What a long strange trip ...

We are now back in the US and have officially completed our Peace Corps service. We are very proud of ourselves for making it through and getting our official Close of Service. But there are a few fun things left to talk about at the end of our Peace Corps journey.



At the Portmore Municipal Council they gave us a nice little sendoff party. It actually involved two parts. First, there was a lunch at Prendy's on Hellshire Beach with our closest coworkers in the building and planning departments. This is a restaurant we had been to a few times, and they have really good fish. The only issue is that it takes a long time to get the fish. So this time, we all pre-ordered so that the fish didn't take too long to get ready. The fish lunch was fun, and then the next day we had a little going away meeting in the conference room. I can't really call this a party, since it involved us sitting around the conference room table while speeches and testimonials were given about our service. Then we got some nice gifts: a wooden carving of the Portmore Causeway in a frame, two PMC tote bags, and a thank you card. It lasted about an hour, and then it was over. The main sentiment expressed was that they really appreciated the database we helped build, and they wish they could get more Peace Corps volunteers. Click here for more pictures.



The weekend after we stopped working, we went to a bush party. By that I mean a party in a rural part of St. Elizabeth hosted by our Jamaican friend Sania in honor of her work with our friend Caitlin. A few Volunteers attended, and a lot of Jamaicans. They had food made over a fire, using three stones to prop up the huge pots of mannish water (goat soup), fish tea, rice, curried goat, and oil for fried chicken. The fish tea was very tasty, and we tried a sip of the mannish water, which wasn't too bad. There was also big sound and a dance area. It started out with Jamaican oldies, and it didn't get busy until after midnight, when more people started showing up. Then a few people got crazy on the dance floor, grinding away, while most others watched or just danced a little bit. We left around 3:30 AM, when our taxi man returned to get us because he was too tired to stay up any later. A good experience to have before we left the island. More pictures can be found here.



We got home safe and sound on the 27th, only about 20 minutes behind our scheduled arrival. And only one bag was missing, but it should be delivered to us in a few days. We did only get 3 hours of sleep, because we had to get up at 3 AM in order to get ready and catch a taxi for our 6:40 AM flight. And we didn't finish packing until midnight. But we did get it done.

Our Peace Corps experience taught us a lot. We are glad that we stuck it out and know that it will have a profound affect on our lives in the US. Those things that we took for granted before, like washing machines and other luxuries, will be appreciated much more now. But more than that, the many friends we made amongst the Volunteers and the Jamaicans we got to know will stay with us. It was definitely a rich experience that we will think about for the rest of our lives.

-Shane and Kaelyn

End of Service Celebration Season

Since our Peace Corps Group is winding up its service, there has been no shortage of fond farewells. After getting to know such nice people, it is going to be hard for us all to go our separate ways and only be able to see each other rarely. Here are links to some pictures from our recent bouts of nostalgia and celebration, along with pithy descriptions.

• Fun Day in Sligoville - A volunteer says goodbye to her site
• Ambassador's Dinner - Partying, diplomat style
• Group 78 Welcome and Director Visit - Newbies and Bigwigs
• 4th of July - Hot Dogs, Bonfire, and Flouring
• Triple Sevens Party - All interesting dates are good excuses for get-togethers, no?

-Shane and Kaelyn

New Group Arrives!

The new group arrived on island on July 3rd. Check out this article from the Gleaner and we have some pictures up on Flickr. Here's to a great two years on island!



At the same time, the international director of Peace Corps came down to visit Jamaica for a couple of days. He came to our office, along with the Regional Director for Inter-America and Pacific. We didn't have any electricity, so our office was hot and dark. But they got the generator hooked up and we were able to showcase our database and have a meeting with our counterparts at work.

