Good Night

On day two I met with a couple more volunteers that have joined at the Indies Hotel.  After an early cup of coffee and orange juice, our mission for the morning was to get some Jamaican Dollars and get our cell phones working in Jamaica. 

If there is one thing that reflects the modern times of Jamaica (there's more, but this in particular is ubiquitous), it's the wireless telecom industry.  Digicel, Lime, Claro - they are everywhere in [New] Kingston.  People have Digicel branded wear for reasons I am not sure of, and you have no problem finding places that sell talk time credits.  The ads for the three companies are everywhere.  I need to get a picture of the Digicel HQ store in Kingston, which has been the brightest and most noticeable store that I've come across here.  Getting set up with a cell phone is fairly simple and tourist friendly - purchase sim card, credits, and go!

In the afternoon we met Tarik, the CUSO-VSO Jamaica representative.  Although he'll admit to not being very good with administrative matters, when it came to discussing the various programs and initiatives in Jamaica, I believe there would be no one more knoweldgeable or inspiring on the matters.  After learning more about what's currently in the works, it was comforting to know that he was at the helm of the operations.  On another note, I was told before during training, and now am able to see for myself, people will generally be formal when greeting others so first contact will open with "Good Morning" or "Good Afternoon".  Today, I was told that includes "Good Night", which when you think about it, makes sense!  I haven't heard it yet, but I imagine I would have to get used to hearing "Hello, Good Night" without thinking that was the quickest conversation ever.

For dinner and to cap off the night, we went to Sweetwood.  I had some jerk lamb, which was delicious as was the mango / orange / pineapple juice that accompanied it.  A perfect refreshment to cool down after a day of walking in the sun.

Jerk lamb and festival