Happy Frakkin' New Year

Happy 2008 everyone!  Have a safe, productive, and fun year! And turn 30. (Oh, that may just be those born in 1978). 

Merry Christmas

I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas, or a very Merry Day Off if you don't celebrate Christmas.  I am home from Jamaica safe and sound.  I'll write more soon! 

Pictures

I've added a link to my Picasa Albums to the left. Beautiful Jamaican pictures, such as the one shown here, are waiting with just a click! Enjoy!

Bye Jamaica

Well, I can't believe it is already time for me to say goodbye to Jamaica. August seems both a long time ago and just like yesterday, at the same time. It is fitting that a tropical storm is causing the rains to come down this week, since a hurricane happened my first few days. Dean greeted me, and now Olga will send me on my way. Sorry to all you Midwesterners getting pummeled by ice and snow; outside of the rain it as been 85 degrees, sunny, and with a lovely "Christmas Breeze." In short, divine.

I have had an amazing semester here, meeting people, learning the culture, and traveling around the country. I have gotten to see each region in Jamaica, and do things many Jamaicans haven't even done. The picture is from Treasure Beach, a very quiet area in the south of Jamaica. I traveled there last weekend, and it marked my last trip with the IPSL group. We had a great time just relaxing on the beach, playing in the waves, and generally spending time together. I will see the grads in London, but for Alice, Kim, and John, after Jamaica, who knows.

I have to thank many people for my experience here. Mrs. Rattray for opening up her home and cooking for me each day. Her food was great, and through it I really got a "taste" of Jamaica. Geri (Dr. Hodelin), the IPSL coordinator for UTech, my Contemporary Conditions prof., and most importantly (at least to me) my Thesis adviser. She helped me out very much this semester, and also had us over to dinner. Also to Cynthia Onyefulu, Jennifer Hall, and Veronica Salter, profs who have taken us out or made food for us. Dr. Gordon-Bell and Mrs. Samuels, History and Literature professors who taught me a great deal. All the people at Jamaicans for Justice, esp. Louise and Andrea. Tameka who helped me so much, and St. Rachel who took me on a field trip.

I have many more thoughts swirling around, and I think I will try and tackle each topic in a separate post. I am also going to edit and post the Jamaica pictures over break. I know I will have just as many from London, and I don't want too big of a backlog.

My sister (Alexis) arrives on Friday and we'll spend a week relaxing in Jamaica, living the tourists life. Then I'm headed home for Christmas and New Year's before I fly out on January 8th for London. I am sure break will pass quickly by, and I hope I get a chance to enjoy it. If I don't get a chance to see you, have a great holiday and be safe!

Thanks for all your support, and I will post again soon, now that all my homework is done!

A quick update...

I am updating today so I can have two blog posts in November! I have been very hard at work trying to finish up all of my assignments and collect data for my research. The benefit to collecting the data is I am getting to talk with various Jamaicans for across the island. Some people I talked to last week aren't getting running water...for about 10 years! They have the pipes and used to get it, but then something happened, and I guess 10 years isn't enough to fix it?

I am down to one major paper, some revisions, and the data. Yea! After that I will have some more time to edit and post pictures, maybe update this a bit more often. I can't believe that I will be done with the Jamaican portion of the program in two weeks. The time is really flying, and, of course, I am just starting to feel like I am making relationships. I guess it is the drawback to only spending one semester here.

I hope all of you Americans had a great Thanksgiving. The picture above is the eight American students in the Jamaican IPSL program this semester, 4 graduates and 4 undergrads. We took this last Saturday when we got together for Thanksgiving dinner. We all brought something and we even had turkey. It wasn't home, but it was nice!

That's all I have for now. I'll post again when things are less crazy.

I must apologize...

I have to apologize for the long-ness between my posts. I have been very (very) busy. To start of with, I spent a week traveling around the island. It was great, but also what one might call the calm before the storm! I went to Montego Bay, which if you have ever docked in Jamaica on a cruise ship, you have probably been here. I stayed on the "hip strip," which is hip with tourists. Seriously, outside of the accents, I almost forgot I was in Jamaica. But, I went into the town of Montego Bay and it was like a mini-Kingston. I also visited the Jamaicans for Justice office in Mo' Bay and had a delightful conversation with its one employee, Joy. She is a former counselor and it doing great things in the office. I also went White Water Rafting while in Mo' Bay, which was so much fun. Our guide was awesome (and cute!), and we flipped over, got stuck in some rocks, and saw a beautiful waterfall. I didn't have a camera, but one of our fellow rafters took some pictures. We exchanged email addresses, so hopefully I will get some copies.

