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Two White Girls Moved to Jamaica at 8 & 9: Identity, Belonging & What 'Jamaican' Really Means · Babes, how did you get here

• 0:00
  Jamaican or do you feel Canadian?
• 0:01
  I wonder am I allowed to call myself Jamaican?
• 0:04
  Because when I, let's say, find blood,
• 0:06
  I introduce myself as being from Jamaica.
• 0:08
  Okay, I consider myself from Jamaican.
• 0:10
  What you say allowed is that you feel that Jamaicans
• 0:13
  wouldn't allow you to claim Jamaican
• 0:16
  or just within yourself.
• 0:17
  Both and whether foreigners allow me
• 0:19
  to call myself chicken.
• 0:21
  I think it's a very nuanced,
• 0:23
  in terms of where does nationality need ethnicity,
• 0:26
  needs where you've grown up and where you consider yourself
• 0:28
  as a resident, it's a very interquined
• 0:30
  and especially in identity politics today,
• 0:33
  can be leveraged for appropriation
• 0:35
  and that's not what I try to do with it.
• 0:37
  Very, very aware of that.
• 0:38
  Some of my least favorite white people
• 0:41
  are the white people that come here
• 0:43
  and all of a sudden make to make
• 0:44
  a their entire personality.
• 0:46
  And they're so cool and they're fake spirituality.
• 0:49
  And it's like, ah, yeah, there's a chronics
• 0:51
  and now they're all one smist.
• 0:53
  And though it, it, it caused me mad.
• 0:55
  And I realized that simultaneously
• 0:57
  while I hate this, I am also,
• 1:00
  we were towards that decided to move here
• 1:01
  and we're in a way doing that.
• 1:03
  Um, and I never want to be seen
• 1:05
  as stealing culture.
• 1:06
  In the culture, I hire, we respect
• 1:08
  when I hire the admirers.
• 1:14
  It's funny because I was in Turkey recently
• 1:15
  and the taxi driver told me and my dad
• 1:17
  that we were too light skinned to make Jamaican
• 1:19
  and I was deeply confused, right?
• 1:21
  Especially that growing up in optone Jamaican
• 1:23
  where you see all the shades of everybody
• 1:25
  and there is this perception abroad.
• 1:27
  I think also as Jamaicans,
• 1:29
  we have an arrogance that everybody knows us
• 1:31
  and knows like our culture
• 1:32
  and I've realized that actually,
• 1:34
  they know that we run and they know music
• 1:36
  but they don't know like day to day.
• 1:38
  I make because being taken
• 1:39
  is such a highly publicized,
• 1:40
  soundly and clear.
• 1:42
  Welcome to our live elsewhere,
• 1:44
  a podcast exploring what it really means
• 1:46
  to start over in a new country.
• 1:48
  I am April Jackson and in each episode,
• 1:50
  I speak with someone who has packed up their things
• 1:52
  for a live somewhere else.
• 1:54
  Today I'm speaking with two teenagers,
• 1:56
  Alexandra and Scarlett,
• 1:57
  who moved to Jamaica from Canada 10 years ago
• 2:00
  at the age of eight and nine without a choice.
• 2:03
  We'll be talking about what it's like
• 2:05
  growing up between cultures,
• 2:06
  how they've adapted
• 2:07
  and how living abroad as kids
• 2:08
  has shaped who they are now.
• 2:10
  This is a story about resilience
• 2:12
  and finding yourself in a world
• 2:14
  where you're not quite sure where you belong.
• 2:18
  Ali, how are you?
• 2:19
  I am 19.
• 2:21
  In school at Howdy?
• 2:22
  Seven people.
• 2:22
  When did you guys move to Jamaica?
• 2:24
  I moved to Jamaica December 8th of 2015,
• 2:27
  so coming up to 10 years ago now.
• 2:30
  And then when you heard you were moving to Jamaica,
• 2:33
  can you tell me how you felt about it?
• 2:36
  I would say
• 2:39
  very unknown, I'm certain it's like,
• 2:42
  oh, we're moving.
• 2:43
  And I'm like, okay, we're moving.
• 2:44
  I've been here before twice,
• 2:46
  but it just felt like we were missing context.
• 2:50
  I wasn't excited and I wasn't disappointed.
• 2:52
  I was very neutral about it.
• 2:54
  Okay.
• 2:55
  Is that what you thought?
• 2:56
  Yep.
• 2:56
  And your self is?
• 2:59
  Well, I was a...
• 3:00
  I just...
• 3:01
  Well, I would like go with the flow.
• 3:03
  Cool.
• 3:03
  And when you'd come on holiday before,
• 3:05
  you said two times?
• 3:06
  Yeah, we said one.
• 3:07
  Did you like it?
• 3:08
  What did you have an impression on?
• 3:09
  Um, I think...
• 3:11
  I wish I could see...
• 3:12
  I can't speak for I can speak to myself.
• 3:13
  I like this,
• 3:14
  but I don't think I've found anything more accurate.
• 3:18
  I don't know.
• 3:18
  Cool.
• 3:19
  I was like,
• 3:19
  Feaches.
• 3:21
  Cool.
• 3:21
  Nice weather.
• 3:23
  Cool.
• 3:24
  What about this?
• 3:25
  Did you stay in a hotel when you came?
• 3:26
  Yeah, we were in an all-inclusive.
• 3:28
  The first time we stayed...
• 3:29
  we can all-inclusive the second time.
• 3:31
  We were at all-inclusive a couple days,
• 3:33
  and I think we came to Kingston for a couple days.
• 3:35
  Okay.
• 3:36
  And then when you heard your parents just sat you down and said,
• 3:41
  I think I walked into the dining
• 3:43
  for breakfast,
• 3:44
  and my mom said you're moving to Jamaica,
• 3:46
  and I said, okay.
• 3:47
  Okay.
• 3:48
  Like, I don't actually remember being told when I went to Jamaica.
• 3:51
  Um, I...
• 3:54
  I don't remember being told when I moved to Jamaica, honestly.
• 3:56
  It's a gap in my memory for some reason.
• 3:58
  Oh, no, is that because it was traumatizing?
• 4:00
  I...
• 4:01
  I don't think so.
• 4:03
  I'd rather than...
• 4:04
  Yes.
• 4:04
  Okay.
• 4:05
  I moved here from...
• 4:06
  from England when I was around eight.
• 4:08
  And so, I wonder...
• 4:10
  Did you guys feel that you were losing your friends?
• 4:12
  Did you...
• 4:12
  No?
• 4:14
  Um, there is one friend that I missed for a little bit.
• 4:16
  Um, I...
• 4:17
  What I missed more than friends were my access to some extra collectors.
• 4:21
  Okay.
• 4:22
  I played a lot of soccer,
• 4:23
  slash football,
• 4:24
  and they knew where you were going.
• 4:26
  Sure.
• 4:27
  I did a lot of musical theater
• 4:29
  because I was a lot of piano teacher.
• 4:30
  So those were experiences that I missed very much.
• 4:33
  Cool.
• 4:33
  And for you, Scarna,
• 4:34
  did you miss anything?
• 4:37
  Think I missed dumpling.
• 4:41
  You missed what?
• 4:41
  The dumplings?
• 4:42
  We used to go to like,
• 4:43
  this Chinese restaurant and have like dumplings.
• 4:47
  You couldn't find any dumplings here?
