Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween!

Halloween isn't celebrated in Jamaica. Not like in the USA anyways. There are probably some halloween themed parties in Kingston, but that'd be about it. And I was unprepared in creating a costume for this special day. Therefore my "costume" is a cop out. I am a nudist on strike. Meaning just a person wearing clothes. That's okay though. I'll be celebrating to myself by buying some chocolate candy. And downloading a halloween themed movie-most likely not too scary, because I watch those with my eyes closed :D

Now this past weekend was quite eventful! I got to meet a currently popular dancehall artist. His name is Tommy Lee. This name is also known from Motley Crue and  or the actor in MIB. This is what Jamaica's Tommy Lee looks like ( my friend, Tommy Lee and I)

Try and google the name Tommy Lee and see what pops up. If you type Tommy Lee Sparta... you may get more hits and info. Anyway, I met him after his concert on Friday. I also got a t-shirt to represent his music. Upon talking to him, I found out where he gets his tattoos. Don't be surprised I asked, I'm determined to find a good tat artist here. And the man has a lot, of course he'd have some recommendations. :) haha!

I also got to see a Roller Cart Darby ( gotta say it that way). The darby was in May Pen, Clarendon. This social event was a way to strengthen bonds between the Police/ JCF (Jamaican Constabulary Force) and the citizens of May Pen. The Crime and Prevention Committee  helped organize this. They act as a liason between the two parties to increase police visibility in a positive way. The event was very successful. There were eager racers and some funny races witnessed.  For instance, in the second heat, the first place finisher almost came in second.

 He stopped not five feet from the marked finish line, thinking he had already croseed- he did a victory twirl with his roller cart (above).  **Note his roller cart is painted with the Jamaican Flag!
When the spectators saw this- we all yelled at him to finish!! The second place finisher approaching saw his opportunity and literally pushed his cart forward with no person on it, in hopes of getting first place. The spectators were laughing sooo hard. ( Here's all the race cart participants)

Weekends such as these are great. I get to learn a little more about Jamaica and then share it with you, my friends!

Hurricane Sandy

Hurricane Sandy came and went. In preparation for her arrival on Wednesday, I picked up batteries, some canned baked beans and an aromatherapy candle of lemongrass to ward off mosquitos. I was eagerly awaiting her to come strong when I saw the forecasting on Tuesday afternoon. Heck, I even thought maybe I'd have to group up with some other PCV's to wait out the storm.

I've never been in a direct area for a hurricane before. I had mixed emotions. I was nervous about the intensity of the storm. I also was excited to see what would happen. What I didn't consider is how underwhelmed I'd be sitting in my house for nearly 48 hours. Fortunately! I had power for most of Wednesday. The power went off and on for a few hours but then I'd get it back.

For preparation, my host dad boarded up the vulnerable windows (above, mines on the right)  which made half of my living space very dark and for me claustraphobic. When H. Sandy came to visit for her two hour stay, she was destroying the east side of the island. Therefore all I got was some wind and some rain.

But that didnt stop Peace Corps from keeping us bunkered down at site. We're still told to keep at site. Unfortunately, there are reports of looting and bad roads. So hopefully by tomorrow that will go away. Some cities across Jamaica have curfews to reduce the looting. Isn't that awful? Taking advantage of a natural disaster. rude.

I occupied my inside time with teaching my host family how make popcorn from the stove, catching up on Homeland (such a great show!!) and sleep. When this morning showed signs of calm I went for a run. Opening the door to the outdoors and the light sky, I cringed back. I felt like a vampire about to burn! Only seeing grey skies and rain had my eyes set on nocturnal mode. The run this morning was freedom. Everyone was out and about in town and things were being picked up from where it was left off.
I only hope that the electricity and flooded roads get repaired soon for eastern Jamaica. Because that's no bueno.

End of September

The next world cup qualifier match is this Friday. I'm excited about the game as the USA needs to get more points! The Jamaica v USA in Kingston early September was upsetting. Though, if any a year for Jamaica to be successful, it is this year, their celebration of 50 years of independence! 

 Even yesterday, the West Indies Cricket team won the World Twenty/20 Championships! Here's a picture from today's Gleaner ( http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121008/sports/sports1.html the article for anyone who likes cricket.) 

I was in Kingston yesterday and while I was walking down one of the roads, I hear loud male voices coming from a house on the opposite side of the street. Then I see about 50 yards ahead of me, on that other side two people screaming and jumping up and down running toward the male voices. The men who I heard came out and were yelling Windies Won!! We're Champions! Windies WON!!! AHHH!!!  ( perhaps not exactly like that, but give or take yes.) By the looks of the photo, Windies were pretty stoked. I'd like to be part of that celebration. whoop whoop! 

The end of September I participated in the PCJ Early Service Conference (ESC). This is held at the six month point of our service. It's a week long conference in which the PCV brings their counterpart/ project partner (interchangeable terms) and we engage in sessions for the betterment of our respective communities. Another part of ESC is to discuss our experiences at site with our sectors (mine being the Youth Sector) and having the support from staff and our fellow PCV's on what to look foward to.

The first three days was a project management workshop. Here is where we did organizational sessions and goals sessions, lots and lots of sessions. Then the project partners leave and the last two days are about us. In YAPII we talked about our challenges, successes, stabilizers...everything. Not seeing everyone together in months was a delight and then talking out our individual situations was therapeutic for me. Another aspect of ESC was our CASI ( Community and Sector Inventory). This is what we worked on for the beginning of our site integration. It's a paper and presentation given at ESC about the needs of the community, the current resources any and anything relevant to our stay here in Jamaica. I talked and showed pictures of my Santa Cruz life, while other PCV's had some amazing presentations. This too gave people a way to take in how similar and different our sites are. It was cool. 

ESC was in Ocho Rios, and our sweet little hotel was at the beach front. The water is amazing!! I swam in it every morning before the day started. The water was cool and warm. I was told that something to do with the limestone, there's fresh water that mixes with the ocean water, especially near the coast. So the very top layer, as I would put my arm in for a stroke, I would get an ice cold chill before the warmth of the ocean. 

