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!

The Land of Many Mosquitos

I've officially been in Guyana for a full week now! It's crazy; its feels like I've been here forever and like I just got here (which, really, I did) at the same time. We, all of us GUY24er's, arrived at around 8am on 2/1 after spending a night in Philly and the previous night at JFK got off the plane  and went straight to Splashmins resort where we spent our first 3.5 days in country getting basic instructions and doing some training.

Some people from group before us, GUY23, met us at the airport with a giant Peace Corps banner with much yelling and hoopla.  As I was going around the corner, where I  couldn't see them yet one of the guys who works at the airport told me to "just smile."  I had no idea what he was talking about, but I did, and I was glad for it.  Even without that heads-up it would have been impossible not to smile with such an enthusiastic greeting. They were loud enough to actually get us into the local newspaper, or, at least, that's the rumor.

 At the airport in Guyana

The first few days at Splashmins were a whirlwind and I'm pretty sure we were just about all in that really-tired but to excited to sleep mode so we were all just a little crazy.  A big group of us played a giant game of volleyball on the riverbank which was good fun.  Later we went on a boat ride into some jungle-ish area which was really pretty cool to see. Overall it was a pretty amazing time, got the group bonding, and were provided with some good info from the staff as well as current PCV's who were amazing in answering all our questions!

 One the boat tour

On Saturday we were broken into 2 groups, or Survivor tribe's as one volunteer calls them, remote and not-remote.  I am happy to say I am in the not-remote group!  I went with the 22 other volunteers to West Demerarra (?) where we will be until the end of March when we swear-in.  We arrived at our training site to see that our host families were already there and couldn't wait to find out who we were going to be living with!

 We had a scavenger hunt to find out if we would be remote/not-remote.

We had to find our name and people with pink

paper are remote and yellow is not-remote.

My host family is awesome!  My host-mom, Maria, is Cuban, and admitted right away to being a little crazy, but in a good way.  And coming from my family, is totally normal :-) My host-dad is currently working the bush and I probably wont meet him at all, but his 15 year-old son, Tito, is here.  He's always doing something, but he's cool.  He's spent time in the US and speaks American English to me which means I can actually understand him which is nice.  Though, I do need to master Creolese eventually. We have another man from Cuba, Jorge, who lives here also, and he is also pretty awesome.  He's been here longer than my host-mom and so speaks better English, though Maria's is also good.  We have a nice system worked out where Jorge speaks Spanish with me so I can practice and I speak English with Maria so she can practice.  And Maria makes some amazing Cuban food, including some absolutely delicious flan.

I also live right next to 2 current volunteers and within walking distance of another 3 girls from my group.  Overall, its a pretty ideal situation!

Monday was a holiday, that have something like 14 here, so our week didn't begin until Tuesday.  We met at the training site, had some sessions together and some separated by sector: health and education. The next few weeks are going consist of a lot of training, school visits, and general orientating.  Tomorrow is the first visit to the school I will be at for the next couple of weeks, so that should be interesting.  We don't find out our permanent sites for another couple of weeks, and I'm nervous, but can't wait!

Also, on the side and below I've added my current mailing address.  Packages and/or letters would be awesome! If any of you decide to send a package it would be most welcome and it's recommended to put a picture of Jesus or write something like "God is watching" on the box.


The address is:

[My Name]
U.S. Embassy
c/o Peace Corps
100 Duke and Young Streets
Kingston, Georgetown
Guyana, South America

And be sure to add South America or it could end up going to Ghana :)

So far I'm loving it here, but I do miss you all at home!

P.S. If you send a package candy, like Ghiradelli milk-chocolate caramel, and cheez-its are always delicious :-)

P.P.S I think I've gotten more mosquito bites in the last week than I have in the last 7 yrs :-/

When Goodbyes Begin and Panic Sets In

With this weekend came the first of the Goodbyes. I had a great weekend out, beginning with a night out in D.C. It ends up that a rather good portion of my friends either live in the D.C. or are closer to it then to Wilmington, which actually worked out quite nicely :-) It was the first time most of us had been out together despite having been friends for a dozen or so years.  It was nice to be able to get it together and hang out with some great friends.

It was the first time we were all together in along time and the first time we had been out at all with husbands and boyfriends.  Lucky guys ;-) Though, really, I can't believe even one of us (Jen) is married. I'm starting to feel old :-(

And I got to see some faves from Korea time! Wish I had gotten to spend more time with them, it was awesome to see people I saw all the time during my year and Korea and like not at all since being home. 

You two better make the trip to Guyana!

I spent the night watching movies and drinking wine with another of my favorites, Glynnis! Unfortunately, no pics. Overall, a pretty awesome weekend!

And it was the beginning of the 'Goodbyes' First with Jen and Matt and continuing from there.  It was really kind of surreal; it didn't feel like I was leaving them for 2 years, it felt like any other 'See ya later' kind of goodbye. Some are planning to visit, and I think a few actually will and I don't necessarily see them that often when I'm home anyway.  But they are accessible by phone and we do talk a lot, I know what's going on in their lives and see them when possible.  That's not going to be so easy from Guyana. I know there's Skype, but who knows if I'll have electricity, much less internet.

