It has been a busy few weeks.

It seems as though a new life has come into the paper project. Or maybe just a life. Mr. Azeez started sort of a new initiative at the satellite centers, so he’s spending one day per week at a couple of them. I went with him to Marc last week, and he talked tough to the girls. Better him than me, I feel like they’d just get despondent if I tried to talk to them. I still really feel like it’s a good project if it can just get off the ground. So he had assigned tasks to a number of the girls… things like setting up appointments with potential clients, making samples of the products, gathering supplies, etc. Mr. Azeez also had some duties. When they all re-met, he and Lisa (the center supervisor and another leader of the project) had done their tasks, but none of the girls had. Then came the tough talk. I followed with a pep talk. I told them that almost everyone I talk to or tell about the paper project is excited and likes the products. I said that as an outsider and with a tourist mind, it would be an excellent product since it’s natural, local and nice. But it all comes down to THEM and whether or not they step up. So we re-designated tasks for this week.

My tasks were to teach a course on customer service and salesmanship. That was easy enough since I had prepared a course on customer service about a year ago and all it needed was (ahem) dusting off. So I combined that with an assertiveness lesson from the Peace Corps Life Skills curriculum. Today I actually presented it all. I gave another pep talk to the girls who were there on time, but everyone did come eventually. The presentation went well, but not as long as I thought. But I guess with a group of 6 or so you can't really do skits and things, and discussions can only go on so long. After that I was happy to see everyone hang around to work on the samples. I took a few pictures, and they’re on the Yahoo site in the October folder.

My other task was to do a few computer things. One sales tool we’re going to use is to make little sample gift sets emblazoned with hotel logos. I was in charge of gathering and printing stuff. The printer gave me trouble, so I have to work on it tomorrow. While I was at it, I made business cards for the girls, that will be printed on the paper; and a sales pamphlet talking about the program, our products, etc. (The real reason why I took the pictures.)

The other good news is that I found out my friend Joanna’s mother runs all the gift shops at the big, nice, new Sandals. A sales contact! I’m thinking about planning a field trip for a few of the girls who will be doing sales to come up and visit, see all the little shops, and talk with the lady at Sandals. She’ll appraise our product and help us get it in line to sell. Just in time for Kwéyòl heritage month!

I’m REALLY hoping things stay moving with all this.

This past weekend was a blast. Friday night they had something new and different… a live band of non-Caribbean music. Members of the band include parents of several swimmers. They typically play at Sandals. They had some nice stuff, Hendrix and Pink Floyd covers, and some Bob Marley. It was held at the yacht club (which is not as fancy as it sounds), right on the beach by our usual spot. Since this was sort of a special event, quite a few people were there whom I don’t normally see out. A number of swimming parents were there, and almost the entire gym. It was a really nice night and a good location for such an event. I wish they’d do it more often! (Although I’m sure it would get old just like everything else.) Deb and I met up with Joanna, her brother, Johnny, and some of their friends. Later we also bumped into a number of other volunteers who were out for a friend’s birthday. It had been awhile since I had been out, so it was fun. It seemed like everyone was out and having fun also.

Therefore, the next day I slept in, then hit the beach.

This was a long weekend, so I got in some much-needed beach time. Unfortunately, on Sunday and Monday it started off nice, but ended up raining or getting ugly. So Monday afternoon, Joanna, Johnny and I decided to head off down the coast. There had been fetes all over for the Thanksgiving holiday. But being a little late, we missed most of them. Saltibus Day is one of the big "Days" they have on the island. Saltibus is way up where god lost his shoes. On the way up there, up some rickety little road, we passed a gap (Lucian term for an intersection or wide spot in the road) with one or two houses and a little shed. The shed had painted on it "(Whatever) Gap Day, August 31". We laughed and laughed. It would be sort of like having a Day for your driveway.

In any case, we got to Saltibus and Saltibus Day was over. So we continued our way around the island, on the horrible ever-torn up-but-never-fixed-road. Just when we were covered with inches of dust, we came to Soufriere and saw that it was also Soufriere Day. We went and ate and wandered around Sourfiere for awhile. By the time we got back up to town, I was exhausted and pretty much went straight to bed.

It was really a fun time. Around-the-island usually is if you get a good bunch together. While we were driving back up from Soufriere a thing occurred to me. This group of people were accepting and hanging out with me for me. They weren’t interested in me for some sort of possible kickback (whether carnal or material), for status, or because I’m some novel object of amusement (all of which are reasons that various people take an interest in us PCs). It was really cool, because then you can get past the snickering at my accent or feeble attempts at patois and have real conversations. A refreshing rarity! I shall have to work on finding more friends like that.

Speaking of finding more friends, there is a member appreciation party at the gym (or the restaurant downstairs owned by the same people). Snacks and refreshments are provided. Deb and I both got our free tickets, and "GUEST" tickets. So we decided to have a challenge to find interesting and tolerable GUESTS that we can take along, thereby widening the social circle, yet avoiding sending unwanted messages. A lukewarm date, as PCV Laura Jones would say. So the Challenge is ON and Deb and I have until Saturday the 18^th.

There have been a few annoying incidents and realizations that make a challenge like this all the more challenging.

What’s really vexing me now is the behavior of some of the men. I’ve quite gotten beyond most of the Lucian tricks and chat. That all is usually pretty obvious. What’s tricky is the expat and foreign guys. Many an otherwise-normal Lucian girl will jump at the opportunity to throw herself at a foreign man. (see: people wanting to be friends for the kickbacks). So you would tend to think that in the midst of all this sexual mayhem that foreign guys would be glad to come upon a nice girl with no tricks up her sleeve. But apparently I’ve given humanity too much credit. Lately I have run across many incidents of foreign guys jumping at any and every opportunity of "cross-culturalism". It sickens and vexes me because not only do these people have no shame, but they drag down the reputation of those of us who do. I’m happy to say, at least, that my friends are of the latter J

Today at swimming, one little guy, Azan, came back after he had been gone all summer. He gave me about 10 kisses and hugs. He was all wound up and had the rest of the kids wound up too. When we were doing dives, one kid did a good cannonball and I said "Me-sieur", which is sort of an exclamation. It’s technically patois, but everyone says it. Anyways, Azan pipes up and says "Hey, you can’t say that, it’s OUR word!"