Friday, March 19, 2010
Finally In Jamaica!
I'm lovin it!
I finally made it through staging and am now at a hotel in Kingston, Jamaica. So far, everything's been great. The food, the Jamaican people, the weather, and I really like my fellow trainees. Everybody's getting along and bonding and just basically excited to finally get started with training. I have a few pictures and a video which I'll try to upload later, along with actual details of what has happened the past couple of days. We've been really busy and moving around a lot so I have limited internet time. Tomorrow we move in with our host families, which I'm really excited about. And Monday, we officially start training.
Thats all for now! More detailed posts to come later when I get more time to collect my thoughts.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Sooo, What Now?
It's a lazy Saturday afternoon. Currently I am sitting in my bedroom, enjoying the sunlight from my window, watching My Girl 2, and continuously procrastinating. My brother's playing Pokemon on the Wii (what in the world is so great about Pokemon???). And my nephew somehow stumbled upon the new We Are The World song on youtube and is currently in the middle of butchering Celine Dion's verse. I mean he sounds absolutely terrible. But I love him though :) He's 9 years old and is definitely a future performer. He loves to sing and dance and show any and everybody within his line of sight. A coupla weeks ago, he asked me if I had ever heard of "the jerk" and proceeded to demonstrate it for me. He assumed that I'd never heard of it since i'm "old" and can't possibly know about all of the current dance trends. Little did he know that a few days before, I personally looked up the jerk on youtube so I could learn how to do it. You should look it up. It's not as easy as one would think. I mastered the "stanky leg" so I figured the jerk would be no big deal. But I was wrong. I tried in my room for a few minutes before I got tired and gave up. My goal is to have it down before I leave for Jamaica. I only practice when no one else is home though...can't reveal it til I feel like it's absolutely perfect, if that ever happens.
My brother is the complete opposite of my nephew. He's 11, quiet, and a nerd. He's a mini-me, except he's male and I lost my nerdiness my freshman year of college. I remember when he came to me a few years ago and told me that pluto was no longer a planet, but a dwarf planet...thats the moment I knew it, Jay you are a nerd. But again, I love him anyway. I actually like that about him. He always makes straight A's and is the top of his class. The achievement rate here in the Blackbelt, especially for boys, is pretty low, so i'm extremely proud of him. I hope and pray he can keep it up throughout high school. I'm really gonna miss my boys. I've been able to spend a lot of time with them since I moved back home and it's finally start to sink in that I won't see them for the next 2 years. How in the world am I gonna get on that plane in a couple of weeks and just leave them standing there? It will be hard. There will be tears. But I can do it. I'm hoping that my experience will inspire them to go after something they wanna do, no matter how abnormal or strange their pursuits are perceived to be. I want them to be able to resist the stifling attitudes around them that do nothing but suppress and limit their outlook and creativity. And I want them to not place so much value on wealth and material things, but to value education and hard work and use what they've learned to benefit others. I absolutely do not want to see them here 10 years from now, driving around the projects, bragging about what size rims they have on their car. I do not want to see them 10 years from now walking up and down the street all day and night, with no job or goals, except to get the new Jordans that come out this year. And if I hear one more dude walk past my house trying to rap, I am going to scream. Whoa, I got sidetracked...
Yesterday was my last day at work, so from now until I leave, I'll have a LOT of free time to organize and pack stuff. I need to make another to-do list so I can organize my thoughts, but I've been putting it off because, well, I just don't feel like it. And since I just found out that there's a Law and Order SVU marathon on, I doubt that I will get anything done today.
We've been getting a whole lotta info about staging and our first few months in Jamaica, and I'm getting really excited. It's like it's all becoming real now. After so many months of telling people that I don't know where I'm going yet, I finally have a country! Real dates! Itineraries! Plane tickets! Concrete evidence! I remember before I got my invite, how people would ask me where I'm going and when I'm leaving, and all I could say was possibly the Caribbean, sometime at the beginning of the year. And they would smile and say how cool it was, but I knew in the back of their mind they're thinking girl, you ain't going nowhere. Not everybody thought that, but I'm sure some did. Shoot, I started to wonder myself! I have a 6 am flight on March 17 from Birmingham to Atlanta, and then a 9:40 flight to arrive in Miami at 11:48. Registration is at 12:30 so delays can not and should not occur. Looks like I might be one of the last ones to get there since a lot of people are going on the 16th. I'm excited to finally meet everyone face to face and be around people who actually understand how exciting and frustrating this whole process can be. We're all from different parts of the country with different backgrounds and personalities, but what we all have in common is this decision to take a huge risk to go live in another country for 27 months and try to make a difference, while at the same time, growing stronger and learning more about ourselves and the Jamaican people. Only 18 more days to go!
