100!!!!!!!!

This is our 100^th blog! It is hard to believe that we have been writing on this blog for 23 months and have written 100 entries! To commemorate our adventure thus far we summed up what we were up to each month of blogging and even created a word cloud using one entry from each month. Check it out!

December 2009: Found out our assignment to Guyana, accepted it and said our first good byes to family and friends.

January 2010: Moved out of our apartment in San Diego, said more good byes

February 2010: Finished work at Health Sciences High, left San Diego and arrived in Guyana and started Pre-Service training, met our host family

March 2010: Learned tons in Pre-service training, went to visit older volunteers for a week visit, more learning, got our site placement

April 2010: Swore in as official Peace corps Volunteers, moved to Linden, started work on our projects, Tim turned 29

May 2010: Found Rasta kitty, celebrated with fellow Lindeners at Town Week, explored our region on outreach trips, Sara turned 24, witnessed a baby born at the health center

June 2010: Adventured around Guyana, floundered a bit with our projects, celebrated our one year weddinged anniversary

July 2010: Watched almost every FIFA World Cup soccer match, met back up with our training group for a reconnect training meeting

August 2010: Built our own bookcases and dressers from plyboard, planted papaya trees in our front yard, Chelsea turned 25

September 2010: Struggled with various tropical maladies, enjoyed an amazing vacation in Barbados, met with our counterparts for a project planning conference

October 2010: Midwifed for Rasta when she had her kittens, organized and distributed thousands of unused books for schools throughout the region, finished writing teacher training manual

November 2010: Celebrated Thanksgiving with fellow PCVs and Sara's family, started working as the host for local TV program Health Watch

December 2010: Attempted a trip into the interior to visit friends, got stranded and learned patience and acceptance, had a wonderful Christmas celebration at home in Linden with enchiladas and friends

January 2011: Finished training for the Be Safe program, big project accomplishments, got staph infections, cured said infections

February 2011: New training group arrived in Guyana, facilitated tons of training sessions with the newbies, marched in costume in the G/town Mashramani parade, dressed as our alter egos for a party commemorating our 1 year in Guyana anniversary

March 2011: Continued to help with newbie training, completed the Be Safe! Program and hosted a well-deserved graduation ceremony, planned and executed first annual Linden young authors fair

April 2011: Visited home in the U.S. For a month, kicked it with our families and friends, gorged ourselves on American fare and libations, Tim's dirty 30^th birthday

May 2011: Started running with the Guyana Hash House Harriers, attended mid-service training conference, dealt with broken computer frustrations, cried over a sick baby, then busted butt to get him help and save his little life

June 2011: Worked with remedial teachers in secondary schools, planned/stressed over our future plans, survived without a fridge when it broke for a month, celebrated our 2^nd weddinged anniversary

July 2011: Traveled to Shell Beach and watched leatherback turtles lay eggs, professional development with summer school teachers, started law school applications

August 2011: Kept on keeping on with so so many different projects, Chelsea's 26^th birthday celebrated in Barbados when we made a short stop there in the way back to the States

September 2011: Joyously celebrated D+L's wedding back in Oregon and enjoyed family and friends for 2 weeks, experienced ancient Guyanese culture at the Amerindian Heritage festival, submitted law school applications

October 2011: Submitted grant for an infant nutrition class, hosted excellent activities for Education Month, celebrated Diwali, good things still to come......

It's Feeling Real

All week I have been in the Georgetown area helping out with PST. I received a call last week Thursday about coming down, and even though I had few plans for this week at site, I was able to pass them off to my counterparts and spend this week with the newbs. It’s pretty exciting since they will be swearing in on my birthday (April 13th) and boy, are they ready. I am super stoked because by the time I get back to site we will have a week left before we board a plane to come for our vist.

It’s Feeling Real!!!

