picking up trash, making new friends, more exploring

This is the first weekend of crappy weather since we arrived a month ago. On-and-off rain, temps in the 70s, windy. I got in a run yesterday morning, during which I passed 2 local young girls (high school age) running in teeny tiny spandex shorts and cropped tops, identical, some kind of uniform, who flashed radiant smiles at me and an enthusiastic thumbs-up sign, clearly pleased to meet another runner. During the week I encounter a couple of middle aged local women who share a daily walk, and I've seen 2 other women (gringas) running later than me. I also once came across 2 guys out for a bike ride, one of them serious enough to be wearing a cycling jersey. So this was the first time I'd seen serious runners out and I was glad to have such a positive image of the local youth. More often than not, what we see is kids who should be in school but aren't, because their teachers are absent and since there are no substitute teachers, this means the kids are free to leave. The teens we see in the street during school hours, who are not in a school uniform, are teen parents, of which there are an enormous amount here. Jackie remarked the other day how many teens have kids here, and she wanted to know why they have children so young? I didn't get into a deep conversation about this as I didn't want to open up pandora's box, what with Willo in our midst, but I just told her that in many cases (most, if not all), these teen moms had moms and grandmothers who themselves had made the same choices, and they saw nothing wrong with this scenario. I told her that most likely nobody has shown them an example of another way of life, and nobody has urged them to break the cycle, so they just took what in some ways was the easiest path - but really isn't, since we know how hard it is to take care of babies and raise children.

Yesterday afternoon we helped some of the hotel staff clean up the property of trash, and then we partook in the bar-b-q they threw. I figured that would fulfill the kids' community service credits for the week, especially coupled with the beach clean-up they had done with their friends on the beach the previous day, plus I have enjoyed being a part of this resort's development. It's exciting to see it take shape, since it's the first time we've witnessed more than just Bill's stress, absence and a tour of the finished product. I also enjoy getting to know the others who have been involved in this labor of love. Building and running a hotel is certainly something that requires so much sweat & sacrifice. I can't help but wonder how today's high school and college graduates will fare in this type of industry, since they are so used to being rewarded for minor effort (if you show up, you get a trophy or a passing grade), being handed pretty much whatever they want (sorry I'm not around more as a parent, here's an iPod to make up for it), etc. I have a hard time imagining them arriving at work by 7am, staying till 8-9pm, 6-7 days a week as I've seen my friends do here.

Last night we got takeout, comida criolla (Puerto Rican food), from Mia's - a place that serves pizza and Puerto Rican home cooking (hey, why not). It was DELICIOSO. We made a mental note to take Bill's parents there when they visit this week. This will be their first time in Vieques, even though they're Puerto Rican. In fact, I don't know of any of Bill's family members who have been here - most people on the Isla Grande (main island) don't visit.

Today it was pouring rain again, so the swim I had planned with Oscar, the hotel rooms exec, who also happens to be Peru's Michael Phelps when he was a bit younger (he has a signed poster of Phelps on his office wall) and his friend who is visiting him from Baltimore, where she's in charge of Special Events and Charitable Giving for Under Armour - was canceled. We had planned to swim 1.5-2 miles, leaving from Esperanza and circling an island you can see from the Malecón area. Alas, I missed my chance to prove to them how slow but steady I am in the water. Instead, we went to the field nearby to fly kites, during a reprieve from the rain, and then we went to La Viequense for sandwiches and for a brief urban exploration, a quick visit back to the W so Bill could see how the gutters etc are holding up in all this rain, and then a visit to what we found out today is the local Blockbuster (last photo). It's a guy, Chepito, who has a surprisingly extensive collection of DVD's, and rents them out for $1.25, each additional day is an extra $1. He asks you your name and phone number and writes them down on a piece of paper. You pay when you drop them off (no credit card or any form of ID required). He even has microwaveable popcorn, candies, "limbels" (local equivalent of sno cones), drinks. I guess I don't need to contact Red Box videos after all, to see about putting in a vending machine at Morales grocery store.

