The rooster who has been waking me up in the morning is much better/I
have adjusted! I usually wake up at 3 or 3:30, then wake up again at whenever I
get up for that day(5 or 5:30). Thought you should all be aware.
On Tuesday we finally met the head master of the school who had been out
last week due to a kidney stone. He seemed happy to have us there, but he
didn't open up too much or seem like an overly bubbly person.
School was nice, though we only stayed until around 12. After that all
the hinty(hinterland) education folks got together and worked on one of our
Self Directed Learning(SDL) projects. We were supposed to put together data we
got in the school to present to everyone the next day at Red Grounds. We ended
up creating a pie chart showing the different types of independent reading
levels. It took a long time because we all wanted to put something different on
it, but in the end our poster was rather remarkable. I got to carry it when we
walked home that afternoon.
As Kelly and I walked home we were accompanied by about 10 or 15
children. They were all children from the school so we kind of knew them. As we
walked, they were all giggling, but whenever we talked to them, they refused to
respond, other than by giggling even more. Kelly and I began talking to each
other in tones clearly meant for the children to hear; we discussed how the
children following us sounded more like a herd of elephants than a group of
children. A child leapt out of a bush at me when we were walking, but I saw him
before he could scare me. I said they'd have to do better, and Kelly said it
sounded like a challenge. They spent the rest of the walk trying to leap out
and scare me. There was a really large, bushy area for them to hide in, and I
could only see a couple of them. Some of them did legitimately scare me. I
finally saw one little boy and was going to go over and scare him, but the land
sort of dropped out and I ended up falling into a bush, crushing the beautiful
poster. Kelly asked if I was okay while the children all laughed. I was fine,
more entertained than anything else. My hip wasn't the happiest at being
crushed, but I was fine, other than a bruised ego.
Word of me falling on the way home traveled very quickly so the next
evening when I saw my mom she asked me about falling on the walk home and we
laughed some more. I'm glad I got to give the community such an accurate
picture of me: woman who is tall like tree and falls all the time. So true.
On Wednesday we went to Red Grounds(in coastal land) and saw all the
other volunteers. It takes us about an hour to get from Laluni to Redgrounds,
so we had to meet at 7 to be there by 8. I got my favorite back seat with the
window and got to learn about Haiti's healthcare system from Kelly and she said
she'd teach us about Voodoo the next day and Andrew said he wanted to learn
something from me the next day.
In Red Grounds we got a lot of technical training, meaning training just
for education volunteers. We learned about assessments and how they want us to
apply different tools and ideas. We got to practice writing lesson plans using
their specific format. I worked in a group with Ryan who had been a teacher for
several years and Naomi who always whistles tunes. I brought The Duckling Gets a Cookie?! and we
formatted a writing lesson plan around that. When we presented I got to read
out loud to everyone, and apparently everyone liked the way I read it. Watching
the other volunteers give lessons and hearing the feedback about them was
really helpful.
We left Red Grounds late, as per usual, and ended up getting into Laluni
when it was already dark. Kelly and I elected not to walk due to the response
the community gave last time. We waited in town until someone could give us a
ride. Lauren's dad volunteered to take us part of the way if a mysterious
"Charles" would take us the rest of the day. Kelly and I rode with
him for about a minute until another truck came up and we asked if it was
Charles, and he said yeah. I had no idea who Charles was, but I still trusted
him to get me home. Only in Laluni would a mysterious man actually be
trustworthy enough to take me home. It was rather grand. Later I found out
Charles is Holly's host dad, so he really is a trustworthy community figure,
not some random stranger.
When I got home that night my parents were out of town, but I saw
Gaitree's mom waiting for me. We talked for a little bit, then I went upstairs.
When I got there I was surprised to see the teacher I work with, Priya, sitting
outside watching a movie on her laptop. She was waiting there so she could take
me to the house next door for dinner since my host family was out of town. We
talked for a bit before we went over and she asked if I had a boyfriend and we
discussed how I don't have one and she doesn't either. Near the end of the
conversation she said she was 19. I couldn't believe it. From the way she acted
in the classroom I was convinced she was in her early twenties like me, maybe
25 or so. She started teaching when she was 16. So crazy. Definitely a difference
between the US and Guyana. Teachers start early, but they do get a lot of
experience which is really good. She isn't officially trained as a teacher but
does a really good job keeping control in the classroom, and even making
friendly jokes with her students.
On Thursday Kelly and I taught our first lesson together. Priya said we
could teach a lesson about how to get rid of garbage. We were supposed to lead
the students through making their own posters about burning or burying
trash(the primary ways to get rid of it here in Guyana). I started it with the
vocabulary game I like to teach where I start out writing one letter on the
board and they guess random words until they get to the word I'm thinking of.
