Disturbing incident of the day

I started to notice a bad smell coming from the general area of the laundry room/bathroom. Of course noxious smells are often associated with such areas so I wrote it off. However, when I was doing my laundry yesterday I shrunk back in horror when I finally saw the culprit: Two rather large lizards had gotten themselves stuck on my fly paper and were busy decomposing! I was utterly disturbed and horrified at the grotesque dead "gargoyles" framing my back door and couldn't act on it right away. When I had to use the restroom I tried not to look. When I brushed my teeth that night I had to carry my toothbrush into the farthest room and I actually ran past them. Today in the light of day I finally took them down and got my photographs and threw the spectacle away. Now perhaps I can rest a little easier.
There is something about being in the Peace Corps that just entails frightening and unexpected surprises. Last week I got a new towel out of my closet and after my shower, started to towel myself off. I noticed there was some lint on the towel so I gave it a hearty shake and a large, quarter-sized hairy brown spider rolled dazedly onto the floor! I'm afraid to ask what is next?

Craft Seminars

I have been assisting the Director of the Craft House in evening craft sessions. At this time we are teaching jewelry and coconut craft to teachers who can then teach their students. The reception has been wonderful and the ladies really enjoy it! I am blown away by the beautiful creations they come up with and impressed with the eagerness to try new things (drilling seeds, sawing Sandbox seeds, varnishing, etc.) So many people have expressed interest in the jewelry I create so it's nice to be able to pass that on.

Cush-cush

On Tuesday the boat from Dominica brings farmers with their produce all the way across the Caribbean to Nevis. They usually have copious bananas, oranges, grapefruits, some pineapples, cocoa sticks in jars, piles of ginger, yams and other starchy staples. This Tuesday I saw some toady-skinned tubers that I mistook for dasheen, yams or cassava (I'm still not sure how to identify these particular starchy, bland ground provisions.) It was a yam variety called "Cush-Cush." The man said they were "finer" than regular yams so I bought two of them. I have heard of them in natural medicine books so I was excited to taste them. Today I pulled one out of the fridge and peeled it. The thick brown skin gave way to dark purple, extremely slimy flesh. When I say slimy, I mean it took about five minutes under running water to rinse off my hands! I boiled them until they were soft and they reduced the water into thick syrup. They smelled and tasted slightly like bacon and eggs! I immediately fell in love with the soft, melty texture and smoky flavor. I will definitely be buying some cush-cush yams next time I shop from the Dominica farmers! Shown here in the raw and cooked variety with my favorite snack-sized bananas and some rice and peas (pigeon peas). I am eating native!

Creation

Here is some of the jewelry created with the local materials from earlier blog entries; Jumbie beads, Job's tears, Knuckle Seeds (Nickernuts), shells, pigeon peas and shak-shaks.

Preparing

Using the dremel to drill jumbie beads, shak-shaks and shells. The shak-shak makes a nice incense holder!

*note that jumbie beads are extremely poisonous if ground up/chewed and digested, shell dust is also reportedly harmful. Please use proper precaution and care when drilling and working with natural materials, especially if you don't know what it is!

**Note #2: A local friend of mine says that people grind up jumbie beads and use them like coffee to make themselves better when they are sick. Now I am confused. Form your own conclusions...

Hunting-Gathering

West Indian Mahogany seed pod, Knuckle Seeds (also known as Knickernuts) inside their pods, beach finds (unknown seed pods-look like polished apple seeds), diving for shells, beach combing, Shak-Shaks from the Flamboyant Tree, Sandbox tree, jumbie beads, attempting to gather coconuts

Some sights of Fountain

Olive always carries her matchet (pronounced "match-it" here in the Caribbean.) An interesting shape carved by a bug I assume. The pink leaves/flowers blanket the island! The Fountain/Mt Lily Community Club sign pointing to the main road.

Candlelight Vigil

On February 11, one of the bus drivers was killed in an accident. The news swept over the village like a black cloud. It was an emotional week. We had an emergency Rising Stars meeting (the brother of the driver is a committed member of the club) and a candlelight vigil was planned. I wanted to honor him in some way, although I didn't know him very well it hit me hard because his brother is dear to my heart. I painted some containers to put candles in, and even though it didn't work out because of extremely strong winds, it was nice to do something. I went to the funeral, stared straight ahead and willed myself to be stoic as I watched his brothers walk by, his friends, neighbors, family, coworkers, and then his coffin. I came home and cried. I cried for the loss of Perry, for his family, for his brothers (both of which I know), and I cried because of some amazing people I have met here. I don't know how to put it into words, but there are some people that just touch you and they will never know how much. It all came out with my tears.

just a day in the life

Today I was out hanging my laundry and playing with the kids and Aymani was pretending to take pictures, imitating me (I take pictures of EVERYTHING). I occasionally let Quetta take a few photos and she snapped a great one of us. I also discovered that the mosquito net makes a fabulous clothing dryer!

Jewelry session with Marie

One Saturday my friend Marie, the Director of the Craft House, invited me over to her home to make jewelry. We hauled out all her bins of goodies, there were so many wonderful materials to choose from. She made a delicious soup rich with local ingredients (sweet potatoes, goat, dumplings and greens) and we had a great time crafting and chatting the day away.

Christmas tree update

I was looking over my pictures and noticed I didn't post one of the Trinity Methodist Church Christmas tree that we decorated with our dough ornaments. The kids were really proud of their work and the tree looked absolutely stunning!

Kraft Gone Wild, pt. 2

As a continuation to the macaroni jewelry making, I dyed some with cherry, orange and grape kool-aid. We experimented with different patterns and lengths and made some really pretty creations. Quetta made me a matching bracelet but it didn't fit so I let her wear it. Our neighbors from America came over and helped out by entertaining the dogs (who kept trying to snatch our fruit-smelling strings of beads!) I tried to recycle the kool-aid dye by making finger paints and using it as food coloring to make stationary but both experiments failed miserably. Back to the drawing board...

Later my sister came over and we made some new outfits for my paper doll.

Kraft Gone Wild

Here is yet another one of our little "Kraft" projects, those beads are straight out of a macaroni and cheese box! We strung them on a thread, embellished with shells and beads, colored with markers and mod-podged (shellacked) the whole thing. I thought it was really fun but I am not much for macaroni jewelry so I donated my necklace to my sister. She wore them to school today and said some of her friends really liked it and others didn't as much. Oh well, you win some you lose some. Stay tuned for another macaroni project as I have painstakingly dyed some with kool-aid for future endeavors!

Future Tartmakers of...Nevis/America

My host mom taught my sis and me the way to make coconut tarts. My sister showed a lot of promise as a future tart-maker. Now Isilma has passed on the tradition and we can both teach our future generations the art. She even colored some of the coconut so we have red, yellow and green tarts!