A disturbing part of our day was when during our explorations, I spotted a horse on the ground in a small field that had 4-5 junk cars, and another horse tethered to an abandoned pick up truck. The downed horse wasn't moving at all and I insisted we find out if it was still alive. Bill drove the Jeep closer and what I thought was a slightly quivering leg wasn't imagined, when we saw its eyelid flutter. I called the Humane Society but got their voice mail, so then we drove round the corner and asked a woman what street we were on. I called the local police and they assured me they would get someone out to check it out, from the Humane Society. The HS here really is amazing. They have the only vet on the island, and she performs surgeries on Tuesdays, well visits (and other visits) on Wednesdays.

Tomorrow, if Rona can get a plane out of here (subject to the storm's passing), so she can visit her OB-GYN in San Juan, I will be watching 11-month-old Baby Dagan. Tuesday morning Bill's parents arrive, staying till Friday. I'll do my best to blog this week, though...

aaahhhh freedom

The kids started at the Oasis Educational Center on Tuesday and when I picked them up at 2 (an hour before the regular quitting time), Jackie said "Can we come everyday?" and Willo said "can you please pick us up later next time?" The teacher, Erica, said they were well-behaved, and are very bright, but Willo doesn't like to work. Which was good and bad news (well, not really news to me) since at least I know his lack of work ethic at home isn't because of my being his instructor. My original plan was to have them go 2-3 mornings/week but because they enjoy it so much, they still get their schoolwork done (I tell them each morning what their assignments are, and send them to school with them), they are making new friends, speaking a lot more Spanish, and it costs me $200/month whether they go one day or every day - I figured why not.

On Monday, when we went to check it out, a couple of girls who had moved here from DC 6 months ago were there (Olive & Anabel). Olive is in 3rd grade and Anabel in kindergarten. Unfortunately, Olive was just visiting for the day, as she has recently transfered from Oasis to a regular public school (because at the time she was the only girl). However, last night Jackie went to her house for a playdate and has since informed me that she does not want to go back to CT at all now, because she loves the warmth, the beach, her school and her BFF Olive. I told her that we are supposed to go home in 4 weeks or so, so we'll make the most of it all here (and that I have no more desire than she does to leave this place), and the good part is that Olive's family is returning to DC in 1.5 yrs and since we go there often to visit her grandparents, they will be able to continue their friendship. Olive's family moved here to get away to a peaceful, slow-paced environment. Her dad's work as an inventor allows him the flexibility to work from anywhere; in fact all of this employees are spread all over the world. His office is a trailer on the side of the house. He's invented a toaster oven that can bake delicious bread in 25 seconds. Seriously. And you should see their house - it's like out of a design magazine (they are renting it), but completely impractical for young children, which I'm sure is stressful as they have 3 girls and the youngest is an active 2-yr-old (I suppose that's redundant). They have bungie cords all over the spiral staircase that winds up through the middle of the house, connecting the 3-4 floors. Just so the kids don't plunge to the bottom. Anyway, a really lovely family and I'm looking forward to the playdate tomorrow afternoon. School lets out at noon tomorrow and the plan is to congregate on Red Beach. Anabel, the kindergartner, attends Oasis (she's in some of the field trip pictures above) and the kids all play great together.

