Forgot to mention...

The one truly exciting thing I did on my vacation.

Got my nose pierced. It is something I've wanted for a while. Started with the ring, but changed it over to a stud before I went back to work. I figured a small stud wouldn't cause much fuss (has gotten me a few compliments and a few strange looks, but nothing too bad), but a ring might be a bit much for my more conservative supervisors/co-workers.


It has healed quite nicely, and looks rather cute if I do say so myself.

Summertime Blues, Autumnal Illnesses, and those happy moments in between

August brought about my first vacation since joining Peace Corps. I had managed to accrue about three weeks, and decided to take it all. At this point, I was in desperate need for a vacation. Thanks to my tax refund, and some savings, I was able to plan a trip to visit friends back in the states. My vacation was planned for the end of August, with me being in the US for two weeks, and home a week (I figured it would be nice to have some time to recoup from my vacation before having to head back to work-turned out I needed that week for other reasons).

It turned out that, by some miracle of fortune, I had timed my vacation just right. The day I left to head to the airport was the day I found out that Hurricane Dean was headed towards the island. My plane managed to leave well before they closed down the airports. I was almost held over in Houston because of Hurricane Erin, but managed to make it to my final destination that night (late, but not as late as I could have been). I will tell you that I was very thankful that I travel light (two carry-ons). It made travel and customs much easier.

My two weeks with my friends was absolutely wonderful. I was in some desperate need of downtime, and of "feeling normal." As interesting and wonderful as it is to live and work in another culture, there is often this feeling of being "alien." No matter how much you come to appreciate and enjoy the culture, you will always remain a bit of an outsider. This is not necessarily a bad thing, it just is. Understanding that is okay to be uncomfortable with certain aspects of another culture, or not feeling totally at home in a new culture, is part of the wisdom an experience like the Peace Corps offers. In appreciating a new culture, you learn to appreciate things about your own culture. Conversely, critiquing a new culture often makes you look more critically at your own culture. This allows you to come to a better understanding of yourself.

Back to my vacation. It was a quiet vacation (which was what I wanted and needed). I spent a lot of time just hanging out with my friends. We watched a lot of movies and tv shows (dvds of tv series are great), played a few games, and just enjoyed each others company. We did some shopping (and I was overwhelmed by the *choices* in Wal-Mart after a year in a country that has a more limited idea of department/discount stores). I enjoyed some foods I hadn't had much of in a year. Basically my two weeks at my friends house let me find my focus and balance again.

Now while I was away enjoying myself, Dean passed by Jamaica (it's outer sections passing *over* Jamaica). I did spend a bit of time during my vacation worrying about my friends on island (and worrying about the fate of the house my apartment is in). I'm very thankful that the eye did not pass over the island like it was originally projected to do. I am also very thankful for the internet, which allowed me to find out how things were going, and if people were ok. This and the fact that I knew I could do absolutely nothing at the time kept me from worrying to much.

It turned out that my friends were all fine. The other volunteers sat out the storm in the embassy building. Some of my Jamaican friends had property damage (mostly damage to roofs, and a few lots their roofs entirely), but were all physically alright.

When I returned home, I found that my landlady's house had some roof damage and had flooded. My apartment had also flooded. Thankfully my landlady had picked most everything up off the floor and set those things that had to remain on the floor up on concrete blocks to minimize water damage. So nothing was permanently damaged. Everything was covered in mold and mildew, and had to be wiped down and/or washed with bleach. The entire apartment needed to be cleaned and aired out (thankfully it is small), and all my clothes had to washed. Thankfully I had already planned on taking the week following my vacation off--this meant I had a week to clean before I had to go back to work. Not quite the way I had planned on spending the week, but so things go.

The past few months have been spent settling back in. I was sick for a time, with various viruses and other not-fun stuff, but I'm finally started to feel human again.