So, I made it through saying goodbye to my closest friends without tears or panic.  However, despite having slept very little Friday and Saturday, come Sunday night I couldn't fall asleep.  I was just laying in bed, mid running in circles, thinking 'What the hell am I doing? Why do I want to leave the comfort and security of home and friends?' My mind was spinning.  I 'm excited to go, don't get me wrong, but time seems to be flying.  I feel like its still October and I just got my invite.  But somehow its January, a new year, and I only have 2 weeks until I leave the comfort of my life for the uncertainty of the unknown.  Time seemed to crawl during the application process and sprint by me since getting my invite. 

My friends asked me what I'm most afraid of going into Peace Corps, moving to Guyana. Honestly, everything is exciting at terrifying at the same time.  I'm scared of not lasting the full 27 months, of course going into I think I can, but when jumping feet first into the unknown, you never know what will happen.  I'm afraid of not fitting in, with my community and other volunteers, of not being prepared for life there and not being good at whatever my assignment is going to be.  It's probably going to be teaching,  but teaching in a poor school to kids who speak English is a lot different then teaching Korean students and well-off suburb of Seoul where I relied heavily on my computer. 

I'm scared of packing the wrong things, of life moving on and changing at home so much that I don't recognize it when I return.  I'm afraid of missing important events in my friends lives. We're that age where people are getting married, some even having kids.  I've imposed a strict 'No Getting Married In The Next 2 Years' rule on my friends, but they have their own lives. I'm scared of losing touch and being forgotten in jungle, feeling estranged from them.  And I know this isnt likely.  I have great friends and I've gone without seeing/talking to them for extended periods before. 

Whatever happens happens, I'll deal, I always do, and I'll have support from home and hopefully in-country as well. So, here's to having an adventure and following life wherever it takes you!

Too my awesomely amazing friends, I'm going to miss you all and can't wait to see you in Guyana!

Next up: Getting it together and packing...

Guy in blue (Matt) is married to girl in red (Jen). Guy in white tie (Anthony) dating girl in red and brown (Katie). Not that anyone's actually interested...

Yes, no, I don't know!

I've changed my blog! Title, background, you know, the fun stuff.  I got bored and decided this needed to be updated. There's a good chance it will change again soon as I was having issues deciding which background I liked....

I've started buying everything I think I need to take with me to Guyana.  At this point I'm only slightly worried that everything won't fit and my luggage will be too big/heavy and I'm sure as it gets closer to the time to actually start packing I'll worry more about this.  Getting ready to go is rough. I'm already going through the 'Yes, no, I don't know!'s of packing. I don't know where my permanent site is going to be or if I'll have running water/electricity there, so I feel the need to take everything that I might need if I don't have the general comforts of life in the U.S. (ie running water/electricity)  with me. Though, in truth, when applying for PC I didn't really expect to be going somewhere with those luxuries. Or internet access.  I pictured myself in a mud hut in the African bush, but if you give me the option of having electricity and running water or not, well, I'm probably going to chose to have them, though it would definitely be interesting to live without for 2 years.

I go shopping every 2 weeks and promptly run out like the shopaholic I may be to spend just about my entire paycheck.  This needs to stop.  I might need stuff to take with me, and there are still some necessities (bathing suit, bug spray, anti-itch, cream, you get my drift) that I need to buy.  But I need to save money so I actually have some when I get there, can travel, and go on vacation.  Otherwise I really will have to subsist, food, vacations, and all, on my Peace Corps stipend.  That's fine when in country and in my community, I really am going to try to live off of it and live like the locals.  But I know myself well enough to know that I'm going to not only want, but most likely need a vacation out of country.  On a nice beach somewhere, just to relax.  Unless I want trek through the jungle and camp for my vacation, which is also a possibility.  Chances are, I'm going to want to do both: trek and beach. Perhaps, if I have electricity, I'll get internet or a refrigerator.  Which will surely cost money.  So the spending needs to stop. And I plan to stop spending, really, I do.  My next paycheck will pay off my credit card (YAY!) and be the last one I use totally for buying stuff to take with me. Seriously, I'm not going to have room for or want to lug around everything I've already bought anyway.

For my friends who are thinking of coming to visit, well, you may be 'roughing it' a bit compared to American standards, but there are things to see and do to make up for it. Like visit Kaieteur Falls, the largest single drop waterfall in the world. And yes, I really do want you to come visit, hence the pretty picture :-)

The fact that the temperature in my house usually hovers around 59, which, for me, is way to cold, makes me even more excited to get to Guyana!  The volunteers who are there now have also been super helpful with answering questions and making Guyana seem like an awesome place to be, so shout out to them! Time is really flying.  This holidays make time seem to go so much faster and I feel like I'm going to be leaving for staging before I know it.  It's going to sneak up on me, like a spider in the dark, but less terrifying....I hope....

