Mash Time Again!

Mashramani, or Mash, is Guyana’s equivalent of Carnaval. In Arawak, an indigenous Guyanese language, Mashramani means “celebration after hard work”. It is a celebration of diverse Guyanese culture and pride and involves lots of costumes, dancing, winding, drinking, partying in the streets, glitter, feathers and food! It all started in our site, Linden, in 1970. Tomorrow is the official 42^nd Mash celebration in Georgetown and it will be our third and final Mash in Guyana. In 2010 we watched a small, local parade in Essequibo and laughed our faces off because poor Sara agreed to be in the parade and was miserable on a hot, LOUD float for hours and hours. In 2011, I participated in the G/T parade and Mashed with the Ministry of Health float. That was a crack up but it was HOT and exhausting, so this year Tim and I are looking forward to watching the parade from the street with a cool beer in hand.

As a warm up for the big event in G/T tomorrow, we attended the Children’s Mash in Linden today. The little kiddos are so cute!

February Life Updates, In Bullets

• On our two year anniversary of being in Guyana we had a Mexican food fiesta! Cassie made 7-layer dip and bought tortilla chips all the way from Georgetown (a real luxury that we didn’t know how much we loved until we didn’t have them). Then Tka (a volunteer from Guy23, the PCV group after ours) came by the house with a plate of nachos! What a treat! All the food was so delicious and we really felt good about making it to this exciting milestone.

• Work continues to be busy. Although you might think that things would slow down in the last two months we are still working on wrapping up a few important projects. I am facilitating the last 5 sessions in the Food for Healthy Babies infant nutrition class (making homemade baby food and getting very, very messy with all the cute babies trying to eat it). And Tim is planning for the second annual Student Author’s fair that he originated last year. Work should slow down in mid-March, giving us just enough time to pack up our things and get on our flight out of Guyana on April 4^th.

• There are so many fun things happening between now and when we leave that we are overwhelmed with activities. Here is what we are looking forward to: helping with some training sessions for the new batch of volunteers, Guy 24, celebrating Mashramani in Georgetown with some of our best PCV friends for the last time, celebrating Pagwah for the last time, orienting the new Linden PCVs to their new home in late March, concerts and sports events in Linden and Georgetown, PCV friends visiting our site for the last time, goodbye parties and dinners. Wow! I just realized that a lot of those things are going to be extra exciting/sad/poignant since they are “lasts”.

• We have a better idea of what our epic South America whirlwind trip is going to entail. Our tentative itinerary is this: Guyana to Peru, in Peru we will go from Lima to Cusco and see Macchu Pichu then to Arequipa to see the Colca Canyon and Andean condors soaring, then on to Bolivia where we will stop in Copacabana and check out lake Titicaca and the Isla del Sol and then spend some time exploring the winding streets and craft markets of La Paz. Then we will head down to Chile, stopping at the beach towns of Arica, Iquique and Valpariso. We will spend a few days in the capital of Santiago before taking a bus over to Argentina and relaxing in the heart of Argentinian wine country in Mendoza, San Juan and Cordoba. After we have taken in the sights, mountains, volcanoes, crazy rock formations and vineyards of Argentina we will head back to Santiago, Chile and fly home to dear, old Cali. The whole trip will last a little over 6 weeks. We plan on staying in hostels and with friends and PCVs in those countries. It should be a blast. If anyone has any suggestions or knowledge of these locales, please let us know.

• I have heard back from almost all the law schools I applied to (9 out of 10, one school still is making a decision). I have been accepted to 6, rejected from 2, wait-listed at one and gotten hefty merit scholarships from 4. Ahhh, decisions! So, now I waiting to hear final scholarship and financial aid offers before I make a decision. There are three schools that I have been accepted to that I am considering seriously. I don’t want to put too much out on the interweb but here are some clues. One is in a big, glamorous city that I would love to live in but am scared because it is so crazy expensive to live there. That school hasn’t offered me any financial incentives to attend (yet) but they have a killer reputation. One school is in a location that is cheaper to live, farther away from friends and family, has a good reputation locally and has offered me a very juicy financial aid package. The final school, the farthest away from my family yet closer to Tim’s, wasn’t on my list until I found out that they offered me a competitive scholarship. They also have a great reputation and national rank but I can’t imagine Tim and me settling down there permanently and it seems counterproductive to spend three years networking in a locale from which we intend to move away from. Anyway, I am having a hard time deciding and I won’t be able to finalize anything until all the offers are on the table. It is agonizing. In fact, it would be really nice if someone would just make this huge, important decision for me. Who is game?

• Although we have started to count down the weeks (7) and sometimes even days (49) that we have left in Guyana, we are happy to be where we are right now. I saw a cool quote yesterday that sums up the mindset that we are working on maintaining right now: “Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass, it is about learning to dance in the rain.” Not all moments in our Peace Corps service have been stormy, but some have, and these last two months are certainly tumultuous and emotional. So Tim and I will just keep dancing, enjoying every moment with each other in this beautiful country, right on until the end.

The Two Year Mark

Two years ago this morning I stepped off a Delta airplane onto the tarmac at Cheddi Jagan International Airport.

