Drum Shop

We recently spent the weekend in Negril because we had won a free trip at Merrill's, a hotel on the beach. The prize was for entering a raffle held by our friends Caitlin and Khaled. We entered the raffle sometime in October 2006, but the prize was still valid in June. Mostly, we just sat around the hotel, swam, and relaxed in the luxurious room that was about as big as our apartment. I did make one trip to into Negril in order to get a drum and some guinneps. I was successful on both counts, eventually.

First, I went to the drum shop, but Lloyd, the Rasta drum maker, was not there. So I asked after him at the cook shop next door. They suggested calling the number written on his sign. So I did. It turned out Lloyd was at lunch, but he told me he would be back soon. So I went down to small fruit vendor area in Negril, which was prety close to the drum shop. I talked to the fruit ladies there, and I was lucky enough to get the last bag of guinep.



After talking to the ladies for a while, I went back to the drum shop. But it was still closed. So I went to the cookshop and got some coconut water. They were out of their classic tuna water, but that was OK because I didn't really want to drink tuna water. Eventually, the drum maker returned and we were able to talk for a couple of hours and I chose a drum made of guango wood. Here is Lloyd and his shop. He makes really nice drums under the name Lion Claw out of various woods such as guango, saparilla, and coconut.



Make sure to check Lloyd near the round-a-bout in Negril if you are interested in drumming or want to buy a nice hand drum.

-Shane

Labour Day

Jamaican Labour Day was last Wednesday, May 23rd. This is a national holiday in Jamaica. On this day, many Jamaicans, given a day off from work, elect to use their free time on a community project. These projects usually take the form of cleaning up, bushing, or refurbishing a building, park, school, or church. The Portmore Municipal Council's official Labour Day project was to build a small park with a monument showing the historical importance of Passage Fort, a district in Portmore. If you would drive around Jamaica on Labour Day, you would see small groups of people hunched over, painting, picking up trash, or weeding in their straw hats.



That it the type of sight we saw as we traveled to our destination, a school in St. Andrew where our friend Brooke works. When we got there, we saw that Brooke and her students had been hard at work collecting rocks and starting to dig a terrace into the small hill in front of their school. Their goal was to spell out the name of the school using the rocks. Shane helped out by grabbing the pickaxe and extending the terrace over about 10 feet, with the help of the students. At that time, it began to rain and didn't let up for about three hours. Since we couldn't work outside, we went inside and talked with the students and staff at the school. They were very nice and kept us amused while we waited out the rain.



By the time it stopped raining, all we had time to do was clean up the work site a little bit. The rest of the project would have to wait for another day. Afterwards, we took a little tour of the town and got to see where Brooke lives and the view she has from her apartment.

-Shane

Jamaican Idol?

Rising Stars is a Jamaican show that discovers new talent through a televised singing contest in which people can vote for their favorite singer by phone, similar to American Idol in the United States. It is very popular in Jamaica, and the island has a huge number of aspiring singers and musical artists. This past weekend, we happened to be in Ochi visiting a friend and the Rising Stars auditions were taking place there as well.

The auditions were held at Island Village, a shopping, dining, and entertainment complex located near the cruise ship dock in Ocho Rios. There were about 400 contestants lined up, but according to the Gleaner this was a lot less than last year. There was very little excitement in the air at Island Village. What we noticed most was the police, wooden barriers, and checkpoints that made it hard to move around the area.

The main problem with the auditions, though, is that they didn't broadcast the singers through a PA system. So there was people watching, people singing, a stage ... but no sound to be heard. Why hold the auditions in a very public outdoor venue if you are not going to let the public hear the auditions? If you don't want people to hear them, hold the tryouts indoors.

Let's hope this season of Rising Stars finds some talented singers. My personal favorite from last year was Brushy One String, who played all of his songs using a one string guitar and wore a cowboy hat for every episode. He made it to the top 10.

-Shane

Kites

It has been really windy in Portmore and Kingston for the last month. On the one hand, this means that there is a nice cool breeze so that it doesn't get too hot and stuffy. On the other hand, the breeze blows enormous amounts of dust everywhere. The dust gets on your clothes and body, and into the house, so it makes everything a bit more messy.