Celebrated my birthday on Sunday. Had a wonderful weekend. A couple of friends came over and we watched movies, made homemade chilli, cornbread, and brownies, played Jeopardy, and cards. Overall we just had a great time hanging out and being silly. I put up a strand of Christmas lights in cheerful acknowledgment of the holiday season. I'm going to another friends house this weekend to celebrate Thanksgiving with the traditional ritual of eating way to much wonderful food.

Hope everyone has a fantastic turkey day.

Jumping back to July

Wow, it's been way to long since I managed to update this thing. So time to catch up on some of the things that have happened since June, starting with July.

The beginning of July is when the next group of Peace Corps volunteers arrives for training. Since this is our 45th year of service here in Jamaica, there was a bit of to-do about welcoming the new volunteers. Several PC bigwigs came down for the event, and volunteers who wished to be at the airport to welcome the newbies were asked to wear their 45th anniversary t-shirts. Greeting the new volunteers brought back a lot of memories of my own arrival. In so many ways it is hard to believe I've been here a year (well over a year now). Some days it feels like I just got here and some days it feels like I've been here forever. It was also strange to be the old-timer, the one in the know, who could show the new kids the ropes (I say kids, but the new group, like my own is made up of a wide variety of ages-including those 50 and above).

Arriving in a new country as a volunteer is such an overwhelmingly intense experience. Of course the whole application/interview/acceptance process for the PC can be a strange mix of intensity and boredom (it's a good preparation for service that way). The process is as follows:

You apply online. If they think your application holds promise a recruiter calls to set up an interview. You meet with the recruiter for an interview, much like you would for any job. The recruiter gives you a whole lot of paperwork to fill out (again mostly standard job stuff-resume, references, letters of interest/intent). You also have to send in a copy of your fingerprints so that they can do a thorough background check. Once your done all that, your recruiter will nominate you for a program. Once you have been nominated for a program (my recruiter sent me a list of nominations to choose from; nominations tend to be very general, i.e. AIDS/HIV worker in Sub-Sahara Africa) you then get more paperwork to fill out. This set paperwork is your medical clearance forms. The PC Office of Medical Services provides detailed instructions for getting this paperwork done. The sooner you get it filled out (there is a dental form and a medical form) the sooner they can evaluate the forms. It took me a while to get everything in order because I had to get my teeth fixed before I could pass my dental clearance (my teeth were beyond bad-lots of abscesses, weak enamel and other problems). The easiest and best solution for me was to have them pulled (to fix them would have taken more time and way more money that I had available; truthfully I was tired of being in pain all the time and not being able to eat even soft foods-when it hurts to bite into a bean burrito you know it's time to do something). Getting that done took a while. By the time I got my medical clearance done (and was cleared for a limited number of countries-Jamaica being one of them) I finally got to talk with a placement officer.

The placement officer is the one who actually finds you an assignment. He/She compares the list of countries you are medically cleared to serve in, plus your skills and interests with what those countries need from a volunteer. Once they find a suitable candidate they call you. Of course they don't tell you the country--they tell you what region it is in and discuss the pros and cons of that region with you. For me the region was the Caribbean. Once I said yes, the PC sent me my invitation to serve. I got my invitation to serve in Jamaica in May, a little over a year since I'd started the whole process. I was to leave in July to attend staging, and then continue on to training.

Before you leave the US for your country of service you meet up with all the other new volunteers who will be in your training group for some basic orientation. This is called staging and usually takes a couple of days. For my group, our staging was in Miami. I left the day before staging began since to fly from Spokane to Miami basically takes all day. Left at 5:30 in the morning, full of nervous jitters and excitement, and arrived at 9:30 at night, full of nervous jitters and excitement. Met my roommate, P, once I finally got to the hotel. Good luck would be on my side and Ms. P would be my roommate just about every time we had to get together as a big group (she's really cool and we get along very well). The next day was a blur of meeting 59 new people, having lots of information thrown at you and generally wondering what the h*ll you'd gotten yourself into. It was also fun. We were given a walking around allowance, so we went out to a Cuban restaurant the first night, and saw a movie the second. After two days of intense information overload, we got up way before the crack of dawn to travel to the airport. 60 people and their massive amounts of luggage (I was worried I had over packed, but I apparently packed way lighter than anyone else) waiting to check-in for an international flight is a nightmare. Once we got through that line, we got to go hang out at the gate for a while. We were all so excited and idealistic. We were so shiny and new that I'm sure we squeaked. :)

