Friday, March 4, 2011

on our way!

I think I speak on everyone's behalf when I say, it was a LONG week. Teachers bombarded us with midterms, assignments and quizzes before Spring Break... coincidentally pushing us to want this week of freedom and relaxation that much more.

It was a bit chaotic this afternoon getting everything together and getting out of Nashville, but once we piled our luggage in the trunk, put on Pandora and sailed outta the city of Nashville, Kingston felt right around the corner.

In brainstorming names for the blog, many creative names were brought to the table, (namely by taylor)... we had "Jamaican me crazy".... "Pass it on"..... "One heart one love"..... "Dores in Jamaica" .... but we finally settled on Kickin' it in Jamaica... because it captures, in a light-hearted way, exactly what we will be doing for the next seven days. Kickin it'. Sharing life. Sharing stories, sharing laughter, sharing joys, sharing struggles, sharing differences and similarities, triumphs and chances to learn and love. We'll be kickin' it tutoring the schoolchildren of Ferry. We'll be kickin' it with the Ferry soccer team, literally, with the 21 soccer balls stuffed and jammed in our luggage. And finally, we'll be kickin' it as we learn to embrace  in our mindsets. Kickin our preconceived notions, stereotypes and biases out the window. 

So here we sit in the basement of Elin's house in Chattanooga, in a food coma after being fed lasagna, veggies, asparagus and the most delicious homemade brownies. Half of us have already crawled onto an air mattress, scattered sporadically through the house... (there are 15 of us after all). And we will attempt to catch some shut eye before our long journey to Kingston starting at 4am tomorrow morning. We will fly to Miami, where we will have a 5 hour layover, and then we will touch down in warm, sunny Jamaica at 3pm local time.

The week ahead will be one replete with learning. Learning that will stretch our imaginations and alter our perspectives. Learning that is so powerful because it will come through the raw connection between two human beings. Each day we will be reflecting on our experiences and sharing it with you all, we hope you enjoy it.

one community. 
two hundred children. 
fifteen students. seven days. 
twenty-one soccer balls. 
one bulldozer. 
many stories. 
let's kick it.

keep it irie,
tara and elin

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