One week down.

I only got here a little more than a week ago? Doesn't seem like it! 

                                                                                              

It has been a crazy/busy/tiring/exciting week or so here in Jamaica. Now that we are actually into the normal routine here on the base, the days just seem to fly by. I fell like I have adapted pretty well... well I'm not getting lost anymore which is nice. 


So there are 17 students total in our DTS. There are 8 Jamaicans, 4 Americans, 2 Canadians, 1 Korean, 1 Mexican, and 1 German. It is fun to see all of the cultural diversity and hear all of the different stories. Oh and everyone except the Americans support Obama... ha.

Denzel and William
My new crazy Jamaican friends.

Every person living on the base is given a work duty. I was put on kitchen duty... more specifically breakfast crew. So I wake up at 5:00 every morning and me and one other girl (Amber) go cook breakfast for 20 people. It's a good thing my mom taught me how to cook breakfast...  cause they pretty much just told us we are on our own. It is difficult cooking for that many people every morning though let me tell you. But it's fun, I enjoy it. I am running out of ideas of what to cook though... so if you know any good recipes that are easy you should definitely let me know!


The weekdays are pretty full... we go from breakfast at 6:30, worship at 8:00, classes till 12:20, lunch at 12:30, work duty from 1:30-3:30 (which I have off... yes), class again at 4:00, dinner at 5:30, then some nights we have another class session from 6:30-8. It's very busy, but nice. 

Friday night, the whole base had a welcoming party for us DTS students. It was a nice break from the hectic week. I took a lot of video, which I will put up eventually. We danced to some bomb Jamaican music (Look up DJ Nicholas), played some games, but best of all had a taste of all the Jamaican specialty foods.

Festivals, or dumplings/doughnuts, as us American's would call them. Good ol' deep fat fried rolls of flour. Mmmm.

Ackee and Saltfish is the national dish of Jamaica. Ackee is actually a fruit... that they mix with the fish... and it has a very soft moist texture. And it tastes like fish. But it is really good as well :) 

Saltfish fritters... tasted like fish pancakes?Not too sure I loved these as much.

Jerked meat. Mmmmm a Jamaican specialty. We walk through downtown and on every single street corner there is a Rasta jerkin some pork or chicken. It is like a peppery spicy something that they do to it but it is amazing.

This was dessert. Mmmmm some good ol' baked gizzards. I don't know exactly what was in it... but it tasted like apple? I didn't want to ask.

So the party was awesome. After the party, we all piled into the bus (pictured below) and we went to a Christian reggae concert in the downtown square. That was an experience for sure. Definitely one of the best nights I have had in a while. I was going to bring my camera and get some video and pics... but I was advised not to. Nbd. Awesome night though.

Saturdays and Sundays are free days. This is what we did on Saturday :) 

except... this beach is a 20 minute taxi ride and a 15 minute walk through the blazing heat... so It might be a once a week ordeal. I think I jumped in the water and actually dried off a little. But It was great fun and I am very sunburnt and I can't wait to get back!

Sunday we mobilized, which means we all split up and went to different parts of Jamaica. We are doing a nationwide torch run... so people are starting at different points of Jamaica and literally running with a torch, and they are all meeting up in Montego Bay. This goes along with YWAM's vision of "The Flame Goes Forward." We went to churches all over Jamaica to advertise it and try to get people to volunteer and run with the torches. This is going to be a huge event and there is going to be a big concert after on the beach, so I'm definitely looking forward to it. The mobilizing was crazy though. We took public transportation and I thought I was going to die a million times at least. But I am alive, and it was good.

So yeah. That's a little bit of what I have done the past week. I put up some pictures below... hopefully I can get another video up soon. Thanks again for all the prayers and thoughts. Remember that you can always email me or skype me :)

                     facebook.com/seanjanas

                     sean.janas@yahoo.com

Some random pics!

One of my most favorite places to sit 

The bball court. I play with Jamaicans who live in the community booooooomb.

One of if not the nicest form of transportation I have seen yet.

These things are everywhere!

Another pic of the ocean

Eddie (Mexico) and I at our welcoming party

 Love and miss you all!

First Impressions

So... the video kind of goes with my first post... but it is a little glimpse of where I will be for a while. Also... it was my first time using Adobe After Effects... so it's not that good.  :)

                                         

I can't really describe in words what this place is like. Our base is nested against a huge hill overlooking all of Montego Bay. Paradise seems cliche but... I don't really know if another word can describe it as accurately. The rooms are dorm style which you can see a little bit in the video, but I have two roomates (both from Jamaica). There are a total of 19 students enrolled for this DTS. Ten of the students are from Jamaica, the other nine are from other places around the world. Not everyone is here yet, but so far there is a girl from Germany, one from Idaho, and one from Korea. I am excited to meet everyone else as they arrive today!


I went to church today with some of the other Jamaican students. We had to take a cab and it cost freaking $200 round trip! Which is actually pretty good considering that $200 Jamaican is about $2.36 US. Thought I was going to die though because we packed 8 people into 4 seats. No big deal. The church was cool too. It reminded me of a realllll southern Baptist church.


Classes start tomorrow. We go from about 6am to 5pm every day so I will definitely be busy. More videos and pictures soon to come!


Thanks for all of your prayers... this is going to be a great experience!

A new adventure!

As most of you know, I am going to be spending the next five and a half months overseas. I will be attending a discipleship training school (DTS) with an organization called Youth With a Mission. I have the opportunity to do my DTS in beautiful Montego Bay, Jamaica. Depending on the internet situation, I will be updating my blog regularly with stories, pictures, and videos. This is mostly for my mom… so she doesn’t worry too much :)

I am flying over Colorado right now…. I am definitely going to miss these mountains.

Please keep me in your prayers. Feel free to message me anytime.

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