Thursday, August 26, 2010

why we lovey ya so

Thought we might highlight a couple of things we love about Jamaica:

~Jamaicans are crazy. And I mean this in the best sense of the word (for the most part). Whether it's the passa passa (local gossip), or the clothes worn to dances, or the way they respond to certain situations, Jamaicans are crazy. They keep life interesting. Things seem to always be lively here. Sometimes we feel like we are living in a real live soap opera, which can be tiring at times, but there's never a dull moment.

One of the best parallels of this can be seen in their flashy dress. We once heard a PCV compare Halloween costumes to the way that Jamaicans dress at dancehalls. And, uh, we'd say that's pretty accurate. Glitter. Vibrant colors. Fabrics such as polyester, velvet, chiffon, nylon; anything really, except cotton. Shiny jewelry, shoes, shirts, hair pieces, whatever. Dangly earrings. Hairstyles that make you go: “What the...? How'd they...? Huh?” Essentially, think of your basic T-shirt and jeans....now try to imagine what the exact OPPOSITE of that would be. Now add some green hair dye, speckles of silver nail polish, and multi-colored sequins, and you're probably imagining one of the looks we witnessed this last Saturday night.

This outlandishness translates into many aspects of Jamaican life. We aren't fooling around here people. We don't want no foo-foo, fenky-fenky foolishness. When Jamaicans do things, they go all out. Whether it's church service (usually averaging about 5 hours), a birthday party (big enough that the whole community, and neighboring communities come to), or basic school graduation (I left after 2 hours, but I heard it went for 3 more).

~To go along with this, Jamaicans are passionate people. This adds to the colorful, liveliness of our everyday life here. From the way they dress (as mentioned above), to the way they talk, to what they feel. When Jamaicans speak, they really speak. They gesticulate with their hands and eyes, lips and hips. They emphasize their words. They stress their tone.
And when Jamaicans feel, they really feel. When they're excited, they're dancing off the walls. When they're angry, you can see the smoke coming out their ears. When they're happy, they're rolling on the ground laughing. When they're in love with you, they follow you around everyday relentlessly, professing their undying feelings until you start to lose your mind. Trust me, happens all the time.

Monday, August 23, 2010

shop til yuh drop

Some of you might be wondering how/where we get our groceries and other household needs. Well, we thought we might outline you on how that all works round here.

As said before Accompong is relatively remote, at least for Jamaican standards. Although we do have about a dozen 'shops' in town, we usually have to do most of our shopping in Santa Cruz. The local shops average about 12 x 12 in size and tend to mostly carry Jamaican snack foods, such as beer, rum, soda, cheese chips, sweeties, etc. Some shops will also have dry goods like flour, sugar, evaporated milk, toilet paper, clothespins, powdered milk, and canned veggies. Several shops also sell the Jamaican staple, chicken, and we can even get some fish here too.

Because we live in a farming community, most produce is not hard to come by. We've had a significant amount of veggies and fruit given to us by people in the community, and we try our best to purchase/find whatever we can here. It's relatively common for someone to come to our gate asking, 'Unu need plaintain? Ripe banana?' The farm to door service is quite nice.

We also started a garden which has yet to produce, but our bok choy, scallions, and carrots look ready to harvest in another week or so. Along with this, we have plenty of trees around that have food ready to be plucked. In our yard alone we have june-plum, almond, banana, breadfruit, coconut, orange, and mango trees.

In order to support our local community, and to be connected to the land and the people here, we try to buy/get what we can here. For everything else, we go to Santa Cruz. Santa is the biggest town, and the regional hub for our parish. It's where many people from all over St. Elizabeth go to shop. It takes about 45 minutes to get there by taxi and about US$2.75 one way/person for fare. We usually hit up the outdoor market/street vendors first, get random items at the wholesale (very different from wholesales in the States), and then head to our favorite local grocery store to get most other food items we need.

Aside from food, Santa has countless other shops, hardware stores, stationery stores, furniture stores, small appliance stores, computer stores, and so on. Some of these stores can be extremely frustrating to buy from for a number of reasons. First of all, we're either provided with too much service or none at all. Many times we walk into a store and a vendor won't leave us alone to 'just look', partly due to the Jamaican higgler mentality, and partly due to the fact that we're white, which equals money/tourists to many Jamaicans. If this doesn't happen, the opposite seems to be true. You can't find someone to help you to save your life. I can't tell you how many times Matt and I are stuck waiting behind the counter for one agent to get off the phone with her boyfriend and the other one to stop talking to the guy in the back. They see us. They know we're there. They know we need help. They know we're there to spend money. They also don't care. So until we yell like the other Jamaicans do, we're not getting any service.

