Hurricane Tomas

On October 30th St. Lucia got hit by Hurricane Tomas, while the winds caused some damage the real devastation came from landslides caused by 10-20 inches of rainfall over a 24 hour period. It was my first disaster and my first hurricane, and possibly the most humbling experience of my life. While I have not had access to water besides what I have stored for 13 days now, and I had to get up at 6am to go to the capital to buy water before the store ran out, which they did when I was standing in line, I feel lucky and blessed. Besides rain seeping in through my windows, nothing happened to me, my people are all safe, and I have enough to survive.

As I continue to see more damage, I realize just how lucky I am. The main highway where it goes through the rain forest lost a lane, and in an area that used to be trees and brush, nothing but green, is now just brown. The trees toppled down in a landslide leaving the road impassable for days, and even now its only a single lane road and will be for some time. Houses collapsed with people in them, others were filled with mud from landslides, rivers flowed through people's houses, depositing trash and debris in yards, and lives were lost.

This devastation has been said to be the worst national disaster in St. Lucia's history, and while the death toll is relatively low, for how small the communities and nation is the numbers feel much larger. It is by no means the worst disaster the world has faced this year, but for me its the first disaster that is tangible to me, every other disaster always feels so far away, but this one effects every aspect of my life, and I can't help but wonder what will happen to my community since most people are in the banana business and everyone lost all of their crop. Will the nation be facing a food shortage are their staples of banana and plantain got chopped down by the hurricane. With damn/water collection sites damaged or destroyed what will happen when we hit the peak of dry season, will pipes continue to run dry? I guess all I can do is hope for the best, and hope to continue to be surprised by St. Lucia's ability to handle this disaster.

The pictures are of my community and on my way to town, there hardest hit areas I haven't been to

Carnival!! It's not a day, it's a season

Before I explain anything about the Carnival festivities, it is important to understand all the terminology, otherwise nothing will make sense. First of all the different groups in a Carnival parade are called bands, within a band there are sections, each section has different costumes. Being in a section in a band and participating in the festivities is called jumping, so I jumped in Red Unlimited (the band), in the best section in the band, yes we actually won that award, Tempted to Touch.

Almost every village has their own Carnival, with a lot of t-shirt bands instead of super fancy costumes like the main Carnival festivities that I jumped in. If you wanted to/you were completely insane you could jump carnival for about 2 months straight, traveling around the island.

That would mean staying up all night to do Jouvert which is basically a street party that starts at 4am and goes till 7am, then going home bathing changing, and jumping day one of carnival, from 10/12-6pm, then you rest up, the crazy people party more, and jump again the next day. Needless to say I only jumped the one carnival this year.

Now for the main event with all the fancy costumes dancing along the highway in the capital there is a little more to it. I would say the Carnival Weekend starts Friday, with Sexy in Black concert in which everyone wears black and parties/hears local Soca artisits (the type of music played at Carnival) perform. For some of us, meaning me, I then got up Saturday morning went to a meeting, then went to coach my vaulters, which means I rested Saturday night, but a true reveler, the people that jump carnival, would have gone to the Calypso Monarch Finals Saturday night. Calypso is a type of music similar to reggae, but it has a message behind it, usually about the state of the nation, and fixing problems, the Monarch part literally means the years best or King of that type of music. Sunday is the inter-Caribbean Soca Monarch Finals concert, in which the top Soca artists in the region compete to see who wins in St. Lucia, it almost always a Lucian cause so much is based on how the crowd gets into the song. After that its to the pre-jouvert party put on by our band, then jouvert, then breakfast, we found a place wit $5 waffles and pancakes, which is unheard of here. Breakfast may have been my favorite party of the whole thing, I was with my 4 best friends on the island, we were all slap happy from being up for 24 hours, and half the people working in the restaurant were about to go jump carnival in a few hours.

After Breakfast it was time to get ready for the main event, no I didn't leave out going to sleep, we didn't. Instead we changed into our fancy carnival costumes, and went down to the highway to join our band for whining , dancing, on the streets for the next 6 hours by the time we actually caught up with our band a little late. The best part of day one is going past the judges, everyone is so amped and the best songs play, and the whole section just goes crazy when they pass the judges. At points it is almost as if the whole thing was choreographed because there is a specific dance to the song that played as we passed the judges and everyone did it together brilliantly. Right after the judges it started pouring rain, which was so nice cause it cools you off and everyone is dancing, singing, and being silly in the rain without a care about getting wet, which is not normal at all down here.

