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 :)