I remember feeling tired, but ecstatic; afraid, but anticipatory. I had just spent the day before with 33 strangers in a room at a fancy hotel in New York, and as we disembarked from our plane it was the collective start to all of our Peace Corps journeys.

I remember winter storms and our staging point changing from Philadelphia to New York in case we couldn’t get out of Philadelphia because of the massive 2009-2010 storms. I remember freezing in the New York cold, since I had only brought clothes for a tropical climate, and waiting to get past the gate to start my life for the next two years. I remember the red-eye flight, where I tried to sleep but I was too excited, so I watched the sun rise above the cloud cover and then watched the green trees and silver rivers unfold before the descending Boeing.  I remember all of this and much, much more from that epochal day two years ago.  

These last two years, all of “we” in Guy 22 trained, learned, and grew; some of us dropped, but many more continued. We’ve all made amazing friends, we’ve all pushed ourselves beyond our known capabilities, and we’ve all stepped out of our first-world comfort zones and into our third-world lives. Like a confused chameleon, we’ve tried to blend into our communities with our personalities and passions (for most of us will never blend in through physical appearance alone). We’ve attempted to motivate our counterparts and host country nationals, and, I guarantee, we’ve all felt both the bitter sting of failure and the ecstasy of success.  It’s been a rollercoaster, all ups and downs with nowhere in between. But I would never take it back. Two years ago this morning my life changed for the better.

Oh Guyana

I would like to share a poem by my amazing friend and inspirational PCV friend, Jillian Johnson. It pretty much sums up how I am feeling as I look ahead to the ever nearing horizon of change. Thank you Jillian for your poetry!

Oh Guyana by Jillian Johnson

Oh Guyana. I hope I loved you enough.

I hope I turned up in the days that the sun was high and warm and worked hard under your heat and sweated enough.

I hope I taught you something.

I know you taught me something. Or two.

I hope the day ended feeling better than it started.

I hope the next day starts better than it ended.

I hope I tried for you enough.

I hope you felt the fast beats of my heart and the tears of my eyes.

I hope you know that I tried my best.

I hope you know that I loved your children like my own.

I hope you know that many of times they were.

I hope you see a difference because of what I did or did not do.

I know that I will be different, because of what I did and did not do.

I hope you show your beauty to others, like you have shown me.

I hope others will see your beauty that is truly here to see.

I hope you know that you brought some of my favorite people of life together: In my heart and in your country.

I hope you feel the feelings I have for you in every breath that I have left to take

I hope you know that at times it felt like it was forever, but that quickly slipped to lost when I was awake.

I hope you know that I woke up with you, dreamt of you, slept with you.

I hope you know that I broke for you, struggled for you, fought for you.

I hope you know that I loved for you, for everything and everyone you generously gave to me.

I hope you know that I cared for you and will continue you to do so daily.

Oh Guyana, I hope I loved you enough.

Seeing Sara Off

The obnoxious alarm went off at 4:30 in the morning. I opened my eyes as Chelsea struggled through the mosquito net to silence the buzzing, ringing bells from her Motorola. As I came to consciousness a thought shot through my head, ‘This could be my last morning in Guyana. I could be getting out of bed and checking my bags for my eminent departure. I could be anxiously and excitedly waiting for my driver to come and carry Chels and me to the international airport then drop us at the passenger loading corner. Before we know it we will be on plane that’s lifting off the ground, cabin pressure rises, Chelsea will nod off to sleep then…’

I snap back to the present. It’s not my last day; it’s Sara’s, I remember with sad, but proud sigh.

This morning Chels and I trundled down to Sara’s apartment. Our friends Princess and Becky were moving around the living space gathering and packing last minute things, as Sara organized and zipped up her book bag. Then they waited to leave.

It all seemed so surreal. The pattering of the persistent rain provided a picture perfect backdrop to this momentous occasion. One of our own was close of servicing. Our family, Guy 22, started as 35 and as of yesterday had 22. Now we’re down one more. She was a good one. She was my sister and a wonderful, wonderful friend. She, of course, is Sara.

Though it was not all of us who departed at morning-time, but it was a premonition, a marker of things to come. True, not every Guy 22er will depart these coming months, but most of us will need to say good-bye.

We volunteers are growing up; we’re moving on. I know we have not learned all we could from our service, but we have learned plenty to take back to our respective homes of record and enlighten our hometown communities. Or maybe some of us won’t return home just yet, but rather travel and gain more rich experiences to always carry with us.

Sara,

I will miss you. And I know you will succeed in all of your future endeavors. I wish you the best of the best of luck. And I thank you for being brave and blazing the trail for the rest of us.  I know we will be friends for a long, long, long time and I can’t wait to see you stateside, gurrrl!

In other news, Chels and I are doing well we’re still working steady on our projects and loving our community. These last few months are going to be a grand time. Happy Saturday!    

Last night we had Sara's co-workers over and, along with Princess, Becky, Chelsea, Cassie and myself,  ate classic Guyanese food and spent the night gaffing.

