Once upon a time & place

Sunday – August 15, 2010

Well, the Caribbean sun has finally risen & fallen on my last day in Jamaica. After ten weeks of working for Falmouth Heritage Renewal and exploring this amazing country it is time to head home. I spent the day at a local beach called Time & Place reflecting on this summer’s experience. Words can’t really capture how I’m feeling and I don’t want this to sound like one of those annoying Oscar acceptance speeches, but. Jamaica is an amazing country of both contradictions and beauty and will have a lasting impact on me both professionally and personally. I’m blessed to have had this experience and to have worked with some great people. Like wise I’m blessed to have had the support and love of everyone back home who encouraged me to spread my wings and challenge myself. There are too many people to thank as nothing we are ever given in this world happens without the help, love and support of the people we surround ourselves with. So thanks, you all know who you are and hopefully how important you are to me! I’ll walk away with a bigger and better view of the world and a stronger realization of my place in it. As I move forward in my career I can only hope to have a fraction of an impact on the world as it has had on me!

The best laid plans,

Saturday – August 14, 2010

Well, the votes were in and the Blue Mountains won! Janice had arranged accommodations at the Rasta/coffee farm in the Blue Mountains, KeVaughn was coming, and we were all set for one last grand Jamaican adventure… Then tragedy struck, the car we had arranged fell through! Next option was an old taxi (with no spare tire) that someone would let us use for the weekend for the right price. The owner popped the hood on the engine and started feeding the car oil and other fluids. As he started to tighten loose wires... the red flags went up. Driving five hours over mountains, through Kingston to the other side of the country, two days before we’re supposed to leave Jamaica, in a car that looked like it would have a hard time getting to Ochi was probably not the smartest choice. So sadly, we decided to pull the plug on the Blue Mountain Adventure. If Jamaica has taught me anything its expect the unexpected, its hard has hell to actually get anywhere, and don’t get your hopes up! So it looks like our last weekend will be spent in Falmouth, relaxing at Club Manse, drinking a few Red Stride, and dining on some Juicy Patties…. Oh well, there is always next time!

A trip to the doctor's

Friday – August 13, 2010

With our work for Falmouth Heritage Renewal coming to a close, and everything stored on hard drives & put away, it was time to enjoy our last few days in Jamaica! What better way to celebrate the close of a great internship than with a trip to the beach and not just any beach. It was time to head to Montego Bay, and the famous Doctor’s Cave Beach. Doctor’s Cave Beach was originally founded by the Montego Bay Bathing Club back in 1906, and is named after a cave that a bunch of doctor’s use to hang out at. In, fact the beach is so well know that it actually appears on the Jamaican $50.00. I’m not too sure of any other country that actually has a picture of a beach on their currency. Beautiful white sand and clear blue waters awaited as we spent our last Friday in Jamaica soaking up some Caribbean sun while floating in Montego Bay. If you’re ever in Montego Bay and looking for a place to relax, away from the hustle and bustle of the city than Doctor’s Cave Beach is for you. Not too shabby!

Finishing with a bang!

Thursday - August 12, 2010

With everything wrapped up and things at Falmouth Heritage Renewal coming to a close, it was time for one last meeting. This time with the local Custus of Trelawney. What’s a Custus you might ask? That’s a good question and I’m not quite sure myself. It’s one of those holder overs from Jamaica’s colonial days, when the Custus was an appointee of the crown and served as a middleman to the colonial government and Britain. Not quite the same role this days, but the local custus is very active, connected, and involved with the community here in Falmouth. He is probably the only local official I’ve actually seen on the streets, talking to people, and engaged in what is going on with the community. It was a great meeting and I felt he was very receptive to many of my ideas and insights. Always good to end on a high note and feel like my study might help people look at their community in a new and fresh light.

Down to the Wire

Wednesday – August 11, 2010

You know how those last few seconds of a game seem to take forever, well it’s the same when you’ve been working for ten weeks in Jamaica! You’ve done all the work, everything is wrapped up and in the bag, all you are waiting for is that final buzzer to sound! With things drawing to a close it was time to get caught up on some of our ICOMOS paper, evaluations, and presentations. One of the high lights of this internship experience will the final get together in Washington DC where all the interns in the exchange program will be presenting their work from the summer in a short power point presentation. I am really looking forward to seeing everyone’s presentations and hearing about their experiences living in other countries. I made some good friends during the program introduction in DC back in June and its been fun follow everyone on facebook. So it will be even better to see everyone in person and catch up. Looking forward to it!

A man of many talents

Tuesday – August 10, 2010

As the last week in Jamaica chugs on, its time to put the finishing touches on all our projects, get them organized, put on the right hard drives, and make sure everyone knows where to find it. That means spending a lot of time with Nick, Jim’s second in command, who we have worked with closely over the summer. He does so much behind the scenes work, and like many non profits he is also the defacto – office manager, IT guy, public relations coordinator, AV guy ect…. He really is the glue that holds this organization together. He’s also been our go to guy with any questions regarding Falmouth Heritage Renewal as well as Jamaica. Thanks Nick for all your help & hard work! Wish we had spent more time just hanging out.

Another Monday

Monday - August 9, 2010

I know I have said it before but Mondays are tough especially when you have spent a weekend seeing amazing places. It is really hard to get back into work mode after two public holidays in one week. There’s a lot to do in this last week as well; finishing up traffic/mobility reports, writing essays& evaluations for ICOMOS, and putting together a final slide show. Despite all this I still found time to take some time off this afternoon and help Nick, the peace corp. volunteer, build a swing set for a little girl whose birthday is coming up this weekend. It was great to get out of the office this afternoon and actually see something being accomplished. There is something to be said about building something physical, you can actually see results and smiles on little kids faces!