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The Truth About Moving to Jamaica: A Russian Dancer's Story of Love, Loss & Starting Over · Babes, how did you get here

• 0:00
  In 2019, I was sitting here in New King's town, Balcony.
• 0:04
  I was like, I actually came up to Jamaica.
• 0:07
  And my friends, they look at me like,
• 0:09
  I just opened my Leros dance studio in Moscow.
• 0:12
  And they look at me like,
• 0:13
  are you crazy or something?
• 0:15
  Like, what's wrong with you?
• 0:17
  So you then, when you were sitting on the balcony,
• 0:20
  and you decided that you could move here?
• 0:22
  It was just one foot, you know?
• 0:23
  It was just, okay, it was that random.
• 0:25
  Yeah, it was that random and I was like,
• 0:27
  no, because that time I still didn't speak English.
• 0:29
  It was dance hall.
• 0:30
  Right.
• 0:31
  And I'm somewhere here.
• 0:33
  Sure.
• 0:34
  There are no, nothing was more important than this.
• 0:37
  Why?
• 0:38
  I just love it.
• 0:39
  I don't know, I just,
• 0:40
  do you understand?
• 0:42
  When I just started,
• 0:43
  oh my god, this feeling when you go to the party,
• 0:46
  when you just dance and you feel this amazing energy,
• 0:51
  you just, it just makes you feel so alive, so happy.
• 0:56
  And it just makes me feel so good.
• 0:58
  So you now live in Kingston, Jamaica?
• 1:01
  Right.
• 1:02
  How long have you lived here?
• 1:04
  Okay, I came here in 2023.
• 1:07
  Yep.
• 1:07
  But before that,
• 1:09
  I lived here for two years at COVID time.
• 1:12
  You lived, so you were technically stuck here during that time?
• 1:16
  I would say I choose to stuck here.
• 1:18
  Okay.
• 1:19
  Because I came here in January 2020,
• 1:23
  when COVID started,
• 1:25
  and the Russian government wanted to send us back
• 1:28
  at anyone who stuck here.
• 1:30
  Sure.
• 1:30
  I was sitting and I was like,
• 1:32
  I actually already wanted to move to Jamaica.
• 1:34
  Okay.
• 1:35
  But I was like,
• 1:36
  right now I can extend my visa so easy.
• 1:39
  Because of COVID?
• 1:40
  Because of COVID.
• 1:41
  So you were here on a holiday?
• 1:43
  I came here as a dance hall dancer for three months
• 1:46
  to study dance hall.
• 1:49
  Oh, yeah.
• 1:49
  This is how I used to come to Jamaica.
• 1:51
  Okay.
• 1:52
  You say you used to.
• 1:53
  So that wasn't the first time?
• 1:55
  No, this was the fifth time.
• 1:57
  Fifth time?
• 1:57
  Yeah.
• 1:58
  Take me back to the first time you ever came to Jamaica.
• 2:00
  First time it was 2016.
• 2:02
  Okay.
• 2:03
  Um, I started dancing dance hall in 2013.
• 2:07
  Okay.
• 2:08
  And from that moment,
• 2:09
  it was my biggest gym to come to Jamaica.
• 2:12
  Because before that,
• 2:13
  everything I knew about Jamaica was both Marley.
• 2:16
  Right.
• 2:17
  And they deal with people's smokes with here.
• 2:19
  Right.
• 2:19
  That's it.
• 2:22
  And so at that point, you were living in Russia?
• 2:24
  Yes.
• 2:24
  What part?
• 2:25
  Um, that moment I just moved to Moscow.
• 2:28
  Okay.
• 2:28
  From small city near Moscow.
• 2:29
  Show us the capital.
• 2:30
  Yeah.
• 2:32
  And when I started dancing dance hall in 2013,
• 2:36
  in about three months,
• 2:38
  yeah, I went to my first dance hall camp.
• 2:40
  Okay.
• 2:41
  It's where you go for like seven or six days.
• 2:44
  Okay.
• 2:44
  And you dance without stuff.
• 2:46
  And the people who made that camp,
• 2:48
  the Russian people,
• 2:48
  they actually bring the Jamaican dancers to that camp.
• 2:51
  One second.
• 2:52
  So in Russia, in Moscow,
• 2:55
  there are people going to dance hall camp.
• 2:58
  Dance hall is huge in Russia.
• 3:01
  Really?
• 3:02
  There are some events where you go there.
• 3:04
  It's like 300, 500 people dancing at the same time.
• 3:09
  And Jamaican dancers,
• 3:11
  hear from the streets from uptown Monday.
• 3:14
  Yep.
• 3:15
  They just teach you there,
• 3:16
  and 300, 400, 500 people dancing.
• 3:20
  They're most.
• 3:21
  So you go to the camp?
• 3:22
  Yep.
• 3:23
  And you're like, this is my first taste
• 3:25
  of what perhaps is down to our culture.
• 3:28
  Yeah.
• 3:28
  And then from that moment,
• 3:30
  do you kind of have the seed planted
• 3:31
  that maybe you live here?
• 3:33
  Or is this just...
• 3:34
  No, no, no, nothing like that.
• 3:36
  Because, first of all,
• 3:38
  I'm this kind of person.
• 3:39
  If I'm interested in something,
• 3:41
  I want to go so deep.
• 3:43
  Sure.
• 3:43
  Well, when I started dancing dance hall,
• 3:46
  I was this type of person who is like,
• 3:48
  I want to know everything.
• 3:50
  OK.
• 3:50
  I want to see where this thing created.
• 3:54
  Sure.
• 3:54
  I wanted to see if dance hall is really
• 3:57
  placed everywhere in Jamaica.
• 3:59
  OK.
• 4:00
  Because on Russian TV and radio,
• 4:03
  just play some pop music.
• 4:05
  Sure.
• 4:05
  You know, we hear some in dance hall.
• 4:07
  Right.
• 4:08
  And I was like, I can't believe I can go
• 4:10
  to supermarket and hear dance hall.
• 4:12
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• 4:12
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• 4:15
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• 4:17
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• 4:18
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• 4:19
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• 4:22
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• 4:23
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• 4:25
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• 4:27
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• 4:29
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• 4:31
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• 4:33
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• 4:36
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• 4:39
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• 4:41
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• 4:43
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• 4:46
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• 4:48
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• 4:50
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• 4:52
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• 4:54
  Or I can take taxi and hear dance hall.
• 4:57
  It was like a dream because I was
• 4:59
  feeling low in dance hall.
• 5:00
  OK.
• 5:00
  Why do you fall in low in dance hall?
• 5:02
  Um, before I was a hip hop dancer for five years
• 5:06
  and hip hop started to change.
• 5:08
  And I didn't like this change.
• 5:10
  And I was trying to find the new way
• 5:12
  where I'm going to move.
• 5:13
  OK.
• 5:14
  And I fell in low in guy.
• 5:15
  OK.
• 5:16
  He wasn't Jamaican.
• 5:17
  OK.
• 5:18
  He was just a guy who was dancing dance hall that time.
• 5:21
  OK.
• 5:22
  And I fell in love with him.
• 5:24
  Nothing worked out.
• 5:26
  This relationship wasn't good.
• 5:28
  He was living in Russia?
• 5:29
  Yeah, he was living in Russia.
• 5:30
  OK.
• 5:31
  And because I fell in love,
• 5:34
  it was my really big first crush.
• 5:37
  OK.
• 5:38
  And I was like, I want to know.
• 5:40
  Because I hated dance hall before that.
• 5:43
  Oh, really?
• 5:43
  Yeah, I looked at dance hall like it's some stupid dance.
• 5:46
  You know, they're doing some.
• 5:49
  Flow is a blow, right?
• 5:51
  I'm like, who is?
• 5:52
  Why these people look so happy?
• 5:54
  Scooby-Doo.
• 5:55
  They're like, I could, because I was doing something,
• 6:00
  something like running man and criss-cross
• 6:02
  and all this serious thing.
• 6:05
  And because I fell in love,
• 6:07
  I wanted to understand why he loved this dance.
• 6:12
  And to be honest, when I just started,
• 6:14
  I had this fault with...
• 6:16
  I just wanted to prove him.
• 6:18
  I'm a fool.
• 6:19
  OK.
• 6:20
  That's it.
• 6:21
  But the way to his heart was through dance hall.
• 6:23
  Yeah, like, you're going to see
• 6:24
  how I'm cooling dance hall then.
• 6:27
  The Russians have written like that
• 6:29
  to be executed down on.
• 6:32
  Right now, it's better.
• 6:33
  OK.
• 6:34
  But, you know, Russian dance hall is far away from Jamaica.
• 6:38
  OK.
• 6:39
  It's just every country have their own dance hall.
• 6:41
  Sure.
• 6:42
  Because the way how Jamaican dancers dance,
• 6:45
  like, people can't really copy it.
• 6:48
  We try.
• 6:50
  We try, by the way.
• 6:51
  It's so...
• 6:52
  We can't really...
• 6:53
  Sure.
• 6:54
  But dance hall is pretty good.
• 6:55
  I would say in Russia dance hall right now,
• 6:57
  it looks like more sheep hop way.
• 7:01
  OK.
• 7:02
  But it's still dance hall.
• 7:03
  But this was your profession.
• 7:04
  Dancing was your career.
• 7:06
  It wasn't just that you were going out on the weekend.
• 7:08
  No, I was teaching.
• 7:10
  I was one of the biggest teacher in Russia.
• 7:13
  OK.
• 7:13
  In Moscow.
• 7:16
  I traveled in more than 50 different cities
• 7:19
  to teach workshops.
• 7:21
  Right.
• 7:22
  I traveled once in China.
• 7:24
  OK.
• 7:25
  And to some European countries.
• 7:27
  Yeah.
• 7:27
  And I worked with companies like Nike and Adidas.
• 7:30
  Sure.
• 7:31
  Like, I was great in dance hall.
• 7:34
  But one day I just...
• 7:38
  I just couldn't stay in that culture nor...
• 7:40
  In Russia or in dance hall.
• 7:43
  In culture, in dance hall.
• 7:44
  OK.
• 7:45
  So by this point,
• 7:47
  you've taken your first ship to Jamaica.
• 7:49
  How long after the camp?
• 7:51
  Three years.
• 7:52
  OK.
• 7:53
  So three years after the camp,
• 7:54
  you're teaching, you're traveling, teaching...
• 7:56
  I just started really traveling.
• 7:59
  OK.
• 8:00
  Yeah.
• 8:00
  And you come to Jamaica just to visit,
• 8:02
  just to sing, dance, opera.
• 8:03
  To go to Uptown Monday.
• 8:05
  OK.
• 8:05
  To busier Tuesdays.
• 8:07
  Yes.
• 8:07
  To boom Sundays.
• 8:08
  Right.
• 8:09
  To Hellshar.
• 8:10
  Back in the days, they had this great, great party.
• 8:13
  Sundays.
• 8:14
  OK.
• 8:14
  At Hellshar.
• 8:15
  Right.
• 8:16
  You just dance in.
• 8:17
  The sun is going down and you're doing this.
• 8:21
  And who do you come with?
• 8:23
  It was group of the girls.
• 8:24
  OK.
• 8:24
  Because that time, I didn't really speak English.
• 8:27
  OK.
• 8:28
  And one girl, she was from Ukraine.
• 8:31
  Right.
• 8:32
  And she was a friend of mine.
• 8:33
  We wasn't so close, but...
• 8:35
  You knew her.
• 8:36
  Yeah, I knew her.
• 8:37
  And she was going to Jamaica for the first time.
• 8:39
  Right.
• 8:40
  And it was one girl from...
• 8:42
  Or two girls from France.
• 8:43
  And one more girl from, I think,
• 8:45
  Netherlands.
• 8:46
  I don't really remember.
• 8:47
  And this girl from Ukraine.
• 8:48
  And I saw her at some event in Russia.
• 8:51
  And someone told me,
• 8:53
  this girl was going to Jamaica.
• 8:54
  And I come to Hellshar,
• 8:55
  and I was, please, take me...
• 8:57
  Because in 2016,
• 8:59
  everything I knew about Jamaica
• 9:01
  is so dangerous to come here.
• 9:04
  I thought I'm going to come here
• 9:05
  and someone going to shoot me.
• 9:07
  I'm so pretty like that.
• 9:08
  But you still wanted to come?
• 9:10
  Of course.
• 9:11
  Even though you thought it was a war zone.
• 9:12
  Of course.
• 9:13
  Because I wanted to see the dance hall.
• 9:15
  I wanted to see this legendary parties.
• 9:18
  I didn't want to see any of that all-inclusive hotel.
• 9:21
  Oh, sure.
• 9:22
  Any of that seven-mile beach horse.
• 9:25
  Nothing.
• 9:25
  I just wanted to come to the streets.
• 9:28
  Right.
• 9:30
  And, yeah, this was my first trip.
• 9:32
  And I had a lot of bad situations
• 9:33
  in my first trip to Jamaica.
• 9:36
  One time the dancers took us to Spanish town.
• 9:39
  Okay.
• 9:39
  You have to understand that time.
• 9:40
  I didn't know anything about Spanish town.
• 9:42
  Right.
• 9:45
  And they just put us dancers
• 9:48
  to some minibus.
• 9:49
  And they say it's going to be great party
• 9:51
  with some plas in Spanish town.
