Just wanted to let you know that I am back in the States. I came home to help take care of my grandmother, Jan, who is fighting cancer. It feels so good to be home. :) Thank you for all your support while I was away doing the Peace Corps in Jamaica.

Last week a fellow pcv asked me to go with her and students from her school to see the annual pantomime show in Kingston. Of course I jumped on this opportunity right away. I really miss seeing live theater/performing arts and was excited to see how it's done in Jamaica.

Before I tell you about the show and our experience let me give you a brief history about the Jamaican Pantomime, cause it's quite interesting. The National Pantomime is put on by the Little Theater Movement theater company which promotes the development of drama in Jamaica. The first National Pantomime took after the tradition of English theater, where a childhood story was adopted for stage with music, song and dance. However, over the years the Pantomime has evolved from English tradition to "lusty tales of the Caribbean, with dialogue in patois and humour reflecting the robust sense of comedy of these 'islands in the sun." (Taken from LTM's website). Each year the Pantomime uses Jamaican culture, folklore and historical references to create a story entertaining for both children and adults.

This year's Pantomime is called Runner Boy, a parody about the famous Usain Bolt who impressed the world last summer by smashing world records and bringing home three Olympic gold medals. The story was not only about the Runner Boy, but also about the community he came from, the people of the town and everyday life of the rural community.

In true Jamaican fashion, we arrived late to the show so we ended up coming into the theater during the middle of a scene. As I sat down and tried to understand what was going on I realized that I couldn't hardly understand anything the actors and actresses were saying. :( I'd like to think that by now I can mostly understand patois (even though I don't use it much), but it is hard to follow along when I had no context on what was happening. Luckily though, once I was settled and really paying attention to the story I found that I could understand almost everything and got a lot of the jokes that were said on stage! It felt good to know that my patois part of the brain has been well trained to comprehend the Jamaican language.

Needless to say the show was very cute, with lots of songs and dance numbers that I was moving my booty to in my seat. I always get reved up by musicals. The remind me of the ones I preformed in during my high school years and all the fun I had performing in them... Ahhh memories!

The show ended rather late but that didn't stop us from taking some pictures outside the theater before loading up on the bus for the long ride home. What a fun night! Looking forward to next year's show!

I am a very lucky girl. With the help of my parents I was able to visit home for the Easter holiday and see all my loved ones! I was home in the states for two whole glorious weeks and had such an amazing time experiencing all the things I miss in Jamaica including family, friends, special foods, even little things like the joy of carpet and well stocked public libraries! (Did that sound nerdy?)

The first stop of my journey brought me to Philadelphia. Dad, Vicki and the boys were all there to pick me up from the airport and were surprised to see my tears of joy at being home, back in the states. Immediately following greetings and hugs and kisses we went out for cheese stakes and I got to enjoy my first cold draft in over nine months!

As we drove around on the highways and roads I was seeing familiar places through different eyes, eyes that have seen a different way of living and experienced a different culture. For instance, I was very impressed with the quality and vastness of public infrastructure that surrounded us, which is lacking in most places in Jamaica.

Luckily the boys were on spring break while I was visiting so I got lots of time to play with them and go exploring. Dad took us down town to the art museum, one of my favorite places in Philly. We went to a Phillies game and got to see the 2008 World Series Ring Ceremony before the game, a pretty cool event although I didn't follow baseball at all last summer/fall cause I was in Jamaica.

The next stop on my trip was to Cleveland where I got to spend time with Mom, Shane, my brothers, and Grandma and Grandpa Mac. Mom and Shane picked me up at the airport and mom had a great big sign "Welcome Home Janelle!" I felt very loved! And I was greeted at home with more big hugs from everyone. On saturday we spent the day dying easter eggs, frosting Grandma's famous easter cookies. We all watched Wallie in the evening and I got to cuddle with Spencer, he's such a cuddle bug! Easter morning we all went to church and then we were off to Hocking Hills State Park where Mom had rented a lakeside cabin for us to stay in for a few days. We explored the nearby state parks and saw some AMAZING views. Waterfalls, caves, cliffs... absolutely gorgeous.

My next stop was to D.C. where I got to see all my friends that I had been missing while gone in Jamaica. Even though I'd been gone for almost ten months we were able to pick right back up like I hadn't been gone at all. I also made a visit to campus and got to chat with some of my old professors and coaches. It was fun to share with others about my experiences and learn about what's been going on while I was gone. There are a lot of changes at Mason, the school is really growing fast! Go Patriots!

The vacation ended back in Philly where I got to celebrate the Greek Orthodox Easter with Dad, Vicki and the boys and our extended families and friends. Dad cooked the lamb on saturday morning/afternoon and then we went to midnight service as always later that night. On "Greek" Easter day we rented a pavilion at a local state park and spent the whole day eating massive amounts of yummy Greek food, dancing to Greek music and playing in the park.

But way too soon it was time to come back to Jamaica. It was hard to say goodbye to everyone and to my home, but I know that I have more to do here on the rock and more adventures to look forward to over the next year. And hopefully some of the special people I miss will think about coming to visit me!! :D Hint, Hint! Until then, I'm sending love from Jamaica to all of you back home. Be thankful for what you have in life... you are very blessed!

