Mail Bag...

My mind is sort of taxed for ideas lately mainly because I have been put through the wringer in the last week. Fr. Anthony took off for the States to do some mission preaching and as a result, all of his English classes have become my responsibility and I have found myself jumping between grammar, prose, drama, and poetry not to mention students ranging from 13 years old to 20. Fortunately this writer is headed home to the U.S. for a brief stay. I have some business to take care of back home, ‘things and stuff’ you might say, not the least of which is to visit see how my mother is doing after her second cochlear implant surgery. Besides, I am kind of eager to set foot in my mother country.

And so I’m going to borrow an idea from a writer at ESPN.com, Bill Simmons (aka The Sports Guy). He has a legion of readers who e-mail him religiously and every now and then he composes an article which is nothing more than answers to their questions. So, while I am off on my side trip, I leave you with the answers to questions many of you have asked in your individual e-mails. Since many of you seem to be asking the same question, this will save me a little time. The number you find next to the question is the number of times it has come my way.

Enjoy…

-Are you sleeping any better than when you left? (7)

Yes, but it has more to do with being so tired at the end of the day that I have no choice but to sleep the night through. Recently my alarm has been going off at 5:00am, by the time I actually put my feet on the floor it’s 5:30 and then things just start coming at me. However, I don’t think my body has fully acclimated to things here. I sleep but it’s not a truly deep sleep. I toss and turn a lot and need to wear ear plugs because the guard dogs tend to bark at just about anything and everything at night.

-Are you getting really tan? (9)

It depends on whether or not I have had time to be in the sun. Most days find me inside a classroom so it’s not like I have a ton of time to work on it. Thank goodness for weekends and random breaks of the school year which provide ample opportunity to head to the beach. Since I wear my sandals every day, I have some cool tan lines on my feet.

-How’s the ganja there? (11)

Coming down here, I knew there would be one or two of you who would inquire about the chronic but I did not expect to receive this many inquiries. It’s pervasive here. In fact, the day I first arrived in December and was being driven along the coast, I kept picking up the scent of it in the air. Turns out the locals will collect tall grass, weeds, brush and the like, gather it all into a pile and light it so it creates a huge field of smoke which serves to fend off mosquitoes, a practice I fully condone. The thing is, all of it smells like marijuana that you would come across in the states which caught me off guard the first few times.

Now, the stuff which is grown and smoked by locals is much stronger and every once in a while I come across a local with a spliff the size of a Louisville Slugger hanging out of his mouth. Those are special moments.

-Do the kids call you Mark or Mr. Konold? (5)

The students try to call me Mr. Konold but they slaughter it. Many of the students in the upper grades call me Mr. O’Conner but that has more to do with the play, “The Glass Menagerie” than anything else. One of the characters in the play, Jim O’Conner, is one that I was once assigned in an acting class. Once they learned this and they equated “Konold” with “O’Conner” and when I explain the correction, it suddenly becomes Mr. O’Konold. Once this becomes too difficult to comprehend, they simply go the route many of the lower level grades have and call me Mr. Chicago.

-What’s it like living in a trailer? (15)

It’s definitely a learning experience when you consider that a year ago I was occupying a modest but well-outfitted condo. Everything I have taken with me for the journey fits in a suitcase and a duffle bag and fits in a 10’ x 10’ room. The bathroom I use is narrow and rectangular in shape and without fully extending my arms fully at my side, I can touch both of the walls which contribute to the narrow shape. At night as I’m falling asleep it’s not uncommon to hear something scurrying in the ceiling and I haven’t quite figured out if I’m hearing mice, cockroaches, lizards or all three. At night, with the window open, it gets very cool and comfortable but it can turn into an oven on a hot day. Thankfully the school schedule keeps me out of my room for the majority of the day so I don’t have to contend with it too often.

-What kind of food do they eat there? (3)

Chicken and pork are often the staple around which a meal is built and of course, there are a million things you can do with both. There isn’t much in the way of steak but they definitely fancy goat, especially curried goat. Rice and peas usually accompanies every meal here and sometimes instead of peas, the rice is decorated with peanuts and that’s always a nice treat.

Ackee is a natural fruit which is grown here but once it’s cooked it looks and feels a lot like scrambled eggs. It is not uncommon to pair it with breadfruit (a local product which grows on trees and can be the size of a small bowling ball) and salt fish.

Jerk shacks can be found just about everywhere. For those of you who don’t know, jerk is a type of spicy seasoned marinade. Done correctly, it’s absolutely heavenly. Done marginally, it’s still damn good. Done poorly? Just wash it all down with Red Stripe and ya cris, boss.

-When are you going to share some pictures? (12)

I’ve started posting some of them via Google’s photo sharing program, Picasa. Simply head to http://picasaweb.google.com/markckonold and you can see the galleries I have there. I don’t have a whole lot posted because the only access I have is dial up and to upload at that speed is painful.

Are they trying to get you to stay longer? (4)

I think they would like me to stay as long as I possibly can. They put me to good use in any way they can and since the situation here is always in flux, having extra bodies around is a good thing. My original plan was to stay here until the end of March but the Monsignor asked that I stay until the conclusion of the school year so as to not reinforce the message to the kids that adults run out on the things they start.

Is it common for people to just show up and volunteer or do they go through some sort of organized group? (2)

Going the route that I did, just showing up to help out, is uncommon. Usually when people are introduced to the work which goes on via the Diocese of Mandeville, it is through an organized outing wherein a church will send a troop of volunteers down here for a small window of time to build houses and help out in other capacities. If people are so moved, they might arrange to come down for a longer period of time. My decision to just pack up and head down here like this is on the unconventional side.

How are you doing against the mosquitoes? (6)

Much better these days. I don’t know if my skin has adapted at all but they don’t seem to bother me like they did when I first arrived. However, it is still a matter of awareness around things like wearing shoes in the first hours of the morning instead of sandals. The other night I was sitting down and felt my left elbow itching and I looked at it only to see seven mosquito bites on it. The little buggers are fast, I tell you.