• 9:53
  Right.
• 9:54
  And it was pretty boring party.
• 9:56
  And we were standing outside with girls.
• 9:59
  They were speaking.
• 10:00
  I tried to understand what they're talking about.
• 10:02
  Because they remember I didn't really speak English.
• 10:04
  And there was guy with two women.
• 10:08
  And he wanted to go inside.
• 10:10
  Okay.
• 10:11
  And he was speaking kind of loud.
• 10:16
  And security didn't want to let him inside.
• 10:19
  Right.
• 10:19
  Because he was drunk and he tried to explain.
• 10:23
  This is like the close party today.
• 10:25
  And blah, blah, blah.
• 10:26
  And this guy was so mad.
• 10:28
  But I couldn't understand anything.
• 10:29
  They were just screaming.
• 10:30
  You know this type of way.
• 10:33
  And
• 10:35
  well, it was like stairs.
• 10:37
  And I was standing right here
• 10:38
  and entrances right here.
• 10:40
  And this guy walking here.
• 10:42
  And he's like one meter.
• 10:44
  Like we're sitting right now.
• 10:46
  This distance he took the gun.
• 10:48
  And he just shoot two times in the sky.
• 10:51
  Okay.
• 10:52
  It was my first time I experienced that.
• 10:55
  I was like, it was some dancers.
• 10:58
  Some Jamaican dancers.
• 10:59
  The woman near us.
• 11:00
  And she just grabbed us.
• 11:01
  And we just ran.
• 11:02
  We're on upstairs.
• 11:04
  And to the other side of the building.
• 11:07
  And she told us just be quiet, be quiet.
• 11:09
  And I was so scared.
• 11:11
  My heart was beating like that.
• 11:13
  I was like, she's this way.
• 11:14
  I even came here.
• 11:16
  And he said he thought of the bosom
• 11:17
  for he came.
• 11:18
  So you got what you want.
• 11:19
  No, but you know,
• 11:20
  you always think the worst thing might happen.
• 11:22
  Right.
• 11:23
  But you don't really expect it.
• 11:25
  Yeah, it was my first situation.
• 11:27
  Sure.
• 11:28
  And a couple of days before we go back to Russia.
• 11:32
  Okay.
• 11:34
  We were making that joke.
• 11:35
  Like, you know, I wish I could stay here.
• 11:37
  My bandit to lose my passport.
• 11:39
  You know, just like.
• 11:39
  So you wanted to stay.
• 11:41
  Even after those experiences.
• 11:43
  Because I was so like,
• 11:48
  this phrase, my sound.
• 11:51
  I don't know.
• 11:52
  Some were it sure for people,
• 11:55
  but the dance hall was my every thing that time.
• 11:59
  Because I built my life.
• 12:01
  It wasn't me, curry.
• 12:02
  And dance hall, the part of my life.
• 12:04
  It was dance hall.
• 12:05
  But and I'm somewhere here.
• 12:09
  Sure.
• 12:09
  There are no nothing was more important than this.
• 12:13
  Why?
• 12:14
  I just love it.
• 12:15
  I don't know.
• 12:16
  I just.
• 12:16
  What do you feel about it?
• 12:18
  When I just started,
• 12:20
  oh my god, this feeling when you go to the party,
• 12:23
  when you just dance and you feel this amazing energy,
• 12:27
  you just, it just makes you feel so alive.
• 12:31
  So happy.
• 12:33
  And it's just make me feel so good.
• 12:36
  And I love to teach.
• 12:37
  I love to connect with people.
• 12:39
  I love when I see the progress.
• 12:42
  Sure.
• 12:42
  And it was just like a drug for me.
• 12:45
  Right.
• 12:45
  Yeah.
• 12:46
  This is how I actually feel.
• 12:47
  Yeah.
• 12:48
  But when I get so deep into dance hall culture,
• 12:53
  I came to dance hall because of the people in dance hall.
• 12:57
  And I live dance hall because of the people in dance hall.
• 13:01
  Okay.
• 13:02
  So you come, you go on that trip,
• 13:04
  you leave and you have this longing feeling
• 13:06
  of wishing that you could stay.
• 13:08
  But that's your first trip.
• 13:09
  Yeah.
• 13:09
  Take me to know your fifth time when you're actually moving.
• 13:14
  And what was the key decision that made you think,
• 13:16
  okay, now I'm going to move,
• 13:17
  because you would have visited a couple of times.
• 13:19
  You've had mixed experiences.
• 13:21
  And then what was that thing that said,
• 13:23
  actually, I want to live in Jamaica?
• 13:25
  Okay.
• 13:25
  It was my
• 13:27
  fee for a fourth trip to Jamaica.
• 13:29
  The first time we came for the three months.
• 13:32
  Okay.
• 13:32
  In summer time, it was 2019.
• 13:35
  And that time, everything was good in Russia.
• 13:39
  Right.
• 13:40
  A lot of students, I travel a lot.
• 13:44
  But I was doing that for almost eight years.
• 13:46
  Okay.
• 13:47
  And I just kind of burned out.
• 13:49
  Okay.
• 13:49
  You need to teach over and over again.
• 13:52
  The same thing.
• 13:52
  Same things.
• 13:53
  You know, when you're doing something for a long time.
• 13:56
  And I was running in that circle.
• 13:58
  Okay.
• 13:58
  And the life in Moscow,
• 14:02
  I don't know.
• 14:03
  It's just, you don't have some.
• 14:05
  Right.
• 14:05
  It's always rainy.
• 14:06
  Right.
• 14:07
  People are so depressive over there.
• 14:09
  Right.
• 14:09
  And when you walk on the streets,
• 14:12
  it's no one going to tell you,
• 14:14
  hi, good morning or wherever.
• 14:16
  And in Jamaica,
• 14:18
  you just heal with people's heal.
• 14:21
  Okay.
• 14:22
  Even if sometimes when you go outside alone as a woman,
• 14:26
  those guys, they're bothering you like.
• 14:28
  Right.
• 14:29
  But if we're not talking about these parts,
• 14:32
  sure, the in Jamaica, you feel seen.
• 14:34
  It's funny that you say about them,
• 14:36
  because I have a friend who lives in Canada.
• 14:38
  She's from Toronto.
• 14:39
  And she has always said,
• 14:41
  she's been coming to Jamaica for years, at least once a year.
• 14:44
  And in Toronto,
• 14:45
  she would not be deemed as your sort of classic pretty,
• 14:48
  right, like magazine pretty.
• 14:50
  She's a black lady with dreads on the larger side.
• 14:53
  And she says, one thing she loves about coming to Jamaica
• 14:56
  is everybody make her feel sexy.
• 14:58
  She says, I love hearing,
• 14:59
  I love hearing all of it because she gets this attention
• 15:03
  that in Toronto, she would never get,
• 15:05
  because people don't even look at her
• 15:07
  in a feminine, attractive way.
• 15:09
  So I always find that quite funny,
• 15:10
  because I feel like you don't love it or you hate it.
• 15:13
  Or maybe if you go up with it,
• 15:14
  you don't even recognize it's a thing,
• 15:16
  but I completely understand it.
• 15:17
  You know, when you come to Jamaica,
• 15:19
  once in a six months or one year,
• 15:21
  yes.
• 15:22
  Of course, you're enjoying it.
• 15:24
  When you leave here,
• 15:25
  and every time you go outside,
• 15:27
  and you're just like,
• 15:30
  can I just walk?
• 15:31
  This is why I like to walk with my men.
• 15:33
  Okay.
• 15:34
  Because no one is bothering me.
• 15:35
  Sure.
• 15:37
  Do I?
• 15:38
  So you come and you miss that warmth?
• 15:42
  You miss people?
• 15:43
  You miss feeling seen?
• 15:45
  Yes, because in Moscow,
• 15:47
  I felt like I'm just running in that circle.
• 15:49
  Okay.
• 15:50
  And it just don't stop,
• 15:51
  because from the 2008,
• 15:53
  when it was my second trip to Jamaica,
• 15:56
  I already grow some of my students,
• 15:58
  and they started going with me to Jamaica.
• 16:00
  Okay.
• 16:01
  Yeah, and from that moment,
• 16:02
  actually it was my circle of life,
• 16:05
  but every holidays,
• 16:09
  like when it's Christmas time,
• 16:10
  we go to Jamaica,
• 16:12
  and every summer time we go to Jamaica.
• 16:14
  Well, between that,
• 16:15
  I didn't really have life.
• 16:17
  I was just teaching like crazy,
• 16:18
  try to make money.
• 16:20
  Sure.
• 16:20
  For the six months,
• 16:21
  I was making money to come to Jamaica
• 16:23
  and spend everything.
• 16:25
  This is how my life looks like for like two years.
• 16:28
  Okay.
• 16:29
  And in 2019,
• 16:30
  I was sitting here in New King's town,
• 16:32
  about, can you?
• 16:34
  I was like,
• 16:37
  I actually can love the Jamaica.
• 16:39
  And my friend, they look at me like,
• 16:42
  I just opened my Leros dance studio in Moscow.
• 16:45
  Okay.
• 16:46
  And they look at me like,
• 16:47
  are you crazy or something?
• 16:49
  Like, what's wrong with you?
• 16:51
  I'm like, look,
• 16:52
  I'm just tired to doing the same things.
• 16:54
  I want something new.
• 16:56
  I am joined to teach,
• 16:57
  and before COVID, my plan was different.
• 17:00
  I thought I'm gonna still stay in dance hall.
• 17:02
  Okay.
• 17:03
  And I thought I'm gonna spend like half of years here.
• 17:06
  Okay.
• 17:07
  And after that half of year in Russia,
• 17:08
  teaching right in around cities.
• 17:10
  This was my plan.
• 17:11
  Okay.
• 17:12
  Before COVID started,
• 17:13
  and before dance hall dancers canceled me,
• 17:15
  and I decided to leave dance hall.
• 17:17
  Okay.
• 17:18
  So you then,
• 17:19
  when you was just on the balcony,
• 17:21
  I mean, you decided that you could move here.
• 17:23
  It was just one foot, you know?
• 17:25
  It was, okay, it was that random.
• 17:26
  Yeah, it was that random.
• 17:28
  And I was like,
• 17:29
  no, because that time I still didn't speak English.
• 17:31
  Okay.
• 17:32
  Because I always come with friends who speak better.
• 17:35
  Okay.
• 17:36
  I always was standing behind and I was like,
• 17:39
  can you translate this?
• 17:40
  Can you order me that coffee in Starbucks, what I love?
• 17:43
  Right.
• 17:44
  And because when you have people who speak better,
• 17:47
  then you just,
• 17:49
  you just kind of afraid to start speaking and, you know?
• 17:52
  But you leave after that balcony thought.
• 17:55
  You go back to Russia?
• 17:56
  Yes.
• 17:57
  And then how long after that do you decide to move here?
• 17:59
  No, actually I thought what I'm going to come
• 18:02
  in January 2020 for another three months, just to see.
• 18:06
  Okay.
• 18:07
  Because I didn't know if I really want to.
• 18:11
  And that's when COVID happens.
• 18:12
  Yes, because in 2019 I started my worst relationship.
• 18:17
  Okay.
• 18:18
  And I couldn't understand,
• 18:20
  I want to move here because of that relationship.
• 18:23
  So he lived here.
• 18:25
  Unfortunately.
• 18:26
  Okay.
• 18:28
  So you weren't sure if it was him or if it was actually you
• 18:31
  wanted it to be different?
• 18:32
  Yeah, and I needed some time because I definitely didn't want
• 18:35
  to change all my life because of some guy.
• 18:37
  Okay.
• 18:38
  And I wanted to understand this is why I decided to go back
• 18:43
  in January 2020 and check it.
• 18:46
  So when you come in January, are you staying with him?
• 18:49
  Were you staying independently?
• 18:50
  It was, it was a hard situation because he was that type of guy.
• 18:56
  Unfortunately, I had this experience and right now I can laugh
• 18:59
  at this show, but that moment it was far from laughing or anything.
• 19:04
  I get to that abusive relationship where this guy already had his.
• 19:09
  Another person.
• 19:10
  Okay.
• 19:11
  And of course, he told me that only after we spend already
• 19:15
  some time and I fell in love and he was like, oh, by the way.
• 19:20
  Okay.
• 19:21
  I have someone else.
• 19:23
  I was like, he was, he wasn't dancer, but he was from that crowd.
• 19:29
  Okay.
• 19:30
  And.
• 19:32
  But is he telling you because he thinks that it's going to be
• 19:35
  like one big happy family or is he telling, I don't understand?
• 19:38
  He told me what, he's with that woman because of the papers.
• 19:42
  Okay.
• 19:43
  Wherever he was.
• 19:46
  Like, he was telling me some light over and over and over again.
• 19:50
  And because before that experience, I was this type of girl
• 19:53
  who always believe in people.
• 19:55
  Okay.
• 19:56
  Who always look at the people and who always try to find excuses for people.
• 20:00
  Who always say, no, no, he didn't mean that or she didn't mean that.
• 20:04
  She's not that root or he's not that.
• 20:06
  I was this type of person, but this guy and those situation
• 20:10
  would happen after that.
• 20:11
  They just changed me.
• 20:12
  So when you're living with him, no, not really.
• 20:15
  I was by myself.
• 20:17
  Yeah.