The second thing that can be frustrating is that many shops have most of their items behind the counter. You're not completely sure what's back there, or if what you're seeing is really what you think you're seeing, and Lord knows what the price is! The hardware store is even like this. It drives Matt crazy when he's just trying to get some nuts and bolts, and he can't just look at them up close and personal, grab what he needs, and check out like he would at Home Depot, Samson, or Ace. Back home, Matt in a hardware store is like a kid in a candy shop; here, he loathes any time he steps foot in one of these shops.

Because of the time/energy/money involved in going to Santa, we try to limit how often we go. All the same, we do enjoy getting 'out' once a week or so. We can catch some different scenery for a while, and who knows, maybe even hit up KFC for lunch.

Monday, August 16, 2010

New Wheels


That's right. Guess who got a new, flashy bicycle? Julie! PCJ just got a new shipment of bicycles in for PCVs to use. Unfortunately there aren't enough bicycles for every volunteer, so all who were interested were asked to apply and plead their case as to why they were most deserving. Well, I did, and I got one. You're now probably asking what everyone else in our community asks, “Matt, where's your bike?” Well, my friends, Matt didn't apply for one. I think largely because we really didn't feel right owning two of the few bicycles that were available, and it made more sense for me to have one then him based on our daily travel schedules. It should come as no surprise to anyone that Matt's getting his use out of it. (For those who unaware, Matt's a cyclist at heart. He's done many long-distance bike trips, one of which started in Anchorage, Alaska and ended in Camden, Maine.) I won't burst his bubble, but I told him he needed to write a blog on his little informal bike club. Hopefully my powers of persuasion will continue to prevail, and you'll soon hear more about this.

I can't be too upset about his use of MY bike, because he does make sure to clarify that it's MY bike every time people make reference to it being his. Plus, as always, he does all the mechanical work on it. Oh, and I guess we are married, so we're supposed to do that sharing thing.

Of course having a new, flashy bicycle has its obvious perks. But it also have it's downfalls. First of all, it's a new, flashy bicycle...in a poor community...a community that I'm constantly telling 'nuh money nuh run fuh we poor likkle peace corps'...in a culture that has a significant problem with stealing. As a result we constantly have to make sure the bicycle is in a secured area. We bring it in the house every night, and have it in eye sight everywhere else -even bringing it inside the building if need be.

Second of all, it causes quite the stir when I come riding by on my bike. I mean, people stare already. Still. After 3 months. We know most people by name and have had conversations with lots, but walk down the street and everybody watches, partly because there's nothing better to do. So if you're a white girl, riding by on a new, flashy bicycle, they'll drop whatever they're doing to look with their mouth gaping open as you pass. They might even offer a “Wow girl, yuh fit.” To go with this, I've never seen a Jamaican woman ride a bicycle. It seems to be a rare phenomenon, as in... “Gyal, why yuh wanna go mash up yuh pum-pum like dat?” This of course only adds to the freak show that consists of me and my bike.

This can be a little intimidating. Especially as I ride by one of the shops that sits ¾ of the way up a hill I regularly ride up. I'm already sweating in the heat, breathing heavy as I am determined to not get off the bike and walk it up the hill while my audience looks on. Many times I've ridden past as 5 or 6 guys stand outside, greeting me as I ride on up the hill. Of course, I try my best to act like it's no big deal “Afternoon!”, like I'm not about to pass out any moment “Wa Gwaan!”, I ride up hills in this heat all the time “Yea Mon.”, not strained at all “Alright.”, but praying deeply for the crest to come as quickly as possible “Likkle more.” And of course, I CAN NOT stand up and peddle. That would become the most sought after show in town, watching the white girl's bumpa dance in the air as she pumps up the hill on her bicycle. Jamaican male eyes already have a STRONG draw to check out a woman's rear-end as she walks by. Add a little elevation and bounce, well you're just asking for a fan club. So I just keep on, keeping on, hoping that one day it will be easier for me to get up the hill, or that my cycling skills/backside will cease to be as entertaining. Let's just say I'm not exactly holding out for the latter.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Project #1-Computer Lab