My brother is the complete opposite of my nephew. He's 11, quiet, and a nerd. He's a mini-me, except he's male and I lost my nerdiness my freshman year of college. I remember when he came to me a few years ago and told me that pluto was no longer a planet, but a dwarf planet...thats the moment I knew it, Jay you are a nerd. But again, I love him anyway. I actually like that about him. He always makes straight A's and is the top of his class. The achievement rate here in the Blackbelt, especially for boys, is pretty low, so i'm extremely proud of him. I hope and pray he can keep it up throughout high school. I'm really gonna miss my boys. I've been able to spend a lot of time with them since I moved back home and it's finally start to sink in that I won't see them for the next 2 years. How in the world am I gonna get on that plane in a couple of weeks and just leave them standing there? It will be hard. There will be tears. But I can do it. I'm hoping that my experience will inspire them to go after something they wanna do, no matter how abnormal or strange their pursuits are perceived to be. I want them to be able to resist the stifling attitudes around them that do nothing but suppress and limit their outlook and creativity. And I want them to not place so much value on wealth and material things, but to value education and hard work and use what they've learned to benefit others. I absolutely do not want to see them here 10 years from now, driving around the projects, bragging about what size rims they have on their car. I do not want to see them 10 years from now walking up and down the street all day and night, with no job or goals, except to get the new Jordans that come out this year. And if I hear one more dude walk past my house trying to rap, I am going to scream. Whoa, I got sidetracked...
Yesterday was my last day at work, so from now until I leave, I'll have a LOT of free time to organize and pack stuff. I need to make another to-do list so I can organize my thoughts, but I've been putting it off because, well, I just don't feel like it. And since I just found out that there's a Law and Order SVU marathon on, I doubt that I will get anything done today.
We've been getting a whole lotta info about staging and our first few months in Jamaica, and I'm getting really excited. It's like it's all becoming real now. After so many months of telling people that I don't know where I'm going yet, I finally have a country! Real dates! Itineraries! Plane tickets! Concrete evidence! I remember before I got my invite, how people would ask me where I'm going and when I'm leaving, and all I could say was possibly the Caribbean, sometime at the beginning of the year. And they would smile and say how cool it was, but I knew in the back of their mind they're thinking girl, you ain't going nowhere. Not everybody thought that, but I'm sure some did. Shoot, I started to wonder myself! I have a 6 am flight on March 17 from Birmingham to Atlanta, and then a 9:40 flight to arrive in Miami at 11:48. Registration is at 12:30 so delays can not and should not occur. Looks like I might be one of the last ones to get there since a lot of people are going on the 16th. I'm excited to finally meet everyone face to face and be around people who actually understand how exciting and frustrating this whole process can be. We're all from different parts of the country with different backgrounds and personalities, but what we all have in common is this decision to take a huge risk to go live in another country for 27 months and try to make a difference, while at the same time, growing stronger and learning more about ourselves and the Jamaican people. Only 18 more days to go!
Sunday, February 7, 2010
6 More Weeks Til Departure!
And I'm getting more and more excited (and extremely nervous) as the 17th of March gets closer. Many of my coworkers are talking about it too. I just love how I'm getting more random comments spoken with a Jamaican accent. "Why does everybody think they can do a good Jamaican accent?" I asked this to one of my coworkers. She replied, "Dunno mon, mus be da ganja hahaha!" Ha. Ha. Cute. They like to joke about how I'm gonna go to Jamaica, get dreads, and smoke weed all day. And of course, EVERYBODY thinks I'm gonna find a Jamaican husband, which is probably one of the very last things on my mind right now. I'll be too busy trying to integrate and adjust to the culture, which brings me to another issue...