These last few weeks, Chels has been really excited about our trip home, but me, I’m more of a visceral, present-living person. It’s not that I am not excited too, but my idea of the future stretches about 7 days or so if not less. (I think this helps things go quicker) In other words, I am not a super-planner, I go with what is in front of me, and for the most part it works out. But this is why Chelsea is soooo good for me she helps me think ahead and balances me out, so my schedules don’t get crossed or I forget to mark something down on the calendar. And, of course, cause she is amazing. :)

But now this trip home is within my “reality zone” and I can’t wait to visit family and friends and spend almost a month resting, vacationing and soaking up Americanism (which I hope does not include diabetes … Just kidding, I just read an amazing book on running and nutrition, and the western diet…but this is beside the point) We have a week and counting. I am at HQ right now, doing some work that needs to be done before we depart then back to training tomorrow. Can’t wait to see you all! Maybe have a pint or two.

End of Training, Linden Life Begins

Here are some photos from our last few weeks of training:

 

Linden Life: 

Soaked through, we walked beneath a massive rainstorm. It was our first storm here in country, but it won’t be the last. We’re finally placed at our site and it’s wonderful. We drove down here the other day with all our stuff. It was hilarious to watch the four of us “white people” take up the 8 rows in the back of large bus. And after getting to Linden we drove around looking for our house, which no one really knew where to find it. We had to call our landlady to give us proper direction, but it all worked out in the end.

Tony, Sara, Chelsea, and I all live in the same house. Tony and Sara live on the bottom in their own respective apartments, while Chelsea and I live on the top floor. There isn’t much here just a couch, a table, a few chairs, and a bed.  We were also left some plates, cutlery, and teacups. Though we each live in our own space we tend to gather upstairs to eat dinner and watch movies, crowded around our computer.  

We’ve been to market and met many, many people from market vendors to friends of friends who knew we were here, to just people on the street who stop us to have a “gaff” (I mean 4 white people walking through the streets is not exactly inconspicuous.)  Anyway, so far the people have been simply amazing.

But here are couple little vignettes to share, I am sure Tony can tell the tale with more humor and vigor, but I’ll give it my best shot.

On our first morning Tony’s counterpart came by and said she’d walk us around town for a bit, but first she wanted us to meet the Regional Health Officer (RHO), who is in charge all the hospitals in the Administrative Region. So we go the regional office, shaking hands describing our situation. Eventually, we make it to the back the building and a suit-clad woman walks out from the door at the end of the hall. This is the RHO we intended to meet. We give our introductions and mention that we hope we can work together in the future. She goes back to the meeting.

Out she comes again, “Excuse, excuse, but the policy-makers want to meet you,” she says. With our eyes wide with excitement mixed with nervousness we agree to go in. We walk in and see a circle of tables fill the room. There are a couple of tables to the sides with clerks taking copious notes on the proceedings and then they make a motion to suspend the meeting to introduce us!  For perspective, think of yourself walking into the State Legislature and them stopping whatever they are doing to introduce you. Granted, this was on a much smaller scale, but it was still a pretty big deal. So basically we have been officially introduced into the record of the region.

So here’s another story I like to call “4 white folks and a big bunch of rope”. We were setting up our clothesline this morning when our 3 lbs of yellow line became unfurled and turned into a giant tangled knot. Sara organized the line, while Tony and Chelsea were attempting to tie our line to “sturdy” post; yeah it didn’t work. However, our gracious neighbor offered his assistance and he was able to whip that line in to a taut, operational line in no time. But the image of four of us struggling was classic.

 

As I wrote this post a miracle occurred. WE HAVE STRUNG UP OUR HAMMOCK! Now, I know you in your comforts of the first world can’t even imagine the beauty of hammocks, but trust me they are miraculous. I didn’t think we’d be able to string one up because our house is entirely made of concrete, but the amazing resourcefulness of Tony and Chelsea has no peer. It’s true; necessity is the mother of invention!

April 14th, 2010

So I wrote the above post about two weeks ago before I started work, and I wanted to expand on it.