Then its time to rest up, so you are ready for day two. Day two everyone looks tired at the start, but after a few energy drinks, monster sponsored our band, every is starting to get going, and since we aren't being judged today and we don't have to conserve energy, and there is a less caring. For example when we walk through a round about/traffic circle the whole band runs around it in one direction, stops then runs around in the opposite direction, just silly fun really. By the end of the day tuesday, most peoples costumes have fallen apart between being rained on and dancing in the streets for over 12 hours, the costumes just weren't made to last.

Then you go home and sleep. It was an amazing experience for me and I'm so glad I did it, I'm not sure it would be as much fun for people who just come down for carnival because the best part is being care free with a bunch of friends, music you know, in an environment that is completely comfortable to you, and I only had that because I live here and nothing seemed strange or out of sorts to me. I could see how the entire 5 day weekend however could be rather overwhelming for people who don't know what they are getting themselves into. My friends and I agree though that we will have to do the DC Caribbean Carnival, especially if we are all studying in the US.

The photos are of me and friends I jumped with in our costumes, our section, our truck, every band has a truck that plays their music, the massive costume is our band's queen, pictures of breakfast/post jouvert and pre-jumping, and the ladies in red are the beginning of our band/the vip section.

Hope!

When I signed up for the peace corps, I'm not really sure what I expected. I know I decided being a Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV) was the perfect fit for my life, I'm addicted to travel and I want to save the world, but I don't think I really had any clue what to expect. I remember thinking about what it would like to not have electricity, but I have that. My fridge my be the size of a dorm fridge, and I only have 4 outlets in a two bedroom place, which would be crazy in the states. What, every room back home has four outlets with two plug spots in each one, so really eight, but at least I have electricity. Running water, well I think maybe I was hoping I wouldn't have that, I was soo excited about not bathing for a month, but that didn't happen. Sadly I shower more here than in the states, big disappointment, but boy is it necessary. Also I found that not having water just makes life miserable, but on the bright side I can bath in 0.5 liters of water if necessary.

I will say nothing is what I expected, which I guess is really what the peace corps is about, ask any volunteer, every day is a new adventure of patience, will power, laughter, tears, and some craziness. By every day I mean every hour for the most part. The biggest and I think most unexpected thing for me has been what I have come to view my role as a PCV as being. Its not really to be a teacher, coach, facilitator, organizer or any of the things I came in expecting. My most important job here by far is to bring hope.

In that way PCVs are sort of like missionaries, but we don't bring hope through the belief in some external power or a god, but we do try to convert people to try and believe in a better tomorrow through hard work and perseverance. Sometimes and probably the hardest conversion to make is getting people to believe in themselves.

I will never forget the time I told a group of children, they can do anything they want to as long as the work really hard at it, and one little boy maybe 7 or 8, looked up at me and said even me miss? It shocked me he was so young and had already given up hope. Its not just the kids that feel this way, the grown ups frequently don't believe in themselves either, they don't feel capable of taking on small tasks that they could easily accomplish because they think they can't. So frequently I hear the words I can't, and almost never do I hear I can. You could call it capacity building if you wish, but especially with youth I call it hope building.

Thankfully for me I am already seeing those changes. I've seen an 11 year old girl go from saying I can't do this miss every time I gave her math work, to sitting down doing it without a word, and being the first one done. I've seen little boys go from telling me they can't read to asking to borrow a book, and asking for harder work. Changing the I can'ts to the I cans is the biggest victory I can imagine in my peace corps service.

Some people criticize the Peace Corps for just going out in the world and promoting American values, which it does, thats actually part of our job to teach people about the USA, and its something I myself I have questioned. Does the United States really have the answers, should we really be guiding other nations and other people that come from such different backgrounds and cultures. I for sure believe that in a lot of instance Americans are the ones that have it wrong, a nation where people choose work over people, just doesn't seem to have their priorities right. One thing America can spread to the world and has been so good at is the concept of Hope.

