i just got back from miami… i headed down last friday to catch up with some friends and attend the 4th annual genova reunion (the first one i had ever been able to attend). friday, minutes within reaching miami, i headed straight to sunset place for some coffee and was met with petersen and jules. we spent a few hours catching up and headed over to yardhouse where a bunch of friends had congregated. i got to see some friends i hadn’t seen in ages, including some unexpected surprise visits. as we parted ways, i headed to brickell to meet up with dana. we decided to make our way up to fort lauderdale for reggae night. we met up with more friends and i ran into some jamaicans, who i convinced i was truly jamaican. reggae night turned into a few dancehall tunes overtaken by hip-hop, most of which i didn’t know as we don’t get a lot of american hip-hop on jamaican airwaves. but so it goes.

the next morning dana, tionne and i headed for brunch at some nearby cafe. a few hours later i was picked up by ashley and we headed downtown to find some french cafe she had found out about online. unfortunately the information had been dated, and well the cafe had been replaced by an empanadas shop, supposedly the best in 2009 as voted by miami’s best. they didn’t even have cuban coffee, some lousy american coffee… we both felt gipped. we decided walking around downtown might cheer us up; so we literally tracked all of downtown. the place has surprisingly come back to life, somewhat. it still could use some improvement, but it has come leaps and bounds from what i used to know. there is an array of multi-cultural food and drink venues, shops, … the homeless are still around, but it’s not what it used to be. we spent the rest of the afternoon catching up in the park, laughing at the emptiness; if we had been anywhere else in the world that place would have been packed with people enjoying the day. as ashley dropped me back at my car, dana and tionne passed me, inviting me to join them for a lazy evening by the pool, but i had the genova dinner that night, so i quickly darted over to sunset to kill some time and then headed to the beach. parking was a mission, i think i spent 20 minutes circling the streets surrounding david’s apartment scouring for parking. finally i found a metered spot in a little parking lot a couple blocks away. i ended up knocking on the wrong door and was pleasantly surprised to hear familiar voices which led me to find the right flat right down the hall. as i entered everything stopped. everybody shocked and surprised to see me. some of these people i hadn’t seen in 3-4 years. i was greeted with hugs and kisses from the left and the right and a glass of vino. we began recounting the days of genova, the good and the bad. so many things i had forgotten. a few hours later we headed to this little italian joint for dinner. there were about 13 of us, we were missing christy, frank, ralph and julio sr. we ended up closing down the place around 2 and decided to spread the vibes by hitting up purdy lounge. after an hour or so a few of us were ready to call it a night. i headed to camp lucena with caro and yinette. i had been behind them by about 5 minutes and because of this i got lost in weston and caro had to come find me. i was in a completely different scheme driving around totally lost.

the next day we decided to full enjoy the camp lucena experience, after a quick meal of arepas and juan valdez we opted to head to the cinema and see a matinee of eat, love, pray because we had all read the book. it wasn’t super amazing, i think the book was better, but regardless it was still nice to see a movie. afterwards i made my way back to the beach to meet up with david, pick up some things and wait to hear from luis. david and i caught up on the frustrations and joys of teaching young kids. there were a lot of parallels but to a point, because the system in the states is so different from that in jamaica. it was good to talk about the current state of affairs regarding education, the question of the disappearance of ethics and morals and it’s affects on society and youth, and debate about what the future may or may not hold for the coming generations and their education. later that evening i met up with luis, his girlfriend and his cousin at finnegans. we caught up about old times, design, had an interesting debate about gehry, nazis and what defines being clinically mad… can there be such a thing as we ourselves are truly unsure about how we ourselves balance on the scale. it was great catching up. since it had gotten so late i opted to spend the night in the car. luckily i had put enough change in the meter so i made it to the midnight cut off… unfortunately i didn’t get much sleep as people were passing by all night long, that and i was paranoid; needless to say i was up and out of there before the meters went on again. i was off for some coffee as my shake up and wake up and though i had planned to stay till late in the afternoon my dreariness led me to heading back home, unfortunately i got stuck in a downpour and a massive traffic pile up for an hour before hitting the turnpike. i reached back to find nothing changed, my brother still in a mad studying frenzy, as his exam is on this wednesday, so i just spent the time quizzing him till my parents got back, made dinner for everyone and hung out with the parents and caught up on american media. i’m ready to drop.