Then we stepped off the plane into a wall of humid heat. The bright Jamaican summer sun glaring above us. Then we were away to another line, customs. Finally we were able to collect our bags and head out to where a bus awaited us. We were all tired and yet buzzed on the excitement still. There were some of the current volunteers awaiting us outside and they cheered as we came out. After having group photos taken out in front of the airport, we left for the university where our first week of training was to be held.

The whole of training (from the university to our community based training sites) was intense and overwhelming. I know I learned something, but most days I couldn't tell you what it was. My memories of training are mostly just a blur of moments, some standing out more than others. There was the trip my sector (community environmental health, aka wat/san) took out to Belview (a very rural town way up in the mountains) to help paint a school. There was no running water in this town. Most of the townspeople hiked down to a spring for showing, washing clothes, etc. Some of us made the hike (even my out of shape self-I huffed and puffed along, but my friends allowed me to take my time). The water was frigid, but felt great in the hot afternoon sun. Another great moment for me was when we went to see the official opening of another volunteers project. She had helped her community put in a large spring catchment tank and several stand pipes so that they did not have to walk so far to haul water. The group hiked up the mountain to the see the catchment tank, and I wasn't going to go at first because I am absolutely terrified of heights. One of the local Rastafarians finally talked me into going, cut me a walking stick and helped me climb up the mountain (including hiking up a stream at one point). Making it all the way up and back down without having a massive panic attack (or falling) was a huge deal for me. Overall, very cool memory.

Those are some of my memories of training, and it looking back it amazes me how far I've come in the year (plus) that I've been here. How much I've learned, grown and stretched. I have become more realistic in my expectations, and the shiny newness that I saw reflected in this new group has long since worn off. There are still days that I feel like an alien visiting a foreign planet, but for the most part I've managed to carve out a little niche for myself-not quite American, not quite Jamaican, just me.

Next up for posting-August: Well-timed vacations and missed hurricanes.

A bit of fun...

Was surfing the 'net this evening and found a nice Harry Potter Character Computability Quiz. I have to say that my results were fairly unsurprising. :)

You scored as Luna Lovegood, You are Luna Lovegood. You daydream and often seem to be drifting off into your own world. You have very strong opinions that many agree are not logical. You place a lot of faith in these beliefs. Possibly, you see more than what meets the eye. You are very accepting of others. You may have only a few close friends because you refuse to sacrifice your opinions and true self for social graces. Luna Lovegood 78% Neville Longbottom 78% Albus Dumbledore 69% Severus Snape 66% Hermione Granger 66% Draco Malfoy 66% Remus Lupin 66% Harry Potter 59% Ron Weasley 47% Oliver Wood 41% Percy Weasley 38% Bellatrix Lestrange 34% Sirius Black 34% Lord Voldemort 28% Harry Potter Character Combatibility Test created with QuizFarm.com

Weekend Geek-fest and the Joy of Packages

So Friday I was finally able to retrieve a package that my dad and grandmother had sent. One thing that you will find if you ever spend a significant amount of time a long way from home is that packages are one of the best things in the world. There is just something so wonderful about getting that little touch of home (and about getting mail that isn't Newsweek-all volunteers get a subscription to the international edition of Newsweek). I did a lovely little happy dance while I was opening my package, complete with oohs, ahhs, and "cool, look at this." Yes, I know I'm strange. :)

In case you are curious my package contained a computer part that I had requested, a copy of the movie "The Queen" which I am looking forward to watching, and clothes. I got two lovely new outfits from my grandmother (who has very nice taste). Two broomstick style skirts in summer colors, and two blouses to match. I wore one of the new outfits today, and got lots of compliments.

