Here are some questions and statements Jamaicans have said
to me that are actually all English words, but definitely required some further
explanation:
“Miss, yuh a wear test glass?” = “Miss, do you wear
glasses?”
“You can share your lunch?” = “Can you serve yourself?”
(p.s. my response to this question was, “Umm, with whom?”)
“Miss, how many parts of your ear are bore?” = “Miss, how
many times are your ears pierced?”
“Make me left the car, carry come.”= “Allow me to exit the
car and I will bring it back to you.”
“Miss Young is soooo fat.” = Ok, this one means exactly what
it sounds like, except that it’s not meant in a derogatory way. It is meant in a way that the person saying
it to me wishes she was as fat as me.
Sometimes I can’t believe this is true, but take it from me: in this
country I am the ideal body type. Here,
the whiter and fatter you are the better.
It just blows my mind because in America the tanner and thinner you are
the better. I seriously have women stop
me on the street to tell me they “like my shape”. Wow. I
effing love this place.
I recently had a chance to go to a club in Ocho Rios (affectionately
coined Ochi by the locals). Ochi is a
resort town, but not the most popular one by far. I was there on a Wednesday night with my PCV
friend Claire, and at this particular club that means J$1000 (about US$12) buys
you all you can drink. For that reason,
this is the night the Jamaicans come out to dance, or rather dagger. Daggering is a very sexual way of dancing
which sometimes involves people jumping from the top of a 20 foot sound system
onto their partner. I suggest searching
“daggering” on youtube to fully understand it.
I did not get altogether daggered thankfully, but I did learn that if
you simply stand in a spot where your backside is exposed someone (or several
someones) will just dance up on you.
This cannot be avoided, save leaning up against a pillar or the
bar. It will take approximately 30
seconds for you to get a Jamaican “tail”, as I call it, if you try to dance with
female friends alone. Overall it ended
up being a really fun night and the best part was lying in Claire’s driveway
looking at all the stars that I could never see in NYC or even Santa Cruz, for
that matter. The whole sky seemed to
glow.
Today was one of those days when I loved everything
Jamaican. The kids learned the things I
taught them with record breaking speed, I didn’t leave school with a headache
from their screaming, plants looked more lush than usual, I got a good sized
seat in the taxi, hell -even the smelly man sitting next to me couldn’t get me
down. I love this kind of day, and lawd
gawd I need them sometimes after all the uncomfortable unfamiliarity’s of
Jamrock.
School has just finished for the year, and I’m looking forward to a more relaxed summer comprised of short (9-noon) summer school days and some free time to set up my classroom. Even after being at my site less than 2 months I know I’m really going to miss the school leavers. I made it my aim to get to know the kids as fast as I could, and I have successfully learned at least 2/3 of the students names at my school as well as discovered a great deal about them and, in turn, Jamaican culture. I have a feeling it’s gonna be a great 2 years. I’ll sign off with some pics of the school leaving ceremony.
The choir
The school leavers
The Board
The cultural item (a dance)