We’re still doing very well. We eat such good meals from pizza to “burritos” to a Guyanese dish called “Cook up.” We still all get along really well and we started an exercise regimen. Tony and I jog three times a week, usually in the morning since it gets so hot here during the day. We also work on some core, arms, and I usually do legs. It has only been a week, but the habit is forming and I feel better already.

Chelsea and Sara have their own routine. They brave the streets and walk every morning and then do their own workouts. I hear the best stories when they come home. They are constantly catcalled or “sipped” at (which is this sucking/kissing sound that the Guyanese do so well); labeled “white meat”, “baby”, “beautiful” or the men call out random, American sounding names like “Mary”,“Susan” and sometimes they get lucky and call out “Sara”, which is quite disconcerting; they are asked to be married; and also asked if they would have peoples Guyanese babies. It quickly gets old, and hopefully it will get better when they realize we are community members and not going anywhere. 

Work has been going. I have been visiting schools, talking with Head Teachers (HMs), and regular teachers to see where I can be the most valuable. So far I think I am going to focus on improving literacy, IT training (MS word, Excel, etc.), and classroom management through student empowerment. The Health Center crew is doing their own thing: wading their way through weighing babies, one-on-one nutrition consultations, and talking with nurses in terms of Youth Friendly Services.  We are all still searching for our primary niche and project.

It was my birthday yesterday and I wanted to thank everyone who wished me well: Thank you all for your support and love. I wanted to thank my roommates too who made my B-day in Guyana extra special with their thoughtful, yet practical gifts. It was a wonderful 29^th.

Anyway, if you haven’t noticed I have also posted pictures on our blogs so you can see a bit more of what we’re experiencing. We’re still thinking about getting a photo site to store our photos, but for now I hope you can enjoy the ones we’ve shared.

Much Love,

T & C

Host Volunteer Visits and Site Placement

More jungle than expected: Chelsea's HVV

I flew into Mabaruma in Region 1, the northern most region of Guyana, on Monday. From the plane the only thing I could see was vast green jungle, interspersed with brown, snaking rivers. Mabaruma is a small village, although it is the political center of the region. 

I stayed in a house with two Peace Corps Volunteers and throughout the week they showed me that living on your own in Guyana is not as intimidating as I thought. I stayed with a health volunteer who works with the Red Cross on water sanitation projects throughout Region 1 and another who is an education volunteer who splits her time between working with a sea turtle conservation project on Shell Beach and working creating an environmental club in a secondary school here in Mabaruma. I have gotten to shadow both PCVs during their days and learn about their projects and also daily life. 

Practical things I have learned: 1. Soaking marigolds in water overnight will make water that serves as a natural pesticide to ward centipedes off your garden. 2. Soaking pineapple skins in water for a few hours then squeezing them will make a yummy juice. 3. Spices are a commodity here and make cooking so much easier. 4. A Guyanese phrase I like is, "please for..." to ask for something. As in, "Please for some spices and seasonings in care packages."

During this week I visited the Regional Hospital, stopped in the Admin buildings to introduce myself, met the VSOs, World Teach Volunteers and Missionaries who are also working on projects in Mabaruma, watched the education volunteer teach a lesson to nursery school students on self esteem, visited the secondary school and watched an agriculture/farming class, cooked meals and baked a cake for my host's birthday, played pool, went on a trip up the river to visit some Amerindian villages for her water sanitation project and taught a drama class with the secondary school students to help with a skit the health volunteer had written for the Red Cross to promote hygiene and proper hand washing. The most fun I had was facilitating the drama class. I can really see myself using theater as a teaching tool to promote healthy habits here in Guyana. It was so fun to see the kids open up to the goofy games I played with them. School here is usually a lot of memorization and very little creative processes so the kids aren't used to having adults acting silly and they cracked up when I made funny faces and played tongue twister games with them.