• 4:49
  Jamaica.
• 4:50
  I think when we moved here,
• 4:51
  it was so much more limited,
• 4:53
  revised than like, now.
• 4:55
  Sure.
• 4:56
  But even then, it was like a thing.
• 4:57
  I feel like Jade Garden had dumpling ten years ago.
• 5:00
  Maybe just on Sunday, they did dim sum.
• 5:01
  Maybe.
• 5:02
  But then also in Montreal,
• 5:04
  their restaurants are exclusively dumplings.
• 5:06
  Just, okay.
• 5:06
  And it's like the entire menu,
• 5:08
  you have like 45 options of different kinds of dumplings.
• 5:10
  Okay.
• 5:11
  We don't have...
• 5:12
  We couldn't compete with that.
• 5:13
  No.
• 5:15
  Fair.
• 5:15
  Is there anything else that we're talking about food?
• 5:17
  Is there anything else food-wise that you really miss?
• 5:19
  Yes.
• 5:20
  Oh, really?
• 5:20
  Maple syrup.
• 5:21
  You cannot get good maple syrup here.
• 5:23
  You can't get Canadian maple syrup?
• 5:24
  You can, I think, at like,
• 5:26
  pretty smart, I think it might be,
• 5:27
  but it's watered down and it's still not as good.
• 5:29
  And I think it's not like from the can.
• 5:30
  And I didn't realize that...
• 5:31
  Your maple syrup is in the can.
• 5:32
  Not so awesome.
• 5:33
  Yeah, it's a can coming from Quebec.
• 5:35
  And I don't really like how bad
• 5:37
  the maple syrup was incorporated here was
• 5:39
  until I had some in a can,
• 5:41
  side by side,
• 5:41
  because it's like...
• 5:42
  No, that is appalling to call maple syrup.
• 5:45
  That is syrup.
• 5:45
  That is not maple syrup.
• 5:47
  And put in...
• 5:48
  Yes.
• 5:48
  What's put in?
• 5:49
  It's like fries.
• 5:50
  It's like gravy and cheese.
• 5:52
  Okay.
• 5:53
  It's really good.
• 5:53
  It's delicious.
• 5:54
  It's greasy and it's a young,
• 5:56
  it's made of.
• 5:57
  So those two things,
• 5:58
  do you, when you go home,
• 5:59
  do you bring maple syrup back?
• 6:02
  Yeah.
• 6:04
  When we gone back,
• 6:05
  we went back to Canada once in 2019.
• 6:07
  I went there for a horseback riding.
• 6:09
  Yeah.
• 6:10
  And then I visited there last month
• 6:12
  through New England University.
• 6:13
  Okay.
• 6:14
  So you've only visited twice?
• 6:16
  Yeah. And even then,
• 6:17
  where I went to,
• 6:18
  where I'm going to receive Canada
• 6:20
  is not like the world and back to Montreal once.
• 6:22
  Really?
• 6:23
  Why?
• 6:23
  I went back for like two months.
• 6:25
  Like I stayed there with the family for like two months.
• 6:28
  Okay.
• 6:29
  And why did you not go back more often?
• 6:31
  Because we're a big family
• 6:32
  and the kids do be expensive.
• 6:34
  Cool.
• 6:35
  And when you stayed for two months?
• 6:37
  I was staying with the family.
• 6:38
  I was...
• 6:39
  She was a horseback rider trainer
• 6:41
  so I was like in training.
• 6:43
  And then did you,
• 6:44
  how was it feeling coming back to Jamaica after you did it?
• 6:46
  I did not want to come back.
• 6:47
  Oh, really?
• 6:48
  Yes.
• 6:48
  How, when was this?
• 6:49
  Sorry, the two months.
• 6:51
  I was 14, 15.
• 6:52
  Okay.
• 6:53
  2022?
• 6:54
  I think I turned 50 last year.
• 6:56
  2020.
• 6:57
  Tell me why you didn't want to come back.
• 6:59
  Um,
• 7:00
  I like the horses there.
• 7:02
  Oh, just the horses?
• 7:04
  You can't have some horses here?
• 7:05
  I have a horse here.
• 7:06
  Okay.
• 7:07
  I got in October.
• 7:08
  But before,
• 7:09
  I didn't have a horse.
• 7:11
  Now that you have a horse,
• 7:12
  is it better?
• 7:13
  Or do you still...
• 7:14
  It's different because I'm training my horse.
• 7:17
  And she's three.
• 7:18
  And she's sort of wild and no one can touch her.
• 7:21
  Um, but like,
• 7:22
  compared to the horses in Canada,
• 7:24
  like, do like everything.
• 7:25
  It's like training for yourself
• 7:27
  or you training your horse.
• 7:28
  Okay.
• 7:29
  There's pros and cons to those.
• 7:30
  Sure.
• 7:31
  And so if it was your choice now,
• 7:33
  would you still be in Canada?
• 7:35
  Well, do I have a horse here?
• 7:37
  Yeah, but you said that you have more horses.
• 7:40
  Well, I don't own them.
• 7:42
  But I wouldn't leave
• 7:44
  because I have to train my horse now.
• 7:46
  Okay, so now that you have a horse,
• 7:47
  you wouldn't leave.
• 7:48
  Yes.
• 7:49
  But without the horse,
• 7:50
  you would prefer to be to be in Canada.
• 7:52
  Okay, because of horse riding.
• 7:53
  Yes.
• 7:54
  Is there anything else?
• 7:55
  Do you guys go to mainstream school there?
• 7:57
  We had it right now.
• 7:58
  So we got to Monteferec,
• 8:00
  which is like a really, really great prep school here.
• 8:03
  Okay.
• 8:03
  Um, we have great four or five or six
• 8:06
  that I want to camp in for a couple of years.
• 8:08
  I left during COVID,
• 8:09
  just because there's a lot of different reasons
• 8:13
  to why I left it.
• 8:14
  I can be so simmered down to
• 8:17
  camping to something ready to handle online school.
• 8:19
  And you're in my at-home responsibilities.
• 8:22
  I was not able to keep up.
• 8:23
  And I felt like I was drowning.
• 8:25
  So I'm now finishing up
• 8:27
  school.
• 8:28
  But I'm still a friend who can't.
• 8:30
  All my friends from camping are my friends.
• 8:31
  Okay.
• 8:32
  And that is how I know people.
• 8:33
  And I still really can't be running.
• 8:35
  When you came, do you remember starting
• 8:37
  on Mona?
• 8:38
  Did you?
• 8:38
  Yes.
• 8:39
  Okay.
• 8:39
  Tell me about it.
• 8:40
  Okay.
• 8:40
  So we had moved here in December.
• 8:43
  December 9th.
• 8:45
  We went to Monteferec to sit in and touch your feet.
• 8:49
  If we were going to, you know,
• 8:52
  be on school.
• 8:53
  So the first, it was,
• 8:56
  this was going to sound a little
• 8:58
  bad, but just follow me.
• 8:59
  Sure.
• 9:00
  It's like the code scarlet.
• 9:01
  It's like we were just in beaver.
• 9:03
  What?
• 9:04
  Because we were the first white people.
• 9:06
  A lot of these kids had seen.
• 9:08
  So I've been told at least.
• 9:09
  And the flocking in.
• 9:10
  Everyone kept trying to touch us.
• 9:12
  Everyone kept trying to touch our hair.
