I miss my friends back home but the experience is so new and novel that its only during the down times that the States crosses my mind. Knowing that tomorrow is America's Independence Day makes me want to get out my (newly legal in arizona) fireworks and sparklers, bud light and watermelon and celebrate however I will be working tomorrow. We only get Jamaican Holidays off. August 1st and 6th are the next holidays Jamrock celebrates. However, I am confident that my friends back home have the celebrations under control and those who drink too much can count a few of those in for me!
Yesterday I hung out with my host day and watched a lot of tv. He is big into sports and has designated saturdays as the day to sit in front of the television and relax. Easy to justify because the sun here is scorching hot during the day and nearly requires an afternoon nap to pass the time. I learned about cricket, which I had never watched a game before in my life. It's not like baseball which took about a half hour to figure out. I still don't have all the rules down, which is okay since I don't plan on playing anyway. Good news is I am slowing understanding a lot more of what he says. We did a lot of channel flipping from one station to the next, from soccer, tennis, cricket, track and field, and anything else playing on the sports channels. He writes down all of the lottery numbers too, all four times a day and enjoys the horse racing, so we flip over to those channels as well. We had porridge for breakfast, which was quite tasty. This wasn't the type of breakfast they dish out in the black and white films without flavor and mindlessly slopped into a bowl in a buffet style from a laddle in orphanages. It is made from cornmeal, water, vanilla, sugar, and nutmeg. He showed me how to make it, and I plan making/having it soon! Lets hope I took good mental notes. I'd hate to screw it up and then serve it to them. Its pretty simple.
I've done a lot of walking during my spare time, mainly because I've never been the type to just sit around and do nothing. Over the weekends during training, there is a lot of free time. We are in a small town and its pretty easy to run into other volunteers. Its nice to compare stories about each others days and nights. We have lots to read but I did that the first night and yesterday. I was always a well prepared student!
Yesterday afternoon, I found the pattie(sp?) shop, the local bakery store that has lots of other random things for sale next to the grocery store. They are delicious! They taste like a pot pie, with a beef mixture inside. I probably don't want to know whats in them because its a beef paste. The best part is they are quite inexpensive and close by. I went by today but he didn't have any left until tomorrow. I let him know I would be back! I also really like a candy called Ping Pong which are chocolate covered peanuts.
I made the mistake of mentioning that the grocery store, next to the pattie place, has chicken feet for sale to my host dad when I returned from my walk. I asked what you would use them for. Little did I know that my little inquiry would result in Chicken Foot soup for dinner. I am very open minded when it comes to food, or at least I thought so. Dinner rolls around. I am hungry and there are chicken feet in my bowl. Now, the soup is great. It had potatoes, carrots, and a few other random tasty things in it with a broth that had a pumpkin base. That wasn't the problem. What do you do with a chicken foot? So, again I asked, fearful for the answer. He said, let me show you. He picked up the foot, stuck it in his mouth and started sucking. With an impressive quickness, he starts pulling out pieces of the bones and placing them on our (reoccuring) bone plane. Looks simple enough. Hesitantly, I tried to recreate the action.
Now, I grew up around farms. My grandfather had one and often I would go and gather up the eggs with or for him. Chickens are nasty and poop everywhere, with no regard for what they are stepping in. I have the image of chicken shit having been all over these dirty birtys feet as it goes into my mouth. Probably not the best thing to think about as I am about to eat it. Too late. I separate a few of the bones from the foot in my mouth and start there. I put the rest of the foot back into my soup. I begin the sucking, since that gets the meat off the bone. It works. Now I have to swallow. This is the hard part. There isn't anything to chew, really. It's mostly fat. Chicken fat isn't my favorite texture either. I do, quickly washing it down with Jamaican lemonade, which is really good. I fought the urge to gag, mainly because I thought it would be rude. Only 90 percent left of this foot and two others to go.
I ate it all. It took me forever to finish it. My dad asked me if I liked it and I told him I would never make it for myself. I mentally patted myself on the back afterwards and swore I'd never eat it again. Nope. Never. This is one dish that I won't be trying twice. Thanks but no thanks. I felt even better about having eaten it after another volunteer told me she just plain refused. My host dad seemed to enjoy it. I'll let him have mine next time.
Today, we had collalil(sp) which reminds me of southern Greens in the states. My host mom showed me how to prepare these as well. They were very good, not too difficult, and extremely healty. It went well with buttered bread and a hot cocoa tea, which tasted a lot like Hot Chocolate. Not bad for breakfast. I imagined Ashley would have enjoyed it!
This afternoon was a lot more walking around. Lots of the neighborhood goes to church and some of these churches are an all day affair. The music coming out the churches is quite spectular. I will go next week for the experience. Lots of hooting and hollering. I played cards with another volunteer brieflly with his host dad trying to teach him how to play Hearts. "Practice makes perfect" I told him as I moved on to the next adventure.
We are really close to the water and since I am a big fan of beaches and water, I wanted to go. Due to safety restrictions, trainees can't just go by ourselves. So we had dinner first, which was also quite tasty. Rice and peas (beans) with chicken, green beans, carrots, and the best carrot juice I've ever had(which was also handmade) filled up my stomach before our journey. After dinner and some finessing, my host dad and mom took a handful of us to go meet up with some of the other volunteers. I also took my waterproof camera with me, excited about getting to use it for the first time. The water is perfect here. The temperature is nice, its really clear, and it was nice and busy. Of course, it was really easy to find the other volunteers since a super majority of them are white surrounded by Jamaicans. After saying hellos, I jumped in for a bit. You can find a few pictures on facebook, if you havent already looked at them.
It started to rain, a nice rain, not the cold rain I'm used to as we walked back. After drying off and changing, I had promised to show my host mother how to use the computer her daughter got her. With lots of patience, practice and explanations about this and that, she now has an email account and a facebook. She emailed the former vounteer that lived with them as well as her daughter. I told her that there would be another lesson tomorrow night to see what she remembered.
I am really liking the people here. Everyone is so nice and friendly. They have a sense of community that I've never experienced before. I can see why people fall in love with the island. Lots to do this week, all of which I am excited about. Not sure how much free time I will have but will try and keep up on posts. Hope all is well and HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY AMERICA!
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