It is the very basis of our foundation as a nation, a hope for a fairer future, granted at the time the fair and equal future was still for a select few, but that concept has stood strong. Some may disagree with me, but the more I travel, the more I learn about the world, the more I believe the US is really the place where opportunity is most available to everyone, and maybe thats what breeds hope. Or maybe its the general nature of our culture, a culture in which as a 5 year old I wanted to grow up to be the first woman to play professional baseball, all the while being a pilot and a rancher too. Nobody told me I was stupid or that it was impossible, instead I was told anything is possible, and I can do anything I want to do. Maybe that was just my America, maybe other people's America are filled with hopelessness and despair, but I like to believe that is what America has to offer to the world, hope for a brighter future, and as a Peace Corps volunteer I hope that is the message that I get to spread, converting people to believe in themselves, and in their own nations.

Up next my Carnival Experience....

Its about time I share more pictures

Pictures from my Walk around the island including the short cut to my best friends house.

Also pictured are the gingerbread houses we made from scratch for Christmas!

A typical Saturday...I have a fan Now!!!

My alarm blared, I groggily opened my eyes, rolled to the other side of bed, my t-shirt clinging to me from sweat. I swore to myself I was buying a fan on Monday, this was ridiculous. I have to keep saying to myself yes, when I joined the Peace Corps I signed up for hardship, but why make it harder than it had to be.

As I bobbed under my mosquito net, all I could think of was highly caffeinated coffee from my Italian French Press. Why does eight am always feel so early down here? Glorious Coffee! With my eyes barely opened, I stumbled to the bathroom. I jiggled the lever to flush the toilet. Nothing! I turned the faucet on the sink, nothing again.

This was getting old. Everyone says the draught is over, but if it’s over why is it I don’t have water this morning? I grabbed a bucket full of water, and dumped it down the toilet, first problem solved, now to wash my hands. I walked to the kitchen, opened the cupboard under the sink and lugged out a jug, crisis averted.

My percolator was starting to bubble, coffee is ready! Of course my favorite mug was dirty, and I had no water. I only used the mug for coffee the morning before, what could it hurt to use it again without washing it? As I sat in my chair checking my email, and waiting for the caffeine to kick in, I tried to process what I needed to do for the day.

It was Saturday, and since I joined the Peace Corps, I had this desire save the world one child at a time, or maybe I had it before the Peace Corps. Either way it meant I gave up my sacred Saturdays to work with kids. No sleeping in! No staying in bed till noon reading or hoping that horrible hangover would go away. I had little kids waiting for me to teach them how to play basketball, at nine in the morning. In the afternoon a bunch of teenagers owned me, I was supposed to teach them how to pole vault , but sometimes I just wanted to go to the beach.

It was 8:20, I was supposed to leave in twenty-five minutes, and I still had to eat, bath, and create a practice plan for basketball. Please caffeine start working now!

So maybe I’m a little late, I walked out the door at 8:55. I walked past a father of a kid I work with, and said good afternoon, clearly 9 nine am is the afternoon to me. I hope he didn’t think I was drunk, and about to go be in charge of his child.

The little boy who walks to the basketball court with me was waiting patiently; he told me he was worried I left without him. As we strolled to the main road, I was hoping we would get a ride; otherwise we were going to be really late. Why is it that small children walk so slowly? Thank god after only two minutes of walking a truck pulled over to take us down to the court. We arrived with seconds to spare.

The second I walked in my door after basketball, I peeled off my sweat soaked shirt and laid down on my yoga mat, exhausted. It was only 11am, why was I so tired? I had an hour and a half to make food, eat, put together packets for my pole vaulters, and create my pole vault practice plan. I didn’t want to move.

I half rolled to my fridge looking for water, none. I pulled myself to my feet and stumbled to the sink, turned the facet, no water there. I knew I couldn’t make it through an afternoon in the sun without water. I guess this meant I had to walk down to the shop to buy some, and maybe a box of macaroni and cheese for lunch.

After inhaling the entire box of macaroni and cheese, then checking the box to see just how many calories I had consumed, I figured it was a perfect time to lie on my yoga mat and read. It’s not as if I had time to relax, I just wasn’t ready to move. By the time I was ready to move, it was time for me to leave, but I still had things to do.

I walked down to the highway to catch a bus, 20 minutes later than I should have. While I walked, I tried to figure out how long I could wait for a bus before I had to try to hitch a ride, fifteen minutes. Maybe I should just try to hitch right away. As I got the road there were a group of guys at the bus stop that have told me in the past not to hitch, so I figured I should at least wait a little while for a bus.

