Wow, time flies. It's been over two weeks since I last updated. It's been a very busy two weeks. We wrapped up our regular SST classes and our interpreting class and focused on learning Jamaican Sign Language so we would all be ready (or at least better prepared) to enter the Deaf schools.
We didn't have any field trips the last two weeks of study, instead we spent our free Wednesday's at the Garrett's house, or "Goshen house." We had to spend some of that time catching up on homework, but we didn't mind.
Friday night, we had our host family thank you party. Mrs. Robertson, our host mom, and Miss Hanna, our local coordinator, prepared the food. They made chicken, rice and peas, cheesy scalloped potatoes, sweet and sour fish, and salad. We also had a wide variety of desserts to indulge in :). It was an amazing last homecooked meal before we head out to the Deaf schools and miss out on all the good food. We enjoyed socializing with our host families, drivers, guest lecturers, teachers, and all the people who have helped us out since we got here. When we were done eating, we performed a few skits and signed a thank you song for our families. Our skits were focused on differences between American and Jamaican culture. Some of the skits were Jamaican driving, college classrooms, cat calls, and rain. The party wrapped up with picture taking and goodbyes. It was bittersweet. We are definitely going to miss our host family, our bedroom at their house, and Mrs. Robertson's delicious cooking.
This weekend, Kayla, Danae, and I decided to make the trek to Ocho Rios for Heroes Day weekend. We were a bit worried about making the trek alone, three white girls travelling in route taxis on Heroes weekend sounded a bit scary. We had to take a total 4 taxis to get to our destination, where we met some of our friends. We only had one minor setback, which was a Rasta man trying to steal me while Kayla and Danae watched and laughed at me. It was interesting.
We arrived in Ochie excited to hit the beach. We couldn't believe that the apartment we would be staying at was just a short walk from the villa we stayed at when we first arrived here. We went down to the beach and immediately got in the water. Later that night we went into town to get some food. We went back to the apartment and were too tired to go out, so we just went to sleep. There were nine people there and only one bed, so some of us ended up on the tiles on the kitchen floor. Needless to say, we didn't get much sleep!
Sunday we went straight to the beach and stayed there for hours. The weather was perfect, we couldn't have had a better day at the beach. Later that night, after walking around town a bit, we decided to head back to the apartment and just hang out there. It was a great time, and luckily that night I got a spot on the bed. We were sad to leave Ochie and the beach but we had to head back. We made the trek back to Mandeville yesterday and were happy to be able to settle into our new apartment.
Josh and his family moved to Kingston, so Danae and I have been fortunate enough to be able to move into his former apartment. We will be taking a taxi into Knockpatrick every day when we start working at the Deaf school tomorrow. MY MAILING ADDRESS WILL BE THE SAME, so no worries there. Kayla and Carrie are staying with us until they head to Montego Bay in on Thursday or Friday. We are sad to be separating from the group, but look forward to working with the children.
Love and miss you all,
Lindsay
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