Celebrating Sara

Tim, about to swing into the creek

The awesome peeps who came out to celebrate Sara

This weekend we had a hootenanny to celebrate Sara and say goodbye to her before she leaves Guyana next week. Some amazing Volunteers came to Linden to visit and we “proper enjoyed ourselves” with some of our best Guyanese friends and neighbors. We cooked some amazing food; curry, salad, pasta salad, fruit salad and a pancake feast. On Saturday we walked to the creek near my house and did some swimming and jumping off trees into the cool black water. It was sunny and hot as we walked to the creek but it quickly got cloudy and, as we were swimming, it began to rain. At that moment, looking around at the jungle surrounding us and the huge drops of water splashing in the beautiful creek, being surrounded by fun-loving, like-minded friends, I felt so blessed to be in the Peace Corps and very nostalgic for this experience that is rapidly coming to a close.

After our creek adventure, we relaxed with peppermint hot cocoa (thanks Emily and friends!) and because of the rainy weather, actually felt cool-ish for once in Guyana. Then we met up with our friends at our favorite local restaurant and bar for a goodbye party for Sara. We surprised her with a catered dinner of all her favorite Guyanese food: greens cookup, plantain chips and baked chicken. And of course Banks beer. We danced the night away and laughed until our faces hurt.

Sara got early COS (Close of Service) to go home next weekend since all her projects are finished. I will miss her dearly! Sara has been like the sister I never had during our time in Peace Corps. Even in training we lived close to each other and our host families were related so we shared many laughs during our first 2 months in country as we got accustomed to Guyana in Essequibo. I was so excited when we got assigned to Linden together because I knew Sara would be a good influence on me and help me get back into shape. Almost every morning for the last two years Sara and I have worked out together, walking, running, yoga-ing and trying to get ‘cut like Kate’ (the sexy, fit character from the epic TV show ‘Lost’). We have shared our joys and pain, laughing so hard we cried and cried on each other’s shoulders. We have spent hours watching movies, sharing music, cooking, cleaning, gardening, hiking and adventuring throughout Guyana and Barbados. Together we have swam with sea turtles and watched them lay their eggs, danced to Caribbean music, fended off pushy Guyanese men and watched toucans soar over our own neighborhood in this urban jungle. I have so much respect for Sara and am so grateful she came into my life. She is one of the kindest people I know, and is so reliable and trustworthy. She is so strong to have gone through some of the challenges she has faced in her life and so brave to be facing an exciting, uncertain future. I have no doubt that we will be friends for a very, very long time!

Sara, I will miss you terribly in these last few months but I am SO freakin’ proud of you and so excited to hear of your adventures integrating back into America. I know you will land on your feet back home, because you are a strong, capable and amazing woman. I just have a feeling that so many unbelievable things are in store for you in 2012. I’m so thankful to have shared this journey with you and I can’t wait to continue sharing in your life as we move into the next adventure, starting of course with nachos and margaritas when I join you Stateside!

Lots of love for our friend Sara

Too much fun!

Creek time!

COS: Starting the Process of Coming Home

In the first week of January we, along with all our fellow Guy22 PCVs attended our Close of Service (COS) Conference. This was our last training conference as a Peace Corps Volunteer. It was also the last time we will be seeing many of our PCV friends and the last time we were all together as a group. The week was a blend of fun, nostalgia, stress and anticipation. We were at Splashmin’s, a blackwater resort about 40 minutes outside of Linden, and got to enjoy the hot showers, good food and freedom to swim in the blackwater lake every day. We spent the days in sessions, discussing logistics to going home (our official COS date is April 4^th), readjustment allowance, plane tickets, health insurance, and all the millions of forms we have to fill out prior to leaving Guyana. That was slightly stressful to think about all that we have to do in the short time remaining in our service.

But then there was also a free day when we didn’t have sessions. We spent the day near the water, spent some quality time with good friends, took a little boat ride, and I (Tim) even played some Ultimate Frisbee, which I really enjoyed (I forgot how fun that game is) even though I spent the next few days with sore legs and a sore back, but it did give me an opportunity to complain that I was ollllld.

After the conference, we had to go to Town to get medical clearances and fill out several close of service forms. Now though we are back on track and ready to complete our projects.

It is a very exciting and nerve-wracking time. We just purchased our plane tickets out of the country (exciting!) so the South America trip is a reality. But before we go on our jaunt through Andes, to the Incan Trails, Bolivian lakes, Chilean beaches, and Argentinian wine country (more details to follow) we have our work here to finish. We have to say goodbye to all the friends we’ve made, complete our projects, fill out more PC forms, take a foreign service officers exam, and perhaps travel once more through the jungles and rivers of this beautiful, unique country. There are still difficulties and challenges ahead of us, but “just now” (a proper just now, mind you) we’ll be gone.

There are lessons we’ll take away, stories to share, and more adventures to be had…but all of those can be written for another day.

Tim and Paulette, our PC Training Manager

Awesome PCV friends on a boat at Splashmins

PCLP (Peace Corps Life Partners) in the blackwater

Our friend Cassie entertains us all at COS spinning a fire hula hoop!