I'm saying bye to Jamaica

[Ochigal]

Re: I'm saying bye to Jamaica

Originally posted by j-can:
[qb]

Originally posted by Ochigal.:
[img]/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img] You were attacked? I'm sorry, I went back and re-read the entire post...didnt see where anyone ATTACKED you.

If I am not being challenged for stating my opinion,Then,Why are we having this discussion? [/qb]

To be honest...I am not sure why...

Again...not challenging you for stating your opinion....all I did was ask you to "be nice" after THIS comment

Originally posted by j-can:
[qb] All I can say is
Good Riddance...Jamaica wont miss yah
..yippie
October 8 wont come soon enough [/qb]

Opinions are fine...I guess it was just THE WAY your opinion was put across....it seemed kind of nasty. But agian...thats MY opinion...

Agian...Walk good...I appreciate that you LOVE Jamaica and find much good in it...as do I. I hope that your life there is long, prosperous and rewarding!!

[Amanda ATL]

Re: I'm saying bye to Jamaica

Puttus

Elephantman didn't buy a puppy but I am trying to find him a Great Dane breeder. I tried calling him to let him know what I found out but haven't spoken back to you yet. I will keep you posted.

Ochigal,

Thanks for sticking up for me. I didn't really find j-can's comment worth paying any attention to. I wouldn't have stayed for 4 years if I hated it completely. I obviously liked certain things. I posted based on my feelings and what was happening to me at the time and that's all I can do. If people come here and have it very easy I am very happy for them.... but like I've said and other people have said too it's expensive and stressful. Maybe people like spending 2 hours in the bank to make a deposit or going to the tax office and standing in lines forever just to find out that they lost all your returns... But if you have the money it's easy you just pay a bearer to do those things for you then it's not so bad. Believe me I have not mentioned half the negatives things I could have [img]/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

I have to admit I have become bitter about some things... I didn't want that to happen but it just did. I will have good and bad experiences in Atlanta and I will share those too. I won't sugarcoat anything even though I was born there. I think my experience would have definitely been better if I lived in the country instead of Kingston... but that's what I had to do to get by.

[Amanda ATL]

Re: I'm saying bye to Jamaica

Thanks Q for your comment.

I usually just try to ignore attacks and usually they go away... however it depends on my mood also [img]/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] Right now just about anything can roll off my back!

I'm sure I will continue to visit this site.

[Ochigal]

Re: I'm saying bye to Jamaica

Originally posted by Amanda ATL:
[qb] I think my experience would have definitely been better if I lived in the country instead of Kingston... but that's what I had to do to get by. [/qb]

different yes...but better...Maybe not.

I lived there for close to 8 years and I have to say that the last 2 years were very difficult. It wasnt that I didnt LOVE Jamaica...it was just that my patience had worn out. EVERYDAY I managed to get myself worked into a "fit" over something that happened.

I started to hate a place I once loved enough to leave my home and family for. So..yes, for me it was time to leave also. NOW...I can love Jamaica agian...go back every year so that my son can learn to love it too...afterall it is the land of his birth and someday he may want to live there...I want him to know it as a HOME...not just a vacation destination.

(((Amanda))) Best of luck to you!!

[Q3210]

Re: I'm saying bye to Jamaica

If you read some of my opinions about Jamaica and why it is so, politics, you`d run in shame.
As I said before, most of the posters here live abroad and those who lived here, do not anymore.
A few like myself still live in Jamaica.
Unfortunately, there is a lot that holds back Jamaica from progress. However, that does not negate the fact that many individual Jamaicans are top class people, the best in the world.

[Q3210]

Re: I'm saying bye to Jamaica

What would be most interesting is to hear you Amanda and Ochi hitting the nails on the head.
I am Jamaican and I have always lived in Jamaica.
I would appreciate if you`d share some of the very factors that make Jamaica not so nice living.
I find road manners, oncoming vehicles with bright head-lights at nights, boring lines pathetic.
I find that trying to get things done, birth certificate applications, road licensing, applications, going to the doctor/hospital as a patient most sickening.
The Jamaica of old before the 70`s was not as crude and maddening as it has become.

You have all right not to be ashamed or afraid to say it as you know it. Jamaica is not a easy place to live.
If you`re rich and you can pay others to join lines and do things that average citizens dont have to do, then Jamaica can be a paradise.

