life

After six months of being temporary in Martinique, I stay and live my life here. The longer I stay in the same place the less I think of writing on my blog. It feels a little strange to write about my life just because I don't live in the same place as my family or many of my friends. But I do understand the people that care about me would like to know how I'm doing and what keeps me busy. So I'll try.

I had a wonderful weekend, actually it felt perfect, this is how I love Martinique. The weather was nice and sunny and so I could spend most of my time outdoors. For now I don't work on Fridays so that's the day my (always long) weekend starts.

Friday morning I went snorkeling at Grande Anse, 10 minutes drive from my place, one of my favorite snorkeling spots, actually my top favorite one. That's where I meet my sea turtle friends. I met a beautiful big one and followed it a long time, on my way back, near the beach I saw another young one. The beach was empty except for a rich Martinique man playing sax on his beach front terrace, we chatted for a while and enjoyed the sun and the calm view.

After lunch I drove up to Rivière Blanche and hiked up the hill to take a bath in the river. Lower down the fresh river I had a clay body mask and felt fresh and revitalised. Full of energy to go bouldering in the tiny gym.

Saturday morning I had my first sailing course at Anses d'Arlet, also 10 min drive from my place. I loved it! There was not much wind to start with, but later a little and with the Laser I did catch the breeze and made some speed. I met two turtles who came breathing above the water right next to my little boat. I felt like I was a 12 year old girl again, also because the others in the club are mainly kids between 8 and 16 years old. I like this because I miss spending time with children. They called me 'Madame' but saw me as one of them. One boy kept saying to his friend 'look she's alone in her boat and she manages, so how come we can't the two of us together':). It felt good to not have forgotten how to sail, it's like riding a bicycle.

Before sunset we had a swim in the sea at Le Diamant where I live, another 10 min drive away. You start believing I live in paradise?

Today we spent the day climbing and snorkeling and 'deep water bouldering' or how should I call that?

It was great, beautiful view, quiet, turquoise water, and finally rocks to climb on again. My feet are a beautiful bright green now, that's what does an afternoon of wearing wet climbing shoes!

Europe

Next trip to Belgium/Europe is planned! I'll be arriving 27 of October 2012 and stay for two weeks.

update

Time flies, really life goes so fast, before I know it's weekend again, yippie:), and before I know it's more than two months ago since I last wrote on this blog!

When time flies it means you're having a good time, and I am. I really enjoy the beauty of Martinique and it's people. So I decided to stay a little longer!

And by now I know more or less what I'll be doing at least the next six months/one year. I will work part time as an audiologist for the same company Acoustika, fitting hearing aids. The plan is to work part-time as a speech therapist as well, but the French system here is rather complicated and it's not sure yet if that will work out.

I moved to a new place this week, near the sea. I'm living in Le Diamant now in a flat with a little garden and seaview. There's a beautiful beach down were I live in Le Diamant and down the hill towards the other side is my favorite snorkeling beach where I meet my friends the sea turtles.

Bèlè

Today I had my first session of Bèlè, it's a traditional dance of Martinique. I love it! I love the music and it's great to dance in group. It's very physical and intense and dancing barefoot on this rhythmical Bèlè music makes me ground. La vie est belle en Martinique:)!

Easter weekend Dominica (2)

We booked a small studio on the hill above Roseau, but when we arrived we were told the studio was not available that night so we got a suite in hotel in town for the same price. First we were disappointed, we came for nature and quietness, but after having seen the room we didn't complain:). 

On Saturday we wanted to hike to Middleham Falls but by accident we first arrived at the very (for Dominican standards) touristy Trafalgar Falls. It was impressive and beautiful. On the way to Middleham Falls we an old man a ride, and he helped us find Middleham Falls. The people are the GPS here, you really need them, but it's always a pleasure to talk to them. This man had never left the island, not even to go to Martinique or Guadeloupe two hours away. At Middleham Falls we took a bath in under the falls and that was much nicer as we were almost alone with the birds and lizards. You should have heard the singing of the birds, I've never heard anything like that, it was a real song!

We saw very few cars and most of the cars we saw were rental cars driven by tourists. But overall we didn't see very many tourists. It's very much a nature island, with some villages but it's not at all like Martinique where you always see at least one and very often many more houses.