The trip up the river was also an amazing experience. I had one of those, "Holy crap, I am really in Guyana." moments when I was motoring up the river, lined with jungle, in a small speed boat and suddenly the boat turned into what I thought was the river bank. It actually was a small creek covered entirely in jungle canopy. We slowed the boat down as we navigated the twisty creek and I stared into the wilderness at colorful birds, butterflies, dragonflies and other bugs whizzing by. Our destination was an Amerindian village where one of the PCTs in my groups will end up being placed. It was exciting to see one of the sites where my colleagues will actually work. While my host tested the water quality in the newly built village well I met the Toshau, or village chairman. I learned how excited the village is to get a Volunteer. Even though the village has never had a volunteer before there are other projects going on, started by VSOs and NGOs like the Red Cross that a volunteer could get involved in. It is reassuring to realize that we aren't going to be starting from scratch and have a lot of resources already in place.  

The Bush (Part 1 and only): Tim's HVV

It’s been a few weeks since we’ve written. Within that time we both have experienced a crazy host visit to another part of the country. So grab a beverage and come along with me on my quest into the remote interior of Guyana.

My journey begins in G-town with a 14-hour bus ride. The first two hours weren’t too bad; we had a nice paved road to a town called Linden (psst our new site, but hold steady). However, once past that town the road turned to dirt and jungle scraped by on either side of us as we made our way south to Lethem.

The bus weaved, accelerated, decelerated as potholes and fallen trees tried to black our way. Trees rose like padded bowling gutters on each side, which made me feel so constrained. I slipped in and out of consciousness occasionally jolting awake on heavy turns or exceptionally hard bumps. Moreover, if there was a smooth patch we were unsystematically awakened as we stopped at numerous checkpoints where our passports were shown and our names checked off a master roster.

Jungle moved to canopy, to deep greens, to clear night skies to even a ferry that the bus needed to stop on to cross one of the numerous rivers that filled the interior. But as dawn broke, the trees thinned and the savanna rolled by: greens, browns, reds, all earthy, natural colors showed in shifts as the bus bumped along. Trees stood in the distance surrounded by stunted brush, as hazy mountains, topped by clouds, stood sentry over unknown lands.

I was awed and this was only the beginning. There was still a multi-houred ride to and then outside of Lethem to actually get to my site.

Intrigued, I entered a village of approximately 400 persons. The houses were primarily made with adobe brick and thatched roofs. There was a giant, circular meeting place called a benob (sp?) where the village holds special events like public meetings (which I had the opportunity to attend) or village dances.  The village itself was not too spread out and there were only two places that had electricity, by means of solar panels, the health post and this local agency’s “office.”

Mountains rose in the distance some closer than others, but the concept of distance there was very strange. Since the village was mostly on flat grasslands, things appeared closer than they actually were. For example, something that looked like it could be an easy walk was actually 6 miles away. Similarly, the primary means of transportation was either a horse or a bicycle.

On the first day where I was lucky enough to catch a glimpse of the village political scene, which was like most other political scenes but on a smaller scale. There were powerplays, loud-talkers, and logical ones discoursing their wants. Hours passed, and I was incredibly grateful for the bed that night. 

Throughout the course of the week I took many pictures which I will put up once we figure out the internet situation, which should happen within the next 3 to 4 weeks or so (we have our placement, in a large town in Guyana)

As the week progressed I was able to accomplish many things in a short time. I met with some local farmers and families; I watched a rooster be killed (then we ate him) with his own wing feather (I think the irony was lost in the situation.) I slept in a hammock most nights, which was an experience in itself and I lived without a close source of running water or electricity for a week.

On Wednesday, I, and few other PCTs, were able to help an Amer-Indian farmer clear his recently burned fields and we also bathed in some cool, clear waters of a local creek, which felt amazing after such back breaking labor. We also witnessed Cassava, which is the staple for most Amer-Indians in Guyana, being grown almost ready for harvesting. This root is amazing, they use it to make booze, bread, and so many other things. It was tremendous to witness such resourcefulness.