Upon leaving Mo'Bay, we headed to Negril. Negril has beautiful white sandy beaches and great sunsets. It was a relaxing few days before heading back to the grind. Well, I did manage to bruise my foot, fall on my shoulder, and get coral stuck in my fingers, but other than that is was relaxing.

That was the last full week in October, and since returning I have been completely bogged down in school work. I had a major history presentation this week, so all of last weekend was spent at the University of the West Indies library. It hasn't let up as I have several other papers to complete.

I must also apologize for the lack of pictures and insightful commentary this post. This probably wasn't so much fun to read. I am going to try and post again soon. Since I will begin to conduct my interviews for my thesis in the following weeks, I am sure I will have a lot to comment on. Also, I am leaving soon, and I am sure I will start reflecting more and more with each passing week.

That's all I have for now. More soon come, though!

What's been happening

Hello! Sorry it has been a little while since I posted, but things have been really busy. First off, we just came off a holiday weekend. Whee! I went to the parish of Portland on Friday and Saturday, which is considered the “undiscovered” portion of Jamaica. It is pretty untouched my tourists and it is gorgeous. I stayed at a great lodge called Great Huts, which has several African-themed huts to stay in. I got to take an outdoor shower that you may recall was one of my favorite experiences in Malawi. The lodge has a beautiful beach surrounded by a bunch of cliffs. I actually jumped off one (that was pretty low). It was completely safe, but I had a moment of freak out. This was after I had actually jumped and was heading toward the water. My scream was truly authentic and a quite exhilarating.

One of the unintended byproducts of my trip this weekend is a great appreciation for the American infrastructure. This is something I have realized before, but after a very bumpy long ride to Portland, I was once again singing its praises. And if I ever want to talk about how “bad” Missouri roads are I better at least think twice before seeing it.

The past couple of weeks before break were pretty difficult, mentally. I took a statement from a gentleman whose brother was shot and killed by the police. Listening to him say that “the police will pay for killing me brother” nearly brought tears to my eyes. If I hadn’t been trying so hard to keep it together I would have. It is so sad because I have heard that in the past four years not a single cop has been convicted of killing someone in Jamaica. I don’t hold out much hope for Asquit’s (the brother), and it broke my heart watching his brother demanding justice that may never come.

I have also been learning so much about colonialism in Jamaica, and its aftermath. Slavery really did a job on the island, and the people are still trying to recover. When the slaves were emancipated they were given no training or compensation, and many of these former slaves’ descendents have not advance economically. I am also learning firsthand how the United States economic policies have negatively affected small islands like Jamaica. I always knew intellectually how IMF and World Bank loans keep developing countries in a revolving door of debt, but to see how the United States benefits from this was hard. I don’t know how we as citizens can change this, but I know we have to keep trying.

Today I was at the Bob Woolmer inquest. Woolmer was the English coach of the Pakistani Cricket World Cup Team. The day after they unexpectedly lost, at the Cricket World Cup, which was partly held here in Jamaica, he died. At first Jamaican officials claimed it was foul play, and later said it was of natural causes. Jamaicans for Justice had me in attendance to help keep notes and monitor what happened. We also passed out flyers stating that there are over 4,000 cases in backlog in Jamaica, but because this is a rich white foreigner it has been pushed ahead. It was interesting to say the least, and hopefully it can provide a template for getting through these backlogged cases.

I am still working on getting my pictures on-line. My photo library got corrupted (ok, well I am messed with some files, and I some how corrupted it), and I just got them back. Now I have to go through and re-put them in photo albums and then try to PhotoCast them. Hopefully, time willing, this will happen soon.

Other than that I am traveling to Montego Bay and Negril next week so I get to take a week off from JFJ and UTech. It is will definitely be a well-needed break! I will write again when I can!

My semester is half over, so wish me luck in getting everything in on time. Hope to see you over Christmas. My pictures won't load on the blog right now, so once again, I'll put some up when I can!