The last two days

January 25

The fruits and vegetables are deadly here lol.  Remember the poisonous ackee fruit I mentioned yesterday well today I found another deadly one.  Ok ok I’m exaggerating!  In an effort to want to learn to cook local meals I decided to make and effort and cook some yellow yam and bananas. The yam (which is easily the size of one of my kids heads) looks like a large dirty root on the outside but it is easy to peel and has a beautiful yellow “meat” on the inside. While peeling the yam I began to itch terrible all over my chin, then down to my next and onto my forearms.  It was unbearable and I was almost in tears the itch was so bad.  I figured I must be allergic and rush to spread Benadryl and hydrocortisone (and anything else that said anti-itching) all over my skin.  It helped a little.  I decided to look up yam allergies and what is the first thing I read is to wear gloves as this yam may irritate the skin.  Lesson learned… do a complete and thorough investigation of all new food prior to attempting to cook and or eat it.

the infamous yam

The yams and bananas turned out ok.  They didn’t really have a taste but when eaten with waffles and syrup they were delicious.

yam and bananas ready to eat

After breakfast we went downtown to look for a TV.  Downtown Kingston is great with all of the shops.  Apparently anything you need you can find downtown.  We got a great little TV for about JA$8000 (US$85) cheaper than what we found at MegaMart. Right outside of the place where we got the TV an old lady was selling these cute little sandals.  I decided to get a pair for Nathaniel and asked how much.  She told me JA$200 but after she heard me talk some more the price mysteriously increased to JA$300 lol.  I’m prepared for that and won’t let it happen to often but I wasn’t gonna fuss over JA$100 (US$1.50), especially for shoes. Nay likes his new shoes.

After that adventure we had our driver drop us off on campus where we went and had lunch.  After lunch I had a meeting with the campus archaeologist to discuss what classes I will be teaching and getting a good start on my research here.  This is the archaeology lab on UWI’s campus and where I assume I will be spending a good bit of time.

archaeology lab on UWI's campus (in the mid 1800s it was used as the plantations bookkeepers cottage)

the kids watching the fish in the pond as they wait for me to finish with my meeting

January 26

Today was rather quiet and uneventful. We all woke up between 730-8a and immediately jumped into our day.  The kids started on their lessons and chores and Kenric and I started about the house trying to get everything setup and organized.  The cable guy arrived right on time about 8:30a and we had cable by 8:35a. We continued to bop around the house and right after lunch we decided to head back to MegaMart to get the last few things we needed for the house. 

Here is a pic of the kids in taxi on the way home from the store:

in the taxi on the way home

Once at home the kids went straight for the computer to play games and Kenric and I decided to sit and enjoy some TV together (and rest). For dinner we decided to eat in for once and I cooked some rice and peas, mixed veggies and some of the yam we had left over.  We picked up a Jerk chicken at the store so all I had to do was heat that up.  Needless to say dinner was ggggooooooooodddd.  I’ll be doing a lot more cooking around here. We are now all sitting together around the TV as we wind down for the evening. Quiet at last.