Dash & Splash

My last two weeks here in Montserrat have been proving to be just as busy, starting with the final assembly for Montserrat Secondary School held at the cultural centre on Tuesday the 3rd, followed by the graduation ceremony for the Form 5s the day after. It was a formal enough affair, with the MSS cadet corps doing a procession with an inspection of the graduands. The choir sang, along with a MSS dance ensemble and of course, lots of speeches. The valedictorian Tiffannie Skerritt - it was quite an American-styled graduation - also got awarded an iPad for her hard work. A pretty good deal if you ask me!

MSS end-of-year assembly at the Montserrat Cultural Centre.

Form 5 graduands getting ready for inspection.

The Montserrat Secondary School cadet corps.

Putting on the final touches with a bit of help.

The Montserrat Youth Choir in their final performance with me.

Over the weekend just past was the inaugural Belham Valley Dash 'n' Splash, organized by the Montserrat Running Club. A 1.8km dash down the Belham Valley, navigating past obstacles such as pyroclastic hills and scattered brush, before approaching the Old Road Bay and crossing the finishing line by placing any part of your body in the sea. Of course, stylistic 'splashdowns' were encouraged, and also rewarded.

Oh, and all of this done in fancy dress (of course)!

And so, in the spirit of Montserrat Secondary School and as a reflection of my work there, I decided to dress up in a MSS student uniform. Given the logic that long trousers would impede my performance, I therefore made the strategic decision to wear a female uniform instead. I came in 6th out of twenty-five, so I guess it paid off. Unfortunately, however, I was just ahead of the winner who made (and subsequently won the prize for) the best entry into the sea. As such I had the privilege of turning back, only to see him thrashing butt naked into the Caribbean sea towards my face. Thanks Andy.

All decked out and ready to go.

"If you get injured, then it's your fault."

The wide variety of fancy dress everyone turned up in.

The remainder of the photos can be found on my Facebook album at http://is.gd/RCVxi0. Be sure to take a look at some of the hilarious finishes!

Holidays & Sails

Today marks another day of Montserratian intrigue - it seems that the last Monday of May here is a bank holiday, which of course works out nicely for most of us. However, nobody (including a few people who live here) seems to know exactly why it's a holiday when I asked around. Given that it's the Memorial Day weekend in the States this weekend, it might have something to do with that - although I can't imagine how.

(Update: After some snooping around online, I have discovered that today is Whit Monday, a Christian holiday. According to Wikipedia, Whit Monday "was also a public holiday in various former British colonies, especially in the Pacific. It is still a public holiday in some of the countries of the Commonwealth Caribbean.")

But still, I am certainly not one to question my good luck - having only found out last Friday that today is a bank holiday, I've been using this free day to catch up on a bit of lesson planning and work. All after a weekend of dinghy sailing and tackle fishing with Jon Stone. Jon managed to procure a Sunfish, on loan from the Montserrat Yacht Club, for the weekend and here's the result.

Goats & Sweatbands

So what do you get when you get nearly a dozen goats, dress them up, line them up and cheer wildly as they bolt down a 30-metre long course? Welcome to Montserrat's answer to the Grand National, where goats of all shapes and sizes battle it out on the racetrack for fame, glory, and if they're lucky, escape from the goat water pot.

Last weekend's goat race was part of the Island People Fete, a carnival which was held at Tropical Mansions. The Montserrat Running Club entered a goat, which we later named Ishwar. Ishwar, according to club president Tom Regan, has had a "good pre-season [...] and has only been pregnant twice over the spring, and has only been run over once". Perfect.

Seb, Aoife and I got down with good time to spare to dress up our goat - in running attire, of course.

Only the best kit for Ishwar.

Just before the pre-race pep talk.

Pink, blue & yellow - perfect colour combo.

And Ishwar certainly didn't fare too badly - a few false starts aside, he blazed through the heats and even managed to grab himself a coveted spot in the top three. Unfortunately, his desire for oats (offered at the finish line as an incentive to run) was probably not was strong as his opponents' desire to not end up in goat water, and he never made it beyond third place.

And of course, like every respectable race, bets were accepted for each goat before every race. However, I did manage to abstain from putting any money on a goat, given my sore lack of experience at attending such races. In hindsight, I probably should have attended the Oxford & Cambridge Goat Race this year. For the uninformed, this race is held every year as an anti-elitist alternative to the annual traditional river Thames boat race between Oxford and Cambridge. At least no class war protests marred the goat action!

Seb's last day in Montserrat.

Super goats in action.

In the end, Ishwar pulled a full Monty stunt - by the time of his last race, every single piece of clothing and accessory adorning him had come off, save for one sweatband around his rear right hoof. Guess he was getting himself ready for the goat water pot after all.

Dinners & Lahars

The end of term is quickly approaching, and with all of next week taken up by sports activities at Montserrat Secondary School, I have finished all my teaching for this term. Speaking of which, it's been astoundingly fast how my time here has flown; it's hard to believe that I've been here for nearly three months now and I still find this island as fascinating as I did when I first arrived.

A lot of people who've lived here for awhile say that Montserrat is amazing to visit, but sometimes a challenge to live in. I'm not going to start weighing the pros and cons here, but I think having a purpose whilst living here does make it more enjoyable, and in my case this is proven to be a worthwhile effort. The Montserrat Youth Choir did another stellar performance, this time for the Rotary charter dinner which was held to raise funds for music resources on the island. The choir certainly did me proud, and I think they have managed to convince guests that their money will be certainly put into a worthy cause.

Demand for instrumental teaching continues to grow, but so far I have been stretched in terms of being able to offer individual one-to-one keyboard and piano lessons after school. I will be touching on this issue in my end of term report to the ministry, as I feel quite strongly about being able to equip students with basic instrumental skills in order to encourage them to explore their own musicality.

Earlier this month a group of MVO staff and myself (no, I'm not affiliated with MVO in any way) drove up the Belham river valley - for me, it was more of a sightseeing trip, but the MVO staff were there to take photos as part of some ongoing research. The Belham valley truly is an impressive sight - it has been devastated be repeated lahar flow, and much of what used to stand in the valley, such as hotels, villas and an entire golf course, are now buried under about 35 feet of hardened mud.

Lahar flows are deadly because of their energy and speed. Large lahar flows move at approximately sixty miles an hour, can flow for more than one hundred and ninety miles, and can cause catastrophic destruction in their path. The lahars from the Nevado del Ruiz eruption in Colombia in 1985 caused the Armero tragedy, which killed an estimated 23,000 when the city of Armero was buried under sixteen feet of mud and debris. New Zealand's Tangiwai disaster in 1953, where 151 people died after a Christmas Eve express train fell into the Whangaehu River, was caused by a lahar.

Here is a video containing some of the sights and sounds (ie. very loud, strong winds) which I captured on the Belham.


Having seen the valley from certain viewpoints previously did not quite prepare me for the scale of standing in the middle of it. Two days ago, the volcano started venting ash, reaching about 6,000 feet above sea level, approximately 3,000 feet above the volcano) - this activity was similar to activity previously observed prior to heavier volcanic activity, as last observed in 2008. However, the volcano has since calmed down, so I suppose that's about all the 'excitement' I'll get to witness.

Soufriere Hills Volcano venting ash.

I drove to Old Towne during my lunch break on Friday to snap this photo, being quite excited about witnessing volcanic activity (however mild). However, the locals didn't even bat an eyelid - and after seeing what has happened to the Belham river valley, I'm not surprised.