Powell Plaza Peeps

When a family member moves to a foreign country you frequent for work - even temporarily - you go visit. 

My paternal cousin Ian is a foreign service officer with the US State Department; having previously been posted in San Francisco, Pretoria, Baghdad, and Detroit, he's filled the tole of Assistant Regional Security Officer - Investigations in Kingston, Jamaica, since July. I disconnected my work email from my phone for a 2-day vacation with him, his wife Maria, and their kids Will (8) and Claire (4). They welcomed me Sunday night with homemade pizza using Imo's sauce and cheese (#iykyk) and fresh-baked cookies. 

They had work and school, respectively, so I was largely on my own during the day; I didn't mind a bit. Monday, I barely left their apartment building (Powell Plaza, a 36-unit complex that felt like a cross between a college dorm and a resort, only with armed guards on duty 24/7) except when we went out for an adults-only dinner, hitting up the gym first, then the pool, then the couch. Tuesday, I got to do something few US citizens ever will: tour an embassy! From there, I Ubered to a couple cultural attractions I'd been wanting to scope out to see if they'd be good for groups (yes and yes) and still had time for more pool when I got back.  

So official! 

They live on the 7th floor such that this was our dinner view the night I got there and my breakfast view every morning. 

Powell Plaza is NOT close to the embassy: it's that light colored building you can baaaaaaarely see in the valley between the mountains in the distance.

Not pictured: Ian & Maria's housekeeper Nora washing AND DRYING a load of laundry for me. 

This is the only photo that's allowed on the premises, because it's zoomed in enough that you can't see any of the security measures! As Ian put it, embassies are just "really secure office buildings." That's an understatement; even the cleaning staff can't work in classified areas without supervision. Of everything I learned that day, I especially appreciated Ian's insights into how diplomacy can and does help make the world a better place. 

Stop #1: Hope Gardens.

Chinese garden. 

Lingbi stone is prized for numerous properties about which I remain dubious. What I CAN clearly see are its four colors: black, white, red, and grey. 

Stop #2: Devon House - the mansion tour, not the ice cream (I already knew THAT was good for groups!). Devon House is the home of the Jamaica's first black millionaire, who was not, in fact, named Devon. George Stiebel literally fell into his wealth when he was shipwrecked, swam ashore to what he later learned was Venezuela, and struck gold. Returning to his homeland, he bought up 99 properties (it was - is? - illegal for any one person to own 100), one of which was "Devon Penn." Many of the home's architectural elements and furnishings date back to when it was built in 1881. Pictured above is a wine cooler. 

A corner chair designed to accommodate men carrying swords at their sides. 

A Murano glass chandelier!

 I grew up with cousins I saw on birthdays and holidays, not cousins that were like siblings to me. Add in that it had been years since I'd seen these two and longer since we'd had a heart-to-heart, and being in their home was almost like getting to know them all over again. We're cut from the same cloth if our OCD habits are any indication, and we bonded over family dynamics. Also: expat life. International missions and the foreign service certainly have different goals and values, but to some degree living abroad is living abroad so we "got" each other in ways most of the rest of our family simply cannot. 

I went for one last run on a treadmill in the A/C and one last dip before Ian took me to the airport on "Wacky Wednesday" morning. 

I anticipate being in Kingston 3-4 times/year for the duration of Ian's post, so I'm hopeful that similar visits become a fixture. I won't request tickets for my next trip until the volunteer team I'll be hosting gets theirs, but Ian, Maria, and I are already planning where we'll go to dinner sometime in late August, unless it winds up being "country bar night" in the Powell Plaza game room!

Until next time, blessings in Christ!