Happy almost weekend, ya’ll!
And Royal Wedding!
And most importantly, Happy Arbor Day!!!!!
In honor of all things tree, my little band of rascals and I made sure to breathe in some delicious, all-natural goodness. We were in the yard where we romped, played, and danced beneath the canopies of shade that mother nature has to offer. It was delightful and hilarious! Everyone got along 🙂
Family Portrait
Awwww.
Okay, so I’ve decided to organize this particular blog with bold subtitles.
I am hoping that it convinces you that my life is in order.
And then I’m hoping that you’ll convince me.
Sounds foolproof.
To be honest, I had a rough Wed./Thurs. So I thought I’d start with
Things I miss…
– Laughing uncontrollably
– Making jokes about serious things
– Change, variety, and travel
– New people
– Light-hearted, positive, and clever conversations
– Random, hilarious daily interactions (like with cashiers at Viva)
Not one to dwell — after all, this blog is titled “I’m Jamaican It” — my days have gotten much better and imma try and be less emo. Here goes:
Recent Events
– I’ve exercised! (alright, so it was just an hour bike ride — whatever, it was hard)
– I’ve been listening to NPR (month-old podcasts, but hey, it’s the best I can do.)
– I talked smack to a mosquito (or 10).
– Ignoring the hot-oil burn on my leg (minor setback. no big deal.), I’ve had two huge culinary accomplishments:
1) Carrot juice! (hint: if you boil the carrots first, they are soft = gentle on the blender AND you can use the ‘orange water’ as broth)
2) Cayenne pepper pancakes (mmm!!)
– The puppies graduated from a bottle to lapping milk from a bowl!! *bless their small hearts*
And — in breaking news — last night the teeny puppies walked ALL THE WAY to mamas house with me!!! Sure, it took double the amount of time (because they have short legs!). They can’t help being slow. Although, they might be able to help themselves from getting under my feet/tripping me. That’s gunna get old. But as it is, it was so sweet and so soft (’cause i stepped on them. they cried). Little tiny Tyrone, though, just could not make it home. He just sat down and drooped his head. That little prince had to be carried (and almost immediately fell asleep in my arms). So precious and so helpless.
Once we were home, however, both tykes were wide-awake and, according the them, THE HUNGRIEST THEY HAVE EVER BEEN (they are so hyperbolic).
Anyway, I fed them amid their tears of happiness
– Oh, yeah, and I went to a PaRtY!!!!! I was the only white person there (as always). But, for the first time ever…I HAD A BLAST!!! Yay for Easter 🙂 I love my community.
– The current has been erratic lately; Power went out for a total of 19 hours.
In positive and ‘concurrent’ news, GRE studying is going really well.
– I have developed a new mantra. Kind of.
In response to the hot weather (and impending summer) I am trying to convince myself that “I love to sweat!”
Oiy, I’ll keep you updated.
– It thundered so loudly I screamed! The puppies were petrified. Poor saps.
– My international phone plan expired (won’t be renewing it until Monday).
– A couchsurfer from The Netherlands came and stayed with me – Martijan.
– After over a month I finally decided to remove (some) toenail polish. What?! Yeah. Left over from before I left for The comforting United States — The polish wasn’t even chipping, yet! Jamaicans REALLY know how to make that stuff stick. I spent almost 8 minutes vigorously rubbing with ‘remover’ and I could only eliminate the polish on my right foot before the fumes/the ‘I’m-not-that-dedicated-feeling’ forced me to stop.
– Had a brief but effective Laughter Yoga solo session in my house 🙂
It was raining and noisy outside so no one could hear my cRaZy come out! bwahahahaha
In my intellectual life…
(would we call it that? Intellectual? *sigh)
– None of the schools are in session, still. They don’t resume until next week.
– I finished listening to an audio book, The Time Travelers Wife. Anyone read it?
– And in other ‘book’ news, I just finished reading The Progress Paradox: How Life Gets Better While People Feel Worse by Gregg Easterbrook (which we all can agree is an ideal surname in honor of the long-weekend shenanigans) — courtesy of Dooey Dworsky. I thought it might make interesting conversation for the ladies in my walking group:
It should be noted that Jamaica is the third most happiest country in the world, according to the Happy Planet Index.
And (on the complete flip side) Jamaica’s capital, Kingston, is one of the top 10 murder capitals of the entire world.
So, okay, this book (at first) suggests choice concern, abundance denial, and collapse anxiety as three possible explanations for this confounding and frustrating paradox (although read on to find out what exciting conclusion the author actually does assert as truth).
Here goes:
Dear walking group,
“Why are people less happy now-a-days, even though there are more ‘things’ to make us happy? Not to mention the rise in over-all-health and life-expectancy?”
Answer:
“It’s da Devil. Da Devil do dem tings. People forgot God.”
Ahh, well that was simple.
And didn’t take much time.
Or dialogue.
Plus, in an unexpected plot twist… It’s also what the author of the book thinks!!!
Dun dun duhhhh!
Touche walking group, touche.
