Musings of a returning student

After a long roundabout journey, I find myself blessed to begin work at the Water Resources Authority of Jamaica as a Hydrogeologist, starting on March 6th. I am not quite sure what my duties will entail, but I know it’s a traveling position. I’m grateful to God for this second chance, because I was getting frustrated at sitting idle after so many years of schooling, only to be greeted by desires for experience from employers and aversions to risk-taking. My time in the USA was not ill-spent, though I know that I could have done better…but everything happens for a reason. I may be discouraged that my time in California went the way it did…but if I had not gone through that experience, I would not have gone to Maryland; I would have stayed in California. Only God knows what would have happened if I stayed in Cali, but I give thanks that I was in MD for those five months from September 2005 to February 2006. To see the changes in myself and in Metro SDA church was a wonderful thing, and it’s great to know that I have a new church home in the USA with good friends and spiritual upliftment. And now, even though I may be a bit discouraged that I had to leave Maryland to return to Jamaica, I am only now finding out that I missed home a lot more than I thought I did. It came to me really strongly when I was catching a crowded Coaster bus back to Spanish Town from Half Way Tree, sitting by the window, scrunched up beside a yout’ wid a wild locks-in-the-making, as the driver took a long cut through Penwood and Olympic Gardens with some really bad roads, hearing the old man behind me cuss the driver for wasting time on this long cut…and I said to myself “dang, I really did miss home!”

Things seem to be going through really quickly here as well. Although it took me three attempts to open a bank account, it was just as well that the first two times did not go through, since it gave me the chance to handle other business in the meantime. I finally got it done today, and now the next thing I have to focus on is getting a driver’s license to replace the US one that got stolen and that I have to go through hell to replace. Ah perdition, thy name is bureaucracy! Hopefully I can set up a beach trip for Ash Wednesday next week Wednesday, and if I do, I’ll have the pics up from that.

So here’s to Jamaica, with its good and its bad, its uniqueness and its own indomitable spirit. Even if I leave again to try my fortunes up in “farin” (foreign, a.k.a the USA or Canada), nuh weh nu betta dan yaad. (nowhere is better than yard, or home).

And I hope this PNP poppyshow leadership ting hurries up and finishes. Just give Portia the mantle man, cho!