The M
The M Joined: July 3rd 2008
Logged in: August 9th 2008
Logged in: August 9th 2008
Travel Blog Posts
The office building
Got up this morning, and showered. Reminded myself of all the things to miss the water pressure is not one of them. Paid off my debts, and sat down for breakfast. No fish this morning...it must be their gift to us. Enjoyed porridge. Took some photos with the staff at the guesthouse, and said our goodbyes. Waited outside for Rocky, who was 15 minutes late. Keith suggested that he might be late because he was getting us shakes. I laughed. We get into work, and have a meeting with our supervisor. Turns out we have a large final report that needs to be written in great detail -- we were not expecting this. So much for sneaking out of the office a little early today. Work non-stop all day on our final reports. Looks like I'll ... read more
Last night I was in Keiths room updating him about some things, when we heard some distant noises -- not quite gunshots -- but explosions of some sorts -- mid-sentance keith and I stand up and shout "FIREWORKS?!" We run outside and see them in the distance, we climb up onto the ledge of the roof-top patio and watch the Jamaican Independence Day Firework show. Apparently fireworks are the universal symbol of independence, or the global dependence on Chinas manfacturing industry. Either way, nothin brightens your spirits like explosions, sparks in the sky, loud noises, and distinctive clouds of residual smoke. For some strange reason my summer suddenly feels more complete. I fall asleep. Wake up and get ready for work. Fish for breakfast, and no fruit. As we are walking out the door to meet ... read more
Sunday morning I slept until 10am. It was great! We hung out around the guesthouse most of the day and went back to Wendy's for lunch. Watched a couple of movies, and not much else. I had horribly creepy dreams for the second night in a row. I turned on the tv and watched a few hours of the most wholesome thing on TV I could find -- The Cosby Show. I ended up sleeping maybe 3 hours? I decided that I am not taking the remaining 4 weeks of anti-malaria medication. Getting malaria would have to be better than the dreams I've been having. Went into work, and talked with our supervisor about the remaining projects and our evaluation. Did some internet research... One of the women at work comes back into our office and ... read more
Woke up this morning and showered before heading down to breakfast. While drying off my room phone began to ring -- it was a few minutes past nine and only one guess as to who it could be. I didn't bother to answer seeing as how I'd be down there in the next few minutes. The phone rang for about a minute -- and then I heard the phone start ringing in Keiths room... Get downstairs and sit down, the food is brought out shortly thereafter. The bugs are particularly bad today, and we are getting savagely attacked. We pick up everything and move to the table out on the front porch. Less bugs (hopefully) and a change of scenery. Head back upstairs to lounge around while Keith gets ready for the day. Which also happens ... read more
The view in front of our office in Downtown Kingston
Thursday get up, get ready for work. Go downstairs for breakfast, it's fish. CRAP! I thought we weren't going to have it anymore. Guess not. Head into work, Rocky is running late (again). He has taken to getting shakes in the morning before he picks us up, and sometimes he's late to get us because he is enjoying his cool refreshing beverage. Keith and I joke that we're clearly not paying him enough to have him bring us one too. Get to work and do some internet "research" on recipes for when I get back to the states, furniture for my apartment, re-decorating ideas for my place, and dogs that are available for adoption. At this point in my trip I am a CRAIGSLIST pro - if you have any questions about it, be sure to ... read more
Tuesday got up, and went down to breakfast. Porridge. The best of all possible scenarios. On the way to work we see 2 car accidents. Go to work and wait to get feedback from our supervisor, which means I do other productive things such as apply for jobs, email, look into how to make my life more "green," and other thought provoking topics. Have lunch. Continue my internet research. Head home. While waiting for Rocky we see 15+ BRAND NEW cars (with the plastic over the hoods and tail lights) all drive past with their hazards on. It looks like something out of the movie "The Italian Job" except they are brand new cars instead of Mini-coopers. On the way home we see an exceptional amount of police (of course with their AK-47s). Do some laundry. ... read more
Crossing the bridge on the way to Montego from Kingston
Friday morning at 4:50am I wake up. Get ready and walk with Keith over to catch the bus to head to Montego Bay. We stand in line to check in and I notice that the woman running the office is the same one from when we went to Ocho Rios - the same one that told us last time that there were no open seats on the bus. We check in without any problems and board the bus. It’s still 20 minutes before we are suppose to leave and hardly anyone has taken their seats yet. Out of all of the rows of open seats I choose the one right behind the guy that has his seat fully reclined. I use my ninja moves to maneuver into the row and sit in the window seat (where ... read more
Got up Wednesday and went down to breakfast. Ate 2 plantain pieces, one piece of yam, my fruit and toast. The woman that runs the guesthouse commented that I must not like Okra (which is mixed with fish). NO I do not like Okra. And NO I do not like fish. Put it together and what have you got? The breakfast of champions. We ended up having a short conversation about how I don't like fish -- she wasn't aware of this. Clearly the women in the kitchen have not been telling her that 6 out of 7 mornings when we are served fish that I can't even bring myself to push around the food to make it look like I at least tried some of it. We then walked over to the UNICEF office, only ... read more
Downtown Kingston
Got up Monday and had "breakfast." Went into work and talked with our supervisor, he is going to be out of the office as is his assistant for the remainder of the week. We continue working on project proposals -- I use the term "working" loosely as there have been countless setbacks and frustrations...its to the point where we joke about it due to the level of confusion surrounding the assignment. We leave work and walk out to where Rocky is parked, he has taken to falling asleep while waiting for us...and typically jumps rather high when I open the car door. I come home and don't want to do anything, I've had a very bad headache for most of the afternoon. We finalize plans for this coming weekend -- it's our last BIG weekend -- ... read more
In Rocky's Car
Wednesday night I remember sitting at dinner with Keith talking about how much I wished it would rain. I went to bed that night and couldn’t fall asleep. Sometime around 2am I realized it was raining. I finally fell asleep, smiling. Thursday morning I wake up, get ready for work and eat breakfast. It’s overcast which means that it feels at least 10 degrees cooler - Keith and I are thankful for this change in the weather. One of the jokes down here between Keith and I is that EVERY DAY the weather for Kingston is listed as thunderstorms. And EVERY DAY its bright, sunny and humid. No rain. No problem. We go into work and are told part way through the day that we have a meeting scheduled at the Office of Disaster Preparedness and ... read more