On another day, with my host volunteer, we took a 2.5-hour horse ride through grasslands, mountains, and numerous trees with a local, indigenous guide to an archeological site called Skull Mountain. And, for truth, there were actual human skulls and bones there. They resided in very old clay pots that were so round I was amazed they were made by human hands. We were able to snap some photos and also investigate some ancient Neolithic rock paintings.  Then we retraced our steps and headed back to the village for a little rest and relaxation.

Now as I flew out on Saturday I watched the land pass beneath this rickety plane and reflected on the past week and two major things came to mind. First, it was a positive experience and if Chelsea and I were given a remote a site we’d be able to survive. Second, I didn’t want a remote site.

Which is why I was so grateful when we were given our placement.

SITE PLACEMENT!!!

We are going to be living and working in a town called Linden in Region 10. It is the largest town, outside of capital of Georgetown. Tim is going to be working with the Department of Education doing curriculum building throughout all of the Region. Chelsea is going to be working in a health center alongside the Regional health officer to promote health in Linden and hopefully beyond. We will be living with two other PCVs (both of whom are super cool) in a shared house that has three separate apartments in it. Our house will have electricity at all times of the day and night, running water and, potentially internet access. We don't want to get too descriptive about our new site until we get there because we don't want to get our (and your) hopes up if it turns out to be something other than we expect. Nevertheless, our site is urban, with the potential of doing outreach work in the rest of the rural parts of the region so we hope to get the best of both worlds. 

We only have two more weeks of training and then we will no longer be PCTs (Trainees) but full-fledged VOLUNTEERS!  More info to come...we are running out of time in the internet cafe. But, if you haven't heard, we now have Facebook on our phone so post a note on our wall (we can't read messages sent via facebook) if you want to connect with us quickly and easily. 

Lots of love to all!!! We miss you and hope all is well at home. Stay in touch! 

-C&T

The Waiting Game

Currently, we're sitting in the Peace Corps office, waiting. We're about to embark on our HVVs or Host Volunteer Visits where we visit a current volunteer for a week to see how they live their lives. I'm (Tim) off to the south-west side of Guyana, near Brazil, while Chelsea is heading to the northeast, near Venezuela. It's a pretty exciting time, but also a little nerve wracking. From what I’ve heard, my volunteer lives in a mud hut with no electricity or running water. Moreover, the rumor is he rides a horse to work, or at least used too. It is going to be a completely different experience than I would ever think of doing. So on one hand I am really excited to spend a week in this remote site, but on the other I’m nervous at how it will all play out. But I’ve always told myself that I did not join the Corps for a pleasure cruise.


These past few weeks have been interesting. We have to balance a heavy training schedule with integration into our community and host family. In training we have started visiting health centers and schools to become familiar with the system and actual practical work that we might be doing when we reach our permanent site. In the schools, there is definitely room for improvement. There are some wonderful teachers who really care about their job and their students, but there are many teachers who don’t have incentives to even come to work or just don’t care. Both times that I have visited schools teachers have been absent and the students are left to their own devices because there isn’t a reliable network of substitutes in Guyana. Interestingly enough, I am working in a very professional school and I have heard that other schools have it worse. I am looking forward to using what I have learned at HSHMC to encourage teachers to incorporate creativity in curriculum, new literary strategies, build student self esteem and empowerment, and bring new classroom management techniques to the classroom.

Chelsea has had her own experiences in the health centers and is learning that the focus on preventative health care in Guyana depends heavily on access to resources. When a regional hospital is nearby the smaller, local health centers are stocked with sufficient supplies and staff. However, most of the remote villages lack even basic medical supplies like gloves and immunizations. The doctors and medex are knowledgeable in the most common issues among their patients, like diabetes, hypertension, and common respiratory and GI issues, but Chelsea was surprised to find one doctor who couldn’t recommend any treatment for a man with a kidney stone. The Doc had sent the man to the regional hospital to have an ultrasound and when he returned with a confirmed stone, she prescribed him pain meds and told him that since it was small they couldn’t do anything about it. Due to her unfortunate previous experience, Chelsea was able to recommend to him that he drink lots and lots of water and cranberry juice and give him her sympathy as he waited for it to pass. We both have a lot of work to do here in Guyana, mainly in terms of education, both in health centers and schools and are happy that we are here.