One of my jobs here in Jamaica is to aid the Public Health Inspectors in projects that they are conducting through the parish health department. Ultimately I'm here to help them build resources and capacity for jobs they currently do and/or want to do in the future. Usually this just means they need an extra hand because the biggest resource they are lacking (besides money) is manpower.

So when one of my PHIs asked for help with a Rodent Control Program that is being conducted in our community I was right there to assist. I am now official part of the Rodent Control Team which consists of other PHIs, the Health Education Officer, other employees at the health department and even members of the community that we are conducting the program in. The main goal of this program is to reduce the rodent population in the community. We will do this through a number of strategies:

Educate members of the community about the importance of rodent control and how they can all help to reduce the rodent population through proper solid waste management.Conduct a community wide clean up, creating rodent traps throughout the community.Provide opportunities for community to properly dispose of waste (place garbage bins throughout town)Hold a Best Kept Street Competition to promote cleaner, healthier communitiesGo the local schools and teach children how they can do their part to help clean up the community. The plan is to have a poster contest and quiz competition on the importance of rodent control and proper solid waste management.So far we have been able to acquire 20 garbage bins donated by local companies to place throughout town. I spent this past week painting them all. I painted "St. Ann Health Department Rodent Control Program" with a picture of a rat and a big X painted over the rat on all 20 of the bins. I can paint rats in my sleep now! I'm not sure if that is something to be proud of or not... lol! But I had a lot of fun spending the days outside painting. And since I was sitting outside I got to meet more people who work at the health department because they saw me working and were curious about the project. They just came right up and started chatting. So painting the bins was a great excuse for me to meet new people at work as well. :) Needless to say I am very excited about helping carry out the rest of the program with the Rodent Control Team. Hopefully we can inspire behavior change and help to really clean up the town.By the way, today is a GORGEOUS day outside. I can't wait to hit the beach. I know you guys in the states are all jealous ;) but don't worry, it's spring now and the worst of the cold is over... Miss you all very much, I'll think of you while I'm playing in the waves!

So my new favorite card game is called Kalooki. I am definitely hooked! I was introduced to the game by my fellow uwi teammates. After a long day of volleyball is great to sit back with friends and play a good game of cards. And its also a good way to pass time at tournaments in between games. This game is pretty intense tho, really cut-throat, no mercy, every man for himself kind of game. I'm told it's a form of Contract Rummy but I have no idea since I've never played rummy before. This website explains all the rules, which you will see are not too too complicated but the game itself is a real mind exercise for sure. So check it out and try it one night instead of watching tv. Promise you'll love it.

The other night I had the honor of being the guest speaker for the Kiwanis Club of The Garden Parish. I was invited to come and speak about the Peace Corps program and what I've been doing in Jamaica over the past nine months that I have been here. For those of you who don't know, Kiwanis is a global organization that works to improve the lives of children world wide. Before my speach I sat and listened to members discuss upcoming community events to volunteer at for this upcoming month and chat about exciting things happening within their club, including work at a nearby mental health institution. It was insping to be amoungst a group of such motivated and caring women.

When it was my time to speak I took the first part of my presentation to talk about a general overview of what Peace Corps was, its history, its goals, and types of things volunteers are doing world wide. But the fun started when I began talking specifically about my time here in Jamaica. Everyone was so intereseted in how I have been adjusting to the culture, that I can speak patios and use public transportation, and that we as pcvs are willing to give so much time to help others in foreign places. They also had questions about water quality in their parish which I was happy to address and help clear-up some misconceptions.

It was a very refreshing and inspiring night, reminding me of the reasons I decided to be a pcv. And it was motivational to see that these women are making a difference in their community! With an active community group, so much change is possible. It reminds me of quote from President Barack Obama:

"Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek. "

Last weekend I traveled to Negril to volunteer at the annual Donkey Race organized by the Negril Rotary Club. Funds generated from the event went to support early childhood education in the community so I was more than excited to give my time to help out with the event.

I ended up helping at the face painting booth with a rasta guy: just me, him and fifty pikni crowded around the tent. Face painting was a free event so there was just a huge line of kids, one after the other. I painted tiger faces, flowers, butterflies, lots and lots of Spidermen and other super heroes, and even a few American flags. It was funny to have little kids ask me to paint American flags, I was like, “Are you sure you don’t want a Jamaican flag?” … “No miss, I want the one with stars.”

At the beginning of the day the donkeys were dressed up in silly costumes and paraded around the track. I didn’t catch any pictures of it cause I already had my hands full with face painting but it was pretty cute to see donkeys in wigs and lamp shades for hats. After the parade the real fun started. The donkeys would race in groups of three and people could place bets on the winner.

In addition to the donkey races and face painting for the kids, there was a bar for the big kids, plenty of food vendors, carnival games the kids could play to win prizes, a ferris wheel, and a giant Disney Princess bounce-a-bout that I really wanted to jump in but never got the chance. Hehe.

So after a long day of face painting and watching donkeys I took a dip in the ocean, got a few drinks at the bar with other PCVs at the donkey race and then headed back to the beach to see a beautiful Negril sunset. A great ending to a long but extremely fun day.

I have some updates on the projects I’ve been working on down here in Jamaica:

For my farmers’ group irrigation project, we have selected the pump and dealer we want to purchase from and are in the process of completing the order. Hopefully the pump will be in Jamaica by March.

