Hello USA! (…and Good Bye to Jamaica)

“The best laid schemes o' mice an' men / Gang aft a-gley.” (“To a Mouse,” by Robert Burns).... Well, after planning on spending a 3rd year working in Jamaica, Peace Corps pulled-the-plug on that plan. Sadly, and we do feel very unfairly, Irene's Medical Clearance was denied. She was sent home to California in April. I stayed on until mid-May to wrap things up including shipping Serena home by ‘air freight’, and then I joined them to begin the next chapter in our lives. Wish us luck and stay tuned for our next great adventures.............. 

Here are some highlights of those months –

March – Irene and I flew to Washington DC for her medical evaluation. She stayed for 3 more weeks after our first 5 days together. Although the outcome was sad, we did have some good times ‘on expenses’ including St. Patrick’s Day at a real Irish Pub.

April - The whole student body and staff at Adelphi primary School gave me a wonderful and emotional send-off. Someday one of these students might become Prime Minister of Jamaica – so we do feel that we really did ‘change the world’.

May - Irene and I spent a month in California with her mom – a chance to connect with sons and families – including good times with 9-month old grandson Levi. We also connected with Irene’s high school friend and many aunts, cousins, etc.

June - We are now officially residents of Tennessee! We drove 4000 Km across the USA (with a few fun stops at Route 66 ‘must see’ landmarks) to the Tazewell/Morristown area of eastern TN. We are living with Irene’s very gracious sister while we look for a home to buy and settle down.

 

 

What’s next? …well, in typical Irene-and-Steve style, we will wait and see what paths open up. The people of Tennessee have been very warm and welcoming – so, although we will always have a love for Jamaica and our dear friends, we now welcome ‘yuh-all’ to stop by for BBQ and sweet tea sometime.

What’s new in the New Year?

In only a couple of weeks, we will mark our 2-year anniversary of working in Jamaica. Here are a few highlights of the first 2 months of 2016.

Grade 5 student 'reporters'

Rural Jamaican students don’t have much opportunity to do any recreational reading; there is no nearby library and many homes don’t have books at all. I was very pleased with a lesson plan I created using newspapers. The kids enjoyed being ‘reporters’ – they selected a picture in the paper, and then wrote a fictionalized story about it.

Super Bowl 50

Pizza, Fries and Red Stripe

Big Ups ("thanks") to CBS for providing a Super-Bowl-50 cable feed to Jamaica. Pizza, fries and Red Stripes while watching our Broncos win!

Levi is 6 months old!

Grandson Levi Anderson is 6-months old. We were even able to SKYPE with him (Irene sang him a lullaby as he fell asleep).

Our 2-years of Peace Corps service conference

We attended a conference with all the volunteers from our group who started in Jamaica in 2014. It was at the “FDR” – Franklin Delano Resort (lol!) in Runaway Bay.

Peace Corps Jamaica volunteers - we all started in March 2014

Serena, our ‘Jamerican’ dog, is always ready to play and show her love. She is also a good watchdog – making sure that anyone (or any goat, chicken, or dog) that comes near our gate is properly announced.

"Es mio!" - It's mine!

The GSAT (Grade Six Achievement Test) is administered in March. I made a deal with a great Jamaican software entrepreneur (Edufocal.com) to license their training tool for our school.  We use our USAID donated projector to engage the students in a ‘video-game’ approach to studying for their critical exam.

Studying for the GSAT

Valentine's Day 2016

Chow Mein & Corona Beer

 

And…we hadn’t had Chinese food for 2 years, so for Valentine’s Day we went out to a ‘fancy’ part of town for Chow Mein and Corona beers (they didn’t have any Asian brews).



 

We do get TV coverage of the U.S. elections here, and of course, we can vote by absentee ballot. This week is also parliamentary election week in Jamaica. We are careful to remain ‘neutral’ in our communities; it will be interesting if the labour party gains the majority from the current Conservative majority. Thanks for following our posts – Walk Gud!

Cuba for Christmas

Cuba is only 80 miles from our home in Jamaica. Every Friday a small cruise ship leaves Montego Bay for a 7-day trip to Cuba. It was quite a week – we visited 4 cities and learned a lot.  

Streets of Havana

OFAC (Office of Foreign Assets Control) is the US government Treasury Department agency that controls Americans’ travel to Cuba and creates the specific guidelines for allowable travel; our trip was a “People to People” educational journey under the sponsorship of the Fund for Reconciliation and Development, a US 501(c)3 non-profit.

After a night at sea, our first port was Santiago de Cuba where, on 26 July 1953 Fidel Castro struck the first blow against the Batista government. Fidel and Raúl Castro gathered 123 fighters and attacked the Moncada Barracks in Santiago.

Streets of Santiago

Rebellion yesterday, hospitality today, heroism always.

