I woke up early this morning because I was COLD! Craziness!!!! I just love to burrow, so I pulled up my blanket and snuggled in. Thank you Lord for that moment this morning. It warmed up in a hurry after breakfast though - but just in time for more rain this afternoon. Now I'm sitting in the office wrapped up in a blanket! Seems crazy, it's probably like 80 or so but I've become accustomed to the high 90s temperature.
Walked around the property today to see the completed catchment system and to take some pictures of the team plowing through the jungle with machetes. After sweating it up, I took a delightful cold shower and braided my hair into pigtails. (Sorry, I felt like you needed some extra random details.) Quick trip to Port Maria to buy gasoline - the issues in Kingston have lead to us feeling the pull in Highgate. No gasoline here now. Continued prayers for that please. Had KFC (they LOVE the colonel here) for lunch with Aaron and Oney (Jamaican staff who wanted to protect us), got the gasoline then hit the road. Back to the office I met with Aaron (new site director) to talk about my future role here. Good talk.
At 330 today we will have a house blessing for the home of Rayon (formerly known only as "Piggy's Nephew"), which the team built this week. After that it's my turn to head to the Potters with John John and the rest of the team for a bit of shopping. No clue what dinner is tonight, but tomorrow is Nordie's jerk and Pearline's festival (twisted fried cornbread... like the corndog minus the dog).
I hope to take some "Peeps Pics" tonight, since I have been so lax in that thus far. They are pretty smushed from travel, so we shall see. I think they're pretty resilient. I'd hoped to go with Marggy to get her hair done this morning, but that didn't work out Apparently his name is Peter Paul, he has a "shop" with an assistant and charges about $6 US. I can take that. He did a nice job, and she said he asked her questions as any hairdresser would. Maybe I'll visit at least to photograph his 4x4 blue shop.
I've made necklaces for the female staff here, and hope to deliver them tonight. I lost my crochet hook for a day, but found it so little audrey now has one like everyone else. Saying my goodbyes here will be painful, even though I've not even known them a month. Strong bonds have formed, and I look forward to building these relationships more. It helps to feel close to them, because they really do know where I am and what I'm feeling. I do however miss my peeps and am ready to be back home. I miss people, but not really any particular things. I suppose thats good. I also learned today that the new model for ministry here is to take smaller trips home more often - so rather than 8 weeks in one blocks every year, do 3-4 2 week trips each year. Being in the states every few months feels a lot more doable.
Love you all, Allison
Monday, June 7, 2010
Day 11 - Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Today I went to Ocho Rios after breakfast - finally saw the Green Castle property. It is AMAZING. What a view! I hope to go hiking there regularly when I move here. At Green Castle they have these cows - and I asked jokingly if they named them. Well they had... Peter and Blacker... Blacker, cause he's blacker than Peter. HA! Joe, the manager there told me about the property as well as snippets about his life. He met his wife in Kenya in the Peace Corps, and since then they have traveled everywhere. At one point he was telling a story unrelated to travel and it started, "when selena (their daughter) was 9 months old we took a vacation to Bali..." Wow. I want to have similar story starters.
Had a delicious peace of coco bread from a bakery in Port Maria, and went to the market there. I do look forward to buying fresh produce when I'm here - and I enjoy visiting the markets. Next on to some hardware stores in Ochi, the Lime cell phone store (what company I'll use when I'm here... buh-bye verizon), had lunch at Burger King (and they do NOT give you ranch unless you also buy a salad!), then on to drive around town. I saw the famous Devon House ice cream shop... but no stopping. While in Ochi I took my fav picture so far this trip... it was graffiti, and it had to do with a bodily function, and it was spelled wrong. That's all I'm saying for now... I'll send it on when I upload my pictures.
Back to the guest house for a 30 minute power nap, watched Braylon while half of the group (his mommy included) went to the Clonmel Potters.... I'll go tonight. Fried chicken for dinner, and ice cream for dessert. Good phone chats tonight... really good for me. Somedays I can't call home cause I know I'll cry - the night before i thought I was emotionally doing well and I sobbed! I'm doing okay, but I can't even explain my random emotions right now anticipating this change in my world. So I won't try today.
Continue prayers for Kingston - it's getting rough. We are still safe.
Love, Al
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