• 9:13
  We were not able to walk to the bathroom.
• 9:15
  This is so funny.
• 9:16
  You're telling this to a black person
• 9:17
  where this is like what happens all the time.
• 9:19
  Exactly.
• 9:20
  Exactly.
• 9:20
  It's like, oh my god, your hair.
• 9:22
  Can I touch you?
• 9:22
  It's not pretty.
• 9:23
  It's the exact same thing.
• 9:24
  I saw it.
• 9:25
  Even though there's
• 9:26
  because of the whitewashing.
• 9:27
  Anyway, it's just a full of it.
• 9:29
  But so it was very like, oh my god.
• 9:31
  And then the facilities in schools
• 9:33
  themselves are different because
• 9:34
  in Canada schools are like closed buildings.
• 9:36
  OK.
• 9:37
  As opposed to here, schools are like open.
• 9:39
  And you have like shutters and like grills kind of.
• 9:42
  Sure.
• 9:42
  So it's the school itself is just set up differently.
• 9:45
  But I say we're all as excited.
• 9:47
  Yeah.
• 9:48
  Yeah.
• 9:48
  Wasn't it easy to make friends?
• 9:52
  It was.
• 9:53
  It wasn't more difficult for me to make friends here
• 9:55
  than it was in Canada.
• 9:56
  I've never made friends very easily at this site.
• 9:59
  So I'd say it was relatively the same.
• 10:00
  Cool.
• 10:01
  And then in terms of the education,
• 10:03
  I appreciate you are young.
• 10:04
  But did you feel that it was more work here?
• 10:06
  Did you feel it was less work?
• 10:09
  So was it more work?
• 10:11
  Yes.
• 10:11
  Did I mind it at all?
• 10:12
  No.
• 10:13
  I joined quiz when I moved here in grade four.
• 10:15
  Junior school challenge quiz.
• 10:17
  OK.
• 10:17
  So it's like junior jeopardy.
• 10:19
  They have ones at elementary schools
• 10:20
  and they have one for high school.
• 10:21
  For me, it was like a master class in learning
• 10:23
  to make us so quickly because all of a sudden,
• 10:25
  I need to learn all of our social studies.
• 10:27
  Where is this river located?
• 10:29
  Who's our minister of this?
• 10:30
  Who's our shadow minister of that?
• 10:32
  Current affairs, our politics, our history, all of that.
• 10:35
  And then you have to memorize your path to a proverb.
• 10:37
  Sue, like chicken, married, half of the year.
• 10:39
  You have to know how to complete all of those.
• 10:41
  So it was in every single day, you go to quiz training.
• 10:44
  Oh, really?
• 10:45
  So?
• 10:45
  Yes.
• 10:46
  I get there at like 6.45 in the morning.
• 10:50
  And then I'd go there at lunch.
• 10:51
  And then I'd go there after school as well.
• 10:53
  Because Mona does really well in quiz.
• 10:55
  OK.
• 10:56
  You have to keep that legacy.
• 10:58
  Yeah.
• 10:59
  It really is like little kid jeopardy.
• 11:00
  Right.
• 11:01
  So I learned a lot there.
• 11:04
  And that was really easy.
• 11:05
  Because that followed my grade 4, grade 5, grade 6,
• 11:07
  G set, grade 6.
• 11:08
  OK.
• 11:09
  By the time I'm in grade 6, getting ready to sit G set.
• 11:12
  You know everything.
• 11:13
  I've put in the hours already.
• 11:16
  I do well in standardized testing.
• 11:19
  So for me, it wasn't an issue whatsoever.
• 11:21
  I imagine a child who struggles with standardized testing.
• 11:24
  Sure.
• 11:24
  There'll be a very big learning curve.
• 11:27
  But standardized testing in the year like this,
• 11:30
  I am the poster child of standardized testing.
• 11:32
  And the mother.
• 11:33
  And did you stay in the same class?
• 11:35
  Because when I went to school, when you had Americans come,
• 11:38
  they automatically went a year behind.
• 11:40
  No, I went into the same grade that I was in.
• 11:42
  What's out any issues?
• 11:44
  What's the one there really?
• 11:45
  Very cool.
• 11:46
  Did you also have a similar positive experience
• 11:48
  when you joined Mona?
• 11:50
  It was interesting.
• 11:51
  I was a lot younger than her.
• 11:53
  So it was like, I didn't really understand.
• 11:56
  Like, why we were being like, flocked in a way?
• 11:58
  OK.
• 11:59
  I just thought I was famous and I made it in life.
• 12:03
  And then people kept telling me to stop wearing lipstick
• 12:06
  because my lips were naturally pink.
• 12:08
  And I couldn't understand why they were telling me that
• 12:11
  because the dots wouldn't connect.
• 12:13
  I'm not wearing anything and they kept telling me I was.
• 12:17
  And then we went to French school when we lived in Montreal.
• 12:20
  So going back to English classes and stuff,
• 12:23
  I think was a little bit difficult.
• 12:25
  I remember having a hard time, especially
• 12:28
  because they swap paths with two.
• 12:30
  So it's like, OK, number one, English.
• 12:33
  And then this isn't English?
• 12:34
  Sure.
• 12:35
  But now that's cool.
• 12:36
  And do you think that having all of that attention
• 12:39
  from a really young age, do you think
• 12:40
  that that has changed the way you were brought up
• 12:43
  in terms of how you are now going into adulthood?
• 12:45
  I don't think so.
• 12:47
  It has made me aware of being perceived.
• 12:49
  Like, if I walk down a road, I am hyper aware of myself.
• 12:52
  OK.
• 12:53
  But I think it's a duality of being white and being a woman.
• 12:58
  Like, I was working at a marketing firm.
• 13:01
  And I just had to walk up the road to the Canadian High
• 13:03
  Commission, which may be a two-minute walk.
• 13:05
  I was just going to pick up my passport.
• 13:07
  And on the side of the road, there
• 13:09
  are these windshield like this, your bibs,
• 13:14
  broning, whatever, that's fine.
• 13:16
  And then this is going to be quite crude.
• 13:19
  Stinky pussy!
• 13:20
  Stinky pussy, yeah, yeah!
• 13:23
  And I'm like, oh, god.
• 13:24
  And I just keep walking, didn't I?
• 13:26
  And then they start running after me.
• 13:28
  And I'm like, shit, I swear.
• 13:30
  And then it's the only time I've been chased down at that.
• 13:32
  So I would say it makes you hyper aware.
• 13:35
  Right.
• 13:36
  In terms of the tension at actual school,
• 13:38
  I don't think it made a difference whatsoever,
• 13:40
  because eventually, by the time you start
• 13:42
  to term in January and you're showing up to school every day.
• 13:45
  Everyone's kind of used to it now.
• 13:46
  You're now going to school that every day.
• 13:48
  It makes no difference.
• 13:49
  It's just that one day of testing, because we came in at the end
• 13:51
  of the term.
• 13:51
  It was a four-and-easy.
• 13:54
  And do you feel Jamaica or do you feel Canadian?
• 13:58
  I, it's something I grapple with, honestly,
• 14:00
  because I don't consider Canada home.
• 14:02
  I consider Jamaica home.
• 14:03
  OK.
• 14:04
  But then I wonder am I allowed to call myself Jamaican?
