A list of names that might ring a bell...
I can hardly believe that this is the same country I've been visiting for years.
I'm sitting in Vangie's house, using wireless internet, with a/c readily available (if I chose to turn it on). I stepped into the shower the other day and was shocked by the blast of hot water -- cold showers are just an expected part of Jamaican life for me!
Feeling pretty spoiled right now (and a little guilty about it). I even have a magicjack phone now (thanks, Mom), so I can plug it into my laptop and have a 970 number and not pay long-distance -- so calling home doesn't feel like being overseas anymore!
I'd worried that coming back to Jamaica would feel too much like going back to Gambia (something I'm not emotionally ready for right now). Instead, it feels like I haven't really left the US. Clearly, I need a weekend roughing it at Happy Hills, sleeping in tents, getting blasted by river water showers at 4 am, and using an outhouse. Oh, wait... Happy Hills got flush toilets in my absence. (Nope, I'm not making this up.) As well as hot water in the kitchen, a few new buildings, and even a treehouse.
Has it only been 2 1/2 years?
An overview of my week thus far:
- Saturday: went with LisaMarie to a teen party at Swallowfield Chapel. (She’s on the leadership team for the group.) It was good to see Wade and a few other former campers, but jet-lagged and running on two hours of sleep, I was falling asleep on my feet by the end of the night.
Slept really well back at LisaMarie’s, except for the part around 2 am when a massive cat fight broke out right outside her window. It was surreal, and the screaming was so loud that we both thought it was children screaming at first.
- Sunday: Wade picked us up for church an hour early, so we went to Nel’s first and walked to Swallowfield from there. Mark Royes and Jessica Henry’s engagement was officially announced during church (Facebook made it old news to many of us), so I congratulated them after church and told them about Stephen’s wedding. (Mark’s one of Stephen’s old camp counselors.) Also caught up with Jessica’s sisters and a few other old friends.
Most of the day was spent at Nel’s, which is still the popular place to be, based on the crowd that gathered. We made a brief trip across town to go swimming, but got kicked out after a while - there were no signs posted, but apparently the pool was closed. Back at Nel’s, Lisa and I went next door to surprise Taryn, who didn’t know I was in Jamaica again. Our timing was perfect, as Shamika (the fourth member of our bunch) was on her way over, so I surprised her too. It seems like most of the Jamaicans I hang out with are significantly older than me or still in their teens, so it was good to spend time with peers.
- Monday: after some major logistical finangling (try moving about a foreign country with no local currency, no local phone number, and a memory of local directions that’s 2 years rusty), Vangie was able to pick me up at LisaMarie’s and take me to her own house. I love the Smith family! Stacy Ann’s my age, so we’re sharing a room and exchanging stories about being foreigners who don’t know where anything is here or what anything costs (she’s been going to college in the US for the past few years). Andrew’s the surly, rebellious, troubled teen who’s actually a lot sweeter than he’d like you to believe. Andrew-speak is a language unto itself, a muttered, monotone version of Patois with made-up words thrown in. (For instance, Andrew and his friends take the word “man” out of things… Mandeville becomes Galdeville, Montego Bay becomes Galtego Bay, mansion becomes “house in da hills”… no, I’m not making this up.) Being around Andrew always makes me worry that my Patois skills are slipping (“Huh? Say that again? What ARE you saying, Andrew?!?”), til I realize that his own family can’t understand him half the time. The twins, Stephanie and Antoinette, are the youngest and will soon be turning 18. They, like Stacy, are both serious dancers, and right now they have the injuries to prove it.
Monday and Tuesday were spent at the house, with the younger three kids. I love to just hear Stephanie talk about her spiritual life. The girl’s got a depth that rivals most people I know twice her age. It’s pretty intimidating, actually. Andrew’s updated me on “his girl” and his social life (probably more than I wanted to know). It cracked me up when the hardcore, wanna-be Rasta, dancehall king told Stephanie and I that he was bored, so we should play Taboo. I know there’s hope for him yet.
Taboo itself was quite the challenge. Words like “rubberneck” and “flannel” were totally foreign American concepts, not to mention celebrities like Dr. Laura. We had to make pretty liberal “pass” rules. Of course, with Andrew-speak, guessing what he was talking about took extra work on my part. The poor guy had no shot against well-spoken Stephanie. Still, a good time.
- Yesterday: still in need of Jamaican dollars and a local SIM card for my now-unlocked US phone, I went with Vangie and Stacy to work at CCACC (Covenant Christian Academy and Children’s Center). This also allowed me to finally help someone, which is, oddly enough, why I come to Jamaica in the first place. (My friends always seem to forget that, and would rather I just hung out on vacation all month.) I helped sort and stuff envelopes for an hour or two, but then they ran out of work for me, so I alternately roamed the office and the internet the rest of the day.
