Category: * Michelle Thoughts

* Michelle Thoughts, * Peace Corps

Training the Ears

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More than any other sense, I’ve noticed that my sense of hearing has gotten more “tuned” since I’ve been in Jamaica. Listening and discerning sounds has become more important for both enjoyment and survival here.

On my daily walk to the school, where the shoulder of the road is slim to none, and where the sides are getting overgrown with long grass, I rely less on visual cues sometimes than I do on the auditory warning of an approaching vehicle. In some ways it’s good that the undetectable hum of the Toyota Prius has not yet made its way to Jamaica. Its only when cars are not around that the road is tranquil, making it easy to discern where the next car is coming from and how far away it is. Plus, the drivers love to honk- both as a general greeting and Continue reading “Training the Ears” →

* Michelle Thoughts, * Peace Corps

We are in it.

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Yeah, we’re a little tired. It’s been an eventful few weeks. As mentioned in previous posts, we both had our own summer camps going on last week. This week I (Michelle) am doing my own summer literacy class at my school in the mornings. I’ve had 6-10 kids each day, and I am so glad there are not more than that. Classroom management, behavior, and focus is the biggest challenge right now. Jedd is starting to plan his own summer camp, teach a few more small computer classes, and work on the community center’s website, among other things. Continue reading “We are in it.” →

* Life Updates, * Michelle Thoughts, * Peace Corps

Boys Camp

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I’ve spent the last month and a half assessing a long list of low-achieving students provided by each teacher. One at a time, I pulled them out of class and sat down with them to find out about their home life, their interests, and also their reading level. Using the Jamaican Ministry of Education’s reading diagnostic tool, I determined that most of the kids I saw were still confusing some letter names, were not familiar with saying the sounds that letters make, had no concept of how to sound out an unfamiliar word, and didn’t know the sight words for their grade level. From first through fifth grade, about 1/3 of the students at the school were below their reading level with a vast majority reading below the first grade level (including many fifth graders).

Jedd teaches life skills with a game for the boys

But this week was the start of summer, and the guidance counselor and I had put together a two-day program for some of the low-achieving boys. Continue reading “Boys Camp” →

* Michelle Thoughts, * Peace Corps

PCJ By The Numbers

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Our Peace Corps Jamaica Experience: “By the Numbers”

Poster series made for our bare living room wall

4.09– number of years we’ve been married

1– the average number of cockroaches we find in the apartment on a daily basis (and we’re very grateful that we usually find them on their backs)

10– the largest number of baby chicks hatched by one of the chickens on our property

8– the number of miles from our house to Jedd’s work

270– the number of students registered at Michelle’s school (though not nearly the number who have been attending)

30– the approximate percentage of students at the school reading significantly below their grade level

82 cents- the cost in US$ of bus fare from our house to the nearest town/city (Sav-la-Mar)

2007– the date of the last category 4 hurricane in our area (Hurricane Dean). It was 50 miles off the coast and caused minimal damage.

79– the average temperature here, in Fahrenheit (but lately it’s been more like 90)

8– the number of Peace Corps volunteers currently serving in our same parish

4.5– the average number of vendors we buy from during a weekly trip to the farmer’s market

4.90– price for a gallon of gas here (after conversions)

51.72– minimum wage in US dollars, per week (may not apply to free trade zone factory wages)

* Life Updates, * Michelle Thoughts, * Peace Corps

Updates

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Inspired by the Jamaican national pledge and doctor bird logo for the Jamaica 50th anniversary celebration

We just wanted to make our “readers” aware of a few updates on the blog:

1. The Peace Corps Info page (you can find the link under our header photo) has a few updates, including our Packing List for future volunteers and slight changes to info about sending us packages. 

2. Now both of us have twitter and you can see our thoughts from the blog homepage on the right side column. Look for “Jedd’s Thoughts” and “Michelle’s Thoughts.” Since we don’t have regular access to internet, we can text twitter cheaply from our phones and send out little updates that way.