• 14:08
  Because when I, let's say, if I'm abroad,
• 14:10
  I introduce myself as being from Jamaica.
• 14:12
  OK.
• 14:13
  I consider myself from Jamaica.
• 14:14
  It is culturally, I say, that Jamaica's
• 14:17
  getting me the gift of culture, and food-wise language music.
• 14:20
  I do not have any of that in Canada.
• 14:21
  I, like, would not have had that in Canada.
• 14:24
  But am I really Jamaican?
• 14:26
  I don't carry Jamaican passport.
• 14:28
  I'm not a servant yet, I'm a resident,
• 14:30
  but I'll probably eventually become a citizen.
• 14:33
  I'm not able to vote, which drives me mad,
• 14:35
  because that's a story for another day.
• 14:39
  I, what was your question again?
• 14:42
  Do you feel Jamaican or Canadian?
• 14:43
  I feel Jamaican.
• 14:44
  I consider myself maybe Jamaican-ish.
• 14:47
  OK.
• 14:47
  I don't know if I'm allowed to call myself Jamaican.
• 14:49
  And what you say allowed is that you feel
• 14:51
  that Jamaicans wouldn't allow you to claim Jamaican
• 14:54
  or just within yourself.
• 14:56
  Both, and what they're foreigners,
• 14:57
  well, I need to call myself Jamaican.
• 14:59
  I think it's a very nuanced, in terms of where does nationality
• 15:03
  meet, ethnicity meet, where you have grown up,
• 15:06
  and where you consider yourself a resident.
• 15:07
  It's a very intertwined and especially
• 15:09
  an identity politics today can be leveraged for appropriation.
• 15:14
  And that's not what I try to do.
• 15:15
  I'm very, very aware of that.
• 15:17
  Some of my least favorite white people
• 15:20
  are the white people that come here
• 15:22
  and all of a sudden make to make a their entire personality.
• 15:25
  And they're so cool and they're fake spirituality.
• 15:27
  And it's like, oh, yeah, as a chronic and not all one split.
• 15:32
  And it drives me mad.
• 15:34
  And I realize that simultaneously, while I hate this,
• 15:37
  I am also, we were towards that decided to move here.
• 15:40
  And we're in a way doing the exact same thing.
• 15:42
  You think so?
• 15:44
  I don't necessarily think so, but it can be perceived as that.
• 15:49
  And I never want to be seen as skewing culture.
• 15:52
  It's a culture I highly respect, and I highly admire.
• 15:55
  Sure.
• 15:56
  It's funny, because I was in Turkey recently.
• 15:58
  And the taxi driver told me and my dad
• 16:00
  that we were two light skinned to be Jamaican.
• 16:02
  And I was deeply confused, right?
• 16:04
  Especially growing up in uptown Jamaica,
• 16:05
  where you see all the shades of everybody.
• 16:08
  And there is this perception abroad.
• 16:10
  I think also, as Jamaicans, we have an arrogance
• 16:12
  that everybody knows us and knows our culture.
• 16:15
  And I've realized that actually they know that we run
• 16:18
  and they know music, but they don't know day-to-day living.
• 16:20
  I think because being Jamaican is such a highly publicized thing,
• 16:23
  because we do in the areas that we excel at.
• 16:26
  It's so, oh my god, Jamaica.
• 16:27
  Oh my god, cool runnings.
• 16:28
  Oh my god, Jamaica, me crazy.
• 16:30
  So we assume that everyone knows, but it's just the most.
• 16:33
  It's so diverse.
• 16:34
  It's so diverse.
• 16:35
  Do you think if you were black, you would claim Jamaica easily?
• 16:39
  More easily.
• 16:40
  Maybe, maybe not.
• 16:41
  When I was in about the sixth grade,
• 16:43
  I desperately wished to be black.
• 16:46
  At the bottom of my heart, I felt every day I would wake up
• 16:48
  and I'd be like, I hate getting white.
• 16:50
  I despise but I am white.
• 16:52
  I don't like it that every time I go into the grocery store,
• 16:55
  people look at me.
• 16:56
  I don't like it that people try to speak to me
• 16:58
  with a fake accent that drives me mad.
• 17:00
  I don't like it that I can't wear braids,
• 17:02
  because all my friends are over the sun
• 17:03
  and get the putting braids, but I can't see them.
• 17:06
  So there, I had to do, but eventually I kind of figured
• 17:10
  into myself, I think it was a combination of Jamaica
• 17:12
  and then just being a young girl coming into herself
• 17:15
  and figuring out where she stands in the world.
• 17:18
  Um, maybe I'm not sure.
• 17:20
  I think, I'm not sure.
• 17:23
  Cool, maybe, I'm not sure.
• 17:26
  And then I guess my question is,
• 17:28
  what do we feel that being Jamaican is?
• 17:32
  What do I think being Jamaican is?
• 17:35
  Because when you come here at eight and nine,
• 17:36
  in my mind, right, like that's super young,
• 17:38
  those are your formative years, you spent those years here.
• 17:41
  And like you say, culturally, you have lived amongst Jamaicans,
• 17:45
  you have lived through the lifestyle.
• 17:47
  And so I'm like, as we're having this conversation,
• 17:49
  what do we think, what do we think it means?
• 17:51
  Really think it means we're doing?
• 17:55
  Well, I represent Jamaica, right,
• 17:57
  when I go abroad to compete.
• 17:58
  Oh, really?
• 17:59
  Yeah. Okay.
• 18:00
  So I wear the Jamaican flag.
• 18:02
  I wear the tracksuit.
• 18:03
  And this is horse riding.
• 18:05
  Mm-hmm. Cool.
• 18:06
  So technically, when we do go abroad,
• 18:09
  I'm representing this country.
• 18:10
  I don't actually belong to.
• 18:12
  Okay. Right?
• 18:13
  So it's, it's all because it's like,
• 18:16
  are you Jamaican? Sure.
• 18:17
  Or are you just like, subbing in?
• 18:19
  And did you, could you have represented kind of that?
• 18:24
  It's more competitive to represent that country.
• 18:27
  Okay. Because it's so much bigger.
• 18:28
  Sure.
• 18:29
  And Jamaica, it's so much smaller, so it's less competitive.
• 18:32
  Is that why you chose to represent Jamaica?
• 18:34
  Well, Canada has never come up to me
• 18:36
  and been like, let's, let's go.
• 18:39
  If they did?
• 18:41
  You want to give me money, I'll do it.
• 18:43
  LAUGHTER
• 18:47
  I'll do it.
• 18:48
  I imagine the training facilities you've had at you would have.
• 18:51
  And I would have better facilities.
• 18:54
  Yeah.
• 18:55
  But then you can still like, you're on a night wisdom
• 18:57
  who still trains in the UK, but competes under the Jamaican flag.
• 19:01
  But then are you really competing for Jamaica?
• 19:03
  This is a whole question. Okay.
• 19:05
  So it's, there's just too many perspectives.
• 19:07
  Sure.
• 19:09
  Have you always done horseback riding?
• 19:12
  No, I started out as a gymnast
• 19:15
  and then I did go karting for Jamaica.
• 19:17
  So I raced in Canada and US for the Jamaican flag
• 19:22
  and then I switched to horseback riding.
• 19:24
  And now it's...
• 19:25
  Why? Why did you switch?
• 19:27
  During COVID, it was, do you want another day of horseback riding
• 19:30
  or do you want to go up a class and go karting?
