Rise Up...The Journey Has Just Begun :: First Week In Jamaica

Wah gwann, mon! Mi name Leah. I’ve been pon di rock for four days now and that is the extent of my patwa, so I’ve got a lot to learn. These first few days in Jamaica have been nothing short of phenomenal. I miss all of you back home dearly, but I’m happy to report that I have made some great friends so far and have a really cool host family for this part of my training.

Let me rewind for a second to catch you up on what has been going on so far…

Leaving Florida

Leaving home was tough and you all didn’t make it any easier on me by showering me with so much love and attention. I got to eat ALL (literally all) of my favorite foods, visit my favorite people, go to my favorite places, and enjoy an over-the-top-fantastic going away party. I couldn’t have asked for a better send of so props to you guys! You sure know how to make a girl feel special.

BTDubs, I opened my first heart letter out of the 70 that were given to me after my party and it was from Ivey! Thank you, Ivey, for putting a huge smile on my face on my very first day in Jamaica.

Staging

Arriving in Miami was a bit of a whirlwind. I only had an hour flight to dry my tears and try not to look crazy before meeting my first fellow trainee at the airport. Shout out to my girl Courtney for meeting me at baggage claim so I didn’t get lost trying to get to the hotel. As soon as we got to the hotel, we started meeting our 34 other new friends. The day was a series of never-ending icebreakers and uncomfortable moments of “do I really have to stand in front of this whole group and act out this awful scenario”, to which the answers was always an enthusiastic “YES!”. We made it through the day and even managed to make some strong connections. I might be biased, but PCJ Group 87 is the coolest, most diverse group of humans I have ever met and I feel pretty lucky to call them mine.

A few of us waiting to board for Kingston

My luggage. Too much?!

And to answer the question that is burning on your mind, my last meal in the States was a cheeseburger with fried egg, jalapeno cheese, and avocado with a large side of fries. Raise your hand if that surprises you? (Spoiler alert: it shouldn’t)

Pre-Service Training – Kingston

We spent two days in Kingston to kick off our Pre-Service Training (PST). When we arrived at the airport, we were greeted by our Country Director, Jennifer, and a few other member of the PCJ team and then quickly whisked off to the Peace Corps office. The sound of Bob Marley and enthusiastic Peace Corps staff members filled our ears as we got off of the bus. We were treated to our first Jamaican meal of rice and peas (Jamaicans call red beans peas), chicken with brown sauce, and fish with coconut sauce if I remember correctly. I was too busy devouring it to remember exactly what I was eating, but I can tell you that is was delicious. Our Language and Cross Cultural Team got us right into Jamaican culture with a song and dance to the theme song for the Reggae Boyz in the 1998 World Cup, “Rise Up”.

The next two days were filled with paperwork, trips to the bank, new banga phones (complete with snake…because that’s really all that matters), dominos, and rice and peas. All of the rice and peas. We took a few minutes for a quick swim in the pool on our last night in Kingston before heading off to our next location.

Before training...

After training

Our hotel in Kingston

Our first Red Stripes on JamRock

The most delicious breakfast I ever did have

The following morning, I woke up around 5am in anticipation for the day to come. We finally get to meet our first host families!

Pre-Service Training – Portmore Area, Saint Catherine

I am now in day four of PST here in Jamaica. I write this post from the inside of a church in St. Catherine where the majority of our training takes place. Training is long and ah-hem, riveting as our CD (country director) would say, so I will spare you the details but I will tell you that we have an awesome view of the ocean with an even better breeze. We even have a rooftop that we can hang out on during breaks and get nice and sunburned as Lindy, Rachel, and I learned on our first day.

Some of my fellow trainees enjoying the breeze

Rooftop party on our break

The view that I stare at during training all day

This was after multiple sunscreen applications

When we aren’t in training there are a few cool things to do in our community. The best part of our community is definitely the pickney (kids). We got a fun game of soccer…I mean football…going with two boys on our break and it was the highlight of my time here in Jamaica so far. There is also an ice cream shop, a store, a sports bar, and lots of places to get food.

Speaking of our community, we finally got to meet our first host families! This is our first of three different host families while we are here and I certainly hope the nerves subside for the next two. I don’t mean to brag, but I think I have an awesome host family. I have two host mothers that are the same age as my mom and a host sister that is in University. One of my host mothers has been preparing all of my meals for me and everything has been great so far. I had my first experience with a new food here in my host home on my first night: turkey neck. It was tasty, but my host mother was asking me if I didn’t like it because apparently I was eating it wrong. She grabbed a piece and showed me how to eat it. It turns out, you put the entire piece in your mouth and just chew (cartilage and all) until there is basically nothing left. This was my first lesson in “get comfortable being uncomfortable”. Luckily, it tasted great so I was able to get past the new and different texture. I will say that if I never ate it again, I would probably be alright.

I’ve tried quite a few new foods over the past week but this morning was by far my favorite: guava picked directly from the guava tree in my front yard. I’ve had guava juice before that I liked fine. And then there was the one time my former boss Jessica and I tried a guava and cheese empanada (yuck!) but I had never had the actual fruit. It was probably the best thing I have ever eaten. I’m so looking forward to having one every day for breakfast over the next few weeks.

Besides the new friends I’ve made and my guava tree, there is one thing that has really helped me stay focused and excited every day and that is my host puppy, Summer. She reminds me so much of my pup, Khloe. Jamaicans don’t typically keep dogs as pets and refer to the street dogs as mongrels so it was refreshing to see my host family treating a dog so wonderfully.

That’s about all that I’ve got for today. I know this has been an excessively long post and I will try to post more frequently in the future so that these bad boys aren’t so long. I'm off to bed. We have an early morning run planned in the morning. Yes, I'm going to exercise. You read that correctly. Wish me luck and thanks for following my journey!