East Coast Conquered.

Well Technically the east side of the north coast, but I am still counting it since Jamaica doesn't have a full fledged east coast per se.

We left on Monday around noonish, after Gareth and I had some fried chicken from the pizza shop which sells pizza with sauce that is ketchup instead of real sauce hence why I am in pizza withdrawals. It took about two and a half to three hours to get there on a beautiful drive along the coast. It is so crazy to see the landscape change on such a small island from beachy to more rocky coasts. We got to Port Antonio and went to the Scotia House, our "hostel" like place to stay. It was very cute and quaint. Gareth and I had a room with two twin beds and the room had the cutest door. The handle was literally a foot off the ground. I mean I know we grew and all since these houses were built, but man. It kind of felt like I was staying at Grandma's, if my grandma were Jamaican and did not have hot water (didn't realize how spoiled we are at the Manse).

Then we headed straight for Monkey Island, on which there are no monkeys. Go Figure. Can we say awesome? Beautiful? Breath taking? Questioning it's reality? This island truly is a wonder. And barely anyone ever goes out there. You get to it by walking through the water, at most a foot deep, to this island and follow a little trail to a cliff on one side where you can chill for days and not have to bother with reality. We only chilled till about ten that night. Gareth and Nick caught a few fish and one lobster and Nick went back to town to pick up some more food as the fish were teeny. We made a fire, cooked the fish, and roasted a breadfruit (and yes it is a fruit that when cooked tastes a lot like potato and no I don't know why it isn't called potato fruit). It was pretty dang awesome. Indescribable, although I tried. Perhaps a photo will help.

I can't believe I almost forgot to write how we jumped off the cliff on Monkey Island. It was probably twenty or so feet and you just run off it and jump. Definitely scary to think about but so fun to do. The hardest part was getting back to the rocks - the waves are pretty intense so you have to be careful not to get pushed into the rock. Once you know the way to do it though, you are golden.

So the next day we spent at a place called Frenchman's Cove, beautiful beach, great water, and lots of speedos and Europeans, which I think go hand in hand. There was even a family. We spent all day here and I got a for reals sunburn on my shoulders, but I am surviving. The water was colder than we are used to b/c a stream empties at the cove making that water chillier. But it felt great after being in the sun the whole day. It was a great spot and I know where I am going next time I am in Jamaica. (check facebook for more photos of the whole trip, including speedo documentation)

We headed back to Porty, as it is known by locals, and Nick and his friend headed up the mountain to see some other peace corps peeps. Gareth and I headed into town to walk around some by the harbor and to go to Yosch's, a restaurant owned by a German whitey. He made us a pizza margharita with goat cheese to die for. We, well I, have been craving real pizza for so long and this one was off the chain. So freaking good. We split one and checked our email and then dropped our stuff off back at the Scotia House (which was just up the hill in a historic little peninsula neighborhood called Titchfield Peninsula). Next stop was a jerk shack to try their jerk on that side of the coast; it was good, but I prefer Falmouth's. I really wanted ice cream but the ice cream place funnily didn't have any so I had to settle for a crunch bar ice cream thing from the gas station. We headed back to the Scotia House and crashed - that sun wears you out.

Today we ate breakfast at the same place we did yesterday, which was nice b/c it was a real restaurant, like looked like one back home, which was comforting, as we are both gettting seriously burned out. And yes we have enjoyed our time here, but it's not home. It's a big cultural shock and we have learned so much about ourselves, our culture, Jamaican culture, etc, but after a while, you just want to be around what you know again. Anywho, after breakfast we walked to Monkey Island again. This is not a short walk. Nor too much fun when you are carrying all your stuff on sunburned shoulders with blistered feet. But it was worth it. Good exercise and a sense of accomplishment. Basically we walked a U shape b/c Port Antonio has a a couple harbors and peninsulas. It was a pretty far walk and took us about an hour. Once we got to Monkey Island, Gareth built a little shelter for some shade and was nice enough to let me chill in it while he went swimming. My poor shoulders needed the shade. We were there about two hours and then our chariot came back to pick us up so we trekked back to the mainland and headed back to Falmouth. All in all it was a nice little break, but like before I was glad to get back to our "home." We caught Peter just as he was locking up so we didn't have to go get the keys or anything. He said he didn't miss us much, but he did think about us a few hours ago. I think he was lying and did miss us, but that's just me.