-Shane

COS Conference and Other Goings On

So it has been a while since our last post and quite a bit has been going on. We were judges for the National 4-H Achievement Day which was very similar to the St. Elizabeth Achievement Day which we judged in March except this time it was the top entry from each parish. We both judged the creative portion of the Environmental Challenge competition, Kaelyn for the younger kids and Shane for the older kids. It was either a song or skit (or sometimes both) about disaster management and some of them were very creative and included costumes and dances. The kids were very cute and this was a pretty fun entry to judge. We also got to walk around and check out the displays they were setting up in the parish booths - our favorite display was the 4-H shamrock made out of peppers. And while we were at the Denbigh 4-H grounds in Clarendon we got to check out our fellow PCV's biodisel project that he is working on there. He has been turning rotisserie chicken drippings into tractor fuel - a very interesting project for Jamaica considering all the fried chicken consumed on a daily basis.

Then Shane had to take an unexpected trip to the US for 9 days to attend the funeral of his grandmother in St. Paul, Minnesota which was very unfortunate. While he was gone I was in Negril at the Close of Service (COS) Conference for our group of volunteers. You can see most of the "surviving" members Group 76 in the picture above. Out of the 62 volunteers that flew to Jamaica with us in July 2005, only 38 have made it this far. We are definitely proud of ourselves for being among those who have stuck it out! It was really great to see all the other volunteers at the Conference, some people I hadn't seen since our last group conference in November 2005. And it started to put some closure on this whole experience; things are really starting to wind down now!

Shane returned last Tuesday with some very lovely surprises from the US - mini bottles of diet Coke, dark chocolate M&Ms and natural peanut butter! Since then we have been working on a Microsoft Access Workshop that we are going to be doing for our coworkers. We checked out the new (and only) Mexican restaurant in Kingston for dinner Friday night and we were pleasantly surprised with how fabulous it was. They had chips & salsa, guacamole, and Corona's with lime! I predict we shall be visiting often. Other than that our weekend was pretty typical - our apartment was unbearably hot and we had little to no water. All the more reason to spend as many weekends as possible traveling before we leave!

- Kaelyn

Celebrate Peace Corps Day

In honor of Peace Corps Day we thought it would be appropriate to share some information and statistics about Peace Corps. If you want more information check out www.peacecorps.gov.

The Mission and Goals of the Peace Corps
1. To help the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women.
2. To help promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served.
3. To help promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans.

History
Peace Corps officially established: March 1, 1961
Total number of Volunteers and trainees to date: 187,000
Total number of countries served: 139

Current Volunteers
Volunteers and trainees: 7,749
Gender: 59% female, 41% male
Marital status: 93% single, 7% married
Minorities: 16% of Volunteers
Age: Average–27 years old
Median–25 years old
Volunteers over 50: 5% of Volunteers
(oldest Volunteer is 79)
Education: 93% have at least an undergraduate degree
12% have graduate studies or degrees

Countries and Sectors
Current number of countries served: 73
Current number of posts: 67

Budget
Fiscal year 2006: $318.8 million

Welcome Group 77

The new group of Peace Corps Jamaica trainees (future volunteers) arrived on the island Saturday. We had a fun weekend greeting them at the airport, attending the welcome dinner, and participating in panels. We also just hung out and answered questions, which us seasoned volunteers now know all the answers to (well at least we pretend to).

This means we are no longer the newbies on the island and we have officially been in Jamaica one whole year! Yeah!

- Kaelyn

Happy Birthday Peace Corps!

Yesterday was the 45th Anniversary of the Peace Corps. It was also Ash Wednesday which is a national holiday in Jamaica, so we are a day late in our recognition.

As President John F. Kennedy said in his remarks on March 1, 1961 when he established the Peace Corps:

"Life in the Peace Corps will not be easy. There will be no salary and allowances will be at a level sufficient only to maintain health and meet basic needs. Men and women will be expected to work and live alongside the nationals of the country in which they are stationed--doing the same work, eating the same food, talking the same language."

