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Monday, September 24, 2012

Bursting Bamboo!

It's almost October! Which in St. Lucia means it's time to get ready for one of our favorite holidays. Not Halloween, but Jounen Kweyol, which is the celebration of the Kweyol heritage!
While I was doing dishes one evening. I heard what sounded like gun shots. I looked at Luthur a little worried and asked him about this noise. He said that the police were probably having a shootout with someone and we shouldn't go outside. This didn't sound quite right to me, he started laughing, and told me that it was just the kids bursting bamboo! I should have remembered from last year. This is something they do to celebrate Jounen Kweyol. The take a piece of bamboo, hallow it out, put a hole on the side of the bamboo at the bottom, put kerosene in it, and then use a stick to put fire inside to fire it like a canon. (Sounds like something my dad would have done as a kid!) Almost every evening I'm going to be hearing this until the end of October.
The last weekend of the month several communities will hold celebration around the island. Last year my village got to host, so we won't get to this year.
School is going well. I have learned how much the grade K's learned last year when I got this years grade K's and they were using their finger poking the screen to close windows and select things on the computer. We have a lot to learn!

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