In one week..

NYC.

That is all.

Final push on MCAT studying - I would update you more but that really has been my whole life for the past month or so.

Let's do this,

TG

A culinary success story!

A quick update all my foodie friends back home (ahem... Jenn) will be sure to appreciate...

Having long desired to but never having the courage to delve into the art-form that is cokking ackee and saltfish, I was struck by a wave of creativity earlier today and decided to try something completely new and entirely me... Ackee and veggie chunks! Well, not entirely me, but that isn't really the point. The chunks substituted nicely for the saltfish, and now that I am comfortable with the process I will be trying the "ackee and [fill in the blank]" dish with a number of different spins on the original. Next up? Ackee and bacon. Yum. Anyways, take a look at my dinner...

Preparation as follows.

Clean ackee by removing the 3 fruits from the reddish pod. Cut off the seed from each piece of fruit. Clean out red inner lining. Repeat x a million (at least it seems like that). People visiting me will surely see what I mean.

Boil ackee with black pepper, scotchbonnet pepper, whole garlic cloves. Boil until tender, but not until it turns into mush. Remove from heat, strain from water, set aside.

Rehydrate veggie chunks by boiling with thyme, paprika, various seasonings to taste. Takes about 5-7 minutes. Strain out water, set aside.

In a frying pan, put about 2 tbsp of oil and heat. Cut up one onion, tomato, a few cloves of garlic (I used 4), 2 scotchbonnet pepper, 1-2 stocks of scallion. Add all of the above to the oil and sautée until delicious looking/smelling. Season to taste. Add chunks, mix, continue to make delicious. Finally, add ackee. Cook till warm, and not so long as to turn ackee into mush (as above). Turn off heat. Enjoy! I ate it with rice.

Yeah. Success stories come in many shapes and forms, and this one I felt was particularly noteworthy.

Other than that, not much new.

Studying studying studying away… testing March 28^th in NYC. In NYC March 23 – April 3. Give me a shout out if you want to catch up!

-TG

Puppies and excuses...

I'm actually going to take that in reverse order. The reason I haven't posted for a month is because I wrote a mass-email (I know, Tommy MyL, they suck). I think this completely justifies my not posting for a while. Also, I have been studying like a crazy person. Anyways, here comes a short update.

There are six puppies now living in my front yard! They are about three weeks old now and absolutely adorable. See below.

It really is a shame that they will never be as cute as Rambo. Or as friendly. Or as smelly. See below. How I miss that guy...

In other news, I finally got a bike. Though I don't have a helmet. And Peace Corps kicks you out if they catch you riding a bike without a helmet. "Soon come" on that one.

Six weeks and three days until the MCAT means I won't be doing much else besides studying until I get back from NYC. I have an anti-stigma HIV/AIDS training planned for next Thursday at my high school that will be attended by the Peace Corps Country Director, the Program and Training Officer (#2 in command), and my Youth APCD (my boss). So... pressure is on there I guess. Hopefully it goes smoothly.

I am caught in this weird spot where I could go on and on, but I really need to get back to studying so... yeah.

Things are going well here, as always. Happy belated to the 'lil bro, who is now 21. 

Looking forward to two months from now when Will and Jordan will be visiting. Decent.

O.K. that is all. I really just wanted to share that bit about the puppies!

-TG

Random pictures from the break

This is the drunkest man I have ever seen in my life (and likely ever will). I was visiting my friend Taylor (see left), when this dude rolled up on the back of a motorbike (driven by another drunk dude) and fell over trying to get off. He is wearing army boots and his pants are tucked in. He staggers over to a nearby child (see below), tries his best to pick him up, and falls over in the process. This picture was taken shortly after.

This is the aforementioned child blowing up his brand new basketball. Anyone who sends me a new basketball to give this guy will have the pleasure of seeing a picture of (who could be) the next LeBron James with a smile on his face.

The transportation system. 'Nuff Said.

A very sarcastic woman tending to her kyaabij patch. These old ladies are quite the workers! One woman tending to more than an acre in the middle of nowhere was quite an impressive site.

That is all for now, back to work!

Lifeisgood.

Don't really have time to write a full life-update (nor do I really want to), but just checking in to say happy new year to all I haven't talked to!

Real quick:

Back at work now meaning internet again~ thus this short update.

Also, I moved! I no longer live in Green Park, but now live much closer to school. I will be within biking distance from my school and couldn't be happier. My new land lady is amazing -- in the first four days of being there she has made me *fresh* soursop juice, beet juice, and juneplum juice. We get along great - she sleeps around 7:00 and wakes around 5:00. I am about an hour and a half later on both counts. I feel totally at ease talking to her, and I don't see any reason why I would ever move. I didn't even realize how much I needed out from the Bishop's place until I actually left.

In the past month I have travelled to rural Jamaica for some hiking (photos on facebook), and done a lot of catching up on rest/studying. I have done real HIV/AIDS work, and am starting to coordinate a local basketball tournament to fund the Jamaica Red Cross. I am looking into a possible project working to train Jamaican EMTs -- that would blow my mind -- and am stoked about the possibility.