"But if the life will not be easy, it will be rich and satisfying. For every young American who participates in the Peace Corps--who works in a foreign land--will know that he or she is sharing in the great common task of bringing to man that decent way of life which is the foundation of freedom and a condition of peace."

- Keeping Kennedy's Promise

In doing our part to achieve the 3rd goal of the Peace Corps (“Help promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of all Americans.”) we reached out to our local newspapers back home and encouraged them to cover the 45th Anniversary of Peace Corps. We previously shared the article in the Lawrence Journal World in which Shane got his 15 minutes of fame. Yesterday, Kaelyn's hometown newspaper wrote a story so now she's had hers as well. This story was taken from the email interview we previously posted about.

To commemorate the event in Jamaica we had a booth at the U.S. Embassy's Blues on the Green concert which was held last Friday night at Devon House. We promoted Peace Corps by showing a slide show and video and handing out stickers, bookmarks, and brochures. Be sure to check out our pictures of this event, including a few of the new Ambassador.

- Kae and Shane

Morning Sun Interview

We did an interview by email with the Pittsburg, Kansas Morning Sun (Kaelyn's hometown newspaper) in our attempt to fulfill the 3rd Goal of Peace Corps and to generate publicity for the 45th Anniversary of Peace Corps which is March 1st. We thought we would share our answers with our blog readers.

-Kaelyn and Shane


How did you come to choose entering the Peace Corps? Was this something each of you had thought of individually, or something that you decided on as a couple?

Kaelyn: One of the things that we had in common when we met was that we were both interested in pursuing the Peace Corps after we graduated. However, we both had reservations about being able to handle the difficulty of being away from friends and family for such a long period of time. As our relationship progressed we decided that we would apply to Peace Corps together as a married couple, which brings its own challenges but also ensures that you won’t be alone in the process. However, we each had our own reasons for wanting to become Peace Corps Volunteers. For me, it fell in with my interests in Community Development and International Aid. Although I am most interested in working in Non-Profit Management and Grant Writing I wanted an opportunity to first work in the field. I feel that the experience that I am gaining is important in shaping my perspective and understanding of development work.

Shane: Kaelyn and I wanted to have an adventure together. In some ways, the Peace Corps is like an intense, working honeymoon. But, instead of spending two weeks lying on the beach, we get to spend two years working and learning. I knew that the two years in the Peace Corps would provide us with the time and freedom to undertake projects, travel together, and share the experience. That was part of the reason that I wanted to apply as a couple. For myself, I wanted to live and work in another country. I also wanted to learn a new language. Along with Kaelyn, I think the Peace Corps became a real possibility when I could go with a partner. Leaving behind family and friends was difficult, but bringing along both a member of my family and a friend would make the emotional side of the Peace Corps much more bearable.

Tell me about the type of work you're engaged in, what Jamaica is like, and so on. We've had a cold snap here, and I really envy you being in a tropical place.

Kaelyn: My assignment is to be a Small Business Advisor with the Planning Department of the Portmore Municipal Council in the parish of St. Catherine. The Council is fairly new and Portmore is the first Municipality in Jamaica. Most of my work revolves around systems and capacity building. I find ways to make the office more organized and efficient and to increase their use of technology. One of my main projects so far has been to create a database for cataloging the Building Applications submitted for approval. The next step will be to train the staff in use of the database and implementing it into their current job tasks. As a secondary project I work in the Peace Corps Office in Kingston with the Small Project Assistance (SPA) Grant Program. The grant money comes from USAID and Peace Corps works in partnership with them to fund Peace Corps Volunteer’s projects in communities they are living and working in. I coordinate the committee that reviews, selects, and monitors the projects. Jamaica seems like such a small island but living here I have realized how much there is to do and how diverse the different areas of the country are. We spend most of our free time visiting other volunteers in different parishes and enjoying those areas of the country. Because we live in such an urban area (Portmore is part of the Kingston Metropolitan Area) it is really enjoyable to get away for a weekend to visit our friends in more rural areas like the cane fields in Clarendon or the Blue Mountains in St. Andrew. Of course, the beaches are great too and Hellshire Beach, famous for fried fish and festival, is nearby our house in Portmore.

