Snapshots of a Modest Life

As the Sun Set Over the Bay

You’re probably beginning to wonder just from reading my blog whether or not we’re actually on campus doing ministry. I assure you we are, it’s just that what we do on free days is generally about 10 times more exciting than campus times. This weekend’s excursion was no exception.

We took a boat ride on a catamaran out to swim with sea turtles and snorkel on a reef. The boat left Bridgetown harbor around 3:30 Saturday afternoon. Everyone sat on the net at the front of the boat for the sail out to the turtles. It took us a while to get there, but the time was well spent sipping pineapple juice laughing and doing fun things with digital cameras.

Fun with Cameras. That's Kelly acting like a seal.

When we made our first stop, everyone knew immediately which stop it was. There, off the front of the boat were two turtles in the blue waters. We were excited of course as we grabbed snorkels and masks and jumped in the water.

Dude Crush.

I got to pet one, but after a while my ears started hurting so I got out of the water, at which point I was asked to hold a rather cute baby, so I did while his parents swam with the other two kids. After a lengthy swim, we left for the reef. I wish I had pictures of that, but digital cameras and water don’t really mix well. There’s a sunken barge out there that was pretty cool to see, but by the time I spotted it the sun was beginning to go down, and we were ready to leave. We bounced along the surface of the water, the waves getting larger as the sun sank lower. Despite the roughening seas, it was very peaceful. The catamaran was driven by wind power, so there was no motor drowning out our thoughts, only the splash of the evening sea against the hull of the boat, and the wind in the sails.

Everyone. Taken from the mast of the ship by the captain.

All the students went to Oistins for dinner, and the staff had “Date Night”. Even though everyone was fairly wiped out, we still had a good time. I had the marlin and chips.

Mmmm...Marlin.

So yeah, that was all good. But more fun than Oistins was the ZR (pronounced Zed-R) ride there and back. There are two modes of public transportation in Barbados, government owned bus, and ZR, privately owned vans licensed by the government. The thing about ZRs is that there is no limit as to how many people you can pack into one. Hence, if you spend more than a day in Barbados, you will inevitably see a van with a wacky horn and a dreadlocked driver fly by you packed full of uncomfortable people. It’s only $1.50 Bajan to drive anywhere along the route between Silver Sands and Bridgetown, but there is also no guarantee that you will get your own seat. When traveling with a large group, you will likely end up in separate ZRs. It is almost guaranteed, however, that the driver will try to get all of you in one. On this particular night, we went in separate ZRs, but they were both very full even before we started loading people into them, there were already 12 or 13 people in the one I got on. There were four people packed into the back row, another four in front of them, and another four in front of them, and three in the front seat (including the driver). The door guy/money collector stood hunched over, holding on for dear life. You might think this is impossible. But no, I disagree, I personally have been in a ZR with almost 30 people. On that occasion, I had someone on my lap (thank goodness it was someone in our group), and Kelly was on the lap of a little Bajan man singing along with the reggae pumping through the speakers at the top of his lungs.

When we first got to Barbados, we called them G-Buses, a nickname they’d earned from the Spring Break group. What does the G stand for you ask? Ganja. Yeah. Apparently someone saw one of the drivers smoking a joint while driving over spring break. And with the way they drive, they’re either high or insane, we of course chose high.

A ZR in Bridgetown. Empty, as I'm sure you can tell.

Anyway, we really have been having a good time on campus. We’ve seen 22 people come to Christ so far. The students are really open to talking to us about spiritual stuff and just talking in general. Once you get past the initial who are you and why are you talking to me? it’s smooth sailing. I’ve found that a lot of people are already Christians, but they’ve never heard that it’s just Christ that gets you into heaven, not getting baptized or going to church. I think half of the people I’ve talked to are in that boat.

Here’s a couple of pictures I took on campus.

This is the view from the back side of campus, amazing, isn't it.


Here's Dan talking to some guy.


This is us praying at the end of the day. Clockwise from me: Me, Clarissa, Erica and Dan.

We had a toga/costume party on Wednesday night. Fairly uneventful, but fun nonetheless. It was great trying to come up with costumes without taking our bed sheets. My roommates and I went as M&Ms. I was the brown one.

Yummy. L to R: Leah, Clarissa, Katie, Me, and Dana.


Here's everybody. The guy in the red board shorts is Jimmy, trying to act like David Hasselhoff.

And now, for some random pictures…


A sticker I saw on a locker at UWI. I happen to agree.


Totally unplanned that everyone wore pastels that day, no lie.


No, they're not gay, just caught up in the moment, I mean, you've got to hug someone when the Righteous Brothers are playing.


Put those boys on the back of a magazine or something!


Older picture. Me on the jumping cliff at Crane Beach.

Anyway, more stuff has happened, but I'm kind of running out of time, and well, I haven't put the pictures on my computer yet, so yeah, you'll hear about that when I get to it.