Will update more later. We love and miss you!
Rainforest
Millions of acres of pristine forest.
Monday, May 4, 2009
In Aishalton!
We're settling in our village. Working on getting an address we can have things mailed to. We'll be needing some seeds, some cocoa powder, and spices (oregano, cinamon, red pepper). And any other luxuries you feel like sending :) Internet is slow and expensive, so I'm going to make this quick. We're doing good - figuring out where we're going to live and how to get fresh fruits and veggies here. We've heard good things about next month - the mangos come into season. The mango trees here are HUGE. Like, the mother of all living things huge. Apparently there are more mangos than everyone can consume. I'm looking foward to it :)
Monday, April 20, 2009
Site Placement!
We received great news about our site placement. Chris and I will be serving our two years in an Amerindian village in southern
We are still going in this week for a few final days of training before we swear in Thursday morning. Our swearing in will be attended by Guyana’s Minister of Health and Minister of Education, our Ambassador, Peace Corps staff, host families, and ourselves. We will be swearing in along with 30 other people as “Guy21”, the 21st group to serve in
I have been coming to a greater understanding of what it means to be a Peace Corps volunteer through Pre-Service Training and from discussions with fellow volunteers. I am more confident in my decision to join Peace Corps and spend two years living in another culture and integrating into the community. I am going to develop these thoughts and write a blog about it later.
On a side note, Peace Corps volunteers read some awesome books and then pass them around, so I’ve already gotten my hands on a few. Recommended reading for those interested: One Thousand White Women, an amazing historical fiction story about the integration of Caucasian ‘civilized’ culture and ‘savage’ Native American culture, quite fitting for my upcoming adventure. The book had me forgetting it was fiction, not history. Read it, you’ll love it.
Quote of the post: “Some see the glass as half empty; some see it as half full. A Peace Corps Volunteer sees the glass and says, ‘I can take a bath with that.’”
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Happy Easter!
Happy Easter from Guyana!
We are having a great time with hot cross buns and kite flying to celebrate Easter. We even got to sing "Up from the Grave He arose" in church this morning, my favorite Easter song. I must mournn the fact that we didn't get Easter baskets full of chocolate, but we did get to celebrate the resurrection and that's what counts. Kite flying is symbolic of the resurrection, so today and tomorrow, children all over Guyana fly homemade and store bought kites. Chris and I both attempted to make kites, but the store-bought ones definitly fly better. :)
The past two days we have also spent painting. One of our fellow volunteers is staying with a family who needed a building painted, so we decided to do a little 'community service', and have been painting inside and out - contrete annd wood. It has been a great time and has allowed us to feel productive.
So, in Guyana, animals are everywhere. Domesticated animals, roaming animals, wild animals: dogs, chickens, birds, goats, cats, chickens, ducks, turkeys, sheep, lizzards, mosquitos, donkeys, cows, and more. And, well, there are about three things they like to do: Eat, sleep, and... have sex. Maybe because it is spring, love is in the air? I heard kids from farms grow up knowing alot about sex, but I had no idea. They must know EVERYTHING. I have seen almost all the animals in the above list procreating. The male chickens chase the female chickens in a fierce hunt. The females last for a while, but then they are caught. Please send an email request for further description.
As for your Creolese lesson, "Boat gone down falls cyan turn back" - A boat that has gone over the falls cannot turn around. Meaning, once young people start in activities they shouldn't be involved in, it is hard to make them stop.
Chris and I were able to choose 3 sites we are interested in serving in, we wrote our essay about them, and will find out Friday where we will be. There was quite a bit of tension deciding which site was best and writing about why we wanted to be there. Our sites will either be small city or small village, Amerindian or East Indian, farming or ranching. We are excited to see our options and get excited about swearing in next Thursday (april 23rd) and becoming 'real' volunteers.
We're having a great time, we love and miss you. Can't wait til you visit. (Yes, you).
