Home Sweet Home (at least for now)

Wagwaan mi friends.  I am currently reporting from my temporary home in St. Catherine where I live with a wonderful host family.  This is my first time living with a host family and while I was quite nervous at first, it has really turned out to be an ideal experience.   My host family has treated me just like one of the family since I’ve moved in and have really made me feel at ease being so far away from home!  They also make some killer traditional Jamaican food!

                    

                          Jamaican baked goods                     National dish of Jamaica: Ackee and Saltfish with breadfruit
All of the neighbors and community members have been just as welcoming too, always stopping me on the street to make sure that I’m enjoying my time in Jamaica thus far.  
My neighbor even brought me over a couple a sweets for me just because!  We've also been invited to several birthday parties which have all ended up as giant dance parties on the street.  Which have definitely been some of my favorite memories while here in Jamaica!  My host family and community members have all been helping to introduce me to the Jamaican culture and language.  While languages are not usually my strong suit Patwa is such a fun and beautiful language that it makes learning it easy.  Mi speak a likkle bit a Patwa.  This week’s goal was mainly to learn about the food and culture and get all of the basic Peace Corps policies down.  So even though my pictures look like we do nothing but have fun, we get down to business during the week with trainings from 8am-4:30pm every day preparing us for our future sites we will be placed in. 

After a long day of training

This past weekend for training we got to go on several field trips which were so much fun and way better than sitting in a classroom all day.  Our first field trip was to downtown Kingston to get to experience all the different types of public transportation that we will need to know how to use throughout our time in Jamaica.  We got to stop at the Coronation Market in downtown Kingston to shop where literally anything and everything is available for sale.  The next day we had “Culture Day,” so we got to share our culture while learning more about all of the Jamaican culture.  I got to try popular Jamaican treats, learned some dance moves and got to watch performances of spoken word poetry, called Dubbing.  And did I mention dancing?  Lots and lots of dancing!  To finish up all of the fun field trips we got to go on a tour of Kingston which included Port Royal, once the wickedest city in the world until it was swallowed by an earthquake. 



PORT ROYAL

 

We then went to the National Art Gallery, drove by Bob Marley’s house, saw University of West Indies, and finished with a stop at the Devon House home of Jamaica’s best ice cream.  

 

DEVON HOUSE

We all scream for ice cream!

  It’s hard to believe that what I am doing is actually my current job and on our days off we have been lucky enough to get to head to the local beach and hangout.   Although I’m still trying to get used to the heat with no AC and trying to avoid getting too sunburned, so far in Jamaica has been an absolutely incredible experience filled with incredible people




Dogs in the church

Hanging Out

Bob Marley Statue

Birthday Party

                                                       

Laundry with my host mom




 

 

And so it begins

      Wow, I can’t believe that I am actually sitting here in Kingston, Jamaica typing this blog, after waiting a grueling fourteen months to be exact!  The feelings I’m having right now are indescribable.  I have never been more excited and inspired to start a new job, but at the same time missing all of my family and friends from back home.   The past two days I have had a lot of time to reflect and I can definitely say I am one lucky girl to have so many kind, talented, and inspiring people in my life that make saying goodbye so hard.  From my family, high school friends, college friends, people I’ve known forever, to the people I’ve met in the last 8 months you are all truly amazing people who I will miss like crazy while away in Jamaica.   However, so far while here they have been keeping us so busy that sitting around getting lonely is not an option. 

         We had orientation in Miami all day yesterday getting to know all of the other volunteers and a full understanding of our expectations.  Today we woke up bright and early and after spending quite a few hours in the airport finally made it to Jamaica!  We had an amazing welcoming presentation from the Peace Corps at their headquarters getting a feel for the culture and meeting some of our future leaders.   Not to mention a delicious Jamaican lunch and dinner complete with chicken, (my fav!) rice, and various vegetables.  And people were not lying when they said it was hot here, breaking out that SPF tomorrow!  Overall these past two days have been some of the most difficult days of my life, but have also been some of the greatest days of my life and I can’t wait to discover all that Jamaica has to offer!

 

        In the Miami airport                                         We made it to Jamaica!           

Beautiful view