Not Goodbye but Until Next Time

I'm sitting on my wonderful porch staring at my favorite mango tree watching my mom walk around the yard one last time. This is my last blog post from Jamaica (until next time) and it is extremely hard to write. I hate saying Goodbye so I will not... I will say Until Next Time Jamaica. Unfortunately I have already packed my computer so I cannot include photos in this post, but I will be sure to update it with many photos later. The last couple of days have been a blur. Kenric and his mom arrived on Thursday and it has been nonstop ever sense. On Friday the department hosted a farewell party for us and it was wonderful. They had a full lunch of chicken in pineapple sauce, fish, rice and peas, cabbage salad and fruit. The department chair thanked me for my work this term and invited me to return which I was most a appreciative of and will certainly take her up on. After the luncheon we headed to the Market and craft market for souvenirs, art, and spices to take home. As usual that was an experience but I am so glad my mom-in-law got to experience it. Today we made our last journey to the mall so that I could have the cable disconnected and just made a day of it. We shopped and ate lunch there before heading to the Devon House for ice cream one last time. This morning didn't start off so great as Kenric, Joshua, and I witnessed a dog get hit by a van. That was the most horrifying thing I have ever seen and I feel like I've seen a lot. Joshua, of course took it so hard and we have been consoling him most of the day. It has been hard day of goodbyes...oops I mean until next time.... and I have choked back a lot of tears. I'm sure the water works will come tomorrow. So, as I am typing this last blog post of my Fulbright experience, we are finishing out our stay in Jamaica with a bonfire built by our good friend Adrian. He is roasting us a breadfruit, the one fruit we had not tried here in Jamaica. So I will leave this post and go enjoy my last night in Jamaica with my family and friends. Not goodbye Jamaica but until next time...

What another spectacular day here in Jamaica.  Early this morning we loaded up the  car and headed to Portland to visit a friend and his families coffee farm.  I didn't think I would get to travel through my beloved Blue Mountains again, but I did today!  

Just like last time we had to drive through New Castle, the military training base, except this time I stopped to get a couple of photos:

New Castle

Of course I had to take a picture of the military burial grounds

We met Adrian at Holywell (the place we stayed in the cabins... read a few blog posts back for a refresher on that amazing experience).  He hoped in the car and off he guided us to Portland.

Our view on the way to Portland

Another view on our way to Portland

About 20 minutes into Portland from Holywell we arrived at Adrian's family coffee farm.  What an amazing place.  It was wonderful to get a tour to see how coffee goes from the tree to in my cup.  

In the blue mountains just outside of the coffee farm

James Dennis Coffee Farm (true Blue Mountain Coffee)

A Coffee tree (who new coffee beans grew on trees... I didn't)

Coffee beans just picked from the tree

Beans drying (it takes about 3 weeks to dry)

After using the mortle and pestle to break the beans out of their shell beans are then "sorted" to have the bad ones picked out

Beans Roasting

A cute little tray they had to shoe the process of making coffee

See that grove of trees on the dirt patch over there?  That is a coffee plantation (those small tree specks are actually groves of coffee trees).  See? It truly is Blue Mountain

 After we toured the coffee farm we made another treacherous journey to the river.  The roads were so narrow with no rail so one wrong turn and tumbling down the mountain you go. I was unable to get a picture of that view as I was to busy praying for survival.

Once we made it to the river we had a long walk down some rough terrain.  The kids cried and I was a bit nervous but it was SSSOOO worth it.

Arriving at the river... This part was sectioned off with rocks to make a swimming hole

Mama relaxing as we get ready to swim

The swimming hole

Us in the FREEZING water admiring the view... colder than any pool or ocean I have ever been in

The hill we walked down coming and had to walk back up to go

We noticed a cocoa tree on the way up

Nay refused to walk because of the steep hill and even steeper cliffs  next to us... I was slipping in my flip flops so I had to go barefoot.   This must be what it feels like to be...