We discussed environment and trash then sent them off to work. Two of the
groups didn't need any help, the other two were really struggling and Kelly and
I had to help them write sentences about getting rid of garbage. After we
helped them finish, we had them present their posters to us and Priya took some
pictures of us, which I am very excited to see.
After that we watched for a while and eventually Kelly and I started
planning our grammar lesson for Tuesday which is about plural compound nouns.
(Ex. watermelons, sunflowers, rainbows...) We came up with some fun ideas for
it which was great since we were both feeling really out of it and kept leaving
off in the middle of sentences. Then we had a break for lunch and went over to
the church and finished writing up the lesson plan which ended up being due
right then instead of in the afternoon like we'd heard earlier. Then we hung
out with the health volunteers for a little while before we had to go back to
the school. After lunch I started to feel real sick(stomach pain and shivers)
but it eventually subsided. I think it had to do with my malaria medication,
since the one I'm taking has been known to give people stomach aches.
After school ended we went over to the church for a session about malaria
from the medical officers. Did you know that if you have malaria but you get it
treated early it won't be as severe? Neither did I. I messed up the question when
they asked me, but they gave me a lollipop anyway. Did you further know that
the malaria medication I'm taking does not actually prevent malaria, but only
suppresses the symptoms so I won't know if I have it or not? Interesting times,
no? It made me feel a little less excited about taking the meds(not that I was
really enjoying it to begin with) but at least it will keep me from feeling
like death. The session was really informative, but I was seriously struggling
to stay awake. I still felt a bit off from earlier and was not in the mood for
sitting still and listening to people talk and talk about horrible diseases.
Sitting still through all the sessions is always a challenge for me.
Friday we went to Red Grounds again(for once I didn't get my favorite seat, I
was quite upset) for training with everyone all together during our core
sessions(all volunteers, education, health, hinterland and coastal all together).
They started the session off by having us visualize a bus coming and crushing
people we cared about and if we would get them out of the way, and the lesson
was supposed to be about not pushing other volunteers under the bus by talking
about their private information. It was also supposed to be about developing
compassion for all of humanity and wanting to save them from the bus. I didn't
enjoy it though because thinking about the people I love dying, or myself dying
to save them, is not exactly how I want to start a morning. That got me in a
bit of a funk, so the training sessions that day kind of washed over me. We got
to share some of our experiences with other volunteers so I got to share with
some of the coastal folks who I don't see very often. We had lunch and I shared
a bunch of pineapple with the other volunteers. We heard a little bit about how
they will place us at our sites, but they were trying to be very vague so we
don't get any ideas about knowing what's going to happen with actual placement.
They're really keeping it tip top secret.
On one of our breaks I was super bored so I was hanging out outside on
one of the railings stretching my legs and Julie, the person responsible for
volunteer training, was joking about how she could totally do it too but didn't
want to show off. She is substantially shorter than me so resting her leg on
the railing would have been a challenge. At another break I was standing
outside talking to Kelly when Simeon came up and Andrew the driver beckoned for
me to come down. Then I got to say hi to Simeon and carry some of the snacks he
brought for us while Kelly carried the rest. I was highly excited. Mostly
because it seems like most of the trainers know my name so I must be some
variety of noteworthy.
Staying alert during Simeon's session was challenging because he had to
read directly from a script from D.C. rather than doing his normal Simeon
thing. At one point during the session I'd been zoning out, looking at a tab
written in the back of my notebook, then he called on me. He calls me Lizabeth
instead of Beth, but oh well. When he called on me I said "No really I was
paying attention," which was funny because I totally wasn't. He asked me
to stand and then described how someone might think we, as volunteers from
America, are actually spies. He gave an example of my neighbors thinking I was
a Russian spy since I'm so tall. Totally logical, right? It was rather comical.
Now everyone knows I am a powerful Russian spy.
Once we left training on Friday we'd agreed to go to Ice Cream Palace to
get some more succulent ice cream. I hope it will become a Friday thing, though
I fear it will become expensive after a while. After getting ice cream, I
taught Kelly and Andrew about bee keeping and Andrew taught us about Nepal,
which sounds really amazing.
This weekend
was quite wonderful. It's weird being so busy during the week and then suddenly
having so much free time on the weekend. Although, I did spend a good portion
of my Saturday doing chores. I cleaned my clothes and hung them, tried sweeping
indoors but I don't know if Gaitree was satisfied with how I did it. We shall
see.
