The Last Few Days

Thursday was a busy day! In the morning we had our final exam, and then we received our diplomas from Cirreca. After that we had another debate with the law students, then lunch, then lunch and the beach.

We were the hosts for this meeting with the students. We showed them a PowerPoint of PLU, our families, and the northwest. Since they gave us a lot of their traditional foods on Monday, we thought we should bring something for them. We did the best we could with the unfamiliar resources, and little time we had. Jessica and Hailey made chocolate chip cookies and M&M cookies, and we had them try peanut butter with bananas. They liked the cookies, but weren’t sure about the bananas with peanut butter. The funniest comment we heard was, “Il colle,” meaning “It sticks.” They don’t really use peanut butter in Martinique; we were really surprised that we could find it.

I was kind of relieved because the class was smaller this time. I would have liked to see all of the students again, but the small group was better because it was easier to hear everyone and find a time to talk. For the debate, we chose to talk about something that PLU and many of the students in the group are concerned about: the environment. The law students think people should take care of the environment, but they don’t really make an effort to recycle consistently, or unplug things.

After the debate we had one last lunch by the water with just Madame and the six of us. Then we spent some time at the main beach in Schoelcher and savored one of our last beautiful Martiniquian sunsets. When I got home, my host brother was making crepes! February 2^nd was “Chandeleur,” the holiday where everyone makes crepes. He showed me how he can flip it with the pan, and then let me try to make one. In order to make them thin you have to pour the batter on the pan while tilting it around in a circle. The one I made looked a little misshapen, but it was fine. They gave me a cheese crepe and an egg and cheese crepe for dinner, then a crepe with ice cream and chocolate for desert. Most nights I had been pretty full, but this night was over-the-top. I was stuffed!

After dinner I had a nice long talk with my host mom about life. I was really noticing how much easier it is for me to hold a conversation in French. I could usually understand what she was saying the first time, and I didn’t have to say, “quoi?” or ask her to repeat it.

Friday we did homework on the beach for the last time. We had a final get-together with all of the families, and then went to spend our last night with our host families. Mary came with my host family and I to visit my host mother’s brother. It was nice to be able to see some of the extended family one last time because I saw them a lot throughout my stay, and got pretty close with them. My host mom, host brother, and Mary’s host parents took Mary and out to a nice dinner. Mary and I enjoyed our favorite guava nectar juice, and time with the family.

I still feel like I am just on another adventure for the day, and that I will be retouring to my room in Martinique for the night. I’m so happy with all the experiences I had and everything I learned in Martinique. One day I will go back to my second home in Martinique, but until then I have a lot of great memories.

Au revoir!

Kaylena

Au revoir Martinique...

Our J-term trip in Martinique is officially over.  The month flew by so quickly that it almost already feels like a dream!  But in fact it was a very real and magnificant experience. 

So I'll re-cap our last few days there...We spent a good mixture of time finishing up our final projects and trying to squeeze in as much beach time as possible.  On Thursday we took our final exam and then met with the law students again.  This time we brought them snacks - chocolate chip cookies that Hailey and I had an adventure baking with our host family along with bananas with peanut butter.  The cookies went over better than the peanut butter did.  We shared a powerpoint presentation we made of our homes and the Pacific Northwest and then we discussed environmental issues.  This was especially interesting for me because I am an environmental studies major and I did my final project on the viewpoints of the Martiniquais towards the environment and conservation in comparision to what I observed in my previous study abroad in Madagascar.  The discussion got a bit hard to follow because they were all talking simultaneously in French but overall it looks like they think that it is more the job of the government than the individual to implement conservation practices.  It was really nice to meet some students our age there and to be able to share cultures and opinions with them.

We tried to soak up the sun as much as possible our last day there.  Hailey and I sat at the beach and finished up our final projects...The group met up at a different beach, the very first beach that we had gone to in the beginning, for our last bit of swimming and relaxation.  We all ate mangos and guava on the beach...I sure will miss all the fresh delicious fruit.  My name has become Jessica-Mangue because I love mangos so much.  Afterwards our host mom took us to the Galleria which was like a big shopping mall with everything on sale.  She seemed to think we couldn't leave the island without seeing it.  Friday night was our goodbye party with all the students and their families.  We munched on snacks and chatted.  It was nice to see who everyones family is after hearing about them all the time.  Once we got back to our house Hailey and I had quite a feast of desserts.  Man I miss the desserts already.  Our host brother went all out, we had little cookie sandwiches, gallette de roi, chocolate lava cake, a fluffy vanilla cake with candies on top, ice cream, and banana flambeés.  Ooof, so much food but it was all so so good!  It was really nice to have that last little bit of time to spend with our family.  They are truly wonderful people and they were so generous and helpful towards us.  I really appreciate them and am glad that I got the opportunity to live in their house.

Yesterday was the longgg voyage home.  It took me 19 hours to get from my house in Martinique to my real house in California.  We woke up at 5 and our host mom was of course already making us breakfast.  Met up with everyone at the airport and we all said our goodbyes to our families.  It was very sad to say bye, but it wasn't unbearable because I am 98% sure that I will end up back there and I will see them again. 