• 20:18
  And so when you decided to continue staying, were you saying where you were?
• 20:23
  I'm going to say another part of it.
• 20:24
  I was changing places.
• 20:25
  Okay.
• 20:26
  It was different, different places.
• 20:27
  From 2020, I don't even remember how much places, because I stayed here for two years
• 20:32
  to COVID.
• 20:33
  And I don't really remember how much I wanted to achieve it, about five places I changed.
• 20:38
  Okay.
• 20:39
  When you tell your family that you're staying in Jamaica, so COVID happened, you're
• 20:44
  not going back as advised by the Russian government.
• 20:47
  What is the response?
• 20:48
  Well, my parents, you know, from the moment I started to done, because they always wanted
• 20:56
  me to be a normal.
• 20:58
  What does normally?
• 20:59
  Like, don't make all these studies, because I look like I just came from the prison.
• 21:04
  Okay.
• 21:05
  This is what my dad said.
• 21:07
  Right.
• 21:08
  And I finished the nursing school.
• 21:10
  Okay.
• 21:11
  Yeah.
• 21:13
  Okay.
• 21:14
  Because they wanted me to be normal, to work nine to five, to work in medical, or to work
• 21:19
  in some office, or something normal.
• 21:23
  Sure.
• 21:24
  And when I finished nursing school, I told my parents, look, you want me to be happy?
• 21:30
  Or you want me, when I'm 30, to come to you and say what you do to destroy my life?
• 21:36
  Okay.
• 21:37
  And they were like, okay, do you do whatever you want?
• 21:40
  Are you an only child?
• 21:41
  No.
• 21:43
  Is your brother normal?
• 21:44
  No.
• 21:45
  Okay.
• 21:46
  Not very normal.
• 21:47
  He's professional poker player.
• 21:49
  Okay.
• 21:50
  He's playing online, and he's...
• 21:52
  He means to teach me.
• 21:53
  I feel like I'd be good at poker.
• 21:55
  He's a good teacher, but he's teaching only, like, they have some, like, some, how to say
• 22:02
  that.
• 22:03
  He's so good in teaching, and he's teaching only people who already know about him.
• 22:08
  Okay.
• 22:09
  He's not teaching the beginners, right?
• 22:10
  Right.
• 22:11
  Like, he's so great.
• 22:12
  And they're amazing.
• 22:13
  Yeah.
• 22:14
  So they got far from normal.
• 22:15
  They got two abnormal kids, and they're like, fine, I want you to be happy.
• 22:19
  Yeah.
• 22:20
  But when I come to Jamaica in 2020, and because everything was so unstable, and I tried to make
• 22:28
  money, but everything just, people didn't know how to live, no one really.
• 22:32
  You know, I had to, we all had to start doing new things.
• 22:36
  Right.
• 22:37
  I started teaching online, and it wasn't because life in Kingston is so expensive, especially
• 22:43
  if you live alone, especially if you want to eat normal food, like, just vegetable.
• 22:51
  Vegetables is so expensive.
• 22:54
  Yeah.
• 22:55
  And it was hard time financially, and I don't even know if I need to go this way, but
• 23:02
  I had a lot of time situation when people tell me, you know, I know this guy, who can
• 23:08
  just...
• 23:09
  Okay.
• 23:10
  Make your life easier.
• 23:11
  Yeah.
• 23:12
  Thank you.
• 23:13
  But to be honest, I was thinking about that, because it was that hard.
• 23:19
  Sure.
• 23:20
  But I was like, no, I can't do that, because I'm not this type of person.
• 23:24
  Sure.
• 23:25
  I have nothing but with people who are doing that decisions.
• 23:27
  But it wouldn't survive with you.
• 23:29
  Yeah.
• 23:30
  But it wasn't for me that time.
• 23:31
  Did you realize that the relationship that it sounds like was a part of the reason why
• 23:35
  you moved here?
• 23:36
  When you realized that that wasn't going to work anymore, did you think I should just go
• 23:39
  back home?
• 23:40
  Not really.
• 23:41
  Because of dancehall, too?
• 23:43
  No.
• 23:44
  Dancehall already kind of goes down for me.
• 23:47
  Explain this to me.
• 23:48
  You keep saying that down, down, down, that you got exiled.
• 23:51
  I don't understand.
• 23:52
  Okay.
• 23:53
  I was a fan of Dancehall, the biggest fan of Dancehall.
• 23:56
  I brought some of Jamaican dancers to teach in Moscow, and I did a lot of things.
• 24:07
  And I was always, when I teach on my workshops, I always say, guys, you have to go to Jamaica.
• 24:12
  You have to study from Jamaica, because I was always saying them, guys, you like how
• 24:17
  I teach, but I'm not a Jamaican dancer.
• 24:20
  Okay.
• 24:21
  Jamaican dancers are the best.
• 24:22
  I was this type of person who's always promoting Jamaican and Jamaican dancers, sure.
• 24:27
  But in Dancehall, a lot of drama, it's drama after drama, you just can't leave normal
• 24:36
  there.
• 24:37
  What do you mean?
• 24:38
  Like, you're trying to do everything for them.
• 24:41
  You're trying to promote them, you're trying to pay them more money, you're trying to
• 24:45
  help them to make this video, that video, you're trying to help them to promote their
• 24:49
  change.
• 24:50
  And after that, they come to you, just something happened like that in their mind.
• 24:54
  And they come to you and they say, now we want all foreigners who dance Dancehall to pay
• 24:59
  us money if they dance our moves.
• 25:01
  You're like, but didn't I pay you when I work six months to make money to come to Jamaican?
• 25:09
  After that, they start saying, we don't like these foreigners teaching Dancehall.
• 25:12
  I was like, guys, do you know how much people I brought to Dancehall?
• 25:18
  Because none of you is sitting in Moscow and trying to educate these people.
• 25:22
  What is that Dancehall?
• 25:23
  What is that Jamaica?
• 25:25
  And sometimes they just don't see these lines where the foreigners are really doing a lot
• 25:31
  for Dancehall.
• 25:32
  Do you think that was a shift?
• 25:34
  Or was it always like that?
• 25:36
  Do you think it changed?
• 25:37
  I think it's really was always like that, but I didn't see it before because I wasn't
• 25:42
  there.
• 25:43
  You were so excited.
• 25:44
  You were so excited.
• 25:45
  I was excited.
• 25:46
  But real life started.
• 25:48
  Well, when I got from that relationship, and same time while I wasn't that relationship,
• 25:54
  I started hearing a lot of stories, same stories from the same foreigners who come to Jamaica.
• 26:01
  And they were saying me some crazy stories like, I was dating this dancer and he had five
• 26:07
  more girls and she got pregnant and he told her to do a portion or something like that.
• 26:16
  And it was a lot of stories like that.
• 26:18
  And you know, one day I was sitting.
• 26:20
  It's when my pink glasses already was here.
• 26:24
  You could see over there.
• 26:25
  Yeah, I could see a little bit, but sometimes they go up again, but sometimes they go down.
• 26:30
  And I was sitting and because of my experience and because of experience of many women, I
• 26:36
  couldn't understand one thing.
• 26:38
  It was before I come to Jamaica for the first time.
• 26:41
  It was a lot of foreigner women in dance hall who is here like 10 years, but they never
• 26:49
  speak about those things.
• 26:51
  As in they're dancing, they're dancing and they're coming to Jamaica for 10 years over
• 26:56
  and over again every like six months or three months.
• 27:01
  For some reasons, I was surprised why none of the women speak about you have to be careful
• 27:10
  when you come to Jamaica, especially when you come to dance halls to say it.
• 27:15
  No one is talking about that and I was that brave one.
• 27:22
  Because for me is I think if that woman was speaking, then you would have known.
• 27:27
  I would know.
• 27:28
  Maybe I would go to the same experience I had, but maybe I would be more careful with those
• 27:37
  things.
• 27:40
  That time I couldn't understand this woman is in dance hall going to Jamaica for more
• 27:45
  than 10 years.
• 27:47
  All of them just pretend like it's nothing happening and what I mean it's nothing happening
• 27:52
  like when you come to Jamaica as a dancer and in your country you are no one.
• 27:59
  Even if you're a great dancer still, we always look at Instagram or YouTube to these
• 28:04
  dancers and these dance hall dancers, Jamaican dance hall dancers, they're like superstars
• 28:09
  like Wipe's Cartel for Jamaica.
• 28:13
  We look at them like, oh my God, he's such an amazing or she's such a amazing, this is
• 28:18
  how we look at this people.
• 28:20
  And when we imagine now, I'm the regular girl from Russia when I come to Jamaica and all
• 28:27
  those people who I look like stars, all these guys giving my attention, they're saying,
• 28:35
  oh my God, you are the best dancer I ever seen in my life.
• 28:40
  You are amazing and they start giving you this sweet thing.
• 28:47
  They give you all those things what you want to hear until you catch feelings or you're
• 28:53
  feeling low because of your ego, you know, you just want to feel it and you feel it and
• 28:58
  after that they catch you and that's it.
• 29:01
  Do you think that having heard someone else's negative experience, if you had heard someone's
• 29:07
  negative experience that was here before you and had shared that she had had a bad experience?
• 29:12
  Do you think that that would have prevented those feelings because I feel like sometimes
• 29:17
  especially when someone is telling us what we want to hear, we can say, oh that's your
• 29:21
  experience, not me, that's not my lived experience or do you really think that you would have
• 29:27
  been open to it and been like, okay, I'm not going to necessarily pursue what I perceive
• 29:31
  as a lot.
• 29:32
  Definitely, even I could say like, no, no, my stories, this is what I hear a lot from
• 29:41
  girls who come to Jamaica because of dance, who they say, my story is different.
• 29:45
  You know what I do right now, I'm like, okay, sure.
• 29:49
  But I think in general, if women, not just like why women speak about them, but in general
• 29:55
  if women starts speaking about that, to not put down your make and dancers, but to be
• 30:02
  more kind to each other, because I see a lot of stories like that and some of them
• 30:11
  are so really so bad.
• 30:14
  So you started sharing your personal experience and when you say sharing, you mean just talking
• 30:18
  with other dancers.
• 30:19
  No, I actually made one post in Instagram, okay.
• 30:23
  My Instagram that moment was in Russian language, but when I made this post, I decided to make
• 30:30
  it in both languages because I know the people going to translate it and I didn't want
• 30:36
  them to misunderstand this too, and I just translated it and that time, I still didn't
• 30:42
  speak English so good and I'm most of the time I just put things in Russian and I just
• 30:47
  translated it.
• 30:48
  Google Translator.
• 30:49
  Yeah.
• 30:50
  And you have to understand about Russian language, Russian language might sound so rude because
• 30:55
  we're so straightforward.
• 30:57
  You can't be more straightforward than Jamaicans.
• 30:59
  Trust me.
• 31:00
  Really?
• 31:01
  Really?
• 31:02
  Like, we are so, so straightforward.
• 31:04
  If someone treated me bad, I'm not going to smile and be like, I'm going to be like,
• 31:09
  why are you treating me this way?
• 31:11
  Okay.
• 31:12
  And people just don't like it.
• 31:14
  So you put in Russian, in Google Translate what you were saying, and then you read out
• 31:20
  what Google gave you back.
• 31:21
  I just actually made the text, okay.
• 31:23
  No, I put the pictures and the text on what Google gave you.
• 31:27
  Yeah, I just translated it.
• 31:29
  The thing is that moment I already was in social media for like, maybe four years, okay.
• 31:36
  And I knew how to write titles.
• 31:38
  Okay.
• 31:39
  What was the title?
• 31:40
  I don't know, I've never repeated it.
• 31:43
  Tell me the title page.
• 31:45
  You're going to have like a lot of hateful comments and that podcast episode.
• 31:49
  I say, I say, 80 to 90 percent of Jamaican dancehall dancers cheat and they see nothing but
• 32:01
  in that.
• 32:02
  Okay.
• 32:03
  And that was your title that came up on top.
• 32:05
  It was a title and after that was the text about it.
• 32:08
  Okay.
• 32:09
  And you did that because you knew that that would get engagement.
• 32:14
  Of course.
• 32:15
  Because I wanted to be here.
• 32:16
  Yes, of course.
• 32:17
  What you're saying.
• 32:18
  But the goal of the post is to basically say, this is my experience.
• 32:21
  I wish someone had told me, so I'm going to tell you.
• 32:24
  I didn't say that moment.
• 32:25
  I didn't say this is my experience.
• 32:27
  Okay.
• 32:28
  I was just sharing the story like, hey guys, here's what happened in dancehall when you
• 32:34
  as a woman come there and he's telling you this and that and most of the time they
• 32:39
  have three to five different girls and you just have to be careful.
• 32:43
  And I say things like, if you know this information and you're still going in that relationship
• 32:51
  is nothing but because this is your choice.
• 32:54
  But you just have to know what this is happening.
• 32:56
  And when this guy telling you, I love you.
• 32:59
  Most of the time it can be for the money or for some having fun, you know.
• 33:05
  Sure.
• 33:06
  And that's it.
• 33:07
  Okay.
• 33:08
  So the post gets views.
• 33:09
  How many views?
• 33:10
  I don't know how many views, but it was big.
• 33:13
  Okay.
• 33:14
  Because I got cancel after that.
• 33:15
  When you say you got cancel, what does that mean?
