The Jamaican Brandi: It's gonna be a great 2 years

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.