The Olympic spring races are like Jamaica's Super Bowl. Especially this year when Usain Bolt is running like he is. We watched the 100 m final at home on Saturday morning before going about our business. This morning I was at work when the 200 m final was shown. I tried to find it online, but couldn't. With only a few minutes to spare I knew that there was a tv in the waiting room at the clinic next door, so I walked over. I was near the back of the room with approximately 40 people between me and the tv. I knew I was in trouble early when they showed Bolt getting ready to get in the blocks and everyone stood up and yelled. I figured I only had a small chance at best to actually see the race.
The start was subdued with everyone getting very quiet and waiting. There was some light cheering as he came around the first corner. That was all I saw. Once it was clear that he was out in front coming down the back stretch everyone between me and the tv stood up and rushed the tv. Only about 1/10 of the people in the room actually saw the race as everyone else saw people jump up and down and cheer. I knew Bolt won, but that was it. I hung around for a few minutes and saw the replay. Wow. It was an interesting experience. Everything shut down for 15 minutes.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Monday, July 21, 2008
A proud moment of sorts
We have been fiddling around with a garden for several months now. Our space is limited and our tomato and bean plants didn't yield much more than tasty snacks (though they were tasty and fresh). However, our pumpkins did great! Just by using the seeds from a pumpkin we purchased at the market, Scott managed to grow and harvest three pretty decent pumpkins. Here is one that we picked today and should manage to feed us for the rest of the week. Pumpkin pasta...pumpkin soup...pumpkin souffle...pumpkin omelets...pumpkin rice...red peas and pumpkin...pumpkin bread...pumpkin pie! We are also saving the seeds to toast and plant another vine or two.
So hats off to producing enough of something to make a dent (ding?? scratch??) in our food expenditures for the week.
So hats off to producing enough of something to make a dent (ding?? scratch??) in our food expenditures for the week.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Summer Is Here
Today it felt like summer for the first time in a while. Then I realized, schools are out. Suddenly it was easy to get a taxi and there aren't children in uniforms every where. Schools here let out in early July, not May or June. Two months of easy travel!!
However, the ease of travel comes at a price. In the last couple of weeks the weather has gotten hotter. What does that really mean? It doesn't cool off at night. The temperatures during the day really aren't that much different, but the extra 4-7 degrees at night make it really hard to fall asleep. Last night our bedroom was 86 degrees when we were going to bed at 10 pm. It cooled down to 82 during the night. This is a big difference over those 72 degree nights back in March. Even just a few weeks ago it was in the low 80s as we went to sleep. I guess I will stop sweating some time in November.
However, the ease of travel comes at a price. In the last couple of weeks the weather has gotten hotter. What does that really mean? It doesn't cool off at night. The temperatures during the day really aren't that much different, but the extra 4-7 degrees at night make it really hard to fall asleep. Last night our bedroom was 86 degrees when we were going to bed at 10 pm. It cooled down to 82 during the night. This is a big difference over those 72 degree nights back in March. Even just a few weeks ago it was in the low 80s as we went to sleep. I guess I will stop sweating some time in November.
Sunday, July 6, 2008
One Year
On July 3, it was both our one year anniversary for coming to Jamaica and our third wedding anniversary. That means about 14 months to go (give or take). The past year has been a mix of ups and downs but in general it was been a good experience and I feel like I am getting a lot done. The time has been going fast and I hope that continues. I am still coming around to the thought that it is summer back in the US. It was May before I figured out it was spring so hopefully by September I will remember that it is summer. I do miss seasons.
Monday, June 30, 2008
We Left for Miami One Year Ago
As I sit here writing this blog it has struck me that we left for Miami exactly one year ago. We spent two days in training and then left for Jamaica on July 3rd. Thursday will be our one year anniversary on the island. We still have a little more than a year left as our volunteer service didn't start until training was over in August, but it is still a milestone.
My brother Cory and his girlfriend Marie have been in town for the past week. We have had a lot of fun going around showing them our little corner of Jamaica and our projects. It makes me proud of the work we are doing and the people who are our Jamaican friends. Some days it is hard to stay focused and positive on our projects and the seeming lack of progress and how it seems like we aren't integrated enough into the communities. Then we start showing what we have been working on to outsiders and we get a new perspective. I can see that we are making progress and that the people really do appreciate the work we are doing.
I haven't posted new pictures for a long time and they are building up. We took a trip to the St. Thomas lighthouse a couple weeks ago. It was a very nice trip and I have some photos from it. It is the farthest eastern point in Jamaica. I was curious about the garbage that had washed up on the beach near the lighthouse. Most of it had come from Haiti. Hopefully there will be more up in the next couple of weeks.
My brother Cory and his girlfriend Marie have been in town for the past week. We have had a lot of fun going around showing them our little corner of Jamaica and our projects. It makes me proud of the work we are doing and the people who are our Jamaican friends. Some days it is hard to stay focused and positive on our projects and the seeming lack of progress and how it seems like we aren't integrated enough into the communities. Then we start showing what we have been working on to outsiders and we get a new perspective. I can see that we are making progress and that the people really do appreciate the work we are doing.
I haven't posted new pictures for a long time and they are building up. We took a trip to the St. Thomas lighthouse a couple weeks ago. It was a very nice trip and I have some photos from it. It is the farthest eastern point in Jamaica. I was curious about the garbage that had washed up on the beach near the lighthouse. Most of it had come from Haiti. Hopefully there will be more up in the next couple of weeks.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
One of those moments...
This afternoon I had one of those moments that just makes me so glad that I made the choice to come here. I am fairly certain that it won't come across very well in text, but I feel like it is one of those key moments that I just want to share. I started to write out the context and it got cumbersome and boring. So I will just sum up:
1) The idea to ask adult literacy class participants to perform community service projects of their own creation and design in lieu of payment for the class IS NOT a bad idea. I am so proud of them and their initiative.
2) The literacy primer that I wrote is a hit (which was a risk for me since I am really not a writer or an illustrator). Today my class groaned when I said we had to stop reading in order to go on to other things. There is absolutely no reason that books that are easy to read need to be boring. We are in the middle of the second 10-week session and they are clearly excited about reading. I can only hope this keeps up. Again, I am so proud of them all.
Hopefully we will have some new pictures up soon. It has been a while since we posted and we have traveled a bit recently. I'm hoping to have pictures of the baby goats that have to be born any day now at the end of the beach road...the momma goat is huge and has been so for weeks now. Soon come.
1) The idea to ask adult literacy class participants to perform community service projects of their own creation and design in lieu of payment for the class IS NOT a bad idea. I am so proud of them and their initiative.
2) The literacy primer that I wrote is a hit (which was a risk for me since I am really not a writer or an illustrator). Today my class groaned when I said we had to stop reading in order to go on to other things. There is absolutely no reason that books that are easy to read need to be boring. We are in the middle of the second 10-week session and they are clearly excited about reading. I can only hope this keeps up. Again, I am so proud of them all.
Hopefully we will have some new pictures up soon. It has been a while since we posted and we have traveled a bit recently. I'm hoping to have pictures of the baby goats that have to be born any day now at the end of the beach road...the momma goat is huge and has been so for weeks now. Soon come.
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