Since that took all of 30 seconds (silly me, I took the time to read all 400 pages), we still had a lot of walking to do. So, we chatted and moved on to other equally unarguable truths such as painted toenails being sexy and the never-goes-stale Bun ‘n Cheese (the ‘traditional’/completely chemical-ridden ‘food’ for Easter).
Hmm, okay, I think I’m gunna wrap it up for this post — it looks like rain and I want to be outside, hug some trees, feel the thunder, muckle the puppies, and enjoy. it. all!!!!
Before I go I’ll leave you with upcoming events in my very near future:
Soon Come…
– Laundry. Gahhh!!! It’s been 3 weeks since that magical encounter with Mamma Joeys washing machine…and now hand-washing is going to be a monstrosity. Feel bad for me.
– Removing toe-polish from my left foot.
– Giving the puppies milk and snuggles (“this is the song that never ends…”)
As usual I MISS and LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!
I hope that everyone is doing well.
Feel free to drop me a line.
And, until next time; Don’t sweat the petty things, just pet the sweaty things! (Disgusting? Well, yes. Thematic? Well, also yes.)
Lots of love, a big O and a wet X,
‘mi
Adventuresam 
STUNNING. Best one yet!
You are amazing! So here’s a response:
1. define da devil and while you are at it, try defining God. Your walking group might be on to something.
2. It is really really healthy to sweat, no? As long as you drink lots of water.
3. Sammi dear, you do sound a bit lonely, a bit isolated, and missing the kinds of interactions that give you a sense of home and comfort. This blog is a GREAT solution and hope you get tons of responses. As for intellectual conversations, your two adorable puppies will probably end up having huge IQs. They’re listening to you. Give it a bit more time and they may be able to help you prep for GRE’s.
much love,
one of your hundreds of big fans!
Hi Victoria!
Thank you so SO much for the response.
It’s WONDERFUL to have contact with you!!!
1. Honestly, I try and avoid too much God talk. ‘He’ always manages to push his way into conversation.
2. Sweating is healthy! Like a sauna…
3. Yay for writing!!
And the puppy HAS gotten smarter (the other puppy was stolen) — it’s so sweet being loved by something so small.
Thanks, again and again for the message.
LOVE!
‘mi
Such lovely thoughts, beautiful prose, stunning photo! A part of you is always in my heart, and your blog personifies that for me. Missing you and loving you. Can’t wait for June!
xoxox
Momma Joey (the real Momma)
Momma, such a sweet, sweet message! Thank you so much for taking the time to respond. I love you. I miss you. xoxox!
❤️
How did you get to be so spectacular? I love reading all your writing. It should be a book someday. Can you feel all the hugs and kisses I send to you?Kiss the puppies too. We love you and cherish the wonderful woman you are.
Thanks Aunt Joan!
It’s so great to get a comment from you.
I am so so honored that you read my blog so regularly.
I can FEEL the hugs and kisses — please, keep ’em comin’!
I love you.
I love reading your blog Sammi!! And I can’t wait to meet you in just a couple short months!!! I’ll be coming with group 82 as a Green Initiative Volunteer. See ya soon and keep up the positivity in this blog. It makes me so happy!!!
Haha, being on the road for a month i forgot how ‘The devil’ is an answer to almost all things that are negative.
Aaah the simplicity of things!
Same went for Trinidad, and they clame they’re the happiest people. Although any chance they got they were almost begging to take them away with me. 🙂 I guess those paradoxes are everywhere!
I tried some of that never-goes-stale bun and cheese, that was pretty horrific experience! And that’s suppose to help you celebrate a happy Easter??!? WTF!
Love reading what you’re up to! I would also have loved to hear the smack talk to those mosquitoes 🙂
As for things i’m missing: the weather! Really and truly, i rather sweat than freeze. And being back in Belgium has me wearing two sweaters and extremely thick and fuzzy (hmmm) socks and my feet are still stone cold.
Keep on keeping on, Miss!
Oh, and say hi to Jamal and Tyrone!
Jolien!!
I am so thrilled that you read my blog!
What an amazing woman you are! It’s very impressive that you take time to read things that aren’t in Dutch, I feel as though I might be too lazy or tired!
How is it being back?? Are you thrilled? Is it everything you were hoping it would be??
In sad news, Jamal got stolen.
Now it’s just me, Tyrone, and Goose.
Ah well. They were a bit annoying, anyway.
Imma send you lots of Caribbean Sun and warm days to heat up those “stone cold” feet.
xoxo!
I LOVED the “Time Traveler’s Wife”. I couldn’t figure out how the author kept everything straight in her mind while she wrote it — I kept imagining some sort of a great, big, huge flow chart with all of the events, so she could know “what happened when” in chronological order…
🙂
I totally agree about the book, very impressive.
However, I thought the actual story was, meh, anticlimactic, and really long. Perhaps I just wasn’t feeling the love??
I do, however, feel the love for you!!!!!! Thanks so much for responding. And I’d be really interested in sharin’ a list of books that I’ve read/been reading in the Peace Corps so I could get your expert opinion. I’ve never had more time to read my entire life…!!!
❤