Our second week here in Kingston has been one defined by extremes – in weather, in the classroom, and in cultural experiences. This was our first full week of classes at UWI, and we spent the beginning of the week planning our course material and preparing lectures. Early this week we had a terrible thunderstorm – so bad in fact that parts of the UWI campus lost power and students were inquiring about whether or not class would be cancelled. Fortunately, our building was not affected by the power outage, and we were able to hold class for those students who could attend. We were at our eighth straight day of rain by this point and everyone was getting a little down by the weather. The next morning, though, we woke up to clear blue skies and finally some SUN! Zein, one of our benefactors who is apparently a morning person, took it upon herself to call Pedro, Aditi and me each several times starting at 7:45 am to tell us to get out of bed and go enjoy the sun while it lasted. So, that’s exactly what we did, and we have been enjoying great weather ever since.
Our students submitted their vision and mission statements for their proposed new ventures this week, and we chose one group to present their idea to the class for feedback. The idea was a good one –a recycling service designed for the residents of a local community such that participants would be rewarded by kickbacks from sponsoring retail partners based on the weight of their recyclables. The vision was laudable and the mission was clear; they just failed to mention one minor detail – how the company would make money, something most investors would like to know when considering funding a new venture. This omission did not go unnoticed amongst their peers, and the “feedback” session quickly turned into a very heated discussion. For the most part, from second grade on, there is an understanding between students in the US that one person speaks at a time in the classroom. In Jamaica, there is no such understanding. Nope, when one person made a comment, it immediately sparked additional comments, along with a rebuttal from the presenters, leading to even more arguments and simultaneous rebuttals. Everyone had something to say, and spoke as loud as possible to make sure it was said. We were totally caught off guard by the turn this exercise took and did not expect such impassioned reactions from our characteristically mild-mannered students. We ultimately had to intervene in this intended learning activity, and while we admired the engagement of the students, we were very seriously putting several of them in time out.
On Saturday morning we had plans for our housekeeper Shauna to take us to the Coronation Market in the heart of downtown Kingston at 8:30 am. Shauna picked us up a little before 9:30 – right on time if you ask a Jamaican. About 30 minutes and as many potholes later, we arrived at the market, which is located in one of the worst neighborhoods in Kingston. The outdoor market was filled with hundreds of vendors, selling everything from fresh fish and mangoes to shampoo and dish soap. This is not a place you want to go without the guidance of a local, and even then it’s pretty scary. Up until last summer, the neighborhood in which the market sits was run by Dudus Coke, a Jamaican drug lord and leader of the Shower Posse gang. Coke was extradited to the US last June, and ever since, his former neighborhood is constantly patrolled by a barrage of armored police trucks and officers in camouflage carrying machine guns. Not exactly a market known for its ambiance, and it was certainly an eye-opening experience to witness the extreme poverty in which many Kingstonians live.
When we got home from the Coronation Market, we got changed and headed up into the Blue Mountains to a place called Strawberry Hill, known for its lavish resort and spectacular views. What Strawberry Hill fails to mention on their website is that while the resort is only 20 miles from Kingston, it requires one to drive at a 45% incline on 4-foot wide roads riddled with 2-foot wide potholes. Pedro handled the drive like a champ though, and the slightly nauseating ride was totally worth it once we got to the resort and were able to look out on all of Kingston surrounded by the Blue Mountains. After being exposed to the dire conditions of downtown Kingston just a few hours earlier, we could not help but feel guilty that we were enjoying such luxury when so many people in the town below live in such poverty.