The weekend after ESC I stayed with a PCV with some friends. It was a good way to ween me off of seeing everyone before heading solo back to my site. I learned to play Settlers of Catan! At first I was confused, but I enjoyed it. Here (above) are two other PCV's and I playing ( Photo by PCV Marie) 

More to come, hopefully sooner, and in closer intervals... haha. :-) 

Football is on the mind...

Sooo in ten days a qualifier game for the 2014 World Cup will be hosted by the Jamaican national team. And they'll be playing the USA team. Who’s excited?!?!

This girl.

Anndd all the other football fans in Santa. Thus they walk to me and talk about how the Reggae Boyz will be winning the match. ( I politely disagree, and I express this to those who say otherwise).  ( I got the reggae boyz logo from google images).

Even this morning on Smile Jamaica, a morning news show, the gamekeeper was interviewed about the preparation for the field. It’s quite exciting! September 7^th will be the start of the second games played for Group A: USA, Jamaica, Guatemala and Antigua & Barbuda ; not to forget the other groups too. Costa Rica and Mexico play their match for Group B too! I will be looking out for the results on that match as Mexico will be playing in Costa Rican territory.

This past Sunday, I went to a school boy football game. It was STETHS (a high school here) versus Manchester (another HS). There was a vuvuzela vendor who was hitting on my friend and I. After failed attempts of getting him to stop talking to us and move on, the vendor and I began talking about the upcoming match. His prediction is that Jamaica will win 3-1. I say it will be the other way around. Football is on the mind…

( Google images: and I wonder how many Americans will be at the Stadium for the game next Friday...)

And that includes American football too!

I’ve been tracking the NFL a little, as the preseason is here at last. Panthers play the Steelers this Thursday. And I used to be clueless about the NFL, actually about football in general because my household has always leaned towards the other futbol. Thank you mom. But with the help of a diehard USC Gamecocks friend in high school, she patiently explained the basics in her living room while USC was playing a team I can’t remember. haha, and now I know what most of the positions in a team is, I get confused sometimes, but essentially I know what's meant to happen. If anyone wants to educate me further, be my guest. 

What makes both these games (american and international football) exciting of course is being their live. To have the energy going into the stadium and connect the energy of the spectators. To lose your voice in the process. Watching a game is exhausting. Especially when you’re screaming at a TV screen or the actual players that can’t hear you.

I have two little flags on my desk with the SDC. One is the USA flag that I brought into the office for July 4^th. The Jamaican flag was put there by staff, when Jamaican’s independence came, to compliment the USA flag. It’s a conflict of interest when I want the Reggae Boyz to play well and succeed, while having the strong patriotism for my own country’s team. Sigh. What’s a girl to do? J

It's worse before it's better

Or as one of my co-workers said "Chantal is not going back upstairs."

I have experienced six summer camps thus far. Basically one new summer camp, in a different town, every week. Each town has their own flavor and excitement. The children are thrilled to be out of their home. They can barely contain their energy when asked to sit in their seat to hear what they get to play at day camp. I remember when I did day camp. I was just as eager and curious. Camp is a terrific way to meet new peers and learn life skills through games- how can you beat that!?

Now, these six weeks of camp have grown the mental data base of songs, games, and grout (shout out to Camp Ernst for using that term ) that I have when interacting with the likkle picknees (little children). The ability to invent a game or use masking tape and a permanent marker have become invaluable for me. I am so grateful for masking tape. I use it a lot (as do the other camp facilitators with me), especially recently- already on my second roll! Like I said, it helps sooo much to have masking tape!!!!!

I've used masking tape for the following:

• name tags
• to mark the beginning of a line 
• make four square
• make a masking tape ball to throw around 
• use you imagination!

I have one more camp next week. However today's events have given me much to reflect upon. 

The funding for this week's camp has been fantastic. It's completely free to the children. Also free to the parents who signed them up. Giving a free camp attracts a whole heap of children who need a week of something to do. Typically I see kids using their time wandering the neighborhood or not at all (my guess is they're inside watching tv, playing with the sibs or bothering their parents, like all kids in elementary school -- I know I did, and I doubt the inside activity for children has evolved much). 

Anyways, focusing on today. I helped make a game called Minefield. It's where you take yarn or string and wrap it around posts and chairs crossing a room to make "laser beams". Then, you take trash bags and label them with masking tape (haha! another reason why masking tape is awesome) with Dynamite! TNT! or Explosive! You throw those on the floor of the laser ridden passage, and viola! There is your minefield. 

We split the fifty-ish children into three groups...I reflect now, and I should have done more groups, or have chosen a better suited game. Each group chose one person to be blind folded and guided by the team through the obstacle course, with one person on the team  to tell the vision impaired team mate where to go. I had camp facilitators manage each group. I guided the blindfolded and their teammate in the minefield.

Quickly, things went sour. Children started all at once yelling commands to their team mates where to go. That's fifty-ish voices all at once. I tried settling them down, I asked the camp facilitators to help settle them down. The kids were getting competitive and excited. Therefore, in this case, they were not listening. 

I yelled. I yelled at the top of my lungs for them to calm down and be quiet. I had their attention. The fifty-ish of them. I asked for them to respect their camp facilitators and listen to them. They calmed down. for 2 minutes. Then they started up again. I let them try another way of going through the minefield, then stopped the game. 

Everyone wanted to go through the lasers so I let them. This quickly changed to tearing up the string and using the trash bags as devices to hit other kids. I approached the chaos and boys who thrashing about and removed the bags and got everyone to sit down. I was so upset. So disappointed, that from Monday, I met the most well behaved, respectful group of children... to turn into creatures of nightmare in four days. 

During snacks, I talked to them all about my disappointment and my apologies of raising my voice ( I truly felt bad, but the ability to control the situation was lost to my temper.) So I resorted for most of the rest of the day in the downstairs of the building where I could talk to my co workers, and regroup ( just like this meditating baby. a pic I found online, tho how funny it was for the person who captured this moment). 

