Uh, no, I only give my organs to my real friends. Go get yourself a monkey kidney

Sorry about the poem to my bathroom. I realize that is a bit bizarre, but hey that’s me. It really is quite funny the things one miss when they are removed from their home. I figured it would be more like… well I stared that thought thinking I could verbalize my expectations for my homesickness, but alas I cannot. I guess it would be more accurate to say that I am surprised how much I miss American grocery stores, my bed, black beans, Bob Jones, etc. I definitely miss people more than things, but I was just unprepared for consciously missing some of these things. I am not too beat over the absence of these things, but I wanted to make Chipolte type burritos and couldn’t find black beans anywhere. I was prepared to look for ‘Frijoles Negros’ but was unsuccessful on that front as well. Grrrr.

So the elections here were interesting. To give y’all a frame of reference… imagine a democrat voter getting a verbal lashing from a republican voter and deciding to get a rock and chuck it at the republican. More rock throwing ensues and both leave their debate ducking for cover. Not everybody is so politically violent, but many people here are very passionate about their politics. The voter turn out here was only 60%, which surprised me because everybody has A LOT to say about Jamaican politics. The JLP won the election and I guess there are some hard feelings about it. But it did not stop some JLP supporters from having a party in downtown MoBay, and pretty much getting smashed in Sam Sharpe Square. Hopefully things return to normal soon as Erin and I really want to wear some green outside without making a political statement.

We read down here in Jamaica. I feel that ‘avid reader’ should be included in PC required skills. We have read all of the books we brought with us and have started to borrow books from other volunteers. There is an organization here that distributes donations from the US called Food for the Poor. We much of what they get in the form of books is trash that didn’t sell in the states and the publisher wanted a tax write-off. They received something like 450 copies of Madeline Albright’s memoirs. ‘Yes’ to your next question, I resorted to reading the 500-page autobiography of the former secretary of state. It’s a pretty dry read but hey it’s has words and pages and fills in some of the vastness that is my spare time. I would not recommend it to anyone that could get their hands on any other type of literature. Well enjoy the pics and my poem to my bathroom.

One Love
Patricio