Kristina

=Kristina Bennett=

Kristina's Interview
media type="custom" key="8171372"

Biography/Geography
I interviewed Kristina Kaye Bennett. She is from Jamaica. She has both of her parents still alive and married. She has two-step sisters and one-step brother from her dad’s previous marriage. She also has a regular brother that has the same parents as her. Right now her dad lives with his side of the family. Both of her stepsisters still live in Jamaica. Her stepbrother lives in England for his studies. Her mom came to America but then went back to do something. Right now she is living with her aunt. Her brother, the one here in the U.S., takes her where she needs to go. She is currently attending Baker Middle School. She is in the 8th grade as well.

She is from Jamaica. Jamaica is located in the Caribbean Sea. It is small in population. Their currency is 80 multiplied by $5. The capital of Jamaica is Kingston. The current population is 2,825,928. Their government is a Constitutional parliamentary democracy. Their day of independence is August 6, 1962.

Creative Writing Piece

 * Poem **

By: Dominique Redmon
 * F **** amily **

It’s my age They are all older More wise than me. I feel left out, But completely welcome It’s my age

I have four Two brothers Away from a place used to call home. Two sisters They stay to watch over what used to be.

My mother is the reason I came here with her. She is the strongest The wisest I know. My mother is the reason

He is my partner Takes me everywhere. Shows me they way My brother My friend He is my partner

The journey With the family I was never lost. With them I felt safe. They were with me the whole time on…. The journey

I left them Back at home With the spirit of me. I miss them. My sisters I left them

The separation Dad left To be with his side of the family. Mom went back To finish what she started. Stepbrother in England To study. The separation

Then there is me A teenager Confused and still finding my way. I am here The place of opportunity Where I will learn Who I am Then there is me


 * The Recession **

The pain The suffering The labor The endless days of work

Why us The harmless Nice family Who has done nothing wrong.

What do we do? Where do we go? How do we get out? Can we get out of this Recession?

The U.S. A place of  New beginnings, The answer To our problems, The place We need to go.

We are here. We have a fresh start. With some help On our new life.

IT IS OVER

Transcription
Krissie: Kristina Kay Bennett

Dominique: What country are you from?

Krissie: Jamaica

Dominique: So what is a normal day in Jamaica like?

Krissie: It depends on a holiday or a school day?

Dominique: On a school day.

Krissie: Ok. On a regular school day well you know waking up early, going to school then coming back home. If you have an extracurricular activity then you do that. There are a lot of community pools and you can go over there after school but that’s basically it. Oh, and it’s really hot too.

Dominique: Are the extracurricular activities there different than the ones in the U.S.

Krissie: Well not really but there is one sport that you guys don’t play here.

Dominique: What sport is that?

Krissie: Well we have Netball. Netball is kind of like basketball but you can’t move with the ball, you can’t dribble with the ball.

Dominique: So you just pass it?

Krissie: Yeah we pass it and stuff but you can’t move with the ball. It was boring sometimes.

Dominique: So was the team you played on organized?

Krissie: Yeah. I was actually on the thirteenth national team. Yeah I was that good.

Dominique: How many siblings do you have?

Krissie: Well my dad got married before my mom actually met him. So I had like three older from the previous marriage. Then like me and my brother. Five and I’m like the fifth.

Dominique: Are those older siblings boys or girls?

Krissie: Like both because I have two brothers and two sisters.

Dominique: So is your younger brother your tight brother and your older siblings your step siblings?

Krissie: Yeah they are my step siblings, but like my brother we have the same mother and we are real close. My other siblings like my step sisters and my step brother are still I Jamaica but my step brother is some where in England.

Dominique: So your older brother that came here is he your step brother?

Krissie: No

Dominique: So are you the youngest?

Krissie: Yeah I am sadly.

Dominique: Did anyone come to the United States with you.

Krissie: Yeah. Me, my mom, my dad, and my brother.

Dominique: Is your mom and your brother still here?

Krissie: Well my brother is here but he is not living where I am now I’m living with my aunt. He is staying with a different aunt. My mom is in Jamaica. She will be back soon. My dad is in New York with his side of the family.

Dominique: So you guys are separated right now?

Krissie: Yeah!

Dominique: Does your brother have a job.

Krissie: Yeah he started working a couple days ago.

Dominique: What job does he have?

Krissie: Well you know the regular job………… Let’s put it like this he works at Target. I think he got into the Air force or he is trying to get into the air force

Dominique: So is he going to be one of those people that risk their lives on the air force.

Krissie: No he just wants to be an engineer.

Dominique: Did you want to come to the U.S. or did you like come here by force?

Krissie: Well it was kind of both because at the time I was 13 you know I was to young to live by myself.