But the most interesting thing about this windy weather is the large amount of kite fliers that have come out of the woodwork in Portmore. Who knew that almost every block had a little group of youths who were into kite flying? Some of these kites get so high that you can't even tell where the string is originating from; it could be hundreds of yards away. Plus the sound they make carries for miles. One day, I kept thinking that it was someone was weed whacking somewhere near by. But it went on for a long time and I finally realized it was the sound of the kite and string flapping in the wind. So I am thankful for the wind, because it brings the kites, and the kites manage to give me a nice feeling about life. Something to do with the fact that kite flying is one of those activities that seems to be done just because it is fun, not for some greater good.

Of course, there is some glory to be won by being an excellent kiter. That would be the honor of showing off your kite at the Kite Festival in Ocho Rios to be held Easter Monday.

-Shane

Kindness

The other day on while on the bus on the way home from Kingston I witnessed 2 random acts of kindness. The first was bestowed on a man who stood up in the center aisle of the bus and started preaching. Now this is a fairly common occurrence because bus riders are a pretty captive audience, since they don't really have anything else to listen to and are rarely going to leave until they reach their stop. But the man soon revealed that he wasn't really a preacher, in fact he wasn't exactly even a Christian. This was a bit amusing and it seemed that his conscience had gotten the better of him. He started out with the typical preaching beginnings "Good evening in the name of Jesus Christ ..." and then stopped and decided to fess up. But eventually he got to the point, what he really wanted was some money for food. Now I didn't have any smalls (small change) handy or I might have given it to him because at least he was being honest, and fessing up about not being a devout Christian in Jamaica is a pretty big deal. But I did notice that a few other of the passengers gave him some coins and then the women sitting across the aisle from me did a very impressive thing. She opened up her bag and removed a box lunch (a styrofoam container of cooked food) and gave it to the man. Now this was probably her dinner that she was carrying home and I couldn't help but be touched by this kindness. And I also couldn't agree more that giving the man actual food was probably much better than giving him money because then you knew he would be eating a proper meal that night.

Well it wasn't a few minutes later that this woman's kindness was repaid to her. As we were turning onto the causeway the woman made a loud exclamation. She realized that she had missed her stop because she certainly wasn't expecting to be on the bridge heading towards Portmore. Well there must have been 10 people trying to help this lady out, they were yelling at the driver asking him to stop so she could walk back and they were inquiring as to this lady's destination and trying to come up with alternate routes for her to take. Pretty much everyone sitting around her jumped into action and came to her assistance, truly concerned that she get where she need to go. In fact when we finally reached the next stop at the Portmore Mall I even saw persons stand up and look out the window to make sure that she headed in the right direction to get the next bus back to Kingston. And this is something I have often seen in Jamaica, whenever you ask someone for directions or assistance whether you know them or not they will often go out of their way to help you.

There is something refreshing about seeing persons come to the aid of others and even though I had not been personally involved in either act I felt very satisfied that the beggar had gotten a good supper and the women had gotten back to where she needed to go.

-Kaelyn

Rebel Salute 2K7

After returning to Jamaica from a four week vacation in the US, our only option was to go back to work and then have some relaxation at the end of the week to ease our way back in to the Jamaican lifestyle. So last weekend, we went to our first stage show in Jamaica, called Rebel Salute. Rebel Salute is a big Rastafarian reggae and dancehall concert that is attended by Jamaicans and people even come in from other countries. We had been to other concerts in Jamaica, but none of them had any famous artists or live music, just a big soundsystem with selectors (DJ's) talking over the music. The picture above shows the view of the stage. We got to the show around midnight and stayed until 8 AM, but the music was still going then and we missed an appearance by Beanie Man, one of the top artists in Jamaica today.

Here we are as the sun comes up at Rebel Salute. It got cold enough during the night that we needed long sleeve shirts. It's disorienting to go to a concert all night, because then you have to sleep all the next day. But that is how most concerts work in Jamaica. The big artists, which in the case of Rebel Salute was Buju Banton, don't come on until 3 AM.

There was a good turnout of Peace Corps volunteers at Rebel Salute. Here is Kaelyn with Reina, Sarah, and Lauren.

