Week Two Update!

Hello parents and friends!!! It has been an incredible week in the Southern Caribbean! When we last left off we were in the middle of a huge day of student-led camp planning last Wednesday so here is a look at what’s been happening with the group in Vincy-land.

Wednesday was a full day of camp planning (with some meals and breaks mixed in). The kids did an awesome job organizing the camp activities and schedule and started designing the classes that they wanted to teach. The group organized a community capture the flag game at Antwine Level (our future camp location) and taught several locals how to play. The Red team claims to have won.

Thursday we headed up the Leeward side of the island. First, we visited Wallilabou beach, where the movie, Pirates of the Caribbean was filmed! Much of the set is open for display, unfortunately Captain Jack Sparrow was nowhere to be found, but students sure got to experience Movie Magic first hand! We then headed up to Dark View falls with two of our local friends Amora and Somora. There are two beautiful waterfalls at Dark View (both about 80 feet high) and set in a lush rainforest. Students got to swim in both waterfalls and get a great water massage while standing underneath the falls! For dinner, we were all invited at Amora & Somora’s house in Barraoulie and were treated for a large, delicious, Vincy-style dinner. Most students said that this meal was their favorite of the trip so far! After dinner, we went down to the dock where many locals hang out and watch the sunset, what an experience!

Friday was camp planning and shopping day! Students were given a budget for camp supplies and hit the streets of Kingstown in search of glitter, sports balls, and water balloons. We ate a WONDERFUL meal at the best little restaurant in town: BICKLES! (Be sure to ask your students about all the glory that is Bickles when they return home to you!) Students were also given time to do some personal shopping where they searched for string vests, rasta flip flops and local crafts. It was beach time again (this group LOVES the beach!) before heading back to the Cupids house to make phone calls home and cook a delicious meal of cheesy pasta & broccoli!

Saturday was a very meaningful day for the group…..we conquered La Soufriere volcano!!!! (2nd highest peak in all of the Caribbean) Jahlil, Theo & Breanna helped to set an awesome pace for the group and we hiked to the top in record time. Many students didn’t think they would be able to handle the hike, but were so proud of themselves when we made it! We had a group “jelly roll” hug at the top of the crater to celebrate our success. We took our time hiking down the volcano and paused for awhile on some flat rocks to chat & play some silly games. We think everyone got a bit of a sugar high from all the gorp we made…because it wasn’t long before Theo and Celeste were “monkey bowling” and others seemed to be lost in delirium (in a good way!) After the hike we went to take a shower at our favorite spot…..the beach. The waves were big and spirits were high as we finished out our challenging day getting tossed around in the waves at Black Point beach.

Sunday was another “Maslow’s day” and we took our time getting up before church from 10:30 to 12:30. The highlight of our second local church experience was when Arielle got up in front of the entire church community. She sang the song ‘Hallelujah’ and amazed the community with her powerful voice and emotional rendition of this classic song. We were all very proud. After church we made a delicious brunch of French Toast, Omelettes and fruit. The group took the initiative to do a super clean-up during the afternoon to make sure that our stay in the Cupids home is as low-impact as possible. The rest of the day was spent putting the finishing touches on Camp Planning!! For dinner Lila prepared an incredible veggie lasagna with eggplant, mushrooms, and onions.

Monday, the FIRST DAY OF CAMP!!! We got up super early (6am) and had our morning meditation and yoga practice before heading up to Antwine Level where we are running our camp. Antwine Level is a huge playing field with concrete bleachers to provide a little shade from the intense Caribbean Sun. Camp was supposed to begin at 8:30 but we are working on Caribbean time here…kids trickled in for a while and Theo and David played football with them on the field while Romi and Celeste drew with other kids. At about 9am kids started pouring into Camp…we think there were about 80 kids the first day, double the number we expected (looks like our students did some serious advertising). Camp was organized into 3 class periods, the last period being a LGA (large group activity) and the first 2 periods have 3 options each, 1 Sport, 1 arts and crafts, and 1 fun n’ games activity. For our first period Romi and Breanna led an awesome bracelet making class. Theo and Jahlil taught our campers how to play Ultimate Frisbee (and how to throw and catch this strange plastic circular thing) and David and Arielle ran a Pirate Themed Class where campers ran around acting like Pirates. For the second period Jahlil and Celeste led a spectacular Kickball class that was similar to a local favorite called Run Dodge, Arielle and David ran a makeup class, Sarah and Lila ran Freeze Dance. The LGA was a huge game of capture the flag. The day was really successful and we are looking forward to the rest of the week. After camp we ate lunch and hit Indian Bay beach to cool off and chat about how things went!!