On the way out we go stuck on a very steep hill on a very narrow road with no guard rails.  The car kept sliding back and we just could not make it up that hill.  Needless to say we were all a little scared.  

Adrian to the rescue... He jumped out to go find something to give the wheels some traction

Thank goodness he found something... we were out of there just a few minutes later.  His comment when he got back in the car "you just have to know the hills" .  Hill my foot... half a foot to the left and we would have tumbled  down a MOUNTAIN

 By the time we were almost down the mountain we were starving. On the way up we pasted a vendor who was cooking up something special.  It smelled so good.  Mr Taylor remembered my mouth watering over that smell and he stopped us by that vendor on the way down.  His Jerk chicken and festival were amazing.

Vendor who sold us some awesome jerk chicken and festival

As usual, we enjoyed another fabulous day!  Days like this will make it hard to leave next week.

Exhaling

Wow! It's hard to believe that we are at the tale end of our Fulbright experience.  It doesn't feel like we have been here 3 months already (and at the same time it feels like we have been here forever). I have spent this weekend exhaling as last week was spent stressing out over the culmination of this entire experience.  On Thursday I presented a paper on my research here in Jamaica at the 10th Annual Archaeological Symposium sponsored by the Archaeological Society of Jamaica. The days before this presentation were extremely stressful as I struggled to get this paper together.  I rewrote it numerous times and just didn't feel comfortable with the results.  I finally resolved to just present that I have no conclusive results but could offer some preliminary observations based on what I have.  I didn't know how that was going to go over, but it went surprisingly well.  Once that was over I felt like a huge weight was lifted and I was able to breathe again.

Friday and Saturday were spent in the house just vegging out and now I am up trying to be somewhat productive.  Classes at Winthrop end next week so I am gearing up for that as I want to have everything graded and grades submitted prior to me leaving Jamaica.  When I get home I probably won't be able to move for a couple of days so I want to make sure all of my responsibilities are taken care of.

I won't be down for long though... when I return (and have rested a few days) we are off to Tennessee to see my great Aunt Ann who will have just turned 94 and to celebrate the 4th Birthday of my BFF's son Jaden.  After that we are headed up to Williamsburg to see friends we made last summer and to use our Williamsburg passes before they finally expire in June.  After that we are off on the train for a mini trip to a destination unknown at this time. In addition, Kenric and I will be taking our first solo trip (without all the kids) in June as we celebrate our 11th anniversary.  Then there's camps for the kids (my baby's first sleep away camp... that I am completely freaking out about) and a week long trip to stay with the grandparents (who they miss so much).  All while we finish renovations on a house project we have going on.  

Whew!  That sounds crazy just typing it, but I am excited and ready to go.  More Brooks family adventures ahead!!! :-) 

Happy Easter

7 April

Today was a great day.  We were able to mark another place off of our list of things we want to do before we go home.  We headed to the Rockfort Mineral Bath this afternoon.  Supposedly this spring opened in in the Great Earthquake of 1907 and offers healing qualities (which explains why there were so many senior citizens there I guess :-} ).  The only downfall is that you are only allowed one hour in the water.  The water was amazing... it wasn't full of chlorine or salt.  The kids could swim without their eyes or nose burning.  The water felt smooth... I know that sounds strange but that is the best way for me to describe it.  It felt like how I would imagine bathing in a tub full of water and fabric softener.

After our swim I tried to stop and get the kids some lunch... they were starving after our swim.  I went to the ATM only to learn that my card would not work.  Uh oh!  I had just enough cash to pay the taxi to get home. Once home I headed out to the ATM machine on campus and then to Juici Patties to get the kids some lunch.  After a two mile walk to return with what little food could get (the patti place, the only food place open, had only 3 patties left in the whole restaurant... I was able to get two of them) I was exhausted.

I spent the rest of the evening trying to work on a paper that I have to give at a conference next week.

All-in-all it was a great day!

