Q: What do Mavado, Wyclef, Busta, Ding Dong, Beenie Man, Bounty Killer, Shaggy, Lady Saw, and Wayne Wonder Have in Common?

A:  They <3 Guinness!  Well, sort of.  But we saw them all at the Arthur Guinness Anniversary Concert on Saturday!

But before going into those details, a recap of my (seemingly never-ending) week!  Wednesday night I had another session of my business school class.  The focus this week was on economic integration of regions.  As case studies, we examined the European Union as well as NAFTA (North American Free Trade Association).  We evaluated the model used in these cases, in terms of the amount of national sovereignty maintained as well as the political and economic integration.  Our professor provided examples along a spectrum, ranging from integration in certain sectors (i.e. combining manufacturing production across the Caribbean) to having economic and then political unity (the extreme being the EU).  The benefits to integration obviously include a larger market, cutting costs by capitalizing on economies of scale, and allowing for further diversification.  However, the big issue with integration is that a good amount of national sovereignty (often defined by political parties or economic policies) must be sacrificed.  In Jamaica (according to my professor), the reluctance to forgo any political power seems to be the biggest roadblock to a deeper means of integrating with the rest of the Caribbean.  Additionally, if integration were to be undertaken, more of an effort would be needed around diversifying the services and goods - right now, many of the Caribbean countries focus on similar services, so integration wouldn't necessarily add much value.  After class, Radhika and Nicole (fellow Fulbrighter) came over and we had a girls night of hanging out and catching up on our deck!

The highlight of my Thursday was that I learned to play DOMINOES!  Our friends Brendan and Damian decided to take it upon themselves to teach me and Ashley.  Now, dominoes is SUPER popular in Jamaica.  Especially when you drive through the country, you will certainly see older men sitting on the roadside playing.  And they play for HOURS.  And it gets super intense, with cards being thrown left and right and people screaming!  Now, before Thursday, my only experience with dominoes had been stacking them up and hitting them so they fall in order.  Nothing to do with the game.  The game itself is actually really difficult... there is so much strategy involved!  Basically, each person gets a set of dominoes and you need to get rid of them by matching your numbers to those on the game board.  However, people basically "count" the dominos to deduce which cards the other players have... using this information, they can "close" the board off to others or force them to pass.  Well, I discovered that I am a terrible 1) counter and 2) bluffer.  Ashley on the other hand, was a natural pro!  Clearly I have found my new hobby though...

Friday was a whirlwind of a day.  I spent the morning/afternoon at Victoria Jubilee Hospital again (Kingston's maternity ward) with the Senior Medical Officer.  He helped us understand the ongoing efforts around cervical cancer screening at the hospital.  Further, he gave us a tour of the women's cancer ward, the neonatal facilities, and even allowed us to watch a routine screening procedure for a patient (who had an infection).  Overall, an intense afternoon and somewhat emotionally draining - but informative, nonetheless.

In the evening, we rounded up an entourage to go get WINGS!!  This included me and Ashley, our Jamaican buddies Jody and Holly, Fulbrighter Iris, and my Princetonian friend Krista.  We went back to our favorite fruity wing place in Barbican (Wing Tings?  Wing Kings?) and sat there for over 2 hours devouring everything in front of us.  Here's a snapshot of the greasy deliciousness... YUM!

Strawberry BBQ, Pineapple Ginger, Guava Jerk Chicken Wings and More Deliciousness...

Now finally... the Guinness Concert! 

To paint the picture, the concert was at the National Stadium (I believe used for football and cricket).  To get tickets, you had to either present 4 specially marked Guinness bottle caps or have texted in the Guinness codes to win a ticket... and then it was FREE.  So clearly, there were a bajillion people... though they limited it to 20,000 (not exactly a small number)!  After buying lots of Guinness (which we mostly gave away to guests because Guinness is grosssss), Jazz, Ash and I - along with our new fellow American friend, Erica - were able to successfully procure tickets!

The concert was especially awesome, because the crowd came from all parts of Jamaica, let alone all parts of Kingston.  As the blog title suggests, the lineup included Jamaican superstars Mavado, Ding Dong, Beenie Man, Bounty Killer, Shaggy (yes, "it wasn't me" shaggy!), Lady Saw, and Wayne Wonder (aka "no letting go" / high-school hit, wayne wonder!) as well as international superstars Wyclef and Busta Rhymes.  It basically turned into a hugeeee dance party! 

View of main concert stages from the bleachers...

Ashley was especially excited to see Wyclef, because they have been friends for over a decade (crazy, right?).  The most surprising thing was that Mavado got BOO-ed!!  I guess the Jamaican fans just wanted some Vybz Kartel... There was also lots of Guinness (of course), but also pan chicken and lollipops and other snacks to last us during the 6-hour show.  Overall, it was super refreshing to finally hear some live music (something that I had been craving for weeks)! 

All I have to say is... di show mad!  Di show sell off!

Erica, Jazz, Ash and Me at the CONCERT!!!!