Hello From The Other Side :: First Two Weeks at Hub Training

About a month ago I hopped on a plane traveling from Miami to Kingston with 35 strangers. Then I blinked. Those 35 strangers have turned into friends and a hotel in Kingston has turned into community-based training on the beaches of southern St. Catherine and finally into hub training in the mountains near Ocho Rios. It has been a little crazy but I have loved {almost} every minute of it.

Our group of trainees has now been divided into two sectors: education and environment. I miss my friends in environment, but team education has been legit so far. Our new location is beautiful.

Goodbye, CBT:

Lindy and I with her host mom Miss Peggy

Hellllllllo, Hub:

My new community is much more spread out and rural than my last community, which has both positives and less positives (because looking at things as ‘negative’ is no way to go through life). I’ll do less positives first to get them over with. I’m pretty far from all of my friends which means less hanging out after class. My phone service here is almost non-existent and it is certainly an adjustment. Extremely limited running water is also a thing here (as in I personally don’t have it). Now for the POSITIVES! My host family is a dream come true. I am obsessed with them. I have two host nieces that are everything I ever needed in my life, a super cool host mom, and a host sister that is my age and so much fun! Adele sing-a-longs are a common occurrence when we are all getting ready for school in the morning. I look forward to coming home every day to spend time with them. Our favorite afterschool activities include but are not limited to: dancing along with Dancing Dynamite watching Disney movies in my bed, and doing homework together. They have truly made me feel like part of the family and I’m already sad that I have to leave them in a few weeks. Sorry if it sounds like I’m bragging, but I am. :)

Speaking of my host nieces, they helped me write this poem for class:

Our training facility is also pretty solid, complete with toilets that actually flush when you flush them! Our trainers are so much fun. Our lessons are interesting. And most importantly, I am starting to feel more comfortable with my new job every day. We had the opportunity last week to visit the primary school next to our training facility during their lunch time to learn about “pickni kulcha”. We learned ring games, jump rope, and clapping games. Fun was had by all!

I have lots more picture to post, but the internet cafe if not being kind to me so I'll have to try again later.

Life is good! Internet is scarce. The food is delicious. The days are long. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.