To read more, there are some newspaper reviews of the event below:

Conscious Lyrics - Jamaica Gleaner (Tuesday, January 16th)

Thumbs Up for Rebel Salute - Jamaica Observer (Tuesday, January 16th)

Buju a class act at Rebel Salute - Jamaica Gleaner (Monday, January 15th)

-Shane and Kaelyn

Hot New Dance

We were riding in the taxi on the way to work today, when I noticed the driver had a bobble head dog sitting on his dashboard. After a second of inspection, I complimented him on having a nice dog. This, for some reason, led to a fairly long conversation, at least compared to my usual taxi cab rides. The taxi driver said the doll was doing the dutty wine, a hugely popular dance for females. It has been criticized because it comes from the devil, and it can lead to horrendous neck injuries and even death. So I said I thought it was time for a new dance, because the dutty wine has been going on for months.

Lo and behold, the driver busted out the new dance, the Hot Wuk. He pantomimed shaking your fingers as if they had just been burnt in a fire. Then he even played the track for me. He promised me it would take over the dutty wine in no time. Once again, this dance is only for the ladies, though.

-Shane

PS - Apparently, I am behind the times because this has been going since at least September, as YardFlex will tell you, but it is still the biggest dance now. If you want the know the more controversial real meaning of the song, click here.

"Hold me, like you did by the lake on Naboo"

Do you recognize the line above? If so, you are one of the many people who have seen the new trilogy of Star Wars movies. It is one of the worst and most annoying lines from those movies, but the movies on a whole are quite good, even in comparison to the classic trilogy. The two trilogies are especially good if you watch them back to back. The new ones aren’t all bad dialogue, and the old ones’ special effects still hold up.

We were able to watch the Jedi and Sith over the past weekend because Cinemax showed all six Star Wars movies in a loop from Friday to Monday. We watched three of them on Saturday, and three of them on Sunday. Any more would have been overdoing it. For those of you haven’t read an earlier post about Jamaican cable, it is one of the perks of living in a developing country. Since piracy laws are either nonexistent or not enforced, Jamaican cable is outrageously cheap compared to the US (J$800 a month, or US$12). Plus, you get all of the premium cable channels such as HBO, Cinemax, Showtime etc. They are pirated signals from satellite feeds coming from the US. So you may get channels from all over the US, ranging from Denver to NYC, and the reception comes in and out frequently as channels are blocked and unblocked.

I never would have thought of low price cable as being something I would get in the Peace Corps, but it’s here and I might as well take advantage of it.

-Shane

Happy Halloween!

We recently spent the weekend at our friends Caitlin and Khaled's house. It was the site for a spooky and fun Halloween party. Most people don't celebrate Halloween in Jamaica, but I have noticed it advertised on a few party fliers because the promoters always have to come up with some new reason to throw a party. Last year we didn't get to go to a Halloween party because our roof was leaking after so much rain from Hurricane Wilma. But this year there were no hurricanes to stop us.

In a perfect prelude to Halloween, the power went out the night before the Halloween party. We were staying at Caitlin and Khaled's in order to help them get ready for the party. Since the power didn't come on until about 10 PM, we weren't able to do much preparation. But we did spend a spooky time eating dinner and talking with only candlelight to see by.



The first thing we did to start off the Halloween fesitivities on Saturday was to eat ghostly pancakes. Then we formed candy out of a mixture that Khaled cooked up, mainly consisting of sugar, butter, and food coloring. It felt like silly putty. As you can see in the picture above, we rolled the shapes with our fingers and then put little designs on them with a knife. I also bushed a portion of the yard to make way for a fire circle for the bonfire later in the day.



After all the buildup, it was time to start the festivities. As you can see in the picture, there was a bonfire outside, complete with s'mores, burnt tongues from the roasted marshmallows, and acoustic guitar. Inside, there was a dance party and a card table. The card game of the night was golf. It's a great game and gets better as the party progresses and the players' memory gets a little slower. Everyone brought a little something to snack on: hummus, guacamole, trail mix, deviled eggs, popcorn. The homemade tortilla chips and margaritas really went well together. Plus there was pumpkin soup for everyone.



Kaelyn and I both had a costume. She was a kitty, with the ears and tail left over from another volunteer from last year's Halloween festivities. I was a crab in a hat loaned by our friend Lauren, who brought bits of costumes for other people to wear. The other costumes that made an impression at the party were a nerd, a housewife, a freak of nature, and a radiohead. I think we did a good job of bringing Halloween to Jamaica.

-Shane

Phrase of the Day: "Blouse and Skirt"

This is a mild cuss word to be used when you don't want to say anything too offensive, but still want to show that you are upset. Often used by pickney and Christians. A lesser used alternative is "pants and shirt."