• 33:17
  People start call me racist.
• 33:20
  Okay.
• 33:21
  They say, I hate black people.
• 33:24
  They say, I hate dancehall.
• 33:26
  Okay.
• 33:27
  Today I had no rights to speak about that.
• 33:29
  Okay.
• 33:30
  The Jamaican dancers who used to be my friend, they say a lot of bad things about me, Jamaican
• 33:37
  dancers, women, they were saying a lot of bad things, so dancers in all of the world,
• 33:45
  the most popular dancehall dancers in Europe was saying a lot of things, but it wasn't
• 33:50
  just normal.
• 33:51
  It was everywhere.
• 33:52
  Okay.
• 33:53
  My friend, with whom I go to Jamaica for the first time in 2016, she called me in.
• 33:58
  Yeah.
• 33:59
  She called me one and she said, Kar, you have to apologize.
• 34:01
  Oh.
• 34:02
  I was like, I have no problem to apologize, but-
• 34:08
  But what am I apologizing for?
• 34:10
  Right.
• 34:11
  And that time I didn't know anything about the classicism in Jamaica and what the people
• 34:19
  really lived in different, different words in Jamaica.
• 34:23
  It's funny because as soon as you started your story, I was like, you've lived a different
• 34:27
  Jamaica to the one that I've never known.
• 34:30
  Yeah, and a lot of Jamaican people don't know this part of Jamaica.
• 34:33
  Yeah.
• 34:34
  Yeah.
• 34:35
  Look, that moment I was deep into dancehall, right.
• 34:42
  And I had no uptown friends, that time I didn't know there are different sides of-
• 34:49
  I knew there were boring people who was going to work and I didn't want to talk to them
• 34:54
  because they were so boring to me.
• 34:56
  Sure.
• 34:57
  I come to dance, right?
• 34:58
  So you followed dancehall and basically wherever you kind of made your community, was where
• 35:03
  the music was.
• 35:04
  Yes.
• 35:05
  And now, after this post, your community is starting to fuck off.
• 35:08
  Yeah.
• 35:09
  They literally told me what.
• 35:10
  They started saying sound, lion-peeing, like a lot of- like they knew I'm fell in love
• 35:17
  with Jamaica.
• 35:18
  They knew how much I love dancehall.
• 35:20
  Sure.
• 35:21
  They knew how much efforts I put in that.
• 35:24
  And they knew I'm far from racing.
• 35:27
  Sure.
• 35:28
  Because I choose to be in Jamaica than to stay in Russia.
• 35:33
  Because I feel more comfortable with Jamaican people than with Russian people.
• 35:38
  I feel like I have more things to talk about and divide what Jamaican people give you.
• 35:44
  This great vibe.
• 35:46
  It's not like it's far away from what Russian people give you with this.
• 35:53
  And they knew I'm not racing.
• 35:56
  But someone said in comments, you're racist.
• 35:59
  And then everyone comes down to me.
• 36:01
  And they told me like, you can't speak about this topic because go and educate yourself
• 36:06
  and you, what I'm trying to explain, when I wasn't dancehall.
• 36:12
  And I say this word because I was in dancehall.
• 36:18
  People start gaslighting me.
• 36:21
  They start saying, you are wrong.
• 36:23
  This is not how things work in here.
• 36:26
  You just speak about your own experience.
• 36:29
  Don't speak about this topic in general, do this and do that.
• 36:33
  And you know when I start partying more with up to people and I was so nervous.
• 36:38
  I was crying for three months after that because imagine dancehall was my everything.
• 36:43
  You were making money dancing at this point?
• 36:46
  Yeah.
• 36:47
  Okay.
• 36:48
  So you're doing your online classes?
• 36:49
  Are you doing stuff in person in Jamaica at this point?
• 36:52
  No, because when you are the foreigner, if you come to Jamaica, you are not allowed.
• 36:58
  Okay.
• 36:59
  So you're just allowed to party and absorb the culture, but you can't teach it.
• 37:04
  You can't teach.
• 37:05
  With some women, some girls, they try to teach here, dancehall and they got canceled.
• 37:09
  Okay.
• 37:10
  So you knew.
• 37:11
  Yeah, I knew.
• 37:12
  It's not, yeah.
• 37:13
  Okay.
• 37:14
  And so then your community basically tells you that you're no longer welcome.
• 37:18
  And what's next?
• 37:20
  And not even that.
• 37:21
  The people who I didn't know, they start sending messages and Instagram and they're like,
• 37:25
  we're going to find you and do something with you, like just shut up.
• 37:29
  So at this point, are you thinking, I need to go home?
• 37:32
  No.
• 37:33
  Really?
• 37:34
  What?
• 37:35
  I'm not crazy.
• 37:36
  Really?
• 37:37
  We've come for dancehall.
• 37:38
  Well, first we come.
• 37:39
  We're not sure if it's love.
• 37:40
  We're not sure if it's Jamaica.
• 37:41
  We're not sure if it's dancehall.
• 37:43
  We stay.
• 37:44
  The love thing doesn't work out so we move on.
• 37:45
  Then we're still here for the Jamaican culture and dancehall.
• 37:48
  And then dancehall tells you, actually, no, you're not allowed.
• 37:51
  And I'm like, so no, it's time to go home, no?
• 37:54
  No, because I don't know how to explain it, but I just have this inner voice inside of me.
• 38:00
  Okay.
• 38:01
  And that moment, my inner voice told me, just stay here and try to find because you love
• 38:09
  Jamaica.
• 38:10
  Okay.
• 38:11
  You love Jamaican people.
• 38:12
  Yes, you had butt experience.
• 38:13
  Sure.
• 38:14
  And right now, you're like this street dog, you know, who was beaten and you're just like walking
• 38:18
  like that.
• 38:19
  You look, I look at the people and I, first thing I'm thinking is like, what do you want for me?
• 38:23
  Sure.
• 38:24
  This is how dancehall thing made me.
• 38:27
  Sure.
• 38:29
  And, but I still love Jamaica.
• 38:31
  I still, because when I go, when I live in New Kingston, when I go to Starbucks, for example,
• 38:36
  I had some people who are new like this kind of security guys who is always like, hey, good morning.
• 38:43
  How you feel today?
• 38:44
  And it just makes me feel so alive.
• 38:46
  And I was like, let me just try to figure it out.
• 38:50
  Okay.
• 38:51
  But that moment, I already understood what probably I'm not going to stay in dancehall.
• 38:55
  Okay.
• 38:56
  And I got into deep, deep depression that moment.
• 38:59
  Okay.
• 39:00
  Yeah, because it was so, like I just didn't know where to.
• 39:04
  And all your friends are from, at this point, where you're getting into this depression, all
• 39:09
  of your friends are still from the dancehall community.
• 39:12
  Yep.
• 39:13
  So it's just new one.
• 39:14
  And you're still like, I'm listening to the voice and I'm going to stay.
• 39:18
  Yeah.
• 39:19
  And how do you then navigate your next kind of move?
• 39:24
  It was some, I would say it was some random things.
• 39:27
  Okay.
• 39:28
  But it wasn't.
• 39:29
  Okay.
• 39:30
  Because during my COVID life in Jamaica, I already met some new people from uptown.
• 39:38
  Somehow, like one...
• 39:39
  You keep saying uptown is so funny because I know exactly what you're talking about.
• 39:42
  And then I forget that some people don't necessarily know what uptown means.
• 39:46
  When you say uptown, for example, in New York, it means that physically uptown, right?
• 39:50
  When we say uptown in Jamaica, it refers to a certain class.
• 39:54
  And so I think that's really interesting.
• 39:56
  That when you first arrive, do you only refer to the same word of an inner city culture?
• 40:01
  Yeah.
• 40:02
  And then how do you get your first kind of introduction to opera society, if you like, in Jamaica?
• 40:09
  Okay.
• 40:11
  In 2020...
• 40:14
  In 2020.
• 40:16
  I met another Russian who stuck here.
• 40:19
  She's even France.
• 40:20
  She's my best friend, right?
• 40:21
  Okay.
• 40:22
  And we tried to survive together.
• 40:24
  Sure.
• 40:25
  In summertime, 2020, I was posting some stuff on Instagram about my life in Jamaica.
• 40:31
  I was posting, like, I'm crying here because, you know, when you just move to a new country,
• 40:36
  you feel lonely and it's just different than you can go to your parents.
• 40:41
  Sure.
• 40:42
  You can't just sit there and get a hug.
• 40:45
  Right.
• 40:46
  And it's just hard to move to another country.
• 40:48
  And this one Russian girl will leave here for more than 10 years.
• 40:52
  Okay.
• 40:53
  She found my Instagram somehow.
• 40:55
  And she texted me something like, oh really?
• 40:58
  My Jamaica is not like that.
• 41:00
  My Jamaica is so nice.
• 41:02
  People treat me nice and my Jamaica.
• 41:04
  And she just asked me, I want to meet with her.
• 41:07
  Sure.
• 41:08
  And I was like, yes, I want this Jamaica.
• 41:10
  Yes, I was like, of course.
• 41:12
  Of course.
• 41:13
  And we met with...
• 41:14
  It was just some random thing.
• 41:16
  And we met with her and this Russian girl, Russian woman,
• 41:20
  she literally started to introduce me to that circle of people.
• 41:25
  And me and that another Russian girl, who is my best friend right now,
• 41:30
  we needed some place to stay.
• 41:32
  Okay.
• 41:33
  Because the place I was renting out, the people told me and the owners told me,
• 41:36
  they're going to rent it out at Airbnb and I have to move.
• 41:40
  Sure.
• 41:41
  And this girl knew another Russian girl, he was Ukrainian.
• 41:45
  How many of you are there?
• 41:46
  It's a lot of us here.
• 41:47
  A lot of us.
• 41:48
  He knew that guy.
• 41:49
  She knew that guy.
• 41:50
  And she knew he had a apartment in the second free room.
• 41:54
  Okay.
• 41:55
  And she just connected us with this guy.
• 41:57
  And with this guy, we started going somewhere and with this girl.
• 42:01
  And it just was step-by-step.
• 42:03
  Sure.
• 42:04
  It wasn't something I was sitting and planning like how I'm going to get to this opt-on circle.
• 42:10
  So someone who doesn't know the different Jamaica's, how would you describe opt-on Jamaica
• 42:17
  versus in a city Jamaica?
• 42:19
  Oh, this is a good question.
• 42:25
  It's completely different.
• 42:27
  Right now I feel like I live in different Jamaica, but how to describe it.
• 42:35
  How often do you make a other own thing?
• 42:39
  But I would say there are not many dramas like that.
• 42:45
  There are still some dramas sometimes.
• 42:47
  Sure.
• 42:48
  About different things.
• 42:49
  Sure.
• 42:50
  But when you say drama, you just make people argue?
• 42:53
  Not arguing.
• 42:54
  You know something happening and they just talking about something like the regular thing in society.
• 43:02
  How would I say?
• 43:04
  Start with how it looks.
• 43:05
  How does opt-on Jamaica look versus in a city Jamaica?
• 43:08
  First, opt-on.
• 43:10
  I'm going to be straightforward.
• 43:11
  And first, opt-on Jamaica have money.
• 43:13
  Okay.
• 43:14
  When you leave in Jamaica and you have money, your life is okay.
• 43:18
  Okay.
• 43:19
  You are not really going to street parties.
• 43:22
  You are going to some parties where you're going to live.
• 43:26
  For a lime-key on your own boat, your friends who have boat, you just party in there all day on your own boat.
• 43:34
  Of course.
• 43:35
  Or you go into this expensive parties like you're going to Carnival, you're going to that Carnival party.
• 43:44
  Any parties like will cost 10,000 for the ticket or 200,000 for cabanhas.
• 43:51
  This is opt-on Jamaica.
• 43:54
  Oh, I know.
• 43:55
  The main difference between my life in dance hall and my life in opt-on, if we're talking about how people treat it,
• 44:03
  in dance hall, the guys always force me to buy something for them.
• 44:09
  Okay.
• 44:10
  Like to buy drinks, to buy food.
• 44:13
  Right.
• 44:14
  Hey, are you going to go and buy me some magnum or some beer or some wrong?
• 44:20
  And you just feel like you're just bug with money when you're in dance hall.
• 44:25
  As soon as I step in opt-on, I just needed to have my cup and it never was empty.
• 44:33
  Right.
• 44:34
  I can't say it was a good thing.
• 44:37
  It was fun time.
• 44:39
  But no one is asking you to pay for anything.
• 44:44
  And I'm not saying, I know people are going to watch and be like, if you're in opt-on and someone is giving you some free drinks
• 44:52
  or they're inviting you to the boat, you have to do something with someone.
• 44:55
  Okay.
• 44:56
  But for me, it wasn't like that.
• 44:58
  No.
• 44:59
  If you're a white girl, you're just dancing, you're bringing a good vibe, you're just a great person.
• 45:05
  They just want you to be around, sure.
• 45:07
  And they will take care of me.
• 45:11
  Like, taking me to the party.
• 45:13
  This is how my second year in COVID in Jamaica was.
• 45:18
  Okay.
• 45:19
  It was really nice.
• 45:20
  We party a lot when it was perfect.
• 45:25
  We party a lot.
• 45:26
  Like pool party, lime key.
• 45:29
  Other parties, it was so nice.