We are having a great time with hot cross buns and kite flying to celebrate Easter. We even got to sing "Up from the Grave He arose" in church this morning, my favorite Easter song. I must mournn the fact that we didn't get Easter baskets full of chocolate, but we did get to celebrate the resurrection and that's what counts. Kite flying is symbolic of the resurrection, so today and tomorrow, children all over Guyana fly homemade and store bought kites. Chris and I both attempted to make kites, but the store-bought ones definitly fly better. :)
The past two days we have also spent painting. One of our fellow volunteers is staying with a family who needed a building painted, so we decided to do a little 'community service', and have been painting inside and out - contrete annd wood. It has been a great time and has allowed us to feel productive.
So, in Guyana, animals are everywhere. Domesticated animals, roaming animals, wild animals: dogs, chickens, birds, goats, cats, chickens, ducks, turkeys, sheep, lizzards, mosquitos, donkeys, cows, and more. And, well, there are about three things they like to do: Eat, sleep, and... have sex. Maybe because it is spring, love is in the air? I heard kids from farms grow up knowing alot about sex, but I had no idea. They must know EVERYTHING. I have seen almost all the animals in the above list procreating. The male chickens chase the female chickens in a fierce hunt. The females last for a while, but then they are caught. Please send an email request for further description.
As for your Creolese lesson, "Boat gone down falls cyan turn back" - A boat that has gone over the falls cannot turn around. Meaning, once young people start in activities they shouldn't be involved in, it is hard to make them stop.
Chris and I were able to choose 3 sites we are interested in serving in, we wrote our essay about them, and will find out Friday where we will be. There was quite a bit of tension deciding which site was best and writing about why we wanted to be there. Our sites will either be small city or small village, Amerindian or East Indian, farming or ranching. We are excited to see our options and get excited about swearing in next Thursday (april 23rd) and becoming 'real' volunteers.
We're having a great time, we love and miss you. Can't wait til you visit. (Yes, you).
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
A Day in the Life of a PCT (Peace Corps Trainee)
4.30 am: Wake up to the sound of roosters crowing and dogs barking
4.45 am: Try to go back to sleep
5.00 am: Wake to the sound of host mother, preparing breakfast and lunch and washing the previous day’s dishes
5.15am: Try to go back to sleep
5:45 am: Wake up to another round of dogs barking
6:00: The day is heating up, try to go back to sleep in the warmth.
6:30 am: Decide it is time to wake up, get out of bed, tie up the mosquito net, and shower
7:00am: Press clothes for the day
7:30am: Eat Breakfast - baked goods, toast, crackers, or fried plantains
8:00am: Leave for training, take taxi to church 3 miles down the road
8:30 am – Noon: Education Training. Teaching children with special needs and alternate forms of assessment
Noon-1pm: Lunch – prepared by home stay mom, curry and roti (flat bread), fried rice, or fried potatoes
1pm-4.30pm: General Training – Cross Cultural Session: Creolese Language, Safety and Security: Incident Reporting
4:30pm: Walk to snackette for drinks and snack, take to the sea wall (Atlantic Ocean) and enjoy, complain about training with other trainees :)
5:30pm: Head home to home stay – taxi. Busy time of day, so be sure to squeeze 4 adults and 1 child in the back of a compact car, and one adult and child in the passenger front seat. “Mek yuhself small” as the taxi drivers say.
6:30pm: Dinner with home stay: Potato Stew, Roasted Eggplant, or “Cook up Rice (Rice and beans and vegetables)
7:00pm: Treat the day’s maladies: sunburn, heat rash, mosquito bites
7:30pm: Relax with home stay – play games, watch TV, do homework, play cricket
8:30pm: Get ready for bed – brush teeth, shower, get down mosquito net, apply mosquito spray
9:00pm: Bedtime, debrief day with Chris. Attempt to fall asleep in the heat.