Some more good news: I showed my supervisor at the Regional Health Authority the database I have been working on for the health department I volunteer at and she really liked it. She requested that I expand the database so it could be used throughout the region. She said that once it’s developed we could hold training sessions so that others in the region will be able to use the database and know how it functions. I am super excited about the challenge even though there will be a few things I will have to teach myself in order to make this dream a reality.

I’ve picked up a new project that I’m super excited to work on. I am teaming up with community based organization to help them with site development for an eco tourism establishment that they are trying to create. The site is located in a very sensitive area at the head waters of a major river in Jamaica so they have to pay special attention to the waste water that will be generated at the site. Additionally they need help in deciding on what water source they will use and the design of the distribution system. Here's a few pics of the site:

So these are a few things I have been up to the past few months and projects that will continue to work on during my time here in a Jamaica. I have one more project that I would like to share with you, but I think it’s best to send it via email, so check those inboxes when you get a chance.

For all of you that didn’t know, since around October I have been playing with an indoor volleyball club team here in Jamaica. The club is sponsored by University of West Indies, Mona campus. I met some of the girls at the beach volleyball tournament a volunteered in the fall and they invited me to come out and play on their team. We have two women’s teams and two men’s teams. I am on the UWI A team. Don’t want to brag too much but we happen to be the best team on the island, officially. Last month we won the season championship for the eighth year in a row. The final game was sooooo much fun, there was a big loud crowd and I played the best I’ve played since I’ve been here in Jamaica. It’s great to play competitive volleyball again and to be part of a team. I’m making new friends and having a blast. Sometimes I wished I lived closer to Kingston so I could train with them more regularly, but I have to take what I can get and enjoy the times I do get to play.

This morning has been very productive: I woke up, went for a run, saw the sun rise along the way, nearly died at the end of the run because I haven't ran in over two weeks... then i got home, tried to climb the grill on the back of my house to get on the roof of my house (my favorite place in the mornings) only to cut my finger... doctored it up then noticed my tomato plant was over growing the pot I first planted it in so I then recruited Shavan to help me dig a hole for it in the yard and transfer it into the ground. On my way back into the house I noticed this pretty little girl sitting on our porch:

Pretty scary huh? I have also talked to my dad on the phone, cleaned my room, and did a load of laundry. Aaaand wrote this new blog entry which I have failed to do for over a month now. I'm gonna have to big up myself for all waking up early and getting stuff done today! I have lots to update you all on so stay tuned this week for some good blog posts!

so the past few weeks have gone by in whirl and i have failed to share them with you. :( but fear not this is a quick recap of my holidays in jamaica! yay!

Gina came to visit: Gina and i were camp councilers together at camp perkins all the way back in 2004. we haven't seen each other since that lovely summer but we've stayed in touch via facebook and emails from time to time. well it just so happened that she had some vacation time and some extra cash so she decided to come visit jamaica and excape from winter in the states. she stayed with me for a few days and i took her all around my area, dunns river, scotchies, turtle beach, flavors... all places you too can explore with me if you ever want to visit, i love playing tour guide! gina, it was fabulous to have you here, good luck with the big move and grad school!! Laura Facey: while gina was still here we had the pleasure of seeing an art exhibit being held by the famous Laura Facey, who is the artist of the statue Redemption Song at Emancipation Park in Kingston. we got to meet her and view her studio and see all her gorgeous new art work. it was so inspiring and quite an honor to meet her! i posted an album on facebook, i hope you can view it here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2185416&l=00164&id=15604815

Grand Market: christmas eve here in jamaica is kind of like new years eve in the states. everyone gets together for big parties and celebrations. so to experience some real christmas eve fun me and a few pcvs in the area went to grand market, which is this huge street party that's held every year on christmas eve. grand market begins with everyone shopping and buying the things they need for christmas. vendors line the streets, selling pretty much anything you'd want to buy and cooking heaps of jerk chicken to eat. in addition to street vendors, djs come and set up huuuge sound systems along the streets. when i walked in front of a massive wall of speakers i could feel the music pumping straight through me! as the night moves along the streets get more and more crowded til you can't hardly move. there are people eeeverywhere dancing and moving to the music from the sound systems. my friends and i stayed late into the night but when we left the party seemed like it was still going strong. here's some pics to show you the experience: the beginning of night

one of the MANY giant sound systemsChristmas Day: christmas morning i woke up to the sound of carolers walking down our street singing hark the herold angle sing. what a lovely way to wake up on christmas morning! i went to church with nurse and shavan and i got to read the morning prayer for the faithful (it's a catholic thing). the church was packed, over 130 people were there and i was so nervous but i did fine. after church we came home and i helped nurse make the christmas dinner. we spent all afternoon getting ready and then sat down together to enjoy the fruits of our labor. we had ham, lamb chops, real salad, potato salad, corn on the cob, home made macaroni and cheese, and christmas cake that i helped bake a few days before christmas. i was completely stuffed and ended the day with a good long sleep!

Nurse making christmas cake Some of the ingredients that go into christmas cake, including rose water, browning, and white rum!The manger scene at churchMy church Me and Desmond, one of the alter boys at churchThe sorrel (a jamaican christmas drink) was too sweet for Nurse!