Joshua and Averie about to jump in

Getting the baby used to the water

The kids and I in the Mineral Bath

Joshua and Mama dancing to a Michael Jackson song in the yard of the mineral bath

Still dancing and Mama singing :-)

 8 April

Happy Easter Everyone!!! Today has been a great day here in Jamaica.  We woke this morning and had Bun and Cheese for breakfast.  Bun is a spiced fruit bread and the cheese is a processed cheese in "tin".  The thought of eating both together (I try to limit my processed food intake ;-} ) did not sit well with me.  To my surprise it actually tasted pretty good.  The kids really liked it. It was exciting being able to celebrate the holiday the way everyone in this country does.

Bun and Cheese! An Easter tradition here in Jamaica

It was actually pretty good... the kids really like it!

 After breakfast we headed to the Chinese Cemetery to witness Gah San.  Gah San is an annual celebration in the cemetery where people come out and clean the burial sites of their loved ones and leave food offerings and burn incense.  We are obviously not Chinese but no one seemed to mind that we were there.  It was really exciting for me to see such a process.  In my research I usually see the aftermath of burial and never get to witness any rituals associated with it.

A man having a burial site cleaned and burning incense and some kind of paper I didn't recognize

A view of some burials in the cemetery

Another view of the cemetery (this is the older section)

 When we got home I decided to cook a traditional Jamaican Easter dinner.  I cook Fried fish, brown stewed fish (with a little to much browning) rice and peas, and cabbage salad.  It was delicious.  I thought we would have enough in case we get hungry later but the food was devoured.

Fried fish, brown stewed fish, rice and peas and cabbage salad

Bitter Sweet

Well today was a bitter sweet day.  I taught my last lecture at the University of the West Indies, Mona. It is always hard for me to say goodbye at the end of the term because i form such a bond with my students, but this time it was exceptionally hard knowing that I will be returning to the states soon.  

I am so truly thankful for this opportunity to be a Fulbright Scholar and for this experience to teach in another country. For those of you considering applying to Fulbright, I highly courage you to do so.

Learning the ins and outs of the university system, the students and faculty and the culture as a whole was a bit of a challenge in the beginning but once all of that was figured out classes went smoothly. I learned just so much from my students here and I hope that they learned something from me in addition to methods and theory in archaeology.

I will truly miss Kingston Jamaica.  I can tell already that I am going to have to adjust being back home as I will long for the comforts, the sounds, the sights, the smells (of the food anyway) of this place.  UWI in particular and Jamaica overall has captured a piece of me... a piece that I plan to leave here to ensure that I return someday. This place has changed me in ways that  I couldn't have imagined before I came.  A new or should I say renewed Christina will be returning to South Carlina in a few short weeks.

Until I return Jamaica, stay blessed.

SURPRISE!!!

What a wonderfully spectacular weekend! On Friday as we were shutting down the house and preparing for bed a car pulled up.  My first thought was that it was Fedex (my hubby was supposed to be shipping me something) but then I realized it was a bit to late for a delivery.  My next thought was that it was a lost shuttle (there has been a shuttle circling the neighborhood dropping off visiting international sports players the last couple of days). As I was opening the gate to tell them that they have the wrong house Kenric walked around the van.  It took my brain several seconds (which felt like minutes) to register who it was.  I couldn't grasp that this was real and he was really standing in front of me. Once it all came together I leaped into his arms and didn't want to let him go. He really surprised me (which he can't normally do... he always ends up telling me or giving away all surprises before he actually carries them out).  Score now: Kenric 1 Christina...

The kids were really happy to see him.  Nathaniel couldn't believe it was real either... he said "daddy daddy" more times than I can count and he keep a huge grin plastered on his face.  He wouldn't let daddy out of his sight the rest of the night... even slept snuggled up with him.

Kenric and the happiest baby ever to see daddy (even though it's hard to tell here lol)

We didn't do much the rest of the weekend as we were just happy that Kenric was here with us.  We ran little errands like running to the grocery store, getting the boys haircuts and salvaging our fruit trees.