• 19:33
  And I went another day in horseback riding.
• 19:36
  And then I guess we veered more that way
• 19:38
  because I was at the age where the boys are like becoming teenagers
• 19:43
  and I'm like, these are the only girl on the track.
• 19:45
  So it's like, you're racing against these aggressive boys
• 19:48
  and it's like, they're hormonal and it's not your track.
• 19:52
  And I wasn't aggressive enough to like, place
• 19:54
  and I think I knew I wasn't going to win.
• 19:56
  Really? I feel like you have such aggressive energy.
• 20:00
  I think within reason. Okay. Cool.
• 20:03
  I think you need to know how and when to use it.
• 20:06
  It's how it's aggressive.
• 20:07
  Sure.
• 20:08
  The other one about boys are just...
• 20:10
  I think they were just...
• 20:11
  It's just being a team of four.
• 20:12
  Right.
• 20:15
  Do you have any resentment based on the facilities
• 20:18
  that available here?
• 20:19
  Yeah.
• 20:20
  Okay, cool. I love my facilities.
• 20:22
  Okay, cool.
• 20:23
  And then I know that you're really into theta and the horse.
• 20:25
  Yes.
• 20:26
  And I'm always like, first of all,
• 20:28
  if I ever have a child and she wants to go down the art route,
• 20:32
  I'd be worried for her just in general.
• 20:34
  I think it's just a harder space to navigate
• 20:35
  rather than a traditional way.
• 20:37
  It is.
• 20:38
  And I am so grateful I have my parents support.
• 20:41
  I think part of it is because I have managed to live in Jamaica.
• 20:45
  I've managed to start working decently steadily.
• 20:48
  I've been teaching piano privately for the last almost two years.
• 20:52
  That is good.
• 20:53
  I've picked up stage managing jobs.
• 20:55
  I've picked up PA work.
• 20:57
  So I'm in the summer.
• 20:59
  I'm putting on a children's performing arts camp
• 21:00
  that I fix.
• 21:02
  That is about.
• 21:03
  It's going to be my production debut.
• 21:06
  So I think, and then I also last summer,
• 21:08
  I worked in New York at a theater camp there
• 21:12
  and I done some music directing.
• 21:14
  So I think part of the,
• 21:16
  is I'm already managing to do this
• 21:18
  and I'm already picking up work
• 21:20
  and I already have people who I am now meeting.
• 21:22
  And they're like, oh, you know,
• 21:23
  someone, my friend was looking for someone to do this
• 21:26
  and I thought, hey, maybe you could do that.
• 21:27
  So I'm sending them your contact and I'm like, thank you.
• 21:30
  Do you think that being able to pick up work
• 21:33
  and have a connection is easier here
• 21:35
  than it would have been if you had, you know,
• 21:37
  mainstream like city, Canadian life to compete with?
• 21:40
  In a way, I kind of see like it's easier for me
• 21:43
  and make up because in Canada, right?
• 21:47
  I started teaching piano privately at 17 years old.
• 21:49
  Okay.
• 21:50
  There are too many qualified, way more qualified people
• 21:53
  than, you know, who have their masters
• 21:55
  in piano performance.
• 21:56
  So how on earth am I supposed to compete with that?
• 21:59
  Sure.
• 22:00
  Obviously, I would charge less
• 22:01
  because I don't have a doctor.
• 22:03
  Sure.
• 22:04
  So, you know, someone who's looking for a cheaper alternative
• 22:07
  but in Jamaica, we lack access to quality music educators.
• 22:11
  So for me, I've managed to build, you know,
• 22:14
  a lovely studio of children that I absolutely adore.
• 22:17
  It's the reason, like when I wake up,
• 22:19
  I'm like, oh, we've got to teach you a class today.
• 22:21
  So I'm doing after the second class.
• 22:24
  I'm putting on a recital for them this weekend.
• 22:25
  So that is far easier.
• 22:28
  There's less formality.
• 22:30
  Like you don't have to get a union card.
• 22:32
  There's no non-union status and union status.
• 22:35
  So for me, working in theater,
• 22:38
  I don't have to deal with the complications of that
• 22:41
  and the technicalities.
• 22:42
  Like the only contracts I've signed
• 22:44
  were when I did some PA work on a British TV show
• 22:49
  that was coming to film here
• 22:51
  and I had to sign with the production company
• 22:52
  because that was foreign people.
• 22:54
  Sure.
• 22:55
  Otherwise, I've never signed a contract.
• 22:57
  So it's just easy to navigate the space.
• 22:59
  Kind of.
• 23:00
  And then you cut a smaller circle.
• 23:03
  So once, you know, this person,
• 23:04
  all this person, all this person,
• 23:05
  and then you've traveled the whole circle, wasn't it?
• 23:07
  But on the flip side,
• 23:09
  do you ever feel that your progress
• 23:12
  is more stagnant at times
• 23:14
  because there's a lack of infrastructure regarding the arts?
• 23:17
  Yes, in particular, what I am hoping I will manage to do.
• 23:21
  So by trade, I would consider myself a music director
• 23:24
  and a theater, which is when you have a show.
• 23:26
  So let's say a musical, Annie, right?
• 23:28
  I get a score, which is all the music.
• 23:30
  I have to read the score and I now have to teach the cast
• 23:33
  the score, okay?
• 23:34
  And then I have to prep the band
• 23:36
  and place through the show.
• 23:37
  That's what a music director is.
• 23:39
  That doesn't exist here.
• 23:41
  When we put on musicals, we put on musical tracks,
• 23:44
  which we actually do have the infrastructure,
• 23:47
  like a flip Sherlock, you mean?
• 23:49
  There's a pit space.
• 23:50
  Okay.
• 23:51
  The word theater, which is constantly in the renovation.
• 23:53
  Yes.
• 23:53
  Way back when did have a pit space.
• 23:56
  You know, a little sooner.
• 23:58
  I'm pretty sure they have a pit space as well.
• 23:59
  But we don't utilize it.
• 24:00
  I'm fully cognizant of how expensive a live band is.
• 24:03
  Like I am not musicians cost money
• 24:05
  and we should continue to pay our musicians.
• 24:09
  So in that regard, I'm not able to do any of that.
• 24:12
  And that's what I'm trying to do this summer, actually.
• 24:14
  Like my musical that I'm putting on with my kids,
• 24:17
  I'm playing through the whole show live.
• 24:18
  I am not using track.
• 24:20
  Vini.
• 24:20
  Yes.
• 24:21
  And they're going to get access to that,
• 24:23
  which is something, if you, let's say you grow up
• 24:25
  and you're a kid, we're into theater.
• 24:28
  And let's say you've done theater in Jamaica.
• 24:31
  You're going to go broad and you're going to meet a pianist,
• 24:33
  the first rehearsal, and you're going to be like,
• 24:35
  wait, what?
• 24:36
  Where's the track?
• 24:37
  Exactly, exactly.
• 24:38
  So already you're different.
• 24:40
  And it's different ways of doing things.
• 24:42
  One is not more or less than other per se,
• 24:46
  but I do think there's a very special,
• 24:47
  a mental live music and interesting in that.
• 24:50
  And then how are you affording it?
• 24:52
  Because you're saying that maybe people aren't doing it
• 24:54
  because they're using the track because it's cheaper,
• 24:56
  they don't have to pay the band.
