Blogs from Jamaica, Central America Caribbean - page 29

Today served as yet another reminder why I do NOT love teaching and why I DO love Olympians. The day started with a blast: cussed out by the sewing teacher because the posters I made to advertise the training center's open house said "Fabrics & Textiles" instead of "Clothing & Textiles." Apparently, this is the ninth deadly sin. You know, right behind Greed, Lust, and Bypassing-The-Cheese-Aisle-At-The Supermarket. As if anyone would notice the different between Fabric and Clothing on a silly poster. I mean, a) who takes the time to read posters, anyway, other than the geeks who design them? And b) isn't clothing made of fabric, so what's the big deal? Punk teacher. In my own defense, I was not supposed to make the posters in the first place and I DID ask two different ... read more

It’s been a good couple of weeks. I visited Hellshire(pronounced Helsure) Beach for the first time. Hellshire is the public beach in Kingston and was quite nice by my Kansas standards. Jamaicans consider it to be not very nice. I, however, was pleased to be at a beach where there were only Jamaicans and no one that just stepped off of a cruise ship. The beach was Caribbean heaven. Their were shacks with palm leave roofs all along the beach selling fresh fish, men offering rides on horses on the sand, and kids playing football(soccer) on the beach…and then their was the water. Of course, the water wasn’t as pristine blue as the water in Ocho Rios, but it’s still pretty nice. I hope to be going back very soon, and I would be there today ... read more

I’ve seen more white people in three days than I have seen in my entire time in Jamaica this past week. This week, 30ish some Naples, Florida residents came to work at St. Pius. Most of them were retired and loved to play golf….you know the type. They did some good work. They ran an eye clinic, and saw over 350 patients in 3 days. It was quite the system. They provided glasses/medicine/eye exams for people, and charged them approximately $500 ($9US) for a new pair of glasses, custom fit, and custom made just for them. I lost my glasses while training for the program in Boston. Therefore, I was able to partake of the clinic, and my eyes were checked and fitted for a new pair of glasses in less than 15 minutes. Since ... read more

Nancy and I threw our first "party" since being in Jamaica on Friday night. Okay, so it was more of a dinner than a party, and it consisted of Nancy and I, Lesroy (a seminarian from the island of St. Kitt), Phillip (a novice from Oregon), and Damian (a music teacher from Jamaica). We didn't actually eat until well after 9:00pm because Lesroy, Damian, and Nancy were all coming from a veeeeeeeery long choir practice at St. Pius, so Phillip and I ended up spending quite a bit of time and exerting quite a bit of love into the making of the meal. Can't go wrong with spaghetti, salad, and cheesy garlic bread. Mmmmm...cheese. The meal was muy delicioso...and I'm not just saying that because I helped cook it. Well, okay, so maybe I am. The ... read more

Yet another week has come and gone here in Jamaica and the following are just a few of the slightly odd/ridiculous/frightening occurrences that have come to pass. 1. The Mother Superior was in Jamaica this past week to visit, so we had a gathering at our house as kind of a Welcome-Sister-Judith-And-Thank-You-Mr.-And-Mrs.-Monroe-For-Giving-Us-The-House celebration. All the big wigs in the religious community were invited so, of course, we were graced by the presence of the current Archbishop of Kingston --Larry -- and the previous Archbishop -- The Edge -- among about 25 other guests, from friends to other sisters and several local priests. After a blessing we sat down to dinner and I was privileged enough to be seated between the two Archbishops. Needless to say, dinner was one of the most interesting in my life. The ... read more