END OF THE MONTH!

We still don’t have power back at our office! Now it has been almost 4 weeks! I’m told it’s because RADA is a government organization and I need not explain the rest….so that is that :)

Yesterday Will and I had the pleasure of escorting some Cubans around St. Elizabeth. We had a lot of fun talking with them and showing them how farming is done in Jamaica. They will be helping Jamaica in the months to come with some technical advice on how to use better farming techniques. Their goal yesterday was to go around and see how things are currently being done! We took them to several farms that have irrigation, farms that don’t have irrigation, livestock operations, and one of five pumping stations in the lower part of St. Elizabeth. The best part of this entire experience…a gift from the Cubans…some FINE CIGARS! We were so excited to receive these and are looking forward to a special occasion where we can light them up! (i.e. maybe Josh Hunters B-Day???)

Today I had my very first compost training with the women’s group that I work with in Malvern! It was a lot of fun. I trained about 15 women. I’m looking forward to more things to come from this group. (pictured below is the training)

It’s the end of the month and we FINALLY got paid! However it seems that all our money is already almost gone. I would like to give everyone an idea of what we’re paid and how it’s spent: (I need to note that the exchange rate has skyrocketed! When we got here it was $66J = $1US now its $85J = $1US)
----Rent- this costs Will and I $14,000J which is $165 U.S Dollars
----Internet- $2,000J which is $23.50 per month
----Food- The grocery store can be really expensive! Usually with any given month Will and I spend about $18,000J or $212 US on food, toiletries, cleaning supplies, etc. We went to the market yesterday and purchased:
**Potato’s- $60J per pound or 70 cents US
**Cucumber- $70J per Pound or 82 cents US
**Carrot- $70J per pound or 82 cents US
**Escallion and Thyme- $50J a bundle or 58 cents US
**Garlic- 9 cloves for $60J or 70 cents US
**Tomato- $60J per pound or 70 cents US
**Bell Pepper- $150 per pound or $1.76 US (the price of peppers is up because the demand is so high and there is a shortage right now)
**We buy our meat from the Agriculture school which costs us about $3,000J per month or $36 US- we buy pork, chicken, and beef from them and it lasts us all month long.
----Transportation for the month-
**A trip to Kingston costs us: $400J or $4.70 US to ride the bus from Santa to Kingston (the bus has a capacity of 25 but we manage to fit about 43-45 people)
**Once in Kingston there are route taxis or Chartered taxis- we usually try to take a route taxi which can charge $50J-100J ($60 cents US- $1.20) the problem with these is you have to “small up “which means squeeze as many in as possible. Our personal best is 9 in a taxi including the driver.

These are all rough estimates but as you can see the money is gone just like that and the next month we start all over again!

Extra Extra Read All About It....

This was the headline in the Observer- a Jamaican Newspaper! I just have to post this because in the midst of a global crisis this is what makes headlines! The article talks about prostitutes having to lower their prices because people can't afford to pay what they were previously charging...why you might ask...well the world is in a crisis. I might be the only one who finds this funny (not the fact that the world is in a crisis but the fact that prostitutes make the front page of a newspaper claiming they have to lower prices to make a living) so please forgive me if you don't find the humor in it!-- A little side note- Prostitution is ILLEGAL in Jamaica ;)

Our office still doesn't have power...tomorrow marks two weeks! When they say things move slow in the Caribbean it's not a joke! They get to it when they get to it! That leaves Will and I going to four hour meetings-- yes I said it- 4 HOUR MEETINGS!!! Don't ask me why because I can't truly explain the rationale behind it. Am I integrated...well yes I would like to think so however there are some things I still don't understand and probably never will!

A short and sweet post- headed to Kingston tomorrow! Pizza Hut is calling our names....and some meetings too! Love you ALL!

Rats and Roaches....

After arriving home from our Christmas Holiday in Portland, we had an unpleasant and unexpected house warming gift. We went into the kitchen one morning to find a half eaten tomato and little doo doo everywhere. When Andrea was doing dishes she heard something moving around in a plastic bag on top of the cabinets. You could tell by how loud it was being that it was not a little lizard as may be expected. Andrea decided that she should wait until someone got out of the shower before she ventured back into the kitchen to see for sure what it was. When Ms. Brooks finally got out of the shower and came back into the kitchen, she asked Andrea why she was standing looking into the kitchen. Andrea told her that she heard something moving in the bag on top of the cabinet. At that point Ms. Brooks being the brave soul that she is climbed on top of a stool with a broom and began moving the bag around in an effort to get the little creature out of the bag. Next thing I knew, some one was screaming bloody murder. I quickly rinsed off, jumped out of the shower and went to see who had been shot. Too my surprise it was just Andrea and Ms. Brooks. They told me the entire story and said that the little or big rat according to them ran out of the bag and down the wall and out the window. They were shaking in their boots. Andrea had piddled herself and Ms. Brooks was on the ground in a fetal position. ---

