Ya Man!

Well I will try to sum up the last couple of days in some short stories...as promised.

When we arrived in Kingston there was a welcome dinner for us that night. Now mind you this was a very tiring day however we were dressed snazzy for the welcoming of the Jamaican Ambassador! What an honor! The playing of the national anthem nearly brought a tear to my eye! How great it is to be here and doing a service to our country!

On Saturday we had our first experience in Kingston off campus...this was equally exciting but nerve racking! We had several places to visit in a small amount of time. With little to no Patwa at this point it can make traveling somewhat complicated. We got onto a bus $J50.00 which is just under a US Dollar! After that we had to wave down a "Red Plate Taksi" and go to our next destination. Well this was equally entertaining. Imagine; riding in a taksi, stopping for gas, and cutting someone off that was at the gas station first. Mind you the gas was $J89.90 per liter! You do the math- say your prayers it's not that expensive in the US yet :) The taksi driva jumped out and started hollering at the other man- I seriously thought there was going to be a brawl for the gas! Fortunately they were able to work out their differences and away we went- For our listening pleasure--SNOOP DOGG! Then we went to the Market- this was fun but kind of stressful. We got onto another bus only to have it stopped and searched for weapons. The gentlemen behind me had a knife which he slid onto the floor by our feet- everyone was kicking it hoping they wouldn't be the one caught with a weapon. We all asked to get off the bus, were frisked :), and loaded back on the bus- No Harm No Fowl!

Yesterday we decided to handwash all of our clothes from the last week- that is some freaking hard work! My back was aching to say the least- Will was a trooper though and kept me in line while helping me rinse and hang the laundry. Amen for a Washer and Dryer in the U.S.

It has become very apparent to me that the Jamaican people are a very caring, sweet, and nice culture. Over the last few days we both receive several smiles, nods, mornins, and evenin's. We have become more accustom to the heat- however we both still sweat like little pigs in the middle of the day! The food has taken some getting used to- I'm not going to lie- we have both had some seriously upset tummys! The showers are still FRIGID!!! Although some days they are bearable! The bugs must love my skin- I have about 15 bite marks on each leg- oh the pain…and the itching!

We're learning so much about the culture and language! It's so amazing and we haven't even been here for a week! This week we have a couple of field trips planned which will be exciting- I will get better about taking pictures I promise- It's been an adjustment so give me a break:) The thing we're the most excited about is finding out where we will be placed, what our job will actually be, and who our host family is!

Lastly I wanted everyone to know that it’s practically a requirement that we carry a cell phone- therefore if you would like the number please comment or send me an e-mail and I’ll hook you up- We can receive international calls for free but it costs us money to call you!

Likkle Mo! (See you later!)

Welkom Gruup 79

This is your first lesson in Patwa- the official language in Jamaica!

I just wanted everyone to know that we arrived. It's freaking HOT! It's hot at night and we're sweating, sweating, and did I mention we're sweating! Yesterday we took our first cold showers here! I actually showered with a lizard that came climbing up out of the drain! Look at me go- I'm trying new foods- even eating peas! The fruit is delicious and very different-

The rumors are true- the Mangos are AMAZING! I'm loosing battery power however please know that I will post some more soon.

Love to Everyone!

Famous Last Words

Training is finally over!! It reminded us both a lot of RA Training because there are so many little house keeping items to cover!

I just wanted to take this final chance to express some of our thoughts before we actually depart for Jamaica...

We're so excited to live in a different country! Jamaica has so many fantastic things to offer. We both can't wait to immerse ourselves in the culture, meet new people, and begin our projects. The most important thing we're looking forward to is living our lives much simpler. While there are still many unanswered questions....this has been normal for us however at times it can still be frustrating.

Tonight we dine for the final time in the United States! Tomorrow we fly to Jamaica!

What a way to start.....

Well we did it...we're sitting in Florida preparing for Peace Corps- While this is exciting I would like to share some thoughts about our day yesterday :)

We arrived at the airport at approximatively 5:30 a.m. We were flying through Delta airlines- When flying in the United States you're only allowed to check one bag- However if you're flying out of the United States you can check two. We needed to check two bags each because eventually we'll be flying to Jamaica. The clerks just couldn't seem to understand that- we explained to them that our tickets were purchased through the government and we were doing a service to the country. The gentlemen at the counter (Will was his name) proceeded to tell us that Peace Corps is not a service to the United States! Now I want everyone to think for a minute whether or not we're really sacrificing two years of our lives for this country........after much thought I tend to think...uh duh! I was deeply offended by this mans comment and chose to walk away- after a nice hefty bill for our extra bags we walked away and boarded our plane to Florida.

