The New Year

Where to start? A blog welcoming the new and appreciating the old doesn’t seem to fit. We spent 51 weeks of the past 52 in Guyana. (One, glorious week in Tobago). We still have four months to go. The weather isn’t changing, we aren’t moving, nothing is altered. Forgive me if January first doesn’t seem like a new start.

But I still hold a hope for this year. In four months, we will finish our time in Guyana. And the next eight months of 2011…

Unknown.

Vague.

Elusive.

I can only hope I can find ‘it’… whatever ‘it’ is, before April is here.

And 2010? What comes to mind first, of course, are the most vivid memories, be they colorful or unsettling. There were a few of both. Entirely too many moments of feeling inadequate, a few precious interactions with triumph, and many wonderful times with brand new friends.

2010’s vivid memories:

• Not wanting to eat dried beans for the umpteenth day in a row, but not having much else to make

• Marching and dancing dressed in yellow, red, and green for Aishalton’s Mashramani Parade – with Kanaimu, who we had dressed up as well

  
• Being so incredibly hot and sweaty the only remedy is to bathe in the refreshing cool waters of the Savannah creeks

• Reading lovely books to children who may never read one themselves
• Learning how to roll, oil, and cook a proper roti, an Indian-Guyanese flatbread, with the most amazing cook – Auntie Marina

• Being completely appreciative for each and every watt of energy - lights, power for computer to watch... Prison Break!
• Receiving word that my grant was approved, then online, and finally… funded! Hallelujah!

• Reveling in the glory of lights in our house in March, only to have the generator die a week later, and not replaced until December , and reveling in the glory of florescent lighting again

• Taking my mom for a long, hot walk through the Savannah with about 20 women and children, and swimming together in Cabanawau Creek

• Watching a mad bull attack and threaten the feeble gate around the annual Rupununi Rodeo, dancing well into the night with cowboy hats, and the surreal sight of a giant Ferris wheel in the middle of the Rupununi Savannas

• Drinking, swimming, driving (a real vehicle, that I had control over!), and talking with some amazing Berea girls in the serene, gorgeous country of Tobago

• Marvelling at the beautiful city of Boa Vista in Brazil, and it’s vivacious holiday – Carnaval

• Starting a dance and exercise group with Wapishana women, few of whom have ever danced or exercised, gaining a wonderful set of friends

• Sat down and looked out over millions of acres of unspoiled rainforest as the monkeys and macaws called around me

• Watching Chris and my brother, Stephen, cross our pickup truck on the flooded Rupununi by pushing it across on a homemade, oil drum pontoon

• Realizing that I will never be a classroom teacher, that I am not able to handle a classroom full of students…
• …But that I really love small groups of children, sparking their imagination, and playing with them

• Laughing with my dance and exercise ladies as we attempted a “Hip Hop Dance” Exercise DVD together

• Eating fresh greens – tomatoes and green peppers were a particular favorite – straight from my husband’s garden

I can look back on 2010 and see a number of irreplaceable and unrepeatable experiences. I hope my life is full of them, but I'm ready to move forward. So, here's to 2011 and whatever you hold in store for us. May you be more peaceful, more healthy, more energy-efficient, less consumptive, and less stressful than the year before. Cheers!

Christmas Breakfast

On the 21^st of December (Happy Birthday to my brother, Stephen!), our Toshao (chief) hosted a breakfast for his area of the village. (The village is divided into small sections for organization and governance). Though I don’t live in his area, a few people invited me. So, I showed up with a little food and they let me stay.

Thank goodness!

It was a lovely Christmas feast. It felt good to be sitting at a table, surrounded by pots and happy people. It felt a bit like Christmas. Well, except for the fact that it was 6am. That was unusual. But nonetheless, I left with the fullest belly I’ve ever had at 7am. Everything was delicious.

The whole table:

Sneaking coffee from the pot:

Hadashia brings her bowl of food:

Toshao checking out the food:

Toshao in his Chief's hat:

Christmas Dinner – Part 2

• Eggplant
• Bora (stringy green beans)
• Garlic and onion
• Sweet pepper
• Yard chicken
• 2 pounds fresh fish
• Farine (local staple)
• Eddo (ground provision – like a potato)
• Snap peas
• Chives
• Limes
• Mangoes

…. That is what the ladies found and brought for the Ladies’ Dance Group Christmas Dinner. We decided to cook together for our holiday party. We set ourselves a few guidelines:

• Avoid frying
• Find local, fresh food
• Avoid MSG and ‘cubes’ (bullion containing MSG)
• Prioritize fruits and vegetables
• NO carbonated drinks

So, the day of the party, ladies started showing up with whatever they could find, and we piled it on the table. Quite an assortment. Now, what to cook?

We came up with a lovely menu:

Curried chicken, eddo, eggplant and bora

Roti (Like a flour tortilla/nan bread - We used flour from the shop! Oh the shame…)

Fish damoriti with fahrine (Local food – boiled fish with fresh hot pepper)

Steamed vegetables

Limeade

Mango milkshakes

Mango cobbler

… And it was amazing! I love how fluidly and fluently women here cook. I have a feeling with that variety of ingredients and no plan, it would have taken American women any number of hours to produce a meal that effectively used them. But my ladies had dinner on the table in about an hour and a half.

Healthy, mostly local, and a lovely variety.

Sisters

Roti maker - you must clap the dough after cooking, while it is still hot!

I can roll roti!

Renata makes excellent greens:

So glad we found fresh fish!

Thanks to Eustace who went into the Savannah to the Rupununi River to get it.

I’m so proud! Now, if I could just merge my knowledge of nutrition with their cooking skills, I’d be so happy!