In all of this, I discovered a lot of insight and feedback from the camp facilitators and my co workers. Of their annual experience with these children. Of the difficulty of getting volunteers to assist with the camp. Of getting funding for meals. For sport equipment and camp supplies. The children VERY MUCH need attention and direction ( of which most, as I was told, may not get at home). Today was the worst day of all my camps. I don't want to say worst camp. But it was a true test for me. And that's why I didn't want to go back upstairs where the open room of children dominated.

oh and my electric kettle decided to break. so stove top kettle replaces number 3 fav house hold item , haha. 

My 3 Favorite Household Items

I'm in cleaning mode, so this is what's been on my mind.

1. Bleach:

Today I cleaned my home. I do this weekly (well, I try). I have found bleach to be my best friend when I do. I am appreciating tiles more and more. In comparison to carpet, tiles definitely win. Though if I didn't live in the hottest place in Jamaica, I'd probably want carpet, its softer. But then I couldn't slide around in my socks....

After I sweep the tile floors. Which, to be honest, I first thought was stupid, but I did it from imitation of other tile floor owners. And MAN! Do you know how much loose hair and dirt get on these tiles?! Like, A LOT. It's gross. I also wonder how I'm not bald.
I also get a chance to kill all the little spiders that have somehow made my home a spider refugee. I don't think so Anancy. Get out.
Back to the bleach, I use a mix of water and bleach to mop the floors of the main space, bedroom, kitchen and bathroom. The floors get disinfected and aren't grainy from the dirt. And again, each room I find my hair.  Gross.

I also use the bleach to get stains out of my clothes. I got ginep fruit (these little green fruit with a big seed, you pop open the outside and suck the seed that has the fruit) stains on my dress. I just dot bleach straight on it. However, I got a little too excited on the amount a drop of bleach means, and I think I may have bleach stained my dress. The dots turned the white yellow. Ugh. Whoops! Maybe I'll just dye it a different color? Like....yellow? :)

2. Electric Bug Swatter

This should probably ranked first. But because I cleaned my house, and I smell bleach. Bleach was first. But in terms of use- I am constantly swatting mosquitoes down. My favorite thing ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I always have my swatter a hands length away, because the moment I see a little black dot drunkenly bopping around ( that's what mosquitoes fly like), I turn the on switch and press the button and wave the racket like a mad lady. There is no real technique, because of the pattern less flight of the blood sucker. Then  ZAP! I got it. Sometimes it gets even crazier when the mosquito gets stuck in the racket, then it cooks. And it smells like burnt bug. Ew. (yet I'm so happy).

3. Water Boiler

It cooks my oatmeal, my tea, and my ramen. Done. and done.
The only bother is the little thumb ants are attracted to it. I dont know why. Plus the treated water (with chlorine) gets separated from the water and cakes on the metal plate. Do ants like chlorine? Because I catch them sometimes IN the kettle, in the water. bleh. I rinse them out though. I don't like ants in my tea.


I hope to get a camera soon, so I don't have to tell you about my cleaning habits, and show you other interesting things that I do. Haha.

Summer Cyamps

Summer cyamps (as it is said here) are in full swing! The children are out of school and running about using all that energy they preserved when sitting in a classroom. I've been in several different town summer camps across the parish. And each one is unique. This is mainly to do with the children that attend the camps. Some children have been accustomed to organized activity, and others not so. It is with GREAT patience that I develop the team building skills of the children who are not familiar with the games. However, once they get it- it is so rewarding. You can actually see the light switch click on the bulb.

Two games that have been effective at all the camps thus far are backward clumps and the human knot. For Human Knot:  I get the children into groups of 4-6 kids and have them hold hands across from each other. At first, the children do not have a clue what to do. But I encourage them to think and try to find a way out. They usually get themselves more tangled up. This leads to laughter. Then I give one hint of advice and the ball rolls. They start figuring it out. I've noticed the younger kids, around 7-9 year olds are the quickest and most effective age group for problem solving. They are resilient. This age group is willing to try and have the sweetness and hope that children naturally have.

The 10- 13 year olds are just too cool. I was like that too when I was that age. I mean, weren't you? I wanted to be seen as cool (even though that was not the case! haha!), therefore I'd sit and look pretty. The older kids would give up quicker. But I would have the younger kids help, and some how, everyone would solve it together. When the last person unravels them self they feel such a sense of accomplishment. So proud to have figured it out on their own. Then I challenge them to get more people in their knot.

The addition of people make the backward clump difficult too. But the kids love it! They don't realize it immediately, but they are supporting each other with their backs to lift them up from the floor. They have to use the strength of many, not the individual.

By the end of each camp day. My voice is dry and tired. I don't yell, I do raise my voice to speak over the 20 plus kids. Days such as these, I fall asleep before 9:00pm. But those are the best days. :)

The day after the fourth

Happy belated 236th birthday America. I did not eat hotdogs, smore's or drink lemonade. Though that sounds delicious right now. It was a typical work day in the hotness of my tropical life. Today I got to enjoy another downpour...these rains clearly get my blogging initiative going...and after the rain and wind sweeped away, I went to get some lunch. I ate a slice of cheese pizza (i needed it.) a small cup of peanut porridge- whoever comes to visit me, I will have you try it. I'm going to convert you into having that as your breakfast meal, because it's awesome. And I also ate a callaloo loaf. yum. Three things dat I indulged fo sho, but my belly is happy!

I also enjoy how everything is packaged in a scandal bag. My food was put into a scandal bag for me to take back to the office. Scandal bags are black plastic bags. These bags are used to put EVERYTING in. When you go to the market for produce, its put in white plastic bags which are then placed in a scandal bag. I have a lot of scandal bags that I use for the bin dem at home. Back to today. As I walked up the path to the office, there are these little shops, I mean they're one likkle room shops of electronics, snacks, music.... and between one a dem are these two Rastas making cane juice. one is getting bottles to fill, and the other is pushing cane through a squeeze juicer. I approached them and asked what they were up to. Clearly it was obvious, but nonetheless. The man who was getting the containers organized said they were making juice, and usually they add ginger but none was around to add in. I also had not seen them there before. Again the man who spoke said they were from Brae's River. Brae's River is a town just up the road. I was offered to try the juice, so I did. It's pretty good!