[Ochigal]

Re: I'm saying bye to Jamaica

Originally posted by Q3210:
[qb] However, that does not negate the fact that many individual Jamaicans are top class people, the best in the world. [/qb]

AND one of the things I LOVE and miss the most.

[Q3210]

Re: I'm saying bye to Jamaica

yet ironically the same driver blinding you with bright lights out of the car in another setting is the life of the party.

[Ochigal]

Re: I'm saying bye to Jamaica

Originally posted by Q3210:
[qb]I find road manners pathetic.[/qb]

OH YEAH...I'll tell a story...it was the DAY that I started to realize that maybe my time was done.

I was driving along Ochi Main Street with a coworker and traffic was busy...moving but not top speed. But you expect that...if you want top speed you drive the bypass road right? Well this car decides to pass me on a curve..as he passed a car coming from the other direction comes around the corner...the guy passing me, in order to avoid a head on cuts back over...not realizing that he hasnt fully finished passing me so he runs me off the road and I just barely miss a brick wall. Needless to say my heart is racing...I manage to gain control and get back on the road behind this same guy only to find that about 50 yards later he pulls into his driveway....SO...still feeling rather angered I followed him into his driveway.

I get out of the car...walk up and ask him if he is GOD? He say "Wha?" I say...you must think your god to have the RIGHT to put my life and your passengers life in danger like that only to get you into your driveway 5 seconds sooner than if you would have just waited....I then proceeded to really cuss some bad words.

Once I got back in the car...my coworker just looked at me and shook his head. He said "Ochi...its time to go home..." So I say " I know...Im going to drop you by the office and head home...." He says "No Ochi...I mean HOME...how did you know that guy didnt have a gun or a knife. He was obviously an idiot...what did you hope to accomplish?" Well I couldnt answer...all I know was I was FED UP with stupid drivers causing so much death and destruction on the roads....

Originally posted by Q3210:
[qb]I find that trying to get things done, birth certificate applications, road licensing, applications, going to the doctor/hospital as a patient most sickening.[/qb]

YUP...that too. I just wasnt used to all that. I took my drivers test 3 times...never got my license because I wouldnt "pay the man". So I drove for 8 years on my US license.


It became very frustrating living day to day. The governmental beaurocracy was the MOST difficult to understand...it TO ME, is what holds the country back.

I'll give an example of its finest in the tourism industy that I worked in. I managed a Sail Boat Charter company...in the Ocho Rios Harbor are a multitude of watersports operators.

One day we all show up for work and the UDC beach is locked off and there are armed soldiers patrolling the beach telling us we cant get to our boats and/or watersports equipment.

Apparently UDC did a water quality test and found very high levels of fecal coliform (sp?) in the harbor and although they hadnt proven where it came from...they blamed the watersports industry and with NO notice...locked it off. It was a two cruise ship day...we had cruises scheduled that we had to cancel and the entire day was a mess. People rioted...blocked the streets...I am sure that the cruiseship patrons that day left Jamaica wondering what the Heck kind of country jamaica was.

After further study BY THE WATERSPORTS OPERATORS (at our own expense) we found that the polution levels were highest after a big rain...further study found that the main storm drain for the street runoff in Ochi Rios emptied about 50 feet in front of the Pier in Ocho Rios HArbor. Now it doesnt take a rocket scientist to figure out that the polution is coming right off the streets...

BUt....rather than go about things in a diplomatic way...the UDC Director who at the time was I believe Vinn Lawrence just orders a shut down without putting ANY thought to ramifications. For a country that heavily relies on tourism and cruise ship industry...it was not a very wise move.

Its that street bully mentality that permiates in the government leaders and IN MY OPINION is the main cause for alot of the islands troubles.

It just became too frustrating to watch a country that could be so successful just fall apart because of stupidness. If anyoen wants more detail on specifics of other examples...watch the movie "LIFE & DEBT". It will make you cry!

There are alot of other stories...some I have told in other areas of this board...I was subject to an attempted violent crime...I lost several good friends to violence...and had several others survive violence but they were never the same.

NOW...dont get me totally wrong...alot of these very same issues are prevalent in the USA too...the difference is that with Jamaica being a mush small country...its less diluted and much more BLATANTLY obvious. It effected me directly moreso than it does here.

So....Q3210 I hope this is what you meant when you asked the question. Beleive me...there are times I wish I hadnt left...but for the most part...I needed to, it was time.