I did try a variety of odd food
this weekend. The first odd food was chicken feet. They do cut the nails off
and such so don't get too grossed out on me. But, I must confess, they are not
my favorite. My host family told me to bite the bits off at the tendons and
chew/suck on the bone to get all the skin and muscle off, and do that for each
segment. A) it is far too much work for me B) I really couldn't get over the
whole aesthetic of the chicken feet. I mean, when you get down to it, it's
still chicken but I didn't get a feel for it. I ate one and a half. I don't
think I'll ever really desire any more, but if I do, I will know how to eat
them.
I also got to see my family's
pigs! Super exciting! They have around 10 pigs. One of them is a giant. The
others are relatively pig sized, and they have two piglets! So cute. I tried to
catch one of them and pet it but it was far too speedy for me. However, I did
realize I do not want to own a giant pig, just the teacup variety.
I also went over to the shop
next door owned by Ravi's parents. I realized I desperately needed qtips
because my ears were disgusting and I'd totally forgotten to pack qtips. If you
are going on a two year long trip in the near future remember: qtips. They are
important. We also got some snacks and the like. My family offered me beer but
seeing as I really don't like it much, I refused. The other day when I went
over they gave me a cold cola and I wasn't going to take it cause I don't
enjoy Cola much, but it was cold and
cold drinks are hard to acquire so I took it gladly.
That same day I was doing a lot
of homework and stuff(like writing this blog) in my hammock outside. I had just
done a bunch and was lounging back in the hammock, enjoying life. That's when I
heard someone shout my name. Not unusual because sometimes my siblings will
shout for me or something. Yet, it came from the road. It was Michelle! She's
one of the volunteers who lives pretty much at the center of town. I was quite
surprised she'd walked all the way out(about 30 minutes) to come and see where
Kelly and I lived. I showed her around the house a bit and offered to walk down
to Kelly's house with her, which we did. We all got to see a lamb which had
been born the night before. It was real cute, as all lamb are.
Sunday was super duper fun! We
went to my family's farm and they showed me a whole ton of awesome plants.
Cashew flowers are really pretty and pink which attract hummingbirds. Fun fact
for all of you to share with your friends. Also I got to drink some more
coconut water straight from a coconut(seriously it's the best thing in the
world. I love it so much. Way better than bottled coconut water in the US.) I
also got to each coconut jelly, which I adore, and had some hard coconut. So
delicious. Apparently some ripe coconuts will be pale pink when you cut into
them instead of just white. I was rather concerned when I saw the pale pink
inside the coconuts, but soon learned I had nothing to fear, only deliciousness
to devour.
I also saw a
giant lizard(well not THAT big but it was really cool.) It looked like a gila
monster maybe? Who knows.
Also, sad to say, I did the
thing. I ate iguana. It was really good, somewhat similar to chicken. I felt
really bad as I was eating it though, because the outside was still green
though my family scraped off the scales. It's just hard eating something when
it's green and belongs to an iguana. Hard things. Although, it was quite tasty.
I don't think I'll be eating it again just because I would feel so bad about
it.
This Sunday
was also band practice day. A bunch of volunteers got together at the church
after the service had finished. Eben and I brought our guitars and Holly
brought her banjo. We were going to play together but ended up just sort of
hanging out and plucking at them randomly. Joe(our fire spinning volunteer) can
also play guitar a bit. I need to practice more but I don't want to bother my
family by making all manner of strange noises. After practicing our instruments
we did play volley ball with people from town who were playing. They're really
good. Way better than us. I only played for a little bit then sat out and
watched because I was not having good luck at volley ball. Some days are better
than others for me apparently. That, and I am just not the most athletic
person. I love being active, but being athletic is a totally different can of
worms.
After getting back from hanging
out with other volunteers on Sunday I still had my guitar downstairs so I
brought it out and played a song for my mom and siblings because Ravi was still
at work. Then I tried giving Shivo a basic lesson on his guitar which I
replaced two strings on. I still have one full packet of strings but I'm
fearful it won't be enough. I may request more in a care package at some point,
but for now we're good. It's funny because I've only ever replaced the small e
string and the G string. Hilarious. But that's how it goes I suppose.
I am still loving the heck out
of my community and all the volunteers I get to hang out with in the
Hinterland. The number of mosquito bites
I've been getting are somewhat less than ideal, but kind of to be expected. So
far I haven't really gotten sad much, only brief moments where I'm hesitant
about if I can do what I came here to do, or moments when I miss home, but it's
been really great. I do know if I had a problem there are a bundle of people,
both here and across the world I could reach out to, which is a pretty splendid
feeling.