• 45:31
  And did you feel when you had found this different version of Jamaica that your friend introduced you to
• 45:37
  that you were still in the right place or did you have this longing for the thing that originally brought you here
• 45:43
  because it seems like they're very different worlds.
• 45:46
  Can you repeat that quick?
• 45:48
  So when your friend introduced you to opt-on Jamaica and you're having a very different experience
• 45:53
  than what you originally came here for.
• 45:55
  Did you miss the old version?
• 45:57
  Of course.
• 45:58
  Even now.
• 45:59
  Even now, after I lived on hold for more than four or five years.
• 46:04
  Sure.
• 46:06
  Sometimes because it's a lot of Russian people coming to Jamaica, dancers.
• 46:10
  Yeah.
• 46:11
  And I like to go to Instagram and watch their stories.
• 46:15
  How they're feeling about buying this first-time jerk chicken.
• 46:20
  Sure.
• 46:21
  Or drinking coconut.
• 46:22
  Or going to opt-on Monday's first time.
• 46:24
  And they're sure and they're experienced.
• 46:27
  I have this feeling like I miss it so much.
• 46:30
  Okay.
• 46:31
  I even tell my mom a lot of times.
• 46:33
  No, I feel I was more a happy person before.
• 46:37
  Oh, really?
• 46:38
  Yeah. But I think it's because of depression thing.
• 46:40
  Okay.
• 46:41
  Yeah.
• 46:42
  But I really feel like right now I'm doing my social media and I love it.
• 46:48
  I'm doing content.
• 46:50
  But that moment when I go to opt-on Monday's and dance with my people, with the dancers,
• 46:59
  you know, there is something magical about it.
• 47:02
  You just can, like, when you're dancing together and some instruction songs.
• 47:09
  And you are in that circle.
• 47:11
  I am.
• 47:12
  Rock, you are now.
• 47:13
  Or stir fry.
• 47:14
  Stir fry.
• 47:15
  And you just know the next move.
• 47:16
  Right.
• 47:17
  And you just like start doing it with people.
• 47:22
  And this feeling is something amazing.
• 47:24
  Sure.
• 47:25
  And of course I miss it.
• 47:27
  But I wouldn't go back there.
• 47:28
  Okay.
• 47:29
  And even if someone comes with a bag of money and tells me to go back to dancing.
• 47:33
  You would know.
• 47:34
  Okay.
• 47:35
  So you're known in a different class of Jamaica and how we make money.
• 47:40
  I know you said you're doing social media.
• 47:42
  Is that how you do it?
• 47:43
  Oh, no.
• 47:44
  It's my mind paying for everything.
• 47:46
  Oh, that's fine.
• 47:47
  I need one of those.
• 47:49
  And then tell me how it was dating.
• 47:52
  How was it finding Lovin Dricker?
• 47:55
  Especially after your first experience.
• 47:57
  Oh, my God.
• 47:58
  It sounds like it was often.
• 48:00
  Well, right now, this year, my mind really paying for everything.
• 48:05
  Sure.
• 48:06
  I will leave in his place.
• 48:07
  Okay.
• 48:08
  He drove around and bought food and everything.
• 48:10
  And he just let me build my platform.
• 48:14
  How did you guys meet?
• 48:16
  We met at Carnival.
• 48:17
  Okay.
• 48:18
  First of all, I wasn't that uptown community and I had one friend.
• 48:22
  Okay.
• 48:23
  And I always walk around and I always tell him, I'm not going to call his name.
• 48:27
  I was always telling him, hey, let's say his name is Kevin.
• 48:31
  Right.
• 48:32
  I was like, Kevin, can you find some guy from me who is not from dance hall?
• 48:37
  Sure.
• 48:38
  Who is not partying without stop?
• 48:40
  And who just want to build something serious?
• 48:42
  Okay.
• 48:43
  And I don't want him to have, I don't want him to be white.
• 48:48
  Okay.
• 48:49
  This is what I found to him.
• 48:51
  He is like, you need to go to another country.
• 48:57
  It's not, but you want to like serious guy who is not partying but is not going anywhere.
• 49:02
  And you want to build something serious with him because I always wanted,
• 49:07
  even when I got to that abusive relationship, I always wanted to be in,
• 49:13
  I always wanted to build a good relationship, have kids, have family.
• 49:19
  And I was walking like that for like two years or three years.
• 49:23
  And I was saying them, guys, help me to find, that Jamaica have a lot of people.
• 49:28
  Right.
• 49:29
  You know a lot of people just help me to find someone.
• 49:33
  Sure.
• 49:34
  And they try, they really try.
• 49:37
  Most of the people they find for me never work.
• 49:40
  Why?
• 49:43
  Because I don't know.
• 49:45
  Most of the people when they see, because I still was kind of dancing.
• 49:50
  Okay.
• 49:51
  And when they see a white girl who come to Jamaica because of dance hall,
• 49:58
  they just treat you some type of way.
• 50:01
  Like they don't think that you're serious?
• 50:03
  Yeah, I think they don't really look at you and think,
• 50:07
  or I can marry that girl.
• 50:08
  Okay.
• 50:09
  They're like, yes, she.
• 50:10
  I can have fun with her.
• 50:11
  Yeah, I can have fun with her.
• 50:12
  But they're not looking at you as wife or material.
• 50:14
  Yeah.
• 50:15
  Okay.
• 50:16
  Yeah.
• 50:17
  And in 2023 at Carnaval, my friend actually called me,
• 50:23
  or he come to our place and he was like,
• 50:26
  curry, I'm going to bring someone for you today.
• 50:28
  I was like, oh really?
• 50:30
  And he showed me his picture.
• 50:32
  And I was like, but it was bad picture.
• 50:34
  I couldn't understand anything.
• 50:35
  I was like, whatever.
• 50:37
  So you didn't like him from the picture?
• 50:39
  No, because the picture was really bad.
• 50:41
  You love him now, babes.
• 50:42
  It's okay.
• 50:43
  Don't blame the picture.
• 50:44
  I didn't like him from the picture.
• 50:45
  I was like, I don't really care if he's nice person.
• 50:48
  I never really was that bad girl who's like,
• 50:51
  guys, help me to find the right specific guy.
• 50:54
  As long as he's black, you're good.
• 50:56
  Yeah.
• 50:57
  And you don't want to say that.
• 50:59
  I think so.
• 51:00
  Once you go black, you don't go back.
• 51:02
  Yep.
• 51:04
  Well, I made this guy at Carnaval.
• 51:08
  We were at the Kaya.
• 51:11
  And we were just partying.
• 51:14
  And I saw this guy.
• 51:15
  I wasn't even sure if it is him.
• 51:17
  But he smiled with his big smile,
• 51:21
  white teeth.
• 51:22
  And he looked so nice.
• 51:23
  And I looked at him and I was like, hmm, it's probably him.
• 51:26
  And I come to my friend and I was like,
• 51:29
  are you going to introduce me to him?
• 51:31
  Maybe introduce him.
• 51:32
  And he's like, oh, yeah, this is him.
• 51:34
  I was like, and you know, we just started talking.
• 51:38
  And while all this Carnaval was happening,
• 51:42
  and we were sitting inside on the Kaya thing,
• 51:45
  and we were just sitting and talking for like two hours.
• 51:48
  Okay.
• 51:49
  But it was, it was some red flags for me.
• 51:52
  Okay.
• 51:53
  Because I always say to myself, especially in Jamaica,
• 51:57
  because I know a lot of guys have kids already.
• 52:00
  Okay.
• 52:01
  And I would always say to myself, I will never start dating,
• 52:06
  especially like serious relationship with guy who already has kids.
• 52:09
  I used to say that too.
• 52:11
  No, I believe in it.
• 52:12
  I also think my view is different now because I have children.
• 52:15
  But if I didn't have children, I would think the same thing.
• 52:18
  Because I think when you all, if he's the type of dad
• 52:21
  that you want him to be and being involved with his child,
• 52:24
  then you're always being with a model.
• 52:26
  And I just want to be with a model.
• 52:27
  This is my point was I was like, I don't want to go,
• 52:31
  I want to go to a relationship with one person,
• 52:33
  not with three or four.
• 52:35
  Because in my reality, I thought if you already have a child,
• 52:39
  I have to be in that situation with his baby mother or with his child.
• 52:44
  And when he saw me, he's the picture on his phone,
• 52:49
  when we just started talking and I saw his daughter and he was like,
• 52:52
  oh, this is my daughter.
• 52:54
  And in my mind, I was like, okay, it's not him.
• 52:57
  Again, I was like, okay, we continue to search.
• 53:00
  And the funny thing, when I live here at COVID time
• 53:03
  before I start asking my uptown friends, try to find me someone.
• 53:06
  When people, regular people like security
• 53:09
  or people with whom I just talk on the streets,
• 53:12
  they ask me like, why are you here?
• 53:14
  What are you doing here?
• 53:15
  And I always tell them, I'm trying to find someone
• 53:17
  with whom I can build a relationship,
• 53:20
  like serious relationship family.
• 53:22
  You know what this people did?
• 53:24
  They always look at me and they love in my face.
• 53:26
  They were like, girl, you choose the wrong island.
• 53:29
  And they were laughing like, oh, oh, oh, like that.
• 53:32
  But is that, again, going back to the different Jamaica,
• 53:35
  is right?
• 53:36
  Because I will vote for a Jamaican man any day of the book.
• 53:39
  But I haven't been to Uptown on this.
• 53:41
  Do you think that that experience is again based on the different environments?
• 53:47
  Or do you think that even in Uptown Jamaica,
• 53:50
  it was very hard to find?
• 53:52
  Oh, it was very hard.
• 53:53
  Okay.
• 53:54
  I would say if this guy from Uptown,
• 53:57
  and he's that uptown who have money,
• 54:01
  who drive amazing cars,
• 54:03
  who have this place and that place and Ville and here,
• 54:06
  they're so spoiled.
• 54:07
  Okay.
• 54:08
  They're so spoiled.
• 54:09
  Okay.
• 54:10
  It's so hard to find.
• 54:11
  Because first, they don't really want to date.
• 54:13
  They just want to have fun.
• 54:14
  Okay.
• 54:15
  And they know they can, yeah.
• 54:17
  Right.
• 54:18
  Not most of them want to build something.
• 54:20
  Okay.
• 54:21
  They just...
• 54:23
  And when did you know with your boyfriend
• 54:27
  that you could have a serious relationship,
• 54:30
  even though he had the red flag?
• 54:32
  Oh, I think I didn't really have choice.
• 54:34
  Oh, what do you mean?
• 54:36
  We started talking and that the whole day on Carnival,
• 54:40
  we spent together after that,
• 54:42
  next day, we saw each other.
• 54:44
  And right after that, the second meeting,
• 54:46
  I come to my friend, my best friend,
• 54:48
  and I told him, you know what?
• 54:50
  I'm afraid if I'm, if I'm continuously in this guy,
• 54:55
  we're definitely going to have something,
• 54:57
  but I'm not sure if I want.
• 54:59
  Okay.
• 55:00
  And I was kind of trying to not reply and be more distance, you know?
• 55:06
  Sure.
• 55:07
  And after like a week, we met again.
• 55:09
  We went to a dub club,
• 55:11
  to like keep some food and enjoy the view.
• 55:15
  And after a couple of meetings,
• 55:20
  I was like, because in my mind,
• 55:22
  I was like, he's not the one.
• 55:24
  Okay.
• 55:25
  And I was like, I don't even want to play that game.
• 55:28
  Sure.
• 55:29
  And I was like, okay, let's just have fun.
• 55:32
  Right.
• 55:33
  And I come to his place,
• 55:35
  and I never went.
• 55:37
  I stayed there.
• 55:38
  Okay.
• 55:39
  And from that moment,
• 55:40
  I came to the first time, he's pleased.
• 55:42
  You never left.
• 55:44
  Okay.
• 55:45
  Never.
• 55:46
  Like, more than two years passed.
• 55:48
  Right.
• 55:49
  And it was just good.
• 55:51
  He treated me nice.
• 55:52
  Okay.
• 55:53
  He was just nice person.
• 55:55
  And you know, because I was so traumatized
• 55:57
  from my previous relationship,
• 56:00
  I was just sitting and waiting.
• 56:02
  When he was going to start treating me.
• 56:04
  Switching me.
• 56:05
  And I was sitting and waiting that moment
• 56:07
  when he just said, okay, just take your stuff and leave.
• 56:10
  Okay.
• 56:11
  It's never happened.
• 56:13
  And because I still was renting another place
• 56:15
  where I used to leave.
• 56:16
  Okay.
• 56:17
  And when my friend, she go back to France
• 56:20
  and she said, Kariya, you're going to continue renting that place.
• 56:23
  Sure.
• 56:24
  And I was like, I come to him.
• 56:25
  We were together for a couple of months.
• 56:27
  Mm-hmm.
• 56:28
  And I come to him and I say, like, look.
• 56:30
  If I'm going to rent in that place,
• 56:32
  I need at least to stay there sometimes.
• 56:34
  Sure.
• 56:35
  You know, I can't just wait for the place
• 56:37
  to have closes over there.
• 56:39
  Right.
• 56:40
  And it was so nervous, but I asked him,
• 56:42
  do you want me to bring my stuff here?
• 56:44
  Sure.