McInerneys come to Jamaica: lucky me to have mooore visitors here in jamaica! my uncle bill, aunt linda, liz and ashley came down to escape the cold chi-town winter. they let me join them for the weekend at their resort where i was completely spoiled with endless food, drinks and HOT water!! lol! the resort had a ginourmous pool and a water park so we spent lots of time in the sun and water. my tan is looking much better now ;) while i was there we went on a tour of the Great House at Rose Hall which is the site where the White Witch once lived. people say its still haunted by her ghost! we drank a witch's brew in the dungeon of the house and got to see all the rooms where she once murdered each of her three husbands before she too was murdered by one of her slaves. scary stuff, but the house was gorgeous. here is an album i made on facebook of all the pics of the house and some of the resort that we stayed at: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2188902&l=06746&id=15604815 the album also includes pics from the grand gala show we saw at the resort. they had a steel drum band playing and lots of performers including dancers, extreme limbo, a fire eating/breathing lady, and lots more crazy acts. i had a fantabulous time with the mcinerneys, thank you for sharing your vacation with me and spoiling me over the weekend, i already miss you! New Years Eve: honestly i didn't do much for new years eve, i wasn't in the mood to go out and celebrate. so me and two other pcvs got together, splurged a little at the super market on food and drinks, and stayed in for the new year. we watched silly movies and talked and laughed all night. it was nice to just chill and enjoy the company to welcome the new year.and so we say goodbye to 08 and hello to 09. i can't believe it but tomorrow i will have officially been here in jamaica for 6 months already! time really does fly. can't wait to see what the year has in store for me. i'm wishing you all the best for a great start to the new year and good luck at keeping those new years resolutions. ;)

The other night I was getting dinner in Ochi when I heard some interesting music playing. I looked down the street and saw a little band playing music on drums and pipes. There were people dressed in crazy costumes too. Devils, a green monster, a guy dressed like a pregnant lady, a zombie creature... They were dancing all around the street and the stores of Ochi and chasing people around. I had no idea what all this was about but it was crazy fun. The Pregnant Lady even came up and danced on me. Later I asked Nurse what all that was about and she said its a tradition called Jonkonnu. This is what I found on Wikipedia about it:

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Jonkonnu in Jamaica Jonkonnu, or Jonkanoo (John Canoe) is parade that links music, dance, symbols and mime. It is a Jamaican traditional dance form of African descent. Typically Jamaican’s would parade in the streets and enact mime-style plays. This folk form has gone through many stages of development until today when it is rarely performed on the island.

The Jonkonnu festival is secular in nature and used to be performed at Christmas. It was the festive opportunity afforded to the slaves by the planter class, Christmas was one of the few times that slaves were relieved of their duties. The Characters : Core participants; Pitchy patchy, The cowhead, The horsehead, The devil, Other participants The King, The Queen, The police, Belly woman The characters parade through the streets in very elaborate costumes; they are attired costumed with head dresses, masks, pitchforks (devil), batons (police), fans (set girls) and any other paraphernalia that is necessary to complete the character. There basic jonkonnu steps that are done and each character has a signature movement. E.g Pitchy Patchy – turns, cartwheels, large movements in circular patterns. Belly woman - moves belly in time with the music--------------------------------------------

It was awesome to experience this cultural tradition first hand and reminds me how lucky I am to be living and learning about a different country/culture from my own.

For my birthday this year I decided to hike to the top of Blue Mountain, Jamaica's highest peak, standing 7,402 ft above sea level. It is about a seven mile hike to the peak and a 3,000 ft change in elevation. Several of my PC friends and I headed out in the early morning to the trail head. On our hike we passed by senic views of coffee plantations, misty rainbows, mossy trees, and wild flowers. Although it was misty/rainy for most of the hike (meaning all we could see was clouds at the peak) it was still a great adventure, and we were all excited to get a breath of cool and fresh mountain air. Side note: Thanks to everyone who wished me a happy birthday, I miss you all!!

My pcv friend Alicia's boss Johnny has a nephew that happens to be a famous race car driver in Jamaica, Doug "Hollywood" Gore. Johnny invited Alicia, me and our friend Steph to watch Doug compete in Rally Jamaica 2k8 which is this big racing competition hosted in Jamaica each year. It is a three day event with several different "stages" (race tracks) located in various locations including an orange tree grove outside of Bog Walk where there was a big water jump that the cars drive through. The water jump!

We got to watch all the races (and a few crashes too!) up close and personal and also got to meet some of the drivers. One of the drivers is 72 years old! I got a pic with him and gave him my bottled water to use when his car was over heating, pretty cool huh? LOL! Anyways, the races were crazy, with lots crazy sharp turns with cars skidding around corners and flying over hills in the road. Me with Morley, the 72 year old race car driver! Me and Steph with Doug "Hollywood" Gore. "Team MoBay!"

The Rally finished in New Kingston where we got to go to the top of the PanCaribbean building to watch the end races through the main streets of the city. It was an amazing view. Thanks to Johnny for caring us around all weekend and Alicia for being a fabulous hostest. The view from the PanCaribbean Building of the race track in New Kingston

In Peace Corps Jamaica we have different subcommittees that we can join for various causes. The point of the subcommittees are great for collaboration on projects, sharing resources, generateing funds, etc. One of the subcommittees is called Gender and Development (GAD), and their focus is obviously tackling gender issues in Jamaica.