The life of a trainee – after April 23rd, we will be living in our sites as volunteers, doing our Peace Corps work and integrating into our community. Training is a little boring, but we are having a good time meanwhile. We escape to area lakes on the weekends, swimming and cooking food ‘bush style’ – on the fire. Last weekend, we took 5 live chickens, a ton of food from the market, and made lunch – from killing and plucking the chickens to peeling the garlic and chopping the veggies, we did it all on location. Best tasting meal ever. I decided all the best meals I’ve had have been cooked over the open flame – can’t beat it.
Last week we got to visit current volunteers in Guyana to see what life is like. I spent a week with a couple in an Indo-Guyanese rice farming community. Both the husband and wife are working in primary schools, teaching computer classes, literacy, and Spanish. It was great to see their Guyanese friends, how they cook and live on the Guyanese budget, and how successful they are in their work. I saw the library and computer labs they established. Chris spent a week on an island in Guyana’s Pameroon River. He lived amongst Amerindians whose only electricity is solar power and who bathe in the river. I should also say he lived with tarantulas and slept in a hammock. We survived. Thrived. We are anxiously waiting for Friday; we will get the information about the sites available for us. We will find out where we can live, information on our jobs, and pictures of the available housing. Then we will write essays requesting the sites we choose and will find out the following week where we will be. Exciting times.
A few quotes from the week:
“Peace Corps. It is the ugliest time of your life.”
Q: “If the Amerindians sleep in hammocks, how do they manage to procreate?”
A: “They weave strong, strong hammocks. Built for two.”
“Where is Machews?” (Translation: Where is Matthew?)
“Me nah know” (Translation: I don’t know)
“You can buy happiness. It’s called cheese.” (Dairy is not widely available and is very expensive in Guyana).
Next up: Day in the life of a Guyanese animal, and more Creolese lessons. By request. J
PS: We are working on uploading pictures, the internet is mighty slow.
4.30 am: Wake up to the sound of roosters crowing and dogs barking
4.45 am: Try to go back to sleep
5.00 am: Wake to the sound of host mother, preparing breakfast and lunch and washing the previous day’s dishes
5.15am: Try to go back to sleep
5:45 am: Wake up to another round of dogs barking
6:00: The day is heating up, try to go back to sleep in the warmth.
6:30 am: Decide it is time to wake up, get out of bed, tie up the mosquito net, and shower
7:00am: Press clothes for the day
7:30am: Eat Breakfast - baked goods, toast, crackers, or fried plantains
8:00am: Leave for training, take taxi to church 3 miles down the road
8:30 am – Noon: Education Training. Teaching children with special needs and alternate forms of assessment
Noon-1pm: Lunch – prepared by home stay mom, curry and roti (flat bread), fried rice, or fried potatoes
1pm-4.30pm: General Training – Cross Cultural Session: Creolese Language, Safety and Security: Incident Reporting
4:30pm: Walk to snackette for drinks and snack, take to the sea wall (Atlantic Ocean) and enjoy, complain about training with other trainees :)
5:30pm: Head home to home stay – taxi. Busy time of day, so be sure to squeeze 4 adults and 1 child in the back of a compact car, and one adult and child in the passenger front seat. “Mek yuhself small” as the taxi drivers say.
6:30pm: Dinner with home stay: Potato Stew, Roasted Eggplant, or “Cook up Rice (Rice and beans and vegetables)
7:00pm: Treat the day’s maladies: sunburn, heat rash, mosquito bites
7:30pm: Relax with home stay – play games, watch TV, do homework, play cricket
8:30pm: Get ready for bed – brush teeth, shower, get down mosquito net, apply mosquito spray
9:00pm: Bedtime, debrief day with Chris. Attempt to fall asleep in the heat.
The life of a trainee – after April 23rd, we will be living in our sites as volunteers, doing our Peace Corps work and integrating into our community. Training is a little boring, but we are having a good time meanwhile. We escape to area lakes on the weekends, swimming and cooking food ‘bush style’ – on the fire. Last weekend, we took 5 live chickens, a ton of food from the market, and made lunch – from killing and plucking the chickens to peeling the garlic and chopping the veggies, we did it all on location. Best tasting meal ever. I decided all the best meals I’ve had have been cooked over the open flame – can’t beat it.
