Jamaica #9

Wednesday 1-5-05
Last night the toilets backed up and we had a major poo problem! So none of us got to take showers last night (the water is all connected). So when I woke up this morning I had to go to the bathroom REALLY bad and I heard Troy in there so I asked if he knew if the toilets were working and he said yes, so I went, then took a shower. Then when I got out Kristen said we weren't supposed to take showers this morning and that we were going to have a meeting about it. During the meeting Moose said we would split up - one group would stay here and clean up, and they opened another set of toilets also, and the other two groups would go to the church. My group stayed here. It was fun. We (Troy, Pamela, Abby and Libby and I) went to the store to get supplies, then we moved all the suitcases in the bedroom and swept, then swept the bathrooms.



By two o'clock both bedrooms, both bathrooms, and the kitchen had been swept and mopped with bleach water. We also scrubbed all the toilets and flushed them. One toilet had a bunch of tadpoles swimming in it, and the sewage was coming up from the shower drains. After we finished working we went to a store to get stuff for the kids. We got some candy and stuff to make bracelets with - we also made bracelets for ourselves. I wish we had more to give them. I just hope that, even in their young ages, they realize that it is not about their church having a roof, or sunglasses and bracelets, but that they will realize that what matters is the relationships that we form with them.

Quote of the day- "I'm just slipping around in poo.." - Pamela

I'm hungry and I have to pee. Uhh... in other news - the last offical L'ami meeting was last night. Sad day. I know thre was something I was going to post about on here but nope don't remember what. Oh! The girl interns ate breakfast today to get to know each other a little and to talk about what we're gonna do in the house. I'm so excited! It'll be interesting living with seven other girls hahaha. This will be the first time that I'm officially on my own though - no meal plan to fall back on when I need food. Hehe yay for off campus! In the words of Homestarrunner - I really got, I really got to pee. I really got, I really got to pee pee. Hey! It worked! DeeDee's out of the bathroom!

Jamaica #8

Tuesday, 1-4-05
Last night the water went out - and it was still out this morning - no showers for now! Today when we got to the work camp there wasn't anything to do yet. We had the cement, but we couldn't start mixing concrete yet because it was raining. We sat around playing games until after lunch. The games we played today let us get to know each other better, so that was fun. We also finished putting the rafters up and so Moose took us down the street to this little store and got us "victory sodas" but I got juice instead because I don't want to drink pop this year (side note - as of today, april 24 I'm still pop-free). It's helped that there's no Dr. Pepper here. While we were getting the sodas there were two guys across th street who were going back and forth saying "This Jamaican likes fat girls!" "This Jamaican likes thin ones." After awhile Jesse (a guy in our group) said, "I like them all." It was really funny. We went back to the church hung out some more and played with the kids some.




On the way back we dropped Holly, Jesses, and Jason off at a market and the rest of us came back here. Then we went and got Chinese for dinner. I was a little apprehensive about having Chinese from Jamaica but then I realized that's not a whole lot different than Chinese from Amercia. It was excellent. I got pineapple chicken. Troy said he heard that the place we're staying at is basically condemed and they're going to tear it down sometime this year and that's why they never fixed the roof on the other side. That makes me feel good -minus the good part. Oh well - tonight, tomorrow and then one more - and Montego Bay! Woot! The only sad thing about that is it will go by super fast and then we'll be back at AU starting another semester of school. Thank you God for stretching me this week.

Quotes of the day: "Dang! I want an enima!" - Amy
"I don't want to open the door, poop will come in!" - Kristen

Weekend thus far:

Friday afternoon I think it was I watched Elf haha yeah it's a Christmas movie but I hadn't seen it yet and I had been wanting to, and I saw it at the library so I got it. I really enjoyed it. "Smiling is my favorite." Stacy and I ushered R&J so I got to see it again, and again for free. It was great and I enjoyed it better this time because I caught on to a lot of the jokes. After that Stacy and I were gonna come back and just hang out but instead we got invited to go see A Lot Like Love, which I've been waiting for it to come out and it's great. I'm using the word great a lot, isn't that great? Then I came home and facebooked and slept.

