Raindrops and Sunshine

It's raining right now. I'm sitting under a tarp within the courtyard of my residence, and am watching people, avoiding my homework and attempting to blog. Rain feels different here, because it's so warm, and perhaps that is why people aren't walking any faster with the rain falling. Nobody is scurrying, or rushing into their cluster. This strikes me as strange, because I think I would have to fight every urge inside of me not to make a run for it.

It feels like I just blogged, and am impressed with myself that I am blogging again. But I anticipate this being a busy week, and I have begun to explore this place beyond campus, so there are things to say.

I got groceries downtown on Friday. After a few days of conspiring with some of the other exchange students how to see this country, I was feeling quite ready to put words into action. And so it was that Jessica, Anders and I, along with Jessica's friend Dave, caught a taxi, which whisked us away from campus, and into a seemingly different and wonderful world. Ripe with smells of raw sewage, rotting produce and marijuana, downtown stood in stark contrast to the institutional environment which I have come to call home these days. As a lover of people watching, I was in heaven. From every corner, there was music playing, and children running, and women hair-doing, and men smoking and I knew that this was the Jamaica that would be the easiest for me to love. It was the most inefficient way of doing grocery shopping, because every shop is set up like a hallway, where the products and employees stand behind bars and wait for you to order your groceries like you were asking to see a movie. But it didn't matter that in the moment the only things I could remember to buy were Cheerios and Kraft Dinner, because I had rubbed shoulders and captured eye contact with so many storied humans that I could have gone home empty handed and been happy.

On Sunday, along with 2 other exchange students, we caught a taxi back downtown, and from downtown, to Port Royal. What was once a bustling port, and pirate central, was on Sunday a strangely dead town. Together, we explored the historic part of the city for a bit, bought some snacks, and then waited for a boat to take us from Port Royal to Lime Cay, a tiny island and beach. A BEACH! Over two weeks into my stay here, and I finally touched some sand and swam in the ocean.

I finished the weekend feeling so full of sun and thankfulness.

This week promises to bring more adventure and excitement. Sunday kicked off 'Rex Week', a week full of activities for people in my Hall. I am even part of a choir which is performing in a competition on Tuesday or Wednesday- bahaha. Yes, I am the only white girl in my cluster's choir, and yes, we are singing contemporary Jamaican songs, and yes, we have included the ever popular 'Romping Shop' song as part of our medley. This is your cue to laugh. You should know though, that the other option was dancing (because no participation is really not an option), and as much as my flatmates would have loooooved to witness my attempt at dancing, I am hoping to embarass myself less this way. I will let you know how it turns out.

That's all. I'm going to go fight my instincts, and catch some raindrops in my hair.

Love to you.