hands everywhere...and you'll move mountains!! and then...well...you know...reality. Oh yeah, reality.

You try to go to into it with an open mind: no assumptions, no expectations. And I thought I had done a pretty good job at it. Yet I find, still, I had this image, this idea about what my work would be like here. So here's the reality:

You wake up with mosquitoes taunting you in your ears. The neighborhood kid you've taken under your wing and read to every morning throws a stone at you because you won't give him a cookie. 90 year old men hit on you and ask for your hand in marriage. The community doesn't quite understand why you are even there and sometimes you don't either. You wait for months for a couch in your living room and for your landlord to replace your bug infested mattress (you count a total of 70+ bites on your body). It takes you 2 months to find a pillow to buy for your bed(apparently there's been a pillow factory fire?) and so you make a pillow by stuffing clothes in a pillowcase. Every corner you turn people call out "rasta" and ask if you smoke weed. Ants attack everything in your kitchen not wrapped in 10 layers of plastic. You move into a community knowing no one and stick out obnoxiously. Everyone knows what your doing 24/7. You realize you're not moving mountains, no your walking up them, mid-day heat, to a meeting that no one else has shown up for. Uh yeah, reality.

Today has been one of those days...let me just leave it at that. I can promise you this is a completely biased, one-sided expression of my frustration right now. So I'll be sure to share the good news of the holiday season when I'm not in such a horrible mood. Meanwhile, let me go cover myself in anti-itch cream and hunt for mosquitoes.

Mr. Alexander, organic farmer

Suzanne, fellow Peace Corps Volunteer

generosity

Coconut punch in the making

how we get around

at the tips of our fingers

Christmas party!

the beat

Morne Prosper

Peace

sink or swim

To any of you interested in knowing where the blog name came from...

World AIDS Day

Today is World AIDS Day. Regionally, the Caribbean has the second highest HIV/AIDS prevalence rate between the ages 15-49(1%), after Sub-Sahara Africa (5%). Because of this, one of Peace Corps main efforts in this region is HIV/AIDS awareness/education. Last night another volunteer and I set up a booth at a concert to pass out condoms and spread awareness about safe sex practices. I felt like it was a great venue to do this, particularly because of it's informal nature and the age group that was around.

I experienced my first earthquake Friday! I had nothing to compare it to, so I didn't think much of it...just a few seconds of rumbling. But apparently it was a pretty substantial one. Our village council office has several cracks as a result of it.

I can't believe it's already December.

Mr. Gnome was "baptized" at Emerald Pool yesterday and given an offical name, Ivan Sisserou. Photos will follow shortly.