Today they had a field trip to Sun Bay, the only beach here that has a bathroom, a snack stand & lifeguards. The staff spoke to the kids about the environment, and after lunch the kids and Erica went over to some rocks to try to trap fish. At that point I'd finished my work & errands (I took my pathetic bike to see if they could fix it so I have more than 1 gear) and met them out there, to take pictures (with my little waterproof point&shoot) and get to know the kids' classmates a bit. Jackie asked me this morning if I could dig out her goggles. When I asked her why (I didn't expect them to go swimming, as I figured it would be a big task for Erica to watch 3 kids in the surf), she told me that Olive had told her that they take field trips in Erica's pick up truck, and the kids pile in the back. So since Jackie expected it to get dusty, could she please have some goggles to minimize the discomfort? I did not know how to react to this. Part of me was hysterically laughing at the situation. After all, we come from a place (mainland US) where a diabetic child who goes on a field trip must have a nurse or a parent at all times, and there are all the Field Trip release forms etc. Part of me was feeling like a kid again and remembering how exciting it was to get in my uncle's pick up truck during all those summers in Sweden, and ride with my cousins to the lake for the day. And then the reluctantly responsible side of me grudgingly admitted this may not be too wise and how would I explain to Bill that I knew of this driving arrangement and still found it acceptable, and now we need to look for Willo because he bounced off the back of the truck when it hit a major pothole? So, anyway, it turns out that Erica had gotten a minivan for the occasion, and as it also turns out, Olive/Anabel's dad Nicholas the Inventor drove our kids to the site, and I drove them home afterwards.

The other big excitement is that today, the packages I had been waiting for for 3 weeks were finally located by the local post office when Saint Sandra (the Front Office Manager, who really is a saint, all that she's done for us) went down there and pointedly asked for them. When I went yesterday, they said they could not release anything to me even if it's in my name, because it's addressed to the W Hotel. Um, a little notice would have been nice? Nicholas the Inventor told me last night that if you're going to have anything shipped here, Fed Ex is the way to go. In fact, he introduced me to Nelson, the Fed Ex guy for Vieques, and gave me his cell phone number. Nelson assured me that if I let him know whenever something is coming, he'll look for it and personally drive it over even if it's after hours. And then he went into his van and found the box of mail that the other Major Saints in Our Life, our neighbors the Gittines, had shipped to us. Too bad it was full of bills.

The fact is, I've decided that homeschooling is for the birds. I really don't know how people do it. Perhaps their kids are less sociable than mine, or perhaps they (the homeschooling parents) are much more patient than me (OK, that's highly likely). But this month-long experiment has reinforced what I had suspected even before we began: that my children are extremely social, and they perform best in a group of kids. I do believe, from the research I've done all the observations I've made, that homeschooled kids receive a much better education in terms of academics. But the ideal situation (in my humble opinion, after all it's not like I have a MS in education or anything) I think, is to have kids learn in a small group. Peer pressure is not necessarily evil; when it comes to conforming to appropriate social standards, and to a bit of academic competition, it's a great thing. And there's the fun factor - doing anything with other kids is much more fun than in isolation or with your bratty little brother or an adult. If I could create the ideal situation, here or back in CT, it would be to get a barn or similar structure, and combine a group of 5-10 kids of various ages, evenly split in terms of gender, and teach them - with guest teachers on a regular basis (other parents or people from the community). That's pretty much what Oasis is. And I'd rent a big van for the frequent field trips, of course.

off-roading, beaching, partying & the homeschooling scoop

Between getting back into the island groove after Mexico City, and dealing with the restless natives (my children), I haven't gotten round to blogging in several days. In order to not bore you too much I'll try to recap the past several days in minimum detail...

We've continued to homeschool 2-3 hours each week day morning, but admittedly the kids' and my favorite part is when I teach them non-curriculum lessons, such as my decision to explain the whole slavery mess and its aftermath last week. I told them about how the Conquistadores' arrival was eventually followed by European agricultural endeavors in the form of sugar & cotton plantations, and since these required much hard work, slaves were imported from Africa (or drawn from African slaves already elsewhere in the Caribbean/Americas). By then much of the local indigenous population had been obliterated by massacre, European diseases, etc - thus the African labor. I explained somewhat how difficult it is to manually grow and harvest cotton and sugar, and how there was a class system even among slaves, since the lowest of the lot had to work the fields, back-breaking work, while the lucky ones got the domestic beat. Of course, this was a perfect time to point out how my asking them to make their beds each morning, pick up their clothes, set the table and clear the plates, not to mention attack their schoolwork with gusto, is really quite a privilege for them and they should appreciate how good they've got it.