Shane: I also work in the Portmore Municipal Council, with the official title of Environmental Promoter. I collaborate with Kaelyn on some of her projects, like the Building Applications database, and also do some of my own. I conduct research on the history of Portmore, traveling to the National Library to find information on historical sites in Portmore that could be turned into heritage sites to bolster tourism. The historical information is also to be used for a Development Plan, which we will both assist with. On Fridays, I tutor reading and research skills at a local high school, while teaching tennis lessons after school. Both of these activities have introduced me to Jamaican Patois, the language spoken by many Jamaicans, although they use English in formal settings. Patois has English words and some from other languages, but spoken in a different syntax and with different pronunciation. Jamaican dancehall music is very popular. It is done in Patois and usually features a heavy drum and bass with a quarter note triplet pulse. You can hear it from every taxi and from Thursday to Sunday out of large sound-systems, with speakers as tall as the people listening to them. The food is interesting, too, although we don’t indulge in the meat dishes – such as curry goat, fried chicken, and chicken foot soup – because we are vegetarian. We do like fried fish, ackee (a tree fruit from West Africa that is used in the national dish of Jamaica, ackee and saltfish) and the dozens of varieties of mangos.

Tell me what you feel about the worth of the Peace Corps, both to the people you're working with and to you. Would you recommend this experience to others? How do you feel that your experiences in the Peace Corps will influence the rest of your lives? How long are you in for? What are your plans afterward?

Kaelyn: I have really enjoyed my experience with Peace Corps thus far and I would definitely recommend it to others. However, it is important that you don’t go into Peace Corps with too many expectations. We have really tried to keep an open mind about the experience and I think if we hadn’t we could have been easily disappointed. Our situation is a lot different than one might envision in the Peace Corps; we live in a very urban area, shop at supermarkets, work in an office, and the country we live in is very familiar with American culture. We feel like we are making an impact by assisting our agency in areas they are interested in making improvements in. I feel that my experiences in Peace Corps will affect the rest of my life in many ways. I have become more patient as things always take much longer in Jamaica than you would expect them to. Also, I will definitely be more appreciative of the conveniences and freedoms of life in the States. But most importantly I have learned to see the world from a different perspective and have become more able to appreciate and understand the motivations and hurdles of those in situations different from my own. Our commitment to Peace Corps is 26 months so we will be closing our service in August 2007. After Peace Corps I am hoping to continue working with a non-profit doing community development work. And we are definitely considering doing Peace Corps again as older volunteers after retirement.

Shane: I have contributed to the office where I work by sharing my research, writing, and computer skills. The Peace Corps has been very beneficial to me, foremost by showing me how people live in the developing world. This puts my US experiences in context. Peace Corps is not for everyone. Sometimes the sites do not work out. Other times it takes six months to a year for a volunteer to get acclimated and figure out how they can contribute. Patience is definitely a virtue in the Peace Corps. But you also can’t forget that you are here to do a job and contribute. In other words, it is bad to be too patient. I would recommend the Peace Corps to people, but only if they have both the patience to figure out how to operate in another country, and the tenacity to work through the many hurdles that exist. I plan on going to law school when I return from the Peace Corps. I hope to ensure that systems work efficiently and that everyone has equal rights before the law, things which are often lacking in developing countries.

Shane's 15 Minutes

Check out this news article in the Lawrence Journal World about Peace Corps 45th Anniversary. It features an interview and photo of everyone's favorite volunteer, none other than Shane McCall.

Very Exciting!

-Kaelyn

p.s. I am also mentioned as Shane's gorgeous, brilliant, and very funny wife. Or maybe just as Shane's wife but you know that other stuff is implied.

