Ya Mon

So, so, so. Well, the past 48 hours have been quite quite interesting. Alicia tells me that I have now experienced the true Jamaica. So let me start at the beginning. (That song from Sound of Music just started to go through me head....)

Thursday night I went out with Maurilee and her friends from medical school to celebrate the end of their pathology exams. It was nice to get out and meet some more people. It was a bit depressing for me on a personal level because I realized that night that everyone was like 21 years old. Apparently, most students here go into medical school right after high school (which explains why it is 5 year program.) I was the oldest person out of a group of 14 people. Sigh.

Anyway, Friday was the day-o-adventure. There was a mix up of communication as to who was going to be giving me a ride to school that day. Long story short is that Maurilee left to visit family in the states at 4am and Alicia was in class already. Hence I scramble and call a cab which I was a bit anxious about as it was my first cab in Kingston and alone nonetheless. Everything goes smoothly until we are just about on the medical school campus. Then the cab breaks down. They call me a new one after the cabbie tries several times to do some quick repairs. I get in my new cab get dropped of at the hospital find my way to class which (thankfully) was starting late.

Then I was supposed to meet a student on ward 8 for rounding (Fridays here are very laid back on O & G) but he was working in some presentation and was not going to do anything until 2pm. Which was mildly problematic since I was being picked up at 11:30 to leave to go to Portland. So, I decided to just go with the original game plan and played hookey. (shh, don't tell).


Yes, Portland! Reportedly one of the BEST places in Jamaica. Portland is about a 2 hour trip from Kingston. I was so excited and everyone that I told was also so excited for me!! The pictures of the trip there are really horrible but the scenery! Oh the scenery! So green, so lush. The trip there goes all the way up the mountains on a narrrrrrow road that twists and turns so violently I am still amazed I did not get car sick. As we drove we would pass people who were living on the hillside and were very rural. Lots of little roadside stands. Then out of nowhere it would seem, we would be in the middle of a little town with people everywhere! It was a really beautiful car ride.
Almost to Portland!

Portland is also known for its AMAZING jerk. We went to this place called Boston and there were just rows of small buildings/hut/shacks of people cooking jerk chicken, jerk pork, and jerk sausage. We went to the building all the way down on the right.



The grill (?) was inside of the building and where the jerk is cooking/staying warm. There was a fire going immediately to the left of the grill and the counter--which is below--was immediately in front of it.
Buying the jerk

You could also buy yams or breadfruit. Breadfruit is a fruit that grows on trees, picked and roasted, and has a consistency similar to bread. I purchased yams with butter, jerk chicken, jerk pork. It was out of this world good.
New friends all enjoying our meal! Next we headed to the beach! The photos below are from our walk to the beach.

Some how this walk to the beach does not compare with...

....this walk to the beach.

And this view does even come close to....

....This view. Sorry Jersey! (No, no, I am not sorry at all.)

We went to the beach called Frenchman's Cove. It was just down the way from Blue Lagoon. (Like the movie)
We set up camp and hung out for the afternoon. It seriously was unlike anything I have ever seen.
This part is a river that ran into the ocean. The water was a tad cold but not unbearable.

I want to live here, thank you. Some one tell Jon I am not coming back. (Just kidding! I love you Jon! Happy Birthday!!)

No. Seriously. Please ship all my belongs here.


On the way home. This is a castle where movie stars stay or shoot movies at or something. Either way, this is where I will now be living. Please forward all my mail to this location. Thank you.

The ride home was gorgeous as well. The sun setting through the mountains and over the water. Breath taking. Of course, with my keen photographic skills I was able to capture it. See picture below.

Not. Oh well. It was really a great car ride. I would love to come back to Portland before I leave or at least some time in the future.


When we got home at about 8:30pm I walked into the apartment to find that we had no electricity. Maurilee was out of the country and we (my ride, Ayanna and I) had no idea what to do. I packed up a few things and headed over to Alicia's house where the drought was in full effect and there was no running water. (what is a bad combo? Jerk chicken and pork earlier, toilet, no running water. You can do the math.) I ended up staying there for the night and then went back to Maurilee's apartment in the morning as the power was supposedly fixed. However, we could not test that it was working because the power was out for the whole neighborhood. So I waited for that to come back on. It did. For everyone else but my apartment. JPS said they would come back out so I waited for them-- island time style. They came back, could not figure it out. Left to go get a technician. Came back and finally! Miracles! Joy! Puppies and babies! the power came back on. By that time I was a limp noodle from the heat and cooked some eggs and read a bit and went to bed. Sheesh, what a weekend.

So, I survived my first week here. It has been quite an adjustment to the time line and the constant changes as goes the culture here but I am learning to just say 'ya mon, no problem' like the locals. Although everyone has been so lovely and welcoming it is tough to always be a stranger, to not have anyone that you know, to constantly be learning directions, faces, names, buildings. It is hard to figure out all the little subtle codes of conduct on the wards and at the medical school. It is hard to figure how I am supposed to act as a student, what my role is, what my responsibilities are how I am supposed to perform. It has been pretty exhausting I must say. I am excited for the new week as I am hoping things will be a bit easier since I have my footing.

Today is Jon's birthday--the love of my life, the most amazing man of all time--Happy Birthday Babe! I love you!! Feel free to give him a shout out too.

Today, I may or may not be going to a community clinic. It depends on whether or not Alicia needs to do something at school. I am also supposed to go to Carnival with Ayanna. I am sure I will have some exciting posts later!