Teach a man to fish.

Markie-Mark here.
 Yesterday I commented on Facebook how some people target us here for begging from because we're white, and thus, must be rich. We are able, however, to sometimes help out in a more profound fashion. Recently, a man named Robert, has been stopping by the gate asking if I can help him find some work so that he can send his kid's to school. I asked him what he did for a living and he said he was a mason. Well, it just so happens that we are having some block work done here by a young man, named Troy, who owes Jim some time, and he doesn't know enough to do it by himself. So, I asked Jim this morning if we could bless Robert and his children by giving him some work for a week or so, and Jim agreed to let us pay him $1000 Jamaican a day for his services. That works out to about $13.00 U.S., but is only a little less than the going rate. This will also bless Troy with some valuable experience in masonry which he can use in the future.
 It made me feel good when I could tell Robert that we had some work for him and made me grateful that there are still many people here who are willing to sweat for their money, rather than simply asking for a handout. Robert was ve ryI know God had a hand in this transaction.
 I've been working on getting all the window panels made up in case of a hurricane. Thankfully, the lord has been watching over us this season, and so far we have nothing to worry about. Hurricane season ends soon and I pray we will continue to be blessed with good weather.
 We will be driving to Montego Bay again this weekend to stay at the Holiday Inn (all inclusive resort) with the kid's and Marlean and Donnarea's family. I'm looking forward to that. And next week we have to go to Kingston, a 5 hour drive, to check into our work permits. We also have a meeting coming up in St. James soon, which will involve about a 2 1/2 hour drive each way. As I have said before, driving in Jamaica is a real "trip". Westmoreland, the Parish Whitehouse is in, has the worst roads on the island. So, you have to dodge potholes, some of which can swallow a small army tank. You must also watch out for cab drivers who love to pass you at any moment ,whether you're on a curve or not, and can't seem to drive slower than 80 kmh. And watch out for pedestrians walking along the road, look out for goats tied along the road, and be careful of vendors holding out fruit or fish or crabs to sell you as you drive by at 40 kmh. Oh, and the Jamaican's have this funny habit of stopping wherever they want, whenever they want, with little or no warning. You may come around a corner, with sugar cane 12' tall on both sides, and there's a dump truck sitting there because the driver needs to buy more credits for his cell phone. Or a cab driver might be backing up in the middle of the road because a fare flagged him down. Or you may come around a bend and come right up on some dude on a 1950 Schwinn with a car tire over one shoulder and his grandma on the handlebars. You never know.
 Kim loves to drive with me because she gets to practice her screaming and it builds up her arm muscles by grabbing various parts of the car, or my anatomy, in order to keep from hitting her head on the headliner or flying through the windshield. The screaming part is my favorite because you can imagine how relaxing this sort of traveling is for the driver. especially since you're on the left side of the road, the right side of the cab, and shifting with your left hand.  Her soothing voice comes through quite clearly when she thinks her life is over, and the warm feeling of her hand smashing my arm reminds me of how much she values my ninja-like driving skills.  I told her the other day that I'm surprised I don't have a terminal headache the way my eyes are darting around from pothole ,to rear view mirror, to side mirror, to pedestrian in a constant  mental game of assessing the probability quotient for each obstacle's potential to inflict pain or damage or both.  What's a sure giveaway that you're not from around here is when you signal a turn with your windshield wiper handle and turn your blinker on when it starts raining. That took some getting used to.
 Anyway, life here is pretty cool and we're having the time of our lives, which when you think about it is a really stupid saying. Isn't every minute the time of your life? Otherwise you're dead, right?............
 I'm tired.
 G'nite.
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