We thought we should probably fill you in on one of the projects we've been spending much of our time on. Before we arrived in Accompong, JACOM already had plans and most of the infrastructure in place to start an internet cafe way out here in the Jamaican bush. That's right, lucky us! Most of the work was already done. Since we've been here, high-speed internet was brought into the community -not an easy, nor cheap feat, and we were able to open up an internet cafe. Cost for internet is J$60/30 minutes, comparable or cheaper than most other internet cafes in St. Elizabeth, not to mention the fact that a taxi ride to the closest internet cafe from Accompong is J$140 one way. What a steal, huh? We're still trying to convince some of our community members of this deal, as many of them think we're overpriced. But most of these unhappy customers are in high school and would complain that it was too expensive even if it were free. Plus, that's just part of Jamaican culture, to try and haggle any price, any opportunity to get the best deal. By the way, Jamaican teenagers are much like Americans, in that they aren't spending their time researching for their next school paper, but rather they are on facebook, youtube, and instant messenger. At any given time you can walk into our internet cafe, and chances are extremely high that all five computers will be logged onto facebook. As I've said to Matt many times, facebook keeps us in business.

Speaking of researching information on the web, we're pretty sure that most of our computer users don't even know what Google is, much less how to use it. We've helped many people set up their first email account, identify the little Mozilla fox that opens up the internet, and of course create a facebook profile. Which leads to the second aspect of our computer lab: computer class. We've started with Primary School students as we have many programs readily available that are appropriate for them. However, we have hopes of eventually teaching to jr. highers, high schoolers, and adults. It has been quite the experience to see some of these kids and adults use the computer for the first time, and to realize how intimidating it must be when you don't even know where the 'on' button is. (And yes, the kids are playing educational computer games in the pictures.)

Speaking of games, one of the neat things about our internet cafe is that it's more or less become the cool hangout spot for 15-25 yr olds. This has been nice for a couple of reasons. It makes the time there more interesting and fun for us, but it also has helped us to develop relationships with some of the hardest people in our community to get to know. The internet cafe provides a structured setting, but one that's fun to be around for the average Jamaican teen. We do end up doing a lot of monitoring as a result. Just the other day, one of the boys was riding a bike at the center while smoking a spliff, and Matt got onto him, “Hey man, you know you can't have that around here.” He responded, “What is it going to do, burn up the bike?” Jamaicans never seem to lack for wit.

Anyway, we only have 5 computers available, which is more than most communities. However, it seems that most of our usual crew comes up at the same time, all 15 or so of them. (The other night we counted 21 there at one time.) They don't all use the computer. Well, at least each individual isn't a paying customer, because hardly ever do you see one person/computer. Maroons share everything, including computers. And besides, whether or not you come to use the internet, it's fun to hang out with your peers. In the meantime, why not have a group juggle with a soccer ball while you wait for a computer to free up? Or chat with the strange whities in your community? Or smoke a spliff while riding a bicycle?

I'd write more, but I have to get back to hanging out with my bredren here at the internet cafe.

Monday, August 9, 2010

Schools- Part 3

Okay, a last post about schools in Jamaica, at least for now. There were just a few random things we thought were worth mentioning:

Rain. In Jamaica, there's really only two seasons: the rainy season and the dry season. In Accompong, during the rainy season it pretty much rains every day for a good hour. That being said, imagine yourself in a school classroom with 40-odd 4th and 5th graders, surrounded by concrete walls, and a single layer sheet of corrugated zinc that serves as both roof and ceiling, not exactly the best acoustics to begin with. Now imagine it starts to downpour -because when it rains in Accompong, it rains. That's right, chaos. Matt and I have tried to talk to each other in these circumstances, literally screaming in each other's ear and we still can't hear each other.

Transportation. Getting to and from school is the responsibility of the student and their respective family. Since most rural Jamaicans don't have cars, and if they did, couldn't afford to drive back and forth every day, many Jamaican children get to school via taxi. This can be extremely expensive considering that, at best, a rural community will have a primary and junior high school. Most high schoolers throughout Jamaica have to travel long distances to get to school. Aside from the time and energy involved, the amount of money needed seems unreal. For example, the closest high school to us is about 25 minutes away, and costs J$140, roughly US$1.75, and that's one way. Now, students do get a discount of half price, but still that's almost US$9/week, and again, that's the closest high school. The Jamaican school system is not set up so that students attend the closest high school. As a result, students from our community attend schools all over the parish. Some students travel up to 2 hours one way. You start doing the math and realize why so many high school students are sitting around the community on days they should be going to school. And let's not forget that if US$9 seems like a lot to you and me, imagine how much it seems to the poor living in the developing world. A very rough estimate of average income in our community would be around $3000-$5000/year. After transportation costs there are also lunch, school fees, supplies needed, etc. Thus, we know many people in Accompong that never graduated high school, simply because they couldn't afford it.

