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My Eight Years In Jamaica by American Retiree in Jamaica
By John Casey
Published Dec 27, 2010
Before I begin let me give you a little background. My wife and I honeymooned at the then Sandals Inn in 1994. I fell in love with Jamaica right from the beginning. The love grew deeper and deeper each time I came back. At the same time, I also knew I was approaching the age of retirement and had to start making plans. By the year 2000 that desire to retire to Jamaica was overwhelming. With the help of a few of the Sandals staff, <span style="font-weight: bold">we found several real estate agents to show us properties, a lawyer to handle the sale, and a custom broker to assist with the move</span>. Just about every house we saw had helper’s quarters for either the maid or the gardener to live in. We didn’t find it necessary to hire help for the house or the yard which left few homes to choose from. The first home we liked and put a deposit on didn’t work out because the owners decided not to sell after all. This turned out good for us as we found a house that we liked better and was actually in a better area.
Now that the house was all set, the next thing to do was to start the moving process. We packed two twenty foot containers with everything we owned. And off we went to Jamaica to meet up with our goods and to start enjoying our retirement years. Well, it wasn’t as easy as I thought. Unknown to us our containers were delayed because of miscommunication within the shipping company. No problem! We had booked Sandals for a week figuring it would take that long to get settled in the new house. Because of the delay we extended our stay for two more weeks. If I had to get stranded somewhere in Jamaica, Sandals would be the best place.
When our goods finally arrived, customs advised us to go to immigrations in Kingston to prove that we were actually going to live here. The next day we flew to Kingston to straighten out our difficulties. When we left immigrations in Kingston to catch our flight back to Montego Bay, we encountered another problem. The taxi driver asked us where we wanted to go and I said, ‘To the airport.” For anyone familiar with Kingston they would know there are two airports but not us. After awhile I started to wonder if we were being kidnapped because I didn’t recognize any of the places we were passing. Timidly, I asked the driver where we were going. When he said the airport I said, “I didn’t remember coming this way before.” He then asked where we were flying to and he got a little upset when I told him Montego Bay. By this time we were half way to Norman Manley airport when we should have been going to Tinson Pen which is on the other side of town. When he dropped us off at the correct airport I made him happy by giving him a big tip. I’m sure he now questions his passengers before going to the airport.
During that trip to immigrations they informed us that we needed to go back to the Jamaican Consulate in Boston to obtain a single entry visa. This wasn’t too much of a problem as we intended to head back to Boston for a week shortly after moving to Jamaica anyway to tie up loose ends. When we arrived back with the visa, immigrations would only allow us two weeks to go to Kingston to apply for permanent residency. We hired a driver to take us to Kingston to begin the process for becoming permanent residents. Immigrations gave us a list of requirements and an explanation for the process. Each year we were required to return to immigrations for our yearly renewal and get a multi-entry visa. This had to be done yearly until permanent residency was obtained.
We finally moved into our retirement home but it took some time for the dust to clear. My wife had a million things to do in the house and I had almost as many projects in the yard. The former owner had so many bushes, shrubs, and trees in the front yard it was hard to see the house through them. One thing I found out from the beginning is if you want to get rid of anything growing you have to take it out by the roots. Even that isn’t a guarantee it will never spring back. When I finished all my projects I was surprised I had lost about 15 lbs. The yard and I were now in good shape.
<span style="font-weight: bold">Getting adjusted to this new culture was made easier because we had spent a lot of time and energy exploring the island all those years before we moved here plus reading many books.</span> The hardest change to make was adjusting to the endless long lines wherever we went. These lines could be found just about everywhere like the bank, utility offices, and even downtown traffic. What amazed me back then was all the patience the Jamaican people had. My stress level went way down in no time by following their example. I have since learned that most of my bills can be paid online or on the phone through a service provided by several different banks.
Grocery shopping was another adjustment that took some getting used to. Most of the grocery stores say they are wholesale and retail but that is far from my understanding of what wholesale means. Wholesale in Jamaica means if you buy three or more of an item you get a small discount. Another difficult area I had to overcome was the numerous out of stock of basic goods for weeks at a time. I combat this now by keeping my pantry well stocked of things I know have a tendency to disappear from the shelves frequently. One such item is 1 liter boxed milk which is the most popular way to buy milk. Another product is dried prunes, no snickering please. Prunes were recommended to me by my family doctor to help maintain my healthy heart, as well as the other well known advantage to these dried prunes.
