Update # 1: Friendship Camp Preparation

Bridge Caribbean Families and Friends,

Greetings from Windsor Mountain!
We apologize for the slight delay in this our first update. Our Bridge Caribbean leaders inform us that our team is readily enjoying the St. Vincent community and making friendships fast.

And now from the leaders…

Orientation 7/1- 7/2: hmmmm...first night, we played some games including something called the dance move name game. The following day we explored Kingstown, and the students explored the central vegetable market and found fruits they had never seen before. We also talked with the very informative Peace Corps volunteers about the island and its cultural issues, and had time to relax and enjoy Indian Bay beach.

Barrouallie 7/3 –7/9: We have been hanging with the local kids a ton and every night we get to watch the sunset with our Caribbean community at the wharf. We hiked to Wallibou Waterfalls on Sunday and on Monday we caught the very lively Vincy Mas in Kingstown.

Tomorrow we plan to hike to the beautiful La Soufriere Volcano on the north of the island. You can follow this link for a little more info and to see what we will see: http://volcano.und.edu/vwdocs/current_volcs/stvincent/soufriere_vin.html

Student Notes:

Hannah - Is fascinated with Caribbean culture and is taking every opportunity to learn and bond with our St. Vincent friends. She is impressed with the simple lifestyle of St. Vincent and the contentment with which people live.

Margaux - has become an essential part of the group through her team building skills and by keeping an eye out for the morale of everyone. She challenges the team to do their best and keeps us laughing. The other day she amused the whole group with her funny faces during a staring contest with Mike.

Andy - is well liked among the group. Recently he has been learning to swim. He went out with Adam and even swam a few strokes without life jacket! He also had his first experience attending a religious meeting when we went to a church service.

Tania – Fell in love with Indian Valley Beach and was impressed by St. Vincent hospitality. She has been a great help translating for Julia (our student from Spain) and has taught our group a little Spanish in the process. We have been impressed with her mature reflections on our experience.

Mike – Mike and Margaux’s staring contest continues to be a highlight on our trip. And Mike keeps us infused with the Windsor Mountain Spirit by sharing his ideas and energy with the group. The other night he made us all an amazing Mango Chili.

Paul-Antoine - Is teaching French to the local kids and enjoyed an opportunity to speak on the radio at the radio station. The radio guys joked with him in French and he responded in English. He also impressed us by teaming with Margaux to cook a great dinner of chicken and rice with a French sauce. Yum.

Sade - Had a great time at J’ouvert at Vincey Mas. She is an excellent team member and builds relationships quickly. She is also very good with the St. Vincent children and she reached out to comfort Moses (a little boy in our friendship camp) when he was feeling bad.

Gabe - Loved our expedition to the Wallabu Water Falls. He has great energy and had a gymnastics competition with several of the kids. We have also noticed his long late-night philosophical conversations with many members of the group

Kaleigh – Is Windsor Mountain songs and music to St. Vincent by teaching the guitar to the St. Vincent children. She is also expanding her culinary palate and trying new things, mixing her food more! She also loved our MMT in Barrouallie.

Julia – Loves the sights and sounds of our community. She has been taking sunset swims and trying lots of new Caribbean fruits

Jamel – Was really excited about his first time ever on an airplane and loved having the window seat on the trip from San Juan to St. Vincent. He is always smiling, keeping us cheery and joking with the group. He loved exploring Kingstown during Vincey Mas and he found a Snow Tiger costume!

Chris - Kept our energy up on the flight down and has been teaching the other students new techniques in the kitchen. He was initially having some trouble adjusting to group dynamics, but seems to be doing much better and really enjoying his time here.

Over the next two days our team will continue to final preparations for friendship camp. All students will call home tomorrow night, so you can hear some of the great stories yourselves!