We wanted to buy bread and visited almost all the villages of the valley as most shops were closed. It reminded me of Tanzania with the tiny shops at the side of the road. They sell everything and nothing. We found home baked bread, small rolls baked over a fire, you could smell and taste it, it turned out to be the best bread we ate during our stay in Dominica.

After our first hike we decided to do another short hike to Boeri Lake. It was very different from the previous hike and really peaceful, with amazing views on the lush mountains and the sea. Flowers of all colors everywhere and more singing birds.

On the way back to Roseau we gave a French couple a ride and visited Titou Gorge, it is gorgeous! It seems like nothing special when you get there, but once you swim into to canyon it's paradise. It was the end of the day and the evening light was shining through the green leaves above the canyon, inside it was dark, so the rocky walls shaded from black to bright green where the light shined on the moss. We swam till the waterfall at the end of the canyon, it's a well hidden piece of paradise.

We brought the French couple back to their cottage an took a bath there at the hot sulphur baths. It was smelly but warm and very relaxing after a day of hiking. We could watch the stars from the pool and little fireflies were magically fluttery above us like shooting stars that lost the way. 

we finished the day off with a delicious local meal, even vegan after replacing the fish for a salad. Beans, lentils, sweet potatoes, veggies. 

Easter weekend Dominica (1)

This year I spent Easter weekend in Dominica, a small island about the size of Martinique but with much less inhabitants, north of Martinique. It's two hours by boat to get there, but counting in the waiting hours and passing customs on Dominica, it's an indepent island, it takes about 5 hours. It was interesting to sea the coastline of Martinique as we sailed along the northern half of the island. Once there we rented a car, yeah yeah I'm all grown up now, because there was almost no public transport during the Easter holidays. All shops were closed almost the whole time we were there as well. But we drove around at the left side of the road in our 4x4 and saw amazingly beautiful places. The first day we went snorkeling at Champagne Beach, we saw colourful fishes and bubbles as if the water was champagne because it's a volcanic island (like Martinique) and hot water bubbles up in the ocean there. After our swim I discovered big bright green iguanas in the bush near the beach.

On the road we stopped for lunch at a local food stall where we met our first Dominicans, drunk because it's a holiday weekend but super friendly, even more than in Martinique. It was funny but good to speak English again. In Martinique I'm usually the only non native French speaker and it can get tiring sometimes. But now I was the one communicating more easily and I enjoyed chitchatting with the locals. It's interesting to hear people from Guadeloupe or Martinique talk to Dominicans. They don't speak English and most Dominicans don't speak French but they both speak Creole and I learned that they actually understand each other very well.

All along the road from Roseau to the beach and later further to Scottshead to watch the sunset the landscape was green and lush and the road goes up and down and is narrow and in not very good shape, let's say in between Belgian roads and Tanzanian roads, but much narrower.

The sea turtle

Seeing the turtle when we were snorkeling at Grande Anse was the main event of my weekend, even of my time in the Caribbean so far. I've never seen anything like that before. It was scratching it's back on the bottom of the sea against a piece of rubbish for a long time, then it swam up to the surface to breath and circled around us, Sebah swam with it and it looked at us and then it swam away, very elegantly, for such a big animal.

On Saturday I went for a 'rando' at Presqu'île de la Caravelle near Tartane. I'll post some pictures, it was the most beautiful walk so far, yes it was a great weekend:-). Mangroves, cliffs, forest, big bright red hermits and lots of different kind of crabs and birds.

Apart from fishes and a turtle I also met quite a few new people. On Friday we were invited at Sebah's place for a vegan potluck. He lives in a house on the hills with an amazing view on Le Diamant. The people, the house, the environment and the food, everything felt very harmonious.

A busy weekend

I had an unexpected busy weekend which was really nice for a change. The weekdays are also busy of course, but in a different way. My best day in Martinique so far was yesterday, Saturday. This weekend I'm alone in the big and beautiful house in Le Robert. I do morning swims and sometimes evening swims as well:-). That's how my Saturday took a very relaxed start. Later in the day I wanted to get my hair cut, it's too hot for long hair and unlike in Tanzania there are good hairdressers here who also have experience with white people's hair. Many Martiniquais have spend some years in 'le metropole' (=France). I was the only customer on a Saturday afternoon in a local hairdressing saloon in La Trinité, because it's Lent, and the three girls were very happy to talk to me. I enjoyed spending time with Martiniquaise girls. I have had too many white people around me till now. There are so many beautiful people here, also because they smile a lot and I love smiling people. 