Jobs aside we’re learning so, so much about Guyanese culture. This last week and tomorrow we joined this heavily spiritual culture celebrate not only their “Republic Day” but also an Islamic holiday (The Prophets birthday) and a Hindu Holiday called Phagwah which is the beginning of the Hindu season of spring. All three days are recognized by the government as bank holidays, if you will (businesses shut down). Apparently there are 13 recognized holidays in Guyana where there is no school and business can close if they want. Notably, two holidays are Islamic, two are Hindu, and two are Christian. Then, of course, there are days like Independence Day and Mash (Republic Day) and others which we haven’t experienced yet. It’s a great hodgepodge if colors, celebrations, and spirituality.

We had a great time on Republic Day looking at floats created within the coastal communities (one of which, Chelsea would like to note, was a giant black penis wrapped in saran wrap to promote AIDS awareness), dancing, and spending time with our families and other PCTs. We even had a talent show this Friday last where many of the Trainees showcased their talents, and let me say we are a talented bunch! It was real good fun.

But I grow long winded, we still are working on the picture situation, but will definitely post some pictures when we get a chance. But until next week when we both tell of our HVV adventures, we hope everyone will be well and keep hope alive!


T & C

Our First Week in Guyana: Reflections

As we hurtled across the Essequibo river, the widest in Guyana, on our bumpy, splashing speedboat, we wondered what our host family would be like. Guyana is such a diverse country, in terms of the types of people and geography, that your experiences can vary depending on where you are. Mainly Guyanese people are either Indian or African or native American Indian by descent. Within these racial differences, Guyanese adhere to a diverse range of religions, mostly Hindu, Christian and Muslim. Your experience of a “traditional” Guyanese family would vary depending on what their socioeconomic status was and where in the country they lived. With all these factors unknown to us, we had a lot to imagine as we whizzed by islands on our 45 minute speedboat journey to the coast.

By now of course, we have been living with our host family for four nights. They are amazing people. We live with an Indo-Guyanese family in a small village on the Essequibo coast. Our family is big, busy and welcoming. They have hosted one Peace Corps volunteer before so they have been through some of the hilarious adventures of teaching us how to live in this wild country. Our host mother has three grown sons. She and her youngest son live with us in the house. She runs a general store out of the front of the house. Our brother works at a bank as a small business loans coordinator and is a very active volunteer at the local branch of the Lions club. Our yard is connected to a back house where the middle brother lives with his wife and two young girls, ages 6 and 3. They are busy people as well. This brother has his own business selling fowl, like baby chicks and such, and birdfeed and his wife works at a large appliance store in a neighboring village. The oldest brother and his wife live a few houses down the road from us and he also owns a business in transporting and selling farming supplies. Because our family is so industrious there are always people coming into the yard to do business. It has been, and will continue to be, a great way for us to be introduced to the community.

Our Guyanese family is doing a great job of teaching us how to adapt. They answer all our questions and bring us out with them when they go out on business or leisure. So far we have met many neighbors and know our way around the coast fairly well. Our host mother is teaching us how to cook, mainly she is teaching me, Chelsea, since women do most of the cooking around here. But Tim gets his butt into the kitchen too. Our mom  makes great Indian food. So far I have learned how to make chana (spiced boiled chickpeas), chicken curry (with a whole chicken that I was shown how to prepare by chopping it up with a machete) and saada roti (a puffy bread type item). I don’t know how to spell any of these things and my success when I cook them by myself next time is doubtful. However, it is really fun to learn. We have both been shown how to do our laundry by hand. Even though we have a washing machine, it is unlikely that we will have one in our own home so we have to learn how to do it by hand for when we go out on our own. It is hard work but results in nice, clean smelling laundry when we pull it off the line.
 