On Saturday we happened to look out the window and noticed that our banana tree had fallen over.  Kenric chopped off the bushel (is it a bushel of bananas?) to salvage the fruit and we spent the rest of the weekend eating the most deliciously sweet bananas.  It's hard to explain but eating bananas right off the tree is extraordinarily better than any banana that can be bought at the grocery story. We've been eating fruit salad, bananas and mangos with whipped cream, and frozen bananas. I tried to find pudding and vanilla wafers to make banana pudding but I could not find pudding :-(  If anyone can think of any other recipes that involve bananas we would love to have them.

Fallen banana tree

Salvaged bananas

As far as recipes go I have been learning to cook traditional Jamaican dishes.  Today Ms Cicelin taught me a Jamaican staple of rice and peas (well actually just the peas because I didn't have the rice). It's basically like cooking beans as we all know how, slowly cooking for hours on the stove.  The secret ingredient is that the beans are cooking in coconut milk.  Once the beans are nearly finished fresh thyme and scallops are added and then salted to taste.  Oh my goodness.  No more canned beans for me lol.  When I get home I am going to make a ton of beans like this and just freeze them.  Since I didn't have any rice I chopped up a jerk chicken and let the chicken cook down with the beans.  I threw it on a tortilla shell added some cheese and the kids devoured their "burrito".  My Jamaica fruit man, as I call him, happened to stopped by and gave me many more recipes to try.  I learned today that he is actually a chef and not just a chef but the personal chef of  a Jamaican entertainer (whose name I cannot remember right now).  He promised to come back on Sunday to cook for us and I am thrilled at the possibility.  Ms Cicelin promised to bake us one of her famous coconut cakes.  At least we will eat well the rest of our visit.

Kenric left this morning.  It wasn't as devastating as it was the last time.  Maybe it's because I know that the next time he comes in just 4 short weeks (3 weeks and 3 days to be exact) that he will be coming to pick us up to take us home. Until then...

Averie wanted everyone to see that she lost her two front teeth... look like we know what she wants for Christmas

What I Will Miss About Jamaica

Wow! I can't believe it has been over a week since my last post.  Time is really starting to fly by.  Not much has been going on... we have finally settled into a routine and our days just seem to pass by.  I believe we are in the rainy season now as it rains everyday so we do not get out as much as we used to.

Classes are going great.  The students remain engaged and interested.  Out of all of the things that I will miss about Jamaica, I will certainly miss the students at UWI.

My research has kind of slowed as I feel I have exhausted all of my resources.  Apparently, there are no more cemeteries in this area for me to explore.  I have resolved to just use the data that I have collected so far since I will be presenting a paper on my work in just two weeks.

Last night Joshua and I attended a lecture put on by the History and Archaeology Department. I figured at 9 years old he is ready to be exposed to lectures and community events.  I thought he would sleep through the whole thing but he surprised me by staying awake.  Although not really my research interest, I enjoyed the lecture as well.  The speaker, a Professor Emeritus, was wonderful.  During his lecture all I could think was how awesome it would have been to take one of his classes.

All in all, things are going well.  I have just three more lectures and my semester here is over.  It is bittersweet.  I miss home like crazy but I know I will miss Jamaica like crazy once we are gone.

What will I miss... let's see.

1. For starters I will miss the people.  The people here in Kingston have been AMAZING.  The people I have met here are the kindest, most helpful, wonderful people.  I have spent these last couple of months blending in which I have never been able to do before (except for my days at HU). It feels like a huge weight lifted, believe it or not.  Walking down the street and not being noticed is an amazingly relieving feeling.  It is hard to explain.  Living in a world back home where people who look like me are not the majority and knowing that I come from a place where tragedies like what happened to Trayvon Martin still occur, I realized I am constantly aware of myself (and my children) and how I (we) fit in to my surroundings.  Here, I have not had to think about how I fit into my surroundings at all (until I talk) because I just fit here.  No one considers me.  I am just part of the daily landscape. Make sense?

