Mashramani! And other....

I've now been in Guyana for over a month and I'm still loving it! My host family is still awesome and Maria makes the BEST flan ever...and she made it tonight :-)

Another trainee here posted what a typical day is like. It's spot on, so I'm stealing it (thanks Lauren). A day here usually goes something like this:

12:00am – 6:26am: wake up intermittently to the sounds of dogs barking, roosters crowing, babies screaming, music blaring, and other not readily identifiable noises. 

6:26am: Alarm goes off. Hit snooze.

6:30amAlarm goes off again. Actually get up and into cold shower.

6:40am-7:20am: do normal getting ready routine, with the added step of applying sunscreen and anti-itch cream to your bug bites.Choose clothing that will minimize sweating while still trying to follow dress code.

7:30am-7:55am: Go to neighboring volunteer's house, wait for other volunteers and walk to training.

8:00am-8:15am: wait for the doors to be unlocked and mill with the other trainees referencing many common topics such as what kept you up last night, how was washing laundry, or have you tried this fruit?

Somewhere around 8:30: actually start class

8:30am-9:50am: point of the day where a trainee is maximally engaged.

9:50am-10:00am: think only of your snack or of getting a snack

10:00am-10:15am: break!!

10:30am-12:00am: trainees concentration is faltering. Minds drift towards lunch.

12:00pm-1:00pm walk home and eat lunch. Try to convince your host mom that you can’t eat an entire plate of rice

1:00pm-4:30pm: sit listlessly, pining for the moments when the fan turns and faces you. 

4:30-8:30pm: Change out of sweat drenched clothing.Rinse off the accumulated sweat, sunscreen, bug spray, and dust. Flop down on bed. Attempt to do homework or journal. Maybe watch a pirated movie supplied by various Peace Corps Volunteers.

9:00pm-11:59pm: Drift to sleep whilst being serenaded by the sounds of dogs barking, roosters crowing, babies screaming, music blaring, and other not readily identifiable noises.

I do have some awesome ear plugs that help cut back on the random noises heard throughout the night/morning, but they usually come out :-/ Training is rough and I keep hearing from current PCV's that its the worst part of PC service. Though, having all 24 of us together is nice since we have people around to socialize with who understand our frustrations, excitement, etc.  But still, the actual training part isn't so much fun. 

On to more exciting stuff! Guyana has a crazy amount of holidays which is pretty awesome since we get the day off to celebrate.  February 23, was Mashramani, or Republic Day.  I spent the day (10:30am-8pm) in Georgetown enjoying the parade with 3 other PCT's (Peace Corps Trainees).  And I got badly sunburnt, though not quite as bad as another girl I was with, despite several coatings of sunblock.  I guess SPF30 just isn't strong enough for me here.  Need to buy: SPF 120.

The Mash parade is certainly interesting.  The first float to go by in the morning was a group of white missionaries waiving Jesus flags.  Maybe 30mins later the real floats started coming by with people from the ministries and other organizations all dressed up.  Now, floats in parades here are a little different then at home.  For the most part the one's here are trucks with speakers followed by the participants in that organization on foot.  

All these people dressed up and following the floats are generally arranged in lines going boy, girl, boy, girl, etc.  The floats stop and the grinding begins. By early afternoon the grinding had progressed to some seriously dirty dancing.  There is a really popular song here called 6:30.  The basic point of the song is that girls position themselves like they're the hands on a clock when the time is 6:30 and grind, or what's really done here, wind, up on the male behind them.  I encourage you to youtube winding.  It's what I saw all day. 

It was a good day, despite the sunburn that is still pealing. (Gross!) 


This Thursday is another holiday, Pagwah, a Hindu celebrations involving lots of different colored powders being thrown at people.  I'm pretty psyched. And then Friday is site placement!!!! I'm excited/terrified for that all at once.  I'm hoping to be placed in/near where I currently live, but I know that's highly unlikely.  I'm preparing for some crazy rural site, but hoping for more urban, though mostly I just want to be near another volunteer.  Anyway, it's going to be an interesting week and I can't wait!