Last week we got to visit current volunteers in Guyana to see what life is like. I spent a week with a couple in an Indo-Guyanese rice farming community. Both the husband and wife are working in primary schools, teaching computer classes, literacy, and Spanish. It was great to see their Guyanese friends, how they cook and live on the Guyanese budget, and how successful they are in their work. I saw the library and computer labs they established. Chris spent a week on an island in Guyana’s Pameroon River. He lived amongst Amerindians whose only electricity is solar power and who bathe in the river. I should also say he lived with tarantulas and slept in a hammock. We survived. Thrived. We are anxiously waiting for Friday; we will get the information about the sites available for us. We will find out where we can live, information on our jobs, and pictures of the available housing. Then we will write essays requesting the sites we choose and will find out the following week where we will be. Exciting times.
A few quotes from the week:
“Peace Corps. It is the ugliest time of your life.”
Q: “If the Amerindians sleep in hammocks, how do they manage to procreate?”
A: “They weave strong, strong hammocks. Built for two.”
“Where is Machews?” (Translation: Where is Matthew?)
“Me nah know” (Translation: I don’t know)
“You can buy happiness. It’s called cheese.” (Dairy is not widely available and is very expensive in Guyana).
Next up: Day in the life of a Guyanese animal, and more Creolese lessons. By request. J
PS: We are working on uploading pictures, the internet is mighty slow.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Howdee do an Tank you
"Howdee do an tank you nuv uh bruk no bones" - Guyanese Saying
We were asked to figure out this Guyanese saying during our Creolese lanugage session. I'll translate: Hello and thank you nenver broke any bones." Meaning: Manners never hurt anybody. Good to remember, at home and while travelling.
So, Guyana is amazing. This country has beautiful natural resources - fresh water from frequent rainfall, fertile soil, plenty of coconut and other fruit trees, and fresh, ocean breeze. To keep the blog to a readable length, I'm going to write about a recent holiday, and an experience in the schools.
Last week Chris and I were able to celebrate the Hindu holiday, Phagwah. It is the celebration of good over evil as we usher in Spring. It is celebrated with vegetarian food, water, and colored powder. We stay with an Afro-Guyanese homestay, so we went down to a friend's Indo-Guyanese family to celebrate. We arrived in white t-shirts to have the children dumping buckets of water over our heads. We hadn't even made it through the front gate. Thinking we would be safe inside, we entered the property, shortly following came powders of all colors, women and men smearinng it on our faces and shirts followed by a kiss on the cheek. The water represents the renewing and freshness of Spring, the colors the hope of Spring. We were fed Indian sweets and drinks, and later a vegetarian lunch of curries and rice and roti (like a tortilla). Family members, neighbors, and friends stopped by to smear us with powder and soak us with water. Everyone wishes blessings and good times. Later, we went on a walk to visit others, powdering and soaking others. Everyone was cooking and baking, sharing the fruits of their labor with us. We had no idea we would come back home so colorful. We took showers, scrubbing and scrubbing and still had green bellybuttons and red hairlines. Phagwah is a great time to be in Guyana.
We have beenn training everyday for our service, which will officially start later in April. The classroom sessions are a bit boring, but we have been able to get into the Guyanese schools several times and this week we got to teach a "Health and Family Life" session to a 5th grade class. Guyana has the 2nd highest infection rate of HIV in South America, so we are here to do HIV/AIDS education, so that is what we focused on. We did a drama about HIV attacking and taking out the immune system. After explaining the immune system and the roles of the white blood cells, we took the kids outside and I took several aside, placing red bandanas on their heads. We marched back into the group of kids like scary monsters with our 'mean, HIV faces' on. We searched out the studennts representing the immune system and surrounded them and took them out of the group, telling the students we had taken our their immune system. I had all the rest of the class fall to the ground - because without your immune system, the body can't fight off anything and will eventually die. They loved it, laughing and acting out the roles. We felt this was a family-friendly way to explain the significance of HIV/AIDS to 5th graders. The Guyanese students are amazingly well-behaved and very hard workers, so I'm very excited to get into the classrooms and start working. After doing some lessons these few weeks, I'm gaining confidence about being able to make a difference.