One of the many problems that this transportation issue creates is inappropriate relationships between taxi-men and high-school girls. These relationships are as widely acknowledged as they are generally ignored and accepted, they allow some girls the ability to get back and forth to school on days that they don't have any money. Who can blame these girls? What are options do they have? Stay home, uneducated, and continue in the cycle of poverty, or do what you have to do to get out? As a result, many parents turn a blind eye because they feel just as helpless. What are their options, when they know the best chance their daughter has of a different life is education? What do they do when they can't afford to pay the fees? For most parents, this is humiliating enough. So often times they ignore what they know is going on, because there's nothing to be done about it. So leave it be, and eventually it will go away.

Accompong schools. Within Accompong we have a two-roomed basic school. Basic schools are most similar to day care/kindergarten as the age range of students is 3-6 years old. We also have a primary and junior high school that consists of 8 classrooms. Although we do have actual walls that separate each classroom, they don't extend all the way to the ceiling for some reason. That being said, for such a rural community as Accompong is, we feel that have a pretty nice building compared to many other schools.

Corporal punishment... it happens, and is widely accepted in many Jamaican school systems.

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Schools- Part 2

In this post, we thought we might address the average Jamaican school building. Before doing so, we want to make sure to place another disclaimer. The posts we make are coming from our own perspective. I'm sure that others might disagree with some of our thoughts, some only slightly, while others maybe whole-heartedly. Also, we live in a rural community, very different from places such as Negril, Kingston, Port Antonio, and so on. Although we try to be as fair as possible in sharing, we still have biases. Please keep this in mind.

Okay, back to business. Especially in rural communities, primary schools often consist of a cinder-block concrete building with a zinc roof, and no interior walls or partitions. Because many school buildings have no interior walls, the classes within are separated merely by the arrangement of desks and chalkboards. Within this one room, seven or eight classes will be conducted at one time.
Let's go back to Anthony Winkler to conclude this blog:

“...without walls to physically separate the different classes you could not hear yourself think while school was in session because you were awash in a continuous and unabating blare of noise. It was sometimes a roar, constant and deafening like the endless blast of a waterfall; sometimes a splatter of wild cries and shrieks and yells from odd nooks and corners of the echoing building; but most often the regulated and disciplined chants of entire classes bellowing out separately and all at once multiplication tables, historical dates, and irregular verb tenses.

“Twice times one are one, twice times two are four, twice tiems three are six.”
Thirty children would be howling three feet away, while the class which you observed would thunder in reply,

ring, rang, rung,
sink, sank, sunk,
sing, sang, sung,

A few feet away another thirty children would be screaming a litany of historical dates:

In 1494 Columbus discovered Jamaica
In 1655 the English captured Jamaica
In 1692 an earthquake destroyed Port Royal
In 1865 the Morant Bay rebellion 'appened

Sometimes the history teacher would lead the chant with a play of humor and Socratic questioning, and you would hear an exchange that went something like this:

'What happened in 1494, children?'
'Six times five is thirty,' a clutch of banshees would shriek just then from across the room.
'Columbus discovered Jamaica!' the children would chorus happily.
'Very good,' the teacher's voice would sing above the tumult like the cry of a gull over the crash of breakers.
'Then what happened in 1655?'
Hesitation and confusion. Part of the class ventured a defiant and singsong answer, 'The earthquake destroyed Port Royal!'
But a claque of dissenters blasted out in contradiction, 'The English capture Jamaica!'
'Ring rang rung! Sing sang sung! Slink Slunk slunk!'
'Children! Children!'
'The boiling point of water is 212 degrees Fahrenheit!'
'So what 'appen in 1655?'
'Hush your mouth, Howard. You don't even know wha' 'appen yesterday!'
'Go 'way!'
'The English capture Jamaica!'
'How dat again, class?'
'Think thought thought! Bring brought brought! Fight fought fought!'
'The English capture Jamaica, Miss!'
'Five times four is twenty! Five times five is twenty-five! Five times six is thirty!'
'So what we say 'appen in 1655 again?'
'The English capture Jamaica!'
'You sure about dat, class?'
'Six times one is six. Six times two is twelve. Six times three is eighteen.'
'The English capture Jamaica, teacher!'
'A-hoa! I just want to see if you sure 'bout dat.'”

Get the picture?