First Post from Jamaica

Well, we've made it. After 4 months of intense work we are finally here in Jamaica as Peace Corps trainees. Notice that we are only trainees now; we'll be volunteers after we're sworn in after 8 weeks of intense training. This will include language training in Patois (Patwa). Many of you may not know this, but this is a local language, other than English, that many Jamaicans speak. Patwa, for many years, until recently, has been a spoken, NOT written, language. It is a creole that was used by slaves on the plantations and is mainly influenced by English, African and Spanish languages as well as a little bit of Amerindians (Natives), Portuguese and Dutch. It is very fasciniating as we are one of the first groups to get written literature on Patwa. Our teachers have spent a lot of time getting this information together. For more info check out the Wiki entry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamaican_Creole.

Also, for Jamaican news check out the observer .... there are elections coming up so it will be exciting shortly http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/.