Highlights from ESC

Just a few things to let you know about what we did last week from Tuesday to Friday. Amidst all of the meetings and going-overs of Peace Corps policy, there was time for relaxation, reflection, and refreshment.

First, the food. We got to eat about five times a day. For breakfast, there was always porridge, muffins, coffee, johnny cakes, eggs, and some sort of meat and vegetable. The porridges included banana and hominy. There was sauteed cabbage most days that was very good. This was served at 7:30 AM. Then, around 10 AM, we had more coffee, fruit (pineapple, papaya, cantaloupe), and pastries. At 12:30, we had lunch, which included a soup, dessert, starch, vegetable or two, and two kinds of meat entree. There was always enough for vegetarians. The second coffee break was at 2:30 PM, with more coffee, juice, fruit, and this time cookies and banana bread. Then dinner at 6:30 or 7 PM, with a different dessert, soup, vegetables etc. Desserts included white cake, fruitcake, sweet potato pie, coconut cream pie, apple pie, cheesecake, and pineapple moose. Needless to stay, most everyone was stuffed.

On Thursday night, there was a hotel band with bass, guitar, and drums. The drummer let me sit on a few songs and he switched to guitar. While other volunteers sang, I played drums to reggae favorites including Bob Marley and Jah Cure. I had to practice my reggae stylings, which had not seen much use back in the states. We also played "Sweet Home Chicago" and (oddly) "The Piano Man" by Bill Joel. I think the piano player wanted to play that one. It was really fun
and the night ended around 1 AM.

All in all, a very satisfying and enjoyable week that got us recharged at least until the holidays, when we will have another break.
-Shane

3 Month Blahs Setting In?

We had a nice talk on Sunday. After three months of actually being in our site, we both realized that our Peace Corps service isn't exactly what we thought it would be. Of course, we don't want to leave early or anything. It's just easy to look forward to Summer 2007 when we will be leaving. It is hard because there is such a definite ending date and you can't help but plan ahead. Again, not that we want to leave now. But our job is still pretty boring. We like that we can use the internet, but the projects we are working on seem like something that we could be doing back at home. We want to get to the point where we feel like Jamaica is home, not just someplace we happen to be right now. This could easily happen over the next year and a half, and maybe by then we won't want to leave. We shall see.

We hope to have something more exciting to write about soon. Stay tuned.

-Shane and Kaelyn

This is a Test. This is only a Test . . .

Yesterday we had an island-wide test of our emergency procedures. Actually the test started on Monday evening when we went into prep mode. When we were contacted by our warden about this he assured us that they had not hinted there would be any more to the test and that we should just stay home and chill out. During prep mode we would be expected to stay at our site and begin to prepare for an evacuation by securing our house and packing our emergency supplies. Since we thought they were just testing the communication channels we spent Monday night making dinner and watching The Young and the Restless as we would most every evening. Big surprise on Tuesday morning when our warden woke us up at 7:00am telling us we would need to be at our meeting point in Kingston between 10:00am and noon. Luckily we are close so we were able to get all our things together and make it there by 10:00. Lesson learned - we should have had our bags packed and house ready because we might not have had the luxury of so much time to get there. In fact we only forgot two things in our emergency bags - sleeping bags and toilet paper. Good thing it wasn't really an emergency or we would have really been in trouble without the toilet paper. Unfortunately, in the process of packing our stuff and making our list of possessions we were leaving behind we realized that some things have gone missing from our apartment (some jewelry and our camera). But we have realized some ways we can better secure our place to hopefully prevent anyone from entering again. So perhaps this test was a blessing in disguise. As for the test itself we went to our assigned point in Kingston (there is also one in Montego Bay for the volunteers on that side of the island) and were able the hang out with the other volunteers for a while in the nice air conditioned conference room. They even had fruit, muffins, pastries, and sandwiches for us to snack on, plus they provided lunch. Things wouldn't be so nice in an actual emergency but it was a nice treat since they had turned our day upside down. We had debriefing session about how the procedure worked and what could be done better and then we were released to return home. It was nice to practice because it is definitely possible with the weather situation here and occasional civil unrest that at some point in our service we would experience it for real. Other volunteers had to during Hurricane Ivan last year. So we got the test out of the way and now we all know what we need to do better in the future. Plus we got to see all our friends and we didn't have to go to work - so who's complaining?

