cultural differences

We thought we might share a few funny good laughs we've had with Dowdy since being in Accompong. Being in a different culture, we all would expect different colloquialisms and societal norms. Sometimes it can be frustrating when you're misunderstood, and other times it can just be downright funny. For example:

Birthday suit. Apparently birthday suit means something completely different in Jamaica. We realized this the other night when we were celebrating Sammi's (another PCV and good friend) birthday. Dowdy and I were in the kitchen getting dinner ready, and I was pushing Dowdy to move quickly because Sammi would soon arrive, and she shouldn't have to wait for dinner on her birthday night. Apparently we forgot to mention to Dowdy that it was Sammi's birthday, because he responded by saying, “What! It her birtday! Yuh nah tell me! Me haffi go put pon me birtday suit!” Me: “What?! Yuh need a put pon yuh birtday suit? Dowdy, what kind of present are you trying to give Sammi? Man, yuh too faas!” Through further clarification we found that birthday suit in Jamaica means your best outfit. I guess the equivalent to our “sunday best”. Of course, all of us PCVs let Dowdy know what birthday suit means in the States, and we haven't let him forget. We still tease him about his “birthday suit”.

Hood. In the States, hood could be part of a sweatshirt/coat or what covers the engine of a car. So, let's just say you were to walk up to Dowdy sitting in his truck listening to music. You and your husband hear the rhythm, each of you in a silly mood, and when you approach, start to beat out a little rhythm together on the hood of the truck. The next day you reference this incident with Dowdy and say, “That was yesterday. Remember, when Matt and me were beating out one likkle riddim pon yuh hood?” ...And then Dowdy's eyes bug out of his head. He asks you for clarification and soon understands what your trying to say. “Mam, that is not a hood. That is a bonnet. In Jamaica, we say bonnet. You don't want to tell anybody in Jamaica that you beat out a riddim on Dowdy's hood.” And then suddenly you recall from training, that hood means something completely different in Jamaica.

Bonfire. Of course, being in another culture helps you to see all the strange things about your own culture. Just like getting married helps you to see all the strange things about your own family that you thought was normal. “No, you do it this way....” For the 4th of July weekend, us PCVs got together down in Treasure Beach, and since Dowdy's kind of like our honorary PCV, we invited him to come. On Sunday night, some of the PCVs started a bonfire on the beach. I was heading down, and quickly let Dowdy know that there was a bonfire on the beach, and that a bunch of people were down there. Dowdy: “A bonfire?” Me: “Yeah. Like a fire in the sand.” Dowdy: “So a fire? On the beach?” (obviously confused) Me: “Yeah. You know, we just kinda sit around it. ...Like a big fire....we just sit and hang out around it and talk and stuff......Man, it's just something we do.” And then I walked down to the beach, to join all the other Americans sitting on the beach, on an 80 degree night, surrounding the big fire, sitting and talking like it was normal or something. Weird.