fun and tough

Central America Caribbean » Jamaica » Montego Bay
November 9th 2007

Published: November 9th 2007

i had a day off on wednesday with amanda and julaine and we had so much fun! I GOT TO DRIVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE IN JAMAICA! ...from montego bay to negril!! what a trip that was...driver seat on the right side and driving on the left side of the road. i did super great. except for the time where i was doing a three point turn and when i had the car perpendicular with the direction of the road, i put the car from reverse to PARK instead of drive and a car was coming. haha. he honked at me. and it was funny. we went cliff jumping for free at rick's cafe in negril and it was suuuuper fun. as soon as i decided i knew i wanted to jump of the highest one, i just walked up and right off the edge. the way i landed in the water kind of hurt but the pain went away quick and it was more scary going of a smaller cliff after that but after an hour or two of amanda hesitantly standing at the edge of cliff, i just randomly got the urge to go so i jumped off and it was great. then i stayed in the water and waited about twenty minutes for amanda to finally jump and then she and i went many more times until our heads hurt from all the salt water running through our noses and ears and ...i even almost threw up from so much salt water up the nose. that was random...then we got ice water from the bar at rick's and gave the jamaican men who cliff jump for performance a small tip and took some pictures with them because they were really nice and helpful and patient while we waited so long for amanda to jump and they didn't even start being all flirty until it was close to the time we were leaving so that was nice. the only problem with rick's was that we were planning on only staying there for five/ten minutes before lunch to jump off really quick but we spent almost the whole day there sooo julaine tanned...amanda and i fried. so to help our burns not blister, we put mustard all over our faces, arms, backs and let it dry before bed...it really made me want to eat a bratwurst with sauer kraut and mustard...
we did a lot more fun stuff, like going to margaritaville and jumping on the trampoline with four drunk people from england-that was amusing...it made me want to watch a british film because one of the guys started singing, "yo ho yo ho a pirate's life for me" and one of the ladies said, "johnny are you pissed again?!" i like the different words they use for things...there was a live reggae band there playing when we ate dinner and these two cute married couples dancing. one couple was prob just in their twenties or thirties, and the other were in their sixties. super precious. amanda drove back to montego bay, but then i drove from the city up the bumpy rocky crazy country hill to where we live. that was also fun. and thanks to julaine and her camcorder we have much fun stuff on tape.
i had a conversation that has been needing to been had to clear the air about some stuff that was making me feel down and now, that person is acting completely normal to me again, THANK THE LORRRRD. now i just have a couple more relationships to work on fixing. it's crazy the way misconceptions and negative assumptions can make me feel like there's a huge heavy cloud over my head.

however. today, the caca hit the fan. i cried. please pray for me and i don't really know how to explain it and i don't want to put anyone down by explaining it on here for everyone to see. there is just some stuff that is very crappy. i know my humedad jon nelson would get on my case for saying "crap" but...bah. i need a miracle. i'm not even kidding. i'll try to vaguely give you an idea: a) four preteen girls under one roof who are dealing with missing home/families, having a baby, recently leaving a really abusive home, and lacking respect for everyone in the world...b) for julaine's adoption to complete by her son's second birthday, which is this coming february second. actually that's just a random prayer request i wanted to add in. it's not one of my problems right now! c) a very small number of people acting like they resent me for even being here. ugh. d) some of the kids' behavior is so bad that it's hard to even feel like snuggling and feeding infant neyo has a purpose...e) feeling and being treated like i'm not trusted and like someone who is irresponsible and doesn't know what they're doing here. by one person. who never knew me here before...

please excuse how sloppy these posts are! it's hard to even think about what to write and even though i've been able to get online much more often than i initially thought i'd be able to, i still don't have much time to linger on this kind of thing.

tomorrow night we plan on painting the kitchen cupboards a coral color yay! the walls are like a sky blue or something.
a mosquito just bit my arm.
i think i heard neyo grunting in his crib so hopefully i can give him a bottle before i go to sleep because that's wonderful and he is so stinking cuuuuuuuuute! he reminds me of baby pictures of my friend janelle's friend matthew.
there are definitely many more moments to give thanks for than i have taken the time to share on here...so don't think it's only miserable here. there's just moments where i want to hide in my room and not come out for days.
someone bought a brand new mini fridge and donated it for the guest apartment i live in!!!
today was sanika's second birthday! we had cake before bed with pink and yellow frosting that tasted like strawberries and lemons.
there are some super sweet moments with the kids because they randomly walk up and hug around your legs and say your name and say stuff like, "pray for me" or "give me a hug" and then they're happy and they go somewhere to play.
the weather here is rainy off and on and super sunny off and on and perfectly warm with cool nights.
this is the easiest group of toddlers i've ever seen here. so that's great. but that just means the ones that were difficult tots are now difficult "school kids" .
i cherish and enjoy the moments when my four girls decide to like me and talk and hang out and open up to me.
one little girl heard me singing when she was going to sleep in the other room and asked me to come sit with her and sing by her bed and then she sang "God of wonders" to me. precious.
i really have this feeling that i should go check on all the kids and pray by their beds right now. so i'll stop typing...even though i could go on and on...

please pray for my neck/headaches. they are strong and are very hard to deal with. and one started yesterday and is worse today off and on and this may be a week of neck/headaches and that's no good.

tomorrow i am going to help in the preschool 830am-2pm and then i'll be off for the rest of the day. but i'll still be around the house some. i haven't settled in yet though so i'll spend some time doing that, too.

to end on a really good note...
this morning was one of the most chill times i have ever experienced here. the staff, the little kids ...everything was just relaxed and going really smooth.
along with that, i had baby neyo in this cloth wrap baby carrier and all the staff this morning were saying, "woah what happened to stina last night?!" because it threw them off because it looked like i grew a pregnant belly overnight with the way this wrap holds the baby on the front. some are excited for me to show them how to wear the wrap so they can carry their fave baby. weeeeee fun!
oh also, amanda and i were cleaning out the movie cabinet and found old videos teams made of their trips here, and we keep replaying this video from a trip i think that was in 2004 and it's so fun for the kids to see themselves on there. but this one big chubby lil guy who wasn't here at the time still just loves watching it. it's great. i wish there were things you could see. i can't explain a child's personality and facial expressions and all...

hmm queen of ramble right now.
i hope the internet will keep working long enough to post this. i tried posting one a couple days ago and it kept disconnecting...

keep in touch, friends! thanks for reading...

Copyright Notice: All Rights Reserved