It is a tradition for GAD to have a yearly auction where they can generate more funds for an island wide project. The auction is really neat cause the items that are auctioned off are things that we PCVs donate ourselves. Some items include: visit/tours of interesting places in Jamaica, baked goodies, hand crafted jewelery, yoga lessons, etc. So we donate things for the auction and then we all get together to bid on the items. My friend Alicia was in charge of putting together the auction this year and she asked me to be a Vanna White for the auction and display the items up for auction. I had so much fun modeling the prizes and helping the announcer, Jason, run the auction. We were able to raise $70,000 JA for GAD which is an amazing amount of money ($1,000 US)!!

The plan is to use this money to launch an island wide calender contest. Students from all over JA will be educated on how to be respectful to each other and better treat the opposite sex. Then they will be able to create a piece of art that represents what they've learned about respect and enter it in the contest. The winners will be part of a calender for 2010. It is planned for the calendars to be created with the money we generated. The winners will receive their own calendar and then the others will be available for sale at a low price to generate even more funds for GAD and more projects in the future.

It is exciting to see what a little collaboration can do and I'm definitely looking forward to seeing the calenders next year! When they are finished I'll let you know how you can buy your very own! :D

Hi everyone! This is Janelle's mom and she's asked me to write a little about my recent visit to see her in "Sunny Jamaica". So............... The first three days we spent in Negril on the west end of the island. We had Thanksgiving dinner with all her Peace Corps friends. What an amazing group of people! All I can say is you are all AWESOME individuals for the work you are doing (not to mention pretty good cooks - Thanks to Yvonne for the turkey and Shana for the homemade stuffing!!!)

Janelle forced me to go cliff jumping. Well, maybe forced is a strong word. I actually did it on my own with a little encouragement. The water was so blue and clear. And what I jumped off was nothing compared to the 40 foot cliff she and her friends jumped off at Rick's Cafe!!

After Negril, we ventured to her place at Runaway Bay. She lives with a wonderful little Jamaican lady, "Nurse", and her son Shavon. Janelle is blessed to be living with such a great person. She took us to a gospel concert at a little chapel in a village called Bamboo located at the top of a mountain. Very neat experience!

We also got a great tour of the mountains and several gorgeous homes by her friends Johnny & Alicia. Janelle has been working on a project for Johnny and I got to go to the site and see it for myself. It's the one she mentions below where they've won a $40K grant from the UN. We saw some fantastic views of the ocean from way up high. Everything is so beautiful & green.

Of course, it wouldn't be a trip to Jamaica without a visit to the beach. And of course, we had to have a "Cheeseburger in Paradise" at Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville before we left.

I also got to experience some traditional Jamaican food. Here's what I can remember: akee & saltfish, breadfruit, yams cooked over an open fire, boiled bananas & dumplings, porridge, jerk chicken, pork & sausage, festivals & my all-time favorite "patties" with coco bread. These are kind of like deep fried pastries with meat filling. Wow did I ever like those! Had to get one at the airport before I left.

It was a tearful goodbye but a great trip and an experience I'll never forget. I am so proud of her and the work she is doing. You all need to make a trip down and visit her. You won't be disappointed!!!

More pictures:

PCVs and friends at Thanksgiving DinnerSunset at Rick's in NegrilJanelle jumping off the 40ft cliff at Rick's

Here are some songs I recently discovered, not sure if they're exactly "new" songs in JA but they are ones I'm lovin!

Dreamin of you, Beannie Man (this video is so cute!)

Bonafide Girl, Shaggy (video not so cute, so i'm just gonna post the song)

You're the Only One, Serani (no video just the song)

Dry Cry, Sizzla (just the song)

Hope you enjoyed myTunes! let me know if you'd like to hear some more and i'll email you a big list of good ones.

So for those of you who remember me talking about some engineering consulting I did for the farmer's group a few months ago, I have a big update for you! Along with the information and calculations I provided them, they applied for a grant last month and just a few days ago we found out that they won the funding! They were given $40,000 US by the United Nations to purchase a solar pump for the irrigation system, construct an open channel from one drainage pond to the other, fund classes and education for the farmers group and other various needs. I have to give all the credit for the grant proposal to Johnny and Alicia, they put in a lot of hard work to see the grant process through. As one PCV said last week during our Early Service Conference, "you need the whole team to achieve the dream" or something like that... lol! i think when he said it it was much more elegant and inspirational but you get the idea.

Yesterday I spent the day on Mt. Rosser helping the Ewarton Watershed and Farmers Cooperative Society launch their first Tree Planting and Reforstation Project. It is a two year project with the goal of reforesting 100+ acres on the Ewarton hillsides with fruit trees. This will provide an economic benefit to the recipients of the trees and enhance the water quality of the watershed by lessening soil erosion.

I spent most of the day moving trees from one area to another and clearing bush off of the site. It was such a work out!! I felt really out of shape amoungst all the farms who weren't even breaking a sweat. Well, they were sweating but nothing seemed as hard for them as it was for me.

Sadly my camera was out of juice for the day but there were others taking pictures so I'm gonna steal some and post them on here. Pics of me pretending to have a green thumb. LoL! I gotta run and iron my pants for work... sorry I've been slow on the updates, I'm gonna try to be better I promise. Miss you all!