A bus finally came, and after the 45 minute journey I was at the stadium. Only 4 athletes were there at two pm, when training was supposed to start. I definitely started panicking. It was my first day as the head coach of Pole Vault St. Lucia, and the first training session since the Peace Corp Volunteer that started the program had left. Where are the athletes? Did they quit just because Andy left? Are all the nay sayers right about this program falling apart? Great this was all my fault. Calm down, relax, and remember to breathe. It’s going to be okay, a lot of the athletes are always late, just give them time.

My fear was for nothing, by the time 3pm rolled around I had 11 athletes at training.

At the end of training, when we are leaving, one of the athletes points over to the thousands of dollars worth of pole vaulting poles, that are just sitting out on the track. In the midst of babysitting the eleven 12-18 year olds I completely forgot about the poles. This just leaves me feeling incompetent and like a failure. Practice was a complete mess, and on top of that I can’t even remember to put ridiculously expensive equipment away.

It seems that feeling like a failure is part of being a Peace Corps Volunteer. Then again maybe feeling like a failure is part of any development work. Trying to create something out of nothing, with no support stuff inevitably leads to things not running smoothly, to things falling apart and being a complete mess, but I guess at least we are all out there trying to be that difference.

You can always go home, but home many times can you leave a wonderful life behind.

As I flew over Washington DC for the first time in over a year, I wondered what it would be like to be home. I looked out the plane window and thought how many lights were lit up, how big this city is, how its good to be home. I got off the plane and saw my parents for the first time in 14 months, but it seemed as if I was just gone for a few weeks.

As I opened my drawers at home hoping to find something to sleep in, I was shocked by how much I had left at home, a closet and a dresser full of clothes I completely forgot existed. Jewelry, make up, shoes, tons of stuff I didn't really need, probably rarely would use, and none of which would fit in my closet back home in St. Lucia. The differences kept popping up, running water, not sweating all the time, driving, fresh fruit at my disposal, realizing that maybe I wasn't eating properly back home. I think craving V8 may have been the hint at that. As much as things seemed odd and out of place, or maybe I seemed out of place, but just to myself. What was wrong, what was different? What didn't feel right, was how after being gone for over a year I just slipped back into my old life. A life I no longer led, and life that wasn't real, but here I was for 10 days pretending that it was the life that I had been living without interruption.

At first it just felt so strange, then it almost felt like I hadn't really left, you know besides the fact that I wanted to call my friends back in St. Lucia every 5 minutes. I began to remember everything that I had left behind, what I great life I used to have. I could go shopping with my mom, my brother, or a friend. I could spend a day hanging out with my best friends, who get me, who I could be completely myself around, no worrying about what was culturally acceptable, that I may overstep my bounds, or that what I just said would make sense. I was relaxed. That and I really missed running water, every time I went to wash my hands it was like this great gift. Then I had to pick up and leave, say goodbye to all of that wondering if I'd really ever be back in that life the way it used to be.

Thankfully I came back to running water, but St. Lucia just didn't feel right, it felt like something was missing, and I couldn't help wondering if it was worth giving up all of what I had in the states. Then I hung out with my best friends down here, and I just felt screwed. It sucked cause I knew I couldn't have both lives at the same time. It took some time and a package filled with cookies and chips to make me realize that I wasn't screwed, but possibly the luckiest person out there. Most people spend their lives hoping to have people that love and get them, that will be there for them no matter the distance or the time apart, and I have two sets of people in two different parts of the world.

Now if only I could have the same comfy bed down here...

Sh*t in your own backyard!

While we finally got rain yesterday, to everyones extreme happiness, the water situation had gotten bad for the past couple of weeks or so. This morning as I talked to the principal of the primary school she thanked god that not only we got rain, but it came gradually throughout the day as to not create landslides. She exclaimed to me that it was so dry that a child ran in and told her there was a crack so big in the dirt that he could put his arm in it.

Obviously cracking of dirt was the least of our concerns as we struggled to find water. People literally stayed up all night or took shifts with their family members hoping the water would come on in the middle of the night. One man I'm told sat by the stand pipe all night one night waiting to get water. My pipes stayed completely dry for the almost two months. In the past weeks I too was staying up late, making trips to the stand pipe between 11pm and 1 am hoping to get at least enough water to bath a little bit, and maybe if I was lucky flush the toilet.