2. I will miss the scenery.  Waking up to these spectacular views is not to be taken for granted and I try not to do so.  I have learned to take a few extra minutes each morning and each night (and whenever I can) to just enjoy my surroundings (the mountains, the blue skies, the flowers and trees, all of it).

3.  I will miss the food... the wonderful fresh fruit that I have raved about in previous posts.  I will miss the fresh fish, especially the brown stewed fish.  I will miss the Shirley coconut biscuits and bag juices. I will miss the fried chicken from the deli around the corner and the grapenut and rum raisin ice cream from the lady at the corner store.

4. I will miss this house as it has become home to us these last couple of months. We are finally completely comfortable in this big house.  All of our stuff is finally where it needs to be and we are settled in.

5.  I will miss being able to walk to and from work. I hear that gas prices are up at home so I will definitely miss not being able to walk to campus.  Not having a car (and even if I did being to scared to drive here) has really changed me. At home I drive a big SUV and can come and go whenever I please. Here in Kingston I have learned to survive by utilizing resources that I can access on foot. I have learned to rely on my own two feet to for basic necessities such as getting food or getting my kids to the doctor or walking them to the park.  I hope I continue to appreciate my own two feet when I get home instead of going back to being overly dependent on my gas guzzling vehicle. Best of all, this is a form of exercise.  I have started moving again which I REALLY appreciate. Maybe if I put it in writing for the whole world to see I will continue to wake up and walk a couple miles each day.  I still have pounds of baby weight I need to get rid of (yeah right baby weight... my baby is two years old... but you know what I mean!).

Carnival, Class, Dinner, and other Random Things

The last couple of days have been good.  On Saturday we walked up to campus to see the Carnival parade.  It was great but I probably should have left my kids at home and I definitely should have left my mom at home :-).  The dancing was a bit... how do I say it... adult!  We stayed for the experience though.  Here are some *mild* pictures:

Yesterday the other archaeology lecturer and I took the class out to the Papine Cemetery site.  It was great to be able to actually SHOW students things instead of just talking about them. They asked great questions and gave good feedback so I think they enjoyed not being in the classroom as well.

This was my view walking home from class yesterday.  I guess Jamaica has a "fall" after all :-)

Stunning tree with falling yellow flowers

It's hard to believe that there are only 8 lectures left in the semester.  Now that we are at the end it feels like it went fairly quick.  I still have to finish my research and write a paper that I will present at the symposium in just a few short weeks.

Today I examined the human skeletal remains recovered from the back dirt pile from the Papine Cemetery.  Since the remains are very fragmentary and out of context, not a lot of useful information could be gathered.

At home the kids are doing great!  Kids are so resilient and adjust so easy.  I know they are eager to get home but they do not show it at all.  They work on their school work, play with their electronics, and play outside.  Their has been very little sibling bickering (thank goodness). One thing the kids have really enjoyed is trying all of the new fruits we have discovered here in Jamaica.

Tamarind (and the seed of another) my Rasta Man Friend brought to us to try. Yummy!

 

Custard Apple... doesn't look to good but it actually tastes pretty good.

Nay devouring the custard apple

Star Apple.  The texture is interesting.  It feels like a jello'd plum in your mouth.  It has a unique taste that I can not really explain.

 Tonight we were desperate for some food other than pizza and fried/ jerk chicken.  I found a place online called The Wok so I called to place an order for some yummy Chinese food.  The conversation was difficult and basically I understood yes to delivery and chicken so I said 'yes, please bring chicken'.  Half an hour later we were excited to see the delivery guy arrive with our Chinese food.  We took all of the food out and spooned it into bowls only to discover that the food was from an Indian restaurant.  No wonder that conversation was so strained I was trying to order Chinese from and Indian restaurant from a woman with a Jamaican and Indian accent. I felt slightly silly but we dug in and the food was amazing.  The order came with roti so we were able to eat traditionally as well.  The kids really enjoyed eating with their fingers (and so did I).