Dominique: How old are you now?

Krissie: 14

Dominique: So you moved here this year?

Krissie: Yes. We came here around the first couple weeks of October. The third week was my birthday.

Dominique: How was it like coming here did you take a plane or a train?

Krissie: Yeah I took a plane.

Dominique: How was the airport in Jamaica?

Krissie: It’s real big. I remember getting lost on my way to the bathroom. I remember getting lost in the bathroom. Yeah its a good size, but compared to the airports out here it is medium size. You guys have trains running through the airport, and ours is not that big to me.

Dominique: Which airport did you fly into?

Krissie: Well I know it as Norman Manley Washington National Airport.

Dominique: Washington?

Krissie: Yeah its one of our past presidents. No not president but one of our past Prime Ministers. Yeah we have Prime Ministers in Jamaica other than our presidents and stuff.

Dominique: Did you guys have a lot of money in Jamaica?

Krissie: It is expensive in Jamaica. Right now we are like doing through a recession. I think we are still going through a recession. In Jamaica a lot of people lost jobs like here.

Dominique: Was it easy to buy clothes and stuff here?

Krissie: Yeah I went shopping even before I lived here. I guess it’s a bit easier to shop over here, because in Jamaica one T-shirt is like over $100. I would always have $400 dollars for everyday. That was considered a small amount.

Dominique: So $400 is pretty much $4 here?

Krissie: Yeah kind of but like you take $5 and multiply it by $80 you would get Jamaican dollars. So that’s like 400 dollars.

Dominique: Who do you live with here in the U.S.?

Krissie: I live with one of my aunts.

Dominique: So she lives in Fairborn like I do?

Krissie: Yes. A lot of my family on my mothers side live in the U.S. But like everyone wants to stick together because we are really close. A couple of my aunts and uncles moved to Fairborn all the way from Connecticut just to live with my cousin.

Dominique: Is that why you came to the U.S to be with your family?

Krissie: That is one of the reasons.

Dominique: Would you care to explain the other reasons?

Krissie: The other reasons I’m not too sure about I would have to talk that over with my mom. Well my point of view I guess is to be with family, to get away from the recession, and the struggle losing money getting money losing money over and over again everyday. So it was like getting away from the economy and government.

Dominique: Would you say the economy here is better than Jamaica?

Krissie: Definitely.

Dominique: Did you have a lot of friends in Jamaica?

Krissie: Lots. I wasn’t popular but I was known.

Dominique: Was it easy to make friends here?

Krissie: It was I don’t know. I’m not the type of person to be shy, I don’t know, because when people come up to me and say hey that’s it.

Dominique: Could you sing a song for us?

Krissie: No I cannot sing, I cannot sing.

Dominique: Well try they don’t care.

Krissie: I just can’t think of a song.

Dominique: What about the one you were singing the other day. Or can you at least give us a taste of your hard-core accent.

Krissie: Well to do that I would have to speak in slang called Cirreal.

Dominique: You have slang?

Krissie: Yeah slang not a language really. It is a mixture of English and two different languages from Africa.

Dominique: Can you speak it for us?

Krissie: Sure but you have to give me something to say.

Dominique: Say if someone came up to you and said “That’s a very nice outfit.” Or “I hate it.”

Krissie: Well if you say that I have a nice outfit I would say “O talome slayon o kalame too” that says o thanks I like what you have on too.

Dominique: And if I say I didn’t like it.

Krissie: Well I’m not the person to cuss out people.

Dominique: Well you can go off on me without cussing.

Krissie: I would say “ Da qualm elope pi quan err” which is the same thing as saying well you being a hater keep on being a hater go on and be a hater I don’t care.

Dominique: I like it. I like your accent. It is very awesome. Do you have a boyfriend?

Krissie: (head nodded no)

Dominique: Did you have a boyfriend in Jamaica

Krissie: Yea, I did. We had to cut it off because I was moving and couldn’t take long distance.

Dominique: How were weekends in Jamaica?

Krissie: There are so many things you can do. You can go to street parties, you can go to the beaches, you can just hang out with friends, and it’s so cool.

Dominique: Are there more things to do in Jamaica than there are here?

Krissie: Well, kind of. You got arcades and snow. We don’t get snow. It’s like hot all year round

Dominique: How did you adjust to the snow?

Krissie: Well I have been in it before, so it’s not new to me. We travel back and forth to visit.

Dominique: So you have been here just not live here?

Krissie: Yeah

Dominique: When you came to visit what did you do?

Krissie: Hang with family. We go out. We do all sorts of stuff.

Dominique: Are there different foods in Jamaica?

Krissie: Yes there are trust me they are good. For Thanksgiving, girl the food brought me back to Jamaica.

Dominique: What kind of food did you have?