The toilet issue is where things get interesting, or at least the stories do. I apologize if this grosses anyone out, but be glad that it didn't happen to you, and take a little extra care the next time you flush cause it really is a magically thing. I continued to use the toilet, flush with a bucket whenever I was lucky enough to have the water to, which was never more than once a day and pour bleach in to try to keep things more sanitary. Friends however took some more interesting measures, including pooing in a plastic bag and a coke bottle so it wouldn't stay in their houses and stink up the place. If your like me and wondering on the logistics of the whole thing, I don't know so don't ask. I was also told a story of a grown woman, and by grown I mean at least 40, that went into her neighbors yard and popped a squat right there. I'm not really sure why she choose to go next door, maybe to even a score, maybe just to keep her yard clean, but these things happen.

I will say that for the moment all these problems have ceased as we had a full day of rain and everyone has water for the now. It definitely made yesterday a phenomenal day. I didn't get home till after 10 because by friends cat had kittens the day before and after training I went by to see the day old kittens, their eyes were still closed and the had to search blinded for the mother's teat which ended in some comical situations of sucking on paws and ears. After I got home I checked for water only because a friend said that they had because I was starting to think I would never have again. A miracle had happed and some beautiful brown water flowed from my pipes, so I started washing everything and filling every jug and bucket I own. I kept going till 1:30 am and since I washed all my pillowcases one time went to bed with t-shirt covered pillows. Even though my water is brown having it in my life again is more magical than seeing day old kittens for the first time in my life. Plus this mean now I won't have to worry about anyone shitting in my backyard, at least until we all loose water again.

Who knew there was so much to say about water...

If you came to St. Lucia for a vacation you wouldn't really notice that there is a drought going on, towels are still washed daily, you can take as many hot showers as you want, and the pool is filled with water. They do give you a piece of paper that informs you of the drought and asks you politely to only use one towel a day and to be aware or water consumption.

As for the rest of the island its a different story, we haven't had more than a two minute sprinkle in at least 3 weeks, the banana trees are starting to yellow, the tops of the coconuts trees are falling off, its due to a disease thats worse without water, a places that are notoriously muddy have been dry for weeks. Depending on where you live it also means you do not have water in your pipes. In my community we haven't had water in our homes for over two weeks and since christmas we haven't had water for more than 24 hours at a time. Thankfully there is a stand pipe up the road that we can get water at. A stand pipe is a pipe that is about 2-3 feet tall and is on the side of the road. Basically imagine if at the end of your street there was a skinny pipe with a facet that everyone in the general area goes to get water. At certain times of day people bring their soap and just bath on the side of the street, usually its just men and children, I have never seen a grown woman bath at the stand pipe. On a Saturday if you go to collect water at the standpipe you will see a collection of women doing their laundry. The lucky people that have 1,000 liter water tanks get those filled by a water truck, so they don't have to go to the stand pipe to collect water,most of my friends have these, but I am not so lucky. Every morning or evening I gather my jugs and buckets and carry my water from the stand pipe. I definitely think my arms are getting stronger, water is heavy.

The really cool part is that I now realize just how much water I need to live. It takes about 3 gallons to flush the toilet, I can bath in 1.5 liters if I don't wash my hair, if I wash my hair its more like 4 liters or about a gallon. To do laundry by hand, its about 10 gallons for a little bit of clothes, I would never do it in the machine cause it would take way too much water like maybe 50 gallons. Each gallon of water weighs 8 lbs, so that water quickly adds up to a lot of weight. Maybe I should make all my female pole vaulters carry water so they can get stronger.

Pole Vault St. Lucia continues to grow as a program, this Independence weekend we set another national women's record, and our ladies finally broke that 2 meter mark that they had been threatening to break for a while now. We also had one of our newest male vaulters surprise us by jumping 2.7 meters after only being with the program for about a month and a half, which is huge cause thats about 6 training sessions. As a program we have gained a few athletes which is always good to see, but can make training a little more hectic, it'll be interesting to see what happens when we loose our head coach in april when his service as a Peace Corps volunteer ends. If our local coaches show up to training I shouldn't feel too overwhelmed by trying to give enough attention to our 10-20 athletes depending on the week, but when its just me it gets harder to see all those little things at one time.

The rest of life and work continues to chug along with some more successful days then others, my two little boys continue to get smart and smarter, but sometime revert to old negative attitudes, and the sports program continues to progress ever slowly forward.