At San Juan Hill - site of the Teddy Roosevelt battle in the Spanish American war

After another overnight at sea including circling around the US base at Guantanamo (with a Cuban naval escort for our ship), we arrived for a 2 day stay in Havana. Our official programme was very structured and covered many of the ‘tourist’ sights, but Irene and I were very lucky to spend a day with a local Cuban friend who helped us learn so much more about the ‘real’ Cuba.

Enjoying a day with our Cuban friend learning about Havana

Maria la Gorda is a nature reserve where we made an afternoon swim/beach stop before arriving at our last Cuban port, Cienfuegos, a powerful town due to the fertile fields surrounding it and its position on the trade route between Jamaica and South American cities.

Streets of Cienfuegos

  

Ceifuegos Harbour

Our small ship’s crew were from many parts of the globe; however, the cruise schedule gave us too little time to  experience enough of Cuba…when we return, we will try to travel independently and certainly make more time to learn more about Cubans' daily lives.

The complete picture story is on FaceBook – just click on the LINK:

 

We wish all our family and friends a healthy, happy and prosperous 2016. We are considering extending our Peace Corps service in Jamaica into 2017 (we will know more soon). Thank you for following our story and for your comments.

As Jamaicans say, “di fon kyaahn don,
so av a Jaiful airi krismus in di son!”

[The fun is not done, so have a joyful good Christmas in the sun!]

 

A New School Year

Jamaican schools have been in session since September…and it has been a busy year. Each school was asked to prepare a 5-slide presentation highlighting some of the activities and uniqueness. Here is ours from Adelphi Primary.

[Click on each picture for a larger view]



Adelphi Primary is more than 125 years old. Here are some
students forming the Jamaican flag in Black, Green and Gold.

Miss Clarke teaching Grade 3. We were the recipient of a USAID and DIGICEL (phone company) grant
including a small smart board and laptop.

Sports Day, Careers Day,
and Jamaica Day

Police Sargent teaching discipline. Girls learning
deportment. Grade 2 eating lunch on placemats.
Respect for the flag.



Grade 6 graduation. Morning devotions.
Our principal and teachers.

 



…a New Grandson is born; and other visits in America!



Irene and Levi

Jason and Levi

Levi was born August 6^th in San Diego – Irene was there for the event; Levi’s mom Etchie and dad Jason (Irene’s son) are very happy and are great parents.


Etchie, Lola (Irene's mom) and Irene with Levi

Baby Levi

Levi with Grandma and Grandpa



 

We also visited with Irene’s mom Lola and aunts in San Bernardino … we made a day trip to Catalina Island with them too.

Avalon Harbour - Catalina Island



3 sisters - Maria, Lola, Lupe



Lobster Trap - Avalon

Lobster Trap - Avalon

Steak and Lobster - yummy!



 Abby and Travis (Irene’s son) joined us for a great brunch in Carlsbad – they are doing so well.



with Abby and Travis at the Green Dragon

...always a good time for Mimosas

Then – we went to Tennessee to visit with Irene’s sisters...

 

Tennessee countryside

 

Irene and Lizz

 

...a beautiful hay barn

...and also toured the University of Tennessee campus in Knoxville. We think we might settle there after our Peace Corps service. 

UT Knoxville campus

 



"Uncorked" at Market Square

 

...at Market Square, Knoxville for al fresco lunch

And … we finished our travels with three very busy days in New York City. We visited Steve’s 101 year-old cousin Reni, took a Staten Island Ferry ride, visited the top of the new Freedom Tower and the 9/11 memorial, saw a Broadway show, had dinner with our Jamaican host mom’s brother, and even had a late night steak dinner before catching an early flight home. 



Lady Liberty

Staten Island Ferry

Visiting Steve's cousin Reni - 101 years old!

 

Visiting with Duggy - our Jamaican host mom's brother in NYC

 




Jersey Boys marquee

Autographs too!

 

Irene congratulating "Frankie Valli" after the performance

...OUR Picture caught on the the billboard in Times Square

 

Freedom Tower

North pool at the 9/11 Memorial Site



Looking north from 102nd floor

Hudson  River

Midnight Dinner at Smith and Wollensky

Souvineer pix at the Freedom Tower

It is good to be home in Jamaica now. School classes start on September 7^th – hard to believe we’ve been here more than 1 ½ years already. We will continue our literacy projects, but this year we must also ensure sustainability – when we leave it is important that the Jamaican staff in our schools will be able to continue the new programmes and use the technology successfully.

What’s next? We will be in the capitol, Kingston in November for a meeting – we hope to do a bit of ‘bucket list’ including the National Gallery of Jamaica (art museum) while we are there. We are participating in a charity 10K run in Negril with a large group of Peace Corps volunteers, and we plan to visit Cuba in December (we are only 80 miles away).

Thanks for following our story - we continue to enjoy your comments. Walk Gud!

Sunrise at our home in Adelphi, St. James, Jamaica