Sunday, November 4, 2012

Learning to chat Jamaican

Locals on the beach were not happy this week - we were hit by a cold front. This was completely unknown to us, however, since the temperature only dropped to 24 degrees. But sure enough, people were dressed in coats and hats and a few even tried to convince us to buy them some rum because 'they were sooo cold!'.

Grampie and Caleb, barely surviving the cold

We've been having a great time with Grammie and Grampie and will be sad to see hem go tomorrow. We've had lots of adventures including almost getting stranded in the mountains when our taxi nearly broke down, spending an afternoon in the sun at Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville, beach mapping in Montego Bay...but I think the most memorable part of the past two weeks has been watching the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. Each day has brought about new changes to the beach. As a coastal researcher, it has been fascinating for me to witness and document all that has taken place. I'm now working to provide good information to the hotel owners on the best ways to manage the changes on the beach, like how to deal with the mountains of seagrass that have recently washed up on the shore.


Wastin away again in Margaritaville

Another exciting development is that Grammie is quickly becoming fluent in Jamaican! After reading my 'Chat Jamaican' book she can almost decipher the local dialect when talking to locals or reading the Jamaican Gleaner. The 'Chat Jamaican' book is really quite amazing. Here are a few of the different situations described in the book where you may need to use an authentic jamaican phrase - although I admit I haven't found myself in many of these situations so far! Obviously I need to stay in Jamaica a bit longer.

Days of the week: Monday - Mondey, Tuesday - Choosdey
Dining: Give me a little more rice- Gi mi a lilly mow rice
Visiting the family: Where is my grandfather: Weh grampa?
A mother and her pregnant daughter: You are catching man: Yuh a ketch man

A few sections only have cartoon depictions, such as: A farmer on his donkey, a lady cutting sugar cane, A peasant running for his life and When a man's woman is giving him a hard time (yikes).


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