love. serve. live.
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”
When living in a new country, it’s always good to celebrate milestones. It helps you see where you have come from and all the things that you have accomplished (and to be honest, who doesn’t like finding a reason to buy and eat affordable Betty Crocker fudge brownies). This week we are celebrating 1 month in our new home in Westmoreland, Jamaica and 4 years of marriage. Who knew 4 years ago that two very different people would find each other, fall in love and get married, and then 4 years later live and serve in another country? I didn’t think that was going to happen. We hope you enjoy Michelle’s latest video and we will try to post again soon (at the moment we don’t have steady access to internet). Thanks for walking with us on this adventure… J&M https://vimeo.com/43629057
Tun Han’ an’ Mek Fashion -Jamaican Proverb
Translation: Turn your hand and make fashion
Meaning: Use your creativity to make something. Use whatever you have and make something great.
This is one if not my favorite Jamaican proverbs because of how well it describes Jamaican people and culture. Jamaicans are extremely creative. You see it in the art, hear it in the music, and taste it in the food. Jamaican creativity is beautiful and I love it. It’s an endearing and amazing quality, but more importantly, it’s inspiring.
As you may or may not know, many of us Peace Corps volunteers did not commit our lives to this experience for the Continue reading “Creative Affordable Cooking – Callaloo Pasta”
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
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”
The video above features some sights and sounds of Jamaica. Here in the land of wood and water, your senses are overwhelmed by so many new things. I called this volume one because there are several things I wasn’t able to capture that I hope to like what it’s like in an open market, what it’s like on busy streets (with goats, buses, dogs, etc…), and my favorite, what it’s like being on a cramped bus (we have two years to get this footage).
I hope you enjoy this video (edited on an iPad, which went well) and had a chance to hear and see some of the things we’ve been experiencing. Please let me know if there is anything else that you’d like me to capture footage of in Jamaica (leave a comment below).
Till next time, big up yuh self – J
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.
This video is the second installment from Hub Training for the education volunteers. It’s a quick recap of the past five weeks.
We also have exciting news… We have finally found out our site placement for the next two years! We will be living in Westmoreland parish in a small town outside of Savanna-la-Mar. Jedd will be working at a newly developing organization with youth, a short taxi ride from our home. And I will be working with the primary school in our town. Our housing is a flat on the first floor of a house owned by a couple in their fifties. Tomorrow our supervisors will take us to the site for a four-day orientation, so we’ll know a lot more in the coming days! Our big swearing in ceremony to become official volunteers is May 18.
Today is our last day of “Hub training” where the eleven of us education volunteers have been meeting for the past five weeks. We have successfully completed our practicum assignments, which involved tutoring two primary school students in literacy over a period of two weeks, as well as other education and patois language-related assignments. We’ve heard from a number of presenters, including several from various branches of Jamaica’s Ministry of Education, and we’ve even toured some important sites to the country’s education system on our field trips. As the Jamaicans say, we’re “ready fi touch di road” (sort of like: “ready to hit the road running”). They often tell us that although five weeks is not enough to prepare us for everything, we are prepared enough to begin our work and go until our next training in September (Early Service Conference). We’ve also learned a lot outside the classroom, namely with our wonderful host families who feed, house, and watch out for us while we’ve been here. We will be leaving our host families on Sunday afternoon and heading back to Kingston where we’ll (finally!!) find out our site placements for the next two years.
-M
I turned 29 over the weekend. 29 years! When did it go by so quickly. One minute you are 5 running around with scissors cutting your own hair. The next time you blink you are 21 in college accidentally buzzing your hair off (true story, ask Justin Klump). By the time you are aware of life’s quick, roller coaster pace, you are in Jamaica (another island) with facial hair- a mustache you’d never thought you’d have.
Life is happening. You either enjoy the ride or you fret about it. Mo bettah you enjoy it.
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Today marks day 48 being on the island. It’s our last week of Continue reading “Mr. Chin Caught Di Peppa”
This was going to be “A Day in the Life” post, however, just covering the morning hours seems to be plenty for one post. The following is a description of an average training day at my Hub:
One Morning
It’s a Monday morning. I wake up around 5:45am as the sun is just beginning to glow through my windows and illuminate the pastel green walls in my bedroom. My earplugs have fallen out at some point during the night, so I do a quick sweep of the linen sheets to feel them out. The temperature has been much more agreeable now that we’re further up in the mountains of Jamaica, so I had switched my fan off late in the evening. I roll out of bed and my bare feet guide me across the tile floor, out my back bedroom door 
(the front bedroom door leads to the patio/entrance of the house). A quick zigzag down the hallway brings me to my own private bathroom which my host family has reserved for me; it is nearly the size of my bedroom but painted pastel pink. (I’ve already used the facility twice during the night because of how much water and juice I’m ingesting, and yet I still have to go again! TMI?) Continue reading “Rise and Shine: A Morning in the Life of a Trainee”
Simply Intentional 