Monday, September 03, 2007

All the news fit to print from Kingston

Pleasant greetings!

(This is a typical Jamaican greeting that often makes me smile and think of Stepford Wives…I don’t know exactly why.)

Wag’won? (Jamaican for “What’s going on?”)

I have been pretty silent for the past 8 months. Life takes over sometimes, leaving little time or motivation for email or blog updates.

Today is election day in Jamaica. The two parties, the incumbent PNP and the opposition JLP, have been battling it out in advertisements and pep rallies. The PNP has been in power for at the past two decades, but the polls show that the party may lose out in today’s election. The run up to the election has been typically violent, with gunfire between competing supporters and candidates and other unpleasant interactions. Both parties have taken vows against violence, and we hope the election results and the reaction of the public will be consistent with nonviolence. Happily, Hurricane Felix appears to be far enough south of us that the elections are not going to be interrupted again.

The election was supposed to be held a week ago, but was delayed by Hurricane Dean. Jamaica had a very near miss there, with the storm dipping slightly south of its projected path and narrowly missing a direct hit on us. There is still a lot of damage, but it could have been so much worse. My colleagues and I moved into the Embassy for the days of the storm, and were kept very busy tracking down American citizens and assisting people in getting out of Jamaica once the storm moved on and the airports re-opened. Many areas of the island only got power and water back in the past few days. Many of the island’s school (also polling stations for the election) were damaged, and so the start of school has been delayed too.

A piece of advice for anyone who travels anywhere outside the US…ALWAYS buy travel insurance. It can assist you when unexpected weather or accidents happen. Medical evacuations are expensive ($10,000 and up) and the embassy has no legal ability to pay for Americans to be evacuated from foreign countries. Just consider this my own public service announcement…

My job is interesting. Jamaica has a very busy visa section- I have done more than 10,000 visiting visa interviews and 2500 immigrant visa interviews since I arrived here in June 2006. The stories are interesting, and many people lie to us, but it is never dull. I continue to have many personal opinions about immigration reform that I am happy to share in personal conversations. I received a Superior Honor Award for the work I did in the move to the new embassy building and the re-design of the visa processes. I was proud to have been recognized.

Sunit and I broke up. Thanks for everyone’s support through what has been a confusing and emotional time in my life.

It is almost time for bidding to start for my next posting. After conversation with my family, I submitted early bids for jobs in Baghdad. I have not yet received news of my assignment, but I am bidding mainly on management and economic jobs. I hope to hear something on those bids before the bids are due in the regular cycle in October.

Starting tomorrow, and for the next two months, I will be acting as the Ambassador’s staff aide. I am sure I will learn a lot about Jamaican-American politics during this rotation. After the rotation I will be going home to Minnesota for break- if you are going to be in MN between October 24th and November 12, drop me a note to make plans to get together.

In my personal time, I am taking an Arabic class, preparing for the half marathon in December, enjoying being an active toastmaster again and learning to crochet.

Sunday, September 02, 2007

Blogging- a new beginning

As a new "school year" approaches, it is time to make a new commitment to my blog...I used to be so good at getting things online, but the past year has passed in a blaze of no postings. Time to start "change course" and post regularly again.