[777]

Re: I'm saying bye to Jamaica

lawks, nobody fe feel sorry..
If u have a little money, and dont have to struggle, I am sure it can be paradise..
otherwise...
Is nuff of we *migrate* to the US and Canada, and fe most of us that of done so, we know the trials, and hardships that we left..
so if u want to talk bout u experience..
feel free..
Noboday nay pay license fe u thoughts, or for u lips..
Gwan thru..
Fe u experiences a *fe u reality*...
and no body else's...
so noh feel bad bout nutten yah! (((amanda, Ochi, Q,)))

[jacobsammy]

Re: I'm saying bye to Jamaica

I would have to agree there are things that made living in Jamaica difficult. I lived there for 10 years and am going to be moving back.

I have struggled with the decision ever since I have moved back to the States. Living in Jamaica is a difficult one I will not argue that fact.

The reason I have decided to move back is I want to be in a place where people will talk about God acknowledge him and give thanks. I am not a church goer and don't think I will become one. It's just not me. The one thing that I realised while living there is God is something people are not ashamed of.

I know it will be a struggle, it is here, the struggles will be different in Jamaica but they will exisit.

I am afraid because of the crime and the wages and all the things that I noticed before. But I know that if God takes me there he will get me through it.

I had tried to get my husband here with no luck, and enough is enough I will live there.

But anyone that thinks that living in Jamaica is easy is kidding themselves. I commend anyone that shares their story the good and the bad because if you are going to move to another country it is best to go with eyes wide open.

Good luck to you in your new adventure.

[777]

Re: I'm saying bye to Jamaica

ME love jamaica, noh get me wrong,...
but fe goh back to live..
Dont think so!
Nice to visit doe, expecially to bring the family, especially hubby and kids who is American born, as dem dont know the difference between a banana or a plantain! [img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] or even coco, or yam.. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]
but in due time, dem will get it..
Nutten me hate worse doe, is to hear Mr 777's
call plantains....*fried bananas*
Lawds, it mek me cringe!

[Seveen]

Re: I'm saying bye to Jamaica

(((Amanda))) i know i'll see you in the elevator lobby at our new jobs and we will retreat to the breakroom and talk about jamaica 'til we can't stand it
:cool


walk prosperous

[Q3210]

Re: I'm saying bye to Jamaica

[img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] 777`s you know it`s the simplest of things that can make a cringe...fried bananas...good grief!
OchieG, thanks for expressing some of why Jamaica made you leave. Let me tell you that I admire you for going after that road-hog. They do it because nobody says anything. I bet he had think twice next time. The UDC would like to control all the beaches in Jamaica. They have put up barriers halting access to a strip of beach adjacent to Hellshire Beach proper. They have caused pain to the users of Winnifred`s Beach in Fairy Hill, Portland and Reach Falls in Manchioneal. All in the name of development, they flex their power.
Sam or Vin Lawrence one of the most powerful men in Jamaica heads the UDC

Smileawhile, hopefully God is on your side throughout. 10 years was a long time. Another 10 coming up.

[Ochigal]

Re: I'm saying bye to Jamaica

Originally posted by Q3210:
[qb] [img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] OchieG, thanks for expressing some of why Jamaica made you leave. Let me tell you that I admire you for going after that road-hog. They do it because nobody says anything. I bet he had think twice next time. [/qb]

Q,

I hope so...thats just one example...let me tell you EVERY DAY I got into an arguement with someone.

One day on the drive to Kingston...there was a big truck and trailer jack-knived and blocking the road. So we all sat there for an hour or so waiting for the tow truck to get it out of the way. IN front of me was a taxi full of people. As we sat...some one in the car decides they are done with their box food and throws it right out in the street...(Litter is another thing I despise in such a beautiful country). So I got out of my car...walk up...picked up the box and handed it back in the window saying "I think someone dropped this" Well of course you can imagine the arguement that followed.

Another day...I get up to the bank teller after waiting in line for close to an hour...just as I get up there..her cell phone rings...she answers it and proceeds to argue with her boy friend about where he was the night before...I finally tap on the counter and ask her to please continue the phone call on HER time cause right now she is on MY time. She proceeds to cuss me about how "She nuh werk fe me...me nuh sign her paycheck...blah blah blah"...so I proceed to explain customers and how she DOES work for me and everyone else in the line. People started clapping, and her supervisor finally intervened...BUT...I ended up with my blood boiling.

Now all these things might seem small...but when something like this happens EVERY day...it wears on your very last nerve.

WHAT I didn find out...was I came back to the USA a much more patient and calmer person. The experience is something I will NEVER regret.