Alright I (Andrea) had to take over this story because Will was getting a little out of hand…the "doo doo" as he puts it was getting a little too deep! So there was indeed a rat in our house and yes he was big, hairy, and nasty. We thought he went out the window but boy were we dead wrong. When we came home from work we found another half eaten tomato. Ms. Brooks put out some rat poison with peanut butter and we figured that night we would kill him. He ate the poison that night and survived! The next night we set a trap with a piece of cheese on it. The little bastard ate the cheese and managed to escape being caught. We found out he was in a bin on the back porch- we carefully took the bin outside and each grabbed a machete- when he came running out we would simply chop (kill) him with our machete’s. Easier said than done- the rat came flying out of the barrel and there I was chasing him through our back yard…the little shit escaped! I thought he would be smart enough to know that coming back into our house would be a bad idea…boy was I dead wrong…the next morning we woke up and found 3 half eaten tomato’s. We set the trap one last time- wrapped the cheese in plastic and tied it to the trap. Much to our surprise that night we caught him! I just hope he didn’t tell all of his friends about the great tomatoes in our house!

Will also found some roaches in the cupboard. It’s amazing because we’ve been here for almost 7 months and I am not as freaked out about them. He just sprayed them and that was that!

I would like to direct everyone to Grace’s final blog post. She was a Peace Corps Volunteer living about a block away from us. She left us the day before yesterday and I can’t quite put it as eloquently as she does so check it out at... http://iboughtapairofbirkenstocks.blogspot.com/ I just need her to know how much we will miss her! It was great getting to know her and having her bubbly personality around!

Lastly a big uop (thanks) to Gail and Luke for sending us a great care package with lots of bug spray and goodies we really appreciated it! Big uop to Lindsey and Brandon as well- they sent a nice package for Christmas too- more goodies! And the final Big uop goes out to my dad- he sent us a GREAT package with movies, popcorn, candy, and lotion! Finally I need to tell everyone thank you for sending us Christmas Cards: Michael and Erin, Grandma and Grandpa Hoobing, Grandma and Grandpa Farner, Annie and Steve, Jeannie and Terry Newlan, and Mario and Alice Reyes! We really appreciated them! Love to Everyone! We miss you all!

P.S. Will updated our photos on flickr so take a look- the link on the top right of the page labeled Schumaker Photos!

As Promised....Christmas Reflections!

Christmas was spent in the wonderful green parish of Portland! We had a great time! It took us about 5.5 hours to get there which is slightly ridiculous considering the distance itself couldn’t have been more than 150 miles total- which proves to all of our faithful readers just how bad these roads are! The 5.5 hours also didn’t include the time it took us to wait for the bus to load in Santa Cruz and again in Kingston….sigh. However the trip was worth every second of it! We traveled with Dave and Molly another married couple that lives in Clarendon. The 6 of us spent Christmas together!

Josh and Jesse live in a cute little town called Comfort Castle which is located on the Rio Grande- they have amazing views and a perfect little house! We spent Christmas with them. They took us on a little hike back to an amazing waterfall- by far the most beautiful thing I’ve seen since we’ve been here. It was completely secluded and breathtaking. The hike wasn’t too bad- We opted to wear our chacos because we were warned of mud…and oh was there mud; mud squishing between our toes- it was marvelous. Here are a few photos from the waterfall…

We also baked sugar cookies- a uol eap a cookies that is!! They were so tasty and somehow we managed to eat every last crumb! A work of art if I might add- Jesse decided they are Target colored cookies since the red is a little pink and green is so bright!

After our time in Comfort Castle we traveled to Long Bay and stayed in the glass house (a guest house on the coast). Mind you we were supposed to spend two nights here however we couldn’t get a taxi out on Boxing Day- December 26! They were running on Christmas day but not on the 26…WTF! We were stranded at Josh and Jesse’s house for another night- which was GREAT! We made yummy pizza and watched movies. At the glass house we ate more pizza and played dominos while two Peace Corps friends Rob and Un joined us and spent the night.

When I woke up in the morning this was the view…. -->

We then traveled to Port Antonio and stayed in a cute little guest house for two nights. We arrived on a Sunday and of course there wasn’t any cheap restaurants open…so we ate at the marina! It was fabulous! Will had chicken fettuccine and I had a nice greasy cheeseburger. It was MOST EXCELLENT!

<-- the dismay of things being too pricey on the menu with our little peace corps budget!

Josh and Jesse also took us to Frenchman’s Cove a nice little beach tucked away. We soaked in some rays- I almost lost my sunglasses- a wave came at me and nearly knocked me out- I couldn’t stop laughing but then realized I was missing my sunglasses ( the wave was so strong it took them right off my face) Thank god for Josh who found them in the water- sunk on the Caribbean floor. They also took us to monkey island- It’s about a 25 ft jump into the water- the waves were crashing like mad and I was too much of a sissy to jump- maybe next time when the water isn’t so violent! We had a great time with our friends! Christmas wasn’t quite the same but we’re so thankful to have our friends here to share it with. (Pictured Below is Monkey Island)

Oh my heck…It’s finally raining in Santa Cruz! We’re getting our first down pour in three weeks…and it’s marvelous! (just a little side note!) As always love to EVERYONE!