This morning I went out with a CDO ( Community Development Officer) to a town that asked the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) to help improve their primary school. JSIF helps fund community based projects like building primary schools, health clinics and such. But in this specific primary school, there are only 6 children attending. To make sure its a worthwhile project, we need to survey the numbers of kids who live near the school and why children aren't going to that school. I did surveys with about 11 families and most live in big family units and take their kids to other schools. The survey will function as a guide as to whether it makes sense to put in the effort to help the primary school. Especially when there's such a low number of students currently attending. Hopefully the survey will answer that question with obtaining the amount of children attending school in the area, which schools and why they aren't going to a closer school. So...that the JSIF can decide.

I walked around with a CDO talking to the people with kids. It was hot! 98 degrees. And we're in rural area, up closer to the Trelawny/ St. Bess border. A lot of women were doing their laundry. I guess its an unspoken thing, Thursday's do your laundry! The women were washing by hand, just so you know. So the situation would go like this " Hi, We're from the SDC, here to talk to parents with kids going to primary school...blah blah.." And the women would be squatting over their wash bucket scrubbing away and answering. Kinda awesome. I felt the pressure to wash my clothes too. It's like watching TV and seeing the same commercial every time. The idea creeps into your brain.

This week, all of the schools in Jamaica are out for the summer. Next week I begin the wonderful world of summer camps! more to come :)

Taken for granted.

This weekend, the rain gods were merciful and let it pour upon St. Elizabeth, and all of Jamaica. This was a joyous time. Cool air filled the valley of Santa Cruz which led to breezy sleep-filled nights and lesser burning light during the day. But in all this grateful celebration there was ONE thing that really made a damper: the electricity. It simply does not want to work when it rains. Nope. No way. This weekend it would go out. Just like that. And then when it felt like it, the creak of the fan signaled it was working again.

Oh! You’d like to finish typing this sente-. WELL TOO BAD. The computer screen goes off. Not with my laptop, because it’s charged. But at the SDC office it was exactly like that. The electricity would go off. Then it would blink on, and then go off again like a light switch. The rain wasn't that strong. just continuous. I really though a duppy ( Jamaican word for ghost) was behind it. I think Casper and his evil uncles were up to no good.

Even the two street lights weren’t working. So all of Santa had no electricity. Though it was kind of funny, as in “really? It’s just rain,” was that there were no officers directing traffic in that intersection. I saw about two police cars in the jammed traffic. Come on, I know they have ponchos.

Another thing I won’t take for granted is cold showers. Yea, COLD. In the humid yet burning heat that could only be from my little slice of heaven, the water pipes have a bounty of refreshing water only to be boiled warm and gross for me to shower in. Here, it is actually possible to wait until your shower gets cold. But wasting water isn't nice. Awesome, I know.

I also have to say I miss driving my car. It’s a twenty minute walk to town from the neighborhood, and that’s not too bad, but it’d be cut by 75 percent if I used some petrol and wheels. When I come home in a year, I'll be driving myself everywhere!! J 

So there you have it folks. My quick snap pout-fest, I just really wanted to get that out. I don't mind sharing it on the inter webs. The five hours of no electricity at the office really got to me. Apologizes.

Twenty/20 Feature Cricket Match

This past Sunday there was a Feature Cricket match. 20/20 is a type of game for Cricket, I have figured out. Cricket can last a loong time, like 3 days for one game (Those are called Tests). But to make it manageable and in one day, the SDC has a 20/20 Cricket tournament within the parish, that by the end of June becomes inter-parish matches. This means there are 20 overs given per team. Each team gets 6 official balls for one over. A ball is a throw from the bowler. The bowler is the guy who swings his arm like a windmill.

 There are also two batsmen on the clay strip. So when the bowler throws the ball there is a batsman on his side and the two batsman run back and forth across the white lines that are in front of the wickets (those 3 stick things on each end of the clay rectangle strip). Are you still following me!? Haha, if you don't, you have to watch about 30 minutes of the game after reading this. I say 30 minutes, because like I said, its a long game. Each time the batsman who hit the ball into the field runs past the white line its one point. There are two of them because if they run to the same side as the bowler they're not moving from that side to show how many points they've gotten. So the balls and the overs are really dependent on the bowler. Not so on the batsman. Which in baseball, it seems more dependent on the batter than the pitcher. whew!

So! I went to Ballard's Valley, St. Bess at 7:30 with the rest of the SDC staff and we met the main SDC office staff all the way from Kingston. The whole lot of us began preparing the field and the sitting area for the spectators and VIP (Members of Parliament (MP) and sponsors). We set up until about 10. By ten, the first two teams began to play. They game lasted until 2! Then the next teams started a little after. Unfortunately, one team did not show and forfeited. This was no good because apparently this team would have brought out more spectators. Instead, there was a friendly match until 5pm. After the match we had to break down all the work we had made for the Feature match and went home! I was there for about 10 hours! I had 2 cups of coffee that day, I was awake still by 7pm that night, but physically pooped!

By the way, this is how I've understood it. This game was the first time I've EVER seen a Cricket match. Like, ever paid attention to one. I've known about Cricket since middle school, but I never cared about it because the name sounds like an insect and without explanation the game looked really confusing. And now that I've seen it, the game does have the name of an insect and its less confusing. :)

Catching up...

Whoa. I apologize for being absent for this time! However, this gives me plenty of experience and information to share...ohhh where to begin.....

Well, this is week four of being in Santa Cruz. I now know my co-workers at the Social Development Commission. I also know that they act like a unit, a family. This makes coming into the office a treat. I am happy to work with people who are approachable and team oriented. The field officers, there are six of them now, have been taking me out and about St. Elizabeth to their communities. Here's a few places and things I've done with them:

May was Child's Month in Jamaica. There was a good bit of advertisement, and radio and television commercials on the Rights of the Child. There is a social problem with children not going to school or working at a young age for various reasons, so Jamaica has been working to encourage education to both child and parent to create a better future. The Friday we got sworn in was Child's Day. All the kids got the day off. Then there were themed days in school where kids could dress up as a profession that they're interested in.I saw the children dress up for school when I went with one field officer to the southern towns of St. Elizabeth for a BEST Community judging. Also in honor of Child's Month, the SDC St. Elizabeth Office did an outreach to the Boys Home I had mentioned in the previous post.

