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Meeting Coryn

One day, I was searching on the website http://www.wimpykidclub.co.uk for more books in my favourite book series called “Diary of a Wimpy Kid”. I really like these books and I read them whenever I get a chance.

Here I am reading one them when I was in London. It was raining cats and dogs outside, so I read while we waited for the rain to go away!

So, while checking out the website, my Mom told me about a girl named Coryn who likes these books too. She is from Trinidad and Tobago or T&T (for short) and she decided to write seven books by her seventh birthday!

I knew I wanted to meet her!

To my surprise and delight, we learnt that she was going to come to Montserrat for the Alliouagana Festival of the Word Literary Festival – AFWLitfest for short. I was super excited.

I told my friends at school and they said her name sounds like one of my special friends’ name. That special friend was in Grade K and Grade 1 with us, but did not join us for Grade 2. I miss her soooo much.

My Mom surprised us with tickets for a movie night showing “The Fab 4 and Deep Blue”. Look at the flyer below.

Mom said that I might get to see Coryn there. Once again I got all excited.

When we got to the Cultural Centre that night, I asked the organizer of the AFWLitFest, Miss Nerissa, if Coryn was there. She said yes!

I hurried in to see if I could find Coryn. She was there with her Mom. I was so happy to introduce myself.

She was very smart and kind. I told her about my favourite book and she shouted, “That’s my favourite book too!”

We both want to get all the books in the series for our collection.

We got popcorn together and talked for the rest of the evening. Coryn showed me the name of one of her books on the book arch – Chronicles of Coryn. I would probably get my hands on one of her books soon, if not all seven!

It was great meeting Coryn. I hope she can come back to Alliouagana – Land of the Prickly Bush – Montserrat soon, or maybe I will meet her in Trinidad one day.

The Red Moon

Did you see the red moon on May 15, 2022? It is called a Lunar Eclipse and I stayed up all night just to see it.

I was so excited when Mommy told me that the moon was going to turn red. I told Mommy I was not going to sleep. I said that I would stay up until 1am.

We went outside at 9:30pm to check on the moon. It was so big and shiny.

Sometimes it got cloudy and the moon disappeared behind the clouds.

Around 10:30pm, It started to happen. I could see that there was a shadow on the moon.

I was so excited. Mommy said that the shadow would keep moving across the moon until it became red. She said it may not turn red until about 11:30pm. I did not want to fall asleep and miss it.

I decided to get comfortable. I got my blanket and my tablet because it was going to be a long night.

I played the song “Talking to the Moon” from My Favorite Songs list

Here is the first picture I created about the lunar eclipse on my tablet.

After another hour, it started to happen! The moon was turning reddish orange. I saw it. It was so cool.

I drew this picture on my tablet when I saw it.

This is what the red moon looked like in the sky.

I am happy that I got to see it. It looked really beautiful.

I finally fell asleep at 12:15am.

My Road Race

The 8th of April was my Road Race.

I represented Blue House/ Blue macaws.

Before the race, I had to warm up. We did stretches, by putting our knees up, and then we stretched our legs backwards.

After that, I walked to the Public Market Building with my partner Faith.

The small boys went on the line first to run. After the race of the small boys, then the small girls went second. I was in that group with the small girls.

Coach told us, “Put your foot behind the line and look in front of you!” He also said, “Don’t look back at me to see me blow the whistle”.

Then I heard the sound of the whisltle and I took off, up the hill in speed.

My friend Kyoka was a frienemy on that day because she was in green house. She was catching up to me but then my brain said, “No, no , I am not letting this get tied up”. So I ran even faster.

At the top of the hill, I was panting and was very thirsty, but then I heard my Daddy say, “Run Kiki run”.

Here is a video to show proof.

I ran as fast as I could and guess what? I came first.

I went over to the scorers and they asked me for my name. Daddy said “Kearah Ryan”. He was so proud of me.

When I got back to school my Teacher said that I got big points for blue house. I was so happy to place first in the Road Race. Yay!

The Glowing Mountains

If you read the title, I know that you are thinking, how is it that I got to see the glowing mountains? Right?