A current volunteer recently wrote a blog post in response to a complaint by another volunteer about the party posters that he designs for people in his community. Apparently they thought that his designs were counterproductive to their mission as Peace Corps volunteers. So he wrote a post basically asking for opinions about the posters, if they're appropriate, offensive, etc. Don't know if I should go into more detail...so I won't. Anyways, it got me thinking about how I'm gonna handle my "integration" process in Jamaica. I commented on the post basically saying that I thought the posters were inappropriate and why I thought they were inappropriate but that he should just pray about it (since I knew he was a christian) and make a decision from there. I already felt a little uncomfortable commenting since I don't really know the volunteer and haven't yet encountered the culture that he's in, but I'm trying to be more outspoken, so I figured this would be a good time to practice lol. Sooo, yeah, now I'm thinking about how my boundaries concerning what's right and wrong may become a little blurred, especially when rare opportunities to really get connected in my community present themselves. I guess before I thought of my integrating as simply coming in, observing the community, participating in things I didn't necessarily disagree with, and respectfully declining to participate in things that I did disagree with or that went against my personal faith or values. And that probably will actually be the case with some issues. But for others, it may not be so black and white. There really isn't a way to prepare for this, I just have to cross that bridge when I get to it, but I just wanted it to be known that I don't plan on imposing my ideas or beliefs on anybody. I'm willing to change, I'm willing to compromise, and I'm definitely willing to learn...I mean, it's one of the reasons why I joined PC!
My Tevas are here! I bought 3 pairs: the Omnium, the Ventura Cork, and the Mush. And I got that 50% discount...yessir! And you know what I've realized? Outdoorsy shoes aren't really that cute. But! They make my extremely flat, arch-deficient feet very happy. They are probably the most comfortable shoes that I've ever worn. Style has never really been a high priority for me, and I'm guessing that will be the case in Jamaica? I've heard that girls there like to dress to impress, but this might be one integration point that I'm gonna fail at, because it is highly unlikely that I'll be walking around my community in skinny heels.
Here is the Omnium and Ventura Cork, aka water shoes and comfortable flat dressy sandal:
And here are the Mush flip flops with the beautiful Jamaican colors:
When I saw these, I absolutely had to get them. It's like they were there just waiting for me come and search the flip flop section to find them. Is it too much, too flashy, too overly-excited-about-moving-to-Jamaica? Probably. But I like em, I've already paid for them, and I'm not sending them back :)
A current volunteer recently wrote a blog post in response to a complaint by another volunteer about the party posters that he designs for people in his community. Apparently they thought that his designs were counterproductive to their mission as Peace Corps volunteers. So he wrote a post basically asking for opinions about the posters, if they're appropriate, offensive, etc. Don't know if I should go into more detail...so I won't. Anyways, it got me thinking about how I'm gonna handle my "integration" process in Jamaica. I commented on the post basically saying that I thought the posters were inappropriate and why I thought they were inappropriate but that he should just pray about it (since I knew he was a christian) and make a decision from there. I already felt a little uncomfortable commenting since I don't really know the volunteer and haven't yet encountered the culture that he's in, but I'm trying to be more outspoken, so I figured this would be a good time to practice lol. Sooo, yeah, now I'm thinking about how my boundaries concerning what's right and wrong may become a little blurred, especially when rare opportunities to really get connected in my community present themselves. I guess before I thought of my integrating as simply coming in, observing the community, participating in things I didn't necessarily disagree with, and respectfully declining to participate in things that I did disagree with or that went against my personal faith or values. And that probably will actually be the case with some issues. But for others, it may not be so black and white. There really isn't a way to prepare for this, I just have to cross that bridge when I get to it, but I just wanted it to be known that I don't plan on imposing my ideas or beliefs on anybody. I'm willing to change, I'm willing to compromise, and I'm definitely willing to learn...I mean, it's one of the reasons why I joined PC!
My Tevas are here! I bought 3 pairs: the Omnium, the Ventura Cork, and the Mush. And I got that 50% discount...yessir! And you know what I've realized? Outdoorsy shoes aren't really that cute. But! They make my extremely flat, arch-deficient feet very happy. They are probably the most comfortable shoes that I've ever worn. Style has never really been a high priority for me, and I'm guessing that will be the case in Jamaica? I've heard that girls there like to dress to impress, but this might be one integration point that I'm gonna fail at, because it is highly unlikely that I'll be walking around my community in skinny heels.
