During the course of training we have come to discover that in Jamaica proverbs are used as little bursts of philosophy interjected into everyday speak. A lot of the phrases are similar to things that we use in the states; “If yu go a tumpafoot dance, yuh fi dance a tumpafoot,” is the equivalent of, “When in Rome, do as the Romans do.” Using proverbs and understanding them really helps to figure out what’s going on when people are speaking thick patwa. The title of this post means (as you can probably figure out) that you can’t know a person or situation until you’re right up there in it.

Last week the PC Trainees had a chance to get into the thick of things by shadowing a currently serving volunteer. This was a great experience not only because we could observe and ask questions, but also for the adventure in traveling around the island. Several trainees, including myself, were sent off to the other side of the island to find our volunteers in Negril. We started off organized enough; had called for a minibus the night before to pick us up to leave at 7am. 7am comes and goes, 8am comes and goes…finally at 830 two buses pull up at the same time. Assuming they were both for us we split up (I think 13 people). The driver starts shouting in patwa and the other bus speeds away. Our driver tells us that he was the one we called, and he would only leave with 13 people, not the 9 of us who were in there. Okay, minor problem. We pile out of the bus, an hour and a half after we were supposed to have left, and seek out taxis. We find two without a problem and squish into them. On our way speeding along the mountain road that leads to Ocho Rios we suddenly pull over (at a somewhat precarious spot..) because the taxi behind has broken down. Radiator busted, water added. Continuing on. Stop again at a farm stand, the driver buys an egg and some black pepper, cracks it into the radiator and continues. This happens a few times before we find a mechanic who puts epoxy on the leak. 4hours after we left home we arrived in Ocho Rios, a drive that should have taken 40 minutes! Needless to say, travel for the rest of the weekend was an adventure that required a lot of flexibility and good humor!

Once we got to Negril we joined up with our PCV to go around to schools in the area to drop off supplies for an Earth Day event (Happy Earth day by the way!!). Here is a picture from one of our stops…

Primary school kids loving the NCRPS truck.

Negril is a beautiful place, definitely would recommend it for anyone wanting to visit Jamaica!

This week we did practical training in Environmental Education at the local primary and highschool in Ewarton. We were lucky, many schools in Jamaica that PCVs work at have classrooms divided only by chalkboards, and up to 40 kids in each class. Some areas are so populated that the kids go in shifts, some in the morning from 7-12, the others in the afternoon from 12-5. The schools we worked at were much more manageable, although I really have respect for teachers here!!

Ok, need to go help make dinner, so mi a mek a move. Check out my picasa web albums for more pics of Ewarton and Negril!

chicken foot soup…just for fun