About a year later we decided to find a church to attend. Before long we became directors of the church’s Mission of Mercy program. This was and is an outreach to one of the squatter communities in town. The church provides much needed food items to over a hundred families on a weekly basis. Used clothing is also donated frequently. During the Christmas season a huge party is given to the community in their courtyard where toys are distributed to all the children. In addition to this outreach there was also a school lunch program. Through the generosity of a local businesswoman, the church provided over 500 lunches to seven different schools in Montego Bay every Friday. <span style="font-weight: bold">We were truly blessed in this ministry </span>by seeing all the happy faces and hearing all the thanks and we knew that we were making a difference in the lives of those people. An added blessing that came out of the school lunch feeding program came to us by way of one of the school’s principals. He told us the less fortunate children often didn’t attend school on Friday because they didn’t have any money for lunch. So these children not only got a full belly but also another day of education.
Another school, Jamaica Christian School For The Deaf, invited us to attend a graduation ceremony one year, <span style="font-weight: bold">but we only went because we felt obligated to</span>. I had never been around handicapped children before and was apprehensive about attending this function. Boy was I in for a big surprise! During the program these deaf children signed to a song being played on a CD and later danced a complicated number to perfection. <span style="font-weight: bold">I was totally dumbfounded. I learned then that their school motto was, “Not disabled, but differently abled</span>.” That was then. Today we are strong supporters of the school and sit on the board of directors.
Continued next month. Later
<span style="font-weight: bold">
to this :</span>
By John Casey
Published May 2, 2011
Image Gallery
Wouldn’t it be nice to move to Jamaica into a brand new house that you designed yourself? Sounds inviting doesn’t it? Before you get your hopes up let me explain to you some of the things you will encounter to make the house a reality.
Finding the ideal lot can take quite a bit of time. Once you have found the property you will need the services of a reputable attorney – at – law to assure that the land will be free and clear and exactly what you thought it would be. I have heard several stories of people who have paid large deposits to the seemingly owners of the land only to have them disappear with their hard earned money. The lawyer can guarantee that you receive a clear title and deed to the property without wondering if what you think is the property actually isn’t the property. I know a man who owns a house on a fenced in lot where the property line is as much as six feet inside the adjoining vacant lot. This man is now trying to correct the situation by purchasing the empty lot rather than move the fence.
Once the architect has designed the house to your specification, it must be “commissioned and approved.” Then a building permit must be acquired. Both of these processes can take considerable time and money to obtain. Perhaps the most difficult aspect is to find a reliable contractor. Larger contractors may have the skilled workers as employees while smaller companies are basically general contractors who subcontract all their work. Your subcontractor may or may not have dealt with the general contractor in the past either. I experienced the latter on work I was overseeing on a friend’s house. The initial project was to have manufactured and install a spiral staircase made of wrought iron railings with a wooden banister on an existing staircase. This was not the first time the general contractor had used the welder but then it got more complicated. The original welder the contractor brought in assessed the job, quoted a price, and was approved by the homeowner. When it came time for the work to begin, the welder backed out for some unknown reason. A second welder agreed to do the job at the same price but had never worked for the general contractor before. The problems began well before the work started in the house. First there were delays because of a previous job the welder was finishing. Then the welder took weeks to make the pins and curls for the railing. When the work finally began inside the house I could see many problems with the workmanship right from the beginning, not to mention the welder being four or more hours late each day, which I addressed to the contractor. Unfortunately the general contractor was not an aggressive or bold man and as a result was unable to rectify most of the problems. The welder was also very careless in his work leaving burn marks from his welding machine and paint marks all over the tiled floor and adjacent walls. The carpenters who also had never worked for the general contractor were equally inept in their abilities to perform the task they were contracted for in which they were hired. Needless to say the finished railing was far from quality work.