• 56:45
  I didn't even want to say, do you want me to open it?
• 56:47
  I was like, do you think I should bring my stuff?
• 56:50
  Right.
• 56:51
  And he was like, yeah, of course, bring it.
• 56:54
  I was like, is there some type of drugs or something?
• 56:58
  And after that, I met his parents.
• 57:01
  Okay.
• 57:02
  After, like, two or three months.
• 57:04
  Mm-hmm.
• 57:05
  Oh my god, these people are something.
• 57:07
  I would say they're like, my second family right now.
• 57:11
  They're such a nice people.
• 57:14
  They treat me.
• 57:15
  He's father every time he sees me.
• 57:17
  He literally says, oh my daughter, hello.
• 57:20
  And I'm just like, oh.
• 57:22
  Have your family visited you here?
• 57:24
  Not yet.
• 57:25
  Okay.
• 57:26
  They're planning to, but not yet.
• 57:27
  And when, even before you came to Jamaica,
• 57:30
  did you ever feel like an outsider in Russia?
• 57:32
  Because, you know, the things that you like
• 57:35
  and the things the people that you like
• 57:37
  doesn't seem to necessarily align with Russian culture.
• 57:40
  Of course.
• 57:41
  So did you feel like you're an outsider?
• 57:43
  Yeah.
• 57:44
  And these things, what you say, you remember,
• 57:47
  you say your friend from Canada who's coming to Jamaica
• 57:50
  and she's enjoying with us.
• 57:51
  And we guys give her attention.
• 57:54
  I would say what the way I look,
• 57:58
  because, you know, this stereotype about Russian woman,
• 58:02
  is like, I just think of plastic surgery.
• 58:06
  They're like skinny.
• 58:08
  Okay.
• 58:09
  And they have this...
• 58:11
  The lead.
• 58:12
  Yeah.
• 58:13
  And look at me.
• 58:15
  You don't have these types.
• 58:17
  And sometimes, when I was in the dance hall,
• 58:22
  when I'm just walking around in Moscow,
• 58:24
  I just felt like no one really even looked at me.
• 58:27
  Okay.
• 58:28
  Because I'm not their type.
• 58:30
  And when you are not that type in Russia,
• 58:33
  it's really hard to find a man.
• 58:35
  Okay.
• 58:36
  It's a lot of great guys in Russia.
• 58:38
  Sure.
• 58:39
  But it's just different games.
• 58:41
  Sure.
• 58:42
  And I never really wanted it.
• 58:43
  I don't know.
• 58:44
  I just never really wanted it.
• 58:45
  From the moment I started dancing hip-hop...
• 58:47
  Okay.
• 58:48
  ...when I started to go into that black culture.
• 58:52
  Yep.
• 58:53
  I was like...
• 58:54
  You felt home.
• 58:55
  I was like, I don't know why I'm even wet.
• 58:57
  Why I'm out.
• 59:00
  Like, I couldn't understand.
• 59:02
  But I think...
• 59:04
  I don't want to sound any type of way.
• 59:06
  Sure.
• 59:07
  But I think...
• 59:09
  Black people are better than everything.
• 59:12
  Like, they look better.
• 59:14
  They're so stylish.
• 59:16
  The way you talk.
• 59:18
  The way you move.
• 59:19
  I'm just so fell in love with culture,
• 59:22
  with black culture.
• 59:23
  And I'm this type of person who...
• 59:25
  I never tried to be, you know...
• 59:28
  Sure.
• 59:29
  ...someone who I can be.
• 59:31
  But...
• 59:32
  I just feel more comfortable.
• 59:34
  And...
• 59:35
  And do you think that when you came to Jamaica,
• 59:37
  did you have any resistance
• 59:39
  because you were Russian?
• 59:40
  Aside from dancehall culture,
• 59:42
  I just mean in general,
• 59:43
  in your day-to-day living,
• 59:44
  did you ever feel that you were ill-treated?
• 59:47
  Because...
• 59:48
  Right now, after...
• 59:49
  I can't even say those things.
• 59:51
  Sure.
• 59:52
  Because as a Russian person,
• 59:53
  I'm not allowed to say those things.
• 59:55
  Or after the situation happens.
• 59:57
  Sure.
• 59:58
  Because...
• 59:59
  I have hard situation,
• 1:00:00
  because I was born in Ukraine.
• 1:00:02
  Okay.
• 1:00:03
  But I was raised in Russia.
• 1:00:05
  Okay.
• 1:00:06
  I have Russian citizenship.
• 1:00:07
  My mother, she's Ukrainian.
• 1:00:08
  And my father, he's Russian.
• 1:00:09
  Okay.
• 1:00:10
  But I have Russian passport.
• 1:00:11
  Right.
• 1:00:12
  And when that situation happened...
• 1:00:14
  Yeah.
• 1:00:15
  After that,
• 1:00:17
  even in an uptown circle,
• 1:00:19
  I felt it when people asked me,
• 1:00:21
  where are you from,
• 1:00:22
  and I say I'm from Russia?
• 1:00:23
  Right.
• 1:00:24
  It's just body language.
• 1:00:26
  You just can feel like...
• 1:00:27
  People is like...
• 1:00:29
  Okay.
• 1:00:30
  When people here are making my content
• 1:00:33
  on social media,
• 1:00:34
  like I live in Jamaica and I'm from Russia,
• 1:00:36
  I actually use it all the time
• 1:00:38
  just to trigger people.
• 1:00:39
  Sure.
• 1:00:40
  Because I know if I say I'm from Russia,
• 1:00:42
  there are going to be some people who are going to say,
• 1:00:44
  oh, another spy come here.
• 1:00:45
  Okay.
• 1:00:46
  Or go back to your country.
• 1:00:48
  Sure.
• 1:00:49
  And I just use it as a trigger,
• 1:00:50
  because you know how social media works.
• 1:00:52
  Yeah.
• 1:00:53
  But...
• 1:00:54
  I remember one day we had the fight
• 1:00:56
  with this uptown woman,
• 1:00:58
  not really fight,
• 1:00:59
  but she was trying to tell us
• 1:01:01
  what we literally have to go back to Russia
• 1:01:03
  and tell our president to stop this.
• 1:01:06
  I look at her,
• 1:01:07
  I'm like,
• 1:01:08
  why are you not going to your prime minister
• 1:01:10
  and asking him to change bad things in Jamaica?
• 1:01:12
  Sure.
• 1:01:13
  Maybe because he's not going to listen to you.
• 1:01:15
  You think put...
• 1:01:17
  Sorry.
• 1:01:18
  Sure.
• 1:01:19
  Yeah.
• 1:01:20
  You think,
• 1:01:21
  my president is going to listen to me.
• 1:01:22
  This is so stupid.
• 1:01:23
  And I'm just trying not to go into politics.
• 1:01:26
  Sure.
• 1:01:27
  But most of the time right now,
• 1:01:29
  I found a way.
• 1:01:30
  Then people asked me where I'm from.
• 1:01:32
  Yep.
• 1:01:33
  I'm telling them I'm from Russia,
• 1:01:34
  but I was born in Ukraine.
• 1:01:36
  Okay.
• 1:01:37
  This is make them feel...
• 1:01:38
  The energy is different.
• 1:01:39
  Yeah.
• 1:01:40
  Okay.
• 1:01:41
  And then I guess in my mind,
• 1:01:42
  what were your major culture shocks?
• 1:01:44
  You mentioned food prices.
• 1:01:46
  Was there anything else when you arrived here
• 1:01:50
  that you just weren't ready for?
• 1:01:53
  Okay.
• 1:01:54
  You ready?
• 1:01:55
  Yeah.
• 1:01:56
  The food prices,
• 1:01:57
  especially vegetables.
• 1:01:59
  Yeah.
• 1:02:02
  Electricity.
• 1:02:04
  The cost of it?
• 1:02:05
  Cost of electricity.
• 1:02:06
  Okay.
• 1:02:07
  You know what I can get?
• 1:02:08
  Jamaica has sunlight.
• 1:02:10
  24-7.
• 1:02:13
  But why electricity is so expensive?
• 1:02:15
  Yeah.
• 1:02:16
  Like,
• 1:02:17
  I understand the company
• 1:02:19
  and Jamaica trying to make money.
• 1:02:20
  Sure.
• 1:02:21
  But if they have so much money,
• 1:02:23
  they could go to solar, right?
• 1:02:25
  Right.
• 1:02:26
  Because for you,
• 1:02:27
  as a person who live in Jamaica,
• 1:02:29
  and you,
• 1:02:30
  for you to put the solar system,
• 1:02:32
  to have enough electricity,
• 1:02:34
  you need to spend like a couple of millions.
• 1:02:36
  Yeah.
• 1:02:37
  And you have to have this money.
• 1:02:38
  You can't just take it from nowhere, you know?
• 1:02:40
  Sure.
• 1:02:41
  And you can go solar
• 1:02:42
  because of this thing,
• 1:02:43
  because of financial thing.
• 1:02:44
  Well, this is electricity prices.
• 1:02:46
  Because even when I live in New Kingston
• 1:02:48
  in my little studio apartment,
• 1:02:50
  I had no AC,
• 1:02:51
  I had no washing machine,
• 1:02:53
  I had nothing,
• 1:02:54
  just electric stove,
• 1:02:55
  and water heater.
• 1:02:57
  And I paid 10,000 US,
• 1:02:59
  10,000 Jamaican
• 1:03:01
  for electricity.
• 1:03:02
  Sure.
• 1:03:03
  Having nothing.
• 1:03:04
  I was like,
• 1:03:05
  this is crazy.
• 1:03:07
  Well, another thing is prices for any goods.
• 1:03:11
  Okay.
• 1:03:12
  Like,
• 1:03:13
  you want to buy something in pharmacy.
• 1:03:15
  Right.
• 1:03:16
  Some vitamins.
• 1:03:17
  You go to Amazon?
• 1:03:20
  And you see the prices double,
• 1:03:23
  how to say the double cheaper?
• 1:03:25
  It's half price.
• 1:03:26
  Half price.
• 1:03:27
  Yes.
• 1:03:28
  It's half price.
• 1:03:29
  You go to Jamaican store,
• 1:03:31
  wherever it's the double price.
• 1:03:33
  Before you came,
• 1:03:34
  did you think things were going to be cheaper?
• 1:03:36
  Of course.
• 1:03:37
  Of course.
• 1:03:38
  This is what I was thinking,
• 1:03:39
  because you know Jamaican is development country.
• 1:03:42
  And you think what I come from,
• 1:03:44
  the first world country.
• 1:03:46
  And I have to allow
• 1:03:48
  to live normal,
• 1:03:49
  to live better.
• 1:03:50
  Right.
• 1:03:51
  Like in Thailand.
• 1:03:52
  Yeah.
• 1:03:53
  Like, when you can...
• 1:03:54
  I just come back from time.
• 1:03:55
  I know.
• 1:03:56
  Oh my gosh.
• 1:03:57
  When you can eat fruits and smoothie every day,
• 1:04:01
  because they just cost like $1.
• 1:04:03
  Yeah.
• 1:04:04
  I don't know how much they cost right now.
• 1:04:05
  Less than $1.
• 1:04:06
  Okay.
• 1:04:07
  When you can go to my sash every day.
• 1:04:09
  Yeah.
• 1:04:10
  Here in Jamaican.
• 1:04:11
  I was getting my bad knees massage for like eight pounds an hour.
• 1:04:14
  I was...
• 1:04:15
  I was getting them every day,
• 1:04:16
  because I just said,
• 1:04:17
  oh my god, this is amazing.
• 1:04:18
  And then I read that it's not good to have a massage every day,
• 1:04:21
  so I did it every other day.
• 1:04:23
  I'm so sad.
• 1:04:24
  That's right.
• 1:04:25
  But here,
• 1:04:26
  my goals so...
• 1:04:29
  you know, so normal.
• 1:04:32
  I wouldn't say normal.
• 1:04:33
  Like, so regular.
• 1:04:35
  I just want to be allowed to do the massage.
• 1:04:38
  Sure.
• 1:04:39
  Once a week.
• 1:04:40
  But in Jamaica,
• 1:04:41
  because of the cost of living,
• 1:04:43
  to go to massage place in Jamaica,
• 1:04:46
  here in Kingston,
• 1:04:48
  the minimum price is going to be like 10 to 12.
• 1:04:51
  Or thousands.
• 1:04:52
  Like almost 100 years.
• 1:04:54
  Sure.
• 1:04:55
  Yeah.
• 1:04:56
  And the price is for everything.
• 1:04:58
  For example, I'm dreaming to get to reach and buy a course.
• 1:05:01
  And you know, if you buy a portion of Jamaica,
• 1:05:04
  you pay double price.
• 1:05:06
  You pay double price for everything.
• 1:05:08
  Sure.
• 1:05:10
  And the minimum wage is still just 60,000,
• 1:05:14
  which is about 400 US dollars.
• 1:05:18
  Sure.
• 1:05:19
  And if you don't make enough money to live in Jamaica,
• 1:05:24
  you just survive.
• 1:05:26
  Yeah.
• 1:05:27
  This is still shocking me.
• 1:05:30
  The thing is shocking me every time people see me.
• 1:05:34
  When I go outside trying to buy something,
• 1:05:37
  like if you're a Jamaican,
• 1:05:39
  you never had this experience.