-Kaelyn

More Peace Corps Talk in the USA Today

If you found the other article about Peace Corps interesting then you should check out these responses in today's USA Today. We don't really feel at liberty to discuss in what ways we agree and disagree with the articles on the blog but we would definitely welcome using email to explore the topic.

Should Peace Corps Be Reformed?

This editorial from USA Today seems to think so. Check it out.

Weekend in Kingston

Hello all!

We wanted to tell you about our weekend at the Peace Corps Quarterly Meetings in Kingston. We traveled safely and securely to and around Kingston with no problems (by bus, walking, and by charter taxi).

On Friday Shane attended the GAD (Gender and Development) committee meeting and was elected to serve as co-coordinator of International Women's Day. Kaelyn attended the SBAG (Small Business Advisory Group) and was elected (offered) to serve as vice-president (there are only 7 members). We had lunch and dinner at this nice restaurant that serves Thai food on the patio and Indian food inside the restaurant (Thai for lunch and Indian for dinner). And we were able to catch up with many of our friends during the day as well as during the happy hour (half price drinks for exactly one hour) at the Four Seasons Hotel outdoor bar (not the same as the U.S. hotel chain but still nice). The happy hour was interesting because it is sponsored by a German club every Friday and was attended by all ex-pats, they served German food and beers (along with the normal red stripe, as well as mixed drinks and even wine).

On Saturday we had a bit of trouble getting to the meeting because there was lots of gunfire near our neighborhood and we didn't want to leave our house until we found out the reason. It turns out that bird hunting season has now started, so nothing to worry about. Kaelyn attended the wardens meeting on Saturday since she is the assistant warden for St. Catherine South. A warden is just the contact person for the volunteers in the parish to inform when they are going to be gone from their site or whenever they are involved in an incident (crime). Also the warden disseminate safety and security information (a VERY important Peace Corps theme) information to the volunteers. We both attended the Volunteer Advisory Council meeting on Saturday which was very, very long and dealt with many issues of Peace Corps Volunteers. Neither of us are on the council so we probably won't attend this meeting very frequently and will just send our opinions with our representative. Shane is going to work on the BBQ sub-committee of VAC for the day after Thanksgiving Peace Corps Staff Appreciation BBQ. We also got some Jamaican coffee (High Mountain not Blue Mountain) from the coffee shop where Shane had breakfast while Kaelyn was in her warden's meeting.

While we were in the Peace Corps office for the meetings our APCD (Associate Peace Corps Director) Jimmy informed Kaelyn that she had been selected to serve on the SPA committee (Small Projects Assistance) which grants money to Peace Corps Volunteer projects. Only a few people serve on this committee which reviews the applications and implementation of the projects. Jimmy also asked us to organize a beach cleanup at Hellshire beach for International Coastal Cleanup day which is this Saturday - September 17, 2005. Some of the Peace Corps staff is planning to attend because this is one of the closest beaches to Kingston - no pressure.

It was definitely a very busy weekend but it feels good to be so involved!

Love you all,
Kaelyn and Shane

New Job

We have just completed our second day on the job at the Portmore Municipal Council. To celebrate, we are going to the Portmore Palace movie theatre, which has two for one night on Tuesdays. There is only one screen there, but it is showing Wedding Crashers at 6, which both of us wanted to see. We want to get there early so that we can see the national anthem, which plays before each movie. There is also an intermission in the middle of each movie, a practice that American theatres should take up.