Christmas Dinner

Here's a sneak peak of the Christmas Party/Dinner we had this week with the Ladies' Dancing Group. We got together and make a meal with two things in mind: Nutrition and Local food. So, we tried to cook without frying, little salt, no beef, and no shop food. We almost made it. Menu and more pictures coming soon!

Santa hats were a big hit with the little ones:

I've never even thought to actually put my stocking on my feet, but that was the first thing Ashley did!

I miss the cold. Sure, the rain makes it chilly here, and we really rejoice if we are cold enough to put on long sleeves or get a second sheet for the bed. But, I miss the COLD. Needing a scarf, wearing cute coats, socks and shoes, eating soup to warm up, wanting hot chocolate, not to satisfy your choco-addiction, but because it’s cold! Needing your husband to keep you warm….

My friend had a picture up on Facebook of a snow hike. The same time, last weekend, we hiked. We don’t often ‘hike’, because hiking isn’t like back home. Hiking in the savannah is like wandering in the dessert. The savannahs are open grassy plains, and under the Guyana sun (we’re 4 degrees from the Equator, if I guess from the map) it is HOT. So, hiking is more like baking. But, we did it Saturday. That was all I did for the whole weekend – Saturday night and Sunday I just rested to recover from my exhaustion. We climbed the Aishalton mountain, or hill as it should rightly be called. It does give you a nice view, of the Savannahs, the village, and the Kanuku mountains in the distance. We went up with our neighbors and friends. Suffice to say, the 7 year olds fared better than the 18 year olds, and the 18 year olds fared better than us 26 year olds. And, the 26 year olds barely fared better than the old mamas. We ate a full breakfast, and started off with the clouds as our friends. We reached to top, had a full lunch – rice, beans, fahrine (local staple made from cassava), beef, and limeade. It was on the way back down, after noon, that the clouds broke and the sun started to bear down. I had sweat trickling in all kinds of new places. The water bottles finished, some people’s sandals broke, and our clothes started to soak in our sweat. We made it home, went promptly to the creek, and bathed. Lovely cool, creek water. We are recovered now, with the help of some foot massages, more limeade and water, and hammock naps on Sunday.

It is so hot here. I have no weather channel and no thermometer. When I talk to people back home, they ask how hot it is here. They’re wondering if it is 85 or 95. If I had to guess, upper 90s most days, but it doesn’t seem to matter to me anymore. I used to check weather.com every morning before school or work. I loved planning a cute rainstorm outfit with my rain boots or planning to wear my scarf or a short sleeve shirt with a cardigan. Now, you just wear your high-tech performance clothing or linen. Everyday. I can't wait for a real winter....

The changing times

We understood that by signing up for Peace Corps, we might be living a rural, electricity-less village life. And, thankfully, that’s what we got. (Plenty volunteers have electricity, refrigerators, fans, lights, TVs, running water, the whole 9 yards…) We, however, are one of a handful of volunteers in Guyana who are living in very remote villages, complete with difficult transportation, no phone service, and no electricity. So, that leaves us relying on kerosene lanterns and flashlights after 6pm. It hasn’t been bad… It feels a bit natural and woodsy to be in sync with the spinning of the world and the cycles of the moon.

Back in March, our building was finally wired to be powered by the generator that was running from 6pm-9pm each evening. That felt like a blessing, because that huge generator is right across the street from our home and was spewing it’s loud rumbles AND diesel pollution right into our house, but we hadn’t been getting any of the benefits. So, for a blissful week and a half, we were wired. We plugged in our computers, charged our rechargeable AA batteries, and played music. We sat in the lights, with the newfound freedom to cook after 6pm! Then, a week and a half later, the loud, stinky generator quit. And, for the last 9 months, various parts have been brought in attempts to fix it.

The part is coming…

The part is being calibrated…

A back up is on the way…

Various excuses we heard for 9 months while the hospital, school dorms (100 children, no lights), police station, and we sat in the dark.

Then, last week, a glorious new generator showed up. And, hallelujah, it’s being housed in a different location. So, we get all the benefits – lights and electricity – and none of the stinky pollution. We are in our second and a half week of having electricity here in Aishalton. Only 4 hours, 5pm-9pm, but it is amazing. We no longer have to beg shop owners and others to charge our things. We can watch movies! (Only in May did we attain a laptop that shows movies – thanks Parents-in-law!) We can cook dinner in the light! Such a nice surprise to come along, we had pretty much given up on it.

Now, I hate TV. I hate television shows, I hate the way people latch on to television shows. I think it is just a massive conspiracy to keep us all stupid and shopping. Now, I make my one exception for The Office, which my mom has been so sweet to send us seasons 5 and 6 that we’ve missed, Congrats Jim and Pam! We just saw the wedding…..

Mostly, we were watching movies, as they are quite cheap here in Guyana. But then somehow we picked up the first season of show from several years back – Prison Break.

Oh

My

Gosh.

I can’t sleep. I dream Prison Break. Sleep Prison Break. Think Prison Break. I love it. It’s a pretty terrible show – the acting weak, the plot line unbelievable. But, it is incredibly addicting. The drama is through the roof. I got hooked. Never heard of it? It’s about a man wrongly accused of murder and sitting on death row in a max security prison. His brother, a genius architect, gets himself thrown into prison just to Break His Brother OUT. It’s crazy. Anyway, we’re addicted. Like hopeless television addicts. Ugh…. No more TV shows for this girl.

Lord help me if I ever become like this over The Bachelor, Lost, or Grey’s. No, no, no.

Mangos!

They're here.

The trees are HEAVY with mangoes. I just had my first one of the season two days ago.

My photo is not great, but if you squint, you can see just how many mangoes are on the trees!! And there are... nearly a hundred trees around the village!

I can't get my kids to come and read after school anymore, they're too busy throwing sticks, mangoes, and bottles into the trees to knock out the ripe ones!

I love mango season!