The next major project was to install kitchen cabinets. The homeowner, having learned from his experiences with the general contractor, decided to hire a kitchen specialist who he presumed would do a better job. A price was agreed upon and a deposit accepted by the kitchen designer. Work was to start two weeks later but that never happened. The owner of the company came up with more reasons for the delays than you could possibly imagine. When the contractor brought his carpenter to double check all the measurements I assumed that there would be no problems. At that time I asked the kitchen contractor to mark on the wall exactly where the cabinets were going so that the electrician could put in the wiring for the plugs, lights, and dishwasher. With those marks in place, the electrician did his part but, alas, the kitchen contractor neglected to mention that the granite countertop would have a backsplash. Consequently, when the counters were installed, the granite backsplash had to be cut out around the half dozen or so outlets and switches which detracts from the beauty of the speckled black granite countertop.
Finally the base frame was brought in but it took weeks for the countertop to be installed. Two trips had to be made because the sink was to be installed under the counter and seemed to be unavailable. However, the kitchen contractor assured the owner of the house that he had the sink in his inventory at the time of the deposit being paid, but was several weeks before one actually appeared.
Several weeks later the carpenter came with the rest of the cabinets including the doors and drawers. It took three days for the job to be completed and the quality of workmanship wasn’t totally professional. The cabinet doors did not close properly, almost none of the handles for the doors and drawers matched, the glass shelves in the upper cabinets weren’t cut properly which caused an overlap between two sections, and the list goes on and on. The biggest problem was the wrong measurement was made on one side of the kitchen for the top cabinets which extends ½ inch into a doorway. The carpenter said he would make a molding to go around the door casing to hide his mistake. I approved of the fix which actually looked good but a few days later I noticed a ½ inch gap between the refrigerator and the countertop. This issue is still being addressed at this time. Also on that same cabinet section, this is a panel that extends from the top of the cabinet to the floor. It appears that a knot fell out of the panel and a poor attempt to patch it resulted in a two inch square piece of unmatched wood being used to fill the hole which is quite noticeable. This issue is also unresolved. Later
<span style="font-weight: bold">and all since 1994 , is it...heh heh...i have to admit , reading the last couple postings mek mi wonda if is di criticism of some statements dat mekking di bile come out...
i love reading and interacting via the internet... </span>
My Eight Years In Jamaica by American Retiree in Jamaica
By John Casey
Published Dec 27, 2010
Before I begin let me give you a little background. My wife and I honeymooned at the then Sandals Inn in 1994. I fell in love with Jamaica right from the beginning. The love grew deeper and deeper each time I came back. At the same time, I also knew I was approaching the age of retirement and had to start making plans. By the year 2000 that desire to retire to Jamaica was overwhelming. With the help of a few of the Sandals staff, <span style="font-weight: bold">we found several real estate agents to show us properties, a lawyer to handle the sale, and a custom broker to assist with the move</span>. Just about every house we saw had helper’s quarters for either the maid or the gardener to live in. We didn’t find it necessary to hire help for the house or the yard which left few homes to choose from. The first home we liked and put a deposit on didn’t work out because the owners decided not to sell after all. This turned out good for us as we found a house that we liked better and was actually in a better area.
Now that the house was all set, the next thing to do was to start the moving process. We packed two twenty foot containers with everything we owned. And off we went to Jamaica to meet up with our goods and to start enjoying our retirement years. Well, it wasn’t as easy as I thought. Unknown to us our containers were delayed because of miscommunication within the shipping company. No problem! We had booked Sandals for a week figuring it would take that long to get settled in the new house. Because of the delay we extended our stay for two more weeks. If I had to get stranded somewhere in Jamaica, Sandals would be the best place.
When our goods finally arrived, customs advised us to go to immigrations in Kingston to prove that we were actually going to live here. The next day we flew to Kingston to straighten out our difficulties. When we left immigrations in Kingston to catch our flight back to Montego Bay, we encountered another problem. The taxi driver asked us where we wanted to go and I said, ‘To the airport.” For anyone familiar with Kingston they would know there are two airports but not us. After awhile I started to wonder if we were being kidnapped because I didn’t recognize any of the places we were passing. Timidly, I asked the driver where we were going. When he said the airport I said, “I didn’t remember coming this way before.” He then asked where we were flying to and he got a little upset when I told him Montego Bay. By this time we were half way to Norman Manley airport when we should have been going to Tinson Pen which is on the other side of town. When he dropped us off at the correct airport I made him happy by giving him a big tip. I’m sure he now questions his passengers before going to the airport.
