LearnServe Jamaica 2018, Day 1: Goats in the Street

Sunday, June 24 – Today we left DC to go to Kingston, Jamaica. We have been preparing for months leading up to today. We had to be at the airport at 4am! Unfortunately, our flight got delayed in Miami. We were waiting for take-off for two hours, but we eventually got to Jamaica. It was a bumpy flight, and it hurt my ears, but they popped back a few hours later.

Arriving in Jamaica was great. It wasn’t really hot but it was humid. We met Jason Anderson, our in-country leader at the airport. He is Jamaican and from Kingston. He picked us up in a big purple bus and first took us to the grocery store so we could buy snacks. It was hard because we had to convert everything from Jamaican dollars into American dollars and it seemed really expensive ($1 US Dollar = $120 Jamaican Dollars). Then he took us to Shortwood Teachers College (a college teaching program) campus and we arrived at our new home.

When we arrived at the house it was surprising to us. We didn’t expect our temporary home to look like this. Windows open, loose goats in the street, and limits to how much water we could use. I was nervous to take a shower because they told us the water would be cold but it was actually really hot. Even though it was a bit dirty and so humid when we moved in, Team Jamaica got comfortable in the new environment fast. We made it our own. We put a fan in every room and moved the furniture around to make a circle for our meetings.

Coming to Jamaica has been a huge eye opener. Seeing how people live and maneuver around the city (they drive on the left side of the road!) is very different from home. There was a lot of trash on the ground, more than I was expecting. I was surprised to see a MAC store at the mall as well because I didn’t know MAC was an international store.

I had to adapt quickly to experience all of the new things. Coming to a whole new country with different weather, food, environment, and culture is surprising. I’ve realized I have to change my mindset because I know that we are going to be here awhile. We have to get used to it all because this is just the beginning – we have 15 more days to go!

Janee J., Central High School