Whewwww finally some time to write...

Well I'm pleased to say I have not been writing on my blog because of lack of laziness more like lack of time and energy!  We've been going non stop sense summer started down here in sunny Jamaica.  One group leaves saturday the next gets in on Sunday!  And I'll tell you the time between Saturday and Sunday is filled with cleaning, shopping, and preparations for the next group!

God is doing amazing things here in Jamaica!  We have accomplished so much already and I can't even imagine what we will accomplish by the time summer is over!  In the span of under a month so much has happened.  Let me try and summarize everything...

• We adopted a puppy we found at one of the sites (surprisingly it was not my idea).  Found out he had worms and the boys "released" the puppy back in to the wild shortly after.
• We have had our water shut off at least once a week since we have been here (makes cooking and showering really fun)! 
• We have had two water pipes broken less than 48 hrs apart. 
• Everyone has been sunburnt at least once (even David our Jamaican intern)!  And if you know me, you know I've been sunburnt a few more times...opps! (promise I'm wearing sunscreen)
• Only one serious injury involving a hammer and eye brow.  However, everyone involved left with only a scrape that will probably leave an awesome scare!
• Several staff have gotten the flu however I have been lucky to escape it so far (knock on wood)!
• Climbed up a water fall several times! 
• Grocery shopped for over 40 people at one time in a Jamaican supermarket (not an easy task).
• Learned how to lay concrete block!  And not to brag or anything but I'm especially good and laying mortar turds! 
• Discovered that Jamaicans work on what we call Jamaican time... which could be crazy fast or really, really, really slow (usually the case)!
• Worshiped under the stars
• Tried real sugar cane (soooo yummy)!
• Ate more jerk chicken and jerk pork in one month than I have my whole life
• I will never get old of fresh fruit all the time!

I'm learning how to be a Jamaican.  Which I'll tell you is no easy task!  Even though they speak "english" here most Jamaicans speak a broken language called Patois which is like a mixture of every language and they don't really have a sentence structure.  They also combine words in one big word and mumble a lot.  Lately I've been working on trying to pick up on common phrases and stuf like that.  We've formed a wonderful with our bus driver Gayle or as we like to call him "G" or "Mr. G"!  He is basically our Jamaican Dad and takes great care of us!  He has been incredibly helpful and I know the relationship I've formed with him is one that will last a long time!  He watches out for us like we are his own kids!  Which I'll tell you is whole different world.  He helps us navigate the streets of downtown Montego Bay (Mo Bay as the locals call it).   Downtown is always busy and the streets are small and crowded.  Also being a white girl from the states means we get a lot of looks and calls from the local men but we've learned how to deal with them.  We've found that it really helps to have Gayle or David with us when we walk around.  As the summer goes on and our team is becoming more confident navigating Jamaican culture! Our increased confidence does not go unnoticed either.  Jamaicans can tell we aren't just tourists anymore!

God has really been testing me this summer in a lot of ways.  Being a site director there are many instances where my patience has been tested.  Both with the groups that come to visit and with my team.  It's also been a challenge not thinking only about me.  In college you really only are focused on you and what you need to be doing.  However, here I have so much to think about and so many people to be in contact with all the time it can be overwhelming at times.  But God has helped me learn how to manage all of this and for the most part I haven't been too stressed this summer.  I must say that I think a huge reason why is because I have the worlds best staff!  Everyone on my team is incredibly giving and hard working!  We work so well together and I can tell I've formed relationships that will last a long time!  We have definitely become a family while here!  That's also helped reduce being homesick!  While I do miss people at home I haven't been aching to get back!  The only thing I really miss is some conveniences of the States!  Especially having the luxury of a car.  A lot of Jamaicans don't have a car and we can only go places when our bus driver is available.  That can be quite frustrating sometimes.  But it makes us be very organized and great planners...haha!

We've become really close with the two residents houses we are working on, Miss Carren and Miss Juilett!  They are both wonderful ladies that deserve the work Next Step is doing so much.  Both of them live in two bedroom houses that probably are about 300 sq ft total.  For four people!  There is also a small bathroom and the kitchen is also incredibly small.  The additions that we are putting on are going to make a huge difference in their lives!!  We've come to know their families as well.  Miss Carren and her husband Rohan (who we call Big Rohan...for a reason) have two boys Dijan (11 months) and Romiee (5).  Dijan is our favorite little Jamaican baby!  Miss Juilett has three kids Glenoi (19), Paula Gaye (17) and Taj (10).  Paula Gaye and Taj hang out with us a lot and they are really awesome kids!  We've also gotten to know G's two kids Dashown (10) and Ackeem (14).  Dashown and I get a long real well and we've been bonding the last few weeks!  He is such a wonderful kid!