Thank you for following our blog, we hope that you have enjoyed reading about our adventures and hopefully we've inspired you to travel to the beautiful island of Martinique.  It was a month of educational as well as personal growth that none of us will ever forget!

Jessica

Faire de Voile sur un Catamaran!

Hello all, just a little catching up to do on the blog! We have all been so busy with studying for our final test, attempting to finish our final projects, meeting the law students, and spending as much time as possible on the beach before we have to come home. Fortionately Wednesday was break from all of the hustle and bustle and was spent leisurely sailing down the southern side of the island.

Well when I say leisurely I mean it rained for bit and then it was very choppy, luckily none of us became seasick, and then it became sunny and perfect! We left from Trois Islet and sailed down Diamant around a tiny rock island that one hundred English men lived on for a year and half while fighting the French! On the way back we stopped in three different places to snorkel and swim. We had lots of fun seeing all of the mutli-colored fish ahile avoiding the yellow coral that burns like fire. They were so bright in the sunlight! At the second stop we had fish or chicken for lunch, and then a dish of cheese followed by a wonderful cup of chopped fruit! We had a blast diving and connon-balling off the front of the catamaran, got a little sun while relaxing in the nets, chatted completely carefree and enjoyed the marvelous view of orange and black rocks, crystal clear torquoise water and yellow and black striped fish! Our third stop was what they called black cove in English. It was a tiny little beach known for being the farthest south beach with black sand! We got to practice some French with the other French tourists on the boat as well, answering some of the common where are you from and what are you studying questions. Everyone was very nice. To finish off the trip we stopped at a bat cave and saw so many bats!

I got a little pink from the sun, but spending all day on boat on the water and not ending up looking like a lobster is pretty good I think! Only a few more days and we will be home to see all of you again!

Katie

New Acquaintances and New Experiences

Oh la la, last time I wrote a blog, our time here in Martinque had just barely started and now I am looking at the last few days I have left here on this island. It is crazy how fast the time has flown but it has been amazing and filled with so many great memories and stories to tell. So I will start with a few of them!

Today We met with a group of law students studing here on campus, all around our age and from many different countries like Jamaica, France and St. Martin. They prepared so nicely for us a great spread of traditional Martiniquian food like Accras, basically fried goodness, pastries and boudon...something I will spare you the details on. It was a little intimidating as I was not expecting to meet so many people at once. They had also prepared a debate to have with us about our view on private vs. public lives of politicians, political scandals and how that affects the people of that country. As I am not much of a debater at all (and really don't know much about politics) I did more listening than talking but it was still very interesting to listen to. I found that the opinions of the women in the group were very similar to ours but some of the men in the group had quite an interesting viewpoint about the what politicians should be able to do in their private life.

Despite political discussions that I am not so familiar with, I was able to indulge in what I really love this weekend-cooking and culture. Carnaval was a huge dose of Carribean culture that I absolutely loved. Mary described it so well in her blog yesterday so I won't go into huge detail but the excitement of yesterday was just perfect. I love the business of festivals, seeing all of the traditional crafts like little dolls with dresses made of banana leaves, traditional clothing and colors and watching dances that we learned from our dance lesson. I was tempted to hop up and stage and join them! Jessica and I even got our faces painted which was great, I wish I could put pitures up but for some reason my camera doesn't work with these computers. Dommage! It was quite the day-8 hours of Carnaval was exhausting...I can't imagine four days of it!

Yesterday also included some cooking lessons from my host mom. She taught Jessica and I how to make Pain au Beurre (directly meaning "bread of butter") which is like a dense sweet bread. I thought it would be much more difficult but the ingredients and steps to make it were very simple. Then again our host mom is a pro and whipped out a beautiful braided loaf of bread like it was no big deal. We'll see how my attempt at home goes. We also learned how to make the best hot chocolate EVER. I don't want to give too many secrets away but a few of them are cinnamon, lime peel and sweetened condensed milk. So good!

I cannot believe our time here is almost over. I really wish that everyone at home that I miss could just come to Martinique so that I don't have to leave! Though we only have four more days after today, they are quite packed with either exciting excursions or just getting as much time from the beach as possible. It is going to be so hard to leave this warm, colorful island but what a great month it has been!

Hailey

Carnaval and Fruit Cake, The Homestretch

As we enter into the last week here on this beautiful island, things are really gearing up for Carnaval. The colors, the sounds, the smells, the people, the tourists, and the constant rythym of the drums enfold the city every sunday night leading up to Carnaval on the Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Ash Wednesday before lent. Four days of insane dancing, colorful costumes and a wild freedom of spirit take place during Carnaval. Last night I got to experience what my host family called a little taste of Carnaval. If that was little, I can't imagine big. There were so many people the whole town of Fort de France was shut down, no buses, no stores, no need to be anywhere but downtown with the everyone else watching the never-ending parade of drums and dancers and drag queens all singing and shouting. It is unlike anything I have ever seen.