• 24:57
  But you are using live music.
• 24:59
  Well, I am a pianist and I can read sheet music
• 25:02
  and I have a keyboard.
• 25:03
  And so it doesn't cost me any money.
• 25:05
  I mean, it costs my rent with a show.
• 25:07
  But in terms of, I'm hiring myself to play.
• 25:10
  So it's just going to be piano for the whole show.
• 25:13
  It's not going to be a full band.
• 25:14
  I might have someone come and play violin.
• 25:16
  That's not maybe.
• 25:16
  We'll see if that happens.
• 25:17
  Amazing.
• 25:18
  We've got to start a little.
• 25:20
  I'm only 19.
• 25:22
  And were you always in terms of, even before you came here?
• 25:24
  Yes, I did my first production at six years old
• 25:27
  with a Montreal Children's Theatre.
• 25:29
  And Annie, I had the best summer of my life.
• 25:33
  And did you know at six that this is something
• 25:35
  that you wanted to pursue?
• 25:36
  No, I knew it was something I enjoyed very much.
• 25:39
  Sure, something that I loved.
• 25:40
  But it was only in high school where I was like,
• 25:44
  wait, I can kind of actually do this
• 25:45
  because I played piano and I had active in theater.
• 25:48
  Right.
• 25:48
  But when I moved here, I did a lot of speech and drama,
• 25:52
  which is something that I think also helped me
• 25:54
  assimilate very well, because JCDC is a cultural organization.
• 25:59
  And one of the things I do is for children in schools,
• 26:03
  they hold choir competitions, dance competitions,
• 26:06
  and speech and drama.
• 26:08
  So I thought I had to speak patchball for that.
• 26:09
  OK.
• 26:10
  But I know I want to act.
• 26:12
  I want she was actually in it first
• 26:13
  and then had invited me into a place.
• 26:15
  Anyways.
• 26:18
  So I have to credit a lot to JCDC speech and drama.
• 26:24
  And it has actively helped me meet people,
• 26:26
  because I competed there.
• 26:28
  And one of the judges saw me there and kept tabs over me
• 26:31
  for across the years.
• 26:33
  Then I volunteered as a crew member for one of the shows he did.
• 26:37
  He hired me the next year as a props master.
• 26:40
  Then I moved up to stage manager when we went to Moby.
• 26:43
  And so JCDC has come in clutch.
• 26:46
  It has actively given me work.
• 26:48
  Amazing.
• 26:48
  And that is just a cultural platform
• 26:50
  that is here to sustain and promote the arts development here.
• 26:54
  That's really encouraging, because when you tell me
• 26:56
  that you're into the arts and theatre,
• 26:58
  I guess in my mind, again, going back to like facilities
• 27:01
  and resources and what's available,
• 27:03
  my concern was like, perhaps you couldn't continue
• 27:06
  to thrive in that space.
• 27:07
  But it sounds like you get a different way.
• 27:09
  So JCDC speech and drama, it's not a traditional player
• 27:14
  musical that's put on.
• 27:16
  Think of a choir, right?
• 27:18
  But instead of singing, you're a group
• 27:20
  that is dramatically acting a piece.
• 27:23
  That's kind of what speech is like.
• 27:25
  And then you have solo performances as well.
• 27:28
  I think in the sixth grade, I wrote a stand-up piece just
• 27:32
  terrifying about moving to Jamaica, actually.
• 27:36
  So it's still theatre, but it is not a play.
• 27:40
  It is not a musical.
• 27:41
  Like in New York, you have something called the Jimmy Awards.
• 27:44
  And I guess in a way, it's young kids in high schools
• 27:47
  all around the country, and they can keep
• 27:49
  with solo performances and songs.
• 27:51
  So I guess actually slightly comparable to the Jimmy Awards,
• 27:53
  which is really cool when you put it like that.
• 27:55
  And then you said that you've done summons in New York
• 27:58
  as a student.
• 27:59
  So as a music director, there's a theatre summer camp
• 28:03
  in New York, called Frenchwood Festival,
• 28:05
  performing arts.
• 28:06
  And it is the lovelies place.
• 28:09
  They put on about 80 shows a summer.
• 28:11
  You get three weeks to put on a show, which
• 28:12
  comes out to about 14 to 15 rehearsals.
• 28:15
  OK.
• 28:16
  In a session, I'm working on two shows.
• 28:17
  That's about 600 to 800 pages of music.
• 28:21
  And you just apply for this?
• 28:22
  Yeah.
• 28:23
  And I hired me.
• 28:25
  Do you feel that growing up in Jamaica
• 28:27
  gave you any advantage preparation
• 28:28
  or did you completely feel like officials of water?
• 28:31
  It did not give me any in terms of,
• 28:33
  because we don't have that.
• 28:34
  Yes.
• 28:35
  I didn't know if I was going to be able to do it or not.
• 28:37
  OK.
• 28:38
  I was stressed.
• 28:40
  I can't even explain to you.
• 28:42
  I was like, I know how many may I'll do this.
• 28:43
  But I did it.
• 28:44
  I did it.
• 28:45
  I had no choice but to do it.
• 28:47
  So that kind of, again, comes back to the,
• 28:50
  I'm able to work in this.
• 28:51
  And I'm able to do this under in the same timelines.
• 28:53
  I should be able to carve my way in the arts, bring this back.
• 28:57
  And so the next stage for you in terms of education,
• 29:00
  so I know you guys said that you're studying online.
• 29:02
  Yes.
• 29:03
  And then what happens?
• 29:04
  I'm going to university in September
• 29:06
  and when the University of Western Ontario
• 29:08
  is a good education.
• 29:09
  OK.
• 29:10
  And how are we feeling?
• 29:12
  I'm excited.
• 29:13
  Yeah, I'm really excited.
• 29:14
  And if you look back on your growing up here,
• 29:17
  how do you think that it shaped you?
• 29:19
  How do you think it's made you different if any at all?
• 29:23
  I think it has given me, I feel like I'm talking so much.
• 29:27
  Oh, I feel like I'm going to go back to her.
• 29:30
  It has given me a very nuanced understanding
• 29:36
  of nationality, ethnicity, race, and culture.
• 29:40
  I think I have a very interesting perspective on that
• 29:44
  that I would not have gotten me Canada.
• 29:46
  So I think that you can argue as a different,
• 29:49
  that makes me different to other people.
• 29:51
  Sure.
• 29:53
  What else makes me different?
• 29:54
  I just use that.
• 29:56
  About 18.
• 29:56
  I don't think I'm more particularly more different
• 30:02
  than other people.
• 30:04
  I would say in terms of green to a university
• 30:06
  setting for music is access to resources that I don't have.
• 30:09
  But other than that, I don't really.
• 30:13
  I'd say because I've been doing schooling online
• 30:16
  for the last couple of years, I've had opportunities
• 30:18
  that other people wouldn't have, but it's not
• 30:19
  to make it dependent.
• 30:20
  But you're more because I'm doing school asynchronously.
• 30:23
  Sure.
• 30:24
  That I'm able to do that.
• 30:27
  And Scott, you're also still studying online.
• 30:29
  Do you think you're missing out anything
• 30:30
  from going to traditional school?
• 30:33
  I miss the environmental school because I like going to school
• 30:37
  and I like having my friends and all that.
• 30:40
  But not going to school allows me to compete
• 30:43
  and train at my stable.
