Accompong Boys Soccer

Over the past couple of months Matt has been working with some of the local boys in a soccer program. 2-3 days a week, immediately after school, about 15 boys turn out to practice with Matt and a couple of other volunteer coaches. The 9-11 year old boys have been divided up into 3 teams, each with their own coach. On Mondays and Wednesdays we warm-up with laps, stretch and then run drills and do sprints. On Fridays we scrimmage one team against the next in a mini round-robin tournament.

Most of the boys play in bare feet, whether on the basketball court or on the playfield. Occasionally we can practice on the playfield, in between the trucks and workmen coming and going. For goals we put large rocks on the ground the appropriate distance apart, if a ball flies up into the air it is usually considered a no-goal if it is above the level of the goalie’s knees. We are currently raising funds locally to try to get enough money together to construct actual goal posts of PVC or metal.

In order to make this opportunity happen for the boys we needed to get soccer balls, ball bags, some small orange cones and coaches’ whistles. All of these things were made possible with the help of Julie’s family back in the Chicago area. With the generous support of Tom, Tami and Tim we were able to bring back with us last summer 33 soccer balls, 6 ball nets, 3 pairs of goalie gloves and a dozen orange cones. Back up in Minnesota, JACOM recently had a couple of hundred youth soccer jerseys donated to their organization and earmarked for Jamaica. They were able to send down enough jerseys, in enough different colors to allow the teams to all have their own color. Our plan is to have a couple of official tournaments with the boys on the actual Parade Ground/playfield once the revitalization project is complete, hopefully this spring. For now we primarily use the outdoor, concrete basketball court as our practice and scrimmage area.

Julie’s father, Tom, made a guest appearance a couple of weeks ago during a couple of our practices. He enjoyed hamming it up for the boys, and they enjoyed trying to get the ball past the stout, white goalie.

There are few extra-curricular activities of any sort available to the students here in our rural community. This is one of the reasons that Matt wanted to develop this program… to give the boys something healthy and productive to do with their time after school. As expected, one of the biggest challenges lies in finding coaches who are willing to volunteer their time and show up reliably when practices are scheduled. The boys will always come.

With all the serious and detailed projects that we work on here during our Peace Corps service, this soccer program has turned out to be a pleasant and mostly relaxing break for Matt, one where he can run, and kick, and play, and forget about all the other extraneous stresses that are affecting him.

Recap: Christmas

It goes without saying that Christmas in Jamaica takes on a completely different feel than what we’re used to back home. No matter how much Christmas music we listened to or Christmas movies we watched, it was difficult to feel the ‘Christmas spirit’. In the US, the whole month of December is dedicated to the holidays. Christmas can be seen and heard everywhere –Christmas trees, lights, decorations, and music. Time is filled with Christmas activities –shopping, Christmas parties, baking, wrapping presents, and decorating. I know that many of us complain about how commercialized Christmas has become in the States –us included. But being abroad during Christmas for 2 years, we’re reminded of all the good still in the American Christmas season. We miss it, and we miss all of you that we’ve been away from during the ‘most wonderful time of the year’. As we’re getting ready to spend the 9 months after Peace Corps in a constant state of transition, we do know one thing about next year, ‘I’ll be home for Christmas, you can count on me.’

Recap: Family Visit

We had four visitors this month from Julie’s family: Julie’s dad Tom, her brother Pete, her stepmom Tami, and Pete’s fiancé Robyn. We had an excellent time relaxing and enjoying time together, something we’ve obviously missed out on being in Jamaica.

Dad with his 'little men'

After spending the first half of their trip in Accompong, we headed off to Negril for the second half where we rented a beautiful villa on the water. This wonderful visit was almost too wonderful as saying goodbye, especially right before the holidays we would be spending apart, was really hard. We can’t wait for next Christmas that we can all spend together again.

The highlights:
Tom-playing football with some of the Accompong boys
Matt-playing ENDLESS games with Tom on his IPAD
Tami-getting some R&R, especially with the warm weather and swimming
Pete & Robyn- getting ENGAGED!!
Julie-spending quality time with her family

(one of) the happy couple(s)

Recap: Reggae Marathon

The only Jamaican marathon is held every December in Negril, and it has become somewhat of a tradition for Peace Corps Jamaica to participate and support this event. It includes a 10k, a half-marathon, and a marathon. This year Julie decided to run the 10k. Matt did not sit idly by, but rather was an active supporter. So active in fact, that every time Julie would go out to run, Matt would accompany by bike…4 times a week for 2 months, usually at 6am. And so supportive, that he woke up as well at 4:30 on Dec 3 to make it in time for the 5:15am race start. The race was a lot of fun, and although a 10k is by no means epic, but sharing the training and race experience with other PCVs was a great bonding experience.

the REAL housewives of Peace Corps Jamaica | G81

Recap- Thanksgiving

Alright, it’s been a while so let’s do a few recaps. First off: Thanksgiving.

Considering we were away from home, we had a great Thanksgiving this year. Another PCV’s immediate family was visiting for Thanksgiving, and graciously invited a few of us PCVs to join them for Thanksgiving dinner –quite the noble gesture; you have no idea how much PCVs, who’ve been living off of Ramen and generic mac & cheese for the past year and a half, eat.

We traveled to the North coast where the McDonald’s had rented a beautiful villa where we all would feast. And feast we did. We were lavished with a traditional Thanksgiving dinner (turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce,….), watched football all day on a 51” flatscreen with cocktails in hand, and enjoyed the company of each other as we took a relaxing break from life as a PCV.

A SERIOUS shout out to the McDonalds. Thank you for giving us so much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.