PCV

Hooray!

I am now a full fledged Peace Corps Volunteer with all the rights and privileges. So that means I get to travel a bit around the island. I'm thinking my first sleep over party will be in Negril. It's supposed to be very beautiful with a fun nightlife. We'll see!

The kids came to school for the first time yesterday, the 7th, 8th and 9th graders. They seemed ok and were checking out the school. Today the 10th and 11th graders (that's where they stop and can go on the an extra year (12th?) not sure how that really works yet) came and they were a little more frisky. Humor seems to work so far...

The home front is a little sketchy and I may be moving in the sometime near future. Hopefully I can find something closer to school so I don't have to take a taxi. The taxi's become packed with kids going to this school and that and much more uncomfortable if that's possible...

It's interesting how the school system works. In the 6th grade you take this test to see you skill level, based on that skill level you can go to different High Schools. The better high school can be far away though (as well as the worse high school...) so usually the kids have to travel a good distance even if there is a high school next door to their house. Somebody forgot to tell the Jamaicans that you can have different skill levels housed in the same school... Oh well. Maybe something for the Peace Corps to Suggest! It might be to the limited space within the schools to house all of those different classrooms that would be needed.

I'm enjoying a bit of internet time right now, with the son back at my home, my availability has diminished, and the school's internet was down all week. I'm still waiting for my cable to reach the Peace Corps Office, missed this week so I'll be checking next Thursday (only comes once a week)

Tomorrow is the first day of classes, so I'll be seeing how that affects my life here.

Will keep you updated as much as possible!