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!).
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