Margaret's turned 65

Tidbits from the Caribbean

Happy Birthday to me; I’m 65 today and “everting bi crisp” [all is well]. We’re going to Ocho Riios tomorrow for a weekend celebration. It’ll be decadent American style: an all inclusive hotel with a king sized bed; restaurant; a gym; and air conditioning! Common place for most of you but a great luxury for us. We’re playing golf twice over two days. Although a standard for Gary before we left, I haven’t played two days in a row since we golfed in the British Isles four years ago.

Mangoes are almost gone but fortunately Mrs. Rumble has a late bloomer in the yard that’s still providing us with those luscious treats. The days are “hot-hot”, as the Jamaicans would say. We’re soaked 200 yards after leaving our house [literally dripping sweat]. There’s a slower languid pace about the days right now.

My community exercise class has grown so large that I’ve had to close it to new participants, at least until a few stop coming. For those who haven’t taken a class from me, it’s individualized for each student so I’m running around at a frantic pace trying to meet everyone’s needs. There’s a wide range of participants: one young man, three 13-16 year old girls, four women in their 20’s, four middle-aged women and three 60 and over, so you can imagine how varied each workout must be.

The computer center at the Community Center may open for operations this fall. We’ve gotten: free internet and phone service from an island provider [met a company VP playing golf and voila!]; six stable 6’ tables and 15 very strong metal and wood chairs from Food For The Poor; money’s been raised to secure the site; and the computer funding looks like a go from a government agency. The latter did an inspection of our site and their representative seemed impressed and indicated he would support action on the request for ten computers and all the necessary hard/soft ware, equipment and supplies at an upcoming meeting. Of course Jamaican semantics for ‘action and upcoming’ are not the same for Americans.

We’ve come to accept that rarely does anything go as planned or expected. For instance, the huge August 1 Emancipation Day Fundraiser the hospital had organized and planned for three months has to be postponed. Five days ago we got a response letter from the Parish [county] manager telling us the event couldn’t be held because, according to our letter to him dated June 1 announcing the event, it would be sponsored by friends and staff of the Chapelton Hospital. Government employees cannot raise money for government use. Fine, but did he have to wait until July 24th to respond??!! He claims he only received the letter July 20th, yet interestingly others in the same building received theirs by June 5. So, now it will be held October 19, Heroes Day. People were really looking forward to this event but, like so many other aspects of their lives, expectations are just “mashed up” [Jamaican for defeated or crushed].

I’ve been asked to develop a parent seminar course on Healthy Lifestyles for a nearby All Age School [gr. 2-9]. They want it to be a certificate program whereby the parents graduate from it. It sounds like an interesting project that I should enjoy.
If you’ve read about my recent foray into emergency medicine and dentistry you’ll realize that Jamaica is two worlds, the developed and developing. Some parts of the urban areas in Kingston and MoBay are, in many ways far ahead of the American standard, whereas the rural areas may as well be halfway around the world. It’s hard to believe that this small island [50 miles X 175 miles] has such variation. We step aside for oxen teams, donkeys, goats, and cows on a daily basis. No water, electricity, shoes, etc for large numbers of the rural people. And then I get world class medical treatment. By the way, it looks as if the speedy, skilled medical action has led to my tooth reattaching. Who would have thunk it??!!