After getting my package and attending to other business in town, I headed out to a friends house for a true weekend of geekery. We had planned a Lord of the Rings movie-fest for the weekend. We were going to watch Fellowship of the Ring on Friday night, then watch the next two on Saturday. However we ran into many (frustrating and annoying) technical difficulties Friday evening. So we enjoyed some soup that D (my friend) made and ended up watching Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith instead. The next day when we were finally able to resolve our technical issues we started our marathon. We got started at about noon and watched all three movies (the extended versions no less). We even got the big screen effect since he had rented the projector from the computer lab he works at. It was a fun time despite the craziness of watching 12 hours of movie. We finally collapsed into our beds sometime around 1:30 at night. I hung out for a while with D and his roommate the next morning before heading back to my flat. All in all it was a great weekend. :)

Food and memories

So I was gonna make potato pancakes for dinner tonight before I realized that I was out of onions. Walked to the little shop up the road from me, but they were out too. So bought a soda and thought of what else I could make. Realized that I had all the items needed to make one of my favorite childhood dishes, potatoes and dumplings. It was something that my maternal grandmother used to make, and occasionally my mother after Grandma Chris died. It is a simple dish requiring only potatoes, flour, eggs, and water. It is usually eaten with butter and sour cream. Not a light dish, but very tasty. :)

It is one of the few things that I know how to cook without having a written recipe for. When I was in college I had mentioned missing the dish and my mom gave me the recipe to follow. That was the first time I'd ever made it, but the recipe is so easy that I memorized it. The dumplings are two parts flour for every one part water and egg. Mix dough into a nice tacky substance. When the potatoes are almost done boiling, drop dumplings into the water with a teaspoon. Once the dumplings rise to the top, let them cook five minutes more and then pour the hot water off. Serve with small amount of melted butter and sour cream. Like I said easy.

I don't remember the last time I made this dish, but I know it was over four years ago. Thankfully my sieve like memory managed to retain this. It turned out quite well, and I enjoyed it along with slightly sweeten ice tea. The whole dinner was a reminder of happier times growing up. It was a comfort dinner, and after a week of not feeling quite right (sinus issues again, along with that wonderful monthly visitor all women know so well) one that I hadn't realized I needed. It is amazing how our memory connects with our senses.

Things I Just Haven't Gotten Around to Blogging...

Camping Trip: About a month ago I got to go on a wonderful camping trip. It was a weekend trip to celebrate the birthday of another volunteer. We spent the weekend in Hollywell National Park in the Blue Mountains of Jamaica. Our campsite overlooked the valley that holds the greater Kingston area. It was gorgeous (as soon as I post the rest of my pictures somewhere I'll include a link), especially at night as the whole city was laid out like a filigreed bejeweled necklace. We also had a full moon that weekend. So it was pretty spectacular.

During the day we interspersed hiking with games and simply enjoying each other's company (there were about 15 campers in all). In the evening we chatted and enjoyed the company some more. :) It rained off and on, and the mist and clouds passing through the mountains looked very cool. It was way colder than I had expected, but thankfully I had packed a jacket for the trip. I about froze at night though. Never thought I'd get cold while living in Jamaica. :)

The campsite was nice. We rented a big tent that looked like one of the tents from M*A*S*H. I was glad I'd hauled my sleeping pad and sleeping cocoon with me, though I wished I had a full fledged sleeping bag instead of just the liner but I survived. ;)

One funny thing that happened was our transportation issues. We broke two buses on the way up (only had to switch buses once, thankfully the second problem was a minor one and happened when we arrived at the park). We also broke down on the way back to town and had to switch buses again. Thankfully everyone had a good sense of humor about the whole thing so it turned out to be just part of the adventure.

