Remembering why...

I spent the last 10 days answering the same question over and over again. It was: 

 

“So, are you getting excited for Jamaica?” - I guess it's a pretty normal, natural question to ask someone who is going on a trip. But I seriously had a hard time keeping my mind on Jamaica. There are some pretty significant changes going on at the camp which could include the fact that I may or may not have a boss by the time I come back...and that boss might be a different person than when I left. Madness. And then I had a teacher's convention and workshops to facilitate on both Thursday and Friday of last week. So the whole “getting good and ready for Jamaica” was just a little beyond my scope of focus. I felt that I needed to stay in the moment or risk executing my workshops poorly or completely forgetting something for either Jamaica or the convention. It also meant that I left home on Wednesday instead of my Jamaica departure date being late, late Friday.

My answer to everybody's question – was: “No. Not really. There's just too much real estate in between me and the Island to get excited.”. I wasn't being a poop (or atleast, that wasn't my intention) – I was just having a hard enough time doing each piece of my life well to worry about one more thing.

St. Ann's Bay (from Freehill)

As they say here in Jamaica, no worries mon. Even as we negotiated the 3 hour line up through immigration and customs – I felt like I was still in Canada – a really, hot, humid section of YYC. But I can say now at the end of the second full day as I can start to see the tan lines form (and that's after a rainy day here) that everything is starting to settle here. Though I'm a little go-go-go for this culture, it's beginning to gear me down. We started to set up the dental clinic here...

Wait...do I need to catch some of us up? I guess I haven't really explained everything here. I've only mentioned Jamaica a few times and always said that I would tell you in full and then never did. Okay – well, here's the short version...I'm in Jamaica with a Christian medical organization called FAME – running a free

Mammee Bay Beach (right down from our Villas)

dental clinic in the town called St. Ann's Bay which is about 15 minutes west of Ocho Rios. We have another team with us that is doing some repairs to a school/church up in the mountains. And no – I am not a dentist. I just help to run the clinic and fill in the gaps where they need to be filled (just not the cavity-type gaps).

Here are the things that I've realized that I've missed since my last visit (a whopping 6 years ago):

• Coconut Bisquits (Well – Coconut everything actually).

• 

  Phil...the bug.

  The sun (31 and 29 respectively since I've been here). The bugs that come with the sun are pretty cool too. To the right is Phil. He's...well, I don't actually know what kind of bug he is. But he's got big red eyes! (We also ran into a few cockroaches today and lots of geckos).
• Food! I love food anyways...which is a problem...but I red snapper in coconut cream yesterday and it was splendid...we had jerk chicken tonight – and yes, I did actually eat it.
• The kids! Oh, the kids. I love them. I want to take them all home. When we're working in the smaller towns where tourists don't go – the people and especially kids, are amazingly friendly. Kids will just run up to you and hug you and hold your hand. They want to touch your skin and hair because it's so different and because tourists tend to be unapproachable in that way.
• And the sun...did I mention that I love the sun. I don't even mind sweating that much because I love the sun so much.

I could probably do without the crazy drivers and the ugly massive resorts but I don't even know what you do without them. Also – the mountain roads are a bit sketchy but they provide a view that you can't find anywhere else.

Mangoes guarded by wasps

So – there's my dial in from Jam. Two days here and we've got the dental chairs moved into the space that we're working in. And the space we're working in is a dream! We were worried about power and drainage and when we got here we found out that somebody is letting us use their empty house. It's perfect! It's even got a wasp-infested mango tree in front which I'm determined to get a mango from by the end of the week (without getting stung!).

Stuff to pray for these next few days...we have a lot of prep and cleaning to do in the house – so just pray that we don't all go squirrelly as we work inside with bleach as we watch the lovely sunshine (I might be the only one dying just a little inside). We have to set up all of the chairs and make sure they're

This is the space where the dentists will work!

working...and somehow create a new one because we have three dentists and two hygenists coming. We'll have to Red Green (or as I like to say...Rolf-Dave) something. We are going to also be creating a sanitization area for the dental tools. All of this needs to happen in two days. Yikes! The teams arrive on Thursday. Pray for them as they do all of their prep these next few days.They will be bringing a lot of meds and such with them. Pray that their way through immigration and customs is simple and easy.

Thanks! And I'll talk to you soon!