Our delicious Indian dinner

Port Royal and Lime Cay

Today was absolutely amazing!  We made the trip to Port Royal.  Port Royal is a small fishing village with a lot of history 

Here's some history on the site borrowed from the Jamaica National Heritage Trust website (http://www.jnht.com/site_port_royal.php)

"HISTORY

Port Royal was once called "the richest and wickedest city in the world". When only a sand spit, it was first used by the Tainos as a fishing camp. When the Spaniards arrived in Jamaica, they used the spit for cleaning, refitting and caulking of their sailing vessels.

When the British invaded Jamaica in 1655, immediately realising its strategic importance, they started to put fortifications in place.

During the 17th century, it was the virtual capital of Jamaica, and also a headquarters for buccaneers and pirates who brought in much of the treasure they looted on the Spanish Main. Chief among the buccaneers was Henry Morgan who sacked Camaguey, Port Bello, Maracaibo and Panama. Morgan was later knighted and made Lieutenant Governor of Jamaica. He died at Port Royal in 1688.

By 1692 Port Royal had become an important economic centre, but on June 7, of that year, it was destroyed by an earthquake. A large portion of the town sank into the sea, while about two fifth of the population-died either in the earthquake or in the plagues and pestilences that followed.

Almost immediately the houses and fortifications were rebuilt on what by then was an island separated from the rest of the Palisades, but in 1703 a fire destroyed the entire town which had been rebuilt mainly of wood. Hurricanes in 1712, 1722 and 1726 ensured that Port Royal would never again rise to its former glory, as all the merchants shifted across the harbour to settle in Kingston, a less healthy, but safer site than Port Royal. However, Port Royal did not decline entirely, as in the 18th century, it enjoyed renewed fame as a British Naval Station. Among those associated with it were the illustrious Horatio Nelson and the hard-fighting admirals Benbo w, Vernon and Rodney.

After the Napoleonic wars Port Royal declined in importance. The Naval Dockyard was closed in 1905 and moved to Canada; the 1907 earth¬quake damaged the town while the garrison left in the 1950s. Hurricane Charlie of 1951 swept over Port Royal leaving only a few buildings of its historic past.

Today with the warships and the soldiers gone, Port Royal has become a quiet fishing village, but it is one of the most important historical and archaeological sites in Jamaica-let it never be forgotten that for over 200 years, Port Royal was England's biggest naval base in the Caribbean, so strong and powerful, that no enemy dared attack it."

From Port Royal we headed out on a small motor boat to the deserted island of Lime Cay.  The island is about 2 miles from the coast of Port Royal in the middle of the ocean. The place was AMAZING!!! There was only one other family on the entire island.  We had the beach to ourselves.  The water was so warm and clear we didn't want to get out.  We stayed on the island for a couple of hours and then the boat returned to get us and the other family.  

On the boat to Lime Cay... my mom not to thrilled that I'm taking her pic

A view of the island from the boat

 

Enjoying the wonderful water

Taking a stroll around the island

My mom exploring (that's Kingston in the background)

Nathaniel's footprints in the sand

A pic of my feet just to show how clear the water is

 Once back in Port Royal we had to try Gloria's, the restaurant known far and wide and famous for their brown stewed fish.  We ordered one place of brown stewed fish and one plate of fried fish with the intention of sharing.  I'm so glad we did, each plate was filled with 3 huge fish and festival on the side.  The food was so wonderful. We all left saying we completely see why people come from far and wide to enjoy that fish.

View of the village as we coasted into shore

sign at Gloria's

Averie waiting patiently for our food to come

Gloria's resturant

I forget to take a pic before we started eating *oops*... so this is some of the fish half way through our meal 

On the way out of Port Royal our driver was gracious enough to stop and let me explore the old Naval Cemetery.  The gate was open so we just went right in.  I was able to get some work done today afterall!  What an interesting site.  Here's some photos:

Sign at the entrance of the cemetery

Naval cemetery

More of the Naval Cemetery

 

Even more of the Naval Cemetery

 After the cemetery visit we really headed home.  The kids were exhausted and all three sleep in the car.

Two exhausted kids asleep in the van