I think it has been raining here for well over a week straight. Ugh. Laundry is never ever going to dry. The one good thing about this weather, it's not sweltering hot! :D

According to RJR Radio, 96% of Jamaicans chose Obama over McCain. All over the island people have painted signs and even graphiti to show their respects for Obabma. There is even a song about him by Coco Tea called "Barak Obama":

On my way to work on Friday I saw that a fisherman had painted on the side of his shack: "Love Bama." So far that's been my favorite, wish I had snapped a picture of it. But tomorrow is the big day and I am one of the few lucky PCVs with a tv and quasi-cable, so there about five of us who are getting together to watch the polls at my house. We have all submitted our absentee ballots weeks ago and our fingers are definitely crossed!!! GO VOTE TOMORROW!!

Yesterday a bunch of us pcvs got together to celebrate Benjee's birthday at his house. I am so proud of Benjee because he has already integratd so well into his community. Everyone in town seems to know him and like him, and he can speak patios so well!

So we got together with him and friends from his town to jerk chicken, roast/fry bread fruit, drink rum punch and celebrate. I must say the chicken was probably the best I've had since I've been in Jamaica. Oh and one of the girls made carrot cake from scratch!! It was fabulous!

The evening wasn't complete until Benjee got floured. In Jamaica it is a tradition that on your birthday your friends and family pour flour all over you when you least expect it. And if your friends are really cool they will dump red stripe or some other beverage all over you first so its nice and messy! Benjee obviously has really cool friends, hehe! Love you Benjee!

Here are a few pictures from my trip to Port Antonio a few weeks ago. One of my pc friends and I walked out from the coast to a little island where you can go cliff jumping into crystal clear water. We did a little snorkling too and my friend tried a hand at some spear fishing. We didn't catch anything the experience was awseome and I couldn't have asked for a nicer day. There was even a rainbow that arched over the sky at one point during the afternoon. Gorgeous!

This picture is looking from the island back to the coast. We met the two pikni (kids) in the picture while we were there and they let us use their spear gun to try and catch fish.

The cliff we jumped off of... it looked scarier from the top of the cliff I promise!

Lots of you have already heard this story but I haven't posted any pics yet so I thought I'd go ahead and rehash the event. I got to coach my first volleyball clinic in Jamaica a few weeks ago. There were about 60 kids, one net and four balls! Craziness!!! But once I got them to stop kicking the ball around like a football all the kids had a lot of fun. The clinic was held on friday and then on saturday there was a beach volleyball tournament outside of Falmouth. The tournament has been held for I think five consecutive years as a fundrasier for local schools in the parish of Trelawney and it was started by two PCVs who return to Jamaica each year to put the event together. They asked me to be a ref and I ended up refing for the men's pro division. There are some pretty good players here in JA, and I am luckily now connected with players who live close to me. We play every sunday afternoon on the beach and I'm LOVING it. I thought I'd have to go two years without playing competitve vball... little did I know! And the two RPCVs who have been running the tournament have asked me to help put it together for next year. I'm definitely excited about helping this fundraising project along. The pics on this post were taken by my dear friends Meg and Josh, thanks for being my photographer guys!!

I'm happy to share with everyone that I am actually getting my hands on some engineering projects here in Jamaica. I wasn't sure that I'd have things to right away as a new volunteer because sometimes it takes awhile to get to know your community and organizations that you that you work with, however people hear that I'm an engineer and suddenly have engineering stuff for me to do!

Both of the projects that I've started working on involve water engineering. The first involves helping a rural community fix the problems they are facing with their current water distribution system. Many years ago an organization came in and designed a system for the town but now the system is failing, most houses receive no water at all even though the infrastructure is all in place. I went out to the town and had the care taker of the system show me around the town and take down to the water source, a rather large river located several kilometers from the town. The town pumps water just a short ways from the head of the river which springs from underneath a mountain. (See pic below.) The care taker and I chatted for a long time and he told me all about the problems he sees with the distribution system and a bit of history behind the project. So the first step of this project was for me to understand the system and the community's problems. The next step, well I'm working on that this week, more to come soon...

The next project I started involves a local food factory. Currently the factory pumps water from the town's treated source to irrigate its crops; however as costs run higher for water they are looking to switch the source of water. They want to collect and store rain water that drains from the factory to supply the water demand for the crops. A pump system will need to be installed to pump water from a newly created holding pond up a ridge to where several 1,000 gallon storage tanks are located that feed the drip irrigation system. They also want to pump water to yet another pond that they will soon create to supply another piece of the property. I'm so excited to work on this project because the factory is a huge source of income generation for the community and anything I can do to help cut down on costs and help conserve water would be wonderful.

Guess that's all I got for this week. I'll keep yall posted on the projects as time passes.

Just like the U.S. has Good Morning America and the Today Show, Jamaica has a morning program called Smile Jamaica on JTV, the Jamaican national tv station. And it just so happens that one of my fellow pcvs, Benjee, knows the producer of the show and she asked Ben to bring some volunteers on to the show to talk about the Peace Corps! Benjee asked me and Amy who works with youth to go with him and before I knew it we were on a bus to Kingston on Tuesday afternoon.

