Life on the Coast

Hello Family and Friends!

Paul and I are learning more than we can tell you.  It's challenge enough to get it all written down, let alone typed up onto a blog at an internet cafe.  Know that we wish we could tell you everything, but you'll have to survive with the majors and a few details here and there.

We are living on the coast with a wonderful retired couple, Vesta and Allan.  They are incredibly hospitable and sweet, not to mention patient with us.  Vesta has been teaching me how to cook the local cuisine.  She is an excellent cook and I have a lot to learn.  I'm trying frantically to write down recipes in my composition book, as well as the names of the local fruits and vegetables.  Although they have many of the same foods we have, many go by another name.  Paul is learning the area with the help of Allan, taking a bike ride this morning that Paul says almost killed him. :)  There is a lot of laughter in the house with the cultural "no-no's"  we do, as well as the mixed communication.  Guyanese English is very different from our English and it is hard to understand people.  We can still communicate though, and that I'm thankful for.

This is the view from the sea wall outside our house.

We have seen numerous mosquitoes, toads, salamanders, bats, and birds, not to mention the goats, sheep, cows, and horses.  We've even been visited by our favorite, the giant brown spider that is allowed to be inside.  It is as big as my hand and completely harmless.  I only hope it can't make it through a mosquito net.

Just an FYI as well.  We learned that all packages that come to us will be opened by the post office.  Items inside are then taxed and we pay before we get the packages.  There is a Peace Corps staff member that makes sure the packages get to us, but there is nothing going around them being opened.  It's nothing to worry about, but some volunteers already here suggested thatyou conceal certain items in other cheaper items or items no one would want to go through (their example was an empty tampon box, seriously).  Just keep that in mind.

Training has been very long but extremely informative and I'm thankful for the amazing staff we have.  We are learning how to integrate into our communities and then ways of Guyana.  We won't know for a few more weeks where we'll be for the remaining two years, but we'll let you know when we do.

It is hot here, but it is good.  The coast has a nice breeze and it's very comfortable at night.  Just sleep under the mosquito net and make sure it is tucked in tight.  That I learned the hard way.  My knees are swollen with bites, but they surprisingly don't itch as bad as the ones on my ankle.  Oh well.  I'm still enjoying the breeze on the veranda, mosquitoes or not.

The dermatology office will be happy to know I've been slathering myself in sunscreen and wearing my very large brimmed hat all the time.  I figure I already stand out, I might as well look ridiculous.

We love you all and we'll try to get photos up as we can.  We're working through some kinks, and the internet is very slow in getting pictures up.

Love Alyssa and Paul

Welcome to da Jungle

We are officially in Guyana.

We arrived early Sunday morning to the instant slap in the face of the equitorial heat. So far however, the heat has not been as bad as I initially expected. Especially away from the asphalt of the city.

After getting off the plane we were greeted by many excited (way too excited to handle after a 7 hour flight at 12pm) Peace Corps staff and current volunteers who loaded up our bags and carted us off to a local resort. You may be thinking, "a resort I thought you were joinging the Peace Corps to not stay at resorts". Well. this whole experience has been a well oiled machine, with many hiccups, in which they slowly ease the volunteer into the environment in which they will be serving. The idea is to start giving up U.S. culture one step at a time. First, with your environment, second with your freedoms, third, with modern convieniences (AC and ice) then with other volunteers. While Alyssa and I could have probally handled being dropped in a small rural village many in our group could not.

From the resort we took little day trips to Georgetown, the capital of the country, in order to take care of logistics like banking and basic city knowledge. We learned about the "red zones" of the city, of which their are many, and experienced our first Guyanese pizza with the CD (country director of Peace Corps Guyana). He gave a short inspirational talk about the things to look forward to during our time of service and sent us on our way to our homestay training.

Flight to East Coast and Staging

*Important note*
For the next two months we should have consistent access to the infoweb. Which means we will have consistent access to updating our blog. Because we have already been here a week and I could honestly write 20 pages about our experience so far we are going to try and write a few posts at a time but time delay the posts so we dont overload all of you with information. What this really means is the a post may be released a week from now but would have been written today. You still tracking...Good. Its our plan to post pictures with every blog post but because service can be slow we may not be able to.  

Also, because we are now officially government employees our safety is paramount. To insure our safety we are prohibited from mentioning our exact locations. We can tell you regions or generalities but not specifics. For now we can tell you we are safe on the Essequibo coast (S-A-QUEEBO) *

An absolute whirlwind of an adventure. We left San Diego at 6am February 5th and found ourselves in New York at 2:30pm EST. The flight represented a major step in the journey. Until the flight everything had merely been talk and not actually a part of the trip. For the first time during our whole process, I (Paul) became emotional. Alyssa looked over at me during take off the see my face full of tears at the realization that I would not see the sweet Pacific, feel cold (ever), or see you, our family and friends for a long time.

