I'm trying...

After a year of being in St. Lucia, there is still something I haven't gotten used to. It's not the high prices of certain foods I like (1 lb of strawberries for over $20), or not seeing food that I do like (snow peas I've only found once in a whole food like store in the north). But as you might have guessed, it does have something to do with food! I have not been able to get used to the fact that some weeks (or months) I can find things, such as stick of butter, sour cream wheat germ, and honey, and other week (or for several months) it's not available at any of the 3 grocery stores I check! I think of sticks of butter as a staple because I love to bake and it makes it so much easier to measure. I know that sour cream is not considered an essential, but to see it once in a while just drives me crazy because I expect to always find it! However, I deal with it and eat my tacos without sour cream and measure out my butter using my measuring spoons. Sometimes, I think the grocery store just likes to tease me and let me get used to things and then pull it away!

Visa

While I'm outsite of the US, I try to keep informed about what is going on there, the hot topics, pop culture and such, so that way I'm not completely out of touch when I get back. The news became important to me while I was in college, news around the US and world news as well. There has been a case in Florida of a teen girl overstaying her visa and it was ruled she and her sister are to be deported. From my understanding, she was there on a visitors visa and stayed without renewing it (and I'm pretty sure visitors visas have time limits, such as you can only stay for so many months and then you have to leave and come back). So now a community in Florida is fighting for her to get to stay.

I am getting ready to go through the visa process for a fiancee visa. It is a long process that takes time, money, and a ton of documents. Would it be easier for us to get a visitors visa for my fiancee to come to the states? Yes, it probably would. It would take less time, money, documents, and headache. But that is not the type we're going to file for because we want to stay there and it's lying. I've had people tell me to just get that type, go to the states, get married, and then file for him. That's untruthful and not right, so we're going to go for the type of visa we want and need, even if it is more work.

You may wonder how these two cases fit together. I'm in a different country and we're going for a different type of visa; however the end result will be the same. She wants to stay in the states, but her mom did not get her the right type of visa to stay there. We are working hard on the correct type of visa because we want to be able to stay there. Since I have been here, I've heard dozens of stories about people being turned down for even visitors visas or student visas for one reason or another. I've heard stories of people who have masters degrees that would like to stay in the states, but are unable to. If this girls mom files the right type of paperwork, I have no issue with her staying, but there are people in her home country that are going through the correct methods to get the correct visa to come to the states. My question is this: why should you be the exception and jump in front of everyone when you disobeyed the rules?

Now I am all for uping the quotas so that way more people are able to come to the states legally. But I think this debate about making people who came into the states illegally legal takes a whole different turn when you know people trying to get to the states legally.
What do you think?

Living in the moment

"Wherever you are be all there. Live to the hilt every situation that you believe to be the will of God." Jim Elliot

This is something that is really hard for me. I am a planner. Which obviously means that I look to the future to plan. The future being later that day, week, month, year, or even the next couple years. While this is not a bad trait, in moderation, for me it can become obsessive to the point where I miss what is going on around me. I was sitting on a bus the other day thinking about how I just wished the bus ride was over and I was in town. Then it dawned on me, I'm not always going to be living on an island in the Caribbean, just enjoy the view. While planning is good (and I have a lot to plan for right now!), I still can't let it take over my life or I'm going to miss the present and what God has to teach me here and now. I'm going to miss the smiles on the childrens' faces, their greetings, the joy of the people I interact with each day. I will miss all this and I don't want to.

Tuesdays

I think Tuesdays are some of my hardest days, but also some of the best! On Tuesdays I switch it up a little and work at the Infant School (grades K-2). There I teach computer class that helps reinforce what they are learning in class to 115 kids. It's crazy and fun! They're so cute and full of energy, a completely different type of energy than the kids at the Primary School. Today I taught one class of grade K's how to turn the computer off after they got to play the game on the computer for the day(because they have class at the end of the day!), and then we had extra time so I got to read them two stories. At the end of the day I always feel drained, but it's well worth it. I love the day that I work at the Infant School!