-Shane

Word of the Day: Bandulu

Bandulu (noun): Fraud or corruption.

"Keep dat bandulu business out of government"

This is a word we learned from our coworker.

-Shane

Bucket O' Fish

Monday evening we were on our way from Portmore to Kingston to have dinner with a friend and since we didn't feel like waiting we decided to take the first bus that came along. It was an executive class bus which is a $30 premium over the regular city buses. These exec buses are nice coaster buses with AC and tend to be faster than the other buses because they can weave in and out of traffic easily. To me these are a step above the rest and usually the rides are pretty uneventful without the colorful characters you might find on other types of buses. That all changed when I had to sit next to a bucket of fish.

The man with the fish got on 2 stops after we did and promptly sat next to Shane in the back row of the bus. I was sitting in front of Shane which meant that when the man put his bucket in the aisle the fish were sitting right next to me. Usually someone would have to sit in the aisle on the jump seat but not a soul would dare because that would mean their seat would have to rest upon the bucket. So I alone got the lovely pleasure of enjoying the bucket and it's fabulous aroma. But the joy of the bus ride did not end there because the fish man also felt it necessary to sing the entire way.

It was unforgettable - nuff said.

- Kaelyn

Church on the Bus

Jamaica has the most churches per capita of any country in the world. Pretty much on every street you will find a church (and interestingly enough a rum bar). And it is very important in Jamaica to be a Christian, although much less important to act like a Christian (as evidencied by the commonality of sex outside of marriage, corporal punishment, etc). And since so many Jamaicans associate themselves with Christianity it is also important to infuse daily activities with spiritual elements. For instance all schools start the morning with devotions, every meeting begins with a prayer, and every advisory board of the government has a member of clergy appointed to it. At first I found these things to be very striking because in the US seperation of church and state is so important and these types of activities would never fly there. And even though I went to Catholic school for 13 years and was used to prayer in schools I was not prepared for it in the office. I also wasn't ready to be walking down the street and be yelled at from the person preaching on the corner. Not to mention all the persons offering to save me.

One of the more interesting elements of spirituality in everyday life is church on the bus. This isn't any sort of formal event but it just so happens that 50% of the time you are on the bus there is someone preaching in the aisle. Mostly this occurs on the big city buses but it has been known to happen on country buses too. It usually begins with a song or two, followed by some scripture and then a sermon that usually lasts until the person preaching reaches their stop. Most of the time it is pretty low key and usually the other persons on the bus sing along or offer Amens and Yeses when they hear something they like. Sometimes it gets a bit fiery and the person preaching goes a bit overboard but thankfully that doesn't happen too often. While I still find it a bit awkward to be sitting on the bus and being preached to I have to say that it does make the bus ride much less boring. I'm even starting to learn some of the more popular hymns. Plus it makes me feel less guilty for not going to Church on Sunday.

- Kaelyn

Baby Names

Several Jamaicans have approached us with the fantastic idea that Shane and I should name our child Shaelyn. Now don't get the wrong idea we aren't expecting a baby nor do we plan to be anytime soon. But we are still asked to promise that when we do have a baby we will name it Shaelyn. Because of course Shaelyn is what you get when you combine Shane and Kaelyn. Now personally I think it is a bit ridiculous and would probably be incredibly embarrassing and dorky for the child. And I really hadn't considered that the people recommending this were serious, I thought they were just being funny. That was until I realized that this is a common practice in Jamaica, just like having 2 or 3 different names and the strange ways of spelling names. What clued us in was when our friend's baby was born earlier this week and it was named T'Andre. Of course it was because the parents names are T'sha and Andre. I guess now I'll have to stop laughing when people talk about Shaelyn. But it's still pretty unlikely we'll make use of that name, and the same goes for Kane.

-Kaelyn

Flours and Phones, It's a Happy Birthday

What do flour and phones have to do with one another, you ask? Well, throwing flour in your face is a Jamaican birthday custom. I though about doing this to Kaelyn, but instead I will just wish a HAPPY BIRTHDAY! to the one person I would choose to be with if I were stuck on a tropical island for two years. Anyway, if I had thrown flour in her face today, the immense torrents of rain would have quickly turned it into glue. So it's better I didn't.