Here is the Omnium and Ventura Cork, aka water shoes and comfortable flat dressy sandal:
And here are the Mush flip flops with the beautiful Jamaican colors:
When I saw these, I absolutely had to get them. It's like they were there just waiting for me come and search the flip flop section to find them. Is it too much, too flashy, too overly-excited-about-moving-to-Jamaica? Probably. But I like em, I've already paid for them, and I'm not sending them back :)
Friday, January 22, 2010
Darn You iTunes!!!
For making buying music so easy and convenient! For adding new music to my library with just a click of a mouse! For exposing me to new music based on my personal preferences! You're killing my bank account!
Sooo, I'm ashamed to say that I bought not one, but two complete albums, a total of 26 songs. Now that may not seem like a whole lot, but for me, whose student loan payments are piling on as we speak, it's money that could have been used more wisely. Maybe I should take my own advice about wasteful spending, hehe ;) Oh well, I'll work on it.
So the artist who has recently benefited from my hard-earned money is...drum roll please...James Morrison! Have ya heard him? I think I likes him :) He's British, so he has an accent (I love accents), but you can't really tell when he sings. He has an amazing soulful, sometimes raspy voice. One thing you should know about me is that I absolutely love soulful voices and music, just plain raw talent, without all the technical recording tricks. Sometimes I wish I could travel back to the '50's, '60's, and '70's just so I could hear genuinely good music in person. This crap that they make nowadays just does not compare. Well. I think I just sounded like my mother. Anyway...back to this James Morrison fellow...I like his voice, I like his style, and I think he's original. You should click one of the links below and listen for a bit. Maybe you've heard some his songs. I still can't believe that I hadn't. Holla!
Friday, January 1, 2010
Out with the Old, In with the New...yeah, I know it's cliche
Today I read an article entitled, "Americans seek silver lining in 2010." According to a poll, nearly three-fourths of Americans think 2009 was a bad year for the country. Forty-two percent rated it very bad :( For the country as a whole, yes, 2009 may have been a bad year, at least in comparison to previous years. The job market sucked, homes got foreclosed, the economy was a little under the weather, etc, etc. Some Americans are justified in viewing 2009 as a bad year. But others...umm...I'm sorry you can't afford to buy anymore useless expensive crap that you don't need and that you plan to trade in for a bigger piece of useless expensive crap within the next year. I think 2009 gave a lot of people a wake up call about how they were spending their money and forced them reevaluate their priorities. Now I don't think there's anything necessarily wrong with having expensive, sometimes completely unnecessary things that you want...as long as you can afford it (personally, I think there are quite a few ways that money could be put to better use, but that all depends on one's personal values and outlook). Being able to charge it does not necessarily mean that you can afford it, and I think a lot of people, including me, came to that realization this year.
For me, I would say that the year went pretty well. Like every year, there were things that made my life more complicated, things that made my life more interesting, things that basically had me on my knees thanking God that he allowed me to experience them, and things that had me questioning God and wondering if he even slightly cared about me. I've been stretched, squeezed, emptied, filled, and molded so many times this year and although it never felt good during those times, I know I came out stronger, wiser, and better prepared. Here is a little recap of my 2009, the good and the bad:
Bads:
- Family issues flared up (can't go into details); felt (and feel) completely useless in helping the situation
- Failed to help bring other minorities into my campus ministry; convinced myself that it wasn't my responsibility
- Got my wisdom teeth removed (actually wasn't that bad)
- Took the long, dreadful, 8-hour FE (Fundamentals of Engineering Exam)
- Countless other personal disappointments that I won't mention; I can't put all my bizness out there for everyone to see!
Goods (happy time!):
- Broke away from an unhealthy friendship; felt what it's like to be completely free
- Finally let my guard down, got to know a few people better, and let them see some of the real me
- Got to see the pride in my parents' faces as I walked across the stage to become the first person in our family to get a bachelor's degree!
- Successfully passed the long, dreadful, 8-hour FE!
- Got invited to be a Peace Corps volunteer in Jamaica!!!
