first month in Jamaica

I am trying this blogging thing on the recommendations of 2 of my fellow trainees who have found this an easy way to keep everyone back home up to date on what life in Jamaica as a Peace Corps trainee is like. I hope you will find this interesting too.
JAMAICA #1
Wha Gwan or What’s happening?
I have been a Peace Corps Trainee in Jamaica for a month now. And have a month to go until the official swearing in to become a PC Volunteer. If I have the schedule correct, I will visit my selected work site the last week before swearing in. I am eager to know which part of the island I will be living in!
So… there are 38 in group #81 and many friendships have developed already, PC has even developed a peer support network for all the volunteers here in Jamaica (group #79 and #80 plus #81). That’s nice to know.
Training has been intense at times, hot often, and too many hours sitting, but we have now moved on to more practical training. The first 2 weeks we were with host families in Hellshire and were initiated into Jamaican culture and foods. Now I am staying with a different host family in Stony Hill, north of Kingston about 30 min. Everyone is very helpful and eager to show us off and teach us. Since Jamaica as a whole is in a drought quite often we only have cold water bucket showers. But that feels pretty good when you are really hot! No one has AC, including the schools and most offices.
I have been surprised how hot it is here- and we hear August is the hottest- I thought I would adapt quicker after living in Guam, but it is coming along slowly.
The island has lots of vegetation and many many fruit trees- mangos- 5 different kinds, coconuts, pineapple, star fruit, papayas, ackee, limes, watermelon, sugar cane is sold to munch on, lots of yams, sweet potatoes, pumpkins. Carrots
The food has surprised me- I thought it would be spicier - jerk chicken and pork is great, then the national dish- ackee and salt fish- ( the salt fish was way to salty for me) the ackee is nice- a fruit that somehow boils up like a pasta. Lots of boiled yams, pumpkin, green bananas ( a bit too bland and very starchy). Stewed fish- with head ( I ignore it) Fried sliced plantains, curry chicken and curry goat over white rice. There are goats everywhere, eating the grass along the roadsides- and they seem to know how to cross the street without getting run over! Rice and peas are kind of a staple- the peas are really red kidney beans. It will be nice when I have my own place and can plan my own meals!
Church- plays an extremely important part of Jamaican life. They brag that they have the most churches per population in the world! I visited a tabernacle church- 3 hour service with lots of praise and alleluias and laying of hands in a little zinc roof church with no fans but they had a drummer and elec. Guitar. Then last Sunday I went with my second host family to a United church of Christ- very mainline Protestant with many hymns I knew, and less than 2 hours long. They too had a drummer, and a trumpeter. The public schools- often founded as church schools originally, start the day with school devotions, they pray in class before lunch and at the end of the day. Most meetings start with a prayer as well.
Public transportation- since many families do not have a car, and Peace Corps will not allow us to drive here anyways, learning the system is very important. I just had my first long distance trip on my own from Stony Hill to Little London, close to Negril at the far western end of the island. That 210 km trip took 6 hours going and 4 hours returning! After a taxi to the country bus depot, Brad and I boarded a mini van- what we would class as a 15 passenger van with 4 rows of seats. Then you wait until the van is full before it heads out to its destination. So on the trip out we waited 2 hours for the driver to round up 18 adults (everyone “smalls up” ) then we took off- since time is money, speed limits have very little importance! I was sure he was going 80 but glad I could not see the speedometer (if it worked!) The coming back was even more crowded- I was in the way back seat with 2 other adults and 3 kids, maybe ages 10, 10 and 7- one on the women’s lap and that wasn’t even her child. I think the bus held 22 when it left!, this driver was a bit more careful thank goodness!
Crime is here in Jamaica, so we have had trainings to thwart pickpockets and to keep bus money in separate pockets so you don’t open your billfold in public. Most of the more lethal crimes are gang related mostly in Kingston (where we can only go with prior permission). Most everyone has bars on their windows and front gates they lock at night. Peace Corps encourages us to become integrated into our communities as the best deterrent- the neighborhood will keep an eye out for you once they know you are helping at the school or wherever.
Schools- are based on the British system and have a very important placement exam in 6th grade to determine which kind of high school you can go to. Students list school preferences, they are not limited by where they live, but the parents have to pay for the taxi/bus for them. All students are in uniform preschool thru h.s. Kids can drop out after 9th grade. This past TH & Fr. I visited Deb and Kirk- PC “vintage volunteers “ ( the over 55 group) who have been here 1 year as literacy aides. Their school has over 900 students grades 1-6, each grade has 4 classes which are “streamed” so that the Blue class has the brightest and the Orange has the slowest with red and yellow in the middle. Most classes have 40+ kids per teacher, and hardly any supplies. Kirk was given a white board and 1 white board marker for the year. Needless to say the library has only a few books but at least they are able to keep it open 2 days after school plus lunch times. The library is in a donated converted shipping container. Lunch recess is completely unsupervised- the teachers must be exhausted and need their break! Deb and Kirk pull out kids that have potential to pass the 4th grade literacy exam and or the 6th grade exam and work with them in small groups of 3 or 4. Since there is no special ed, they have to be selective on how many kids they can take on effectively. I am expecting that the school I am assigned to will be pretty similar. Once I know more I am sure I will be requesting help with supplies from all of you. Maybe some of you can find out how much it will cost to send 10 pounds of books construction paper etc. check on the media rate / the slow boat rate. THANKS! I understand it can be pretty expensive. So if you are coming to Jamaica, leave room to bring things! There are some sources for free books from various organizations- I can work on that once I’m placed, then may just need shipping $. Will keep you all posted.
FUN- after visiting with Deb and Kirk they took me to Negril- on the far western end of the island only a 20 min. taxi ride from their place. Finally I saw the Jamaica the travel brochures show you! The 7 mile beach was gorgeous, the water warm beautiful and the sand clean, we spent a few hours enjoying it. That was a wonderful refresher! There are “regular” resorts, high end ones and the all inclusive ones in this area. They have found it is important for them to take time to refresh themselves and come often on the weekends. Tourist season is Nov.- April with the 2 end months being not too busy and often good rates can be had. (remember that!). I have not been to any of the other north shore resort areas yet.
Here are 2 Peace Corps principles I want to share-
“If you want to reach fast, go alone,
If you want to reach far, work together.”

And ACT LOCAL, THINK GLOBAL

The goal is to build on Jamaica’s strength and try to develop projects that can be sustained when the volunteer leaves.

I hope you enjoy this update, maybe I’ll put together another one next month once I become official! Thanks and love to all of you for your encouragement and support!

Pam