We had to be at the studio by 6:30 on Wednesday so we woke up bright and early, got to the studio and drank some coffee while we waited in the hospitality room. This turned out to be a big mistake because I was already pretty nervous and coffee sure doesn't help to calm nerves. They took us to the makeup room where we got a quick touch up and then we were taken to the studio's sound proof room (the first picture on this post) while we waited for the segment before us, a reggae band, to finish their act. Finally we were brought on to the set where we met the hosts of the show, Neville and Carlette. They were really sweet and asked us questions like what the Peace Corps is all about and what projects we're working on in Jamaica. I was so nervous the entire time but tried to give good answers and represent PC and the States as best as I could. Then Nevil started to ask us more fun questions like what's your favorite dancehall artists and if we'd learned any dances yet. Benjee got up in front of everyone and did the linga and the gully creepa to the best of his ability... pretty much hilarious! We are trying to get a copy of the segment from JTV and if we succeed we'll put it on Youtube to share with everyone. I'll keep you all posted.

After the show we had to run some errands in Kingston and people would stop us and say, "I saw you on TV!" and they would laugh about Benjee's dance moves. It was awesome to have people recognize us and people are still coming up to me and saying, "You look familiar, where you on Smile Jamaica last week?" :D "Yep, that was me!" Anyways, the whole experience was so much fun and it's exciting that so many people in Jamaica heard what Peace Corps is all about. This could lead to some big things, you just never know...

In the make-up room before the show. The stylist gave me purple lip gloss to wear... yikes! I definitely wouldn't have picked that color but I guess it looked alright on camera.

On the set of Smile Jamaica with Benjee, Amy, Neville and Carlette

Group 79 made it in the Jamaican headlines: read it up!

I have SO much to tell you guys about. I'm gonna give you a break down of the week and then ramble about some of the events that took place:

Tuesday: Took an oral examination on what I have learned during PC training

Wednesday: Had a BBQ with the other PCTs to celebrate the end of training

Thursday: Sworn in as an official Peace Corps Volunteer at the U.S. Embassy

More of Thursday: drove on a mountain during the beginning of tropical storm Gustav

And more of Thursday: had a flat tire on the side of a mountain during Gustav

Thursday night and Friday: spent a night and day w/o power

Saturday: took part in an assessment of drinking water sources after the storm (luckily no major problems in St. Ann)

Sunday: Went to church and then went cliff diving in Discovery Bay :D

The swearing in ceremony: Our ceremony to swear in as official PC Volunteers was really nice at the US Embassy. The US Ambassador for Jamaica was there along with a Jamaican minister, and the head of Ministry of Agriculture who gave a nice speach. The ambassador presented each of us with a certificate for successful completion of PC Training. It went like this, they call your name and your title, and you walk up in front of everyone to shake her hand, receive the certificate and a really cool PC Jamaica pen, and pose for a picture with the ambassador in front of the audience. What I didn't know before my name was called was that the ambassador was saying something to each person as she shook their hand, something like "Where are you from?" or "what school did you go to?" So I get up there to shake her hand and she asks me, "So you're an engineer?" ... This caught me completely off guard. I said "Yes..." very uneasily and she turns to the crowd and goes "Oh! Pretty AND smart!" I was soooooo embarrassed!

HomeComing:For the last week of training me and my fellow PCTs had to stay in Kingston for final tests, lectures, and administrative purposes. On Thursday after the swearing-in ceremony I returned "home" to my host mother, just before the heaviest part of the storm hit our area. I was greeted with the warmest welcoming, it was so very sweet! My host mother (we call her Nurse cause she's a retired nurse) had made fried chicken and baked a white fluffy cake to celebrate my swearing-in. I felt loved. :) And how did she know that white cake is my favorite?? hehe! Her and Shavan, my host brother, also filled up my water tank and put kerosene in my lamp for me before the storm. I feel so blessed to be living with a caring family. So despite the storm I felt comforted and part of the family.

TS Gustav:Lots of you were worried about me when you saw satalite pictures of TS Gustav, but luckily the storm wasn't that bad here in St. Ann. Just lots of rain and some wind, nothing I couldn't handle. As I mentioned earlier, we were without power for the night and some of the day but nothing unmanagable.

Lessons of the week:Not a good idea to travel during a tropical storm. Also not a good idea to swerve a donkey on the road, it could possibly lead to a flat tire during a tropical storm... yikes! Aaaand here is a few pics for ya:

Me with my fellow Civil Engineers at the swearing in ceremony. We make engineering look goooood! I did it Mom! Me with my offical documentation from PC after the swearing in ceremony.

A giant snail we found on my friend's porch. Tastes like chicken ;)

OK so people keep asking me about my actual job in the pc. Truth be told, because I’m still a trainee (until Thursday) I haven't done too much as far as my actual "job" job is concerned. But there are things I can talk about:

I am technically assigned to the North East Regional Health Authority (NERA) . I am supposed to be connected with water and sanitation projects across the region, but specifically in St. Ann because they have the most water issues at the moment. My supervisor is a public health inspector who inspects water quality across the parish of St. Ann. This includes drinking water, pool water, waste water, and water used for recreational purposes. He is a very knowledgeable guy and really laid-back and friendly. This past month or so I've been following him around out in the field to get a feel for the layout of the parish and learn a little bit more about water quality and how the health department operates. I think I ask him about a hundred questions a day, but he doesn't seem to mind... yet! I keep being told that if you don't know something in Jamaica, you need to speak up and ask because otherwise people are going to assume you know what you're doing.

This past month I have also been working on building a small database for my supervisor to better organize/store information on the results of water quality samples for the parish. I keep tweaking the database to be more user friendly and have been doing some data entry to make sure it's working properly. So far so good, but the real test is when other people try to use the database. We'll see how that goes...

