Palm trees
sway in the warm breeze, thick with water, leaves and branches clicking together.
Birds sing their tiny, adorable hearts out. Although, some of them miss the
queue and squawk, but it amounts to the same thing. Morning sunlight does its
best to pierce it's way thorough the mustard yellow curtains. I inhale, feeling
the air, already thick with moisture, fill my lungs.
This, my
friends, is Guyana, South America. Waking up the first morning to that scene, I
was stunned. Tired, because I'd only slept about 4 hours, but stunned. The room
was freezing the first night here because our air conditioner decided to revolt
against my roommate, Jenni, and I thereby making it beyond cold. Yes, my first
night in South America was spent shaking because it was too cold and neither
Jenni or I had thought to turn the AC off. We were quite exhausted from
traveling. (We're going to pretend this is enough of a good reason.) Although,
as a bonus I did get to wear my favorite grey sweater, so that was quite ideal.
We're
stationed at a resort for this first week. And, let me be telling you, it's
gorgeous. These trees are amazing, filled to the breaking point with vitality
and life. And the air, as much my hair hates being so large, is wonderful. My
skin is all about this moisture. As a bonus, it's not nearly as hot or rainy as I thought it would be. The
clothes I brought are serving me well, nice and flowing. I am also glad I
brought my converse, simply because I love them to pieces and looking down at
some Guyana sand(yes it is better than regular sand) while wearing my chucks
brings me unbearable joy. Seriously.
The food has
been quite delicious, although I think they are holding out on the spice for us
and I look forward to tasting some of the real stuff. They do have this amazing
spicy sauce we can put on stuff, so obviously the first morning I dumped it all
over my food, regretting it almost the second I put it in my mouth and realized
how hot, and delicious, it was. It's quite amazing, but it has some serious
kick. It doesn't even wait to hit you, it's just instantaneously BAM I AM SO
HOT FEAR ME. There is also an amazing mango "sour" sauce. It is my
favorite. I had it on some breadlike substance containing chickpeas and it was
delightful. Yes, be envious of how good the food is. Better yet, come taste it
yourself. It's wonderful so far, and I haven't even been here long. Quality
food.
This week
has been far too much like a vacation for me to handle it. Legitimately. It is
so nice here. We get breakfast at 7:30 or so, train at 8, get a break with
snack, train more, break, last training session, then afternoon off and
sometimes medical or other individualized interviews. Other than that, in the
free time myself and the other volunteers have been gathering together to hang
out and play games or such. Friday night we had a jam session where we brought
out all the instruments: guitar, banjo, ukelele, and harmonica(although playing
together might be a bit of a stretch). Two of the other volunteers, so far,
have been really great at guitar and were complimenting me on how great mine
sounds. I can't play it as well as them, but I think Jeremy had had more
practice, and Eben has been playing for twelve years and his voice is like
angels crying tears of happiness. All the volunteers are amazing. There are 34
of us in our group, GUY 26, the twenty sixth proud group to serve in Guyana.
Best Guynese
expression so far is: just now. They say this when you ask when something is
happening. Example: "When will this paper I need be done?"
"Oh,
just now."
This could
mean: right now, five minutes from now, several minutes ago, or several months
from now. Time is much more lenient here than it is in the US. From what I've
noticed there is a focus on living, not stressing about working. It is
beautiful.
We find out
about our training site placement on Monday. There are two types of training
sites: coastal and hinterland. The coastal area is where trainees who will be
in coastal areas or towns will train, and hinterland is for folks who will be
working in the hinterland. I had my interview from the education folks
yesterday and feel like I might be stationed at hinterland because I'm willing
to go anywhere, and the communication isn't totally cut off, it is available every
two weeks or so when we go to a village for the internet cafe. But, for right
now I have no idea where I'll be training, but will be there with the other
volunteers(both health and education) who will be in the same area. They are
hoping to get six education and six health volunteers. There are more people in
health who were excited to be in hinterland than education, so I think I might
be in hinterland, but I really have no idea. I hope I am. The possibility of my
host family having goats is significantly higher in hinterland.
So far, I
have absolutely loved it here. I haven't felt as nervous as I thought I would
about being around all of the other volunteers, mostly because they are all
quite wonderful and are just as committed to being here as I am. I don't think
I've ever before been in such a committed group of people who have such
ridiculously diverse backgrounds. I love it.