Originally we were going to visit the only remaining sugar plantation ruins (Playa Grande Plantation) on Saturday, with Bill, but we switched it to Sunday since we decided to entertain Saturday night and by the time we'd amassed the groceries it was too hot to do anything but frolic in the waves. So we went to the plantation on Sunday, following my friend John Hathaway's directions. When we finally arrived, we thought maybe there were more ruins deeper into the jungle, so we sort of ignored the vehicle barrier and drove down the path. Which ended up being one bumpy, wet mess (see picture) and my heart stopped a couple of times as I was certain we were about to get stuck, and I was inappropriately dressed in a sundress and flip flops and my phone had no signal so it would not have been a comfortable effort of either pushing the car out of a bog or trekking back to a road. Thankfully, we emerged in a filthy, scratched-up but otherwise unscathed car. And no, we never did find any more ruins than some basic structures right where John had indicated.

Saturday night we hosted some of our local friends. All ended up great - after all, it's hard to screw up grilled flank steak and lobster, especially when Jorge is kind enough to crack open the lobsters and all 3 chefs decide to pitch in at various points.

Bill's running career lasted all of 3 days but I've upped my own distance and now hit the pavement as soon as it's light out (6:30am) and head into town and back. I truly love running here. I get to observe the locals in their anti-rush hour as they head to work and school, I call out buenos dias to everyone, get chased by a few dogs, dodge the random horse who decides to take the sidewalk instead of the road, jump over horse shit piles (which surprisingly, is odorless), ignore the gaggles of middle and high school boys who acknowledge my efforts with testosterone-induced comments or noises, and finish it off with a quick dip in the pool. I had hoped to compete in this Sunday's triathlon in San Juan but decided it was too expensive. So instead, Tessa (my local fellow athlete) and I are planning to do our own sprint triathlon right here in Vieques. Basically, whoever wants to participate is welcome to do the whole thing with us, or do certain legs, or partner up as a relay team. No registration fee, basically you're responsible for your own fluids, equipment, etc. Tessa has never done a tri before and we figured this would be a fun way to keep training interesting, and introduce her to triathlon in a low pressure way.

Today the kids started at Oasis, a really interesting school that just opened in August. Erika, the director and teacher, is a trained teacher (math & science) and homeschools her 2 kids. Several other homeschooling parents suggested she open up a little center and she did once she had the commitment of a few families. With my kids, she has 12 kids there, ages 5-12. They are all in one room, the main language spoken is Spanish, and in addition to each child doing his/her lesson, there are many group activities (games, art, PE) and frequent field trips. The kids will be going there a few mornings/week. I decided to do this for 2 reasons. First of all, the kids really need more interaction with peers their own age, especially in Spanish. Second of all, after a month of it being always the 3 of us, I have decided that they need a break from me and from each other, and I need a break from them. The bottom line is I am not an earth mama who thrives on domestic duties and being in the constant company of 2 very lovely but inevitably periodically annoying tikes. Jackie at least is as obsessed with reading as I am, but as soon as little Willo gets bored of his studies or independent play, he heads straight for his halo-bearing sister and before you know it the cries of "x HIT/PINCHED ME!!!!" ensue. Nope, not for me. I admit I love peace, tranquility, and order (which explains why I'm allergic to certain facets of motherhood). Anyway, we'll see how the kids enjoyed their morning in someone else's care and with other kids. I know it's been a huge hit with me :)

Alright, must get back to work. Back to Red Beach this afternoon with the kids. It finally reopened on Saturday after being closed for a few months as they paved some of the roads leading to it. I think the pictures above are self-explanatory. Do note the picture of the ferry - that's how any merchandise arrives at local stores, as well as gasoline for the 2 gas stations on the island. Have I told you about the queues at the gas stations? Sometimes they're hours long! Oh, and a picture of the local lighthouse, which was built during colonial rule (1896) and then renovated about 8 years ago.