Christine, Nel’s daughter-in-law, came into the office at one point. It was good to see her kids, especially Asim, who was old enough when I last saw him that he still remembered me. I asked if he remembered biting me the last time I saw him. He'd forgotten, but his mother hadn't!
At the end of the day, Stacy finally drove me to exchange money and get a SIM, then took me to Nel’s when I got a call at 4 from Judith asking if I knew I had a meeting at 5:30. Um, nope. Good thing I was free anyway.
Met with other camp counselors to plan for this year’s Ultimate Survivor camp at Happy Hills. (It will be July 20-25.) I’ll be working with Robert, Orlando and LaJeane again, as well as with Keisha and Joseph, who I hadn’t met before. (Also Annie, a 21-year-old recent college grad from the US.) I like Keisha already though, considering that Robert and I disagree as much as ever, only now Keisha agrees with me! Only Robert and I could get sidetracked from camp planning into an argument about parenting philosophy. The bickering got so bad at one point that I lectured Robert in Mandinka to get him to take back his “you’re not Gambian” comment. It worked. :) (In reality, I love working with Robert… I never doubt that he takes his camp duties seriously, and I have total faith in his ability to lead the camp. It’s only in the planning stages where we don’t get along.)
- Today: I’m back hanging out at the Smith’s. I love the balcony here - Antoinette caught me on the balcony the other day, just staring into the distance. She asked if something was wrong, and I told her I was just enjoying the view. Stephanie and I got into a whole conversation about the things we could stare at for hours, including the ocean and the view from their balcony.
Anyway, following last night’s meeting, I have a long to-do list of camp preparation. Going to try to do what I can today, so that I can take what I have with me to staff camp tomorrow. The list includes researching smoke signals and refreshing my first aid training. I also need to take the traditional Johari window personality test and rework it somehow to incorporate who God says we are. Supposed to make a list of God’s promises about who we are and somehow insert that. (So if you have any favorite “who we are” promises [especially with verse references], please let me know!) Also have a devotional outline that I need to flesh out. (Each counselor has a tentful of campers that they lead in devotions each morning of camp.)
It’s nice to finally have a job to do, though!
Tomorrow, Sharon will pick me up before dawn and we’ll race across the island to camp, where I’ll help her with a teambuilding day for a corporate group. (Jamaican companies pay to come to Happy Hills and be led through their challenge course.) That night, counselors will begin arriving for our staff camp - a weekend of preparation for this summer’s camps. Happy Hills (and the surrounding botanical garden) is my favorite place on the island, so I can’t wait!
I’ll try to post a voice update by phone from camp sometime this weekend, so check back for more!
~ B
I'm sitting in Vangie's house, using wireless internet, with a/c readily available (if I chose to turn it on). I stepped into the shower the other day and was shocked by the blast of hot water -- cold showers are just an expected part of Jamaican life for me!
Feeling pretty spoiled right now (and a little guilty about it). I even have a magicjack phone now (thanks, Mom), so I can plug it into my laptop and have a 970 number and not pay long-distance -- so calling home doesn't feel like being overseas anymore!
I'd worried that coming back to Jamaica would feel too much like going back to Gambia (something I'm not emotionally ready for right now). Instead, it feels like I haven't really left the US. Clearly, I need a weekend roughing it at Happy Hills, sleeping in tents, getting blasted by river water showers at 4 am, and using an outhouse. Oh, wait... Happy Hills got flush toilets in my absence. (Nope, I'm not making this up.) As well as hot water in the kitchen, a few new buildings, and even a treehouse.
Has it only been 2 1/2 years?
An overview of my week thus far:
- Saturday: went with LisaMarie to a teen party at Swallowfield Chapel. (She’s on the leadership team for the group.) It was good to see Wade and a few other former campers, but jet-lagged and running on two hours of sleep, I was falling asleep on my feet by the end of the night.
Slept really well back at LisaMarie’s, except for the part around 2 am when a massive cat fight broke out right outside her window. It was surreal, and the screaming was so loud that we both thought it was children screaming at first.
- Sunday: Wade picked us up for church an hour early, so we went to Nel’s first and walked to Swallowfield from there. Mark Royes and Jessica Henry’s engagement was officially announced during church (Facebook made it old news to many of us), so I congratulated them after church and told them about Stephen’s wedding. (Mark’s one of Stephen’s old camp counselors.) Also caught up with Jessica’s sisters and a few other old friends.
Most of the day was spent at Nel’s, which is still the popular place to be, based on the crowd that gathered. We made a brief trip across town to go swimming, but got kicked out after a while - there were no signs posted, but apparently the pool was closed. Back at Nel’s, Lisa and I went next door to surprise Taryn, who didn’t know I was in Jamaica again. Our timing was perfect, as Shamika (the fourth member of our bunch) was on her way over, so I surprised her too. It seems like most of the Jamaicans I hang out with are significantly older than me or still in their teens, so it was good to spend time with peers.
