PCMO

So right now I'm trying to get over a cold. We were in Kingston on Friday, I was out late that night, up late on Saturday night too because another PCV visited me, and then spent way too much time swimming in the river so... I only have myself to blame for being sick. Plus I guess my body is getting used to an "oulip" of new things right now.

I guess the cold water did me in.

Though I cannot explain how relaxing Sunday was... sifting through rocks/sand, floating in the water watching leaves swirl by...

So I went to see the PCMO (Peace Corps Medical Officer) on Thursday. It's moving into a chest cold so I got antibiotics & slept all of yesterday. I'm excessively sleepy right now but I have a warden's meeting at Devon House, then I have to make it back to Castleton for a CDC meeting.

I guess the time in bed gives me a chance to go over materials at least, & good for fine-tuning my Patwa.

I wrote a 6 page document on everything that happened with who I was living with before this but I guess I'll spare you the details. At first I thought it was a cultural difference but the more I was around other Jamaicans the more I realized she's just excessively domineering/controlling so... after a while we clashed. I gave it my best shot. I've actually talked to other volunteers who have been in the same spot/have already left and they had similar problems with her too so at least I know it's not just me.

We both still have to work together but things are airing out right now so we'll see what happens.

I really love the people I'm staying with right now. They're relaxed, everything is communal & her family is awesome. I'm living with Ms. Dorothy, her mom who's about 90 something, her mom's helper and her granddaughter. She's had 7 kids and has 28 grandchildren so she's used to people coming/going, gives me my space and has really welcomed me into the family so I'm very grateful right now.

Plus they're going to teach me how to make some very good Jamaican dishes.

I like the location too, it's north of where I work & I walk about two hours a day to work & back. The walk is beautiful along the river/through the hills. I've dropped about 5lbs since I moved there a week or two ago so that bodes well considering on average, female volunteers gain 20lbs during their peace corps service.

I'm excited about getting things going for the community as time moves along & have a bunch of plans.

I had a long discussion with someone a few days ago about being a volunteer & understanding "cultural integration". It's not really something that anyone could fully grasp unless they have gone through it themselves, at least to this scale. It kind of builds a certain camaraderie between all volunteers, regardless of country served.

Big ups to all Peace Corps volunteers.

I'd update more but I need to run over to Devon House.

Solar Pump anyone?

Time is flying I guess. It doesn't feel like I've been here that long but my departure seems like it was ages ago. I guess sometimes it's good to have no conception of time- I think I'm more on "Jamaican time" than a lot of Jamaicans.

So the project at right is going well. We spent a day draining the pond in the gardens- catching tadpoles, fish & frogs to relocate them to another aquatic location while we fix it up.

I was happy, got to catch a frog.

So we drained it, chipped off decades and decades worth of old paint layers, patched up holes with cement, are treating it & then should have things done in a few weeks.

The whole project has been moving along very quickly- I'm getting into contact with a few people right now in hopes of getting a solar pump donated.

It would be an excellent opportunity for environmental education/advertising alternative sources of energy for anyone who visits-so why not?

Much more aesthetically pleasing considering we're using thin piping with a hole drilled into it right now. It runs off of water pressure from from an old uphill irrigation system.

You can see our version of a fountain at right.

Blue Draws

Time is flying. We fianlly swore in at the US Embassy on the 15th of May. Hard to believe that was a month ago.

So I'm an official "Peace Corps Volunteer" (PCV- we love acronyms). There are a lot of projects I'm looking forward to getting started on. Expaning the recycling program, starting an Environmental Club at the school, starting a library (The community & school both lack one), getting equipment for the Communtiy Center's Clinic, working on a summer camp, getting some bus stops/painting murals, getting a footbridge built so kids can get to school/don't have to go through the rive to get there during rainy season, ict/computer training etc.

I have a list going... hopefully everything goes smoothly.

So today I spent the day with Ms. Nugent (My Project Partner) at the Castleton church of god (or something like that) chilling out making blue draws.

Originally I thought they were called Tom’s draws instead of “blue draws”.

Who is Tom & why is he special enough to have a dish named after his underwear?

Everyone cracked up when I called it “tom’s draws”.

The real name for it is Dokanu.

Anyway I'm not sure if I can find the recipe but it mainly consisted of grated sweet potatoes, grated dry coconut, flower, cornmeal, sugar, vanilla, nutmeg (fresh nutmeg- from a yellow fruit that splits open as it drys, wrapped in a beautiful red waxy design, you grate the seed to get the spice). It smells delicious.

So after we got the mix together we went behind the building where a bunch of banana trees are growing & cut a bunch of huge leaves. The trees "bled" clear liquid.

So then we held the leaves over a fire until the green changed into a darker shade, that way the wrap holds together after we tie it. Cut the leaves off of the stalks, arranged in piles, plopped the dough onto the banana leaves, folded them a few times into rectangles & ties with strings from the banana tree.

Prepped about 40, put them all in a pot to boil for an hour, let them dry out and then stuck in the fridge.

I lived off of those things for about a week, they're delicious. The farmers really loved them too- I brought them to a work day & it was a hit.

Work days here are huge, right now we're working on building a foundation for Ms. Grant's house so Food For the Poor can take over & get the rest built. They're living in a chicken coup in the mean time so we're scrambling to get everything done before the first hurricane hits.

The area is prone to land-slides so there are a lot of people I'm concerned about up here, considering a lot of things are supported by stilts.

One lady loses about 1 room per year because of the hill/rain.

So I also think that whatever gully project we get started will massively help the community too, that should happen in August or September of this year.