Rather than telling you what our students have been doing we decided to give them an opportunity to tell you themselves. So here are some digital postcards from our group members. The mail system here is ridiculously slow and takes about 3 weeks in between here and the US so this should be a nice little treat!!!

Sarah ‘Gax’ McFadden:
Dear Mommy, Daddy, and Nate,
I love you and I’m having a great time here-I especially loved hanging out with all the adorable kids! I learned that surprisingly I find hiking quite rewarding. I’ve been keeping a positive attitude and trying to be super helpful! Hope you guys had a great time in Poland slash Dunkirk!

Love, Love, Love,
Sarah (Gax)
P.S. Say hi to Maya, Bill, Maeduff, Coco and Brady for me!


Romi ‘Peepers’ Maletz:
Hey Mom, Adam, Ali and Taya,
Whats fo shizzle dizzle? How was Holland? I hope you guys are having fun without me. Don’t miss me too much since I’m the seed of the family. Everything is great here. Yesterday we started Camp and its going really well. I’ve learned a lot about the different people here. Mom, I miss your cooking so I tried to make it for the group but yours is still better. I miss you a lot and can’t wait to see you.

Love,
Romi


Lila ‘Lilooparangastampala’ Rosenman:
Dear Mom, Dad, and Max,
It’s great here! I love the island life and culture. Camp started yesterday and today I taught running games which went great. The Caribbean Sea is AMAZING! I’ve learned a lot and I contributed to the group last Sunday by making veggie lasagna. Have a great time in Maine and give Grandma a kiss for me!

Love,
Lila


Breanna ‘Bruggles’ Page,
Dear Family and Friends,
Hey guys, I miss you so much. I loved climbing the volcano [La Soufriere, the highest point in St Vincent at 3,864 ft] because it was so pretty up there. I learned that I am a lot more patient than I thought and I also learned to bake macaroni pie. I know this is going to amaze you mom but I actually folded clothes [the whole groups] and it wasn’t just mine.

Love you guys and can’t wait to see you,
Breanna


Theolonius ‘Grizzly’ Klein:
Hi,
Everything is nice here. The ocean is blue and clear. I learned about the culture here and everyone is really friendly. I bought three new net vests. Teaching kids at camp is very fun. Today I taught croquet, and yesterday I taught Ultimate Frisbee. The kids here are really friendly. The group calls me Grizzly because yesterday I was trying to catch fish with my hands. I’m still working on it. We hiked to a volcano and it was very high up. Say hi to the dogs and HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM AND WILL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Peace,
Theodore


Celeste ‘SPAGS’ Mittman:
Dear Moms and Nads,
I miss yah lots. It’s nice here. I love going to the beach every day and I am IN LOVE with the ocean. I’ve been reading a lot and I learned to entertain myself with the lack of BBM [Blackberry Messaging J] I’ve been helping a lot with camp planning stuff. Don’t miss me too much because I’ll be back soon J (Colon Parentheses)

I love you,
Celeste

P.S. we do yoga every day moms


Jahlil ‘Jahsillly’ Davis-Green,
Hey anyone who knows and loves me,
Just want to let you know that I’m loving it in St. Vincent. I’ve done so many things in my time here including climbing to the top of La Soufriere and helped to set a good pace for the group. There is so much more that I could talk about but I’ll just sum this up by saying ‘don’t worry about me’ because I am feeling great!

Jahlil


David ‘Buoy’ Kahn:
Dear Mom, Dad, Andrew, and Lydia,
I’ve been having such an exciting time here in the Caribbean. The culture here is so different than what I expected. I learned that the Island is less strict than in America and I like the people. I like the people on this island because they are extremely kind. At camp, I taught Pirate-themed games where we played games and ran around acting like Pirates. I also taught Gladiator Art where we tried to fill up balloons with paint and drop them from a height onto paper. The little girl next door calls me “Stinky Foot”….I’m having a lot of fun.

Love,
David


Arielle ‘Surefy’ Vallet,

Hey Mom, Dad, and Mia,
I’m having an amazing time here. We have done some really cool things such as making a camp, going to the Caribbean Sea, hiking a volcano, going to a rockin’ party called J’Ouvert, and so much more. I learned how to work with kids (especially young ones) and I love kids now. My biggest accomplishment so far was singing in church all by myself. I love you guys and miss you all!!! BYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Love,
Arielle (Erfy) ha ha my nickname here