During that trip to immigrations they informed us that we needed to go back to the Jamaican Consulate in Boston to obtain a single entry visa. This wasn’t too much of a problem as we intended to head back to Boston for a week shortly after moving to Jamaica anyway to tie up loose ends. When we arrived back with the visa, immigrations would only allow us two weeks to go to Kingston to apply for permanent residency. We hired a driver to take us to Kingston to begin the process for becoming permanent residents. Immigrations gave us a list of requirements and an explanation for the process. Each year we were required to return to immigrations for our yearly renewal and get a multi-entry visa. This had to be done yearly until permanent residency was obtained.
We finally moved into our retirement home but it took some time for the dust to clear. My wife had a million things to do in the house and I had almost as many projects in the yard. The former owner had so many bushes, shrubs, and trees in the front yard it was hard to see the house through them. One thing I found out from the beginning is if you want to get rid of anything growing you have to take it out by the roots. Even that isn’t a guarantee it will never spring back. When I finished all my projects I was surprised I had lost about 15 lbs. The yard and I were now in good shape.
<span style="font-weight: bold">Getting adjusted to this new culture was made easier because we had spent a lot of time and energy exploring the island all those years before we moved here plus reading many books.</span> The hardest change to make was adjusting to the endless long lines wherever we went. These lines could be found just about everywhere like the bank, utility offices, and even downtown traffic. What amazed me back then was all the patience the Jamaican people had. My stress level went way down in no time by following their example. I have since learned that most of my bills can be paid online or on the phone through a service provided by several different banks.
Grocery shopping was another adjustment that took some getting used to. Most of the grocery stores say they are wholesale and retail but that is far from my understanding of what wholesale means. Wholesale in Jamaica means if you buy three or more of an item you get a small discount. Another difficult area I had to overcome was the numerous out of stock of basic goods for weeks at a time. I combat this now by keeping my pantry well stocked of things I know have a tendency to disappear from the shelves frequently. One such item is 1 liter boxed milk which is the most popular way to buy milk. Another product is dried prunes, no snickering please. Prunes were recommended to me by my family doctor to help maintain my healthy heart, as well as the other well known advantage to these dried prunes.
About a year later we decided to find a church to attend. Before long we became directors of the church’s Mission of Mercy program. This was and is an outreach to one of the squatter communities in town. The church provides much needed food items to over a hundred families on a weekly basis. Used clothing is also donated frequently. During the Christmas season a huge party is given to the community in their courtyard where toys are distributed to all the children. In addition to this outreach there was also a school lunch program. Through the generosity of a local businesswoman, the church provided over 500 lunches to seven different schools in Montego Bay every Friday. <span style="font-weight: bold">We were truly blessed in this ministry </span>by seeing all the happy faces and hearing all the thanks and we knew that we were making a difference in the lives of those people. An added blessing that came out of the school lunch feeding program came to us by way of one of the school’s principals. He told us the less fortunate children often didn’t attend school on Friday because they didn’t have any money for lunch. So these children not only got a full belly but also another day of education.
Another school, Jamaica Christian School For The Deaf, invited us to attend a graduation ceremony one year, <span style="font-weight: bold">but we only went because we felt obligated to</span>. I had never been around handicapped children before and was apprehensive about attending this function. Boy was I in for a big surprise! During the program these deaf children signed to a song being played on a CD and later danced a complicated number to perfection. <span style="font-weight: bold">I was totally dumbfounded. I learned then that their school motto was, “Not disabled, but differently abled</span>.” That was then. Today we are strong supporters of the school and sit on the board of directors.
Continued next month. Later
<span style="font-weight: bold">
to this :</span>
By John Casey
Published May 2, 2011
Image Gallery
Wouldn’t it be nice to move to Jamaica into a brand new house that you designed yourself? Sounds inviting doesn’t it? Before you get your hopes up let me explain to you some of the things you will encounter to make the house a reality.