It took a bit of activity planning, and a trip to Mandeville (yay!) to get some treats and games/toys for the boys, but by the last day of May, haha!, a group of us from the office drove out to the Boys Home and we played some games! IT WAS SOO FUN!!! There's about 60 boys that live there, but we went when the High Schoolers were still in school, so we had the younger school age boys. We played football and minefield ( a game where one guy, blindfolded will be directed by his team to go thru a "mine field" filled with explosives (trash bags) and lasers (string) to get to the other side.) Then at the end of the games we gave them ice cream and gifts of puzzles, dominoes, uno, scrabble, and badminton. Such a great day!!!!! I wish I had pictures....but unfortunately, my camera no longer wants to work. So hopefully... (my mom is pretty AWESOME) I'll be getting sent her's to use.

another thing I've done with the SDC here is...

BEST Community: (Better. Environments. for Social. Transformation.) That's what BEST means, to be a bit clear. This contest is nation wide and is supported by the Digicel Foundation. Digicel is like AT&T for Jamaica. The Digicel Foundation is a private-sector foundation and works to fund sustainable projects and empower communities to grow. I've been to about 4 communities that applied for BEST. They apply for either all sections or a few possible categories including Environment, Safety, Health...etc. And with the SDC, who also is a partner in the competition, the judges, people who are familiar with but not part of the voted community go to the community and talk about what the town has achieved in the past year.

Here's a link to a National newspaper article that came out today about the competition : http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20120511/social/social91.html

It's pretty cool, for instance, I went to one where the youth group put in their community, and they had a binder with pictures of their projects as well as their hopes and project ideas to help the community in the future. It's really inspiring. Especially when they're mainly small towns.

annnd another thing is the computer class...

I had my first one last Wednesday. And one person showed. Which is cool, because I could give my undivided attention to the woman. She was quite unfamiliar with the hardware of the computer and any basics, but I got her after an hour and a half, to know what a computer, mouse, keyboard and monitor screen are and how to navigate the mouse on the desktop. As well as getting her used to typing in Microsoft Word. Then I was supposed to go Friday, but I didn't have a ride up. So there's some organizing and preparation on the community's side to be done if they really want a class. I offered my services, but its up to the people to figure out what schedule works best for them.

Alas, that's that. I do have to catch up on the Cricket match from Sunday....

My first day of work

In the last post, I was ending my training in Stony Hill. Now I get to tell you about Santa Cruz! Santa Cruz is in St. Elizabeth parish. The town is in a valley, and therefore rather HOT. yea. in all caps. I sweat when I walk from my room to my kitchen. The suns heat seeks you out. I live with a lovely older woman and we have a splendid time on the mornings I get up early enough ( 5:00am) to go walk with her around the neighborhood. She is one heckuva walker. The lady can move. I've been able to get a better idea of the residential areas with the hour walk. I walked with her when I came to Santa Cruz two weeks ago to get my feet wet. It was orientation of my site before the last week of training...which ended with me getting sworn in!

Now that I am a volunteer, this past weekend I did a little settling in. On Saturday I went to the market and supermarket for a few necessary things. I went with a fellow volunteer that lives 10 minutes away in another town, also in St. Bess. There are two different vendors, farmers and sellers. Clearly the better choice is to buy from the farmers, and after some looking around...I found farmers, and they were friendly and affordable. Two things I most certainly can deal with. I got some apples, oranges, cucumbers, and callaloo. Callaloo is like spinach, it's super healthy and delicious.

Then once we were satisfied with our purchase, we went to the supermarket to get other food and things for the house. As we were browsing the aisles in search of ramen (yep, i'm eating it daily), and other staples, a lady strolled up to us with a cart of toothpaste. She was wearing scrubs, and told us the benefits of sensitive toothpaste for sensitive teeth. I wanted to laugh. I've never seen anyone come to you with a product in the supermarket to sell you something...that you can buy in the supermarket. I don't know if she was being paid by the store, the toothpaste or both. And there was also another woman who was trying to sell white grape juice bottles, buy 3 get one free. So random!

After three hours of searching for household items and a weeks worth of groceries, I went home. Then on Sunday I went to church with my host mom. She goes to a Moravian Church. Moravian church is part of the Protestant view of Christianity. The service had hints of Catholic tradition, and so it wasn't too different from what I've been exposed to. However, like most church services it lasted over two hours. When we got back, I ate lunch and then passed out! I was asleep for most of the afternoon. And can I just tell you...it was awesome. That was the deepest relaxing, i-want-to-hibernate-until-fall, kind of sleep. I was just really tired.

Today, however, I woke up and did Insanity workout, ate a hearty breakfast and went to the SDC office. I work for the Social Development Commission, it is a government organization. There are offices in every parish and I will be working with the one in St. Bess. The day started a little slow. People were trickling into the office. As people came in, I got more things to do. By the end of the day, I'm responsible for planning two events... brainstorm some teamwork and communication games for an outreach day at a Boy's Home and to begin planning lessons for an Intro to Computer Skills class. Yay!

And that's it for now. :)

The last week of training

Can you believe it’s been 7 weeks since I’ve left you? I sure can’t. To know that I’ve nearly finished my training in Peace Corps Jamaica is amazing. I’ve learned so much with only two months. I’ve become accustomed to the large trucks and their down shifts up the hill to become my morning alarms. I know the radio jingle to the popular fast food, Tastee. I feel nervous about where I’ll be placed, but to me it’s like when you were young during the holidays. The Christmas tree has been lit and the gifts are wrapped, and I know I’m getting a pretty stellar gift…but in my case here, I can’t shake it, or even peek the wrapping. I don’t know what’s to come! But I can’t wait!

Last weekend I went to a literary festival in Stony Hill, several drumming groups performed and there were vendors as well. The drummers were amazing! I kept tapping my foot to the beat, and one group actually invited the audience to go up and dance! I went up- and it was thrilling. ( drummer above)The beat and the performers showed us their rhythm with their feet and hips, soon enough I did the same! It lasted until late, and by the time I got home at 11:00pm or so I was ready for bed.

