New Beginnings
on George Hamilton (Jamaica), 29/Jun/2010 11:50, 34 days ago
Well these last few days have brought new beginnings for me but all have links to Canada, although some of the links are a little far fetched.Last week a few of us started taking Spanish lessons under the direction of the talented Canadian, Robert, French speaking by birth and culture and lawyer by calling. During his life he has become fluent in both English and Spanish and this summer has taken on the challenge of teaching us Spanish. It's actually fun and I feel like I am learning quite a bit.I start my first volunteer work experience in Jamaica tomorrow with the Girl Guides National Headquarters. I dropped in yesterday on my way home from picking up flags for Canada Day and was offered a selection of jobs I could do. I chose the easiest...typing booklets prior to publishing. It's the 100th anniversary of Guiding, except in Jamaica where it's 95 years but pamphlets still need to be printed to celebrate. Taking on this task, I feel a connection to our daughter, Dianne (living in Canada), who spent a year of her life volunteering for the Girl Guides during her Gap year at Great Hautbois House in Coltishall, England. She had a way more fun job teaching the Girl Guides canoeing, kayaking, and abseiling.Politically, Dudus has had his preliminary hearing and is now safely behind bars in the US. What happens to the Shower Posse and the gang violence in Jamaica next remains to be seen. Hopefully it is the beginnings of quieter times although we are still in a state of emergency for another month. So far it's working well, the murder rate in Jamaica has dropped to half what it was at this time last year thanks to the security forces. However, I suspect the Shower Posse will continue on somehow and I doubt Dudus's arrest will change the situation much in Toronto, New York and the UK where they also operate.We've had our first Tropical storm, Alex, which actually didn't affect us apart from heavy rains for a couple of days. Even though Alex is working its way up through Mexico, the entire eastern seaborad seems to have been affected with similar weather -Toronto was brought to a standstill on Sunday with 44 mm of rain in one hour and Marilyn and Paul, our friends in New Brunswick, were last heard preparing for heavy rains to reach them as well.Canada Day is in two days, my first not celebrated in Ottawa in ten years. We made the trek into Parliament decked out in red and white almost every year but always watched the fireworks. I'm missing Canada right now and trying to rally the volunteers into celebrating with us on the lst. There's rumour we'll have a get-together on Saturday, but George and I will have a special meal with a Canadian flag in tow on the 1st no matter what.