Well I think that's all I have for now!  I'm going to try and be more proactive in posting on here!

I'm still raising support for the summer so if you feel led to support me this summer please go to the Next Step Donation page.  After you donate it's crucial you email Nick Cocalis (Next Step Ministries Director) at nick.cocalis@nextstepministries.com and tell him the amount you donated and that you are donating to me!


God Bless!


   

First Impressions

We arrived to Jamaica a little under two weeks ago and are finally starting to understand Jamaican culture.  The past two weeks have been filled with many learning experiences starting as soon as we landed...

 After waking up at 330 am, almost missing our flight out of Milwaukee and spending the day traveling we were ready to get to the villas and settle in for the night.  But as we tried making our way through customs we came to find Jamaicans are quite particular about letting people into their country.  And well, in all honesty we were slightly unprepared.  Not even thinking about needing the address to where we would be staying the seven of us Americans waltzed up to the customs counter handing over our forms and passports expecting to move through as easily as everyone else.  However, we were surprised when the customs workers wouldn't let us through until we had more information on where we would be going.  For some reason they didn't like the response "I don't know where we are going.  Our bus driver Bowwow is suppose to just take us somewhere!"  Luckily I'm not one to spend to much time upset with our predicament.  I quickly remembered I had the office address for the villas somewhere in my trusty Next Step binder.  Finding this address seemed to please the customs workers and they let our team through.

We proceeded to baggage where I was just praying that at leaset 80% of our baggage made it to the airport.  We discovered that the only piece of luggage that didn't make it was a small part of sound equipments.  I felt extremely relieved and was ready to get out of the airport!

We made our way up to the second customs counter where they examine your baggage.  Because we had a large number of boxes I guess we looked slightly suspicious and were sent to a special counter where we slowly began to understand that we would not be leaving the airport with everything that day.  We come to find out that because we are not affiliated with a church yet we have to pay a tax on the items to bring them into the country.  It took us awhile to understand exactly what this meant but after we did I started to realize this was not going to be as easy as we thought it would.  

About two hours after we landed we stepped out of the airport with only our personal bags, a list of what we left behind, and a piece of paper listing all the brokers in town.  Not exactly what I had been expecting to leave the airport with.  

As I take my frist steps outside the airport I try to wash the disappointment and frustration off of my face but as soon as I look at the ground I notice it's wet.  Apparently it's been raining the last two weeks before we arrived.  Excellent.  Just wanted I wanted to do leave cold rainy Wisconsin for hot, wet, humid Jamaica.

The rest of the night was spent finding our villas, buying local cell phones, working our way through the grocery store.  By that time I was so out of it I barely remember doing those things.

The next day we contacted a broker and set off in search of how to get our belongings back.  I'm told because the detention notice of the items was put in my name I have to be the one to claim them all.  We go to the brokers office and they give us instructions on getting a Tax Registration Number otherwise known as a TRN.  However, when Jamaicans say it, it sounds like there saying a "trin" because they slur all the sounds together.  After we went and got the "trin" the brokers said we would have to get a TCC (customs certificate) and then we would return to the broker.  Easy I can do that.  David a local Jamaican that Next Step works with has volunteered to take me to all these places.  And thank God he did because I would have been so lost without him.

When we get to the tax office I apply for the TRN.  After applying for that we are instructed to go to several other government buildings to get the proper documentation to be able to apply for the TCC.  Great more places.  The first building we go to, no problem, in and out in about 30 min.  The second building we go too I walk in with David and the security guard stops us and starts talking to David.  I'm thinking in my head oh man somethings wrong.  But because Jamaicans talk so quietly and mumble so much I couldn't understand what she was saying to him.  He takes me back outside and explains that they have a dress code.  You have to be wearing either pants or a skirt and I'm wears athletic shorts.  At that point I just start laughing because it sounds so ridiculous.  David and I then run from shop to shop in downtown Montego Bay until I find myself some American Jeans in a Jamaican store and spend my first money in Jamaica buying them so we can go into this government building.  We waited at the building another hour and then waited back a the tax office another two hours until we finally had what we needed just in time.

We ended the day dropping of all of the proper forms five hours later at the broker's office.  The next day we payed the tax office and were able to go to the airport to gather our things.  To do this I was taken to receive a special access pass and got to walk through the airport as an employee going into all the secret doors.  Probably the only cool thing I got to do during this whole process.          

After 48 hours we had all of our stuff back in the house. Finally.