Well, back to work tomorrow and then...two weeks left until we are back stateside. Negril this Saturday and then solid work. And since I just realized how to put pictures on this post, I will stick some in here.

j

--This is a bag filled with dreams & recipes for soup & he's deciding right now which he's really hungry for.--

For Mallory

So I know it's been awhile again and Mallory, I apologize. This update could be super long, but I am going to try to make a list of what I have done since the last update:

-Celebrated July 4th by making jerk chicken, rice and peas, and yam and spending a few hours at the beach. Listened to cheesy American songs as well as the classics

-Did more work on sketchup although def hit a point where I did not want to do sketchup at all at which point we went and helped Peter in the park. Never would I have thought I would enjoy removing nails from pieces of wood.

-Hit the beach a couple times and added to my burn/tan which I must say is coming along nicely. I even have a nice chaco tan from fishing with Peter and it is lovely.

-Speaking of fishing with Peter, we caught 48 fish this past Sunday. I caught 15 butterfish and ranchmen (not their real names I am guessing). I am now a bonafide angler.

-Found out we will get to go to Negril on August 1st. Watch out 7 mile beach.

-May be going to Portland this coming week. That will take care of hitting the east coast and once we hit Negril, we will have seen all four coasts. Sweetness.

-Applied for a job with URS, keep your fingers crossed. I am actually qualified for it and it's in Baton Rouge. Double score.

-I am going to NJ with Mom from August 28th to Sept 5 and I am stoked. I haven't seen Gran in 3 years and my cousins and uncle and aunt in 10. Craziness. South Jersey really is a beautiful place. Just go past all where all the guidos and shore people are and you will see. Yes lots of stereotypes about NJ are true, but I don't care what they say b/c South Jersey is great.

-Just found out today that I will be a published author. Ashley asked me (and Gareth) to write an article for Preservation Architect (the quarterly journal of the AIA Historic Resources Committee) on our experience as ICOMOS interns. What what!!!

-29 days left to go in Jamaica and while I will enjoy the last weeks here, I am so excited to come home and see my peeps and lay on a couch. Yes a couch. Who knew I would miss a couch. I sit on two chairs with a patio furniture bench cushion as my couch. Not anywhere close to a couch. Gareth lays on the floor on a patio bench cushion. He also misses couches.

-Gareth got his hair braided/plaited in cornrows. It didn't last long and he resembled Kevin Federline. It was entertaining.

-I decided that if I were born in Jamaica, I would have been a hills/mountain person. So much prettier and quieter up there. And the people up there are so freaking nice. We went to help this lady with an addition to her home. Before we left we got coconut water and tons of sugar cane. And this coming from a lady who doesn't have that much to give, but still gave us stuff. One of many lessons to take back with me to the states.

-Ms. Sylvie figured me out. She cooks lunch for us and all the guys. She realized I don't eat fish so now on mackerel and saltfish days, she warms up a little leftovers and I get that in its place. She will get a lovely present before we leave. Plus some days I get leftoever curry chicken or brown stew and Gareth is super jealous. But I am nice and give him a little. Poor thing doesn't have the guts to tell Ms. Sylvie he doesn't like the mackerel (I didn't either; I guess I am just easier to figure out than him).

Um. I think that is most of the updates. There are probably more little things that have gone on that I just can't remember. We are doing well on work. About a half a building and some other details on another and we will have finished 6 buildings total leaving only two left to do with four weeks left. Score. That leaves us time to make sure everything is fantastically done. I am so tired of sitting in a chair all day on a computer for probably at least 8 hrs. My eyes aren't loving me for it either. Nor is my back. Or my numb butt. I hope whenever I do get a job that I get to do other things than just sit all day. If not, I guess I will just have to jog around the office and when people stare, I will say tough.

Oh I have also become a music addict. I would like to thank Kelly for that. She introduced me to so many new bands and I didn't get to listen to them all until now as I work. Well this led me to get more of their music and then listen to other groups and now I am addicted. Hi my name is Jessica and I am addicted to great music. So anyone out there who wants some new bands check out the Avett Brothers, the Ray Brothers, the New Pornographers, Neko Case, Feist, The Decemberists (fantastic!!! and new love of the week), Bon Iver (Skinny Love is off the chain), the Hush Sound, Bright Eyes, Mae, etc. etc. etc. Anyone in BR want to go see the Avett Bros on Sept 29 b/c I am there. Oh and Tupelonians, they will be in Oxford the week before I think. Check their website. They are great. Really great.

Well now that I am a self professed music addict with a pretty sweet tan for a Polack, I think I will go jam to some of those sweet tunes. Mallory, I promise you that I will do better on blogging as in I won't wait another 19 days to update. I will try to do it every week for the rest of the time here and well in my stateside life as well except you will be there seeing me like every day so it may not be as fun for you. Oh well.