• 1:05:41
  Right?
• 1:05:42
  You just go into that guy who is sailing coconut.
• 1:05:44
  Sure.
• 1:05:45
  And you know he will never try to scam you.
• 1:05:47
  Sure.
• 1:05:48
  Because this is how you live.
• 1:05:50
  This is your country.
• 1:05:51
  When I go,
• 1:05:53
  when I go, people always try to put double price.
• 1:05:57
  It's funny.
• 1:05:58
  I have this conversation often,
• 1:05:59
  because I call it tourist tax.
• 1:06:02
  And I don't have an issue with tourist tax.
• 1:06:05
  I feel that, for example, when I go to Thailand,
• 1:06:08
  I bought a dress in a market,
• 1:06:09
  and she charged me 11 pounds.
• 1:06:11
  I know that that dress was not 11 pounds,
• 1:06:13
  but I know she's put on money
• 1:06:15
  because I'm coming with my pounds
• 1:06:17
  or whatever foreign currency,
• 1:06:19
  and I know that she's making more.
• 1:06:20
  And it didn't bother me.
• 1:06:22
  I guess from the perspective of,
• 1:06:23
  I like the dress.
• 1:06:24
  I know that to me, the dress is worth more than that.
• 1:06:27
  But then you take like Vietnam,
• 1:06:29
  I was looking to buy a hat,
• 1:06:30
  and this lady was literally charging
• 1:06:32
  like 12 times the price.
• 1:06:34
  So I said, you're crazy,
• 1:06:35
  and I'm not buying that.
• 1:06:36
  So I think that from,
• 1:06:38
  maybe I sympathize more with the vendor,
• 1:06:40
  trying to capitalize on an opportunity,
• 1:06:44
  and as the consumer,
• 1:06:45
  we have the option to say,
• 1:06:47
  whether we want it or we don't want it.
• 1:06:49
  However, I appreciate that,
• 1:06:50
  if that is not a holiday for you,
• 1:06:52
  there's a difference between it being life
• 1:06:54
  on a daily basis,
• 1:06:56
  versus you being there on a holiday.
• 1:06:58
  Like, you say it does happen,
• 1:06:59
  so I went into a taxi,
• 1:07:00
  and the man was trying to overcharge me.
• 1:07:02
  And I said to him,
• 1:07:03
  boss man,
• 1:07:04
  I've been living here for home.
• 1:07:05
  Oh, you're Jamaican.
• 1:07:06
  Oh, don't worry, don't worry, don't worry.
• 1:07:08
  And I think that the same happens,
• 1:07:10
  you know, with a lot of expats that come here,
• 1:07:13
  there is the first impression of like,
• 1:07:15
  the double trip of price,
• 1:07:16
  and then you let people know.
• 1:07:18
  You know, I just recently made video on YouTube
• 1:07:21
  about the same thing,
• 1:07:22
  and I actually spoke about Thailand
• 1:07:25
  because I've been to Thailand,
• 1:07:26
  and I said,
• 1:07:27
  you know, there are some,
• 1:07:29
  if I come from USA,
• 1:07:31
  where I make, let's say,
• 1:07:33
  6,000 US.
• 1:07:34
  Sure.
• 1:07:35
  And that extra 1,000 Jamaican,
• 1:07:38
  don't really make difference for me.
• 1:07:40
  Sure.
• 1:07:41
  But I didn't come from USA.
• 1:07:43
  Sure.
• 1:07:44
  I don't make those money.
• 1:07:45
  Sure.
• 1:07:46
  I live in Jamaica.
• 1:07:47
  Right.
• 1:07:48
  I make Jamaica money.
• 1:07:50
  Right.
• 1:07:51
  But the vendor don't know that.
• 1:07:52
  I know.
• 1:07:53
  There is a money.
• 1:07:54
  And this is another thing,
• 1:07:55
  what people say in my comments,
• 1:07:57
  they literally laugh at me
• 1:07:59
  when something like that happened.
• 1:08:01
  Some of them say,
• 1:08:02
  you deserve it.
• 1:08:03
  Okay.
• 1:08:04
  Because of the way you look like.
• 1:08:05
  Sure.
• 1:08:06
  And you speak.
• 1:08:07
  And some of them say,
• 1:08:08
  of course,
• 1:08:09
  because you look like a bug of money.
• 1:08:10
  Sure.
• 1:08:11
  But I guess my thing is,
• 1:08:13
  we know the reality, right?
• 1:08:15
  And so it's like,
• 1:08:16
  the next time they try and charge you,
• 1:08:17
  you just tell them both, man.
• 1:08:19
  Yeah.
• 1:08:20
  But maybe one day,
• 1:08:22
  I'm going to be better in that,
• 1:08:24
  to feel confident about this.
• 1:08:26
  Even my, even my man,
• 1:08:28
  because,
• 1:08:29
  I would say he will talk town.
• 1:08:31
  Right.
• 1:08:32
  Yeah.
• 1:08:33
  Even if he go and ask price.
• 1:08:34
  Sure.
• 1:08:35
  And if they see me next to him.
• 1:08:38
  It's over.
• 1:08:40
  And look,
• 1:08:42
  this is which type of person I want to be.
• 1:08:45
  I want to be a rich person.
• 1:08:46
  Sure.
• 1:08:47
  Who is driving Porsche.
• 1:08:48
  Right.
• 1:08:49
  And who came by Avacada,
• 1:08:50
  near La Chousin,
• 1:08:51
  for 1000,
• 1:08:52
  this little Avacada.
• 1:08:54
  I want to be that person.
• 1:08:55
  I don't care.
• 1:08:56
  Right.
• 1:08:57
  And because I know I support those people.
• 1:08:58
  Right.
• 1:08:59
  But right now,
• 1:09:00
  I'm in position when I'm just surviving.
• 1:09:02
  I don't,
• 1:09:03
  I understand what you're saying.
• 1:09:04
  I'm just saying,
• 1:09:05
  I wouldn't be mad at the people.
• 1:09:06
  Yeah.
• 1:09:07
  Because I know where they're coming from.
• 1:09:08
  I understand where you're coming from.
• 1:09:10
  Yeah.
• 1:09:11
  But I also understand where they're coming from.
• 1:09:13
  Because even as you say,
• 1:09:14
  like uptown,
• 1:09:15
  for example,
• 1:09:16
  my mother would never go to coronation market.
• 1:09:18
  Because she would get very different.
• 1:09:19
  She would have had a very English accent,
• 1:09:21
  even more English.
• 1:09:22
  People always send me to coronation market.
• 1:09:24
  And she would never go.
• 1:09:25
  Because she knows.
• 1:09:26
  And so you kind of deal with the lay of the land.
• 1:09:28
  That's what I'm saying.
• 1:09:29
  I think so.
• 1:09:30
  You know,
• 1:09:31
  I really think I'm trying to look at
• 1:09:33
  the same situation on different angles.
• 1:09:35
  And sometimes people say to me,
• 1:09:37
  you're always hating Jamaica.
• 1:09:39
  You're always saying some bad things about Jamaica.
• 1:09:42
  And this is what,
• 1:09:43
  I won't agree.
• 1:09:44
  Sure.
• 1:09:45
  What I'm saying those things.
• 1:09:46
  But I'm saying those things
• 1:09:47
  because I'm going through that experience.
• 1:09:49
  Sure.
• 1:09:50
  Because I'm myself.
• 1:09:52
  I don't have enough money right now
• 1:09:54
  to spend one thousand Jamaican
• 1:09:57
  for one avocado.
• 1:09:58
  Sure.
• 1:09:59
  Because I have limited money.
• 1:10:00
  Sure.
• 1:10:01
  Of course, if I had more money,
• 1:10:03
  it wouldn't,
• 1:10:04
  it wouldn't even,
• 1:10:05
  I wouldn't even speak about these things.
• 1:10:07
  Because I would go
• 1:10:09
  do my massage once a week,
• 1:10:11
  for 100 years.
• 1:10:12
  And I would be like,
• 1:10:14
  yeah.
• 1:10:15
  Give me this back of
• 1:10:17
  mangoes for four thousand.
• 1:10:19
  Right.
• 1:10:20
  But, oh, no.
• 1:10:21
  I don't think it's an anti-Jamaican thing.
• 1:10:23
  Because you still live here.
• 1:10:24
  And you've had a series of experiences
• 1:10:26
  that you could have many points said,
• 1:10:28
  actually,
• 1:10:29
  I'm going to leave.
• 1:10:31
  I think,
• 1:10:32
  do you consider Jamaica home now
• 1:10:34
  or do you consider Jamaica home
• 1:10:36
  for the long term?
• 1:10:38
  Because I'm in a relationship right now.
• 1:10:40
  Mm-hmm.
• 1:10:41
  And my mom here have a daughter.
• 1:10:43
  Okay.
• 1:10:44
  And we're talking with him sometimes
• 1:10:48
  because we're serious together
• 1:10:50
  and we're building a family.
• 1:10:52
  And sometimes I'm asking him,
• 1:10:54
  what if one day I just woke up
• 1:10:56
  and feel like I don't want to live in Jamaica?
• 1:11:00
  Would you be able,
• 1:11:01
  would we be able to move somewhere?
• 1:11:03
  Sure.
• 1:11:04
  First of all,
• 1:11:05
  I don't really know what to move where.
• 1:11:07
  Okay.
• 1:11:08
  He's half a vision.
• 1:11:09
  Okay.
• 1:11:10
  He's from Barbados
• 1:11:11
  and his mother is even Barbados.
• 1:11:13
  And he's telling me,
• 1:11:14
  yeah, we can move to Barbados.
• 1:11:16
  Sure.
• 1:11:17
  I've been to Barbados.
• 1:11:18
  No, not yet.
• 1:11:19
  Okay.
• 1:11:20
  But he's like Barbados is so small.
• 1:11:21
  Yes, it's a nice place.
• 1:11:22
  It has their own challenges.
• 1:11:24
  But it's so small,
• 1:11:25
  you're going to get bored there.
• 1:11:26
  And when I ask his stepmother
• 1:11:29
  about,
• 1:11:30
  if you ever think about moving to other island
• 1:11:32
  and she say,
• 1:11:33
  no, trust me, Jamaica is the best place
• 1:11:35
  because Jamaica have everything.
• 1:11:37
  Sure.
• 1:11:38
  Well, right now,
• 1:11:39
  I'm in that position.
• 1:11:40
  I think because I really was traumatized
• 1:11:43
  because of the situation I've been through with Jamaica.
• 1:11:47
  Because I'm telling my mom,
• 1:11:49
  if I come to Jamaica,
• 1:11:51
  if I never had this dancehall experience.
• 1:11:54
  Sure.
• 1:11:55
  And I come to Jamaica and met you.
• 1:11:58
  And you,
• 1:12:01
  I had same situation.
• 1:12:02
  If I had same situation,
• 1:12:03
  I live with him at his place.
• 1:12:05
  I never experienced that.
• 1:12:07
  Sure.
• 1:12:08
  Of course, my view on Jamaica
• 1:12:12
  would be different.
• 1:12:13
  Sure.
• 1:12:15
  But because I was surviving here
• 1:12:17
  alone for a long time,
• 1:12:19
  my view is so different.
• 1:12:21
  And everyone,
• 1:12:23
  every person who come to Jamaica
• 1:12:25
  with different experiences,
• 1:12:27
  is just different.
• 1:12:28
  And my experience is just like that.
• 1:12:30
  So you think that if you want
• 1:12:32
  in this relationship,
• 1:12:33
  you wouldn't live here now.
• 1:12:34
  No, I would still be here.
• 1:12:36
  You would?
• 1:12:37
  Yeah.
• 1:12:38
  Oh, okay.
• 1:12:39
  You want to ask why?
• 1:12:40
  Yeah.
• 1:12:41
  I don't know.
• 1:12:43
  Because I understand
• 1:12:45
  there are good and bad things
• 1:12:47
  about every country.
• 1:12:49
  Okay.
• 1:12:50
  This is what I understand.
• 1:12:51
  And when I'm sharing my
• 1:12:53
  bad stories about Jamaica,
• 1:12:56
  I'm just sharing the things
• 1:12:58
  that are happening with me right now.
• 1:13:00
  I'm not trying to say,
• 1:13:02
  oh, my God, Jamaica is so bad and blah, blah, blah.
• 1:13:05
  Because I know a lot of amazing people in Jamaica.
• 1:13:08
  Okay.
• 1:13:09
  But same time,
• 1:13:10
  I know this one,
• 1:13:12
  five percent of people
• 1:13:14
  who's not treating me good.
• 1:13:16
  Sure.
• 1:13:17
  But it doesn't mean what all people
• 1:13:19
  in Jamaica is.
• 1:13:20
  Because most of the people I know,
• 1:13:22
  they're such a nice people.
• 1:13:23
  And I had a lot of great situations.
• 1:13:26
  But here is about social media.
• 1:13:28
  When you talk,
• 1:13:30
  only about good things in the country.
• 1:13:32
  If I say every time I make a video,
• 1:13:34
  and I say, oh, my God,
• 1:13:36
  guys, I love Jamaica so much.
• 1:13:39
  People say, no one is watching you.
• 1:13:41
  Sure.
• 1:13:42
  No one is...
• 1:13:43
  No one is care about how much you love Jamaica.