What about phones? I got her this phone, the Nokia 1110, for her birthday. It's a cool phone, which is very important, and it will help her stay in touch with other PCV's and everyone else. She got me a drum for my birthday.

Interestingly, both of these gifts are used for communication. I guess that is the theme for birthdays in 2006, FYI.

-Shane

Emancipation Update

August 1st is Emancipation Day in Jamaica. It celebrates the day in 1838 when all Jamaicans were "finally free of the oppressive social and economic system in which they were treated as less than human," as the Jamaican Information Service notes. It only became an official holiday in 1997, while before that it was overshadowed by Independence celebrations. Emancipation Day is marked by vigils, speeches, and public celebrations. The city where we live is having a Food Fair with plenty of traditional Jamaican foods and music.



The parish of St. Elizabeth (affectionately known as St. Bess) and our friends Caitlin and Khaled have been our loyal hosts for the past weekend. We have been working on a Peace Corps Jamaica cookbook. It will be sold to Volunteers and others and help raise money for Volunteer projects. There was also time for tasty treats and relaxation in the cool mountain air.

Last Friday night, we hosted a party at our house for Group 77 volunteers who live in the same neighborhood as us. The power was out from 1 PM to 9 PM, so we got out the headlamp, lanterns, and candles. We use the jack-o-lantern battery lamp whenever the power goes out. So we hung it from our clothes line to lend its glow over the festivities. It definitely contributed to the vibes.

-Shane

Deserted

I step off the bus onto Knutsford Boulevard, the heart of Uptown Kingston. Sunday mornings are usually a little slow, but this is unreal. I feel like Jim in 28 Days Later, waking up after a coma (somewhat similar to the hot and sleepy bus environment) to find that no one is around.

A man follows me, shouting something. Why is he coming after me? Oh, he wants to tell me that the grocery is up this side, and I am going the wrong way. "Thanks," I say, "But I don't need anything." He turns away, his job completed.

Is there something going on today? Did I miss the news?



Finally, it dawns on me . . . World Cup Fever. I need to find a TV, and quick.

-Shane

As American As ...

So, I wanted to bring something to work to celebrate U.S. Independence Day, which by the way celebrates independence from the same country as Jamaican Independence Day (August 6th). I settled on making that most wonderful of pie varieties - apple. Apples do cost $32 a piece down here, but I figured this was a small price to pay to represent my country. I slyly built up the excitement for July 4th, revealing to influential first adopters in the office that I would be bringing pie to work. This seemed to work.

Then, on Monday night, I began the process of baking the pie. I had never actually made one, but my experiences gained during the production of such dishes as apple crisp, apple crumble, and baked apples would serve me well. Lacking a pie pan, I used a large rectangular tin pan, like those used for sheet cakes or lasagna. I sliced eight Granny Smith apples, peeling them with the large chef's knife because I had neither a peeler nor a paring knife (Stocking Stuffer Alert). The apples were mixed with a sugar syrup and placed into a simple pastry crust. For the top, I tried my hand at a lattice crust, with delicious results!

It was finished at 2 AM. I carried the pie, shielded with foil and wrapped in a scandal bag, onto the taxi to go to work, where I kept it in the fridge until the end of the day, to keep up the suspense. Then, the unveiling. It was a big hit. 16 out of 20 pieces were eaten (80 %, for those scoring at home), and I had to cut off the disbursement in order to save some to eat at home.

Not only did I represent my country tastefully, but I learned a little something about myself in the process. I can make pie.

-Shane

A Jamaican Day at the Beach

On Saturday we went to the beach with our co-workers for the launching of the Portmore Municipal Council Social Welfare Club. We were scheduled to depart at 7:00am from the PMC office, however in typical Jamaican fashion we left at 8:37. While we were waiting the girls went on one of their many food runs of the day to Tastee Patties for some breakfast (liver and onions or saltfish with food). Since there is only a little bar and restaurant at the beach we were instructed to bring along snacks and even though the girls brought coolers and bags onto the bus there was still an insistence for many food stops. Finally, we were off picking up the one last person on our way out of town instead of waiting on her to reach. Since there were so many of us, around 20 persons, we were riding in style in an air conditioned coaster bus with plush seats - the kind you see tourists traveling around Jamaica in, it was pretty sweet! And the cost of the bus ride (J$500 each/ US$ 7.70)was actually less then we would have paid traveling by public transportation which would have been way more cramped and sweaty.