Oh! And I should give a happy birthday shout-out to Chris, who is now 24 and had a great Guyanese birthday on Thursday. I made him some homefries and fried eggs for breakfast. He is currently relaxing in the hammock he got for his birthday. :) He has been an amazing support as we adjust to a nenw country, climate, culture, etc... I love you, Chris! We will be separating next week as we each go and visit a current volunteer to see what life is like - he will be traveling down a river we are currently staying near to stay in an Amerindian village. I will be travelling to the other side of the country to stay in an area called "Black Bush". We're very excited to get out and see some more of the country. I have a mailing address you can use to mail things until April 8th or so. We will finish training and move to our permanent sites on April 23rd, so we'll send out that address when we have it.
Currently:
Kristin and Chris Adkins
c/o US Embassy
Attn: Peace Corps
100 Young and Duke Streets
Georgetown, Guyana
South America
We will have some ideas for care packages once we get to site later in April, but we'd love some mail and (if you really need to send something) snack food and pens. :)
Love you all!
Also, if you're interested, we do have a phone number and I'll be glad to give that to you, we can receive calls and texts.
We were asked to figure out this Guyanese saying during our Creolese lanugage session. I'll translate: Hello and thank you nenver broke any bones." Meaning: Manners never hurt anybody. Good to remember, at home and while travelling.
So, Guyana is amazing. This country has beautiful natural resources - fresh water from frequent rainfall, fertile soil, plenty of coconut and other fruit trees, and fresh, ocean breeze. To keep the blog to a readable length, I'm going to write about a recent holiday, and an experience in the schools.
Last week Chris and I were able to celebrate the Hindu holiday, Phagwah. It is the celebration of good over evil as we usher in Spring. It is celebrated with vegetarian food, water, and colored powder. We stay with an Afro-Guyanese homestay, so we went down to a friend's Indo-Guyanese family to celebrate. We arrived in white t-shirts to have the children dumping buckets of water over our heads. We hadn't even made it through the front gate. Thinking we would be safe inside, we entered the property, shortly following came powders of all colors, women and men smearinng it on our faces and shirts followed by a kiss on the cheek. The water represents the renewing and freshness of Spring, the colors the hope of Spring. We were fed Indian sweets and drinks, and later a vegetarian lunch of curries and rice and roti (like a tortilla). Family members, neighbors, and friends stopped by to smear us with powder and soak us with water. Everyone wishes blessings and good times. Later, we went on a walk to visit others, powdering and soaking others. Everyone was cooking and baking, sharing the fruits of their labor with us. We had no idea we would come back home so colorful. We took showers, scrubbing and scrubbing and still had green bellybuttons and red hairlines. Phagwah is a great time to be in Guyana.
We have beenn training everyday for our service, which will officially start later in April. The classroom sessions are a bit boring, but we have been able to get into the Guyanese schools several times and this week we got to teach a "Health and Family Life" session to a 5th grade class. Guyana has the 2nd highest infection rate of HIV in South America, so we are here to do HIV/AIDS education, so that is what we focused on. We did a drama about HIV attacking and taking out the immune system. After explaining the immune system and the roles of the white blood cells, we took the kids outside and I took several aside, placing red bandanas on their heads. We marched back into the group of kids like scary monsters with our 'mean, HIV faces' on. We searched out the studennts representing the immune system and surrounded them and took them out of the group, telling the students we had taken our their immune system. I had all the rest of the class fall to the ground - because without your immune system, the body can't fight off anything and will eventually die. They loved it, laughing and acting out the roles. We felt this was a family-friendly way to explain the significance of HIV/AIDS to 5th graders. The Guyanese students are amazingly well-behaved and very hard workers, so I'm very excited to get into the classrooms and start working. After doing some lessons these few weeks, I'm gaining confidence about being able to make a difference.