Things I'm enjoying and going to miss later: getting clothes straight out of the dryer, all nice and toasty warm, and putting them on...MmMmm warm....Grapes. Oh, how I'm going to miss grapes...Is it possible they have grapes in Guyana...? Something to look into....

I came across the Prayer of St. Francis recently and though I know I've heard it before, this time it struck me differently.  I don't think I'd ever really paid much attention to it before, but I'm going to do what someone else I know does everyday. Read it. It's motivational and helps me to remember what I want to do with my life and why I do the things I do.  Now, the church I've been volunteering at is a Franciscan church.  And most of the volunteers, including Yanil, who I teach with, are all part of Franciscan organization.

How I haven't heard this prayer in the last few months or made the connection between them and St. Francis and this prayer, I don't know. For those of you who don't know, I'm not particularly religious. That's not to say I don't have religion, or spirituality, or faith.  I just don't practice religion in the traditional sense.  This prayer really makes sense to me, and I'm going to remind myself of it daily so that I can strive to be more positive in my daily lifeand to be inspired by its meaning.

Prayer of St. Francis

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love.

Where there is injury, pardon.

Where there is doubt, faith.

Where there is despair, hope.

Where there is darkness, light.

Where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,

grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;

to be understood, as to understand;

to be loved, as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive.

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

INVITE!!!!!!!!

My invite arrived yesterday!!!!!! I turned into a little bit of a crazy person with the shrieking and jumping up and down when I saw it outside my door, but oh well!  I did startle my step-father though.  He was in the house and thought something was wrong when I started freaking out. Ooops. Anyway, onto the important stuff.

I'm going to GUYANA!!! 

I've been invited as a Community Education Promoter.  As far as I can tell this means I'll be teaching literature and working with PTAs, but I'm still pretty vague on what it is I'll really be doing.  Guess I'll find out when I get there! I leave January 30th.  I was actually kind of surprised to get Guyana.  I work with a woman from there and asked her a bit about it when I found out my time of departure and thought it might be there.  She said they really only speak English there and as I had been told there were indigenous languages, I crossed it off.  Not a bad surprise!

Guyana is in South America, above Brazil, and is culturally Caribbean.  Best of all: its warm all year! Right now, when I'm pretty cold, this is even more appealing.  Hopefully I'll still appreciate the warmth once I'm there, in the humidity, and most likely sweating like crazy.  I've already been shopping too. I've got 3 new pairs of sandals and some summer/early fall clothes that were on sale. I figured I better get what I can now while it's still around.  If I tried getting this stuff in January I might have a little bit of trouble....

My aunt was doing some research and found that 90% of the population lives on the coast.  From what I've seen online from volunteers who are there now, most of them are also on the coast.  And apparently PC tries to group people together, so no one is totally alone.  I'm personally hoping to be placed on the coast with a few other people near by. But I won't find out until I've been there for around 3 months, so expect another post with lots of !!!!! around April. 

SO EXCITED!!!!

Final Interview!!!!!!

I just had my final interview. My invitation is being mailed today!!! AHHHHH!!! SO EXCITED!!!!  I'm being invited as a Community Education Promoter!!! To somewhere is C/SA leaving in late January! So maybe El Salvador or Guyana?  My PO said somewhere Spanish speaking, but where there are local, indigenous languages.  Where volunteers are usually placed in the interior of the country, probably with little access to electricity.  Not thrilled about that bit, but it would definitely being interesting and a learning experience!

How long does it take to get mail from DC to Delaware? Maybe I'll have it by Saturday??? I can always hope...

For those of you going through the process my interview took about 30 mins and here are the questions I was asked:

1. What are your reasons for wanting to join PC?
2. How does your family feel about your decision?
3. How would you cope with living in an isolated area? Without structure in your day?
4. When can you leave?
5.  How have you been preparing for PC since you began applying?

There may have been more, but I think  that was the biggest part. It's really not bad, really just a conversation. Though, if your anything like me, you'll have butterflies anyway :-)

SO EXCITED!!! I can't wait to get my invite!!!!

Can I do what?!?

I have my final interview on Wednesday! SO EXCITED! I emailed my placement assistant last Wednesday since it had been 6 weeks since I had sent in my updated resume and I hadn't heard anything. She emailed me back saying I would hear from my placement officer in the next 2 weeks.

He emailed 30 minutes later and I set up a time for my final interview. I received another email from him today with some questions:

1. What's your phone number? Please update you'r toolkit.

2. Are you able to bike? Yes.....(here I can sense what the next question will be. Getting prepared)

3. If you can ride a bicycle, would you be able to ride, say 7-10 miles per day? Yeah, probably....maybe....

4. Would you be able to ride up to 20 miles per day? (i.e. 10 miles each way to your work site) Ummm....I'm sorry? Yeah, probably not.

I actually started laughing when I read the last question. I made the mistake of emailing him back saying that I could do it.  I'm going to have to retract that statement.  I'd love to be able to and I think I could work up to it, but I wouldn't be able to right when I got there (wherever there may be).

For anyone who is waiting to hear something, I encourage contacting them. It can help. More to come on Wednesday....