I just realized I completely skipped over September as far
as any blog posts.
Part of it is because
I have become so busy and the other part is that my life here has become much
more normal, or at least normal to me.
Even the cockroaches are starting to bother
me less. (I think they have sensed this and are trying to mess with me.
One crawled up my arm while I was cleaning my
dishes and another one came out from under a shelf at a store and tried to
crawl up my foot. I did a pretty quick ninja kick on that one though and kept
on shopping like nothing happened.)
I
know if you came here and lived with me for a week, I’m sure you would come up
with a whole bunch of things you found different or strange (I can only
imagine!).
I still am discovering new
things but at a much slower pace than when I first arrived here.
I was visiting another volunteer who lives close
to our training site and it really made me see how far I’ve come.
We were so timid and lost when we first
arrived and now we are fighting with mini bus conductors charging us extra for
a ride.
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| Swimming in the conservancy |
I am also finding that I am
acting much more like myself, instead of trying to tip toe around cultural
norms.
There are still some things I
would never do or say here, but my co-workers now know I like Soca music (we
may or may not have had a wining demonstration in my office-google wining if
you want to know), that I have a pretty good sense of humor and laugh at myself
a lot, and will voice my opinion if something is bothering me.
One of my co-workers lives near me and we frequently bike
home together. She has taken me under her wing and will take me to the market,
to church, or other events. One night, I invited her over for shrimp quesadillas.
She showed up very early (atypical for a
Guyanese) all dressed up with her hair done and I was looking like a hot mess
(when do I not?)
still covered in flour
rolling out dough for tortillas.
It was
a comical situation but she had a good time and really enjoyed the
quesadillas.
I never thought a 40(?)
year old would be one of my best friends here, but so it is.
She told me we have to make chicken
quesadillas one time at work.
My plan of
getting a Chipotle in Guyana is working; spreading the love of Tex-Mex food one
Guyanese at a time!
Muwahaha!!
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| Quesadillas! |
I think the more you learn to relax and feel comfortable in
a situation, the more you start to have fun with it.
Like now instead of being freak out, grossed
out, or annoyed by people’s comments out on the road, I either ignore them or
joke with them.
“What a white
girl??!
Where?!”
I am really close to awarding points now for
people’s comments.
“White Meat” will
always get negative points but a recent comment of “I’ve got some strong dark
coffee here and need some milk” might be awarded an 8 or 9.
Of course a courteous, “Hello, Good Morning,
How are you doing?” will always get a 10 in my book.
You just never know what people will
say.
Like one day some guy was biking
near me and kept looking at me.
I was
waiting for some strange comment and he smiled real wide.
It was a good smile and he said “I’m sorry
but can I ask you a question?”
I said
sure and braced myself.
He laughed and
said “why do you wear that helmet?”
I
laughed too and explained it is Peace Corps policy.
He just laughed again, smiled really wide,
and rode on.
For some reason his smile
was contagious and I smiled the rest of the way to my destination.
I’ve also come to terms with the fact that I don’t live in a
particularly beautiful or exotic part of the country.
I am not out in the jungle like some of my
fellow volunteers.
I have categorized my
site as a country, inner city.
If you
can imagine some run down houses and lots of trash around an inner city area
mixed with fields for farming and cows, goats, roosters, and donkeys running
around, that is where I live.
It is the
3
rd largest town/city in Guyana and I have access to internet,
electricity, running water, most American foods (always at a price though), and
various businesses such as clothing stores, bars, clubs, restaurants, banks,
there is even a Church’s Chicken.
Some
people have houses like ones in America, complete with swimming pools.
While things might seem like I’m still in the
States, the culture here is completely different.
That culture and the people definitely make
living where I do worthwhile.
The good
thing is that some volunteers do live out in the jungle and there are a lot of
really awesome places to explore.
So
while I might not live out there, I can always visit.
If you ever want to go on a rain forest
adventure, come on down!