Finding the ideal lot can take quite a bit of time. Once you have found the property you will need the services of a reputable attorney – at – law to assure that the land will be free and clear and exactly what you thought it would be. I have heard several stories of people who have paid large deposits to the seemingly owners of the land only to have them disappear with their hard earned money. The lawyer can guarantee that you receive a clear title and deed to the property without wondering if what you think is the property actually isn’t the property. I know a man who owns a house on a fenced in lot where the property line is as much as six feet inside the adjoining vacant lot. This man is now trying to correct the situation by purchasing the empty lot rather than move the fence.
Once the architect has designed the house to your specification, it must be “commissioned and approved.” Then a building permit must be acquired. Both of these processes can take considerable time and money to obtain. Perhaps the most difficult aspect is to find a reliable contractor. Larger contractors may have the skilled workers as employees while smaller companies are basically general contractors who subcontract all their work. Your subcontractor may or may not have dealt with the general contractor in the past either. I experienced the latter on work I was overseeing on a friend’s house. The initial project was to have manufactured and install a spiral staircase made of wrought iron railings with a wooden banister on an existing staircase. This was not the first time the general contractor had used the welder but then it got more complicated. The original welder the contractor brought in assessed the job, quoted a price, and was approved by the homeowner. When it came time for the work to begin, the welder backed out for some unknown reason. A second welder agreed to do the job at the same price but had never worked for the general contractor before. The problems began well before the work started in the house. First there were delays because of a previous job the welder was finishing. Then the welder took weeks to make the pins and curls for the railing. When the work finally began inside the house I could see many problems with the workmanship right from the beginning, not to mention the welder being four or more hours late each day, which I addressed to the contractor. Unfortunately the general contractor was not an aggressive or bold man and as a result was unable to rectify most of the problems. The welder was also very careless in his work leaving burn marks from his welding machine and paint marks all over the tiled floor and adjacent walls. The carpenters who also had never worked for the general contractor were equally inept in their abilities to perform the task they were contracted for in which they were hired. Needless to say the finished railing was far from quality work.
The next major project was to install kitchen cabinets. The homeowner, having learned from his experiences with the general contractor, decided to hire a kitchen specialist who he presumed would do a better job. A price was agreed upon and a deposit accepted by the kitchen designer. Work was to start two weeks later but that never happened. The owner of the company came up with more reasons for the delays than you could possibly imagine. When the contractor brought his carpenter to double check all the measurements I assumed that there would be no problems. At that time I asked the kitchen contractor to mark on the wall exactly where the cabinets were going so that the electrician could put in the wiring for the plugs, lights, and dishwasher. With those marks in place, the electrician did his part but, alas, the kitchen contractor neglected to mention that the granite countertop would have a backsplash. Consequently, when the counters were installed, the granite backsplash had to be cut out around the half dozen or so outlets and switches which detracts from the beauty of the speckled black granite countertop.
Finally the base frame was brought in but it took weeks for the countertop to be installed. Two trips had to be made because the sink was to be installed under the counter and seemed to be unavailable. However, the kitchen contractor assured the owner of the house that he had the sink in his inventory at the time of the deposit being paid, but was several weeks before one actually appeared.
Several weeks later the carpenter came with the rest of the cabinets including the doors and drawers. It took three days for the job to be completed and the quality of workmanship wasn’t totally professional. The cabinet doors did not close properly, almost none of the handles for the doors and drawers matched, the glass shelves in the upper cabinets weren’t cut properly which caused an overlap between two sections, and the list goes on and on. The biggest problem was the wrong measurement was made on one side of the kitchen for the top cabinets which extends ½ inch into a doorway. The carpenter said he would make a molding to go around the door casing to hide his mistake. I approved of the fix which actually looked good but a few days later I noticed a ½ inch gap between the refrigerator and the countertop. This issue is still being addressed at this time. Also on that same cabinet section, this is a panel that extends from the top of the cabinet to the floor. It appears that a knot fell out of the panel and a poor attempt to patch it resulted in a two inch square piece of unmatched wood being used to fill the hole which is quite noticeable. This issue is also unresolved. Later
<span style="font-weight: bold">and all since 1994 , is it...heh heh...i have to admit , reading the last couple postings mek mi wonda if is di criticism of some statements dat mekking di bile come out...
i love reading and interacting via the internet... </span> 
as much as i hate to dis my ppl i can totally see this happening.
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