Falmouth Field School

     Our last full day in Jamaica. It has been so amazing. It's going to be so hard to say goodbye to this incredible place. So how did Post Oak High School decide to say goodbye? With a beach day! We had a spectacular free day of relaxation on a private beach by the same owners of the  Good Hope property. For seven hours, we splashed in the crystal clear waves, laid out in the sun and tanned, built sand castles, and whatever else we decided to do on our free day. Emily and Isabella went on a nice walk on the beach. Ian, Jodi, and I spent quite a long time sculpting Megan and Riane into sand mermaids. We ate until our bellies were full of Miss Barbra's amazing Jerk chicken. Today wasn't all about us, though. Isabella, Iris, Emily, and Dr. Lee took a chunk out of their beach day to go buy a cake and some supplies. When they got back, we gathered around a table writing letters to people who have impacted us during our time in Jamaica. Then we surprised them all with th...

While in Falmouth we worked on the house located at 27 Newton Street that was constructed pre-1850. It consisted of a main house and two additions to provide more living space over the year. Half of the group took in the task of measuring and drawing two of the walls in the house. The first group consisted of Ian, Emily, and Isabella, who drew the interior elevation of the north-south partition wall. The second group consisted of Megan, Kirby, and Jodi, who drew the interior elevation of the east wall. After all of the measurements had been taken and the wall drawn in a scaled image it had to be constructed of the computer. Ian and I took on this task using the program  Automated Computer Aided Design/Drafting or AutoCAD for short. This worked basically the same as drawing the picture on a piece of paper, except all the lines were automatically straight and instead of having to draw the line down to the millimeter the computer would do the measuring. The basic process was creating ...

No explanation needed. The Good Hope Beach view. Jodi, Riane and Megan jumping in the water. Thank You cake and cards for everyone that has helped us on our trip. Isabella hugging Barbara, our cook. From left: Barbara (cook), Dev (maid), and Aldin (maid) accepting their thank you cards. Riane, Megan, and Jodi looking out on the lifeguard stand. A local painter making merchandise in his store. Observing the view and helping make sand mermaids. Riane and Megan… Sand mermaids

Students learn about the native Taíno people from Dr. Conolley.  Dr. Quillin compares his hand to the print left on the 1936 generator. Students and Dr. Quillin climb the steep trail up to the Windsor Cave entrance. Mr. Harding and Dr. Lee discuss the landscape. Rim, our guide, clears the trail with his machete. Grace, Megan, and Elizabeth climb the steep trail. Dr. Conolley climbs down into the cave the secure a rope railing. The petroglyph that guards the Windsor Cave entrance.  Brayden listens as Dr. Conolley explains the placement of the face on the petroglyph. Jodi and Dr. Conolley sit inside the cave to look at the petroglyph.

When the teachers said that we were going on a hike I took a deep breath because I knew it would be a long day. After church we got our long pants (a.k.a. Jeans) on and went out. Not knowing what to expect, I prepared myself for the worst. We hiked a little with a guy named Rim, but people called him "Caveman". He is an archeologist with a machete. We stopped at a old ruin which was a building but got demolished. It was used for mining the bat guano for export. We went up the mountain and then started to hike. Dr. Conolley taught us how to hold a persons hand when helping them up. He said, and I quote, "it's not nice like the movies, you have to grab them by the wrist to get a nice grip." That's exactly what Jodi and I did the whole way up. I loved how we all helped each other make it up the mountain. I looked back and I saw everyone helping each other lending a hand. Finally we got up to the cave where the Taino artifacts had been spotted. The Windsor Cave ...

Today, the entire group went to a dock a few miles out of Falmouth to take a twilight swim in the bioluminescent lagoon. Upon arrival at the dock we noticed several tables set up in the center and a bar located on the far left wall. If you were to look to your right, you could see stairs outlined with vibrantly lit lights which led you up to a small eating area. Forming a picture of this area would only lead you to one conclusion- that this place is a restaurant on the water. Indeed it was, the entire area, both restaurant and dock, were called Glistening Waters. A very understated name because the water did more than glisten, it glowed. Before too long, our boat pulled up to the dock. It was small and wooden, but not in a bad or unnerving way that would give one the feeling that it would break apart. It looked sturdy yet ancient, like something out of an old novel, like we were just about to step into another amazing adventure. The group loaded onto the boat and upon departure, the...

This morning, given it was a free day, instead of sleeping in like everyone else, Jodi, Riane, Isabella, and I went into Falmouth to get our hair done near the headquarters of the Falmouth Heritage Renewal, at 8 Trelawny Street. The braider was referred to us by KeVaughn, who, when asked by his students to have their hair braided, takes them to her. The lady that did our hair was named Rosie. It is common for Jamaican people to have their business in the front part of their house, then have their living quarters in the back.  She has lived in the house since the mid 1990 s. The house isn't just an ordinary house, as it is an important piece of Falmouth history. Called the "Elizabeth Somerville house", it was built by Elizabeth Somerville, who was a freed colored slave in the 19th century. She built the house in 1836. Falmouth had a high population of their community that were free colored slaves--as high as 40%. Elizabeth Somerville was one of the first women to buy prope...