The next day, early morning, we went to the dam to meet the Agriculture/Environmental group. They live on the other side of the dam, so we planned a rendezvous. It took close to 2 hours, leisure walk to the dam. On the way we ate delicious fruit. I had mango, guava, begonia flowers (me eating the flowers below), cocoa fruit, and jack fruit. My stomach was smiling that day. I was happy to have such easy access to fruit! Yummm. When we arrived at the dam, we met the Agri/Envrio group and headed into the trees and took a dip in a waterfall! Ahhh, the water was chilly but a good change from getting eaten by the mosquitoes! I think we all walked about 8 miles round trip from the waterfall to Stony Hill.

This week I did my last few practicum’s for my youth development training. I went to a Women’s Center which helps young mothers and their babies. I talked to a group of girls aging from 13-16 years old who have 6 month old babies. I knew of girls in my high school getting pregnant, but I had not been exposed to girls so young with babies. It was a touching experience when I asked the girls about their relationship with their children. At the end of the meeting with them, we had them write a love letter to their child. That was my favorite part. The girls decorated the envelope and wrote To: baby from: your momma.

Another practicum we did was HIV/AID’s outreach in Stony Hill on Tuesday. I went with the HIV/AIDS advisor trainees and we talked to pedestrians about safe sex and both illnesses. Many people have a good idea of what HIV and AIDS is but didn’t know all the proper ways to protect their self. We had condom demonstrations on the road, and it made some nervous, but overall people continued on their way knowledgeable. I enjoyed learning about people and how to talk about these important topics. The training in Life Skills, HIV/AIDS, and use of Sports in Life Skills will hopefully all be used when I go to my site!
Tomorrow is the last day of training. AHH!! And so it’s bittersweet. I look forward to the next adventure on another part of the island. Yet I am sad that I have to leave this community that I finally feel integrated into. Sad face! 

Life skills skills

Several events have happened since the last post. So here's a quick update. I shadowed a current Peace Corps Volunteer last week, in St. Elizabeth parish. I was near the coast, but the PCV lives in the mountains overlooking Treasure Beach in the distance. It's quite rural, with green lush spaces between each house and fruit trees scattered in which people can just pluck an apple if you wish. I saw how it is to work with children in the Phys Ed field for a day there. I played the 100 yard scream game with the kids. We worked with 1st graders, 2nd graders and 5th graders last Tuesday. The school is small and has two buildings. Both of which house several grades, separated by a wall divider. The closeness of space and the multiple voices of teachers and students can be distracting for students. Back to the scream game. The kids are to give out one big scream as they run. Once they run out of that one scream, they must stop.

Physical Education isn't consistent in these kids lives, so when explaining how to play this game and even telling the kids how to stretch is new and confusing. Such requests as spread out arms distance from each other, is confusing. So patience is big. Overall, the three day experience got me revved up to go out to my site-to-be! (which is still unknown to me...but sooonnn!!)

I also got to visit the Agriculture and Environmental group last weekend in Woodford. The view from Woodford in picture above. Woodford is beautiful! It's in higher elevation than Stony Hill, and therefore cooler. Getting to see people I haven't seen for weeks was refreshing. The group there is having a blast growing plants. I got excited hearing about their excitement. All in all, a good day trip, and not too far. We took 3 different modes of transport up; a JUTC (greyhound) bus, another bus and a taxi. The taxi drove up and twisted through the mountains curves, which gave a gorgeous view all the while thinking you were going to tumble down the mountains because of the driving. But I'm alive and well, so no worries, haha. (below, the other three YAP kids walking up the road to meet with the Green Initiatives.)

Now, today, the Youth As Promise (YAP) group went to LEAP, meaning Learning for Earning Action Program, me thinks. It is a place where teens go who had a difficult time with high school instead go here to learn a certain skill. It's mainly boys, but there are girls who attend the program too. YAP trainees seperated the 50 students into smaller groups. I, and two other trainees worked with 14 boys aging from 16-18 years old. We started with some HIV/AIDS info. We played a hot potato game with pieces of paper crumpled, layered like onion. This became the hot potato. The paper pieces held a number which decided which trivia question to ask the unfortunate holding the molting ball of paper. The boys did a pretty good job of knowing safe sexual health practices. From HIV/AIDs info, we discussed a life skill. Goal making! I asked these boys who their role models are and how did they become successful, and they ranged from music artist Vybz Cartel (currently in jail) to God. I know, quite range. 

From there we led to short term and long term goals. As a group we worked on their career goals. The boys I worked with are currently learning how to become a shoe maker, an electritian, a visual artist, or work in food preparation. We talked and played games in getting their noggins going on how, why, when,which way they're going to achieve their goals. It was inspiring to hear them talk about how they can work toward their career jobs and how their faces show pride in the work they do at LEAP. The boys who are learning shoe making wore the shoes they made. They look like Clarks! One boy had a toothbrush and would brush his shoes when they scuffed. It was clear he wanted to keep his work well taken care of. 

 By the time the YAP trainees got back to the bus, we all felt accomplished. The 5 small group sessions we led were all successful. The LEAP boys and couple of girls were responsive, respectful and fun. Days like today make me feel more prepared and ready to impact more lives. Tomorrow, we learn more skills on life skills. And I'm ready. 

One Month Mark

How yuh do?

It's been a month of training and learning and heat and salutations. Now from Hellshire, the Youth Development crew is at Stony Hill. This city is bigger than Hellshire, but I miss the closeness Hellshire gave. Yet the weather here is as refreshing as the view I get to see from my window every morning.

Stony Hill's community is spread among the hills and surrounding mountains. In the center of the community are two patty restaurants. Tastee and Juici. Juici has a vegetarian option, however is also located by the bus stop. This was a learning experience last week when a PCT and I almost got hauled into a bus. Aggressively I might add. There are people who try to fill up the bus as much as possible before it heads away. Therefore we were just numbers to the pile. We pulled ourselves out of the beeline towards going somewhere we didn't want to go. I know how to better ground myself when I'm near Juici patty. Not to mention just simply walking around the bus stop to get my occasional veggie patty.

