Pam? How do girls your age feel about futons?

It has come to our attention that individuals are dissatisfied with the information that we choose to post in our blog. I am atempting to remedy this now. I don't want my mother to think that this is just an extended college experience. It's more like high school really. Lots of rules and everyone is in everyone else's business. You know what I have come to love while in Jamaica? Jalapeno Pringles. Delicious. I've really taken to Jamaican cuisine, as you can see. Okay, onto what we are doing and where we are. Forgive me any redundancy that may occur. Our main project is to start an after school homework/literacy program at a local private orphanage. We will have children of all ages and grade levels. There are about 100 children at the orphanage and they attend myriad different schools in the area. School starts on Monday, and we'll be there when the kids get out to help them with homework. For the first couple weeks, the plan is to assess the children and get them to show up. After a bit, we would like to begin carrying out lessons of our own about literacy, life skills, health, etc. We're also hoping to have the orphanage library open in October. It will depend on how soon we can get it fumigated. I am sure I have written about the library, but here is more about it anyway. It's in the basement of the kindergarten that is near the orphanage. It is smaller than a colllege dorm room and there are a lot of mosquitos. Once we get rid of the termite poo, I think it will be quite lovely. I think we're going to arrange the books by grade level and have the children color pictures to decorate the walls. It faces a dirty, but melodic little creek, and it's fairly cool as it's always in shade. We're going to teach some of the older children to keep track of check-outs and they are going to run the library for a little pocket money. The set-up of the orphanage is unique. It is arranged in a little village. There are about 12 houses, each one has a mother and an auntie and 8-10 children of mixed ages and sexes. It is long term care, so they try to find children that probably won't be adopted. The village serves as a community for them, and their adopted mothers and siblings as family. It's an interesting idea. We really enjoy the mothers. They are friendly and clearly insane. They have to be there 24/7 taking care of up to 10 children. Very selfless. They humble me. There are, of course, general rules, but each mother is the head of her own house and they all run things a little differently. She does her own shopping and cooking and whatnot. It's not like an institutional orphanage at all. The village is at the top of a hill. It's fairly scenic. There's a creek that has the potential to be pretty, and a lot of green. The concrete buildings all match, they're painted blue and beige. They kind of form a horseshoe shape on the side of the hill. We are currently living at the bottom of the hill, about a 10 minute walk from the village. The road we take to get up there is one lane and rapidly disentegrating. It's mostly a giant bumpy pothole with a few patches of asphalt. It's lined on both sides with dense vegetation. At first I thought it was really secluded, but then people started popping out of the bush with machetes and goats and I realized that the vegetation is not that dense on one side and that there are houses nearby, You can still, however, get the illusion of isolation while walking as long as no one is blaring dancehall music. It's devestatingly hot if you attempt to summit the hill around noon. Other times, there is some shade. There is a lot of horse poop and dead frogs in the road. I feel bad for the frogs. I like them. The children try to kill them. The kids are funny. They really like Patrick. The little ones want him to throw them, and they climb all over him. They come to me only when his arms are already full. If I come without him they ask where he is. They scatter when I attempt to chat with them. Most of the older children are polite and a bit uninterested in us. The little ones get pretty excited and they are totally unintelligable. We have a hard time even catching their names. The house closest to the road is full of little boys and you can hear them all yelling right as you enter the village. It's amusing. Alright, did you appreciate this? Or was it boring? Provide me with some feedback, please.