There were many things about last that were unlike any parade

I have ever attended. For example, as a kid a sno-cone was a

treat that came in flavors like bubblegum, cherry and blue raspbery. In Martinique the flavors have bit more of a caribbean style such as mint, grenadine, canne and passion fruit. Of course you could always find beer, coca cola, juice of all kinds, and rum somewhere along the crowded streets, as well as peanuts, popcorn, banana chips, sweet smelling eau de coco, and canne juice. Carnaval seems to be a whole new world, which lays dormant in the hearts of the people here and builds quietly every week until it erupts into a blaze of colors and energy.

Not only did I experience a "little bit of Carnaval" but I also attended a birthday party last night. I wasn't really sure why we were buying all this food yesterday morning, I was assuming there was going to be another Sunday feast with my family, but when my host dad pulled me over to help him pick out a gateau I knew there must be something more to this. The gateaus were all beauitful and fruity, as they should be on a tropical island. My host dad was trying to explain to me what a gateau was, and so he asked me the english equivalence. When I said cake, he replied "no no no no!" and he pulled me over to another isle to show me something. Searching between the cookies and thin chocolate wafers he points down at something and says, "that is cake!" I burst out laughing because indeed he was right, it said cake on the package, but he was pointing at a loaf of fruit cake. I tried to explain that fruit cake is like, a small exception to the world of cakes in America, but he was convinced that the gateau he bought was not a cake. I had some later that night, and just so you know, it was indeed what we call in english, a cake.

The final week here in Martinique will be a busy and exciting one. With final projects, a final exam and sun to soak up at the beach I look forward to the final few days here. Although I will miss the energy of Carnaval, the language barrier and the all the great hand motions I have discovered to overcome it. And most of all my host family and all the crazy adventures they have led me on this month. This island is a fantastic place and the greatest adventure I have ever had!

à plus tard!

Mary

Today was another amazing day in Martinique. The whole group of us along with Dr. Wilkin and her family spent the day on the beach! Before arriving at the beach, we went to Le Diamant and visited a memorial for slaves that died in a ship wreck and we also stopped at an outdoor market in Saint Anne to do some shopping. We arrived at the picture perfect beach called "Les Salines" just in time for lunch and had a delicious picnic of bread with ham and cheese and lots of fresh fruit and fruit juice! After finishing our picnic we all decided to go swimming! There were some great waves that Mary discovered were fun to ride into the shore.

Its sad how quickly our time has passed this month. I can't believe we're headed back in just a week from today! Martinique has been an absolute blast. One of my favorite parts as been all the exciting new foods to try! Some better than others. There is always fresh, delicious fruit juice of some tropical sort for breakfast along with great tropical jam as well. In addition to fruit juice and jam we've been spoiled with eating lots of fresh fruit whole as well. Both Jessica and Hailey have taken advantage of the mangoes and guavas and we've all loved all the bananas! We've also had the opportunity to eat boiled bananas, which tend to made with a vegetable banana; they're quite good. Another thing that many of us tried, not knowing what it was, was coagulated pigs blood!?! It was disguised in mystery sausage looking packaging and had a dark color. Surprisingly it wasn't actually all that bad! Thank goodness we didn't find out it was coagulated pigs blood until AFTER we'd finished our meals though! In Martinique they eat a lot of fish, so we've all been eating lots of various dishes involving fish too! Hopefully our food tasting adventures aren't over yet though, because we still have one more week!


Here are some pictures from yesterday at the Capitol with the President of the Regional Conseil!

Nellie

Hiking, exploring town…and meeting the president!

Bonsoir!

Three weeks goes by really fast when you are on the friendly island of Martinique! It has been great learning all about their history, experiencing their culture first-hand, and communicating in their language.

The first week was a little scary trying to understand the French and respond quickly. It was hard to pick out individual French words from their fast speech, and then try to think of a reply quickly and pronounce it correctly. I still don’t understand everything, but I can understand much better and I can respond faster.

I am really happy with my host family. There is a mother and a son about my age, and they are so sweet. I really enjoy our dinners together. She makes a lot of different delicious dishes and he likes to talk about all of the recent news.

During the days my class-mates and I are still keeping busy exploring Martinique. On Tuesday we explored the mountainous north end of the island. We started with a three-hour hike through sugar cane and fields of bananas. During the hike we enjoyed some freshly picked mandarins, learned a lot about bananas, and got to see Dominica off in the distance. It was really cool! The picture on the right shows an early stage of bananas with the purple flower at the bottom. The further down you go, the newer the bananas are. After the hike we had lunch by the water, and then visited rum distillery and a basket-weaving museum.

We spent Wednesday exploring the capital, Fort-de-France, and had lunch at my favorite creperie! Yesterday morning we had language class, then a lecture on myths, traditions, and culture. In the afternoon Nellie, Katie, and I went to a little hotel beach. It was really nice to sit in the sun, do some homework, and take a much-needed nap.

Today was really exciting! We got to meet the most important person in Martinique: the President of the Regional Council, Serge Letchimy! We also got to witness the president and the Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, Baldwin Spencer, sign the “Declaration of Intention of Cooperation.” This agreement acknowledges that Martinique will continue to become more involved in the Caribbean.

Now it is time to go fall asleep to the nice insect sounds of the night.

...and say bonne nuit to my baby lizard friend in the bathroom!

À bientôt!

Kaylena