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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I'm participating in the August Break.





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.

August Break: Made it!

Made it to Jamaica in one piece... It's 10 to 11pm right now and I've been travelling since 1am yesterday, and I'm in pretty good shape, considering.

We walked over from our hotel to Emancipation Park today, a park that honours the emancipation of the slaves. There's a little pop up music fesitval going on there. The Jamaicans assumed it was because this is around the time of Jamaica's indepdence. Before that, we went for jerk chicken! It was quite an authentic experience. AND extremely, EXTREMELY delicious. I am glad I got a typhoid shot before I left (food-borne illness), that's for sure.

While I'm here, I'll try to post more than one picture per day if I have time.



Norman Manley Airport.



We arrived to torrential downpours.

People waiting at the airport to be picked up. You had to go outside.
There was no option to stay inside.

My hotel room.

The jerk stand.

Inside the jerk cookhouse. It was SO smokey in there!!!

Waiting in line for my jerk.

Jerk chicken and roasted breadfruit.



The music festival.

 I think they are wrapping up the festival right now. It was neat to go and hear reggae music, but I can hear it clear as day through my hotel window, so I am hoping they might let me have a bit of rest. Tomorrow's not a working day, and we are going to go see a movie called Ghett'a Life, which is a film about kids in some pretty rough neighbourhoods here in Kingston.

Okay, reggae's done! Time for bed!



I'm participating in the August Break.



August Break: Away I Go!

My bag's packed for Jamaica! One of our projects is about food sustainability, hence the Michael Pollan book.

I'm participating in the August Break.

August Break: Grow

My garden.

I'm participating in the August Break.