Category: * Peace Corps

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

Volunteer Shadowing

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Our most recent adventure has been shadowing a current volunteer. We each went out on public transportation to various sites around the island, spending Monday afternoon through Wednesday morning with our volunteer. I got to visit Carline, another education volunteer who is located in a small town outside of Ocho Rios. She’s came with the group before ours, so she’s been at her site since September.

The video gives a quick look at her apartment, her literacy work at the local school, the beautiful nature in her community, and some of her friends. The last clip is a pair of student rehearsing a really cool poem that they will perform at Festival. (Please excuse the technical glitch at the beginning! And the audio was a little challenging so I put in a few subtitles.) Overall, I had a great time with Carline, gaining valuable advice and a real life look at a volunteer’s home and work. Hopefully I’ll be able to go back and visit at some point! -M

* Jedd Thoughts, * Peace Corps

Life Pon Di Hill (life on the hill)

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The view from the hill looking at Kingston

Thank God today is Friday.

I’m tired. A good tired feeling.

Yesterday we spent two (yes only two) hours with 30 awesome Jamaican youth and I was spent. Although we had a lot of fun, I told our trainer I may not have the energy for two years of this. I digress.

As Michelle mentioned in the last post we have been living apart these past couple of weeks to train in our Continue reading “Life Pon Di Hill (life on the hill)” →

* Michelle Thoughts, * Peace Corps

Pon Di Road an Easter

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(Translation: On the road and Easter)

Jedd was able to travel from the Youth Development training town (a.k.a. "Hub") to visit me for the long weekend in my hub where the Education volunteers stay. Here we are in our Easter church outfits.

Week One at Hub

Easter in Jamaica is a national holiday, meaning most folks get at least Good Friday and Easter Monday off from their travails, and the schools get up to two weeks off. We have moved to the next phase of our training program, “Hub” training, and we are currently in our second set of home-stays in these new communities. Since Jedd and I are in different sectors, we’re living in separate Hub communities for these five weeks. But fortunately, Peace Corps has arranged for married couples who are separated during Hub to be able to visit each other a couple times on weekends. So we took advantage of the long Easter weekend, and Jedd braved public transit for the first time! Continue reading “Pon Di Road an Easter” →

* Jedd Thoughts, * Peace Corps

We Are More Alike Than We Are Unalike

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A picture of our first host mom and her daughter…

It’s a cool and quiet morning. I’m sitting outside on my host family’s patio enjoying the unusual peace and quiet in honor of Good Friday. No barking dogs, crickets, or whistling frogs (just as it sounds). No loud dance hall music from the local bar and no honking cars. Though I kind of like these typical sounds that make Jamaica seem alive and bustling, I am soaking up the light, soft breeze and unnatural stillness as I have heard there are only three days like this (Good Friday, Jamaica Independence Day, and Christmas).

I came to Jamaica not really knowing what I would Continue reading “We Are More Alike Than We Are Unalike” →

* Michelle Thoughts, * Peace Corps, Videos

Community-Based Training (Part One)

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This video is a quick look at what our lives have looked like the past couple weeks. After Staging in Atlanta, we flew to Kingston where we were warmly welcomed and did our first two days of orientation. Then, we moved into our first home-stay community in a small town outside of Kingston where we have been enjoying home cooking, fresh juice, and life lessons from our host mother and sister. On week days we are in training sessions with the other trainees, learning about the local language and culture, safety and security, Peace Corps policies, and overviewing issues related to our project sectors.

Some random things we’ve learned and experienced so far:

  • Steel drums actually come from Trinidad and Tobago
  • It is not culturally acceptable to eat on the street, walking or sitting (jury is still out on why this is so)
  • Jamaicans hold big social parties nine days after a death called a Nine Night and anyone can attend
  • “Howdy come from outta door.” Greetings are more important than saying Thank You here, and it is the person coming from “outside” (whether entering a room or a foreigner entering a neighborhood) who must be the one to offer the greeting
  • Morning jogs must wrap up before 7:30am or else you’ll get too hot
  • The ice cream truck plays the same song here
  • Sometimes girls will ask to touch your hair
* Michelle Thoughts, * Peace Corps

Making Headlines

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Jamaican Observer article about our Peace Corps group: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Peace-Corps-celebrates-50-years-of-service-to-Jamaica_11106257

Don’t ask me why I was selected for this picture but upon our arrival to Jamaica last week, the Jamaican press covered Peace Corps’ 50th anniversary of being in Jamaica. Our entire group attended the ceremony, and now we’re in the paper!

We’ll try to post another video in a few days. In the meantime, I’ve made some small updates to the mailing instructions on our Peace Corps Info page (tab above). Since we’re moving around a lot during training, we’ve been told that it will be easiest to wait until we go to our permanent site in May to get packages. But it’s not a hard and fast rule.

Until next time … -M

* Jedd Thoughts, * Peace Corps

Testing the Waters

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Shops & Restaurants along the shore...

This past weekend Michelle and I started our first round of Homestay experiences in a quaint seaside community on the south side of the island, just a glimpse away from the hustle and bustle of downtown Kingston. Continue reading “Testing the Waters” →

* Jedd Thoughts, * Peace Corps

Here We Are!

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Nexus Group Performing at the 50th anniversary celebration of Peace Corps in Jamaica

After a long couple of days of travel and no sleep (we were awake for about 36 hours), we have finally arrived in Jamaica!

Highlights:
– It’s been great meeting and making new friends (both fellow volunteers and staff)
– Training and support has been overwhelming and very much appreciated
– Impressive and highly competent Jamaican and American Staff
– Fun trying new food
– The warmth from the island from the people and the weather is comforting
– Feel encouraged that this really is where we are suppose to be
– Amazing welcome and 50th anniversary celebration of Peace Corps in Jamaica (inspiring speeches and a beautiful cultural performance by the Nexus group (singing and dancing))

We are excited to head to our first round of homestays tomorrow and look forward to the rest of training. Will have more to share soon, but we just wanted you to know that we arrived safe, we are enjoying the training, and can’t believe we are finally here. Don’t know when the next time we will post but will do so when we can.
Till next time, “Bless up yourself”.

-J

* Michelle Thoughts, * Peace Corps

Crossing the waters

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We arrived in Atlanta safe and sound on Monday night. We met the first of our fellow Peace Corps trainees at the airport and caught a ride to the hotel together. There were a group of other trainees hanging out in the lobby and at breakfast Tuesday morning, so little by little we met our new “government issued friends” (as they say). No one seems to have slept very well here, and both Jedd and I are battling a minor cold. But despite that, we are really excited to finally be in the midst of what we’ve been waiting for all this time, and everyone we’ve met has been awesome! Staging, a very basic orientation and paperwork session, took place today for about 6 hours, and we were both pretty impressed by how well the information was delivered and everything was coordinated.

The following is a quick video we threw together of our last few days for a glimpse at our lives before arriving in Jamaica: packing, farewell parties, travel, and our first Peace Corps activity. Enjoy!

And (mostly for our parents) here are two links to articles/blogs where we were recently featured for joining Peace Corps:
Peace Corps Day… in the Gonzaga Bulletin
New Volunteer Profile on the West Coast Peace Corps Recruitment Office blog

* Jedd Thoughts, * Peace Corps

Never Enough

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Do we take some tools with us? What about a jacket, will it be cold in Jamaica? Johnny’s seasoning? How about a long sleeve shirt? A tie? Do I really need a tie?

For the last couple of weeks my thoughts have been consumed with things. Continue reading “Never Enough” →