And then we went to meet another manager from Housing. She was wonderful and she told us that she is basically one of three women that works in Student Sevices at UWI, but as she said,"who runs the world? Girls!"
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| Page's with Brooke for Lunch! So tasty, Rice and Peas, Jerked Chicken with Pepper sauce, and Stewed Veggies! |
From there we moved across campus to someone who used to be a housing manager but is now wearingany hats as he coordinating many different activities for students. We spoke specifically about orientation about with him. The orientation program was pretty impressive. The Faculty buy in was what was most impressive thing that was happening with the orientation program. Faculty members are assigned to groups of students that are coming into the University and it truly develops the relations between the students and the professors. I was really impressed with the whole organization of the program.
After that interaction we sat down and talked about what happened so far in the trip. Jay Cooper asked us, "What have you learned about yourself, what have you learned about the Caribbean, and what surprised you."
I thought about it and I wondered about what my answers would be. I honestly had an epiphany. I realized that I, for the first time in my life, was not in the minority. I know that I do not pay attention to my surroundings once I am comfortable so being the only person of color doesn't bother me but not in Jamaica. I kept getting asked if I was an island girl or if i went to UWI. And although my peers were sick of hearing about this from me, it is not often when you have lived your entire life being the "only" and a five hour plane ride later, you are the "many". It was a great feeling.
I even felt that I was acclimated to the country. I didn't feel unsafe, I didn't feel uncomfortable (except the night with the hundreds of rain flies on my bed!) I felt like a local. I even (unintentionally) spoke with a Jamaican accent. Not because I was trying to sound Jamaican but because I listened and learned how they pronounced things and knew that they would understand me better if more like them than my US self.
I don't think that the feeling of not being the "other" will ever feel the same. There are many things that we take for granted and being okay with being the other was one of them. I'm glad that I was able to realize my ability to blend in with my surroundings and feel at home.
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| Brooke made the wrong face on the wrong picture! Love it! |
So after that, we moved to our final lecture of the week. We visited with Professor Dr. Satchell who was one of Professor Buckridge's professors when he was a student.
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| Dr. Satchell! |
Now, I am going to be honest, the lecture was a bit over my head (and I feel some others as well) at first but then it starts to resonate and I started to understand what he was lecturing about. Basically, he told us about the part of Jamaica's history that has forever disappeared. But the remnants of the past linger by the landscaping of the land. He told us to look for history everywhere we go because there is evidence everywhere we go of the past.
It was a great last lecture (once I understood what we were talking about!). Dr. Satchell and his students were so gracious enough to throw us a session with refreshments after the lecture.
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| Rooftop of the Faculty of Law! |
We climbed to the top of the Faculty of Law to the beautiful rooftop.
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| The building is built hollow so I wonder what happens when it rains! |
With curried chicken, roti, and sweets it was wonderful sitting up top chatting with other grad students, Dr. Satchell, and of course Lorn.
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| Indian chicken! Yellow Curry! |
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| Me, Lorn, and Brooke...me and my infamous laugh caught on film! |
Brooke and I got a lesson on being unaware of our surroundings. We were walking back from the store. Brooke was walking in front of me. I watched her walk in between two guys and like a door they turned in and started to follow her. I called er back to slow her roll down a little. She didn't pick up on my subtle hints and kept walking. I finally told her to walk slow. When we walked out of the Union (where the store is located) and the circled around behind us. They started walking right behind us and calling after us. I said no thank you and kept walking. When I started to feel uncomfortable, I said hello to two older gentlemen standing next to where we were passing. From there, they backed off but to be on the safe side, we went back to the Men's flat instead of going straight back to ours so if they came "calling" latter they would be met with of men rather than women.
That night we back to the flats and had dinner. We invited our hosts Lorn, Jason, and Daniel over for social time. I introduced Daniel, Patrick, and our GVSU Peace Corps guest Mark to Phase Ten and it was great! Poor Patrick could not phase to save his life but it was alot of fun!
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| Patrick, Brooke, and Daniel playing Phase Ten! |
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