After my warm local experience I was shocked by the cold welcome by the blond French girl at the surf club. I signed up for a group surf class and there were 4 German girls in my group and a dark tanned French surf instructor. I always wanted to try it and I did, but I'm not sure I'll ever do it again:-), maybe when I can get private lessons from a friend. I'm glad I survived:-)! It's just all too fast for me and I can't enjoy the nature around me because the waves are so big and fast that I couldn't do anything else but focusing on not drowning and trying to 'chercher la vague' as Antoine told us, which was impossible the first time. But I'm happy to have tried it at least! 

Two of the German girls were traveling and I offered to give them a ride. We passed through a village where a concert was about to start, so we stopped and had coconut sorbet on the pier and joined the local people and some tourists for a concert of José Versol, a Martinique musician with his group and dancers. It was announced as a spiritual and traditional concert. They sing in French and Creole and the audience was not very big but every single person present was totally absorbed by the music. By the end everybody was holding hands and singing 'Jésus je t'aime!'. We were all dancing, holding hands with old ladies and having so much fun. 

La Martinique

Last Thursday I arrived with an early flight from Guadeloupe in Fort-de-France, Martinique. It was clear and flying over Dominica and the Caribbean sea made me dream of traveling. Since I arrived in Guadeloupe 2,5 weeks ago, time has flown. I've been working a lot, so I'm always very tired in the evenings. We get up early and go to bed early, that's how people live here, similar to Tanzania. We see most of the patients in the morning but there's always plenty of work to keep me busy all day. The patients are very friendly. I feel insecure about my bad French, but when I explain the people where I come from they are often really interested and pleased that I want to live in their country. I should say on their island, because it's France here and there's a big difference between Martinique (and Guadeloupe) and France. 

I've been looking for a house and transport, which here means a car the first days. I've soon found a room in a shared house and a car from the same girl, very convenient. Both will be available end of this month. For now I'm staying with family of my bosses in le Robert. It's an hour driving to Fort-de-France and the house is a beautiful villa on a hill with a great sea view. It feels weird to be in this kind of environment after a year in Tanzania. It's also unnatural having to use a car to get somewhere. But cycling is suicide, people drive like crazy and you'd have to go on the highways. Public transport is very limited, only during daytime and not reliable, a problem if you work in a very punctual western environment. Last Saturday I went to a beautiful beach with the girl I'll rent the room from and her friends. Cap Macré is quite 'sauvage' and the water is clear blue and warm, so I swam for hours. This weekend I will have my first surfing class, exciting!

La Guadeloupe, je suis arrivé!

I'm in Pointe à Pitre, it's Sunday and everything is closed except for KFC. Very French:-). I woke up early after I felt asleep around 9pm last night. Went for breakfast and around 8am I was out exploring the city centre. That didn't take very long, it's a small city and it's Sunday. Nobody in the streets except for some fisherman and 'other non specified man' who all wanted to talk to me and give me a ride, which made me feel at home again after a year of the same in Tanzania. Or some of them also warned me, for themselves I guess:-). It was interesting to see the colourful houses, little shops and (closed) bigger French chain shops, empty markets, seaside with small cruise boats, old wooden houses, people speaking funny French which I hardly understood, or speaking Creole which I didn't understand at all and than the only place where I saw many people was the cathedral. Later in the day on the way to a beach with Emmanuel (the brother of the audiologist I'll work for) we saw many more people outside another church and all the white people on the crowded beach. It can be confusing to be here as infrastructure looks all very French, because it is French and so you might think you're in France for a moment. But than I'm 5 hours time difference from France and it's at least 20 degrees warmer. Well, my most important first impression today, people are very friendly and warm!

Transit

This is my 10th day in Belgium after having left Tanzania last week. Tomorrow I'm flying to Guadeloupe and two weeks later I'll travel to Martinique. I will work as an audiologist, fitting hearing aids. I will first have two weeks training in Guadeloupe, Pointe-à-Pitre and then I move to Fort de France in Martinique where I will be based till the end of August 2012. This time I will not work with VSO but with a private company.

laatste column voor tijdschrift Logopedie & Foniatrie:

Afscheid

Na een kleine maand vakantie in België ben ik nu voor de laatste paar weken aan de slag in Dodoma. Eerder dan verwacht loopt mijn project ten einde. De school gaat door, maar er is helaas het komende jaar voor logopedie geen sponsoring. In plaats van na twee jaar stop ik na een jaar. Daarom rond ik nu al alles af. Ik zorg ervoor dat mijn lokale collega’s zo goed mogelijk verder kunnen.

