Tour of Castries’ Pre-Schools

Wednesday we left for the Health Ministry at 7:15 AM.  We made a deal with the guy who drove us home Tuesday night, Lucius, that he would pick us up and drop us off every day for $50 EC (Eastern Caribbean, also known as XCD, and comes out to about $25 USD) per day.  The first thing we did when we got there was go over to the bank and pull out some EC from the ATM.  I don’t know what we did, but after the five of us left they put up a sign saying that the ATMs were out of service.  Oops!  Stupid, rich American tourists took all the cash from the ATM, right? Oh well.  Then we went up to Lisa’s office and waited for her staff members to arrive.  Lekei and Ursula were waiting to visit several primary schools and a clinic with Melva, while Dr. Hansen, Griffin, and I were waiting to visit some privately owned pre-schools in Castries with Mary Anna.  During our wait, we sorted gifts that Lekei and Ursula brought for the children.  They had rulers, watercolors, erasers, markers, and anything else a kid could want.  We also went through the interview questions Griffin needed to ask the preschool teachers to complete her capstone.

When Mary Anna arrived we left the Ministry on foot.  None of the pre-schools were very far away and it was interesting to experience the less tourist-y parts of Castries up close and personal.  The first pre-school we went to was called Serve’s Early Childhood  Education Centre and was one of the more up-scale pre-schools.  It was snack time when we arrived, so we went to the pre-school coordinator’s office to interview her about the health, nutrition, and physical activity levels of the preschoolers. She was very passionate and informative.  Then we got to watch Mary Anna give at least 40 kids under five a presentation about the six food groups in Saint Lucia: staples/ground provisions, fruit, vegetables, animal products, peas and beans, and fats and oils.  Once that was finished, the kids sang us a song.  It was so cute! If you know me, which if you probably do, you know how big of a deal it is for me to gush over kids, but these kids were so adorable.

We visited three more private preschools in Castries that afternoon.  The format was fairly similar, except I helped Griffin with her interviews while Mary Anna gave her presentation to the children in another room.  Finally, after about 4 hours of standing and walking (thankfully I wore flipflops and not my flats that gave me the blisters), it was time for lunch.  Mary Anna was so kind to us and woke up early in order to prepare a lunch for us to share in her office that afternoon.  We had seasoned chicken, lentils, Chinese cabbage with ochre and pumpkin, and freshly squeezed grapefruit juice.  Then, Mary Anna treated us to a taste of her homemade wines!  She makes a red wine out of a grape called a Jahmon that only grows in Saint Lucia and only for a small amount of time every year.  The taste was completely unique.  She also makes a dessert wine that is a combination of guava, cherries, and golden apples.  It was very sweet, but not in a sickly sweet.  After lunch we walked back to the ministry, grabbed some fresh fruit from the market, stopped at the super market to pick up supplies for the rest of the trip, and made our way home.

Once we got back to the apartments something wonderful happened: There was hot water for our showers!  YAY! It was very exciting!  Then, in the early evening, Janna told us that Richardson was preparing coconuts for us if we wanted to try some.  Of course I said yes immediately.  Coconuts are not my favorite, but I am always open to new experiences, and, at my insistence, Griffin joined me downstairs.  He cut one of the coconuts so that we could drink the coconut water out of the coconut itself!  I got it all over the front of my shirt the first time I tried.  Then he cut it open and showed me how a coconut that is not ripe yet has a layer of jelly on the inside. I tried it and thought it was gross.  So slimy! But Rianna, Janna and Richardson’s seven year old little girl, got a spoon and scooped all of it out like it was the tastiest thing on earth.  Finally, Richardson cut open a dried coconut and got some of the sweet coconut meat out for us to eat.  This is the fresh version of the coconut we use for baking in the United States.

After our adventure with the coconuts our night took a bad turn.  We had no internet access last night and I was unable to work on my homework for this course, for other courses (which was due that night), or skype with Aaron or my family.  The wireless at the hotel connects to the computers, I have great reception, but there seems to be no network connection.  Richardson has been calling the company on our behalf to try to get it working again.  I got as much homework done as I could and  then decided to cut my loses and get some sleep becaue we had a long drive ahead of us from Catries to Soufriere the next day.   I’m sorry I haven’t been able to do a blog every day that I’ve been here, but I’m keeping up as much as I can.  My blog about today will be up tonight or tomorrow sometime.  I hope you’re enjoying!