That Sunday, we had plans to go boating with Gary and Kamaal and his family, who we were introduced to a few nights before at an impromptu dinner with the Issa family. We were picked up at our apartment at 9:30 Jamaica time (10:15) and driven to the dock by our new friend Gary, an American Diplomat in the US Embassy in Kingston and an all-around impressive guy. Once we reached the dock, Gary showed us to Kamaal’s boat, a 40-foot speed boat with not one, not two, but three gigantic engines. Thinking to myself that three engines seemed a bit superfluous for a boat this size, I dismissed the thought when Gary offered to give us a tour of the Jamaican Royal Yacht club before we set sail. After a brief tour of the club, we got the boat stocked and headed out to sea en route to Maiden Cay, an itty bitty island off the coast of Kingston. After a minute or two, I realized the reason for the three engines. Turns out that our new friend Kamaal has a serious need for speed and likes to drive his boat at a cool 65 mph – two engines just won’t cut it. Flying through the turquoise waters and launching over white caps, we arrived at Maiden Cay in about 15 minutes. Unfortunately it was pretty windy and the currents around Maiden Cay were bit rough for swimming. Undeterred, we ventured about a half mile to the right and let our anchor down at Lime Cay, a neighboring island. We spent the afternoon swimming and lounging on the boat before we packed up and sped back to shore. Not a bad way to spend a Sunday.
Pedro, Aditi, and I had off on Monday, so we planned on taking a day trip to Port Antonio, a small town on the northeastern coast of Jamaica known for its secluded beaches and only about 50 miles from Kingston. Whereas 50 miles can easily be traveled in less than an hour on any US highway, such ‘highways’ are very few and far between in Jamaica. The path to Port Antonio is as precarious as the path to Strawberry Hill and, not realizing this, I volunteered to drive. The majority of roads here are extremely narrow and have no center line, meaning that people usually drive in the center of the road until they see another car coming and then veer to the left at the last possible second. Kingston traffic is unlike any I have ever experienced, and during rush hour it takes over an hour to travel 3 miles to school. Now, I can handle the lack of highways and I can work around the rush hour traffic. It’s the incessant horn honking that really gets me. In Jamaica, it is considered rude not to use your horn, and there is an entire horn vocabulary spoken by the cars of Kingston. When you pass someone on a narrow road you honk lightly, which in horn means, ‘Yes, this road may be built for only one car, but we actually both need to try to fit on it so please move over now.’ When you are going around a tight corner on a mountain, you honk a little longer, so as to alert oncoming traffic of your presence. And when someone passes you on the road to Port Antonio, they honk even longer, which in horn translates to, “You do not know how to drive on the left side of the road, let alone know how to scale a mountain in a wimpy Suzuki. So stay off the road until you get back to Pennsylvania.”
After about 2 ½ hours, we arrive in Port Antonio and ultimately end up at the San San Beach Bistro and Bar – and by ‘Bistro’ I mean one guy who will serve you either jerk chicken and rice or jerk pork and rice for $1,000 Jamaican. Turns out that we made the right decision though because, while the food left much to be desired, we had the entire beach to ourselves for the better part of the day. Sometime that afternoon, we noticed two horses about 200 yards from us carrying people around in the water and up and down the beach in front of us. I thought it was a little odd that a crew of cameramen were following these people around, but figured it was all a part of some tourist package these two got suckered into. It was not until Aditi asked one of the assistants what they were doing that we discovered one of these people was Shaggy, a Jamaican-American reggae singer/rapper and Kingston native, who was filming the music video for his new single ‘Sugarcane.’ Overcome by our female groupie instincts, Aditi and I could not resist the temptation to go meet Shaggy (I’d change my name to Shaggy too if my actual name was Orville Richard Burrell) and have our picture taken with him as proof of our celebrity encounter. While chatting with our new pal Shaggy, his manager asked Aditi and me if we would mind shooting a commercial with him in the upcoming weeks. Um, sure? We are still waiting on his call, but are hopeful that our dreams of stardom will soon become a reality. It will be hard to top this weekend, and we are looking forward to the upcoming weeks!
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Monday, June 6, 2011
Week 1 in Kingston
For the next 2 months, I am living in Kingston, Jamaica and teaching a course in New Venture Creation at the University of the West Indies (UWI). I am lucky enough to have two of my good friends from ND down here with me – Aditi (co-professor) and Pedro (resident Marketing Strategist). We landed in Kingston last Tuesday, touching down in a light rain, which has annoyingly persisted for the past 6 days. They don’t call June the rainy season for nothing! We arrived in Kingston not really knowing what to expect, and were happy to be greeted at the airport by Mitchell, a man sent by our benefactors who set us up with a car, GPS (THANK GOD), and cell phones. We followed Mitchell from the airport to our apartment through some pretty rough neighborhoods, with our Marketing Strategist behind the wheel trying his hand at driving on the left side of the road for the first time in his life. It was terrifying.