Another weekend hiking trip: A couple of weekends ago I got to spend the weekend at a friends house along with some other volunteers. My friend is an amazing cook (he is also a vegetarian, so I tend to eat very healthily when I visit) so we were well fed the whole weekend. We hung out and played cards Friday, and then Saturday morning we left for our hike. There is a cave near my friend's house that was used by the Arawaks (the pre-Columbus inhabitants of Jamaica) and held some of their paintings. The cave was also used by one of the Maroons (a group of escaped slaves that fought a long, vicious guerrilla war with Britain) as a hiding spot. My friend told us that it was just a short walk to the path entrance where we would meet our guide and then a nice leisurely stroll up to the cave. He was mistaken on both counts, but it didn't keep us from enjoying the day. The walk down was about 40 minutes, but was mostly downhill. The hike up to the cave was a little more rigorous than expected since we first had to hike down the steep hill of red mud (thankfully there was a railing at one part since the path is frequently used by community members to get to the river) then hike up the hill on the other side.

The spot at the river where we crossed was lovely, and since we had known there would be a river near by we all wore our swim suits. The hike up was also beautiful. I finally got to see how pineapple's grow. Surprisingly it's on a ground plant with spiky leaves and not a tree. It grows in the middle of the plant. I have a picture but I haven't uploaded it to my computer yet. :) The cave was really interesting, though small. It was cool to be able to look at the paintings and not have to be standing behind a rope (though the museum worker in me winced a bit at that). The paintings were in remarkable shape for not having been preserved in any formal way. The cave was grilled (had security bars) and locked, but that was it. Anyway, after seeing the cave, and getting eaten alive by mosquitoes, we started our hike back down.

Of course it had started raining, but we didn't mind so much. We decided to go swimming anyway. Our poor guide thought we were nuts (Jamaicans don't stay out in the rain. In fact her mom commented on that fact when we got back, saying that we didn't have sense enough to get out of the rain. I couldn't disagree with her.). We had a blast though. After we finally hauled ourselves back up the hill we started for my friend's house. Remarkable we got a ride (at least part of the way) which cut a good deal off time of the trip. Once we got back we enjoyed hot drinks and grilled sandwiches. Grilled peanut butter is actually pretty good. ::grins::

And thus concludes the things that I'd been meaning to blog and just hadn't gotten to.

The Adventures of the Mighty Stain Fighter

Okay, so one has a bit of time to think of silly things while doing laundry by hand.

So my new alter ego, MSF, tackled the overflowing laundry basket that I've been ignoring for a while. Spent a few hours scrubbing clothes, bed linens, my welcome and bathroom mats, and my towel. If you want a good upper arm workout, wash your sheets by hand. Hmm, scrubbing the mats was a good workout too. Plus they're all bright and clean now, and the sheets smell great. As frustrating as it is to do all of it by hand, I've found that not only is it a useful skill, but my clothes look new longer. Another plus is since we have a water catchment tank (catches rain water), I don't have to haul water to do my laundry (or for any other reason).

Tricks I've discovered for dealing with stains: 1) if you can rinse it before it dries, do so (During training I spilled chocolate ice cream on my white skirt. I went to the ladies room and rinses it out and scrubbed the worse parts with a bit of hand soap. Since it was just a small section of my skirt, it didn't take me soaking the whole thing. By the time I finished you couldn't even tell I'd spilled anything), 2) use the nifty bar laundry soap they sell here and then let it soak for a while, 3) soak the darn object in bleach (or the color safe alternative), 4) dye the thing a darker color (I haven't had to use this one yet, but I have a few things I'm contemplating dying just to make them look better), 5) use the stained object for yard work, cleaning, and other things that require older, rattier clothes.

