Nescafe is not quite what I was expecting...

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Let me just say that my day started out with a surprise--Nescafe. Yes, in a land of delicious coffee, my day begins with instant. I'm not completely surprised, though. The same thing happened to me in Peru.

Anyway, I really just begin with that anecdote because I wanted a more interesting title than "Petersfield, Day II." So, there we go.

This morning, my host mom woke us up at 7:00 a.m. for breakfast, though I'd heard her and her husband up since about 6:00-ish. I think this might be a long week, as I am by no stretch of the imagination a morning person.

We got ready for church and then ate together--eggs, hot dogs, beans, bread, plantains--quite tasty all around. Plus, of course, the infamous instant Nescafe, which, to be quite honest, was not as bad as I thought it would be (if you put enough scoops in, it almost tastes like real coffee).

Jessica and I waited while our homestay parents finished getting ready, and we both nearly fell asleep on the couch listening to Jamaican radio. Then, we drove to the church where they were having this annual assembly thing with a bunch of the neighboring churches all together (I guess that worked out well for all of us, because a lot of our homestay families go to different, local churches). The service was cool and very vibrant, and it reminded me of an AME church I visited a couple years ago. Everyone was quite dressed up (except for most of us, because none of us brought church clothes, really), and there was tons of praise music, lots of standing, etc. We left church about two hours into the service (I don't know how long it actually went on, or if super long services are normal or if it was just a matter of it being the annual meeting) and some people from the AOC took us on the bus to Negril, where we relaxed and enjoyed the beach and the Caribbean Sea.

The beach we went to was lovely, with blue, blue water. It was sunny, but also pretty windy. We all avoided people trying to sell us things (ganja, of course, is, in fact, illegal in Jamaica, contrary to popular belief... yet so many tourists come to Jamaica for just that that we got offered it anyway... we also got offered touristy goods, like necklaces and such). We all ate sandwiches for lunch, and then when we'd had enough of the sandy oceanside, we went to a place called Rick's Cafe (where there's the infamous cliff). Some people jumped from the cliff into the water, others (like me) decided they had nothing to prove and just watched and laughed at everyone else. Rick's was pretty touristy, but there were also some Jamaicans around, at least. I think the students had a good time, though.

After that, we returned to Petersfield, exhausted, and Jessica and my homestay mom made mutton and rice for dinner--awesome!

Other thoughts:
*I think I might've been too enthusiastic with my praise for my homestay mom's cooking, not because the praise isn't genuine, but I think I've enjoyed it so much, she doesn't believe me when I say so. But I don't know (minus an empty plate) how to sound more genuine. I'm just so easily pleased when it comes to food, especially food from other countries...
*Being here makes me miss Korea tons--just the culture, the freedom of travel, the language, the food, my old homestay family, Dolsan and "island life"...
*I'm sure there are other things of note, but I'm sleepy, and we have a long day ahead tomorrow--our first day at the high school! Can't wait!

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