5 Months In... Happy Holidays!

How time flies. I have been in country for five months now, and have been serving for three. My programs are developing (albeit sloooowly), and I am starting to see how the first few months are really an adjustment period. Five months. I am twenty percent done with my time in Jamaica. How odd, right?

I really do suck at updating this thing. Last week I was out of town at my Early Service Conference and a Damage Assessment Training (I get to go into communities and assess damage post-hurricanes). All in all, very decent. The meetings were well organized, and it was a needed break from the norm.

One thing in particular I realized during ESC was that I can be doing better with community outreach. Trelawny parish is notoriously bad about parent involvement in the school system, so I have my job cut out for me. While I have had some amount of success calling parents and telling them to come meet with me at the school, I have realized that a better approach would be for me to get out in the community and meet with parents in their comfort zone. So many parents have to wake up early, prepare for the day, go to work, pick up children, prepare dinner, and repeat that they never really have time to stop by the school for a silly meeting. I guess I have started to realize that my time is better suited for outreach work than for office work. Not to mention how good this approach would be for my mental health.

With that in mind, I have started to consider moving closer into town. I don't live in the community where I work, and I don't live in the community where I shop/socialize. It doesn't really help me much to know the people in my neighborhood (beyond the pleasantries, of course). What lacks in my current experience is community engagement, and a move would help me get better integrated. If I lived in the school community, I wouldn't have to force parents to come to meetings at the school - I could hold meetings on the side of the road, or in a shop, or at a farm, etc etc etc. Essentially, a move would make me safer, more mobile, and more involved.

Still, I love where I live. Most of the pictures I have posted on this blog have been of my neighborhood. If I didn't have community mobilization to worry about, I would be totally fine staying where I am for two years. I just fear that my staying will ultimately hinder my ability to accomplish my primary project goals. More to come in the next few months -- nothing will happen quickly but who knows... maybe sometime in the new year I will live closer to Falmouth.

That was my quick update -- now time for some pictures.

This is the Green Park Great House. It is about a two minute walk from where I live, and absolutely beautiful (or at least used to be). Green Park was a thriving sugar estate about 100 years ago, and this great house must have been something else. It is so sad to see it in ruins -- it is easy to tell that if restored this would be one of the most beautiful historic sites in the parish. This picture is actually taken from the inside of its central courtyard of the great house. The ground is so uneven because all the dirt was taken out of the courtyard leaving only limestone.

This is a picture of the front door of the great house. It is hard to capture scale here, but look at the stone work. Imagine if this thing was running properly and upkept. It would be absolutely beautiful.

Ugh. Yeah. Green Park is sweet. I love the peace and quiet. Last night there was no electricity so my MCAT studying was done by candlelight to the sound of goats and crickets. It was quite pleasant. Sadly, I cannot justify staying where I am when my work would be aided being elsewhere.

Happy holidays! I wish I could see my friends and family, but that will have to wait. Feel free to visit! (Please?)

Love,

Me