Other than laundry, I didn't do a whole lot today. But I figure it was a big accomplishment to get all of my laundry done. Spent the rest of the day reading and doing little odd and end things. Then I made "Poor Girl's Chicken Fettuccine" for dinner. Basically I cooked five chicken breast tenderloins with some Mrs. Dash garlic and herb stuff, made a box of Kraft "Cheesy Alfredo" pasta, mixed the chicken with the pasta and added some cherry tomatoes from my yard. Overall not a bad little dinner.

A bit of excitement

Today's little bit of excitement came when two of my landladies dogs (one German Shepard and one little mongrel) got in a fight. Well, the German Shepard went after the mongrel and bit her a couple of times. Mrs. G, my landlady, broke up said fight by throwing rocks at the dogs involved. As soon as the German Shepard was distracted the mongrel ran off (smart pup). I had to follow the blood droplets to find her and then coax her out of her hiding spot so we could treat the cuts (screw worms are a real bad problem here). Thankfully the little dog likes me a lot and I was able to keep her calm while we treated her. Of course she ran off to hide again as soon as she could. I haven't seen her for the rest of the day but hopefully she's alright. We had to chain the German Shepard back up.

The dogs here are yard dogs, and not really treated as pets. The mongrels have a clearly established pack. The German Shepard is relatively new to the household. She and her pup (they were bought for breeding purposes) were kept separate from the other dogs for a while after they arrived. So we have two distinct packs in close proximity. My guess is that she viewed the little female mongrel (who is the alpha female of her pack) as a threat and decided to show her dominance. Thus the fight.

I figure that was enough excitement for one day. Did a little more grocery shopping since the stores will only be open limited hours this weekend (everything closes for Good Friday and Easter and most shops had limited hours today). Made bean burritos for dinner (I am continuously happy to find the ingredients for said dish in one of the local supermarkets). Now I'm just chilling to some good music (current song is OAR's "Crazy Game of Poker"--a fun song) and reading. Have a four day weekend (yay!) and the only things that must be done are laundry and some light cleaning.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, I am feeling better. Lotsa sleep, medicine, and nasal rinse (thanks to my friends for pointing that trick out) have made a difference. There still a bit of pressure and drippage, but I am much improved. :)

Sinusitis is evil

So ever since I came to Jamaica my allergies have bothered me. Usually I take some medication and it's fine (or at least at a level I can deal with), but it seems like at least once a month it gets worse and I end up with sinusitis (at least for the past few months it seems like it is once a month). While I wasn't feeling stellar the past few days I didn't think much of it. Took my Allegra and got on with my life. However this morning I woke up feeling achy, stuffy, and generally miserable. So rather than go to a one of the outlying health clinics and give a presentation like I was supposed to to, I ended up at the doctors office. After confirming my suspicions that I once again have sinusitis, he wrote me a prescription for a different sinus medicine and some cough syrup. So now I'm back at home after picking up a few groceries (juice, jello, soup, all those nice comforting foods that feel good against a sore throat). Hopefully I won't need anything for a few days since most of the shops will only be open for limited hours (if at all) this weekend. Apparently *everything* closes for Easter around here. I'm off to rest for a bit.

Fun, Fools, and Finances

Haven't posted for a few days, mainly cause I wasn't home. So I didn't have Internet access. Spent three days last week at a training in Orecabesa, St. Mary (on the north coast). The training was for volunteers and counterparts and focused mainly on how to create good presentations that would be useful in the training of trainers (which is a lot of what PC volunteers do).

It was wonderful to get to see people I hadn't seen in months and to meet their counterparts. I made some new connections that may be useful to me at my site, which is always a nice thing. It was also a nice refresher on how to plan and format a training session. Plus the hotel was nice (though the mosquitoes were *big* and apparently immune to deet as my face and hands got eaten up in the night (everything else was covered by sheets)). It was on the beach, and had excellent food. So overall it was a nice three days away from my usual duties.