I did get to take a vacation, which due to friends in different places landed me in London. It was nice to have the things a big city offers again; museums, shopping, restaurants, pretty buildings, subway systems, and the list goes on, but I will say everyone was in too much of a hurry and seemed rather rude to me. It definitely made me think about what kind of life I really want to live and the odd priorities and sense of living people in the western world have. But boy are bagels, sushi, real coffee, strawberries, raspberries, fancy cheese, and museums nice to have.

I guess I have the next year and two months to figure which life I prefer, as for now I have wash to do, water to carry and maybe so homemade pizza to make.

2009 In Review

It seems as the new year come people always try to come up with way to make the next year better then the previous one. People want to be thinner, happier, richer, more in love, less alone, savor more, work less, work harder, get promoted, finally quit that thing they hate, and the list could go on and on, I on the other hand took this new years to reflect on the past year and how amazing it was. I think if more people took time to look back on the good instead of changing the bad then maybe more people would realize just how lucky they are (I do however have a new years resolution). I figured I'd share the highlights of my 2009, try not to get too jealous.

In January I got to see my last snow on the ground up in Boston visiting/saying so long to friends. Shortly after that I got to witness history as I traveled to downtown DC starting at 4:30 am inauguration day to see the first ever African American sworn in as President of the United States.

February was more about world travel as I started the month by visiting a friend in Paris, creating some of my favorite sketches, and see a truly breathtaking city. I also got to spend a day in Paris with my Aunt and Uncle which was a truly amazing day. Two weeks later I finished packing my two suitcases, and boarded a plane to Miami for staging for the Peace Corps, on February 24th I arrived in my new home country of St. Lucia.

In March I moved in with my home stay family and tried to start learning what Lucian culture was like. I planted a coconut tree, I learned how pineapples and bananas grow. I began to visit beaches, got an account at the national Library, opened a Lucian Bank account, learned how to ride the bus to and from training by myself, got used to saying good night instead of good evening, and learned the peace corps training sucks, and met a troubled boy that I have been working with ever since march and seeing his progress has been a saving grace for me.

In April I finished training and was sworn in as an official Peace Corps Volunteer and moved in to my own place. April's where the dates start to get fuzzy.

I've harvested honey in a full bee keepers suit, harvested cucumbers for export to the UK, coached little kids basketball, learned to crack a coconut open on a rock, helped a lady rescue her lost baby lamb, seen kids learn to read in front of my very eyes. Sadly seen too many young lives end too soon, but watched how a community come together to help the healing. I've gotten off the bus to shouts of my name by small children, some of whom have taught me how to make cocoa tea and lucian dumplings. I've been giving notes from children telling me they love me. I've young men learn how to play basketball and start at the basics instead of dunking. I've been to at least 14 different beaches to bathe and 3 others for fish frys.

I've experienced multiple days of Carnival. I've been sailing. I've hiked through the rain forest, I've watched my communities football team win the nation tounament. I've witnessed the first ever graduation ceremony from the secondary school I work with. I've thrown a Halloween party complete with costumes in which the Lucians were exactly sure what to come as. I've played basketball with grown men and earned their respect. I've been asked to play on a women's basketball team. I've had the biggest Thanksgiving of my life with 3 turkeys and over 30 people. I've attempted to make pretzels from scratch, made pizza, tortillias, cake, and brownies from scratch, no mix. I made gingerbread houses with friends from scratch.

I learned how to pole vault, then learned how to coach pole vault, then watched 3 of the girls I was coaching set a national womens record, which already in 2010 has been broken again. I have seen young female athletes gain confidence and a belief in themself since starting to play a sport. I have met a 3x Olympian in pole vault.

I have seen pretty much an entire pig hanging after being slaughtered right next to where I catch my bus for everyones christmas meals. I have had friends stop by my house on christmas day while doing a door to door as part of the tradition for the holiday. I have been woken up at 8:30 christmas morning by a phone call from a friend wondering why I wasn't already at her house.

With 5 days left in the year I walked for four days around the island to really get a feel for what this great country has to offer. So while my new years resolution is to explore more of st lucia, I have had one amazing 2009 and while there have been strugles and difficulties if 2010 can be as good of a year for me I will be really happy. Happy New Year one, I hope everyone has had a good 2009, and will have a great 2010!