August Break: Trotsky

I missed Trotsky (and my other cat, Oddly) while I was away.

I'm participating in the August Break.

August Break: Shades of Gray

Wandered around in the neighbourhood of Kensington on Saturday and found they were having a poetry festival.
I liked this poem.

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August Break: Goodbye Jamaica

I missed a couple of days due to travel.

We made time the morning of our flight to do a bit more relaxing by the pool.

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August Break: Little Ochie

After our final school visit today, we stopped at a little town called Little Ochie on the south shore. We had fresh-caught fish for lunch again, but this time we tried it jerk-style instead of fried. It was really good, but I still think the first one was better. Anyway, you place your order but it takes awhile to prepare the fish, probably 45 minutes - an hour. So in the meantime, we finally got to swim in the ocean! We went to get into the ocean, but before we did, this gaggle of little faces ran up to us saying, "Miss! Miss!! Don't go in! There's a shark!!!" We thought they were joking, but they seemed insistent. Then one of their fathers came up and said, "it's a dolphin." As soon as he said that, the kids jumped in. So did we. (P.S. There was no shark)


The kids were totally sweet, and stuck near us in the water, telling us their names, and who ranked where in terms of age, and where they lived (one family just in front of us at the beach, their cousins down past the bend in the beach a way down.) Then they started doing backflips and tricks and stuff, and kept calling us for our attention: "Miss!!! Miss!!! Watch me!!" So cute. And when we got a little too far out, they called us back in because they could tell where the current was because it would kick up the sand underneath and turn a stripe of the water a bit brownish. They were very concerned about us.

I think this was my favourite moment on our trip. The kids were so sweet, and it was great to just experience that moment of fun with them.

Little Ochie.

It's a fishing village.

Frying up some fish.

These are a fruit called guineps. You can buy them from roadside sellers. You peel them and then pop the flesh in your mouth and try to dissolve the flesh from the large pit inside. They taste good and are addictive. I couldn't really describe the taste... kind of like a grape, but different.

Jerk fish.

Little Ochie.

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I'm participating in the August Break.

August Break: Dollah Bills

Only a few things today:

1. It's true: Jamaicans actually say "Yeh Man" and "No Man."

2. There are worse things in life than working on lesson planning poolside.

3. Our dinner bill came to....

Sixteen THOUSAND dollars.

hahahaha! Just kidding.

That works out to about $180 Canadian for seven people. Jamaican money is so fun. You get to carry around thousand dollar bills like it's nobody's business. And they have 10 dollar coins. Ha!


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I'm participating in the August Break.

August Break: School Visits

Today was a full day. First we visited the Ministry of Education at the Jamaican Prime Minister's Office. Next up was the Canadian Embassy to visit the staff there.

The most interesting part of our day was a visit to two schools - Eltham High School in Spanish Town, and Excelsior in Kingston. This was extremely enlightening, to see the differences (and similarities) between schools in Canada and schools in Jamaica.

The Canadian Embassy in Kingston. We were officially on Canadian soil today!

 

It was very strange seeing a Canadian flag next to a palm tree.

This is Eltham. The hallways are outside.

There are 40 - 50 kids per class.

This is Excelsior now.

Part of the school yard at Excelsior.

Some boys after football camp at the school.

There is no glass in the doors or windows. Classrooms are totally open to the elements.

I cannot get over these goats. They just wander wherever they please!
But someone told me today that they go home to their owners at night!

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I'm participating in the August Break.

August Break: Hellshire

They say it like "Elle-shur." It's a little fishing village about 30 minutes outside of Kingston, and this morning we all hopped in the Ministry of Education SUVs and went there for breakfast.

The photos will tell the story: it is beautiful, rustic, and unbelievably hot.

This is the "restaurant" we ate at.

The kitchen.



The cooks preparing the food.



The fish frying. Pretty much all Jamaican restaurants use wood fire.

A fish shack.

A little shop. "Jelly" is what they call coconut water.

A pretty awesome looking man selling conch.

Men scaling the fish.

A fish shack.

Me and my breakfast: fried parrot fish, festival (a fried dough), and bammy (a fried cake made of cassava root)

A man selling jelly. We bought some. It tasted very refreshing.

 That fish, caught fresh that morning, was probably the MOST delicious fish I've ever had in my entire life. Truth!


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August Break: Ghett'a Life

Guess what?!

This is my 100th post!

Anyway, that aside, here are today's pictures coming up soon. First, though, we went to a premiere of a Jamaican-made film today called Ghett'a Life. I would highly highly highly recommend you see this film if it comes to North America/the rest of the world. It was totally fantastic. It was pretty neat to be at the film premiere, too, because at the end they had a bit of a Q&A, and the film's stars stood up from the audience (we didn't know they were there) and just walked up and answered some questions! I was a little starstruck, to be honest!

So I'm going to throw the trailer here so you can get a quick glimpse. We are hoping to get a DVD of the movie next year during our school-twinning project so we can show our students a glimpse of what life is like in some of Kingston's inner city neighbourhoods.

After the movie, we went to Devon House, a national historic site for lunch, and then had their famous Devon ice cream!

Views from my hotel room

Those trees with orange flowers are in Emancipation Park.

Again from my hotel room.

I found a lizard in the bathroom. I think I scared him as much as he scared me!

The movie theatre.

Curry goat with rice and peas for lunch. It was really good!

Me and Lisa at the ice cream shop.

Devon House.

FYI, the story goes something like this: Devon House belonged to a wealthy black man named Mr. Devon just after slavery was abolished. He was a big philanthropist and the country made his house into a historic site.

I'm participating in the August Break.