There is also a supermarket and several churches in the community as well. The supermarket is well stocked. Though so is my house here. My host dad is an avid cook. We also have banana and coconut trees on the property. Several PCT's have families that have their own garden of greens. All of this natural from the ground goodness makes it easy to eat well. Yesterday for dinner I had Rundown Mackerel. It's a coconut creamy sauce on mackerel. deeelicious.

This past weekend was Easter holiday! I hope everyone had a wonderful time with family. We had Friday through Monday off. This four day weekend gave me a chance to travel! Well first I went to service with my host family for Good Friday. It was awesome. The pastor was well spoken and after the 2 and a half hour service I got to meet some of the congregation. I appreciate the closeness of the church goers here. People stay and chat for such a while after service too, just calmly catching up. Saturday night I went out with some PCT's because it was Ity's birthday! Ity's real name is Claire, but we call her Ity. Anyways, we went out to a club in Kingston with some of our young adult home stays. Then Sunday was Easter! Monday a handful of us went to Dunn's River in Ocho Rios.

We left in the morning and got to Ochie before lunch. We went in with resident passes ( which is cheaper than tourist passes, yay!) and then blended in with the crowds of cruise tourists. A Carnival Cruise stopped at Ochie. And boy, can you tell a tourist. Little bit of pinkness from the Caribbean sun, and then the others who obviously had Carnival ponchos. I've become so accustomed to being here in a month I forget the color of my skin. haha!  The picture above is the falls and I'm in the pink shorts with the tarheel blue bandana on my head.

Oh. I forgot to mention. IT WAS POURING THE WHOLE TIME. The rain went on the whole day. But it did not damper our spirits to walk the falls. Its the only waterfall that enters the ocean directly. It's beautiful and so fun to climb! I suggest people go there and try it!

Today is my host dad's birthday. He is now 60! But what's crazy is he looks 50. So serious. I have found people in Jamaica hide their age well. How fortunate right!? A couple children of his have come into town to celebrate his party this weekend. I'm excited for the weekend. He has boxes of records and loves country music, so I anticipate hearing his favorites.

Mi name Vybzies

First off- I had my birthday on this past Monday. Wahhooo! I get to spend two more birthdays in Jamaica before I end my Peace Corps service. I have to say, we are off to a good start. On Sunday another PCT (Peace Corps Trainee), Marie and I celebrated our close birthdays (by 3 days) at the beach! It was initially overcast, but the sun eventually came out of the clouds. I had some red stripe, and festivals. Festivals are almost like churros. Just fried dough without the cinammon sweetness....that reminds me, its Friday and my neighbor cooks them...I'll be getting some festivals after this write up. Yum!
Back to Sunday, people came to the beach to hang out, and some wore the birthday cone hats I found at the market in Kingston. I wore mine in the ocean, slightly foolish, but overall funny. Around 2ish or so a Red Stripe promo car drove onto the beach and blasted out some great dance music. The homestay kids that came to the beach with us were dancing and naturally I had to join. I'm a work in progress.

Then Monday, my actual birthday, friends came to my house after the days session and we watched Hunger games and ate rum cake that my host sister made! Delicious!

Now, last Saturday Group 83 had to experience the Carnation Market in Kingston. It's big. Theres people who come from all parts of the island and sell their fruits and vegetables. A lot that are new to me, but DELICIOUS! For instance, I love love love toasted breadfruit. Its like the way sounds, it grows on trees and the inside is like soft bread. I also tried star apple, its a purple plum looking exterior, yet has a gooey slime-like fruit center. It's...different in regards to texture, but the taste is good.

In the market, there are booths/sections of which farmers/sellers have with their goods. Everyone want you to buy their fruit or vegetables. The market area is also shaded by tarps to block the sun which creeps into the cracks of the makeshift roofs. My host family and I went at 7:30 in the morining, and we left by 11:00. We also went by the clothes shops too. These shops are small entrances into a building and are set up like a closed hallway. The clothes are displayed on mannequins in the front, and the rest on one wall pinned with their price. The other "wall" is a big gated area upon which the other side resides the owner with the clothes in clear bag packages. When you decide on the clothes item, they get it from the inventory and you purchase the clothes like you would buying movie tickets, with that partition.

We will be going back to Kingston for some sightseeing tomorrow, I look foward to seeing some historical and cultural parts of the capital city. I'm getting a better idea of the geographics of Jamaica. Today we had due as homework a country map, a seasonal calendar and a community map of Hellshire.

As a PCT I did this to begin learning how to learn about my environment and what will be important to me in the Youth As Promise Sector. For the country map I mapped the 14 parishes and capitols and then located sports and party sites pertaining to the youth population. I found there are all kinds of events in Jamaica. One I want to do is the Reggae Marathon ( I may just do the half) in December. There are cricket, netball, football, rugby, running, triatholon events all over. As for party's it goes from Carnival/Baccachanal, Dream Weekend for Independence day, to Jamaica Fashion week. I hope to participate in some events in the future! Then with the seasonal calendar, I reflected the same information, but in calendar form. Then the community map was a way to view my immediate location and the likle shops and fields that I go by and eat at.

I titled this post Vybzies, because vybz is a description of a person whos chill with spunk, or something. haha. And the Peace Corps driver called me that too. haha. We'll see if the nickname sticks.

Now, time to get those festivals!

Rent a Tile

Today was just awesome. We started with language lessons. Learning the tenses in Patwa. Then for homework we had to write a paragraph using past, present and future tenses. We had to write what we thought about Jamaica before this week, What we know now as a Peace Corps Trainee and What we think our life in Jamaica will be in the future. What's just lovely about Patwa is you don't have to change much on the tenses. Here is a few sentences from my homework. Enjoy!

Mi did kina concern bout de people dem, but mi find out seh kind and confident. Now mi a find out seh dem like music and dance. Mi waah fi be a Jamerican afta 2 year.

There I said I was concerned about the people here, but I found out they're kind and confident. I now know they like music and dance. And I'd like to become a Jamerican( as in well integrated in Jamaica culture) after 2 years.