I've also been brainstorming with the public health inspectors and other employees at the health department about other projects I could work on. Here are a few we've thought about:

1. Water catchment tanks in St. Ann- repair broken ones, increase number of communities with access to treated water, talk with communities about the importance of treated water, work with parish council to generate funds for these projects, train caretakers, etc.

2. Solid waste management/vector control - better plans for solid waste management in communities, create central places to throw away trash, encourage behavior change with-in the community (away from littering and burying or burning trash)

3. Youth - I've been approached by several people about the idea of working with youth in my community. We don't have specific projects planned yet, but I said YES! I'm always down with working with youth!

I haven't started any of these projects yet but there's a Jamaican saying I'd like to use, "Soon come," meaning it WILL happen eventually, just maybe not in the time frame you're expecting it to happen. :D

There are quite a few other pcvs down here in Jamaica that are doing a really good job blogging about their experiences and it's funny that the things they write about are sometimes exactly what I want to say too. So today I'm gonna be lazy (hehe) and just link to their blog posts for you to read:

Jesse wrote a beautiful post on the ups and downs we are experiancing as pcvs: http://joshnjesse.wordpress.com/

And Andrea wrote a good post about some of the cultural norms in Jamaica:

http://andreaandwill.blogspot.com/

Well I have to run because today I am going with my supervisor to take pictures of old water catchment tanks in need of serious repair. We're going way out into the "bush" (the country) where the roads are really bad but the views are spectacular. I'll post pics for you later on.

Last weekend I went with some other pcvs to a local spot called Blue Hole along the White River. It is this gorgeous place with lots of deep blue swimming holes, waterfalls, ferns, flowers, and big tropical trees. We spent the whole day swimming, jumping off waterfalls and banks into the river, hiking upstream to find more falls and swimming holes, and being amazed by the beauty of the place. Pretty much a perfect day.

did you know that the sap from mango skin has the same oils as poison ivy??? yea, i didn't either but i definitely know now. on thursday i ate a mango by biting into the skin instead of peeling it first and now my lips are on fire and big and puffy. it's pretty miserable. guess i learned my lesson the hard way. let's hope that i start to feel better tomorrow. :(

but i'm not completely miserable. yesterday i spent the whole day at a local beach with some other pcvs. it was an amazing time just chilling in the water and hanging out together. wish i could share some pictures with you but i accidently deleted allll my pictures from my camera before i could transfer them to my computer. i was so MAD at myself!!

so there were two lessons learned today. beware of the mango skin AND the delete button on your digital camera. both are extremely dangerous and you should only proceed with extreme caution. ;)

I just wanted to say "tanks" (tanks how ya say "thanks" in Jamaica) to everyone who has sent me letters and stuff in the mail. I can't explain how exciting it is to get things in the mail here... it completely makes my day! Thank you guys for everything and keep those letters coming! :D Love you!

So today, Jamaica celebrates Emancipation Day in observance of August 1st, 1838 when slaves all across the English speaking Caribbean were set free. Last night I went with two other PCVs to Seville for the annual Emancipation Celebration. There was lots of dancing, music, people to meet, and chocolate "tea" (basically hot chocolate) to drink. The tea is free if you bring your own mug, and there's a contest for the biggest mug and also the mug with the most dinks in it. I found an old article talking about the event if you're interested: http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20000718/ann/ann1.html The coolest part of the night was when the Prime Minister of Jamaica, Bruce Golding, made a surprise appearance and came to join in the festivities. I was so close to him, just about 20 yards away. I kept thinking: wooooow that's the Prime Miiiinister! Craziness!! Definitely an awseome experience to say the least.

I woke up really early to run an errand with my host mother and saw this along the way...

Thought I'd let everyone in on some of my favorite Jamaican foods:

PattiesPatties are kind of like a giant empanada. The dough is made into a circle, spicy beef or chicken or whatever kind of filling you want is put in the circle and then the dough is folded over and fried. The best pattie i've had so far is the beef pattie with cheese... mmmmm! It's pretty common for me to eat a beef pattie for lunch, but I’m gonna have to cut back on that or I'll be coming home real nice and fat in two years. Mangos, Pineapples, and Guineps, oh my!While you can get mangos and pineapples in the states, nothing really beats eating them fresh right off the tree. :) so nice and juicy! As for guineps, they grow in bunches like grapes but they have a thick skin and a giant seed in the middle. Once you break off the skin, you pop the piece of fruit in your mouth and suck the fleshy yummieness off of the seed. I've seen little kids eat the seed but it's pretty huge, I always spit it out afterwards. Unfortunately guineps are seasonal, so unless you come visit me in the summer you're gonna miss out on them.

Ackee and Salt Fish (Jamaica's national dish) We eat it for breakfast. Ackee is a fruit that is poisonous until it is ripe and opens up. The fruit is boiled (it looks kinda like scrambled eggs after its boiled) and then its cooked up with salt fish and other flavorings, very nice and salty, I love it!

FestivalFestivals are basically a sweet breadstick, crunchy fried on the outside and nice and fluffy and sweet in the middle. Yes, another fatty food that I can't resist. :)

Swordfish frittersWell I don't know much about how this is made, but its nice and crispy and salty, always a good combination to me! I'm sure this list will grow as I try more and more food here, but so far these are my favs and you have a lot of yummy things to try when you come to visit me in Jamaica ;)