Respect,
j

--We grow a lot faster than trees, he said, so we miss a lot of stuff.--

Tales from a Terrible Blogger

So I know it has been a long time since I updated. I would like to think that I have good reasons for that, but the only good reason I have for the last at least six days is that the wireless was down here. Besides that my only excuse is that I am a terrible blogger. But I don't feel so bad b/c I figure like five people read this total.

Ok so after the field school kids left, we took a little trip down to the South Coast to document a church in The Alley, Jamaica. It was a great little getaway and we stayed in the Milk River Bath and Hotel, which was darling. They have these mineral water baths that are supposedly more radioactive than anywhere else in the world. It felt like regular water to me, but I guess we will find out in 5 to 10 years if it really did any damage. We ate some good food, saw neat sites, very small rural towns, literally drove across the country N/S from the beachy area here, through the mountains and to the plains of the south coast. While it was nice and we documented a church in 3 days (and I did my first ever hand drawing, a section, which turned out pretty good), I missed the North. I guess I am a Trelawneyian/Falmouthian/like the North coast better.

We got back and there were four of us here vs the normal 30 or so it had been. I moved all my stuff into my new room, first private room in a month, and Gareth and I started documenting more buildings. Since then we have two more done and they look awesome. We have gotten really detailed and added signage, etc. We just started a third one today.

We have also started cooking for ourselves and have done pretty well so far. We have had pasta, breakfast for dinner, mac n cheese, will be hitting some ramen this weekend, and ate out a couple times. The eating out is so cheap it's not even funny. We can get a plate of food that will feed me twice over for 250J, about $3. It's amazing. I am going to be so spoiled once I get back and am expected to pay like $5 to $10 a meal. Cheapskate I will be. We don't do much exciting during the week, just play around on the internet and watch movies, but on the weekends, we go fishing with Peter or find something else to do, like the beach. In a few weeks, we are hoping to travel to the east coast to Portland. They have some good spear fishing (for Gareth) and just beautiful scenery.

I wanted to do something for the 4th like make brownies with american flag decoration on them, but that prob won't happen. Maybe we will have to have hot dogs, although I really don't want to b/c the ones here are really made of chicken and dyed a creepy red color, which would be patriotic....

46 days left in Jamaica and it feels like we have lived here forever. It will be nice to go home, but also kind of weird. I am excited to be back in my country though - I knew I was a homebody before, but am bonafide now.

Things I miss the most (and most of them are food): Tacone, Andolini's, Cane's french fries and sauce, sweet tea, kool aid (and yes I could make it here, but it won't be the same), anything Mom cooks, heck maybe even lima bean casserole, a good selection of books (I have run out and am now reading one on the Mayflower, can we say I need a library???), Kevin, the ease of calling up a friend and not worrying about ridonculous charges, random text messages to Kelly, my bed.

I think that is most of them now. I don't miss tv too much but I really only watch a few shows. I am excited about doing more reading once I am back now since I am not required to do any. I got a sweet cricket shirt at the market, like really sweet. I still want to get a soccer jersey, but that will wait for the Mobay airport (apparently they have a really good sports store there) and while I paid around 7 us dollars for my cricket shirt, i know the soccer jersey will be more and i can deal with that. Over the course of the summer, I will probably have spent around 360 US dollars total. Not too shabby. While I love the cheapness of everything, there are big differences that are harder to get used to. Like living in a male dominated society as a super freethinking independent girl. No one is mean but things are different. Females opinions aren't really taken into account so much and if anyone needs anything, they always call for Gareth, even if I am closer. It's just something I have to get used to for at least the next 46 days. Oh well. I will live.

Oh and while I love carbs, I am getting tired of the amount of carbs here. We thought our country had a terrible diet. At one meal, we can have yams, boiled dumplings (which I liked the first day, but not struggle to get them down, they are very dense), rice and peas, boiled banana (which sadly doesn't have much taste) and roasted breadfruit. Can we say carb overload? I can handle one or two, but once you get above that, I feel like I could sleep for days. I love brown stew chicken though. Mmmmm. And the other bad thing is that there is so much sugar in most people's diets here, especially kids. They drink really sugary drinks and bag juices and the punch (i.e. kool aid) is so so sweet. I always have to water it down like 3/4 water, 1/4 punch. However, Jamaicans walk a lot more places, so they get more exercise. So i don't know who would lose on a scale now.

Ok, well I have to catch up on a week's worth of missed internet browsing....

--doesn't mind carrying a few choice pieces of baggage so she has a conversation starter in almost any social situation--