Krissie: We had like, there are so many. This might sound weird but we had curried goat, cow’s foot. It’s not as nasty as it sounds. It taste great or we have pig’s tails that is like pork chops.

Dominique: Are there a lot of meats?

Krissie: Yeah there are a lot of vegetables and things.

Dominique: Do you have different types of mixtures like salads?

Krissie: Well, I guess you can say that, we had cauli, broccoli, chop suey, other greens I don’t like; I just can’t remember the name.

Dominique: Do you have a lot of restaurants in Jamaica and like grocery stores?

Krissie: There are more grocery stores than restaurants but there are a lot of restaurants. It’s like we have a lot. It’s expensive so not a lot of people go out. We have like people that are higher class and of course they go out.

Dominique: So is your mom the one that cooks all the dinner, or your grandma?

Krissie: Here or back in Jamaica?

Dominique: You can say Jamaica first.

Krissie: Thanksgiving we don’t celebrate it as much as you do here, but we do celebrate it. Just not as much. Here my grandma did most of the cooking because she lived in Jamaica longer than any of us and she has more tricks and remedies and stuff to put with food which is better because we have a whole bunch of seasonings in Jamaica which makes the food taste great. We can take American food and put Jamaican seasonings in it and it’s like a whole different taste:

Dominique: Do you have holidays other than what we do?

Krissie: Yes, we have Labor Day, but it’s held on a different day. We have Independence Day which ya’ll have and Emancipation Day. I don’t know if you have that. We have a couple different ones.

Dominique: Do you have different religions?

Krissie: We have the same as the other countries. We have one different called Rastafarianism.

Dominique: What religion are you?

Krissie: I am Christian.

Dominique: Do you guys celebrate Christmas and Easter since you’re Christian?

Krissie: Yes, for Easter we just go to church. We don’t do the egg thing. I don’t even get that.

Dominique: Yes, we have an Easter bunny but that’s a little kid thing.

Krissie: Easter Bunny?

Dominique: Yeah in the U.S. we have an Easter Bunny. So do you celebrate Christmas the same way we do with presents and a big tree?

Krissie: Because we push the meaning of Christmas like Christ’s birth. We do have the presents and Santa Claus even though we know he is real or was real. We push the real meaning of Christmas. We have decorations of Christ in a manger, but not much of Santa. The most we have of him is the stockings and Santa hats. We still do the presents and decorate the tree, but the big idea is Christ birth.

Dominique: How are the houses and neighborhoods different in Jamaica?

Krissie: We build our houses more out of concrete than wood which is better for the environment and stuff. We also have them because the seasons don’t change. Like if we had snow, that concrete would freeze the house. Some of the neighborhoods are different to it depends on where you live.

Dominique: What area did you live in?

Krissie: Well I was like middle class, so my house was as big as they are out here. They aren’t big but they aren’t small. They are big enough to hold a couple of people. It depends on how many bedrooms and bathrooms you want too.

Dominique: So did you build your house?

Krissie: No, it’s like a community. It was already built like advertised and stuff.

Dominique: How close were you to your neighbors? Were you like friends?

Krissie: I don’t think we ever had an issue with our neighbors. We would trade with them, like if we had produce in our backyard.

Dominique: Like farming?

Krissie: Not really like farming. Like say we had an apple tree like that, it would be like hey neighbor, do you want a couple? We shared like that.

Dominique: I’m going to go back to the school thing. How was your curriculum different?

Krissie: Well, first of all, ya’ll have like preschool, pre-preschool, and like kindergarten then you go to 1st grade and 2nd grade and so on. Well, we have like before kindergarten we have this thing like preschool but more like a daycare and when you’re in kindergarten you learn your ABC’s and 123’s the difference between a cat and a dog, how to color, stuff like that. Then we have like your 1st grade you start when you’re 6 or 7. It goes up to 6th grade primary school. 1st through 6th is like primary, and 7th grade through 12th grade

Dominique: Is it more challenging?

Krissie: No cause in Jamaica we are more ahead.

Dominique: So are you passing in the school you are at now? Is it easy for you?

Krissie: Yes and it’s not completely easy. I do remember a lot though.

Dominique: Well that’s all the time we have. Thank you for coming.

Analysis
This experience was a nice one for her. In class I did some geography on her country. While I was asking her the questions she would kind of say what I had researched before. Other than that she told me stuff that was kind of different from what we talked about in class. We were mostly talking about big main countries but she was from a little country called Jamaica.

In Jamaica she was going through a recession. Every time they would receive money they would have to spend it. That is one of the reasons her family came to the United States. Their recession was worse than the one here like they were struggling to make enough money to life. They also had a lot of their family here in the U.S. That’s how they decided to come here.