T Travels: Yay! Not the Babies Anymore!

Yesterday the new group of Peace Corps Volunteers arrived in Guyana. Welcome Guy 23! Now we, in Guy 22, are no longer the babies (I jump because I am not the baby anymore!)! Tim, Sara and I, along with a few other Guy 22ers met the new group at the airport with excitement. It brought back memories of our arrival, or rather, brought me back to that fuzzy place in my mind where my memory should have been, but I was too exhausted/excited/overwhelmed/hot/etc. to really take in what was happening to me at the time. It was great sitting on the bus with the new group and seeing Guyana through their new eyes. Often Trainees would lean over to me and ask questions, which I was happy to be able to answer. But mostly I tried not to narrate Guyana too much. I feel like we all have to experience Guyana on our own to really know it, so instead I just sat back and enjoyed watching the faces of my new colleagues taking in the awesome sights and first impressions of Guyana. Anyway, I didn't get much time to hang out with the newbies since they were whisked away into training sessions almost immediately.

I am looking forward to getting to know the Trainees better when I spend all next week at the training site to help facilitate sessions. This year, PC Guyana split the Trainees into 2 groups to be trained in a remote site and an urban site, in the hopes that those who eventually go remote will be better prepared for their experience. And, although I live in the second largest town in the entire country, I will be spending most of my time helping teach the Trainees in the remote site. Go figure. I guess PC thought because I have ventured into the interior a few times for outreaches I can speak better to the issues than my other colleagues can? Who knows. I will do my best and hopefully focus on technical training info. Ha! This city gyal is just as excited to be spending some time in the bush as the Remoties are.

We spent the rest of yesterday cleaning the PC Lounge (our haven when we are in G/Town) to make the newbies feel welcome, eating pizza and celebrating our fellow Volunteer's second Guyana birthday with chocolate ice cream, brownies and pretzel M&Ms!

Today is a national holiday in Guyana, Youman Nabi, a Muslim holiday celebrating the birth of the prophet Mohammed, so we got the day off work to lounge around the PC office, order chicken burgers and take our leisurely time traveling home to Linden.

Tim and I are now snug back at our site. As I am blogging and uploading photos Tim is experimenting making pepper sauce for the first time. Pepper is a super spicy Guyanese hot sauce that we love to add to most food. Since we had a ton of hot peppers growing in our garden faster than we could use them, Tim decided to try his hand at home-made pepper. Check out the results of this experiment on Hobbit Food in the near future.

Tomorrow I am recording my third episode of the Health Watch TV show and Friday Sara and I will be conducting small group check ins with our Be Safe! Facilitators for the first time since we did the initial training 3 weeks ago.

Life continues to be full of surprises and excitement. For example, when we came home today we found Simeon (the daddy long leg spider who lives in our bathroom) had caught and eaten a GIANT bug and had it all wrapped up like a burrito. We went to a super fun one year in Guyana party last weekend at another PCV's house. It was a costume party with an alter-ego theme and that was a blast. Emily and Heather sent me jeggings (jean leggings) and I bought a matching top to wear and actually wore them out in public, which made me laugh so much since it is a fashion I abhor, but is very stylish in Guyana (so I felt very integrated...). Rasta kitty seems less freaked out about being baby-less and even snuggled up to sleep on my legs the other night which she hasn't done since she had kittens (but sort of freaked me out since I woke up thinking I had no feet...). Tim and I made falafels from scratch, affirming the versatility and our love of chickpeas. And my best friend, Emily went to visit my mom on Valentine's day to give her flowers and a card “from me and Tim” which just proves once again that she is the most awesome, thoughtful, amazing woman and I am so lucky to have her as a friend! Emily, I love you more than chickpeas!

On a whole, all the activity, both work and fun, is making January and February fly by! We are very very very excited about or visit home coming up in a month and a half! We miss everyone back home very much but we are well aware of all your love and continued support!