Today it snowed. DISGUSTING! I love snow, but in the winter, not late April. GOSH! Umm... so I've been hanging out getting some alone time in, which is always nice once in awhile, especially when you live with people and you've been a little stressed. So this morning I watched Coyote Ugly, which I hadn't watched in a long time even though it's such a good movie. Then Stacy came home and I took her to Deals so she could buy some stuff for her work party, then I dropped her off there. Then I watched Serving Sara which I also hadn't seen in a long time and it was better than I remembered. Then I watched Brokedown Palace, which again I hadn't seen in awhile. Stacy is home now and we're going to head over to a party at south, whatwhat. Yay for that which is partiness at the end of semester. Uhh... yeah I think tomorrow Stacy and I are going to watch Pirates of the Carribean (it's a tradition for us to watch it a lot) and then Holes (another one I have but haven't watched in awhile). Uhh... and sometime we need to watch Shawshank Redemption because we have it from the library.

Yay for me spending lots of time with Stacy lately - because I'm here on the weekends now and she's always busy during the week. I really enjoy roommate time. Everyone should stop what they're doing and if possible go spend time with the one that is the mate of your room.

Thursday.. haha. So I went to my 12:30 (shocker!) and then ran some errands and came home around 3:30 pm. Then I watched Kiss The Girls - good movie, after that Jen and I went to the 1 + 1 buffet. During dinner, the following quote... "We ate this stuff in Jamaica that looked kind of like brains. But it wasn't, it was their national fruit. Ackee. But it looked more like a vegetable than a fruit." - Me, and then Jen replies, "Like parrots?" My policy lately has been that I will eat anything once. You never know if it's good until you try it. Some strange foods I've had in the past - alligator, goat, squid, ostrich, elk, squirrel, and duck. I think they're all good. Today I tried mussel and baby octopus. The mussel was okay, the octopus tasted similar to squid but not as good, and I think it's partly because I didn't like the sauce it was in. But, tonight I ate a LOT of duck, which like I said I've had before. I really like eating duck, it's soo good. Everyone should eat duck. I wish duck was more popular at restaurants because I would eat duck every chance I get

You haven't read this about Jamaica yet...

Jamaica #7

Monday, 1-3-05
Today a lady from the church we're staying at came to wash some clothes for us. Also there was a phone call for Holly from - Jimmy Tucker. Double creepy! Moose talked to him but I don't know what was said. We got on the bus and went to work. When we got there we sat around for a little bit,



playing games, and then we put up 7 boards, and then sat around and chased the little kids.



The kids didn't show up until later because school started again today. There's a little school right next to the church and the kids there weren't the same fter dinner we went to the grocery store to try to find stuff (toys) for the kids and to buy snacks for ourselves. We got the snacks but not the toys. We were wanting to get toys because Deanzel (who I You haven't read this about Jamaica yet...

Jamaica #7

Monday, 1-3-05
Today a lady from the church we're staying at came to wash some clothes for us. Also there was a phone call for Holly from - Jimmy Tucker. Double creepy! Moose talked to him but I don't know what was said. We got on the bus and went to work. When we got there we sat around for a little bit,

playing games, and then we put up 7 boards, and then sat around and chased the little kids.

The kids didn't show up until later because school started again today. There's a little school right next to the church and the kids there weren't the same fter dinner we went to the grocery store to try to find stuff (toys) for the kids and to buy snacks for ourselves. We got the snacks but not the toys. We were wanting to get toys because Deanzel (who I wanted to kidnap)...



s afraid of Santa and Rojay said that Santa didn't come this year. We're wanting to find a bunch of little toys to give all of them on our last day.

I'm sick of being sick. I don't really know for sure if I have allergies or a cold, but either way it's annoying. Umm... last night Stacy and I watched The Skulls, it was pretty good. It's a movie, it's about a secret society at an ivy league school. It stormed... kind of, like for an hour or so. Umm... I was going to go to teetering but I was too tired. Today after my class I need to run some errands and then I wanna sleep all afternoon and spend a lot of time tonight over there, it should be fun. Um... okay there was something else I was going to say but I'm not remembering it.

The following post about Jamaica is the last part that I've already put on my xanga, so starting tomorrow it'll be something you haven't heard yet... so yeah.