Wait, it's been a year?

April- May

One year ago today, I cried in an airport. A year ago, I was terrified, especially  as everyone kept telling me how brave I was.  A year ago, I left home in search of the unknown. I left, looking for a sense of identity. For adventure. For love. To feel the pulse of the world and help it breathe.

And here I am. Here we are, GUY 26, a year from who we were then.

A year ago, May 2014

When I was getting started in Peace Corps I thought I would see other volunteers all the time. I imagined we'd hang out after work every day, dangling feet in a cool creek as we laughed about any stress we had during the day. Well....I wasn't so wrong about the laughing. We make memories which are way more valuable than Guyanese currency. Visitors to Wakapoa are great; they remind me how much I love it, and let me relate to people who get me. Not that my Guyanese friends aren't wonderful, but there's a bit of a disconnect between what they understand, having the cultural background and experiences they've had. I wrote a poem I'd like to share here; inspired from some of the differences, from the curiosity of people in my community.

In America

Baby Danny. The most curious.

Miss, where do you come from?

A place called the United States of America

America?

Far, far from here

In America, you living differently?

Some things are the same, but some are different

In America, everyone white like you?

You get all colors in America

In America, people na understand we?

You might not understand them, too

In America, things must be more nice than here

Not always, there are problems there, too

In America, you could buy nice things

Not all the time, they cost a lot of money

In America, people must have nuff money

Not everyone

But, in America, people are happy

Sometimes, like here

But, in America...

People smile and they cry

They starve and they struggle

They live and they die

People love and they lose

They work and they try

But, they always get by

Something like you and I

So, in America, they're like me, and like you

I wish they could see that too

Earlita and Shenell modeling their kites.
Also Jack is doing his do.

My kite: the tiny and mighty

I think my community is developing a better understanding of Americans as we talk more. Preconceptions can be hard to break, but my Guyanese family is as excited to learn as I am to share. Found out there is one thing we have in common though: a fondness for kites. I thought people in America really loved kite flying on clear days. Not nearly as much as Guyanese love Easter Kites. In celebration of Easter, almost every young person on my island built a kite or had one built for them. They know everything there is to know about kite making. From finding the right sticks, to making glue from cassava, to making sure everything is symmetrical.  The best part is how they don't even think it's impressive. Oh, yeah, I can make a gorgeous kite out of sticks, cassava, and paper, can't you? 

Delisia enjoying the kite flying

I thought I would be pretty good at flying kites, given I've done it like once. There is substantially more skill involved in keeping a kite in the air than initially thought. It also takes a lot more patience than I had to stand in the sun for many hours keeping your kite flying. I mostly let the kiddos fly it and lay around watching it. Best of both worlds.

Among the wonderful things at site, is my class which is now grade 6 directly. Grade 6 is much like my old grade 5 and 6 class, but older and infinitely wiser, in their minds.  My class has grown from 9 to 16 and the amount of acting out has doubled.  It reminds me of something I heard when I went to the zoo. Our guide told us the people who feed the jaguars and stuff have to be aware/vigilant all the time because big cats are really smart and are always trying to trick their keepers, so they can eat them. While my class probably doesn't want to eat me, they're just into doing stuff when they think I'm not paying attention. It's keeps school from getting mundane, though.

We've been doing a lot of writing in class recently. They don't love it, but they have to get better. They each have personal journals I got for them, and some of the kids have eaten it up and journal all the times, while some have just eaten them. I still don't know why kids like chewing on paper. The kids who do journal, journal a lot which makes me really excited. We've also been writing stories and editing them for the past couple weeks. I finally typed them up and they'll get to illustrate just now. Most of the stories were precious and about hunting, football, fishing or sleepover parties. There was one about a violent murder at the zoo, though. I was impressed with the ideas they were able to come up with when left to think on their own. Unfortunately, throughout much of their educational history, they haven't had many opportunities to create something which is truly their own, so it's still new to them. But, they rocked it, obviously.

In the secondary school they're working on a May pole dance to present at the end of May. Apparently it's a tradition which was brought over from European Colonists when they came and has stuck around. I thought a may pole was just a bunch of people running around a pole. Not here. They create a fancy pattern by dancing. The one in the picture is called the Matapi, the tool they use to strain cassava because that's what it looks like.

Hello Maypole!

Some other awesome happenings I don't feel like detailing in total, but I have pictures for!

After a church fundraising fun day. Me and my gals.

Owl mc owl pants.
A villager found him and asked me if I wanted to keep him.
 Yes, but no.
Later, they did release him back into his home in the wilderness.
 His mom was crying for him the whole time. He was real tame
 and super soft. Not sure about his eye situation there.
He ate from my hand and we're bffs.

Delon playing guitar. Teaching people to play
is harder than playing, but I'm into it.

Baby duckling!

Madanna posing with her paddle.
Her dad is still carving it with a cutlass. No big deal.

Walked through some dry swamp to see the tall grass on the edge of my island. Untamed, grassy wilderness.

This week I got to help out with training the new group of volunteers, GUY 27. It was amazing to meet all 43 of them. They seem like an amazing group of people; I can't wait to get to know them better in the next year here.

I can't believe I've been away from home for a year. It's incredible to think about how much I've learned in that year, and how much I still have to experience. Can't wait to see what this year will hold. Thank you for your unconditional support.

Lots of love <3