There are 1,013,913 words in the English language  Yet I couldn't string any of them together  To properly describe this beauty  Sensory intake has interrupted my soliloquies Red dirt on skin turned to tea leaves on rust Time took a break to look around Veins run like rivers  Dumping into the ocean  Poetry flows from waving fingertips  Voices are ballroom dancing with each other  And we all realize  Time is a nasty little habit  Everything has become animalistic  Like there's a primal urge to be happy  Forget the iPhones  Nothing compares to the imprints on my palms  From pressing my hands on the collar bones of Time        This is a poem I wrote as a part of my final project for J-Term. I wrote it here in Jamaica while I was sitting on a porch in Falmouth. I was looking out at the town and thinking about what I've seen here and the culture as a whole. People here are always talking about "Jamaican Time...

This morning, we went to the All Age School. We arrived and were immediately viewed as if we were zebras in a crowd of a horses.  The children were reluctant at first to approach us, especially since most of them were much younger than us, spanning from about ages 6-14. Our guide, KeVaughn Harding, told us about the history of the school and about how the younger children's part of the school (like our elementary school) used to be army barracks, which were built sometime in the early 19th century. About 50 feet away from the lower school was a concrete building, which we learned was a storage facility for the guns, ammunition, and explosives. The walls were about 3 feet thick to prevent damage if any of the contents were to detonate. The upper school (like our middle school) was set next to the lower school in a separate building, built in the late 1960s. All of this is was built on a sandy ground, overlooking ocean as far as the eye could see.  We were split up into three...

Everyone posing at the Falmouth All Age School. Ian, Emily, Riane, Brayden, Hanna, and Falmouth teacher Mr. Morris interacting in a classroom. Megan smiling with a sixth grade student at the school. Jodi helping a sixth grader with her work. Dr. Quillin and Dr. Lee agreeing with a sign outside of the school. Kirby and Grace playing card, while Falmouth students play on the girls' phones. Liz helps a first grader with her work. Jodi and Liz raise their hands as they interact in a first grade classroom. The Falmouth students play with Grace's hair as she attempts to play cards with Kirby. Hanna and Falmouth student Armando compare skin colors. Brayden is discussing Jamaican culture with a ninth grade student.

A photo taken from the morning walk. The oranges that make our orange juice every morning. Students and Ke-Vaughn on the bus going to Windsor. The Great House of the cattle overseer built by John Tharp in 1795, now owned by Mr. Schwartz. Student Jodi has got her working hat on. Students Jodi and Megan listen to Mr. Schwartz explain the history of the estate. Students Jodi, Megan and Brayden were successfully photobombed by Hanna. Mr. Schwartz shows us how the shutters they used in Jamaica in the 1900's were made.

Today we went to another work site in Windsor, Jamaica to switch jobs. Those who were working on limestone and doing physical labor would now be drawing architectural models and those drawing last time would be washing limestone. It was going to be a difficult job because this house was inhabited, as opposed to the last site, and the man who lived there did not want to be disturbed. At least that's what we planned on. After a long bus ride through a beautiful forest and up and down rocky hills, we arrived at the house. It was very different than the previous worksite because the one in Falmouth was about the size of a large living room and this one was huge! We walked up to the house hesitantly, being bit by mosquitos with every step we took and saw the ruins of a brick archway directly across from the house. Suddenly, an older British man emerged from the house with open arms, a huge dog, and a vague resemblance to the genius doctor from Jurassic park. He immediately began giv...

Ian and Emily import their sketches from the house on 27 Newton Street into AutoCAD, a design and engineering program used to create blueprints. Liz, Riane, Jodi, Isabella, Iris, Dr. Lee, and Brayden listen to an older woman preach to us about God, while Shelby taught us how to mix the limestone mortar. A mother and her child walk down the street; their gazes fixed on the towering cruise ship above. Due to the tunnel winds formed by the mix of cruise ships and coastal gusts,  it was extremely windy. In order to adapt to this, Grace, Liz, and Hanna attempted to turn into birds. Dr. Quillin amusingly mimics Usain Bolt in "Falmouth Historic District." Riane and Megan looked through a shop run by a local, ultimately ending in Riane's purchase of a bracelet.   Grace bought some sugar cane from a street vendor and kindly gave a piece to everyone. I happened to stumble upon these two Jamaican women selling clothing in a market. A handicapped man agreed to let me take a picture o...