It was extremely hard to say good bye to ALL of our loved ones however I'm grateful to have Will through this entire process. We're preparing to meet everyone in our group! We're excited to meet these people but I have to admit we're also a little nervous. There are so many unknown things ahead of us!

Yesterday for dinner we ate at a fabulous Sushi restaurant and this morning we had some delicious Starbucks Coffee and ate at a little Crepe restaurant. Our hotel is very nice and we got some much needed rest last night.

Love to Everyone!

Our Address

You will be happy to know that I finally found our temporary address! It is listed at the bottom of this blog but I’m also going to post it here, just in case.

William and Andrea Schumaker
C/O Country Director. Howard Anderson.
Peace Corps. 8 Worthington Av.
Kingston 5. Jamaica, West Indies

Maybe I’m not as scatterbrained as I thought…. Or am I…. This address will only work until August 29, 2008 however we would still love to hear from all our family and friends even if it’s just a card to say Hi!

Peace Corps Preperation

I can't believe that in less than 3 weeks we'll be in Jamaica!

The realization that we're actually leaving brings a smile to both our faces. I can't help but have several emotions running through my body! There is sheer excitement for the unknown...a new culture, family, friends, and life for two years. There is sadness simply for leaving our loved ones for such a long time but most of all there is opportunity and joy! We are going to Jamaica to serve our country and the people there. Not only are we going to be learning their culture but they will be learning all about crazy Americans :) I have this sneaky suspicion that people are going to call me "Crazy White Girl," mostly because I'll be running around swatting at cockroaches and mosquito’s. Needless to say I think this is the least of my worries.

Today we booked our airline tickets- We’re leaving June 30 for Florida. We’ll be in Miami from June 30- July 3! On July 3 we’ll depart the United States and board a plane to Jamaica to begin our Peace Corps training.

I promise that sooner or later I’ll find the sheet that has an address where everyone can send our mail however for some reason I can’t find the one piece of paper it’s written on- Go FIGURE!

Utter Chaos!

First off I need to apologize for waiting so long to post something. This last month has been nothing but Chaos! Therefore this will be a fairly lengthy post to provide everyone with all the latest details.

On May 10 Will and I graduated from the University of Idaho- even though it's a month later I still can't believe we were there for 4 years and actually have a degree. The graduation was very tiring and we thank all of our family and friends that were able to attend. We also had a graduation party afterwards- lots and lots of food, chatting, and gifts. I didn't get many pictures from graduation but here is one of Will and I:



After Graduation we finished working- we both finished our commitments to Residence Life- Will worked a little bit for facilities and I finished working with the Latah County Youth Advocacy Council. We went to see Annie and Steve for Memorial Day Weekend. We went to Lake Crescent in Olympic National Park- It was BEAUTIFUL! The bluest water I have ever seen! We had such a great time. Poor Annie is 5 months pregnant and made the trip with great ease :) She even hiked back to a waterfall which totaled about 2 miles- I'm sure the baby really enjoyed all the ca motion. Owen is so fun to be around- he is full of life and energy- I don't know how Annie and Steve keep up with him. We also took our washer and dryer to their new home, coincidently the hose to the washing machine wasn't pushed down far enough and we had to clean up a flooded mess :) Here are some photos from that little trip:




We also had to say our goodbyes. This was probably the worst part. There are a lot of people that we won't be seeing for more than two years so it's kind of hard to say goodbye to them. We went to the Broiler with Cisco, Kaui, and Kaila. I love that little girl and saying goodbye to her was one of the harder things. Saying goodbye to little miss Sadie, Nick, Joy and Brenna was also hard- we went to 1/2 price appetizers at Applebees to say farwell- how I'm going to miss that as well :) I also had to say goodbye to the Knott's! This was awful- I'm going to miss Mauri and her family- She has done so much for me and I can't even begin to tell you how grateful I am for her friendship and love!



On Thursday we loaded up the Budget Truck and towed the pickup. We got 8 freaking miles to the gallon which made for a long drive and expensive with gas at almost $4.00 a gallon! We unloaded all of our stuff into our shed that we bought and put on my grandparents property. It's only 8X8 and fit all of our stuff!! So now we're down in the Boise Valley trying to relax before we depart for Miami July 1 and Jamaica on July 3!