As you can probably guess, I am ecstatic about the year 2010! Only 11 more weeks to go and I'll be boarding that plane to Miami to start a new adventure and see what this development thing is all about. I'll finally be able to begin something that I've felt obligated to do for over a year now. That's so crazy to me...it was the end of 2008 when I decided to completely switch gears on my life plan and throw myself into an extremely unpredictable situation. Who's knows what's gonna happen while I'm in Jamaica? I don't, but I'm taking a chance and I'm ready to go. Today is the start of a good year...
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
The Sounds of Jamaica
Does anybody else ever log on to iTunes with the intentions of just checking out some new music, maybe buying 2 or 3 songs and then proceed to purchase about $30 worth instead!?! Well that's what I did last night. It all started when I was looking up some suggested Jamaican artists on Youtube...that took a while (some of the lyrics are...umm...a bit mature, and the dancing - OMG!). Then I started looking up old r&b favorites from the '90s and somewhat recent stuff that I just hadn't heard in a while. I mean I just laid in my bed and literally listened to the whole Alicia Keys Songs In A Minor album (the first and best one in my opinion) on Youtube. And of course I just had to have this music on my ipod so I could listen to it to and from work. So I bought them. Music is so therapeutic for me; it's like I get into a zone and I just listen for hours and hours. And that's what I did...until around 3 o'clock in the morning, knowing full well that I had to be at work at 8. I'm not a college student anymore...I have go to do better...
Anyway, here are a few of my Reggae favorites so far...hope you enjoy :)
Anyway, here are a few of my Reggae favorites so far...hope you enjoy :)
Sunday, December 6, 2009
SEC Champs!!! And Other Stuff...
I would like to take this opportunity to give a shout out to the men of the Crimson Tide football team..woohoo! I am so proud to be a University of Alabama graduate right now! They played a great game and really shocked a lot of people (including me). Good game Tebow, you are a fantastic player and leader (and cute too), but...
ROLL TIDE ROLL baby! Next up, National Championship!
I'm trying to think of any updates I may have that's actually related to my Peace Corps experience so far. Let's see, after I sent in an official letter from my dentist stating that my wisdom teeth were removed, I was dentally cleared...yay. I bought a backpack, a swiss army knife, and ordered luggage. Yep, I'm slowly putting a small dent in my packing list. And thanks to a fellow volunteer currently serving in Jamaica, I found out about a few more discounts (thanks Josh! Here's his very useful discount info: http://joshnjesse.wordpress.com/to-pack/).
I also had some interesting discussions with one of my coworkers on Friday. One was about our cultural experiences growing up. I told her about how I had very little interaction with white people when I was younger. No white people live in my neighborhood, no white kids went to my school. There were a few white teachers, but that's it. Then, when I went to the University of Alabama (where you can't throw a rock without hitting a white person) it was basically a culture shock. I'm naturally a shy person anyway, so being thrown in with thousands of people I didn't know and didn't really feel comfortable with was pretty tough. But I had to adjust if I wanted to get through; they weren't going away and I wasn't leaving. It was a good learning experience. Well my coworker's experience was the opposite. She's black too, around my parents' age and originally lived up north (I forgot exactly where). For her up north, everything was integrated; it was the norm to go to school or live around other races. When her family moved down south, however, she was sent to a school with only black kids. That was a culture shock for her, especially when she would get teased for "acting" or "talking white." Anyways, we basically concluded that segregation=bad; integration=good! In general, anytime you isolate yourself to one corner of the world and surround yourself with only one "type" of people your whole life, you greatly limit your global outlook. You'll find it hard to identify or relate to people who aren't like you, you won't be able to look at situations from a different point of view, and you'll let stereotypes dictate how you view and treat people. The prevention of these occurrences in my own life is one reason why I joined the Peace Corps :)
The second discussion was basically about stepping out in faith. I was telling her about other volunteer experiences and how I may not have constant running water and electricity, no washer and dryer, etc, etc. And she basically said that she respected me for choosing to do Peace Corps, but she didn't think she would ever have the nerve to do it. I asked her why, and she said she would be too scared...scared of not being able to handle the conditions, scared of being hurt or killed, etc. And I'm thinking, "Uh, here I am, this somewhat sheltered girl from what has to be one of the smallest towns in America who's never been to another country, never even been on a plane, and you don't think I'm scared?" So, then, I basically told her that I didn't feel that we should allow fear to decide what we do in life. And that, if you're a believer in God, you know he is sovereign, and you have faith that he'll sustain you through anything, then there really isn't a reason to be scared. A few people I know who've been on mission trips have said that it seems like the faith of Christians in developing countries are so much stronger than that of Christians here in the U.S. I think one reason is because we tend to put our faith in any and every thing besides God, whether it be our jobs, our education, wealth, etc. We tend to become so fulfilled and dependent on these things, and we don't leave any room for God to really work in our lives. 2 Corinthians 12:9 says, "my power is made perfect in weakness." I believe that by taking this leap of faith to join the Peace Corps and allowing myself to be "weak", I am making room for God to work through me and use me as a vessel for his purposes. And I have faith that he will sustain me and strengthen me in my times of weakness, so there's no reason to fear. My coworker agreed and I can tell that she's become more open to the idea since the first time I told her about it, so maybe I can convince her to do Peace Corps one day...we'll see.
