Arrival

What a day.
What a long day.

I woke up at 4:30, nervous as ever, yet ready for the trip to Jamaica.
My roommate and I were packed and in the lobby by 5:30, and after a brief wait we were at Miami International before 7:00. Breakfast was Pizza Hut (a great last American meal…) and after the plane (naturally) got delayed, we found ourselves taking off around noon and arriving in Jamaica about 40 minutes later (gaining an hour). Oh, and we flew over Cuba. So I’ve seen Cuba.

Out the plane window looking at the Port in Kingston

Customs was a scene. It took easily an hour and a half to get through the line – a horde of 52 (predominantly) white Americans in a sea of Jamaicans. There was a cute little girl behind me in line with her mother – the girl had quite the lungs. She was running in and out of the line and laughing and playing with everyone nearby. Finally leaving customs, we retrieved our bags and headed outside to be greeted by about 15-20 current Jamaican PC Volunteers, all of whom were awesome. Yes, all of them, WAJ. We mingled and talked about the island and programs for a good amount of time, and after a picture we left the airport. I had a huge grin at this point – the nervousness was slowly being replaced by ecstasy.

Driving away from Kingston Intl.

The drive from the Airport to our college (the site of our training for the Kingston portions of the next two months) was something else. Jamaica is exactly how it has been described. The contrast between rich and poor areas was quite evident (mostly poor for this drive). One thing that struck me is that a majority of homes seemed to have iron rods sticking out the top, as if the family had hoped to build two floors but had run out of money midway through the project. Lots of these. Lots of Red Stripe ads as well. Oh, and gas is sold in liters, and runs about $65 JD per liter. Fun times.

Average house on the way

We arrived at the college, had a quick (much appreciated) snack, and started immediately filling out forms. The last thing, interestingly, was subscribing to a Digicel (local cell phone) service and walking away from the first day with a cell phone. Very odd. The entire process was in a room in the mid 90s with close to no ventilation. I experienced sweating in places I didn’t even know were possible. Enough said there.

Lugging my (far too large) bags up the street, I headed to my room. All things considered, quite decent. It would be something like a one-star hotel, which by PC standards is actually quite luxurious. Electricity, running water, and double beds. I’m not really sure what I think about all of this – I think to some extent having these luxuries is inhibiting my ability to accept I have actually just committed my life away for over two years. I caught myself thinking, “I hope these sheets are clean…” And then I realized… “Hey, I have sheets, and I am doing the Peace Corps. Anymore is sort of greedy.”

After my first cold-water shower of Jamaica (completely refreshing—I wouldn’t have used hot water given the option) I went to a cafeteria for an introductory Dinner. I was actually lucky to have taken a shower – I found out soon thereafter that the water gets turned off every night at 8 pm and is turned back on at 5 am. Apparently that happens a ton of places the whole island wide. And I wasn’t even the worst off – a lot of people will be getting their first Jamaican showers nearly 24 hours after arriving in country after a full day’s activities. Anyways, we met the U.S. Jamaican Ambassador, the Country Director of Jamaica Peace Corps, and important people for training. And we had our first Jamaican Dinner – and I just now realized I forgot to take a picture (sorry Jenn!). Some local fried fish (delicious) and some jerk chicked (amazing) with rice and lettuce. And quality Guava juice. After all the intros and more mingling, it was time to head back to the room, where I find myself at this moment. I am writing in MS Word because despite what I had believed there is no internet in the dorms. There IS a computer lab on campus though, so I should be able to get online and post this sometime on the fourth. Hah! July 4th will be spent from 7 am to 7 pm doing training, and then likely falling asleep immediately.

The view out my window...

And on that note, I am going to fall asleep immediately.
Enjoy the pictures! As soon as training begins tomorrow I probably won’t be posting more than once a week (I already said that I think), but I will try to get you all some decent pictures when I get a chance.

Breakfast at 7 in the morning… hopefully Ackee and Saltfish!

Love,
Tom (That is my new name, I think – something about being more professional… how times change.)


P.S.
I'm posting this on the fourth... Happy America Day! Also, I'm freaking out fairly officially now. I think I am getting anxiety thinking about what project I will end up with, and where I will be. We just finished our first 12 hour training day, and I'm exhausted. I did have saltfish for breakfast (delicious) and in the afternoon had an assortment of fruits I had never ever ever even heard of (also delicious). But yeah. I am freaking out, as I had a very brief conversation with my project director that completely made me rethink any idea of the project I felt I was heading for. So, I went for a run on a partially overgrown but awesome dirt track nearby, and the profuse amount of sweat followed shortly by another cold shower made me feel a little better. Sadly just a little bit. But hey, I'm in Jamaica.
If someone asked me, "Ou yu do?", I might respond, "Me aarait." Alternatively, if someone asked me, "Evriting kool?", I might respond, "Ya man, me kris." Yeah, I'm learning Patois.
I miss you all very very much.