* Michelle Thoughts, * Peace Corps

Life at School

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I’ve been contemplating the overwhelming challenges in the Jamaican school system. From the tradition of lax structure and hands-off supervision, to the limited resources and shortened class schedule, the limited vaue in education among families, all the way up to the constraints on the Ministry of Education’s budget at the national level. There are so many symptoms and broad, deep root causes. The same is true with all issues, all over the world. The problems are overwhelming. To ponder them is important but it cannot become too burdensome. For me, faith is critical to keep on going and know that the burden doesn’t all fall in my hands. But more on that later…

Photos: Students who want to help me open the classroom in the morning. My walk to work along the main road. My classroom in the old teacher’s lounge.

* Michelle Thoughts, * Peace Corps

In with the Rain

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Rainy season has begun in Westmoreland. I’ve gotten accustomed to adding a side bar when I tell people here that it rains a lot in my hometown. In Jamaica, when it rains, it pours. I imagine a Jamaican translating our explanation of the northwest’s prevalence for rain as one continuous deluge that floods the streets for months on end. Here, a ten minute rain storm will literally flood the streets of Sav-la-Mar (the town nearest us). And the other day, while we were at home during one of the downpours, we witnessed one particular, common rainstorm occurrence: rodents running for shelter. Despite our self-installed mesh screen on the front door, a little mouse rushed the house, apparently shimmied under the mesh with ease, and made a beeline to the corner of our livingroom, right under our noses.  We tried to shoo him out, but we haven’t seen him since. The next morning, we also found three dead cockroaches and one live one- an increase of three from our daily average. So we’re currently devising more ways to secure our entry ways from creatures, especially during the rainy season.

* Life Updates, * Michelle Thoughts, * Peace Corps

Getting Started At Work

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After almost a month at our site, we are both just starting to scratch the surface of our work projects. I (Michelle) have transitioned away from observing classes and started the initial phase of my own literacy pull-out groups. That means, I gathered lists from each teacher of students who are reading below grade level (the total came out to 28% of the school), and now I am in the process of meeting one-on-one with each of those students.

Continue reading “Getting Started At Work” →

* Jedd Thoughts, * Life Updates, * Michelle Thoughts, * Peace Corps, Videos

Swearing In: A Recap

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On TV
Here’s a news clip of our official Swearing In ceremony. (You’ll see Jedd shaking the Ambassador’s hand. Michelle was hidden but standing behind Jackie, in the blue dress, in the first first clip as it pans left.)

In the Newspaper
Article about our Swearing In in the Jamaica Observerwith quote by Michelle

Group 83 Swearing In with the U.S. Ambassador and Jamaican Governor General

In Our Own Words
Jedd was chosen by his fellow Youth volunteers to give their group’s speech at Swearing In. Here’s what he said:

I’m here today as a representative of the Youth as Promise/HIV-PEPFAR volunteers of Peace Corps Jamaica, group 83. This young, passionate, and wonderful group of fun individuals are committed to serving the youth and at risk populations of Jamaica. I am inspired by them and I will miss them all dearly as we go out all over the country.
I wanted to share with you all a letter that I wrote to the Country and people of Jamaica and though I am nervous… Daag a sweat, but long hair cover it.

Dear Jamaica,
It’s been almost ten weeks Continue reading “Swearing In: A Recap” →

* Life Updates, * Michelle Thoughts, * Peace Corps

A Peek at Our New Home

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Feel free to click on the thumbnail images above and it should open up a page with the caption on it.

We finally learned our site placements last week and were whisked off to “site orientation” with our supervisors for the past four days. Jedd and I will be living in a rural area outside of Savanna-la-Mar, on the southwest coast in Westmoreland parish. I’ll be working at a rural school doing literacy pull-out sessions with students who have fallen behind (among other things). And Jedd will be working in a brand new community resource center in Savanna-la-Mar (a.k.a. Sav) starting up their internet cafe, computer training, and youth programs (among other things). We feel so blessed to be living in the basement apartment of a beautiful rural home with two amazing host parents. I’ve included a few pictures for now but wanted to save the rest until we’ve really made the place our own.

Our internet situation at site is up in the air. We are currently in Kingston for one last week of training and then Swearing In on May 18, and we do have internet access here. After that, we are not sure when we’ll be able to get consistent internet at work or at home.