• 30:45
  I ride with hydrating academy.
• 30:47
  And it's like my home away from home.
• 30:49
  How often do you have to train?
• 30:52
  I try and go four to six times a week.
• 30:55
  Six up to six times a week?
• 30:56
  Yes.
• 30:57
  OK, cool.
• 30:58
  If she can get the driver.
• 30:59
  Yeah.
• 31:00
  So fun.
• 31:00
  But hydrating academy is like my home away from home.
• 31:03
  And the coach, Julian Hyde, he's like an amazing guy.
• 31:08
  And he teaches kids from like five and up.
• 31:12
  And he's the one that brings us abroad to compete in everything.
• 31:14
  And he's competed all over the world.
• 31:17
  OK.
• 31:17
  So he's great.
• 31:19
  And do you know what you want to do?
• 31:21
  I'm going to become a vet.
• 31:22
  Really?
• 31:24
  It's hard to come to vet.
• 31:25
  Yeah, I know.
• 31:26
  So I just can't do like blood and stuff and like little things.
• 31:29
  And I just get a bit to like emotionally investing.
• 31:31
  I think I'll be a terrible doctor.
• 31:32
  I'd be awful.
• 31:34
  Honestly, awful.
• 31:34
  I wanted to be a lawyer and a doctor.
• 31:36
  And then I realized, I can't take the smell of the hospital.
• 31:39
  So how are you going to like be a doctor?
• 31:41
  And what kind of parents did you have?
• 31:43
  So funny.
• 31:44
  And we go to my GP and my dad says, do me a favor.
• 31:47
  Tell her that she cannot be a lawyer and a doctor.
• 31:49
  She needs to choose.
• 31:50
  And my GP says, you know, I had a friend who was a lawyer
• 31:52
  and a doctor.
• 31:53
  And my dad's looking at him like, boss man.
• 31:55
  That is not why we're here.
• 31:56
  Yeah, I know that I'm something new.
• 31:57
  It's supposed to tell her she has to choose.
• 31:58
  But yeah, I couldn't do blood.
• 32:00
  So it wasn't like my thing.
• 32:01
  The blood doesn't disturb me much.
• 32:03
  Oh, yeah.
• 32:04
  Good.
• 32:05
  Do you think that you'll stay here?
• 32:07
  I'm going to go to school abroad.
• 32:09
  OK.
• 32:09
  But we need more vet and shmega, especially equine vets.
• 32:14
  So it would be nice to come back and be an equine vet
• 32:18
  and help advance the world in that way.
• 32:22
  So I didn't think you were going to say you were going to come back.
• 32:26
  If I get jaw opportunities abroad, we'll see.
• 32:29
  But I know for fact, we need equine vets.
• 32:32
  OK.
• 32:33
  And I do like to make a, like, I love to make this, I love it.
• 32:36
  What do you like about it?
• 32:41
  The vibes.
• 32:43
  If somebody doesn't know the vibe of Jamaica,
• 32:45
  how would you describe it to them?
• 32:49
  Just want to come here.
• 32:51
  Just buy that split.
• 32:53
  What would you describe as a vibe of Jamaica?
• 32:57
  This is going to be quite the random answer.
• 33:00
  OK.
• 33:01
  There's this video online on Instagram.
• 33:05
  And it's this guy who's working.
• 33:07
  And it's, I'm going to paraphrase the video.
• 33:11
  You know what I'm saying?
• 33:12
  I feel hungry.
• 33:13
  I swear, I'm going to go to school.
• 33:15
  I'll be juice.
• 33:17
  I'm bon split.
• 33:18
  You know what I mean?
• 33:19
  I can't be without the blog.
• 33:20
  Yeah, I'm a keyast on it.
• 33:22
  That's what I make.
• 33:23
  That is Jamaica, which is an odd answer, but I feel like it encapsulates how we feel about
• 33:31
  certain attitudes and the highs and the lows of Jamaica merge into one.
• 33:35
  It's not a very good answer.
• 33:37
  But I like it.
• 33:39
  But how I describe Jamaica? You can't describe Jamaica. There's no words. There are no words on this planet that can give you any idea in Jamaica, just like being such a small island as so many different seals.
• 33:54
  Like, country in Saint Elizabeth, compared to town in Kingston, compared to Portmore, compared to the scammers up in Monticello Bay, compared to, you know, tourist hotspot in Morocco, compared to Portland, and it's just, you cannot describe that.
• 34:09
  What do you think are some of the common misconceptions about living in Jamaica?
• 34:14
  Oh, this is Africa. This is Africa that we don't wear shoes that we don't have schools. These are all things people have asked us.
• 34:23
  Oh, my God, you are schools in England.
• 34:25
  I got asked that when I went to boarding school in England, they said that we went to school in trees.
• 34:30
  Yeah, and I'm like, they're like, oh, so do you just stay on the beach all day?
• 34:34
  And they don't think we have internet. And the internet here is better than London. I'm just saying, no, honestly, I'll be talking to my dad. I'm at first world internet, it cuts out like all the time.
• 34:42
  I'm not interested.
• 34:43
  Really really?
• 34:44
  Yeah. But yeah, considering that, you know, resorts are taking access to our beaches, and then they're like, oh, you spend all day on your beaches.
• 34:53
  We don't have access to our beaches.
• 34:55
  Very true, very true.
• 34:57
  And so when you go to university, what do you think is going to be the thing that you miss more?
• 35:02
  What do you think is the thing that I miss most?
• 35:05
  Me.
• 35:06
  Yes.
• 35:07
  Yes, my lovely sister.
• 35:08
  Do you guys like each other?
• 35:10
  Yeah, we do. I think we have a pretty good sibling relationship.
• 35:14
  Yeah, to quote what she shows sometimes.
• 35:16
  We tie a tight row.
• 35:18
  Are you going to miss her when she's gone?
• 35:20
  Yes, but I get her car so it works.
• 35:22
  Okay, so then you can go to the tables whenever you want.
• 35:25
  Exactly.
• 35:26
  You're seeing the vision now.
• 35:27
  Yes, I've got it.
• 35:29
  So do you think that you're going to, is it going to be a food thing you're going to miss?
• 35:32
  An energy thing?
• 35:33
  Or is it that you're just at university doing the things that you love and we're going to forget that Jamaican was here?
• 35:39
  I think there's no way for me to forget.
• 35:41
  Because you're especially, we have a, our youngest sister is seven years old.
• 35:44
  Okay.
• 35:45
  So automatically, even if any of us had any desire to just like run away and never come back.
• 35:50
  That's not happening.
• 35:51
  Do you have the youngest one here?
• 35:53
  Um, I think the food, yeah, sure, but I will come and visit.
• 35:58
  Sure.
• 35:59
  So I'm not going to die and then Lord knows there are many Jamaicans in Ontario.
• 36:04
  Oh, really?
• 36:05
  Oh, yes.
• 36:06
  I knew Toronto those nodes.
• 36:07
  Look as Toronto's a city in Ontario.
• 36:09
  So overall, these are problems.
• 36:11
  So I am sure I will find Caribbean food there.
• 36:14
  I am not doubting that.
• 36:16
  Um, I think the energy, the vibe and really more so the people that I know here.
• 36:21
  Because I have people here that are near and dear to my heart.
• 36:24
  I'm also going to honestly miss the kids that I'm teaching.