Yesterday I spent the day relaxing for the most part. Did a little bit of shopping in the afternoon. Finally got around to buying some flatware. I had one fork, two spoons, and a few butter knifes. I found a cute little set on sale. Now if I have guests over we don't have to wash the fork between uses (I had a few plastic forks. So I'd never actually had to wash the fork between uses, but it could of happened.). I also bought a few little things to pretty up my little flat (a cute glass votive candle holder and an little aromatherapy burner that was on sale). Sales are wonderful things.

I also treated myself to Chinese for lunch yesterday. There's a place in my area that makes a great sweet and sour chicken. While eating I had fun people watching. One really interesting thing I noticed was a Jamaican couple sitting near me. They spent a good portion of the meal chatting in rapid fire Spanish. It was one of those little things that makes you realize how multicultural our world is.

Today I haven't done much of anything. I managed to get my taxes done finally though. So that was an achievement. Chatted with my dad for a bit, and made potato pancakes for lunch. It's been a nice, quiet day.

Haven't really seen any fools today. Just threw that in the title because today's April Fool's Day, and it made for nice alliteration. :)

World TB Day

Well Saturday was World Tuberculosis Day. Since it fell on a weekend, the health department I volunteer at decided to hold the event today. Myself and several of my co-workers went out into different clinics and hospitals to present on TB. We also made nice little poster board presentations to leave at the various places for the week.

I gave 4 talks on the subject at the local hospital. It was slightly chaotic since we gave the talks in the outpatient clinic areas (there was a lot of noise and movement). But most people seemed interested (and remarkably were able to hear and understand me). We even got a few questions. I thought my voice was gonna go toward the end since it felt like I'd been shouting. Other than that it was definitely a good morning.

This afternoon I spent making a PowerPoint slide show on a government assistance program they have here. My PC supervisor asked if I could do a presentation at an upcoming conference. This way other volunteers can learn some more about the program and maybe point it out to those in their communities who would benefit.

Came home washed a couple of items of clothing, but couldn't hang them on the line because of our daily afternoon rains. So the shirts I need for the conference are hanging on my shower curtain rod with my fan blowing at them. Hopefully I'll get the rest of my laundry done early enough this weekend that it will be dry by the time the afternoon rains hit. Ah the joys of doing laundry the old fashioned way.

Catching the Rhythm

If there is one thing I've learned in the six plus months that I've been on island is that rhythm is a huge part of life here. Music pumps out of speakers at high volume, the bass turned up enough that you can feel it to your bones.

The speech of Jamaicans is also highly influenced by rhythm. Listening to the chatter of Jamaican patois (or Jamaican creole) is a music unto itself. Movement and body language also play a huge part in expression here.

So "catching the rhythm" is a vital part of blending into the culture. The way you walk, talk, and act shows how much you are willing to learn about the culture you are living in. When I attempt to "chat patois" I may get a lot of laughs, but I also get a lot of respect for trying.

There have been a number of times lately that a person has assumed I was Jamaican (at least until I said something--then my American accent gives me away). Of course there are still plenty of times where I'm called "whitey" (a term for foreigners usually) as I walk down the street. But I don't mind it too much. After all it is the truth (I'm white and foreign). :)

Returning to rhythm...

Today I had the joy of attending the Manchester Red Cross Association's first Drum Vibes event. It was basically a concert with a drum group and band from another parish, a local drama group, a saxaphonist, and a few local dignitaries. I went with some other volunteers (and saw a few of my Jamaican friends there). It was a blast. The drummers were amazing. They performed many songs from Jamaica's cultural history and often took turns dancing during their perfomances. All the performers were great, and they all had us dancing, clapping and having a good time. It was definately a good day. Made better by the fact that my internet connection is back up and working (it went down yesterday morning). So I get to update my blog. :)

Just a brief post to get this blog rolling.

I finally decided that I should start up a blog to keep in touch with friends and family back home and to journal my experiences here in Jamaica.

Not much I want to add right now. Kinda tired after a trip into Kingston today. So I'm gonna head to bed, but will post more later.