Coconut Water

I grew up in the Midwest, so naturally each summer we would make a mad dash to Florida for our summer vacation. Florida, the meccas of all meccas, all that it seemed people during that time in my life worked for, that week or so of beach, sand, sun. Perfection. These summers at the beach were definitely where my love affair with the water first began. 

I can remember always looking a coconuts, wondering and wanting what was inside. One particular summer we worked for hours trying to break open an old, brown, rotten coconut, we had found on the ground, too stupid to know it was done, over, had nothing to offer us. I think my grandfather eventually went after it with a screw driver or something but I don't recall the outcome. All I know if that if I would have just looked up, we would have seen the treasure hanging above our heads. We had young, green coconuts at our finger tips, we just were too niaeve to know what was inside or to look beyond the awe inspiring palm tree which represented everything tropical to us to see them.  


Moving to the Caribbean has given me a whole new appreciate for the coconut. They utilize the coconut for many things here, not only cooking but in oils and lotions and well, everything. I now find myself not looking at "palm trees" not for their beautiful branches but more to find out if it is of the species that bares coconuts.  Nyah refers to all palm trees as coconut trees. 

Growing up deprived, in the land locked state of Indiana (kidding), all I knew about coconuts was the milky substance people found in coconuts in the movies or the dried stuff sold in the stores but what these young, green little beauties hold is coconut water. A sweet, watery substance found in young coconuts. Let me just say, it is good. The ultimate thirst quencher and I won't act cool, it was definitely a taste I had to acquire an appreciation of. 

George initially introduced me to coconut water and we used to set out each Sunday to find the guys who would go around and load the beds of their trucks with the little beauties then get out their machetes and show their skills, breaking the coconut open with a few swift waks and then selling the water by the gallon. We now see the tennis players on TV drinking coconut water and it makes us laugh. 


Coconut water is so cool now, the latest health craze, as it should be. The health benefits are endless, cholesterol free, fat free, low calorie, super hydrating, rich in potassium and a natural laxative. I find it interesting that in some developing countries coconut water has been used as an intravenous hydrating fluid when saline is not available. 


So why don't we go climb a tree and get the coconuts ourselves? Well, we could, but that is just hard and the trees are really high and we aren't that flexible, so we buy it as fresh as when we can. We did get lucky the other day and our friend gave us a few nuts so George popped the tops with great ease with get this, a steak knife, (no screw driver required) of all things and poured away and we had fresh coconut water to enjoy for the rest week (though I don't think it lasted that long). 

Oh, and please don't think George isn't macho, he does own a machette but he just keeps it at his parent's house. Not much storage here and the thought of a three year old with a machette isn't pretty. Machettes are pretty much a requirement for island living. Everyone has one. 

Here is my brother's holding his machete which he purchased while on island.

Oh, and here is my favorite coconut water coniseurre enjoying the tasty drink as it should be enjoyed, straight from the source. She was almost two years old in this picture and at that time still refereed to the tasty drink as "coconut wata". True Crucian she is.

My Child is Crucian

Today, as I was getting Nyah out of the car from school she said something especially funny that caught my attention and made me start thinking. I am really love where I live. Not only am I in awe of my breathtaking surroundings, but I am also fascinated by the unique mixture of people who live here, the culture, and the dialect. So, I decided to make a list of my favorite Crucian (pronouced "Kru-shun") terms that my child has picked up on or that just make me smile when I hear them throughout the day. 


A "Kru-shun" (or Cruzan, like the rum but still pronounced the same way) is a native or inhabitant of St. Croix. Crucians have their own slang words, most of the time spoke in horribly broken English, but hey, it's their own.  I guess since Nyah lives here and goes to school here she will without a doubt pick up her surroundings and probably be able to speak Crucian with the best of them. When we travel to Indiana, a land with its own special type of slang and crazy pronunciations, some have told me Nyah has an accent but I can't hear it. George occasionally breaks into Crucian when speaking to friends but was made to speak proper English growing up so he usually keeps it pretty proper.


So, without further ado, here are some of my favorite Cruzan terms:


1. Mash up- to wreck, ruin, or tear up. This is the term Nyah used this today that made me just shake my head and laugh. I accidently dropped the flower she picked me earlier as I was getting her out of the truck, and she gasped, "Mommy, you mash up my flower!"


2. Limin'- which means to relax, hang out or go out. As in, "George and I rarely go limin'". I adore this word and think it sums up its action perfectly, definitely not an equivalent in the English language.


3. Chooked- which means to wound or puncture using a sharp object. As all the kids come kicking and  scream into the ER we often hear them say, "No Mommy, no Mommy, I don't wanna go, de dacta gone chook me!"   


Nyah got a doctor set for Christmas (yes, we are trying to brainwash and persuade her early) and she takes the fake needle and says, "Hold still Mommy, I'm gonna chook you".


4. Ba'na- another name for booty or backside of a man or woman as in, "Da man, she got a big ol' bana!"


5. Coo-Coo- I will let you figure it out but it is the only way Nyah pronounces going #2. Don't even try to call it something else around her because its coo-coo. 


Nyah used this term so matter of factly last night (in front of my mother in law) as we were playing with their dogs. She pointed to one of the dogs named Der (cool name, rhymes with care) who hasn't been "fixed". She of course had to laugh and repeatedly tell us as she was pointing to Der's manly parts and even bending down to get a better look as Der was wiggling on his back with legs sprawled that, "Eww, Der has coo-coo on his ba'na".


Finally, my favorites.


6. Good Mornin', Good Aftanoon, Good Night- everyone here greets each other with these words depending of the time of the day. If you don't begin a conversation or announce one of these greetings when entering a room full of people, like a packed waiting room or Post Office with the line winding out the door as it so often is, you are considered rude. And I love it because there is nothing better than giving a true "Mornin!" to someone first thing and having them respond with the same vigor back. 


There have been some men working at our condo for the past couple of weeks giving the place a new paint job and Nyah has made friends with a few and shouts, "Mornin!" to them as she gets in the truck before school like an old man. Its beautiful and it makes me so proud.


So those are some of my favorite Crucian terms that make me chuckle, especially when Nyah uses them in context, and I am sure Elsa will pick up on them soon. Hope you enjoyed. Now I am going to take my big ol' ba'na to bed. Good night.

Mornin'

We woke this morning to the sweet sound of Quelbe music in the distance as Stanley and the Ten Sleepless Knights did their early morning thing through Christiansted. Have a listen.

From what I understand, Stanley and the Ten Sleepless Knights pick random neighborhoods and start playing there early in the morning with their band set up in the back of a semi or something. They drive really slowly through the streets and people come out of their houses, not to curse them and call the police for a noise disturbance, but to actually dance behind the truck as the band makes their way down the street. Pretty awesome way to welcome the day if you ask me.


I haven't quite figured it all out. I can't fathom a band jamming through the streets of Indiana at the break of dawn and people loving it, so thankfully George is patient with me and does a lot of explaining. It's all is related to The Cruzan Christmas Festival, a mass time of celebration here which starts in December and continues past the New Year marked by pagents, culture, Calypso competitions, parades, tramps, J'ouvert, village, Carnival, food, etc. There is definitely a festive vibe in the air during this time of the year way beyond the Christmas, New Year's thing.

I couldn't get Elsa off the porch this morning, with a little bounce in her step, and Nyah was busy at work while we enjoyed the sweet music. So different from the Midwest in a such a lively way. And yes, I'm currently moving my hips to this locally grown music and its seven o'clock in the morning-what the ___? Hope everyone has a great day.