Oh! And I should give a happy birthday shout-out to Chris, who is now 24 and had a great Guyanese birthday on Thursday. I made him some homefries and fried eggs for breakfast. He is currently relaxing in the hammock he got for his birthday. :) He has been an amazing support as we adjust to a nenw country, climate, culture, etc... I love you, Chris! We will be separating next week as we each go and visit a current volunteer to see what life is like - he will be traveling down a river we are currently staying near to stay in an Amerindian village. I will be travelling to the other side of the country to stay in an area called "Black Bush". We're very excited to get out and see some more of the country. I have a mailing address you can use to mail things until April 8th or so. We will finish training and move to our permanent sites on April 23rd, so we'll send out that address when we have it.
Currently:
Kristin and Chris Adkins
c/o US Embassy
Attn: Peace Corps
100 Young and Duke Streets
Georgetown, Guyana
South America
We will have some ideas for care packages once we get to site later in April, but we'd love some mail and (if you really need to send something) snack food and pens. :)
Love you all!
Also, if you're interested, we do have a phone number and I'll be glad to give that to you, we can receive calls and texts.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Alright, I've finally gotten a chance to put in my two cents on this computational machine. I don't think that West Virginia has anything on Guyana - wild and wonderful what?!
Guyana... what exactly can you say? Everyone has been so nice and hostpitable. The staff has been excellent on training. All the trainees are feeling some angst, but I think it is mostly because we just want to bust out and get started on things. There is a lot of talk about resources and planning and calenders and that is all well and good, but it is so easy to get bogged down in everything and lose sight of what is important.
However, when we walk down the road and just wave to someone or sit out on the porch in the evening and watch a small family ride by on a bike - its a reminder of the people that we are here to serve.
Mushy stuff out tha way. Cows. Cows. Cows. Goats. and Dogs. Lots of em and there is not a soul watching out for them. They bark all night... so some ear plugs would be nice.
Oh and when I get home I'll have to take a picture of my elbow to illustrate the improper way to sleep with a misquito net. Lets just say that leaving your elbow touching the side of the net will leave that part of your body like an adolesence's face.
Goodness the foods and smells and sights of Guyana just blow the mind. The heat is rough, but the people are so warm and open and interested in what some 'white boys' are doing walking down the road.
And for a grand finale! Some terms:
"pork knocker" someone that mines for gold or diamonds
sometimes people will say "White boy at ya" and you reply "at ya"
Guyana... what exactly can you say? Everyone has been so nice and hostpitable. The staff has been excellent on training. All the trainees are feeling some angst, but I think it is mostly because we just want to bust out and get started on things. There is a lot of talk about resources and planning and calenders and that is all well and good, but it is so easy to get bogged down in everything and lose sight of what is important.
However, when we walk down the road and just wave to someone or sit out on the porch in the evening and watch a small family ride by on a bike - its a reminder of the people that we are here to serve.
Mushy stuff out tha way. Cows. Cows. Cows. Goats. and Dogs. Lots of em and there is not a soul watching out for them. They bark all night... so some ear plugs would be nice.
Oh and when I get home I'll have to take a picture of my elbow to illustrate the improper way to sleep with a misquito net. Lets just say that leaving your elbow touching the side of the net will leave that part of your body like an adolesence's face.
Goodness the foods and smells and sights of Guyana just blow the mind. The heat is rough, but the people are so warm and open and interested in what some 'white boys' are doing walking down the road.
And for a grand finale! Some terms:
"pork knocker" someone that mines for gold or diamonds
sometimes people will say "White boy at ya" and you reply "at ya"
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