This Thanksgiving was one of the best in my life. Not only did I have so much to be grateful for (the love of my family and friends, my health, a life full of vitality and an opportunity to serve others to name just a FEW), but I got to spend the day in Negril with my fellow Peace Corps Volunteers! I am absolutely privileged to call this group of people my other family. We have seen each other through times of joy and anguish, been supportive of each other in times of uncertainty, and celebrated each others’ success all along the way.
So here's what we did: Each person made a traditional American Thanksgiving dish and brought it to the table where we went around in a circle and shared what we were thankful for. Several times I was brought to tears by what some had said, and of course others lightened the mood with the usual warped Peace Corps Jamaica humor.
"I'm thankful to have a family like this on a day I thought I would be completely homesick," one volunteer said.
"I'm thankful I didn't get woken up by a !@#$ing rooster this morning," said another.
And the food, OH THE FOOD! There was turkey, tofurkey (tofu turkey which was so,so yummy), stuffing, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, and of course PUMPKIN PIE!! Need I say more?
Monday, Decemeber 1st was World AIDS Day. The day I had been waiting for! As an HIV/AIDS Advisor down here with not much to do most of the time, this week was basically like my Christmas. Red Cross set up a display in the town library where we did HIV/STI sensitization sessions as well as condom demonstrations and Tuesday and Wednesday we did HIV testing at the local Bauxite (Alumina) Plant and at a teacher’s college. The turnout was tremendous! This year the number of people who got tested and counseled was DOUBLED. Young and old, every demographic you can think of was represented. It did my heart good to see that people are replacing fear with initiative and taking responsibility for their lives and the lives of their loved ones by getting this simple, free test.
The rest of the week I will be occupying my time doing more community HIV sensitization sessions and tutoring at the EEH school. I finally feel like I’m doing relevant work and it feels pretty darn good. I wish I could have work like this every day!
But not everything is rainbows and butterflies. There is a dark phenomenon occurring. It’s called the “Call Grace a Fatty” phenomenon. I cannot tell you the number of people that come up to me on a DAILY BASIS and tell me about how fat I’m getting.
“Yuh look gud, mon. Nice an fat.”
“Grace! Yuh got a gut!”
“Yuh lookin’ **motion with hands implying I am a wide load of some sort*** BIGGA’!” Ok, yes, so I have put on a few pounds. I know this! Can you blame me? My diet consists of only carbs and refined sugars and exercising after I get home from work is not a possibility, it’s too dangerous after dusk. Jamaicans honestly do mean the fat comments to be compliments. I have been told this time and time again. When I first got to Santa Cruz I had dropped down below my normal weight and I’ve been told (again, Jamaicans are brutally honest) that at that time I looked sick, sad, and maaga (skinny in a bad way—also, I should mention here that there is no word for ‘skinny in a good way’). Now I’m FAT! BIG! FLUFFY! They mean no harm, in fact, they mean the opposite… but still… ouch. Ya know?
More later. Take care until next time. Miss you and love you all dearly! Thanks for still reading!
1 comments:
Keep it up fatty.
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