In addition to the in-house learning we’ve learned many thing via the Peace Corps. We’ve done intensive cultural studies on the Guyanese including their etiquette, social norms, and gender roles. The lessons are too many to mention and we’ve only been here a little over a week, but needless to say we’ve also focused sustainable project development and integration in to the community. The Peace Corps has also provided us with texts to support their in-class learning, and I think we have more on the way. I (Tim) am super excited; I love books and I love learning new things and community development is definitely something I’ve never tried my hand at.

Last Saturday (the 13^th) our host mom took us for a walk around the community. We met so many neighbors, and everyone is so welcoming. We’d go to house after house sometimes being invited inside where they plied us with food and drink and other times we’d just sit and “gaff” (or chat) out by their main gates after we were introduced by our host mother. It is a wondrous culture and everyday we’re learning something new.

But, of course, it is not all stuffy studying (not that I’m complaining) we’ve had so many experiences and one happened “just now” on Valentine’s Sunday.

We woke early Sunday morning after a great night hanging out with our middle brother, his family, some friends, and another PC Trainee. We were laying in some hammocks, taking some breeze, with a mug of coffee in one hand and the other behind our heads, watching the eastern sky turn from orange to blue, when our middle brother came out from his house in the back. The night before he’d mentioned he might be going fishing next morning, and with nothing planned we said,  “Sure, sure.”  So he came out front and queried if we were still interested. As the Peace Corps recommends, we accepted the invitation as another chance to learn about Guyanese culture. 

After making some calls our brother organized the trip with his uncle, who is taking care of another PCT, to come down to the trenches away from the beaten path. We piled into his big yellow truck he usually uses for deliveries of his feed with Chelsea, his wife, and him in cab, while I was in the open truck bed with his two daughters and a cousin who is visiting in town from Trinidad, where he works and lives presently. We made our way down the Public Road and picked up the other Trainee and some more cousins then turned off of the road to the rice fields in what we call here the back dam.

Field after field bumped by. Some were green with vitality, while others were dead and fallow. It has been a bad year for rain, so many fields aren’t blooming as they should, but this did not subtract from the beauty of our surroundings. Coconut trees lined the border of the fields, twisting and turning on their quest to find the sun (not a hard quest here in this country). Cows pastured and long-necked, white birds perched in the verdant paddies. Dragonflies whirred in our wake sometimes coming in swarms, other times only few buzzed behind us. A pall of dust, kicked up from our truck, only enhanced the magnitude of the scene. By the time we’d finally arrived at the end of the road I was covered, head to toe, in wondrous white particles (Chelsea just said I looked filthy).

We walked to the edge of the trench, which, like the fields, was low on liquid. We picked our way through bushes and razor grass and then began to fish. Well, us white kids watched, while our host families used the nets to capture fish. They pulled up a variety of Guyanese local fish, including a pirreye, or piranha (not edible, in fact it will try to eat you), some edible fish, which will no doubt be on our plates any day now, and we even snagged a small alligator in the net but it swam away before we could get a good look at it. After some time the fishermen forgot about the net and just jumped in and began fishing with their bare hands, feeling the water for the fish, then, when they’d get one, they’d toss it to shore where one of the little ones picked it up and tossed it in the bucket. It was an experience and very impressive.

Another great experience we were lucky enough to share with our host family was a Hindu holiday at their church, or mandir, celebrating the original form in which the god Shiva appeared to mankind. We had planned ahead to join our youngest brother and host mother last Friday, the 12^th. So, when we got home from school they had laid out some appropriate Indian garb for us to wear. Both of us looked pretty dashing in our bright, colorful outfits. We spent the evening chanting and singing in Hindi and, later, enjoying a snack of fruit, puri and sweet rice with the rest of the devotees in our community. We felt really welcomed and it was a nice way to relax and spend some time in meditation and prayer. All in all it was really enjoyable, I am sure we will go again sometime in the rest of our two month stay here.

