This is my 8th year living in Negril. I have an apartment but I don’t have residency. Jamaica has become my home and I ‘visit’ my country, where I don’t have a permanent home. Its worked good for me to go back and forth. When I’m in the US things move very fast because I need to find things to do to keep my mind busy until I return to Jamaica. When I go to Jamaica I get to relax, but I still have plenty of interests, I just put them off more

In the early years I prepared to apply for residency but my interpretation of their phrasing for qualification turned out to be different than theirs However the wording of some requirements have changed over the years and I may qualify now. After residency was a bust I spent about 2 years exploring business ideas and the requirements for starting a business in Jamaica, but I didn’t have a compelling enough idea to carry me through the challenges of doing it in Jamaica, and eventually it became a relief to let it go.

I generally have good experiences in Jamaica. Only 1 relationship, so a good reputation in that regard. I stick with his family, and stay out of other people’s business. Even among close siblings, they don’t know each other’s personal business. One time a couple of us were hanging out so I said, “What can we talk about that isn’t private?” They laughed, and I waited for one of them bring up a safe topic.

I make an effort to get out a couple times a week for a drink or a meal, just to be around other people. Unless its a concert I don’t feel a need to be ‘with’ anyone, and I love to read. It seems best that I only get together with friends who are here on vacation. Partly because I move to the beat of my own schedule, LOL. In other part because I don’t want to get into other people’s personal business, nor discuss mine. Sometimes I see people that I know who they are, I am tempted to say hello but then I think ‘what’s the point?’ I’m not going to move in their circle nor they in mine. A lot of ‘un-necessaries’ drop away in Jamaica. I prefer interacting with street vendors, store employees and other shoppers. That way its ‘business not personal’ in a friendly and often fun environment.

For me, family, faith, governance and politics ARE good topics with Jamaicans, perhaps because I’ve studied and experienced quite a bit in recent years, and I am closer to their beliefs now than I used to be on some topics. I ask questions and they ask me questions. However, the closer the conversation gets to topics in Negril or their town/parish, the less I give an opinion, because I truly don’t know enough nor have lived here enough to have any realistic input.

I try to follow what I’ve been taught, that is, to think like a Jamaican. At first it seemed so different than I was used to (and I argued against it) but eventually I learned to appreciate the wisdom and now it comes more naturally. I can usually tell at once when I’ve done or said something I shouldn’t have, or missed something that I should have picked up on.

American-thinking doesn’t seem to be all that useful in Jamaica but, Jamaican-thinking proves useful everywhere I go

Example, the power of observation and trusting my 'sense' about things: recently I rented a studio (in the US) for a week through VRBO, have never met nor seen an image of the owner. After a couple days in the place I concluded the owner must be pretty tall, just by how they had a few things set up in the room. I was thinking 6’2” but downplayed the number to 5’10” in case he wasn’t that tall or I was way off. He admitted he’s tall and in a later conversation that his original height was 6’2” but he had lost some due to an injury.

Picking sense out of nonsense: I clicked on a cable tv show “90 Day Fiance” – Americans and their foreign boyfriend/girlfriend. For the most part I understood the perspective of the foreigners, and they were reasonable and decent people. For the most part I saw how the behavior, expectations and attitudes of the Americans caused problems in the relationships. A lot of Americans especially women, would not see it the way I’ve learned to see it.

Some folks complain “Nothing in Jamaica is what it seems.” I say, ‘Nothing in Jamaica is AS THEY SEE IT’.

Jamaica is full of wisdom for the ‘foolish’, but can appear foolish to the ‘wise’.

I’ve made a couple attempts to have a ‘friendship’ with other expats but so far it hasn’t worked out, because we see Jamaica differently and move differently. It is more important to give priority to my existing relationships and maintain my reputation, safety and well-being than any ‘friendship’.

I am happy renting an apartment; owning property would be more work, cost and worry. I like my landlord and I get along with the other folks that live in the yard. By get along I mean, if we pass or see each other eye to eye, we say hello. We don’t try to be friends or hang out. We might offer excess produce or lend a hand for a moment’s task or have a brief chat about a sport event, but its rare. They welcome me back and I’m glad to see them, but we don't need to ‘know’ each other.

I wouldn't move to Jamaica with an American (or other foreign) spouse, there is so much neither of us would know, we'd just be coming with our own ideas. I know I've had good instruction by my good experiences. When I try doing things my own way they don't work out as well as using what I've been taught and learned about Jamaica.

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