So my Mom was on Facebook scrolling and then she saw the glowing mountains. I was next to her, peeping at her phone because I wanted to get it back.

I asked Mom “Can we go there tomorrow please?”

I asked Dad ” Can I take my tablet with me to take pictures please?”

I was so excited about going to the Montserrat Cultural Centre.

Right after school, we went to the Cultural Centre. When I walked in, I saw TWO GLOWING MOUNTAINS!!!

The first one, was Mountain Aglow and the second one was Mountain Aglow Junior. Mountain Aglow had string lights all over it. Mountain Aglow Junior’s light wasn’t on yet, but then they turned it on, and when the red light showed, it looked like a lava lamp. So cool!

I also heard some music playing ” Mountain Aglow, come ley we watch de mountain glow”.

The pictures on the mountain had words on it. It had comments from students who attended the Lookout Primary School, St. Augustine Primary School and my school, the Brades Primary School.

Only Grade 5 and 6 students got to write on it. I said “THAT’S NOT FAIR!”. I hope I get to Grade 5 or 6 soon, so that I can get a chance to write on the Mountain Aglow Junior.

Here are some words from Lookout Primary School:

Here are some words from St. Augustine Primary School:

Here are the words from Brades Primary School.

I liked this one too, which shows the whole island of Montserrat and things that we do on the island now.

The Mountain Aglow had pictures of the volcano. This one showed its guts!

I also learnt about the eruption and what happened back in July 1995. My Daddy and Mommy saw the eruption.

This picture talks about ash and falling stones. I know what ash feels like. I got a chance to go with my Mom to her school in Delvins to clean ash. I will talk about that experience in another blog.

I am glad that Montserrat is still here and I get to call it my home.

Montserrat is Still Home, Still Nice

Here are some pictures of some of the students’ work.

At the end, I was asked to leave my review. I filled out a form and left my feedback. At the back of the paper in fancy writing, I said “I really liked it”.

Here is a quick video of me explaining how I filled out the feedback form.

This was a really good experience. If you get a chance go and visit the Glowing Mountains!

I Will Go: Giving Care Packages

My Grandma told my sister that she needed some help. So I jumped in and asked, “Help with what, Grandma?” She said, “unpacking some barrels, to prepare care packages”. So I asked, “At what time Grandma?”. Grandma said, “4:30pm”. I said, “I will be there at 4:30pm, Grandma!”

I remembered Mrs. Kay Dorsette-Hector telling us at the end of our March of Witness on Pathfinder Congressoree Day, that we should not be afraid to go out in the community and share with others.

Our theme was “I will go”, so that’s why I told Grandma, “I will go!”

I also remembered the last time when we packed care packages and distributed them. So I knew that this time is would be just as exciting.

I helped unpack the barrels at church. I stood on a chair, so that I can reach way down into the barrel. Then when it was almost empty, and the adults couldn’t reach in anymore, they laid the barrel down on the floor. I crawled in and got the rest of the stuff out. Sometimes it is so good to be little!

So many things came out of the barrels.

There were cranberries, raisins, walnuts, pecans, cherries and plums. There were spaghetti sauce, pasta, vegetable oil, sardines and peanut butter.

There was even some big bags of oats, rice and brown sugar. We put them all into smaller bags.

I had fun writing the label for the pumpkin seeds! I took my time and spelt P-U-M-P-K-I-N S-E-E-D-S.

After all that writing, I had to get a bit of brown sugar to build back up my energy! I promise I did not go coo-coo!

Soon the bags were all packed and ready for giving out. The bags were really pretty.

On Sabbath Afternoon, November 6th, we dressed in our Adventurer and Pathfinder field uniforms.

This is my cousin Kiki. My nick name is Kiki and her nickname is Kiki too. So cool right?

We assembled at church to organize into groups to give out bags to people in the communities around Montserrat.

I was in a group with my friend Davaun. We went to Davy Hill and Shinnlands. We sang and prayed with the families.

Davaun and I saw the cutest dog,

And puppy too! The owner let us pet the puppy a bit.

