i was just watching tv and they have coverage of the carnaval parade (that i missed) on sunday. i was in one town with my group where there were only 2 other groups and everyone else in guadeloupe was in another town. they're such good dancers here. seriously, i've never seen such a high proportion of people that can shake their stuff like this. even the little, little kids, like 3 years old, imitate their big sisters and dance like you see in a music video. it's awesome. i try to do it too but it just doesn't work. guess i'll stick to drumming in the parade.
last night was really bizarre. i went to rehersal and everyone was sitting in a circle talking when i showed up, really serious-like. they all seemed a little upset. they told me that this guy that came to rehersal last weekend, "the one with the long drum sticks," got killed on Sunday night during Carnival. i rember my kids telling me that there was a knife fight; it must have been him. really sad, he seemed like a nice guy.
i learned a lot of new things recently about my schools. i was talking with Maryse the other day, a woman that i speak English with on Wednesdays. i was wondering how JTF, the school that we work in together, comapres with Dothemare, the other school that I work in in Abymes. She said that Dothemare is classified as a ZEP (a priority education zone) because it's in a really poor area. as it turns out, Abymes is the largest city in Guadeloupe and is the most densely populated area. it's like the inner city in the US, which is usually on the outskirts of cities in France. all this to say... i thought there was something different about the kids i work with and this explains a little.
|
