Jamaica Journal Part 2

Monday, Nov 9th

My internal clock is apparently all off, I woke up at 6am and could not go back to sleep. So I got up and got ready. Jen and Laura went to school. I took a brief walk and picked a bouquet of tropical flowers. I spent most of the morning waiting for sandpaper, primer and praise God sky blue acrylic paint. While waiting, I did help Laura with her class. The class was somewhat chaotic; not because of Laura though. The children have a really hard time being in a classroom situation. Laura is doing a really good job at teaching them this, even in not the best of situations logistically. Laura is a really great kindergarten teacher. The children really love her.
It rained after lunch which means school is over. I guess the kids are really are afraid of rain, so they cancel school for it.

At 1pm, I went and sanded the wall I will be painting the mural on. Once that was done, I went for a walk down to the gate with the MK's, it was for there homeschooling gym class. There are so many beautiful flowers here. I will post a blog on just the flowers later. We then took a break, ate snacks and watched a little more Pride and Prejudice.

For dinner, we had fried fish, fried chicken, rice, baked beans, cabbage salad and cake.

Later that evening, I went and primed the wall. It has been a very full day. Oh, and I nearly fell off the mountain picking a coffee berry for Jennifer, that was pretty funny; considering they told me a few moments before to not fall off the mountain.


Tuesday, Nov. 10th

We started the day off with a morning walk. Jen and I picked a bouquet for Stephanie Rudy one of the missionary wives here. She really liked the one we picked the day before. Jen and I then went over to the toddler/baby house to check on the primer. While we were there we decided to stick around and play with the babies. Jen and I were working with one of them with their walking. He is so close and is just about ready to take off. He really likes to walk.

Jen cleaned Laura's room while I taught an art class for Laura. We have discovered that the kids behave better if we come in and just teach a lesson for Laura then to be in there all day helping. They seem to want to show off for the new people.

In the afternoon, we went to paint the blue sky of the mural. We had to stop because some of the older kids kept coming in and wanting to touch the wall. We then hung out with the MK's and had a long talk with Pastor J.R about the coffee business they do there.

After dinner, we cleaned the coffee room for him. I then went to check out the paint for the mural. I came to the conclusion the mural wasn't going to work. I am ok with it. God has other things for me to do here. My ways are not always God's ways. Besides a mural, although is nice, isn't what this place needs me to do....there is so much other work that I can now give my time to.

Yasmine came over in the evening. She made some Jamaican food for us. We had a wonderful time of laughing, sharing and talking. We then also had her do a flip flop fashion show since we brought her 7 pairs. LOL

On a side note, we saw the most beautiful rainbow I had ever seen today and I saw a shooting star. Fun!





Wednesday, Nov 11th
Jen and I spent most of the day cleaning the coffee room. We scrubbed for hours. We were finally done around 1:30pm, we started at 8am. We then watched Cassandra (aka~Jackie said with attitude) roast the coffee. Jennifer is totally into this coffee thing.

For dinner, it was Jamaican night. We had jerk chicken, festival bread, callaloo (sp?). The festival bread was my favorite. It taste like funnel cake without the powder sugar.

We then had church. The kids are so amazing. We sang some new songs that were fun to watch and sing. I posted the JOY song two posts ago; but here are some others.

Me dig a hole
Me dig a hole
Me dig a hole and put the devil in (Repeat)

God made man, man made money
He made the bees and the bees made honey
He made the devil and the devil comes in
Me dig a hole and put the devil in

(this song was very Jamaican sounding and I am still trying to figure out the theology...but it is fun)

Here is another one...

I looked down the road and I wondered
I wondered
I wondered
I looked down the road and I wondered
How far I am from God

Then I buckled up me shoes and I started to run
started to run
Then I buckled up me shoes and I started to run
and journeyed up to God

Looking down at Kingston, the lights just twinkled!