It was really great to see people happy!

In the Hot Seat

Ms. Vernaire invited me to sit in the Hot Seat to talk about my blogs. I was so excited about it.

I looked at the camera and introduced myself. I told everyone my name, my age and that I was in Grade K at the Brades Primary School. I told Ms. Vernaire that my favorite subject was Mathematics. I told her that I use my fingers to count and if I ran out of fingers, I would use my teeth!. Ms. Vernaire asked me why not my toes, and I told her that I couldn’t use my toes because I couldn’t take off my shoes at school. We had a good laugh about that.

I told Ms. Vernaire, that I wanted my blogs to be read all over the world even in China. Ms. Vernaire said that she loves a girl who knows what she wants!

I told Ms. Vernaire that I wanted to be a ballerina when I grow up, but I was too shy to show her a pose. Maybe next time.

I told her about my blogs, like, My Favorite Songs, Turtle Watching, Swimming classes with Teacher Emmy and one that I really wanted to do: A hike to Rendezvous. Rendezvous Beach is special because it is Montserrat’s only white sand beach.

Ms. Vernaire was a very good host. I like this picture above because she is laughing. and she made this interview so much fun and I liked our hairstyles! Thank you for inviting me, Ms. Vernaire!

I thought the seat would be hot, but it didn’t burn me, it was kind of warm.

Check out our full interview here: https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&v=551937402495099

PRIME

I visited PRIME. PRIME stands for “Produced in Montserrat Expo”.

When I entered the Cultural Centre there was this beautiful water fountain.

I couldn’t help myself. I took so many pictures here. I was just so beautiful!

After taking even more pictures I went inside. I found the most amazing soap display. The ladies were so friendly too! One of the ladies is a teacher at my school that is called Brades Primary School.

The sign said rectangular soaps and round soaps, but the rounds soaps were really oval-shaped, not circles.

My favourite ones were the Aloe Vera and the Green Tea & Lemongrass. They smelled so good! It was hard for me to choose just one.

I took a picture with my tablet because I really wanted to know how the soap was so clear!

Then I bought my favourite soap. I could not wait to get home to try it out.

There were other things on the table too. Here are some pictures.

We walked around some more and guess who I saw? Mr. Tabu. Do you remember when I met him in the The Art Room? Well look at these amazing drawings he brought to show.

This picture, has the war memorial, the waterfall, the evergreen tree and even the masquerades. They are Montserrat symbols!

How did Mr. Tabu do this one? He drew Plymouth all on one page.

This one is made from cardboard. I would like to try to do something like this.

My sister liked this picture because she likes black, but I think it is creepy.

You know what else I saw that was creepy. This:

A coffin. Do you think vampires are inside? The color looked purple from one side and blue from the other side.

We walked around some more. I saw my friend Nicole.

She turned her name around and called her wine “ELOCIN”. That’s cool right?

I did not get to taste the wine though, because alcohol is not for kids. That’s not fair!

There were so many more things to see at PRIME. Like Earrings, Keyrings, candle holders, cassava bread and flowers.

I really enjoyed the expo. Can’t wait for the next one.

No longer a “Shrimp”.

I am not a “Shrimp” anymore! I am now an……. “EEL!”

I am so excited that I moved up. I get to practice my kicks and move around the pool even more.

On my first day as an “Eel”, I practiced my kicks with my face down. I had to grab the wall, keep my head in the water, while blowing my bubbles and kick, kick, kick. That was some hard work!

Then I practiced my rocket ship. You know I love the rocket ship right?

Then it was time for the doggy-paddle. This one I get to keep my face out of the water, and make my hands into doggy paws and pretend to scoop ice-cream!

Then I practiced my doggy-paddle with a noodle.

That’s me in the noodle, swimming in the deeper part of the pool. That was so exciting.

Then I climbed out at the deep end, and jumped back in.. with the noodle.

Look at the splash I made!

Then we doggy-paddled back to the shallow end.

Teacher Emmy threw some toys in the water for us to dive and find. I went way under and found a blue ring. Now you see me, now you don’t.

Being an “Eel” is so much fun!