We made it all the way to Spanish Town before our next pit stop. This time it was for ice, bathrooms, and KFC. Spanish Town is approximately 10km from Portmore so at this rate I figured we would be getting to the beach around noon. Once we were off again we journeyed over the imfamous Flat Bridge - a single lane bridge that washes out almost everytime it rains. And we of course all lifted our feet to prevent the duppies (ghosts) from grabbing hold of us and pulling the bus into the Rio Cobre. Then it was through the Gorge and up over the wicked Mt. Rosser where you can get stuck for hours when the big trucks break down. Luckily no trucks! Our next stop was off the side of the road to buy some juicy pine (pineapple). It was already peeled (the hardest part) and cut up in the baggies so it was ready for eating. Very tasty and only J$100 (US$1.50)!

The bus ride was pretty eventful with lots of dancing in the aisles and screaming, laughing, and drinking. I was surprised to see the "dutty wine" (a current popular, quite risque dance) being busted out at 9:00 in the morning but I suppose anything goes. The girls not only had mixed CDs for the driver to play but had a boom box of thier own in the back as well. Shane almost lost an eye due to some fast hair whipping action in the aisle next to his seat. But some would consider him a lucky man being so close to such movements.

Then we pulled into Ocho Rios, a cruise ship town on the St. Ann coast, and of course stopped for lunch even though it was only 10:30am. We pulled up to the main street and luckily it wasn't a cruise ship day so there weren't massive amounts of white people mulling around which made things much calmer than normal. We headed for Juici Beef Patties for vegetable patties and then stopped into Baskin Robbins for a rare treat. Others hit up Island Grill, Burger King, and of course KFC. Then it was off to the beach which was down the road aways and over the border into St. Mary.

Reggae Beach was a really nice, clean, low-key white sand beach. Since it is outside of Ochi it doesn't get so much tourist traffic and caters more to Jamaicans. We heard some music videos have even been filmed there. It was J$200 (US$3.00) each to enter but worth it for the cleanliness, bathrooms, and lack of harrassment. There were lots of shade trees and picnic tables and even a volleyball net. We had a tree swing near our spot and further down there were hammocks. Of course the Jamaicans mostly hung out in the shade (sun hot!) , snacking and napping. We chose to soak up the sun and do some swimming. Some of our friends did get in the water and there were a few attempts at swimming lessons. Dominoes and bingo were played and of course there was lots of eating. At some point in the day another KFC run was made too. After the girls were successful in building a pyramid in the water it was time to head home.

Of course the return trip warranted pit stops too. First it was to buy a big whole pine - but not for the tourist price of J$500 (they didn't even weigh it, the nerve!) but for the more reasonable price of J$200 that we got 2 stops later. Then we stopped at Faith's Pen for some jerk - it is a large string of roadside stalls who all sell jerk meats and roast vegetables. We got some roast corn, yam and breadfruit plus some festivals (fried dough). It was really, really tasty! We finally rolled back into Portmore around 7:30pm, tired with our bellies full!

- Kaelyn

Jamaican Migration

After talking to a few Jamaican acquaintances, I learned some interesting facts and stories about how they split their time between Jamaica and the United States. For half of the year, they live in Jamaica, where they own a home and consider it their permanent residence. For the other six months or so, they live in New York City with relatives, working there to earn money to bring back to Jamaica. This lifestyle allows them to work very little or just do odd jobs while they are in Jamaica, since they already own their home. The amount of money they get paid in New York is also much greater than they could earn for equivalent work in Jamaica.

There is also an interesting gender division in their women. The men do construction or painting, while the women work as nannies or live-in household help. The male work is seasonal, since most construction is carried out during the summer months. One couple I talked to even goes at opposite times of the year, so that someone is living in their house throughout the year.

The funny thing is that many Jamaicans can relate stories to me about New York City, like how they were up there during the blackout in the summer of 2003. One of them had to walk all night to get back to his apartment because the buses were not running when there was no transportation. Since I have only been there a few times, the Jamaicans know a lot more about NYC than I ever could, and it is their main image of the United States. I try to describe the Midwest, and how it is quite different from New York, but it is hard to explain.

An interesting example of migrant labor, but one that does not fit the common stereotype of people coming from Mexico to do farm work.

-Shane