ROLL TIDE ROLL baby! Next up, National Championship!
I'm trying to think of any updates I may have that's actually related to my Peace Corps experience so far. Let's see, after I sent in an official letter from my dentist stating that my wisdom teeth were removed, I was dentally cleared...yay. I bought a backpack, a swiss army knife, and ordered luggage. Yep, I'm slowly putting a small dent in my packing list. And thanks to a fellow volunteer currently serving in Jamaica, I found out about a few more discounts (thanks Josh! Here's his very useful discount info: http://joshnjesse.wordpress.com/to-pack/).
I also had some interesting discussions with one of my coworkers on Friday. One was about our cultural experiences growing up. I told her about how I had very little interaction with white people when I was younger. No white people live in my neighborhood, no white kids went to my school. There were a few white teachers, but that's it. Then, when I went to the University of Alabama (where you can't throw a rock without hitting a white person) it was basically a culture shock. I'm naturally a shy person anyway, so being thrown in with thousands of people I didn't know and didn't really feel comfortable with was pretty tough. But I had to adjust if I wanted to get through; they weren't going away and I wasn't leaving. It was a good learning experience. Well my coworker's experience was the opposite. She's black too, around my parents' age and originally lived up north (I forgot exactly where). For her up north, everything was integrated; it was the norm to go to school or live around other races. When her family moved down south, however, she was sent to a school with only black kids. That was a culture shock for her, especially when she would get teased for "acting" or "talking white." Anyways, we basically concluded that segregation=bad; integration=good! In general, anytime you isolate yourself to one corner of the world and surround yourself with only one "type" of people your whole life, you greatly limit your global outlook. You'll find it hard to identify or relate to people who aren't like you, you won't be able to look at situations from a different point of view, and you'll let stereotypes dictate how you view and treat people. The prevention of these occurrences in my own life is one reason why I joined the Peace Corps :)
The second discussion was basically about stepping out in faith. I was telling her about other volunteer experiences and how I may not have constant running water and electricity, no washer and dryer, etc, etc. And she basically said that she respected me for choosing to do Peace Corps, but she didn't think she would ever have the nerve to do it. I asked her why, and she said she would be too scared...scared of not being able to handle the conditions, scared of being hurt or killed, etc. And I'm thinking, "Uh, here I am, this somewhat sheltered girl from what has to be one of the smallest towns in America who's never been to another country, never even been on a plane, and you don't think I'm scared?" So, then, I basically told her that I didn't feel that we should allow fear to decide what we do in life. And that, if you're a believer in God, you know he is sovereign, and you have faith that he'll sustain you through anything, then there really isn't a reason to be scared. A few people I know who've been on mission trips have said that it seems like the faith of Christians in developing countries are so much stronger than that of Christians here in the U.S. I think one reason is because we tend to put our faith in any and every thing besides God, whether it be our jobs, our education, wealth, etc. We tend to become so fulfilled and dependent on these things, and we don't leave any room for God to really work in our lives. 2 Corinthians 12:9 says, "my power is made perfect in weakness." I believe that by taking this leap of faith to join the Peace Corps and allowing myself to be "weak", I am making room for God to work through me and use me as a vessel for his purposes. And I have faith that he will sustain me and strengthen me in my times of weakness, so there's no reason to fear. My coworker agreed and I can tell that she's become more open to the idea since the first time I told her about it, so maybe I can convince her to do Peace Corps one day...we'll see.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
