Training

It has been almost two weeks since my last post, so I guess I sort of fail on that once a week thing. Long story short: training is exhausting. I have been waking up at 5:45 to 6:00, going for a run (minus the days I have been dealing with multiple days), and starting a 7 AM to 7 PM training day. Also, I have been sleeping around 9:30 to 10:00, but it has been getting earlier every night.

 

There really hasn’t been much to report – lots of classes, lots of insecurity about where and what I will be doing, and a lot of closure, actually.

 

It has been somewhat of a roller coaster ride. I made the mistake early of thinking I knew what I would be doing, and where I would be multiple weeks before I was to actually find out (this Thursday…). I freaked out for a weekend, then realized that knowing where/what was not what I expected at this point anyways. And then I heard about a billion (actually more like 4) really inspiring stories and visited a local school to see education problems first hand. It was quite the experience.

 

Anyways, I am updating because Patrick has been hounding me to do so, but as of now, nothing really new to report. It was a pretty sucky last few days for other reasons entirely, but the weekend was decent. I got to Hellshire Beach on the south shore of Jamaica, and was privy to warm (slightly warmer than home) waters, nice people, and delicious food. And by delicious I mean red snapper cooked whole and seasoned amazingly. You pick at it with your fingers. Oh, and we also had spiny lobster. And there were dudes just walking around the beach with buckets of oysters to sell on the spot, and shrimp too. And you could buy coconuts and have a dude cut it open with a machete on the spot for a delicious treat. And Red Stripe. In the ocean. Delicious. You can see where my priorities lie (same place as always, with the food).

 

So yeah. I am trying not to start thinking about where I will be until later this week. They are holding a ceremony on Thursday, and we leave for our sites on Friday after meeting our counterparts/supervisors (they are coming from around the island to meet with us – pretty sweet).

 

Shout out to Chris Beeler, as putting up with non-site based training would kill me. Three months before finding out where I am going? I can hardly stand two weeks! I guess I am impatient.

 

I miss you all…

Thanks Jenn for the Serious Eats shout out

Thanks Will for being a bro, and meeting the baseball all stars

Thanks Catie for putting up with me as long as you did… :)

 

 

Oh and yes, curried goat and ‘aki and saltfish’ are delicious.

 

And patois lessons are going smoothly, or rather as smoothly as one may expect for less than two weeks…