The story of us

If you want just the engagement story it starts after the big bold letters (and for those of you who might recognize the ring yes we're using my grandmother's ring set, her and my grandfather were married for over 50 years, a legacy we want to continue)

March of 2011 I was riding the bus home from training like I did every Friday, wondering what the weekend would bring me. It was late and I was tired and just ready to get home! When we got near my stop I asked the bus driver to go up the hill, however he did not hear me and kept going. The guy who was sitting right next to me got the bus drivers attention and had him go up the hill to my stop. He then turned to me and said, “You live up here?” I replied that yes I was living up the hill with Ms. Cleo. He told me he was staying with his aunt that weekend right next to where I was living, so he might see me. On my way home from church on Sunday I saw this same guy. He offered to take me to the beach (which I had not been to in my community and didn’t know where it was). I said yes and we set up a time. I told my host mom I was going to go to the beach and she wanted to know who with, I didn’t remember the guys name but said that he was staying next door. She told me to go get him. I brought him over and as soon as my host mom saw it was Luthur, she was ok with me going to the beach, but she still questioned him about when he was bringing me back and told him to keep me safe!

We went to the beach and had a lot of fun! I saw him a couple of other times in passing while I was staying with my host family. When I moved into my house in the village he continued to check up on me. We would talk, go for walks, he would teach me Kweyol and how to play pool, I taught him where the big dipper was and Orian’s belt. We just had fun! Around the beginning of June, I began to realize that this wasn’t just a friendship. He officially asked me to be his girlfriend on July 1^st! When my host mom found out we were dating, she sat Luthur down and gave him a lecture about how he needed to take care of me and not hurt me! We continued hanging out getting to know each other better. I started including him in Peace Corps activities (such as pot lucks). The more I got to know him and see him in different situations, the more I grew to love him and the man that he is.

The unique thing about PC is that it’s a time limited thing. We knew I only had two years here, so we started talking about the future and what we wanted. It became clear that we were both heading in a similar direction and wanted to be a part of each other’s lives.

Engagement story starts here On February 22 (Independence Day in St. Lucia—which is kind of ironic because I’ve always been really independent) we had decided to go to the beach since we both had the day off of work. We packed up a bag with towels, a Frisbee, water, and sunscreen we headed off to the beach. Our timing was perfect and we got a ride up the hill. We walked down to the beach and talked about how perfect of a day it was. We got to the main beach and then climbed over a bunch of rocks to a smaller beach that we like better. We were standing underneath the almond tree, he puts his arms around me and tells me that he loves me and wants to spend the rest of his life with me. He then asked me to marry him, “for real this time” because he asks me all time just for fun (I always say yes), but tells me one day he’ll ask me for real. That was the day! I said of course yes! We hung out at the beach for a while and had a blast! When we got back to the house we got out the ring and he got down on one knee and asked if I Sara Jean Faison, would marry him. I, of course, said yes again, and he put the ring on my finger and made me the happiest girl alive  J

So excited!

So yesterday was Independence Day (if you want to learn more about that go to my blog on the US Embassy's official blog http://usembassybridgetown.blogspot.com/2012/02/independence-day-in-st-lucia-one-nation.html) However, it was an even more special day for me because Luthur (my then boyfriend) asked me to marry him! I said yes! (so now he's my fiancee!!) I'm so excited that I've been blessed with a man that is as amazing as he is. Someone that I'm able to always talk things out with and work through issues. Someone I have fun with, learn with, teach, share, and can just be myself around! It was special and a really fun day! Let's just say I love this guy and enjoy every minute with him. Gonna keep this one around :)

Lessons

So these past couple weeks I have been sick. While being sick I have learned some very valuable lessons. OK, one lesson. I learned that I have to take care of myself or I can't give to anyone else. I know simple lesson, but I'm probably going to have to learn it over and over in my life.
I have also learned these past couple of weeks (not due to being sick) that if I pile on too many projects, I shut down and avoid some of them. NEWS FLASH: avoiding projects does not make them go away! The deadline (because they always have them) will still approach and only make you panic more! Thankfully I did not avoid it until the last minute (I still have 2 weeks left).
It's like my blogging. Sometimes I think if I don't look at my blog, it's not really there and I don't have to update it:)
Someone once told me (when I first got here) that it's hard to keep writing a blog while you're here because it just turns into everyday life and doesn't seem that exciting. I find this to be true and getting harder and harder to find subjects to write about. So if you have something that you would like to know about my life here, my work, Peace Corps, or St. Lucia, feel free to mention it!