Daily Life - Take it iizy mon!

I have found the term "Take it iizy" (some spell it different in Patwa we of course spell it "easy") to mean something quite different that it first appears. To most it means relax and enjoy life. To me, it has meant different things.

First and foremost, it has meant for me to slow the heck down. In Jamaica if I'm rushing around like I do in America, it means that I might step in a puddle, mud, poo, gross bug or any number of things. It means to look for people around you to greet in the morning as to not look like a stuck up American. It means to keep an eye on my personal safety for some of the less savory characters I might pass in my travels. Maybe more importantly it means to slow down and think before I speak. The sense of humor here is different here than in the good ol' USA. Sarcasm doesn't fly much as well as some of the antiquated pop culture references that I find myself making (the younger volunteers here don't get them either!). In this way, Jamaica has been teaching me many lessons that I have been wanting to learn. My brain often works faster than my mouth and I tend to get ahead of myself. "Taken it izzy" has been a great mantra.

Consumption. This is something that we all need to "take it izzy" on. I find that living on a very small living allowance has "encouraged" my cutting back on consumption. I thing it's appropriate that I'm learning these lessons while there is a world economic crisis going on. I bought a whole chicken the other day and am using every part! OK, well maybe with the exception of the guts that I donated to my host family who could use them better, I'm not that brave yet..... but I've made four meals out of that sucker. The first meal was a treat. I had the other PCV (Peace Corps Volunteer) in my town over and we made a feast of the chicken breasts pan cooked with a little oil, garlic salt and pepper, then some pasta with pesto sauce. YUM! Simple dish back home but was flavors I haven't had since I was back home. Left over pasta and the legs and thighs are covering two more dinners, and the chicken "back" as it's called here will make me some soup. I made an investment of buying some pots and pans here out of personal funds and am very happy with my purchases. Nothing sucks more than wanting to cook something, having the food stocks but not being able to cook it properly. Another point on less consumption is paper products. Good toilet paper and paper towels here are REALLY expensive. More than it costs in America. For instance a four pack of the quality kind of toilet paper cost me $10 US. I have been conserving more than ever and it works. If you put your mind to something, you can really do it. I'm afraid my good friend Andrea would have major money issues here... You know what I mean Ann! (and Joe!)

I had a great weekend this last week, where I traveled to the southern island. After a LONG journey squished up ("Smalled Up" as they say here) in a bus, I arrived in a nice town with many amenities. My friend there was a wonderful host and though it was raining we just "Took it izzy" Laughing a lot and sharing our peace corps experience. No beach, no sun, no major excitement = just right. Don't get me wrong, I like a beach day (shocking for my friends who know that I usually don't like the beach) but I also enjoy just chillin (not shocking for my friends who know I LOVE a lazy day). The weekend was great because for the two previous ones, I found myself holed up in my room doing the traditional lazy day of bed, computer and TV. Luxuries I never thought I would have here in Jamaica, but have found to keep me sane for the meantime. One of my goals of coming here was to ween myself off these things a bit, so that is going to be more challenging than I first imagined.

For those new volunteers coming to the island. Feel free to send me a note with any questions you may have. I also hope to put together a short packing list of the things I have found useful.

Pictures

I finally got my computer cord back!!

It arrived at the PC office Thursday evening so Friday morning I took off for the long bus ride to Kingston, met up with some other PCVs there and had the best Pizza I've had in a while (Goat Cheese and Jerk Chicken toppings!!) and a green leaf salad!! (Salads are a rarity here in Jamaica)

So anyway, here are some pics from my last couple months here

So this is my back yard. Can't show you the front... still have to worry about security and all.



A neighbor! Every once in a while, the entire back area will be filled with cows mooing their rump roasts off.




A little cutie who is staying with my host family for a bit.




Who doesn't love puppies! Wow babies and puppies, this really is a poof blog.... One of the family dogs had puppies right before I arrived at my host family.



Me at some really nice gardens some of us went to.

More garden...

The guide showing us a cannonball tree. The tree has a bunch of pods and a very small amount of them bloom every morning. They live the day and fall off the tree at sunset.

This is the hotel we stayed at during our final days as trainees. Was nice!

A view from the place we did our final testing (I was a bit nervous...)

Hooray! Finally a full fledged volunteer! We went to the U.S. Embassy and were sworn in by the ambassador.

Of Hair and School

So I had a really interesting thing happen to me today. I was attempting to fix some of the broken computers in the lab, and a group of young high school girls walked in. They wanted to look up some of the testing criteria for the CXC exam (SAT Equivalent for Jamaica) but they decided that they REALLY wanted to touch my hair instead. I flashed back to growing up in a very white suburb of Northern California where there was one of the few African-American families living next door. Their grand daughter would come by occasionally and I would always want to touch her hair! It was just so different!

