We are PCVs!!!

That's right, folks... as of Friday August 26, Jenni & Aubrey (the other 2 Michigan Tech Masters International students), I, and the rest of Jamaica Group 76 are officially Peace Corps Volunteers! Here is a picture of us just before our swearing in ceremony. It was great to be able to share this experience with good friends.


Here's a pre-swearing in picture of me and our bar owner, tender, and friend, Judy. Judy's Corner Stop is the bar in Heartease, St. Thomas, that helped me survive training.

We are now in our sites scattered throughout the island, and for me that's Montego Bay. I haven't actually been to "work" yet because when I arrived, the places they showed me were all rooms in people's homes. Though in general I had a good homestay experience, I am ready to move into my own place.

Like Jenni mentioned in her online journal (http://travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennipost/jamaica/1125076620/tpod.html), I was initially not envisioning being in a large city with many tourists. And we do get treated like tourists... a lot. I swear, if I hear the soldiers deck of cards story from a hustler on the Hip Strip one more time. In such a place, it seems impossible to become "integrated in the community" as Peace Corps so dutifully preaches. But what I'm finding is that there is an integration that takes place. You get to know the people working places you go a lot (like Doctor's Cave beach!), the drivers forever trying to get you to take their taxis, even the guy who "entertains" you with that story you've heard 12 times before. And after a while, they know you. You become part of that fabric, however tattered it seems. I'm a long way off from that right now, of course, but I can just begin to see it.

It's great to see the responses and comments on here. Please keep posting! I'll do my best to keep y'all updated on me and my awesome life in Jamaica.

Bless!
RRex