:-)
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| Fishing in the Back Dam with some Kiddos |
I recently had a discussion with a fellow PCV about being
happy here in Guyana. PCVs experience a
lot of ups and downs, so sometimes that answer can change d I really thought about it though and I would
say I am very happy here. I have enjoyed
most of my volunteering experiences in the past and so far, Peace Corps is not
an exception. Part of the reason is that
I really like what I do and have flung myself head first into as many things as
I can possibly manage. This is nothing
new for me and I am lucky to be in a location where there are many different organizations
that I can work with.
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| Doing sugar and pressure testing with the Cancer Society |
I really enjoy
teaching my nursing students (some days are better than others).
Right now I teach Health Promotion, Epidemiology,
and Research.
My favorite course is
Health Promotion, but I try to make the other classes as fun as I can.
For instance, last week in Epi I was talking
about tracking new diseases, such as one that makes people turn into
zombies.
My students probably think I am
really crazy, but it is worth it sometimes to get a laugh or two.
I am also working on my “mean teacher” capabilities.
I am pretty close in age to my students and
am a little more relaxed than some of my co-workers, so the students will
sometimes take that too far.
I have
busted out “mean teacher” and I was pretty proud of myself when I told a
student he was “takin his eyes past me” (This means disrespecting me).
There is a term here called “busin” (think
abuse for pronunciation) and people will bust out all sorts of insults like:
you don’t have manners or you are being disrespectful, in order to shame or
embarrass someone back into the right way to act.
I don’t have those skills yet (and probably
would sound stupid saying most of them) but the taking your eyes past me
comment was a start and he actually did cut out his actions.
I still write my weekly health article and am also involved
with Mental Health and Cancer Awareness events for this month.
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| My nursing students participating in Cancer Awareness Week |
Our PC GAD group (the people that organized
Camp GLOW) is also now getting ready for two mini camps, so we are really
excited about that.
The other week I
attended an Amerindian Heritage Festival in a village where our remote
volunteer group had their training.
There was music, food, local crafts, and a ton of people.
I ate Tokoma worms (they tasted kind of like
shrimp) and all of us PCVs went swimming in the black water creek.
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| About to eat Tokoma Worms! |
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| Walking across a wood slat bridge |
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| mmmm tastes good! |
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| Traditional woven Amerindian Earrings |
This past weekend I also went “bush fishing”
for the first time with another PCV and some local children.
All of my neighbors laughed when I came home
decently sunburned with NO fish.
I also
experienced my first Guyanese funeral (unfortunately my co-worker’s father
passed away).
We sat wake for a few
nights, which is where people mainly gather outside a person’s house and they
play cards and dominoes.
Then a bit
later the family of the deceased brings everyone food-kind of the opposite of
what we do in the States.
Although I
didn’t know my co-worker’s father, it still made me really sad to see her
upset, especially at the funeral.
I know
grief can elicit all types of reactions, but here it was much more extreme than
I have ever seen.
I think at least 3
people “dropped” or fainted and some people burst into screaming fits and had
to be held down.
The wife of the
deceased went into such a fit while she was passing me and I had NO idea what
to do. I moved over so people could put her on the bench and I tried to fan her
with my program.
Probably not the most
helpful, but that was all I could think of at the time.
It was interesting to experience, but I hope
I don’t have to attend many more funerals while I am here.
As you can see by this loooonnnggg post to catch you all up,
I have been keeping myself pretty busy. I
think I will remain that way until the end of the year with our Mini Camp
GLOWs, teaching, holiday get togethers, the School of Nursing’s graduation, and
finally Barbados! I know January and February are going to
bring a lot of self-reflection and evaluation because it will be close to my 1
year mark and half way through my service.
It’s all so crazy to think about.
I hope everyone at home is enjoying the beautiful fall weather. My body was expecting the weather to cool
down a little and then Guyana decided to crank up the heat and humidity
instead. Rainy season should come again
by mid-November so it hopefully will be a bit cooler then. It is admittedly weird to be craving chili
and hot apple cider when it is still 90 degrees outside. Good bye for now!
-KB
Dust your work surface with flour. Roll one ball of dough into a 4
inch circle. Rub ¼ teaspoon of vegetable oil onto the dough and sprinkle
with a pinch of flour. Fold the dough into thirds, rubbing oil on top
of each fold. Ensure not to press hard on the dough when folding as you
want to keep air between each layer.