- Monday: after some major logistical finangling (try moving about a foreign country with no local currency, no local phone number, and a memory of local directions that’s 2 years rusty), Vangie was able to pick me up at LisaMarie’s and take me to her own house. I love the Smith family! Stacy Ann’s my age, so we’re sharing a room and exchanging stories about being foreigners who don’t know where anything is here or what anything costs (she’s been going to college in the US for the past few years). Andrew’s the surly, rebellious, troubled teen who’s actually a lot sweeter than he’d like you to believe. Andrew-speak is a language unto itself, a muttered, monotone version of Patois with made-up words thrown in. (For instance, Andrew and his friends take the word “man” out of things… Mandeville becomes Galdeville, Montego Bay becomes Galtego Bay, mansion becomes “house in da hills”… no, I’m not making this up.) Being around Andrew always makes me worry that my Patois skills are slipping (“Huh? Say that again? What ARE you saying, Andrew?!?”), til I realize that his own family can’t understand him half the time. The twins, Stephanie and Antoinette, are the youngest and will soon be turning 18. They, like Stacy, are both serious dancers, and right now they have the injuries to prove it.
Monday and Tuesday were spent at the house, with the younger three kids. I love to just hear Stephanie talk about her spiritual life. The girl’s got a depth that rivals most people I know twice her age. It’s pretty intimidating, actually. Andrew’s updated me on “his girl” and his social life (probably more than I wanted to know). It cracked me up when the hardcore, wanna-be Rasta, dancehall king told Stephanie and I that he was bored, so we should play Taboo. I know there’s hope for him yet.
Taboo itself was quite the challenge. Words like “rubberneck” and “flannel” were totally foreign American concepts, not to mention celebrities like Dr. Laura. We had to make pretty liberal “pass” rules. Of course, with Andrew-speak, guessing what he was talking about took extra work on my part. The poor guy had no shot against well-spoken Stephanie. Still, a good time.
- Yesterday: still in need of Jamaican dollars and a local SIM card for my now-unlocked US phone, I went with Vangie and Stacy to work at CCACC (Covenant Christian Academy and Children’s Center). This also allowed me to finally help someone, which is, oddly enough, why I come to Jamaica in the first place. (My friends always seem to forget that, and would rather I just hung out on vacation all month.) I helped sort and stuff envelopes for an hour or two, but then they ran out of work for me, so I alternately roamed the office and the internet the rest of the day.
Christine, Nel’s daughter-in-law, came into the office at one point. It was good to see her kids, especially Asim, who was old enough when I last saw him that he still remembered me. I asked if he remembered biting me the last time I saw him. He'd forgotten, but his mother hadn't!
At the end of the day, Stacy finally drove me to exchange money and get a SIM, then took me to Nel’s when I got a call at 4 from Judith asking if I knew I had a meeting at 5:30. Um, nope. Good thing I was free anyway.
Met with other camp counselors to plan for this year’s Ultimate Survivor camp at Happy Hills. (It will be July 20-25.) I’ll be working with Robert, Orlando and LaJeane again, as well as with Keisha and Joseph, who I hadn’t met before. (Also Annie, a 21-year-old recent college grad from the US.) I like Keisha already though, considering that Robert and I disagree as much as ever, only now Keisha agrees with me! Only Robert and I could get sidetracked from camp planning into an argument about parenting philosophy. The bickering got so bad at one point that I lectured Robert in Mandinka to get him to take back his “you’re not Gambian” comment. It worked. :) (In reality, I love working with Robert… I never doubt that he takes his camp duties seriously, and I have total faith in his ability to lead the camp. It’s only in the planning stages where we don’t get along.)
- Today: I’m back hanging out at the Smith’s. I love the balcony here - Antoinette caught me on the balcony the other day, just staring into the distance. She asked if something was wrong, and I told her I was just enjoying the view. Stephanie and I got into a whole conversation about the things we could stare at for hours, including the ocean and the view from their balcony.
Anyway, following last night’s meeting, I have a long to-do list of camp preparation. Going to try to do what I can today, so that I can take what I have with me to staff camp tomorrow. The list includes researching smoke signals and refreshing my first aid training. I also need to take the traditional Johari window personality test and rework it somehow to incorporate who God says we are. Supposed to make a list of God’s promises about who we are and somehow insert that. (So if you have any favorite “who we are” promises [especially with verse references], please let me know!) Also have a devotional outline that I need to flesh out. (Each counselor has a tentful of campers that they lead in devotions each morning of camp.)
It’s nice to finally have a job to do, though!
Tomorrow, Sharon will pick me up before dawn and we’ll race across the island to camp, where I’ll help her with a teambuilding day for a corporate group. (Jamaican companies pay to come to Happy Hills and be led through their challenge course.) That night, counselors will begin arriving for our staff camp - a weekend of preparation for this summer’s camps. Happy Hills (and the surrounding botanical garden) is my favorite place on the island, so I can’t wait!
I’ll try to post a voice update by phone from camp sometime this weekend, so check back for more!
~ B