So the girls kept pestering me and pestering and I finally let them tug a lock. "Not to hard!" I yelled, "There's not much left!" They giggled and were satisfied and went back to work.

I'm still getting the "White Man" comments most place I go, but now I take it as an opportunity to go and say hello and introduce myself. This works especially well at school because I pretend that I'm all pissed off being called white man, then walk up to the guy who said it, ask him/her their name and then smile and introduce myself. I then make the entire class repeat my name. They all laugh and then comply.

The housing issue is now settled. I will staying at my initial house (for a hefty increase of rent) but will be able to create my own kitchen giving myself pretty much my own place. This will be nice for both me and my family as we will be out of each others hair (I wonder if THEY want to touch my hair too.....?)

This morning I was pouring my coffee into my favorite thermos (Balan & Terry you know the one!) and my host father was watching TV. He asked, "Hey do you know these guys??" and as I looked I found my fellow volunteers being interviewed on the TV! One of them was my roommate from the trainings. They were really impressive I thought. It reminded me how unique the press is here. It seems even more free than in the US. They will take the smallest topic and make and stretch it out into a whole hour. Almost PBS/NPR style. They also are not afraid to say or ask ANYTHING. After the Olympics they were asking the Jamaican women's team what happened during the 400m relay race, basically asking them how could they f*ck up so bad. I really liked the style and think that the US press is just too polite and politically correct.

Anyhoo thats it for now. Please cross your fingers for me that my computer power cable will arrive tomorrow!

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!

Dong de Roud to Town (On the way to Kingston)

So tomorrow I'm leaving for the final testing in Kingston. Trying to study as much as possible to pass the last part of my training. Hopefully my computer power cable will be waiting for me so I'll be able to share some of the pictures I've been taking. We went to Castleton Gardens for a PC project and it's a really nice place.

Wish me luck!

On Being a Tech

So my job here has been pretty great. I start out walking about a mile down the road to the main highway here (two lane road) and take a $50 Jamaican taxi ride to my school. The road is great with a beautiful view of the ocean. My school has a great view of the ocean as well and is well built. Inside are some great teachers that I have met and started friendships with. Some of the computers need a lot of work but that's what I'm here for. I've fixed up 4 already and didn't even have to call Jeff or Joe! They must be so proud!

I haven't thought about being a tech since I was on the help desk and I have to say it's been fun so far. Lots of small challenges that you get to fix immediately, and larger challenges that take a while to figure out. So far very satisfying. The long fixes will be to develop the community center technology and programs. I guess I have it all covered.

Of course I have to say that the students aren't there yet, and I have never really worked with students before. I have the feeling that's going to bring a whole new dimension to it...

I have one more week at my site until I go back to Kingston for final testing and graduation. My language skills have really been poor so far, so this week I've really stepped it up. Thanks to my new friends at the school I hope to be prepared for that final testing. I'll be really embarrassed if I come back to the states for not passing!

So if you see me around back in the states don't ask why!

Interesting Jamaican Tidbits

Coke or Juice?

My cousin pointed out one time in the early 90's that in Northern California everyone calls every kind of soft drink a "Coke". "Do you want a Coke?" somebody would ask holding out a 7-Up. Not sure if its as true today as it was then, but Jamaicans have a similar drink structure.

"Juice" seems to be most sorts of cold liquid, though sometimes not including soda (though I've heard it)

"Tea" is any sort of hot liquid with the exception of soup.

"Biscuit" is any sort of cracker, cookie or biscuit. Though that's an British thing.

I'll let you know if I hear of more.

Oh on the soda string, Jamaica's LOVE sugar. I think I have a way for Coca-Cola to make a ton of money here. Market "New Coke S4 - All the Caffeine of regular coke with 4X the amount of sugar!" it would kill!

I have to say that as time passes I have been able to relax more and enjoy the beauty of Jamaica. We went to a small beach yesterday in the incredible warm clear water and thought to myself what a treat after a hard weeks work. I have never been a beach person, but Jamaica may change me yet.

We have three more weeks until graduation. It will be nice to be an official volunteer. I hope I can make it! The language class has been very challenging to me. My brain just doesn't take to new languages very well. I've stepped up the studying, with all the stresses here, I've probably haven't paid as much attention to it as I should have. Wish me luck!

I hope all of my friends at home are doing well, shoot me an e-mail to let me know how you are doing. Would love to catch up on whats going on with you.