Our living arrangements are nicer than any of us expected, and the complex is complete with a pool, gym (i.e. a broken treadmill, a broken elliptical, and an old bowflex), maid service, and 24/7 security. After we got settled into our apartments, we cautiously drove to the local grocery store to get some supplies. Most things in Kingston are gated, even grocery stores. While the gates are intended to keep beggars from harassing customers, they also had the unintended consequence of keeping 3 confused Americans from being able to access the store. After circling our target destination a few times though, we figured out how exactly to enter the grocery store parking lot and were able to get our shopping done. The exchange rate here is roughly $85 Jamaican to $1 US, so it was a bit of a shock to see grocery store prices for the first time (e.g. in Jamaica you can expect to pay about $700 for olive oil). We were too tired to cook dinner our first night, so we settled on takeout from Cuddy’s, a local sports bar that came highly recommended from the bag boy at the grocery store.
Aditi and I were scheduled to teach our first class on Wednesday evening, so Pedro dropped us off at the university that morning while he spent the day meeting with his advisors at the Jamaican Youth Business Trust (JYBT), a youth entrepreneurship development organization that Pedro will be providing consulting services to throughout the next two months. Our first day at UWI was filled with introductions and meetings, followed by a rain-drenched tour of campus, which is settled within the Blue Mountain region. By the end of the afternoon, Aditi and I were shown to our office and were able to finish preparing for our first lecture, scheduled for 7 that evening. We have 32 students registered for our course; about 15 showed up the first day, and about 2 were on time. Turns out that classes typically start 10-15 minutes late at UWI, and students very rarely show up if it’s raining. Notre Dame should consider adopting these policies.
Our first class went very well and the students (who showed up) seemed to be excited about the material. Though the university is 70% female, we have a fairly equal male to female ratio in our class. However, despite the equal female presence, only the males tend to participate in class discussions, which is interesting. We spent the majority of the day on Thursday unpacking and prepping for lecture #2, scheduled for Friday evening. We had a significantly better turnout for our second class, and though I’d like to believe it was due to the incredible hype generated by our first lecture, I’m pretty sure it’s because it happened to not be raining.
Our hopes of spending the weekend at Lime Cay Island (a tiny island off the coast of Kingston) were foiled by non-stop rain, so we spent our weekend touring the Kingston area. We met our benefactors and a few of their friends for dinner at a hotel downtown and had a great time getting to know the Issa sisters, fellow ND MBA alums. Their love for Notre Dame is obvious, and they have showered us with generosity ever since we arrived in Kingston.
We had no plans Saturday morning, so I took the opportunity to explore a gym down the street called Fit Farm. A step up from the gym at my apartment complex, Fit Farm offers all of the equipment and modern conveniences you could hope for. Except air conditioning. Despite the rain, it’s still about 90 degrees outside with 100% humidity, and AC is something you’d definitely like to have. I joined in spite of the cheesy name and lack of AC and attended my first fitness class that morning. There were about 10 other women in the class, which was led by a short-statured Jamaican man. What our instructor lacked in height, he overcompensated for in zealous energy, leading the class through an hour of spinning and cardio without stopping (except for periodic pauses to flex in the mirror when he thought no one was looking). All in all, a good workout though and an interesting cultural experience. On Saturday afternoon, Pedro, Aditi and I traveled to the Devon House to tour the home of Jamaica’s first black millionaire. Now owned by the Jamaican government, the property has been immaculately restored, and is now home to a tourist destination with shops, restaurants, and bars. A tour of the property included a 20-min guided tour of the home and an ice cream cone (!) from the ‘I-Scream’ shop. The coconut ice cream here is awesome.
We spent the rest of the weekend touring the local area and prepping for our upcoming week of classes and work. The students have formed small working teams by this point and are in the process of generating ideas for a new venture that they will draft a business plan for this semester. Their initial business missions are due this week and we are excited to see the types of ventures they will be pursuing. The rain is supposed to break by the end of the week, and we are very much looking forward to that!