We are now official volunteers! We were sworn in on Friday, August 26th at Campion College in Kingston. The governor-general was there. He is the ceremonial head of state for the Jamaican government, a throwback to the days when Jamaica was under the British crown. He was a very powerful speker, even at 90 years of age. There were many other speakers, including Peace Corps and US Embassy staff, so the evening stretched on for a bit. We all got certificates and shook the hands of the PC Country Director (Suchet) and the US Charges D'Affair (not sure on the spelling). Then we went to a local club called Village Cafe and partied for a couple of hours. They were even filming a music video there. We think it was Bounty Killer. Look for him in the states - maybe.

The next morning, we got up at 6:30 AM to pack. Our ride from the Portmore Municipal Council was supposed to come at 9, but came at 10. So we got in to Portmore and our apartment around 11:30. The apartment is a second story flat with a separate entrance. It has a fridge and stove, but we are waiting on the carpenter to put in the kitchen sink and cabinets. There is a bedroom, and then a larger room, half of which is the living room and the other half has the kitchenette and dining area. The neighborhood is nice with lots of teachers, police officers, and goverment workers and families who have lived there for a long time. Our landlord and her daughter live below, and they both work in Kingston for a hotel.

Our first day of work, Monday August 29th, was pretty boring since we did not have much work to do. We left early, since there was nothing else to do, in order to visit the a school close to where we live. The week before, an administrator had asked if either of us had experience with lawn tennis. When we went in to talk to the same woman, she asked if Shane could do a tennis lesson for beginning middle school students. So he will be doing that on Friday afternoons. Tuesday we had more stuff to do at work. Shane was shadowing one of the urban planners and Kaelyn was entering and correcting an excel spreadsheet listing all of the property permit applications for the last two years in Portmore. Then we went through the original paper records and are checking each application to see if it was entered correctly. Not the most glamorous work, but at least it gives us something to do.

So, things are going better at work. We like our apartment and our landlord is responsive in improving it. She is really caring and even called us last night to see how our first day of work went.

Love,

Shane and Kaelyn

Site Assignment

We found out where we will be serving for the next two years. We will be working with the Portmore Municipal Council, located in Portmore, St. Catherine, just West of Kingston. The Municipal Council is the first of its kind in Jamaica, because no other city has had its own authority or directly elected mayor and city council. The city has about 230,000 people and serves as a bedroom community for people who work in Kingston. We will be working with project proposals and community outreach while we are here. We will know more over time as we figure out our role. Right now our top priority is finding housing in the area.You can go to a local website (http://www.portmore.org/) for more information about the town.We will have more details for you after we return to our training site from our week in Portmore.
Love,
Shane and Kaelyn

Staging Day 1

Hello from Miami,

Things are like the first day of school and we are just trying to remember everyone's name and where they are from plus filling out forms and listening to instructions. I think everything will be more fun when we move in with our host family which will happen on July 13th. We aren't sure if we will have the same host family or not but it will only be for 6 weeks and then we start our service on August 27th at our permanent assignment (we will definitely be together then). More info later (because this is all we know for now).

- Kaelyn

Shane and Kaelyn's Peace Corps Info

We are getting ready to embark on our Peace Corps adventure in Jamaica. We will fly there on Friday, July 8th from Miami. We will be in training until August 27th, when we get placed in our actual assignment where we will work for the next two years. We are not sure how reliable our internet access will be down there,but we should be able to check it at least once a week, so feel free to email us at mccallks@gmail.com. We will also be getting a cell phone, but we won't know the number for a couple of days. Our mailing address will be:

Kaelyn (and/or) Shane McCall
U.S. Peace Corps
8 Worthington Avenue
Kingston 5, Jamaica, West Indies

It is safer to mail things in padded envelopes rather than boxes. Let us know if you want to come and visit, although we can't have visitors in the first three or the last three months.

Thanks and keep in touch,
Shane and Kaelyn McCall