We've got to keep on Moving....

First of all I need to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to WILLY! Well actually his Birthday was on December 4 but this was the earliest I could get something posted! I think, for the most part, he had a fabulous day! We were in Kingston taking care of “business” and decided to stay with our embassy friend Roger. He lives at Powell Plaza and has AC, hot water, internet, all the cable channels one can imagine, and a very comfy bed! It’s better than the way we were living in the U.S. (ahhh married housing at UI). For Will’s birthday we were able to eat at a fancy Italian restaurant- (uh yeah I said ITALIAN!) Will had pasta with smoked sausage and I had some yummy chicken alfredo with fettuccini…ahhh my mouth is watering just thinking about it! We shared this delightful experience with our favorite Tennessee”ians” We were also able to find some rainbow chip cake mix and frosting so Jesse and I baked a cake. At midnight we ate that yummy cake and Will opened his gifts!

(Josh really liked the CAKE!) -->

We returned to our site and decided that this slump we’re in needed to come to a screeching hault! This might sound easy however; admittedly this is the hardest thing Will or I have ever done…this Peace Corps business that is! We’ve decided that if our supervisor isn’t willing to work with us then we need to find our own things to do. On Friday I went to the 4-H office and was relieved to hear they needed my help. I will start working with them almost every Friday doing trainings for 4-H kids in agriculture, home economics, and the environment. On Monday we were pleasantly surprised with work…not real, tangible, Peace Corps, meeting goals work….but work! We went to a farmer’s house and helped him plant some onion seed. This leads me into my next lesson…..

Farming 101 Jamaica Style!

I watched the farmers take a machete and chop all the dead debris from the field. After doing so they raked it all into a pile, out of the field. Once finished they took their onion seed and scattered it about the field (I’m told there is a method to it). Once they spread the seed they got down on their hands and knees and used their machete to bury the seed. Carefully they would agitate the soil with their machete until they believed all the seed was covered. Once this tedious task was finished the farmers would take some guinea grass and cover all the soil.

Our job was to run a test plot and show them a more mechanized way to farm. A rotovator (commonly know to us as a rototiller) was purchased for this particular project along with a seed planter. A training session took place to show the farmers how to use the machinery and together we figured out how much time it took to till and plant 1/10 of an acre…I will go through later and do the math to figure out how long it will take to use this machinery on 1 acre. This will show farmers that by using the machinery they can cut their labor in half.

Other than that things are moving along…We’re really excited for Christmas but sad at the same time! We’re going to stay in Porti with Josh and Jesse which will be really fun however we’re going to miss everyone at home…especially the snow! I think it might be 85° here now….so cooling off! HAHA! Love you all!!!

P.S. This is the view from the top of Mandeville the mountain Northeast of us- therefore this is kind of an aerial view of where we live!