Catching up

Wow, we've been so busy I haven't had a chance to update!

On Wednesday we took a field trip to Appleton Estate. We arrived and were each given a taste of Jamaican Rum punch, one of the most popular drinks here. The locals all say that it's very strong and will knock you out, and I believe them. It was really strong! We watched a video about how rum is made and were then given a tour of the factory. We saw ways that rum was made in the past, and a few of us even did the work that donkeys used to do to extract the juice from the sugar cane. After that we toured the distillery where it is made today and saw the store room where the rum is kept in oak barrels to age. After the tour, we were turned loose in a little pub with 8 different types of rum to sample. We were told that we could have as much as we wanted, and to call the bartender if we ran out of one type so he could restock it for us. Of course, we didn't go too crazy, but we enjoyed sampling some of Appleton's best rum.

After that, we headed to YS Falls. It had been raining quite a bit, so the water was too heavy to swim in. We still enjoyed swimming in a spring fed pool. The water was ice cold but it was so crisp and clean that we didn't care. Some of the other students went on a zipline over the falls, and said it was an amazing experience.

Thursday night we went to a local "club" to watch Mark Stephenson, one of our local presenters, play reggae violin on stage. It might sound weird, but he is a wonderful musician and very fun to watch. We all enjoyed the experience of local nightlife and had a great time dancing.

Yesterday we took a trip to Knockpatrick School for the Deaf. We had a tour of the facilities and then took some time to play and interact with the kids. There are children that are very young all the way up to around 20. We enjoyed playing with the kids and they loved having us there. It was also quite sad for us to get our first look at how deaf people are treated here. There is a huge lack of qualified teachers here and the because of this, their education suffers greatly. We all look forward to moving to the Deaf schools and doing what we can to make a difference in the lives of these children.

We love and miss you all,
Lindsay and Kayla