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.
Monday, April 9, 2007
Thursday, April 5, 2007
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. :)
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. :)
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
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.
Sunday, April 1, 2007
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. :)
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. :)
Monday, March 26, 2007
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.
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.
Sunday, March 25, 2007
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. :)
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. :)
Friday, March 23, 2007
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.
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.
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