Tips: cockroach edition

Lessons learned the hard way (except for 4c, which is hearsay): 
1) Shake the cockroaches out of your pants before you put them on your body.
2) If your sink is plugged, think twice before you reach in to unclog it with your hand. It may be a pile of cockroaches making a new home in your drain.
3) If your cereal box feels heavier than the last time you picked it up, it is probably full of cockroaches.
4 a.) If you've sighted a cockroach and seek to kill it, but seem to have misplaced it, no worries. They're actually not going to hurt you.
b.) Neither will tarantulas.
c.) Kill the millipedes though. Supposedly those will take you out.

In the sun-- simple and growing

And now for another long over due blog post. It's true what they say, time does fly-- and I'm pretty sure that it's been taking me with it.

During the weeks since my last post Sara came to visit, we had a house party, Joscelin moved back to the metropole, I learned to make accras, school got real, Coco narrowly escaped death (again), I've gotten back into painting, I've received many letters from loved ones, I've gotten very homesick, I worked on a farm, and of course, I've spent heaps of time at the beach. It's been a whirlwind.

While Sara was here, we became very acquainted with the taxicos system. Most days we just picked a location on the map, found a taxico, and then spent the day walking through the town and getting to know it a bit. I have to admit that it was a wonderful relief to have her here with me-- coming from similar places, seeing the same things, and sorting through some of it together.

Having Sara here made me revisit and question a lot of the things that I had become desensitized to. It was a merging of two entirely different cultures: Martinique's and Willamette's. More so than before, I noticed my identities shifting-- some of them feeling stronger, while others fell toward the background. I'm still white, female, queer, and a U.S. citizen-- but I'm learning that those words don't mean the same thing here. It's almost as if they're culturally constructed, go figure...

Amongst the whirlwind, there are two things of which I am certain: My love for her and my love for accras












They are essentially deep fried glory. Youma, Tilds, and I spent the majority of Easter making them for the family. Behold, The Accra:

Tilds and I left Schoelcher to spend the rest of Easter vacation at Macabou, the most beautiful beach on the island. In exchange for free room and board with some family friends, we worked in their "garden." Their garden was a 15 hectare farm and it was incredible. Tilds and I only went to the beach once. We spent the rest of the time caring for donkeys, watching chicks hatch, planting tomatoes, weeding, jarring honey... and so on. I cannot describe how good (and how necessary) it was to get away from town, away from people, and work in the sun where things are growing and simple.


Fun fact about extracting and jarring honey: you have to do it in the nighttime while the bees are asleep. All night long we felt like queens, (accidentally) bathing in fresh honey.

One last thing: Hey, Mama, here's me learning to climb a coconut tree at one of the most beautiful places on earth. It was tough, just like you said it would be. I didn't get very high off the ground, but I figure it still counts. I'll keep working my way toward the leaves, but you might have to come out here and show me how it's done.