Unfortunately, the last couple weeks of training were pretty tough for me. I came down with "Dengue Fever" and felt like I was going to die. Dengue is a mosquito-born illness that caused me to have a temperature of 105 degrees, intense joint and bone pain (my body felt like it was broken), a bad neck and head ache, and bright red skin that turns into a full-body rash. I had such a bad case of Dengue that I had to be hospitalized in Kingston for 3 days where I received shots galore and had bloodwork done. After my fever broke, I fell into a mini-depression that lasted about a week (the doctor said that some people are depressed for months afterward) where all I wanted to do was go home to California. But, Bryan supported me through all this and I stayed! The doctor told me that I am the first case in the beginning of a Dengue Fever outbreak in Jamaica, and that there hasn't been one here for 5 years . . . what an honor. . . :-(
After a teary-eyed goodbye to our host family in Linstead, we departed to our permanent Peace Corps assignment in Lionel Town. We're very excited to be here-- out of the 20 Environmental volunteers in our group, we think we got the best assignment! :-) On September 5-7 we are going to Negril (west coast of Jamaica) with our Supervisor to a Coral Reef Monitoring Network Training (Reef Check.) While there, Bryan and I will learn the techniques to assess Coral Reefs through transects, etc. so we can do the monitoring at our NGO's protected area (Portland Bight Protected Area.) The training is mostly underwater SCUBA diving. Bryan and I are now certified SCUBA divers. We went up to Ocho Rios (North coast of Jamaica) on weekends in the last month to get SCUBA training, and we were just certified August 23. Our SCUBA training had been delayed due to my Dengue Fever.
During training, Bryan and I made 2 close friends in Peace Corps. Andrea is from Shelter Island, NY and Michael from Virginia. Michael's Peace Corps assignment is in Montego Bay, so we plan to meet up with him some weekends and go SCUBA diving together. Andrea's assignment is in a small mountain town (400 people) near the center of the island (about 1 hour from us) so we'll still be able to hang out with her on weekends, too. The 4 of us plan to take weekend trips hiking in the mountains, camping, etc. together. They're both 22 like us, and just graduated from college too.
We've gotten used to the climate here in the last couple months, although we are still perpetually hot and sweaty. I don't think we'll ever get used to the mosquitos . . . Jamaican food has grown on us . . . and the Jamaican landscape and people are now seeming like home. Please write us if any of you have a chance, and let us know what's going on in your lives!