In the next few weeks I imagine we will be really busy with work but there is a national holiday coming up next Tuesday, the 23^rd called Mashramani, or Republic Day. Most PCTs plan to head out to a nearby lake for some swimming, water sports and learn how to play cricket. We are really looking forward to it. So, we will try to get an update up sometime after Mash.

We miss you all at home and hope that all is going well. Let us know how things are or just send us an email or letter, old snail mail style. We’d love to hear an update from home. Sending lots of love!!!!

C&T

Strangers in a Strange Land

We are strangers in a strange land, but we are learning.

Since the minute we arrived at Cheddi Jagan International Airport in Guyana we have been in training. Our mission: to integrate into the Guyanese culture enough to accomplish the three main Peace Corps goals: to use our skills to help Guyana meet their needs for trained manpower, to help promote a better understanding of American culture abroad and to promote an understanding of Guyanese culture in America.

Guyana is an amazingly beautiful country. Our first view was spectacular. As we descended from the sky, a large river loomed into view, snaking through the hazy, green jungle. The airport, so minor compared to those in States, rose to meet us with its open arms. We shuffled off the plane and the heat was such a relief from the blaring cold of New York. But then the humidity smacked us full on; and it was only 7 in the morning.

The staff and some current volunteers of PC Guyana met us at the airport and escorted us to a nearby resort (a.k.a. a popular hotel with a man-made lake, a destination spot for water activities) where we immediately began our information sessions. Many of our trainers are from Guyana so we have to traverse the Guyanese accent (think Lady Cleo) and catch on to Creolese (basically grammatically improper English). Some of our favorite new sayings are, ‘Small up’ which means ‘scoot over and make room for me’ and ‘walk wit’ which means ‘bring along/take it with you’, as in “Always walk wit your water bottle so you don’t get dehydrated”.  Sorry Dad, we will probably return with very poor grammar.

Yesterday and today’s lessons included Safety and Security, Water Safety (we had to show we are competent in the water by putting on a life vest and floating, kayaking, and swimming a few meters. It was truly hilarious to watch, as many of our trainers did, the 35, mostly white Americans splashing around in three feet of water), Medical Orientation (where we got shot up with yellow fever and rabies and were issued malaria pills), a tour of Georgetown, and an overview of the schedule for our two month training. We also opened a Guyanese bank account and toured the PC Headquarters in G-town.

Tomorrow our community based training begins. We will travel, by bus and speedboat, over the river and through the jungle to the Essequibo Coast. There we will meet our host family!!! Although we will miss the A/C here in the hotel, we are excited to begin orienting ourselves to the real Guyana; the Guyana where, they say, we have to wash our own clothes by hand, cook our own meals (with our families of course) and interact with Guyanese other than our trainers and the staff at the hotel.

We are very tired but we are writing this blog in our hotel room before we turn in with the hopes that we will have a moment tomorrow to upload it when we stop by PCHQ before heading to the coast.  We don’t know when we will be able to post again, or when we will be on Skype but we will keep you posted. The good news is that phone service here is fairly affordable and if we get a GT&T plan we can text any AT&T people in the U.S. We probably won’t do this for the next two months because we are waiting to see if our permanent site has satellite service.

Oh, and as a matter of business, if you plan on sending us any packages please write us an email first so we can give you tips to get it to us with ease. PC staff told us all packages are inspected and we have to pay tariffs on any items inside and there are ways to make this process easier, so email us ahead of time. Thanks!

Now we will say goodnight, which as we found out only after much confusion, is also the common way to say ‘hello’ when you are passing someone on the street at night in Guyana. So ‘goodnight’ and goodnight.