rachelanna.com

Dear Family and Friends,

Thank you all for your letters and prayers 🙂 -they are gratefully
recieved. I am, as always, having a good time. Jamaica is so much more
than I could possibly imagine when I was back in the States. People here
are so much friendlier than I imagined. Everywhere I go, I always find
myself with what we in Jamaica call “picknie,” aka, children. Granted,
there aren’t kids in our training sessions, but there are plenty of other
opportunities to be with them and talk to them.

Tomarrow, I have an interview with some staff, which happen to be friends of
mine. That interview is my opportunity to talk about where I would like to
be in Jamaica, what living conditions I need or would like to have.

I am still having trouble with the food–to me, it feels like every jamaican
meal has too much seasoning, but my host mother is very
understanding–today, she made my breakfast without any seasoning at all and
it was perfect. Breakfast in Jamaica is a big meal, often with veggies or
any number of other things. My host mother is also getting the idea that I
only want and need small portions.

In my host family’s house, we are among the few that have a washing machine.
we also have showers, which not all volunteer’s host families have.

If I haven’t mentioned it yet, Jamaica is on St. Louis time until the Fall,
and then on Eastern Standard time because we don’t have daylight savings.

The Rastafarians here do not have that big of a presence. All of the ones I
see are introverted and quiet, usually in a state of self-imposed poverty
and keeping to themselves. I haven’t talked to any though. THey are only
about 15% of the population.

Overall, the key to Jamaica is being loving, smiling, courtesy, and
interaction. Jamaicans want to be recognized, so I make sure to greet them
(obviously, when appropriate).

I love you all!!
Sincerely,
Rachel

Dear Family and Friends,

The supposed hurricane was nothing. we didn’t even get the slightest bit of
heavy rains. mostly mist.
My assignment is “water sanitation/hygene education,” but don’t ask yet what
that means.
Today, we will be going to our homestay families and living there for 5
weeks and training as well. I am not sure how much I will be able to email
you from there. Maybe there is a library or something.
the food is good, similar in some ways and different in others. I will tell
you about it later when I have more time.

I love you all. Have to go to class.
by the way, almost all the current pcvs have cell phones, and almost all the
new trainees are getting one, so being as it is the most practical
communication for us, me, and me to others, I will be getting one as well.
they are very economical. see ya! I forgot to mention that many, many
Jamaicans also have cell phones too. some vollunteers said that they came
to the pc to escape materialism, but we have walked right into the eye of
it. maybe it will be different in the country.

see ya later, and I love you all!!!
rachel

Dear loved Friends and Family,

I did arrive safely and am having a good time… I was not charged at all
for my overweight luggage–everything went very smoothly.

DON’T BE ALARMED, but you should know that today there is a hurricane storm
passing about 150 miles below us in the ocean, but they still cancelled
training for the rest of today. I don’t see why since it is only rain and
wind and so far it has been very light and has supposedly already passed the
island, but oh well. I can use the time to catch up on reading.

For the next five weeks, I will be in what is called Community Based
Training, or CBT. Mail will be delivered to my training site once a week.
I think that we in Water San will be based in Old Harbor/Old Harbor Bay for
that time. then we will come back to Kingston for a week, which will
complete our 7 week training session. “Swearing in,” the event that
signifies that I am officially a PCV will take place on August 22. Then, I
will go to my site (having had seen it once or twice while in CBT) and stay
there for my service (providing that all goes well and it is a good match).

My address in Jamaica has changed to:

Rachel McVey
c/o Suchet Loois
United States Peace Corps
8 Worthington Ave
Kingston 5
Jamaica, West Indies

it is very, very, very important that every line reads EXACTLY as shown
above.
it is a long address for such seemingly little information. anyway, that is
the address for all mail and packages, at least for now. in six weeks time,
I may give you another address to send mail.

Some of the words or phrases they have taught us to say in Patois:

–“Marning!”
–“wa-goin”
–“nutin”
–“ire”
–“wa-yo-naa?”
–“mename-a-Rachel”

those are just some of them.
So today, I was walking to class and I decided that I would say “Marning!”
to every Jamaican that I met, and sing hymns along the way. it was so much
fun and even just saying hello impressed and made the people I met feel
good.

In training, we are learning that one of the most self defense mechanisms is
to integrate ourselves into Jamaican culture, learn the language.
Jamaican’s respect for an American goes way up when the American can speak
their language–and their respect is what I need to work with them and get
my job done. Sometime it may also come in handy to get my self out of a
situation that I don’t want to be in.

I love you all!

Hopefully, I will soon send (if you would like) a picture of the Kingston
Drummers. They were so much fun.

With much love,
Rachel

Dear Friends and Family,

I have arrived safely and am having a GREAT time!! last night, we had a
welcome dinner and the kingston drummers performed for us. they entered the
room singing “sho-la-zo-sha” or something like that–one of my favorite
African songs. that was so much fun for me. they were so good. :)!!!
Training is going very well. I am out of time.
I love you and will write again soon.
love rachel

dear loved friends and family,

Tomarrow at 6:30 am we will check out of the omni colonade hotel–all 77 of
us. At 11:00 our flight will be lifting off and at 11:48 am will will land
in our new home, Jamaica. I can’t write much now, but I love all of you!!!

Much love,
Rachel