Op dit moment richt ik een ruimte in om speciale activiteiten in te doen. Op termijn komt er ook een kleine bibliotheek. Een gezellige zithoek en andere omgeving stimuleert de leerlingen om beter te leren. De organisatie zorgt dat er, voor een paar maanden, een vrijwillige logopediste uit Nieuw-Zeeland komt en met haar kunnen de leerkrachten dan ontdekken welke activiteiten er in deze ruimte kunnen gedaan worden.

Verder ben ik ook de brochures en documentatie aan het afwerken die horen bij het Deaf Awareness Programma. Deze materialen worden gebruikt binnen een reeds bestaand project van de Anglicaanse Kerk. Zij organiseren in dorpen in de omgeving van Dodoma cursussen in gebarentaal. Ook gaan ze presentaties geven rondom doof zijn en hoe hiermee in Tanzania om te gaan.

Verder zal ik volgende week samen met Judy, een andere VSO-vakdeskundige, op bezoek gaan bij Raheli. Judy werkt als ‘special needs advisor’ en we gaan samen één van de scholen waar zij werkt bezoeken. Raheli is een meisje van 6 jaar dat sinds enkele maanden naar ‘special needs unit’ van een gewone school gaat. In het begin lag ze op de grond en keek steeds erg ongelukkig. Ze kon niet lopen of praten en communiceerde door huilen en roepen. Ik ben een tijdje terug in haar klas geweest. Samen met de leerkracht en Judy bekeken we wat voor Raheli mogelijk is qua communicatie. Toen lachte ze al vaker en gebruikte oogcontact en lichaamstaal. Ik adviseerde de leerkracht om spraak te ondersteunen met gebaren en dit ook in groep te doen, zodat ook de andere kinderen het zouden kunnen oppikken. Een week later vertelde Judy me dat verschillende kinderen in de klas gebaren gebruiken en Raheli er ook positief op reageerde. De leerkracht en kinderen bleven het gebruiken en nu gebruikt ook Raheli een beperkt aantal gebaren! Dit opent voor haar een nieuwe wereld waarin ze echt kan communiceren en hopelijk kan ze haar woordenschat zo uitbreiden.

Het is het afgelopen jaar niet altijd gemakkelijk geweest, maar ik heb toch een fijne en vooral boeiende tijd gehad hier. Ik heb veel geleerd over hoe ontwikkelingswerk nu eigenlijk werkt, en ook wat er vaak niet werkt. Het was een boeiende periode met VSO en alle nieuwe (VSO) vrienden van over de hele wereld. Mama Lati, de leerkracht van het kleinste klasje heeft zeker enorm veel geleerd en zal dit haar hele verdere carrière meedragen. Ik heb een nieuwe taal en cultuur leren kennen en heb heel ander soort werk kunnen doen dan ik in België tot nu gedaan had, zoals bijvoorbeeld het mee-ontwikkelen van een Deaf Awareness Programma.  Ik ben nog meer gemotiveerd om mensen te helpen hun restgehoor zo goed mogelijk te benutten, wat in Tanzania niet altijd mogelijk is door beperkte middelen. Ik wil me graag verder ontwikkelen op audiologisch vlak en ik wil ook heel graag andere plaatsen en culturen leren kennen. Daarom ga ik vanaf eind februari voor 6 maanden als audiologe aan de slag op het eiland Martinique. Daarna zien we wel weer! 

terug in Dodoma

Sinds maandag ben ik terug in Dodoma na 4 weken vakantie in België. Klinkt grappig, vakantie in België, iets wat ik nog maar zelden heb gedaan. Maar het was super om iedereen terug te zien, heb er enorm van genoten! De aanpassing hier terug in Tanzania verliep veel vlotter dan het aanpassen aan België toen ik aankwam in december. Het voelt ook erg goed om weer hier te zijn, al is het maar voor even. 

Nog tot half februari ben ik in Tanzania, dan ga ik weer even naar België voor 10 dagen en 25 februari vlieg ik naar m'n volgende bestemming Martinique! Daar ga ik als audiologe werken voor 6 maanden.

Maar eerst nog even hier alles afronden en afscheid nemen van alles en iedereen!