Stories from the first week

So my first week in Martinique was a slow one. I stayed with a lovely couple named Daniéle and Didier. There were extremely nice and welcomed me into their house with open arms. I hung out at their house most of the first week and read swinging in their hammock. It was a long two of travel to get to Martinique. I was exhausted as I headed for New York from the previous day of packing and partying enjoying my final moments in Seattle. It's never easy for me to sleep on plans and but I managed to sleep as much as a tall person can on an airplane and watched the new Karate Kid without audio as I stared off into the distance listening to Fat Freddy's Drop until I landed at JFK. From there I had one flight one plane that didn't function and so we had to change gates and wait an extra couple of hours only to find that the second plane was broken. We changed gates again and the third plane finally took us to San Juan. From there I crashed hard at a Holiday Inn and spent the following day walking around the beach until it was time to head back to airport for the final flight to Martinique. One person yelled to me that "this is not Woodstock" with a smile on his face as I strolled down the street flaunting my dreads and my tie dye. From there I made it to Fort-de-France where I met my hosts for the first week. Daniéle and Didier took me back to their house where I crashed again for close to 18 hours catching up on much needed sleep. They housed me and fed me for the next week slowly adjusted to the heat and humidity of Martinique. I spent most of that first week on their couch, in their hammock or on their pool side as I waited for work to start. They were both glad to share about Martinique and talked to me lots helping build my listening comprehension and my ability to speak proper French. Both were originally from France but had been living in Martinique for more than two decades. I read V for Vendetta, Confessions of an Economic Hitman and The Ballad of a Sad Café as well as starting Non-Violence: A History of a Dangerous Idea. So far I've made excellent selections in my reading and have enjoyed reading for leisure. They cooked for me and let me enjoy relaxing in their house. They were incredibly nice during me first week and really helped make the transition as smooth as possible. I traveled into Fort-de-France one of my first days in Martinique and enjoyed the calmness of the water as well as the bustle of the shops and restaurants in town. I still have more exploring to do in the capital but got a chance to capture a bit of its flavor as I spent part of my morning in Fort-de-France's spectacular library. The architecture was spectacular and the interior had all fixings of a classic European library with a high ceilings and walls to match crammed full of old books. The church in town is beautiful as well filled with wonderful stand glass windows, but I found it bizarre that the images depicted in the stained glass where of characters with white skin when 95 percent of the island is of African origin. Nonetheless it was impressive. The first week was a bit lonely as I spent most of my time at Daniéle's and Didier's and hadn't made any contact with any of the other assistants until Friday when we had orientation. Once I met them it was like a breath of fresh air because I was glad to meet some people in my position and my peers as well. Most were from the States, England or Spain, with a handful from coming from Canada, Australia and Argentina. They were all very nice and seemed very cool so I'm excited to get to know them in the coming months though none live close to me. I do miss Seattle a lot, more so than when I went to Grenoble a couple of years ago. I think that's because the relationships I've made with people in Seattle have only grown stronger in the 2 years since then as well as having those relationships help grow personally. I look forward to the time when I return to Seattle to enjoy those relationships and the city but for the time being I'm happy to be in Martinique and I'm ready the adventure that awaits. I'll try to keep the blog updated regularly and will have stories coming from my trip through the south of the island with Daniéle and Didier as well as stories from my first week in the classroom.