Our living arrangements are nicer than any of us expected, and the complex is complete with a pool, gym (i.e. a broken treadmill, a broken elliptical, and an old bowflex), maid service, and 24/7 security. After we got settled into our apartments, we cautiously drove to the local grocery store to get some supplies. Most things in Kingston are gated, even grocery stores. While the gates are intended to keep beggars from harassing customers, they also had the unintended consequence of keeping 3 confused Americans from being able to access the store. After circling our target destination a few times though, we figured out how exactly to enter the grocery store parking lot and were able to get our shopping done. The exchange rate here is roughly $85 Jamaican to $1 US, so it was a bit of a shock to see grocery store prices for the first time (e.g. in Jamaica you can expect to pay about $700 for olive oil). We were too tired to cook dinner our first night, so we settled on takeout from Cuddy’s, a local sports bar that came highly recommended from the bag boy at the grocery store.
Aditi and I were scheduled to teach our first class on Wednesday evening, so Pedro dropped us off at the university that morning while he spent the day meeting with his advisors at the Jamaican Youth Business Trust (JYBT), a youth entrepreneurship development organization that Pedro will be providing consulting services to throughout the next two months. Our first day at UWI was filled with introductions and meetings, followed by a rain-drenched tour of campus, which is settled within the Blue Mountain region. By the end of the afternoon, Aditi and I were shown to our office and were able to finish preparing for our first lecture, scheduled for 7 that evening. We have 32 students registered for our course; about 15 showed up the first day, and about 2 were on time. Turns out that classes typically start 10-15 minutes late at UWI, and students very rarely show up if it’s raining. Notre Dame should consider adopting these policies.
Our first class went very well and the students (who showed up) seemed to be excited about the material. Though the university is 70% female, we have a fairly equal male to female ratio in our class. However, despite the equal female presence, only the males tend to participate in class discussions, which is interesting. We spent the majority of the day on Thursday unpacking and prepping for lecture #2, scheduled for Friday evening. We had a significantly better turnout for our second class, and though I’d like to believe it was due to the incredible hype generated by our first lecture, I’m pretty sure it’s because it happened to not be raining.
Our hopes of spending the weekend at Lime Cay Island (a tiny island off the coast of Kingston) were foiled by non-stop rain, so we spent our weekend touring the Kingston area. We met our benefactors and a few of their friends for dinner at a hotel downtown and had a great time getting to know the Issa sisters, fellow ND MBA alums. Their love for Notre Dame is obvious, and they have showered us with generosity ever since we arrived in Kingston.
We had no plans Saturday morning, so I took the opportunity to explore a gym down the street called Fit Farm. A step up from the gym at my apartment complex, Fit Farm offers all of the equipment and modern conveniences you could hope for. Except air conditioning. Despite the rain, it’s still about 90 degrees outside with 100% humidity, and AC is something you’d definitely like to have. I joined in spite of the cheesy name and lack of AC and attended my first fitness class that morning. There were about 10 other women in the class, which was led by a short-statured Jamaican man. What our instructor lacked in height, he overcompensated for in zealous energy, leading the class through an hour of spinning and cardio without stopping (except for periodic pauses to flex in the mirror when he thought no one was looking). All in all, a good workout though and an interesting cultural experience. On Saturday afternoon, Pedro, Aditi and I traveled to the Devon House to tour the home of Jamaica’s first black millionaire. Now owned by the Jamaican government, the property has been immaculately restored, and is now home to a tourist destination with shops, restaurants, and bars. A tour of the property included a 20-min guided tour of the home and an ice cream cone (!) from the ‘I-Scream’ shop. The coconut ice cream here is awesome.
We spent the rest of the weekend touring the local area and prepping for our upcoming week of classes and work. The students have formed small working teams by this point and are in the process of generating ideas for a new venture that they will draft a business plan for this semester. Their initial business missions are due this week and we are excited to see the types of ventures they will be pursuing. The rain is supposed to break by the end of the week, and we are very much looking forward to that!
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