Plurals add dem after a noun. So girl dem, boy dem, book dem. You dont add the "s" after the noun to make it plural. Neat right? Theres all sorts of little things like that, I'm learning and practicing at home with my home stay family too.

After our language class we visited the UWI! We went to the University of the West Indies and learned about Jamaican dance and steel drums!
From Jamaican dancing, there was an evolution. It went from more African based to ska ( sixties type dancing, mash potato and the like), to reggae (a sway back and forth), and dance hall ( a sort of mix of dances, depending on the song). The dance teacher showed us how to dance a little bit of everything.

 Then our Language and Cultural Leader told us how couples would go to dance halls and rent a tile. Oh what does that mean? Well, apparently, some couples would dance so close to each other, they would also end up staying in one place. That tile that they were dancing upon, would be "rented". A small likle (little in Patwa) tile. A degeh degeh (measley little) tile. I thought that was funny, because I could think how couples like to be close. Then thinking how to dance so close the people are on one tile on the floor! This was back in the day, I don't think they do that anymore now.

After sweating a good hour or so from dance, we got lunch. I cracked... I got KFC. After our bellies were full, we went to the Pan Yard and learned about steel drums! There's all sorts and sizes of them. Going from deepest noise to lighter, we have your 6 bass, 4 bass (the one I played with), triple cello, double seconds, and double tremor and then there were your good, rock band set of drums. Steel drums come from Trinidad and Tobago, historically, and weren't played until about the 1930's. Also you can paint them chrome(environmentally bad) or just normal ( better than chrome), of course the chrome is prettier, and has the silver reflection and all that jazz.

 The students and teacher who told us all about the steel drums played a few songs for us! It was beautiful to hear! One song they played is called Palance. Its a pan song with a hop. It has a dance that the panists hop while they play- also we, the PCT's hopped around their pans too.

Over all it was a culturally refreshing experience. I loved it!

Sunday funday

Growing up Catholic, my expression of my beliefs are reserved. I have a personal one to one time with the big guy. However today's experience was not how I do worship. This morning I woke up at 6:45 to go to a 7:30 Pentecostal service. I went with my Home stay brother. It was his church. Its a big church...it even gets broadcasting to NYC! How neat, right? I spent 2 and a half hours at the service. It wasn't until my home stay brother got hungry, that we left. The service was continuing passionately after.

The family of mother and two boys in the pew in front of us were interesting to observe. The boys were throwing pencils at each other and just doing what kids do at church. I would have a piece of paper and doodle or something as a kid to pass the time at mass. The choir had many songs to sing, and the congregation sang along with their hands in the air, swaying themselves back and forth to the music. At one song, before the pastor spoke, there was a change in the people in the pews. The woman was reaffirming her faith through the song so strongly she was crying. Now I didn't see her tears, but her youngest boy seeing his mom rubbed his hand on her back as I'm sure she would to him when he would cry. It was a moving scene for me. 

Oh to note, the church goers wear their Sunday best. Formal attire, as in going to a wedding attire. The youngest son of that family I mentioned wore a silk vest with a white collared shirt and slacks. Women wore matching dress suits and white hats. I wore a long skirt and pink top. I'll work on finding a hat. 

After church we went to get a pattie. A pattie is a pretty much like an empanada. If you don't speak Spanish then the Aussies call it a meat pie. If you don't speak Australian its a hot pocket. :-D

Back to the pattie. We went to Tastees. Tastees is one of three major pattie fast food restaurants. The other two are Mothers and Juicy's. There's also a debate on the difference on tastes of each. Kinda like the battle of which is better...Coca Cola or Pepsi. It's a matter of preference. I had a Tastee pattie yesterday, beef and cheese. I didn't know it was a Tastee pattie however. See, the local mini mart resells them for their own. Its a way to create income for people. At Tastees a beef and cheese patty costs 90 JD (Jamaican Dollars...little more than an american dollar) the patties are resold for 110JD. It's info like this that I'm excited to learn from my home stay family!

Here's a picture of  the beach and some of my new friends! We went to the beach after the church services.

Here's a little fun fact. To help speak Patwa you must drop the h and put it somewhere else. So thing is ting. And hair sounds like ear. So don't be alarmed when I get an ear cut. 

where to begin...

Hi everyone! This is new to me (blogging that is), as I will be documenting my experience in Jamaica as a Peace Corps Trainee...then Volunteer :)
The first three months I am training and learning all that I need to do and be.
So without further ado...

These past few days have been busy!! The adventure began in Atlanta, Ga for our staging event. I met 35 other wonderful people who picked up and left to go to Jamaica, like me! At staging we got to meet and learn a little about eachother. But more importantly, we got to understand and become confident in our reasons for leaving home and working with people we havent met yet! At the end of the day, I felt more confident in my belief of Peace Corps mission and myself. The 3 goals of Peace Corps are to create friendship and peace with other countries who want us, for the US to teach the other country about ourselves, and for that country to teach us as well.

After staging we woke early, like before last call and headed to the airport for Jamaica. Then off we went to Kingston! Upon getting to the Kingston Manley Airport, somebody took my orange duffle bag. Weird right?! There were 2 of them on the plane! But luckily the switch up was solved, it took some time, and I got my bag back. No biggie, it could happen anywhere, and without the help of the Peace Corps staff, the process of getting my bag could've taken forever! Everyone has been and is so helpful!!  The picture above is of Kingston from the hotel were we stayed for a couple days before pre-service training.

Since arriving, I've been in meetings and learning more peoples names. I've learned about safety, medical and cultural information for the next 27 mo. They're exhausting but so knowledgable.

 The volunteers in my group have all become close in just half a week. There are people from all walks of life and with so much experiences share. We are now in our pre-service training in St. Catherine's parish near the coast. It's beautiful. My host family is helpful and teaching me Patwa!

We went to the beach today and the fishermen were bringing in all sorts of sea life. Including a Conch! The fishermen told the group of us how they cook it...curry conch, stew...then he says to one of our guys " you know what its good for?", "for strength"...bahaha. if you dont know what I mean. Look it up!

Tomorrow we go to church, church can go from 2 hours to just about the whole day! I'm excited though, the people are animated and passionate, I could imagine these descriptions will be reflected in the services.
Lata!