• 36:27
  Um, yeah, I have to like are basically coming up for our last classes.
• 36:31
  And I'm going to miss the oven.
• 36:34
  Anyway, yeah.
• 36:35
  A lot of that should be sweet.
• 36:37
  Um, some quick five questions.
• 36:39
  Tasty or juicy?
• 36:41
  Juicy party any day.
• 36:42
  Really?
• 36:43
  Do you say the same way?
• 36:44
  Juicy party.
• 36:45
  You've never had a juicy beef patty?
• 36:47
  Is that the other one?
• 36:48
  No.
• 36:49
  Or taste?
• 36:50
  You've never had a party.
• 36:51
  What are you guys doing?
• 36:52
  Well, listen, have a reason.
• 36:53
  Tell me.
• 36:54
  I went to Monoprop and there was maggots in it and I said I will never eat a patty.
• 36:59
  There were maggots in the patty?
• 37:01
  Yes.
• 37:02
  It was a really valid reason.
• 37:04
  However, however, I would hope we have to get you a Devonholtz patty.
• 37:09
  Fair enough if you don't want.
• 37:11
  I'll have ice cream.
• 37:12
  No, but the patty that Devonholtz.
• 37:14
  You know, I swear to my eight year old self.
• 37:16
  No, but they don't look the same.
• 37:18
  Does that help?
• 37:19
  No.
• 37:20
  Okay.
• 37:21
  I'm not going to the patty.
• 37:22
  My dad doesn't eat chicken.
• 37:23
  And he won't tell me why.
• 37:25
  But we suspect he had a similar experience.
• 37:28
  But it's like, it's a myth because he won't talk about it.
• 37:31
  I'm not going to lie on the sun.
• 37:32
  Okay, but you didn't have maggots in your patty.
• 37:34
  No, I've never seen a maggot.
• 37:36
  And you choose juicy.
• 37:37
  Why do you choose juicy patty?
• 37:39
  I just love a juicy beef patty.
• 37:41
  You don't find the middle is too mincey-mincey?
• 37:44
  No.
• 37:45
  Matter of fact, when they're warm and I bite into them and it's like the middle is almost like juicing out.
• 37:52
  It's delicious.
• 37:54
  I was working somewhere and my supervisor, the producer, she has sent me to go pick up
• 38:00
  35 patties in the morning for breakfast for everyone to the craft table.
• 38:05
  And like, I got this, and it's like 6.30 in the morning.
• 38:08
  I got this warm, warm, warm, warm.
• 38:11
  Fresh.
• 38:12
  It's so nice.
• 38:13
  So juicy, no patties for you.
• 38:15
  Curry goat or oxal.
• 38:17
  Ooh.
• 38:18
  Those are very good.
• 38:20
  Curry goat.
• 38:21
  Curry goat.
• 38:22
  Do we like oxal?
• 38:23
  Or it's an easy win?
• 38:24
  I don't love both.
• 38:25
  I prefer chicken.
• 38:26
  I'll choose a piece.
• 38:28
  Okay.
• 38:30
  No, no, no.
• 38:32
  Curry goat's cheaper.
• 38:33
  Oh, yeah.
• 38:34
  That's true.
• 38:35
  That's a good reason.
• 38:36
  Um, I feel like it's easy.
• 38:37
  You'll get more curry goat than you will.
• 38:39
  Mmm.
• 38:40
  That's true.
• 38:41
  And like, when oxal is done well, I want to say the oxal.
• 38:44
  But then not everybody can do oxal.
• 38:46
  So it depends a bit on a nice curry bowl.
• 38:48
  It's very nice.
• 38:49
  No way.
• 38:50
  Both.
• 38:51
  Both.
• 38:52
  Okay.
• 38:53
  Cool.
• 38:54
  Sorry.
• 38:55
  At Christmas time.
• 38:56
  Or do you have eggnog?
• 38:57
  I think it sounds like weird.
• 38:59
  Oh.
• 39:00
  And I can't understand the concept of the egg
• 39:02
  and it kind of sounds disgusting.
• 39:03
  So we're voting sorry?
• 39:04
  Or you don't like sorry either?
• 39:05
  Yeah.
• 39:06
  We're voting sorry.
• 39:07
  Do you like sorry?
• 39:08
  Oh my goodness.
• 39:09
  I'm going to carry all you guys.
• 39:11
  You don't like the taste of sorry at all.
• 39:13
  Even rum.
• 39:14
  Just rum.
• 39:15
  It's right.
• 39:16
  Just rum, you're sorry.
• 39:18
  I'm a teen, tiny girl.
• 39:20
  Rum or red stripe?
• 39:22
  Rum.
• 39:23
  Okay.
• 39:24
  Oh.
• 39:26
  So neither.
• 39:27
  Rum.
• 39:28
  I mean, we've had puzzles on this side for the whole time.
• 39:32
  So you can definitely pass.
• 39:33
  I don't know.
• 39:34
  I don't have a melanin in me to be able to.
• 39:36
  It's a hand.
• 39:37
  It's a hand.
• 39:38
  It's a hand.
• 39:39
  It's a hand.
• 39:40
  It's a hand.
• 39:41
  That's where I think I got here too old to properly
• 39:45
  and be able to handle that.
• 39:47
  Oh, that's too funny.
• 39:48
  Oh my goodness.
• 39:50
  If you had to sum up your life in a postcard picture,
• 39:53
  what would the picture look like?
• 39:55
  Um, that's a deep channel.
• 39:58
  I think a cool thing would be if you had a little whiteboard
• 40:00
  and you had a straw, but I think that'd be cute.
• 40:02
  Um.
• 40:03
  I'm artistically challenged.
• 40:04
  I didn't even think that that was possible.
• 40:06
  But I like.
• 40:07
  I like really good.
• 40:08
  Um.
• 40:09
  I have no idea.
• 40:10
  This is a very difficult question.
• 40:12
  This is like a very deep personal question.
• 40:14
  If there was ever a preview to a question I wanted,
• 40:17
  it was this question.
• 40:19
  Um.
• 40:20
  Um.
• 40:21
  It seems to have to know it didn't come from chat GPT.
• 40:23
  Yeah.
• 40:24
  Um.
• 40:25
  That was just stick with the rum things about the rum and split.
• 40:33
  I think maybe.
• 40:35
  I don't know.
• 40:36
  Maybe like a map of Chimico, like the outline of a map, maybe.
• 40:41
  And kind of like scrapbooks, move board, little clips of my life.
• 40:46
  So the piano, my kids teaching a couple of shows that I've watched
• 40:51
  that have absolutely like.
• 40:53
  Distorted my life in the best way possible.
• 40:55
  Distorted.
• 40:56
  Um.
• 40:57
  Probably my family.
• 40:59
  Um, books.
• 41:00
  I don't know.
• 41:01
  I think I look a little bit like my vision board.
• 41:03
  Okay.
• 41:04
  Maybe where it's just like a mishmash of my interests and my goals
• 41:07
  that I want to pursue.
• 41:08
  I mean, we're just having still a romantic life.
• 41:11
  No, no, no.
• 41:12
  I'm going to be on a horse.
• 41:13
  Okay.
• 41:14
  And my spirit.
• 41:15
  Amazing.
• 41:16
  But I don't.
• 41:17
  Just visual representation.
• 41:19
  Exactly.
• 41:20
  Exactly.