Sing me a song, tell me about the things that you’re dealing with lately…

No worries!  I survived the bug spray fumes!  😉  I just haven’t written in a while because I have been super boring lately.  We have this thing called a CASI (Community And Sector Inventory) that we have to do and it takes up a lot of my time.  I also have no clue what I have been doing with myself for the past week because I’m definitely not as far on it as I should be.  Ellen Degeneres said it best, “Procrastinate now, don’t put it off til later.”   I think I live on that motto, unfortunately.  College was the same way.  I would procrastinate anything and everything if it required a lot of work, but eventually it always got done, so I am assuming this document of mine will somehow get written and I will get all the information I need.  I am running out of time, so yeah.

On top of my CASI, I also have to put together a session for World AIDs Day (it’s December 1, so mark your calendars).  PC gave me a TON of info and session ideas, so it shouldn’t be too much work on my part; I just have to make sure I know the info well enough to talk about it. lol  Good thing half our PST was about HIV/AIDs. 😉  So yeah, I just have to look over all the info and put something together.  I also want to find a way to show the move, “RENT” because it has a lot to do with HIV/AIDs, and it’s a sweet musical.  Perhaps I will have a private viewing at my house sometime, so we don’t have to put up with getting sound equipment again *thinks back to movie night, shakes head, and chuckles to self*.

In other news, I got my hair did yesterday!! 🙂  It only took about an hour maybe?  The lady was super nice.  Tamor, my supervisor, dropped me off, only to leave me in the hands of Angie, her hair stylist for many years now.  Angie is magician.  She can make hair do WHATEVER she wants, it’s amazing.  I’m hoping that this style will stay in for at least 4 days.  My hair isn’t…as coarse as Jamaican hair, so it won’t stay as long as it would if I were Jamaican, but yeah.  Fun conversation, great experience, I think I just found my hair dresser for the next 22 months.

New do!

While on the topic of being Jamaican (note how I didn’t use the term “speaking of being Jamaican” cuz I’m not speaking, I’m typing. teehee), today a taxi driver asked me if I was born and raised in Queensbury.  This is not the first time it has happened, but I think my new hair style makes me look slightly more Jamaican, ha.  People are always shocked when I say I’m from the States, and then they tell me that I must have family here, and I must respond -with a chuckle of course- , “Nope, born and raised in the States.”   But then that’s a good opportunity for me to explain PC and what we’re all about (no, not affiliated with the church at all).  I think Jamaica gets A LOT of mission trippers because that’s always their first comment about PC.

Oh!!! So Theresa and Sue (PC Staff – Theresa is my Program Manager and Sue is the PM for Education sector) came yesterday for my site visit!  They brought me a bicycle!!!

Isn't it pretty?!

I am soooo happy to have a bicycle!! 🙂  Fun fact:  If you say “bike” j’cans mostly think you are referring to a motor bike, so you must call it a “bicycle.”  The 2.5mile walk to Southfield will be sooo much better now!  Not to mention my trek to the school.  I know the walk just gets “shorter and shorter” each time I walk it, but still, cutting travel time in half makes a BIG difference in the day.  PC gave me helmet and lock to go along with it, so I’m pretty stoked.  I’m ready to have a sore bottom and legs from riding up steep hills!  The more sore I get, the better toned my muscles will be!  Buns-of-Steel here I come!!!!

CHURCH.  I went to a new church on Sunday.  I was attending the Queensbury Missionary church every week, but I just haven’t been getting much out of it, so I decided to try St. Mark’s in Southfield.  The 2.75 walk to church at 6:45am is a great way to start my Sunday.  Ha.. I was so worried I was gonna be late, thinking the service began at 7am, that I was halfway trotting, wishing somebody would just offer me a ride.  But nobody did, and God had to of been laughing at me, because apparently all Anglican churches start at 7:30am; I reached the church at 7:15am.  Of course nobody picked me up.  God didn’t want me to be bored being there so early, so He just let me continue my walk.  Ha. Now I know.  Thanks God, per usual.  But yeah, I am going to be attending this church every week, now.  I like it, better.  There’s a pastor, and it’s more organized.  I grew up Catholic, then attended a Lutheran University, I need organization in my service, LOL.  I really felt “at peace” when I sat down, too.  Like, THIS is where I’m supposed to be.  I instantly felt comfort upon me, and although I love the people at Qbury Missionary Church, I just don’t think their style of worship suits me best.  Perhaps I will attend their service once a month.  Who knows.  Only God can tell.  Point being, I am happy.  Also, apparently this past Sunday was “Invite a Friend to Church Day.”  Ironic, right?  I wasn’t invited by anyone from the church, but I feel like God invited me, which, what better invitation could one ask for than one from the Lord Almighty? 🙂  I had been thinking about going to this church for a few weeks now, and I chose THAT Sunday to go.  Whaddup God?  Oh, and I knew I liked the Anglican church service because I attended one with Mrs. Irons when I lived with her in Stony Hill.  I should call her tomorrow and let her know about my lovely Sunday. 🙂

CASI, World AIDs Day, Bike, Church, oh yeah!  Today I had a Warden’s Meeting in Little Ochie.  Warden’s Meeting:  Each Parish has a Warden and an Assistant Warden, which are PCVs living within the Parish.  My Warden, Sammi, likes to have the meetings in fun different places in St. Bess.  When she leaves, I will gladly continue this tradition.  There are currently only 5 of us living in St. E, so it’s super easy for us to meet up (not as many schedules to comply with).  Little Ochie is a place where the fish is fresh from the sea!  It’s in Alligator Pond.  What a wonderful place.  This is a place that one would call, “a fishing community.”   My community is a farming community.  It was interesting to see everyone just chopping their fish and scaling it.  Fish of ALL sorts; so many different colors, too.  It was their fish market.  Smells kind of rank from the start, but you get used to it right away (being outdoors helps a lot).  I forgot my camera, so I don’t have any pictures, but if any get put up from the peeps I was with, perhaps I’ll share a couple.  So yeah, Cait and I split 1/2 pound of fried conch and 1/2 pound of garlic shrimp with 4 Festival (pretty much fried dough).  Sooooo good!! Delicious!

I also found out that they don’t really teach World History in Jamaica.  At least not until Community College or University.  Crazy.  I mean, I didn’t particularly like history while in school, but I appreciate knowing about it, now.  I love learning about Jamaican History. ha. But yeah, I asked Abbi Jo (15 year-old sis) if she knew anything about the Holocaust, and, to my surprise, she said no.  I thought EVERYONE knew about that awful time.  WWII was kinda a big deal, right?  So yeah, I gave her a small synopsis and then we watched “The Diary of Anne Frank” together.  She really liked the movie.  I hope she learned something, too.  She realizes that their situation sucked and had some questions about why things were happening, so I’m sure she did learn.  So weird.

Well, I need to get going.  I have a community meeting at 6:30pm tonight and it’s 6:15pm now.  Hopefully we get a good group to show up tonight.  I was looking at numbers last week, and if there are 475 people in the community of Queensbury, like I have been told, then we only have about 4% of the community that are active members.  4% of the community helps to put on events.  Everyone else is just lazy.  They will attend the events, they just want nothing to do with the organizing of them.  Super suckage.  I am going to work on changing that, and growing the QCCA in the next 22months of my service.

Jamaican Proverb: Who bawn fi heng, kyaan drown.

Meaning:  You can’t control destiny