Also, Jordan and Will are planning to visit in mid-April, which will just be awesome. Viva la Rum Tour.

Possibly the best part of my break was catching up on music. Actually, the entire PC has been great for that. I feel like a music god now that I have time to do what I like to do. Essentially, me time is great. Props to Jenn/Mira on Bon Iver. Can't wait for Andrew Bird on January 20.

Gotta get back to work -- I will get back on soon with a better update and some pictures. I am having an internet hookup put in at my new place, so I should be more in contact in no time.

Happy new year!

-TG

Seizures and Turkey and Backflips, Oh My!

In what has become somewhat of a weekly tradition, I went to the fisherman village last Friday to get a sweet breakfast of ackee/saltfish, yams, callaloo, dumpling, etc. etc. etc… The fisherman village is one of the coolest parts of my Peace Corps cultural integration experience, and will be a must-see stop for all visitors.

On this particular Friday morning, I walked into the plywood establishment/shack on the waterfront and greeted the jovial owner, Reagan. While he began preparing my meal, I took a glance to the back of the room and saw a quiet rasta guy sitting in a corner. Pretty standard, really.

Then shit got crazy. As I was paying for my meal, the rasta dude started having the biggest seizure I had ever seen in my life. My EMT brain immediately kicked in and I moved to stabilize the guy so his head wouldn’t bash into anything, but I was suddenly overwhelmed with yells from the owner saying not to touch him because ‘he is dirty’, and ‘it happens all the time’, and ‘when he wakes up he will beat you if you help him’. Essentially, I had to sit by and watch as a guy had a two-plus minute long seizure. I had to watch as he fell out of his chair and onto a trashcan, and watch as he fell off the trashcan and in the process covered himself in debris. I had to watch as foam poured from his mouth and created a rather sizeable pool on the ground. I had to watch and do nothing – the owner said not to call the ambulance or to intervene in any way. And what was I to do? In America I would have just called for help, but not here. Not in a new culture and a new place. As much as I didn’t like the idea of sitting by and watching the dude go through hell, it would have been much worse to have him come to and attack me. I left the restaurant with my meal – one warning was enough to let me know I didn’t want to be around when this guy came around. I walked away from a man seizing on the floor, and still have no idea what happened to him.

That experience really took me for a turn. I thought about what happened all weekend, and am still in a bit of shock about how differently the situation would have been handled back home. What was I to do? Ruin my relationship with the fisherman and risk getting attacked in order to provide the (minimal and useless) amount of care I could administer? Or stand by and do nothing with but the word of a local guy?

I chose the latter, and while it was probably the right move to make in the situation, it still bothers me. This guy was a seizure risk on no medication, and who knows when the next one will be too much to handle.

After that lovely affair, I headed to Negril to meet a few volunteers for the weekend and celebrate thanksgiving. We didn’t get Thursday off (Jamaicans don’t celebrate American holidays? Who would have thought?), so the weekend was the next best option. The weekend was a pleasant break from the grind – lots of cliff jumping and lazing around and tryptophan. Before the feast however, two volunteers living in Negril had coordinated an effort to help build a local guy a new house, as he currently lived in an 8x8 shack. I spent last Friday afternoon helping move limestone rocks for a foundation, and hope to return soon and help work more on the project. Flashbacks to Habitat – very nice.

Negril is beautiful. See above.

Yeah, we got a turkey in Jamaica. It was awesome. Turkey, mashed potatoes, yams, pumpkin, chicken, green beans, macaroni… all prepared from scratch by volunteers. To say it was much appreciated would certainly be an understatement. Not to mention that I spent the whole day working on my cliff jumping back flip – it was messy at first but I can now consistently do a 15-20 ft back flip without killing myself. Baby steps.

Have I mentioned how much Jamaicans love Barack Obama? He has earned his place next to Usian Bolt painted on the walls of this particular Negril bar for the rest of eternity.

12/01/2008 – World AIDS Day! The school devotion we presented awards to the top three finishers in our essay competition. Kids here rock. Though they have their challenges, their enthusiasm about simple things like essay competition awards or award giving ceremonies is so refreshing. Next year, I hope we can coordinate a bunch more activities than we got to this year, and hopefully I can coordinate some sort of art exchange with Patrick’s community in Piura, Peru. Could be good!

That’s all for now – This week I am trying to tie together my Parent Support Group (the culmination of the last three months of parenting work) and I am hoping for good turnout. Fingers crossed!

I’ll post again soon with more pictures and such… writing this now with no internet so hopefully I can get it up (oh uhh) in the next day or two.

Loving it here! Jamaican PC volunteers have their own unique challenges. On the one hand, the people you know really appreciate your help and your presence. On the other hand, almost everyone you don’t know seems to want something from you. There is no end to the harassment and the begging and it can really get you down. I feel like PC Jamaica is more of a work exchange program than in other PC countries. This is both good and bad (for obvious reasons). In spite of it all, being here is amazing. It is challenging and rewarding and refreshing and relaxing-- somehow all at the same time. Sweet!

Our Thanksgiving gathering. A very unexpected, much appreciated weekend.

Love,

Me

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