First week down...

Hello All!

Saturday, July 30 - I was at the airport in LA at 4:00am, checking in with 2 bags weighing 46 and 47 pounds, a roller duffel for the plane, and my laptop. Managed to sleep through most of my first flight (to Miami) and about half of my second flight (to San Juan, PR). Met Julie in the airport there where we waited for our plane to take us to Antigua. For some reason or another, it was delayed about an hour. That was OK for us, but I felt bad for my mom who was already in Antigua, waiting for us to arrive as she had come down on a different airline. When we arrived, we were met by a wonderful lady, a mother of a fourth grader enrolled in our school, who works immigration at the airport. Mom had been waiting for 8 hours outside of customs because she did not have an address for where we would be staying. We got through immigration and customs easily, and Pastor Andrew Johnston and his wife Cindy were there, ready to take us to our new home.

Sunday, July 31 - Worship at St. John's Lutheran Church is quite an experience. Lots of music (including steel pan!), very personal message in the sermon, friendly greetings from all the members, very liturgical with Antiguan flair. Julie and I have decided this will be our favorite part of the week! Went to the Johnston's for lunch, met daughters Aida(4) and Sienna(2), and Cindy's sister, Annie Scharf. After a lovely afternoon of visiting and getting acquainted, Cindy took us to First Choice, a grocery store, for us to get some food in the house. Everything in Antigua is expensive because everything is imported. The more processed and packaged it is, the more expensive. A box of cereal (off-brand, frosted flakes) runs close to $6 American. Mom was amazing, helping Julie and I figure out what essentials we should buy first and then said she would treat us this once, but she wouldn't be taking us out to eat =)

Monday, August 1 - Fighting the lizards, ants, cockroaches, and mosquitoes has become routine. One of our purchases was ant spray which we use regularly. Monday morning Julie was already going up to school to meet with her teacher, Mrs Greaux (pronounced Greer), so Mom and I went wandering around the neighborhood, trying to get acquainted with the area. We walked up the hill to school and around and down and around... In the afternoon, fellow MLC student and friend Joey Molyneaux took us to Dickinson Bay to go to the beach. For dinner, I tried cooking chicken, rice, and frozen veggies. Fairly successful, however we had no spices (not even salt), so dinner was a little plain.

Tuesday, August 2 - Julie, Mom and I got drafted to help Joey paint some of the classrooms at school. Joey had taught for a few years at St. John's before going up to MLC and will be the principal when he graduates this next May, so he was doing a lot to help St. John's look fresh and clean. In the afternoon, landlady Yvonne Joseph came over to visit and tell us about herself and the people of Antigua. In the evening, Joey took me and Julie into town (St. John, the capital and only real major city of Antigua) to see Captain America. Mon-Wed, the movies in town are very reasonably priced. That was a fun experience, hearing how the people of Antigua talk through the movie, just thoroughly enjoying themselves. For dinner we went to a Syrian restaurant (there is a considerable Syrian population in Antigua, including some of our neighbors), and had his favorite food: schwerma. Ok, I didn't spell that right. Basically, chicken, lettuce, tomatoes, a bunch of sauces, wrapped in pita. Very good.

Wednesday, August 3 - I was supposed to meet with my teacher, Mrs. Titus, at school. I didn't know when she was coming in, so Mr. Samuel, our school volunteer handyman, let me in the classroom where I proceed to sweep and dust for a good 3 hours. Mom was wandering through town... I met Mrs. Titus in the afternoon and we decided we would get to work the next morning because Julie and I were meeting with Pastor to become more acquainted with Antigua, the church and school history, and what our roles are for the year. Pastor then dropped us off in town to explore and find places to get phones (a company called LIME, does prepaid SIM cards...) and internet (still working on that as neither Julie nor I have Antigua social security numbers...). We managed to make it back home without getting lost! Then at 7, we went over to church for Family Bible and Game Night. Met some new people, showed off Grandpa Rosenbaum's card trick to the utter amazement of the teenage boys... Lots of fun!

Thursday, August 4 - Spent a lot of time learning about the A Beka curriculum used here. The teachers here really don't like it at all. I have yet to really understand it... I know cousin Amanda uses it and likes it, my dad is not fond of it. The major bummer at first glance (ok, 2 bummers) are that it is an American curriculum trying to teach Caribbean children and everything seems a little disjointed and not super coherent. Oh well... Joey took us to Fort Bay to visit another beach. For dinner, Julie tried a little bit of stir fry with some veggies Mom found at a local market.

Friday, August 5 - Mom took a tour of part of the island while I went to work on scrubbing the paint drips off my classroom floor and chiseling cement off my walls. Hard work, but now my classroom walls and floors are clean. Mom got a painting from the tour guide (actually a church member) for free and is loaning it to us for the year so we have something to decorate our house with. For dinner, Mom and I walked into town and bought $5 footlongs from Subways (a super deal, because normally, their 6" subs start around $6!) It was really nice to have this American food... kinda like comfort food! Joey left Antigua to go to Atlanta to visit his brother before he goes back to school at MLC. Julie and I were a little sad, because he was wonderful in telling us about Antigua and showing us around. OH! And Cindy Johnston had her baby, son Grady Robert. =)

Saturday, August 6 - Spent the morning playing card games with Mom before Pastor Jason Richards (the Antiguan pastor here at church) came to take Mom to the airport. Julie and I went into town to see the Carnival Parade which had been postponed from Tuesday due to rain which has been uncharacteristically present all week. Um... yeah. I now know what it is like and would not really want to go again. If you want more details, I will tell you in person. Went up to school in the evening to use the internet from the school office.

Sunday, August 7 - Church again. Nice to know some faces this time around. I swept and mopped the floor and then started to sort through the chaos this was my classroom. Mrs. Titus has been around for a long time and doesn't like to throw away things with the thought that someday things will come in useful. And she is not super organized. So... This week we have working together to sort through materials, what is useful, what is not, what she wants at home, what I need for this year, what can go where. We are making definite headway!

Monday and on... Julie and I have been spending a lot of daytime at school, working with our teachers and getting ready for school. Classrooms are nearly in working order and we will soon be learning about the curriculum to begin blocking out our lessons. We walked into town on Monday withdraw money (Eastern Caribbean dollars) and explore internet options again (still not working...) and purchase some bananas and bread. Had a stray she-dog follow us home. Thankfully today she was gone. Wednesday, we are going with Pastor Johnston (also the principal) into town to begin the process for our visas that will permit us to work here for the year. After that, we will go to the Johnston's for lunch, laundry, and a little bit of grocery shopping.

Hope you made it through all of this! Soon I will post pictures of my classroom, school, church, house... as well as stories about our adventures in cooking!