First Few Days in Jamaica

Saturday, May 16

Greetings from Jamaica Mon!

This is our first blog since we have arrived in Jamaica. The flight included a two hour conversation on the plane between Todd and someone we had never met. Also the girls are "claiming" to have seen Michael Phelps and the swim team exit the plane in our terminal, we finally arrived in Jamaica at 1:30 Jamaican time. After spending a few minutes waiting in line at customs, and exchanging money for some Jamaican dollars, we were on our way to Lime Hall. We spent about two hours riding in a tour bus type vehicle with our driver "Lucky". We went through some eye opening neighborhoods as we traveled east along the ocean, towards our rented house. We immediately realized that here in Jamaica, they drive on the "wrong" side of the road, and they also do a lot of passing. We arrived at our rented house, and were greeted by our contact "Trevor", and several members of the church. The house is very nice with a large porch, four rooms, two bathrooms, and a kitchen, accompanied by a few critters. We settled our things and were then treated to dinner prepared by the ladies from the church. The dinner consisted of chicken, fish, rice, cabbage and carrots, potato salad, tomatoes and cucumbers, cole slaw, and last but not least an outstanding cake. We spent the rest of the evening enjoying each others company, playing cards, and snacking on the candy that we brought to share with the neighborhood children.


Friday Day 1

The next morning we awoke around 6:45 and had breakfast, then prepared our things for our first day of work. Trevor arrived around 8:30 to take us to the jobsite, shuttling us in two separate trips. The trip is one of the prettiest treks you could ask for on a journey to any jobsite. (hopefully we can grab a few pictures or videos to share with you guys) We arrived at the church to a huge pile of dirt on the outside and a fellowship hall that needed quite a bit of work. Our first day consisted of the girls shoveling wet dirt into wheel barrows and the guys pushing them through mud and wet gravel into the fellowship hall. We brought the dirt in so it could begin going through the process of being sifted and then combined with cement to be turned into concrete so it could be thrown on the wall with a trowel. Needless to say all of our arms and backs were very sore, but it is good work mon. The heat was not so bad and we got a nice little shower right around 2 which got us all moved into the fellowship hall where we set up two sifting stations. The sifting stations are made of 3 person teams. Two people sit across from eachother and will sift dirt through a screen to get the rocks out. One person is the shoveler and gets dirt from the pile and puts it on the screen. After a bit of time the shoveler will shovel the dirt out from under the screener box and make a new pile of sifted dirt. Eventually the dirt will be sifted again to make a finer dirt. We finished the day around 430 or 5. We rode back and had a delicious dinner that consisted of chicken and pork chops with some veggies and loads of rice. Side note: One of the church members, Graham, works at a hotel doing their yard work. He started doing some yard work and we walked outside to plants and trees that looked as though they had been professionally done. At the other side of the yard was our friend Graham hacking away with a machete and doing some excellent work. One of the plants Graham cut was sugar cane. He cut plenty of pieces for all of us to chew on and the juices were sweet and delicious.


Saturday Day 2

We got out of bed around 7a.m. by the aroma of gourmet french toast and scrambled eggs and grits made by Mitchel the great, all of us were still very tired but still ready to get out there and do some work. We still had some dirt at the road but because we had rocked out the day before bringing the dirt and sifting it that we had almost run out of room in the fellowship hall to keep working. So we didn't bring in any more dirt and just began sifting away again at our two stations and three person teams. However this left a couple of us standing around and Todd and John tried their hand at applying the stucco to the wall. Apparently everyone in Jamaica knows how to stucco and they were not scared to correct anyone willing to try it. Most of us stayed away for fear of messing up but John and Todd kept at it and after honing in their skills they finally got the hang of it and were able to do a very good job. As for the rest of us still standing, well Mitchel found plenty of work for us to do. They had recently applied the final coat of stucco and it needed to be smoothed so that we can paint it. Those of us that weren't sifting ended up in the kitchen of the fellowship hall grinding the wall with pieces of cinder block. After hours of work that led to many sore shoulders we finished sanding the wall to a smooth enough finish to be painted on. It pretty much rained the whole day which really kept us from being outside anyways. We got back to our house around 4:30. Our dinner was chicken again, but still very good, and some fish that got mixed reviews. Most didn't enjoy it because of the bones that stabbed the inside of your mouth at random times. There was rice that was super good and some veggies and fried plantains.


Sunday Day 3:

Today we woke up around 7 to another delicious breakfast from Mitchell. This morning we had french toast, eggs, bacon, grits, and mangos, the breakfast of champions! After breakfast we headed up the road to the church for Sunday morning service with our new Jamaican friends. Church started around 9:15 (Jamaican time) and lasted for about 2 hours. The service was beautiful and definitely different from "big church" at Memorial. This Sunday happened to be youth sunday which meant that the young children in the church sang up front. The service consisted of a great deal of singing,scripture readings, and a sermon from a guest minister. The Jamaicans sing many songs from memorization but there were a few selections from a hymnal so we were able to participate. The highlight of the service would have to be when we unexpectedly got the opportunity to sing "Lean On Me" (a youth group classic) during the service. After the sermon the minister asked if they knew "Lean On Me" and although many of the Jamaican members weren't very familiar with it, the Memorial crowd chimed in promptly with the chorus! After the service we were greeted by some members and snapped a few photos of us with some of the kids. We then made our way back to the house where we are staying and fixed a quick lunch of sandwiches before heading out to Ocho Rios, a beach where most cruise ships stop and drop all of their guests off for the day. This is where we hope to be able to actually post the update. We will update again soon and share more of our adventures!


