M'deh ah

**Note: I really tried to post fun pictures of all of these events here, but the slow internet is against me!  See my facebook page for pics, and I will try to update this post with images later.

Not that I’m counting down or anything, but I just passed the 11 month mark in my service (13 months on island)!  It’s unbelievable how quickly it has gone by.  They say that the days are long but the years are short, and I couldn’t agree more.  Some days drag on like 4 men trying to pull a pig across the road (not easy), but then all of a sudden I look at the calendar and realize how far I’ve come.

My most recent challenge has been, in general, to just be present.  It’s very easy to get caught up in the day to day annoyances and forget to appreciate the beauty this country has to offer as well as the completely rockin’ gig I have.  So when my Jamaican peeps greet me with, “Waa gwaan?” (What’s going on?) I reply, “M’deh ah.” (I’m here.)  Because, for the foreseeable future, I AM here and I am doing everything I can to be ever present. 

Now, on to a very swift but seriously necessary update of the last several months (in chronological order):

Halloween: a dozen or so of us PCV’s and friends got together at a colorful hostel on the north coast of the island.  Some dressed up and some didn’t, but my Red Stripe costume was a hit and of course we had a blast Peace Corps Jamaica style.

Parenting workshop: One of my favorite PC staff members (now former) came to my community to conduct a parenting workshop at a P.T.A. meeting to try to encourage parents to emotionally and financially support their children’s’ education.   I asked her to come hoping that she could motivate them to buy notebooks and pencils for their kids, and she ultimately did much more.  The high point was when she actually convinced a mother of 10 to stop hitting her children.  This came after much… ahem… discussion as Jamaicans would say.

Turkey Day and All Volunteer Meeting: About 25 of the 50ish volunteers on island got together in Kingston and had a conference that was run by PCV’s for PCV’s.  The short two day gathering was packed full of information on all sorts of topics like teaching computer literacy, games for the classroom, what to do after Peace Corps, and I even co-facilitated a session on classroom management.  It really didn’t feel like Thanksgiving without football on a TV in the background, but at least we had turkey and some of the fixin’s at a potluck dinner the first night. 

Reggae marathon: No, I did not run a marathon.  I volunteered at one!  This was probably the most fun I’ve had in a tourist town (Negril) doing tourist-y things.  Some of the other PCV’s did run and the rest were happy to be passing them bags of water as they sped by us at 5 am.  Afterwards we headed to Rick’s café which is known for its cliff jumping.  I may not have run 26 miles but I did plunge from a ~40 foot cliff into the ocean and live to tell about it.

JIS essay awards ceremony: Back in September, I helped a handful of the students at my school edit essays they wrote for a competition run by Jamaica Information Service.  Lo and behold, two of them placed in the top 10 on island and that earned them a trip to the awards ceremony at the Governor General’s (Jamaica’s highest ranking official) house.  I was so proud of them for making the effort and the rest of the students were really encouraged to try for the next competition when they saw their classmates’ success and prizes (one was a kindle fire)!

Christmas visitors: I had my first visitors since moving here: two of my besties for Christmas and New Year’s!  We relaxed a lot at my place, hit a couple of tourist spots and beaches, celebrated Christmas Eve at the Brown’s Town Grand Market and NYE on the North coast with PCV’s as well as some of their friends and family.  They each had at least 2 days of downtime from various island maladies, but I think they managed to gain a whole heap of perspective on the culture and way of life. Even thought it was probably one of the hardest moments I’ve had in Jamaica when they left, it was a visit well worth it.

New school term:  With the new term, which started in January, I have settled into my role here a great deal and learned to be ready to roll with whatever the day brings me. Through a student teacher taking over my classroom and most of my students for weeks as well as constant eleventh-hour surprises I remain steadfast. Despite the challenges, I have started to see some actual improvement in several students’ literacy levels. That’s what it’s all about, right?!

Rebel Salute: This is an all reggae concert that I attended with a few friends.  I immediately took a most unfortunate spill in some fresh mud before even entering the gate in a mad dash for the portable Johnny.  To top it off, my pants “burst” on the way down.  Jamaicans are typically very cleanly, so when the security guard saw my whole backside covered in filth and my nearly ripped in two jeans he took pity on me and tried cleaning me at the foot pumped sink.  This, of course, did not work so he, with the help of Courtney, ended up using the Caribbean Sea to wet his handkerchief and scrub the sludge off my derriere.  Ultimately, it was worth it.  I got in for free and stayed until dawn, despite the muck. And after a year in Jamaica, I can say I finally have an appreciation for the reggae genre.  I do not, however, have an appreciation for the vuvuzuelas.  If I never hear one again, it will be too soon. 

Starting my secondary project:  You may recall from my last post that I am aiming to finish building a Library and Resource Center for my school.  This means the actual construction, which was started by the last volunteer at my site and remains today as the foundation and nothing more, as well as filling this lovely new building with books and computers.  I have assembled a committee of teachers, parents, and community members to assist me with getting this project going and we have been meeting weekly… er at least bi monthly depending on how successful we were in getting our tasks done from the last meeting.  This usually depends on the work of someone else, so it has been slow going but I anticipated that.  What I didn’t anticipate is losing my most involved project partner (see next headline).

The loss of my counterpart: Counterpart is a Peace Corps term for someone who works with you in your community on any of your projects.  We are assigned a formal counterpart by PC who is usually a teacher for us educators, and many people don’t even really work with this person, but I surely did.  He was one of the most well educated and open minded people in my community and helped me immensely with everything I did, until he was offered a job at the Ministry of Education that is.  Unfortunate would be putting it mildly.  They swooped him away without even a day notice and we all tried to be happy for him despite how sad for ourselves we were. Luckily, I have the support of a few very dedicated parents and the principal and other teachers at my school to pick up the slack.

“Officially Old Day”: I thank Mo for the term and for those of you who don’t know, I’m talking about my 30^th birthday. Being one of the big ones, I took it upon myself to have not one, but two birthday parties. The first was lower key than the second and both were a blast. 

The arrival of the new group of trainees in Jamaica: I am so thankful to no longer be the freshman class on island and convey all my Jamrock knowledge jewels to the newbies!  I was always better at being a leader than a follower (at least I like to think so), and their presence has already renewed my love of Jamaica in a multitude of ways.  It’s kind of sad that so many of my PCV friends will be leaving in August, but I’m sure my 29 new government issued friends will comfort me.

Speaking of August, I am planning a trip back to the states! If you will be in the Connecticut/NY/PA area in between July 26 and August 16 and want to see me, let me know.  This will be my only trip home during my service, so make it count people!

So that was a lot of info.  This is where I would normally excuse myself for waiting so long to update my blog, but I’ll save it this time and just try harder not to wait 6 months until the next update. Good night, friends.