This blog entry will follow the adventures chronicled in the Jamaica Journal, with photos and commentary added for clarity and extra details.
Journal has been edited for clarity.
03-19-16
Today was a long day. And by the time I'm done writing this, there will be more still.
[Part edited and added to end of entry]
This morning I got up to C's alarm, after falling asleep with earplugs and sleep mask (dogs and cars were loud). We had an omelet for breakfast, and before that, played cards with A. C taught her how to play Go Fish.
Commentary: Trust me when I say that as a traveler, earplugs and a sleep mask are musts. I've done travel with and without, and it is much better with. You never know when you'll be in need of a little peace and quiet or darkness.
Additionally, I should add, while C taught A Go Fish, I taught her blackjack. I felt like such a good influence, lol, but it was the game my dad taught me as a kid, and it's actually good for math skills, and by the end of the week, you could actually see the difference in those skills. It was pretty awesome.
Then we hung out and waited for Jeri to pick us up. We read Finding Nemo and I doodled. Then once Jeri came, it was up the hill to the primary school and man it was hot -- and man did I hurt! Then back down after a quick tour.
Commentary:
Can you imagine having to WALK at least 20 minutes up a very, very, steep hill EVERY DAY to go to school? Yeah? How about in sweltering, humidity? It's crazy how far these kids have to walk for school -- and they do mostly walk. It is very uncommon for them to be driven, though sometimes there's a bus, I believe. Still, it is very, very, high up.
Here is the view from HALF way up!
Here is one of the goats that hang around the area.
And here is the school itself.
One of the wall paintings. The school was very beautifully painted.
Our look around the school was fairly short, since it was just to give us an idea of what we'd be doing, come Monday (it was Saturday). Honestly, most things I remember was simply the heat. It was crazy, especially after winter of Hollins. But the school was big, and Jeri gave us fun facts and all that.
Then we went and got patties again in this restaurant called Juici Patties and I got beef again, and joined D, Ch, and K. It was pretty quiet. Then we went to get money exchanged -- won't bore you with that but it involved a lot of standing around.
Commentary:
This was actually the first time I'd ever exchanged money. Usually, it's easier to just use an ATM, which will change the money automatically for you, and additionally, in France, they had us open a bank account. So, exchanging money was weird. It worked, but it was strange. Also, interestingly, in tourist areas, they frequently prefered American Money.
Then, after some waiting, we went to the food market, the open air ones. We tried pineapple -- Jamaican ones are amazing -- an apple-pear, which I HATED, and a starfruit that was in the middle of the two for me. We took a picture . . .
Commentary:
After the Market, we checked out the JR High, which was by the sea, which was very pretty, and Jeri had us talk about anxieties. I just stared at the sea . . .
Commentary:
I didn't feel comfortable discussing my private thoughts with the group, so I just took lots of pictures. It was kind of crazy to me how far away everything was from each other. The walk to the jr high was super pretty, but there were some pretty narrow roads and some very fast, scary drivers. There were a lot of things on the way there that looked like ruins, which was pretty cool.
Photos from the walk there:
The view from by the Jr. High.
The Jr. High
Walking around near the Jr. High
Photos I took before Jeri started talking. It was so beautiful.
Now back to the journal. The following section has been unedited, because it is important to look at how we are affected by things and know that our gut response -- in my case, fear and sadness, is not always the response we should continue to have. My reaction greatly changed after I was there for a while, and so it is important to note the first impression (when we did a walkthrough) because in the end, it was here that I found the some of the kindest, strongest, and most amazing people I've ever met.
After that, we went to the infirmary. It was soo depressing and I was deeply shocked. Not only at the environment but at the deformities. They turned my stomach and I hate that they did.
Commentary: As the name implies, it was an infirmary. People were missing limbs, suffering from grave, open wounds, and some were clearly in pain. It was a difficult thing to see, at first. It didn't seem like a happy place. But once I was in the environment, I started seeing things differently. But more on that later.
After a quick round, we were free. And after a quick talk, we got to go swimming. I was so excited and had looked forward to it all day . . . It was super shallow but I did lots of floating and it felt awesome.
The water was split into two sections -- sand and seaweed. Jeri warned us away from the seaweed because we might get stung by anemones
Commentary:
They were actually sea urchins. OUCH!
unnerving but still fun. Also, we were also teaching W to swim. A lot of girls were teaching her to float, but I was the only one who succeeded because she trusted me! <3 Good feeling to have. I am happy to finally have some friends!
Commentary:
W remains one of my absolute favorite people to this day. Also, when I say friends, I mean friends in VA! I have some amazing people in CA!
Here are the pictures I took at the beach.
After the . . . [can't read what I wrote here] swim we walked back. A was so excited we were back and we spent the evening playing with her. She read Lilo and Stitch aloud and then four cats -- three ginger, 1 black and white I nicknamed 'Dino' -- appeared at the window and we snuck snacks to them. They were so hungry! And then it was time for the party! . . . [part edited back in here]
It was my favorite part of the day. There was a huge party held in our (mostly Jeri's) honor. It was high on the hill and we were driven up by the host people, who was also the DJ . . . When I arrived I found a soda I really liked called Busta Green Crush which was to die for. Then there was a brief embarrassing moment where when in line with R, I made a grand hand gesture and swiped the cake, taking off frosting! [I talk with my hands a lot, and the back of my hand hit the cake]. I was both amused and mortified . . . There was a lot of dancing. I was timid at first -- and dragged W into a conga line -- but soon learned to simply sit out songs I didn't like and dance my heart out to the songs I did. It was a lot of fun.
Commentary:
My drink of choice. Soda!!
R was super sweet and one of my other favorite people. Her, W, and I became good friends and were a bit of a dynamic trio. W and I had very different songs we liked to dance to. W liked songs that told you how to dance -- E.G cupid shuffle, cha-cha slide. I liked freeform songs. D was the best dancer though. Her, CA and a few others. Was impressive to watch. I didn't manage quite that much abandon. Apart from dancing, we also had to introduce ourselves in front of a large crowd -- I was awkward. And we chatted with all sorts of people. But the important part of the party was that it was also in honor of two (?) girls who received an award from Hollins and Jeri for their wonder academic work, which I thought was cool. Ms. B also received something.
. . . So, dancing was good and food was good (chicken, cake, bread thing, pineapple) and dinner before (chicken, rice, carrots, cabbage?) was good too. . . [edited back again].
Tired now. Only awake so far cause loud music and rainforest tomorrow + black river. Hopefully ziplining too! Wish me luck! Hard day and irritating at times but at the end, friends and music made it good. Still. Hope tomorrow is better. I have lots of anxieties and hope questions are answered. All for now,
~ Emery
End, Day Two.
Commentary:
Hey! Thanks for reading!
Next Jamaica post should be updated next Tuesday, if all goes according to plan. Hope you have a great day!
Til next time,
~ Emery
August 23rd 2016
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