Future Day 4

This is being written Sunday afternoon so you will just get a glimpse into what we know we are doing. Monday we will be at it again. Wake up around 7 eat breakfast and head on a super pretty drive to the church. Our plans are to continue sifting, stuccoing, and we will get to paint the kitchen hopefully.


Shoutouts:

Jacquelyn Bair: Hey Mom and Mike! Sorry the phone hasn't worked yet, but hopefully I'll talk to you soon. My finger is healing nicely, and I haven't gotten sick yet! I've had a few WRIs (Work Related Injuries), but nothing Beth couldn't fix with some first aid. We've also taken a lot of fun pictures. Can't wait to tell you all our fun stories! Will you email Dad and let him know about the blog too? Also, please keep a diary of all the WAG episodes I am missing while I'm here! :) Beth and I are practicing "Midnight Train To Georgia" Love you both!.....Christopher Hollis: Babygirl misses you boo! Rockin' that ring pop everywhere

Ashley Murray: Hey Fam!!!! All is well. No injuries thus far. Just ALOT of bug bites. I got a new boyfriend! He's a Rastafarian! You'll love him! He looks like Lil' Wayne with no teeth! If you don't know who Lil' Wayne is...look him up. By the way, I'm totally kidding. Anyway, send my love to everyone. xoxo.

Justin Finch: Hey mom! Sorry I haven't called we have had some phone issues. So far everything has been great and we are all sore. I will try and call you soon so if you get a call from a random number be sure to pick up. I hope everything is well back home and tell everyone I said hello.

John Colett: Hey everyone. Jamaica is an exciting place to see and I'm loving every minute of it. All is well

Matt Branson: Hey mom and dad i just wanted to say sorry I havent called we have had alot of phone problems but i will call when i can im haven alot of fun and i will talk to yall soon love yall

Mitchel: Honey, some flowers for you, love ya.


Lindsay: Hey Lorn!! :) Miss you boo. Hope you aren't too lonely without us there to dirty up the house and make lots of noise. I miss your smiling face sooooo much!! :)
-- Christopher I hope you aren't still having trouble breathing without us there. You are missing out on Tony's fake German accent when he talks to the Jamaicans, yes German. It's presh. We are doing lots of showing out in your honor... don't you worry! KISSES!! Love you guys!--Amber: HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! (In case I don't get to write again before then) We have been thinking about you. Love you too sugar britches!!

Tony the Tiger: RARRRR! Miss you Lorna! Ich liebe dich

Toddy: Hey Mom and Chris. Miss you both and wish you could be here to complete the circle. We are having alot of fun. Amber I miss you a lot a lot. You should see the view from the house we are staying at... it's almost as beautiful as you! ;o) Love you boo and hope you have an amazing birthday!

Kristin: Hey Kyndal....I lover you and I misser you!!! Mom and Dad I miss yall and I love yall. Tell Menaw, Jo, and Lummie I said hey and I miss them too. It is really nice here but very humid. The house is really nice. I will call you again tomorrow, love yall!

Beth: Hey Johnny Earl and Laraine, hope you both are doing great! Things here are good, we are having a great time. Thanks for taking care of the "Big Mo". Love you.

Just wanted to say that we will focus on getting more work pictures with the posts. There are a few but we hope to grab some better ones. We have had some tech issues but now have it resolved for the rest of the trip.

Things to note:
Our phones keep dying on us so it is difficult to get calls out, so be sure to pick up if you have a call from a random number.

If you have any suggestions as to what you want us to include in the updates or things you want us to focus on with our pictures, you can leave them in the comment section or send an email to MUMCjamaica@gmail.com. Quick comment tutorial: In the bottom right of each post there is a thing that says ## comments. Here you can read and post new comments. To post a comment type out whatever it is you want to say and in the drop down box right below the text box pick Name. A new box will appear and you only need to put your name, you do not need to enter a URL address. Hit continue and you should be done. If this doesn't work just send an email to address above.

Pictures:

Hope you are all doing well, we are having a blast.

After our Sunday Church Service with some of the kids that sang in the choir.


The whole group plus our cook, Louise, (Middle), Trevor, our host, (Middle Back Row) and Graham, the caretaker, (back right).


Dirt, Sifting and Mixing.


Our house that we are staying at in Lime Hall.


The group on our 2 hour bus ride to the house in Lime Hall.


Our sifting stations and huge piles of dirt.


The dirt pile outside after working on it until lunch.


Inside the Fellowship hall at the beginning of the day.


A View from the road on the way to the Golden Springs Church.