• 1:13:46
  Sure.
• 1:13:47
  As soon as you start saying them,
• 1:13:49
  the challenges thing,
• 1:13:51
  the bad things you are going through,
• 1:13:53
  this is when they start watching you
• 1:13:56
  and start listening to you.
• 1:13:57
  Sure.
• 1:13:58
  This is why I'm trying to balance my content
• 1:14:00
  between bad situations
• 1:14:03
  what's happening to me and good situations.
• 1:14:05
  But no one really pay attention
• 1:14:07
  to good stories.
• 1:14:08
  What do you think is one
• 1:14:10
  of the greatest misconceptions
• 1:14:11
  about living in Jamaica?
• 1:14:13
  But life in Jamaica is cheap.
• 1:14:18
  Okay.
• 1:14:19
  Because everything in Jamaica is so expensive.
• 1:14:22
  Okay.
• 1:14:23
  I mean, if you come from...
• 1:14:25
  Sure.
• 1:14:26
  Russia.
• 1:14:27
  If you come from USA,
• 1:14:28
  maybe it's not this way.
• 1:14:29
  I think it's so expensive.
• 1:14:30
  It's expensive?
• 1:14:31
  Yeah, because I never had this experience.
• 1:14:33
  But everything is so expensive in Jamaica.
• 1:14:36
  It's so expensive.
• 1:14:37
  Like, you step out of your place
• 1:14:39
  and you have to pay money like that.
• 1:14:41
  Sure.
• 1:14:42
  Yeah, Jamaica is so expensive.
• 1:14:44
  Because I feel like some people...
• 1:14:46
  They're hotels in Jamaica.
• 1:14:48
  Oh, my God.
• 1:14:49
  You have to be a millionaire
• 1:14:50
  to go to hotels.
• 1:14:51
  Like hotels in Jamaica is so expensive.
• 1:14:54
  And a lot of things.
• 1:14:55
  What was the first Jamaican thing
• 1:14:57
  that you ate that you found out with?
• 1:14:59
  Oh, it's definitely okay.
• 1:15:01
  Really?
• 1:15:02
  And still my favorite.
• 1:15:03
  If you're trying to describe
• 1:15:04
  and the flavor of accate to someone,
• 1:15:06
  how would you describe it?
• 1:15:07
  I always, like, find it so hard.
• 1:15:10
  I would say it's like the egg.
• 1:15:13
  You know when you do this...
• 1:15:15
  Scramble eggs.
• 1:15:16
  But it's more tall.
• 1:15:18
  Okay.
• 1:15:19
  It's not that fluffy egg.
• 1:15:21
  And...
• 1:15:23
  That's it.
• 1:15:24
  I don't even know.
• 1:15:25
  You know, one day I tried to explain my parents
• 1:15:27
  how drug food pays.
• 1:15:29
  Yes.
• 1:15:30
  And I asked Chad GPT.
• 1:15:31
  And he says, like...
• 1:15:33
  Chad GPT says,
• 1:15:35
  if pineapple, bananas,
• 1:15:37
  and manga,
• 1:15:38
  had baby together.
• 1:15:39
  Okay.
• 1:15:40
  But I told my parents,
• 1:15:41
  I'm not sure,
• 1:15:42
  because I love drug food.
• 1:15:43
  I love sour soup.
• 1:15:44
  And I can explain it to my parents
• 1:15:46
  because they just have to try it.
• 1:15:48
  And...
• 1:15:49
  Yeah, I gave my friend breadfruit.
• 1:15:51
  Oh, my God.
• 1:15:52
  Breadfruit is my favorite.
• 1:15:53
  I love Jamaican food.
• 1:15:55
  Jamaican food is so nice.
• 1:15:57
  But I never tried curry goat.
• 1:15:59
  Really?
• 1:16:00
  Why?
• 1:16:01
  I never tried ox tail.
• 1:16:03
  What?
• 1:16:04
  That was going to be too much.
• 1:16:06
  Why didn't I try curry goat or ox tail?
• 1:16:08
  Because I don't need to red meat.
• 1:16:09
  Okay, that's fine.
• 1:16:10
  Okay, you should have started off with...
• 1:16:12
  I'm a vegetarian.
• 1:16:13
  I'm not really vegetarian.
• 1:16:14
  I eat chicken soup.
• 1:16:15
  Okay.
• 1:16:16
  So I just don't eat red meat.
• 1:16:17
  And therefore I haven't tried.
• 1:16:18
  You don't want to sneak one day
• 1:16:20
  just to get a little tubs.
• 1:16:21
  And then you can go back to...
• 1:16:23
  No, no, no, no.
• 1:16:24
  I don't like this feeling when this...
• 1:16:26
  It's going to sound weird.
• 1:16:28
  I don't like this feeling when this red meat
• 1:16:30
  going into my stomach.
• 1:16:32
  And I can feel how heavy it is.
• 1:16:34
  Oh, really?
• 1:16:35
  I don't like...
• 1:16:36
  I don't like that feeling.
• 1:16:38
  Oh, wow.
• 1:16:39
  It just happened randomly.
• 1:16:40
  Like about 15 years ago,
• 1:16:41
  I was eating my hamburger
• 1:16:43
  in Russia.
• 1:16:44
  And I just felt so weird feeling.
• 1:16:46
  Like, I just...
• 1:16:47
  My body is...
• 1:16:48
  My body is just...
• 1:16:49
  My body is just...
• 1:16:50
  My body is just...
• 1:16:51
  My body is just...
• 1:16:52
  My body is just...
• 1:16:53
  My body is just...
• 1:16:54
  My body is just...
• 1:16:55
  My body is just...
• 1:16:56
  My body is just...
• 1:16:57
  No, thank you.
• 1:16:58
  Tell it.
• 1:16:59
  I have a few quick questions for you.
• 1:17:01
  Do you prefer tasty patty or juicy?
• 1:17:04
  Juicy.
• 1:17:05
  Why?
• 1:17:06
  Not because the juicy owner is my friend.
• 1:17:09
  Hi, Dan.
• 1:17:12
  Oh, God.
• 1:17:15
  You know, to be honest,
• 1:17:19
  because when I was in that uptown life
• 1:17:23
  after a dance hall,
• 1:17:24
  and when we were being to that
• 1:17:26
  boat party set,
• 1:17:27
  I'm here.
• 1:17:28
  We'll always see juicy.
• 1:17:29
  Okay, cool.
• 1:17:30
  You have more juicy patty than this.
• 1:17:32
  Yeah, and if I want to eat patty,
• 1:17:34
  I'm not trying to eat a lot of them.
• 1:17:37
  Okay.
• 1:17:38
  Because for me,
• 1:17:40
  it's like some dish
• 1:17:42
  where I can eat once and...
• 1:17:43
  Okay.
• 1:17:44
  Something.
• 1:17:45
  Yeah.
• 1:17:46
  And just because I really ate most of the time, juicy.
• 1:17:50
  Sure.
• 1:17:51
  If I choose to go,
• 1:17:53
  and I want to eat some patty,
• 1:17:54
  I would go to Juicy.
• 1:17:55
  But right now,
• 1:17:56
  I found some amazing vegetarians places
• 1:17:59
  where they make a keep patty.
• 1:18:01
  Oh, my God.
• 1:18:03
  You have to go.
• 1:18:04
  I'm so sorry.
• 1:18:05
  I don't go to Juicy right now.
• 1:18:06
  I go to that vegetarian places
• 1:18:08
  and buy that a key part.
• 1:18:10
  Where is it?
• 1:18:11
  One place.
• 1:18:12
  It's right near Juicy.
• 1:18:15
  There is lane plaza.
• 1:18:18
  Okay.
• 1:18:19
  Inside lane.
• 1:18:21
  Yeah, inside lane plaza.
• 1:18:23
  Here is the high-low.
• 1:18:24
  Yep.
• 1:18:25
  Here is the Juicy patty.
• 1:18:26
  Here is some Indian store
• 1:18:27
  and the vegetarian place right here.
• 1:18:29
  And they do good.
• 1:18:30
  Oh, my God.
• 1:18:31
  There are a keep patty.
• 1:18:32
  It's something.
• 1:18:33
  And one more place.
• 1:18:34
  I don't remember.
• 1:18:36
  We're exactly on Old Hope Road.
• 1:18:38
  Okay.
• 1:18:39
  Like, you can just Google
• 1:18:40
  with your turn restaurant.
• 1:18:41
  Okay.
• 1:18:42
  And most of the time, they have patty.
• 1:18:43
  Okay.
• 1:18:44
  It's a keep patty.
• 1:18:45
  It's the one.
• 1:18:46
  Yeah.
• 1:18:47
  Do you prefer rum or red stripe?
• 1:18:50
  No.
• 1:18:51
  When I used to drink.
• 1:18:52
  Or you don't drink.
• 1:18:53
  I don't drink red.
• 1:18:54
  Okay.
• 1:18:55
  Because all I was part to part to part
• 1:18:57
  and then you told me so you don't drink.
• 1:18:58
  I was drinking like crazy.
• 1:19:00
  I was like, when I met my man,
• 1:19:03
  he's not drinking.
• 1:19:04
  Okay.
• 1:19:05
  He just don't like the drink.
• 1:19:06
  Okay.
• 1:19:07
  And when I met him,
• 1:19:08
  it was like a blessing for me.
• 1:19:10
  You're living on God arrest.
• 1:19:12
  Because he's like,
• 1:19:13
  he's not that type of person
• 1:19:15
  who has any alcohol at home.
• 1:19:17
  Okay.
• 1:19:18
  And I was like,
• 1:19:19
  don't really drink.
• 1:19:20
  Sometimes right now, sometimes I can drink wine.
• 1:19:22
  Okay.
• 1:19:23
  When I was part to person,
• 1:19:25
  when I was in dance hall,
• 1:19:26
  I drink Magnum.
• 1:19:27
  Okay.
• 1:19:28
  The sweet beer, the sorrel.
• 1:19:30
  Okay.
• 1:19:31
  Yes.
• 1:19:32
  I love this one.
• 1:19:33
  And I drink quite rum or red rum.
• 1:19:36
  Or you call it brown or red?
• 1:19:37
  Brown.
• 1:19:38
  I call it red beer.
• 1:19:40
  And I can't really choose between beer.
• 1:19:45
  If I talk about sorrel beer.
• 1:19:47
  Okay.
• 1:19:48
  Specifically that one would win.
• 1:19:49
  Yeah.
• 1:19:50
  Yeah.
• 1:19:51
  Or rum, I would go for sorrel.
• 1:19:53
  Oh.
• 1:19:54
  Casava or young?
• 1:19:56
  Casava.
• 1:19:57
  Oh, really?
• 1:19:59
  Yeah.
• 1:20:00
  Casava.
• 1:20:01
  Mango or guinea pig?
• 1:20:04
  Mango, of course.
• 1:20:05
  Do you have a preference to juliori syndrome?
• 1:20:08
  The one without hair.
• 1:20:10
  Julie.
• 1:20:11
  Yes.
• 1:20:12
  We can be friends.
• 1:20:13
  Like, I can't take this.
• 1:20:15
  So juliori can love eating it.
• 1:20:17
  Yeah, my dad loves it.
• 1:20:18
  But I can't eat it because it's stuck in my teeth
• 1:20:20
  and after that, I'm sitting and I don't like it.
• 1:20:23
  If your life was a postcard,
• 1:20:25
  what would the picture look like?
• 1:20:27
  Oh.
• 1:20:28
  Like.
• 1:20:29
  You know?
• 1:20:32
  If you can imagine,
• 1:20:33
  if I ask Chadri Petito to make this picture,
• 1:20:35
  the half of the picture is like amazing building,
• 1:20:40
  like amazing villa with pool and porch right here.
• 1:20:43
  And here is some surviving life.
• 1:20:45
  Right.
• 1:20:46
  And I'm somewhere on the middle,
• 1:20:48
  like half of my closes and face looks so beautiful
• 1:20:51
  and half of my face and clothes are just tear off
• 1:20:53
  because of the life challenges I had.
• 1:20:55
  This is my picture.
• 1:20:57
  That would be it.
• 1:20:59
  And for anyone who is thinking about moving to Jamaica,
• 1:21:02
  what would you say to them?
• 1:21:04
  If you feel,
• 1:21:06
  if you're in our voice,
• 1:21:08
  saying you do that,
• 1:21:10
  do that.
• 1:21:12
  It might be probably it's going to be so hard
• 1:21:17
  because to move to any country is so hard.
• 1:21:21
  But if you feel this choice,
• 1:21:24
  going to make your life better and happier,
• 1:21:28
  do that because we have one life.
• 1:21:31
  This is my main goal in this life.
• 1:21:33
  We have one life.
• 1:21:35
  And we all gonna pass one day.
• 1:21:41
  And the main goal is just to feel happy.
• 1:21:45
  This is, I think this is why I'm in Jamaica.
• 1:21:48
  Because even if I don't feel that happy,
• 1:21:52
  how I was during dance hall,
• 1:21:55
  but I still feel more happy
• 1:21:58
  when if I wasn't in Russia, right?
• 1:22:00
  Okay.
• 1:22:01
  But just if you feel this is going to make you more happy,
• 1:22:06
  do it.
• 1:22:07
  Yeah.
• 1:22:08
  Thank you.
• 1:22:11
  Thank you.