My emotions however were short lived for once we got off the plane we were thrown into the absolute chaos that is Peace Corps staging. Meeting our team of Guyana 22, signing paper work, learning about the PC expectations for our time of service, and attempting to find a few seconds to breathe consumed our time.

After our staging sessions we jumped on a chartered bus and headed to the airport to catch our plane to Georgetown, Guyana.

Heres the make up of our group:
-19 girls and 16 guys (Total = 35 people)
 -17 are Community Education volunteers
-18 are Community Health outreach volunteers
-11 people from California (Majority, YEA!!!)

Here We Go!!!

By the time you read this e-mail we will have officially arrived in Guyana. We just spent the last day in a whirlwind of meeting people, stratagizing for our future PC success and last minute logistics and are so excited to finally arrive and start our adventure. Pictures to follow.

We love you all.

Paul and Alyssa

Thank you!

We've spent the last month saying "goodbye" too all of our friends and family. 

As difficult as it has been, we are completely overwhelmed with the support we have from you all.

You remind us why we've chosen to do this.

Thank you.  We love you, and we'll miss you greatly.

Love Paul and Alyssa

Some Last Minute Details

*Address Updated on Feb. 4th*

If you check the right hand column of our blog you'll see some newer additions.

First is our mailing address for the first two months we are there.  After April we'll update you with our new mailing address.  From February to April you can send letters to:

Peace Corps Guyana
Paul and/or Alyssa Quinlivan, PCT
c/o U.S. Embassy
100 Young & Duke Streets
Kingston, Georgetown, Guyana
South America

The second new addition is something Paul has been working on.  Seeing as we won't have a computer with us, we'll have to upload all of our pictures somewhere, so Paul created a shutterfly account for us.  We'll still put some on the blog, but check out the site below for all of our pictures.
quinlivanadventures.shutterfly.com

More to come!

Love Paul and Alyssa

Final Pack List

We finally took the opportunity to get all of our clothes, equipment and supplies into their bags for transport to Guyana.The Peace Corps allots 80 pounds and 3 bags maximum per person. Anything over the weight limit or the number of bags needs will be paid by us. Fortunately, and to my utmost suprise, we are roughly 40 pounds (combined) underweight. Below is our final packlist and some pictures of the process

 

Paul’s Clothing

Shirts (SS) – x7
Shirts (LS) – x2
Collared Shirts (SS) – x4-5
Dress Collared Shirts (LS) – x1
Ties – x1
Shorts – x4-5
Pants – x3-4
Underwear – x7*
socks (thin/ short) - x4
Board shorts – x3
Pj pants – x1
soccer shorts – x2
Glasses – x2
Sunglasses – x2
hat – x2
Watch – x1
wedding ring
rain jacket – x1
Chaco – x2
Rainbows – x1
crocs – x1
Runners – x1
Boots – x1
dress – x1
Soccer cleats – x1

Alyssa’s Clothing
Shirt (ls) – x2
Shirt (ss) – x4 (Icebreakers)
Casual tops– x3
Collared/dressy shirts – x4
Undershirts (tanks) - x3
Skirts (knee) – x3
Skirts (long) – x3
slips – x3
Pants (lightweight) – x2
Shorts (long) – x3
Underwear – x11
Sports Bras – x7
Socks (thin/running) – x4
Pj pants –x2
Hat – x2
Sunglasses – x2
Belt – x1
Workout shorts – x2
Board Shorts – x1
Watch – x1
Reading glasses – x2
Swimsuit – x2
Raincoat – x1
Cool ties- x2
Chacos/tevas – x2
Dress (closed) – x1
running – x1
flips – x1
Random
Camera
Camera Batteries & Charger
Pelican camera case
Pelican de-silica
USB cord/ card reader
Batteries (rechargeable)
Battery charger
Dry sack (camera)
USB storage
memory cards – 8 GB x2
Solar charger & accessories
Books
Board game(s)
cards & card games
Puzzle books
Dictionary
Guitar
Gifts for Hosts
Soccer ball & pump
Duct tape
Sewing kit
Journal – x2
Bible – x2
Pens – x10
U.S. Stamps
Stationery supplies
Envelopes (adhesives)
Incense

Gear
Day pack – x2
Multiday Pack – x2
Duffle – x2
marketbag
Purse Bag – x1
Knives – x4
Multi-tool – x2
headlamps – x4
Pack towels – x4
Nalgenes –x4
Money belt –x2
Lamp –x1
Steripen
Solarshower

Financial
Credit card – x1
Debit cards – x2
travelers checks -$50
Toiletries/Health
Prescriptions – 3 months
Fem Hygiene Stuff
Toothbrush
Toothpaste
Floss
Shampoo
Conditioner
Hand Sanitizer
Small nail care kit
Tweezers
Hair accessories
Brush
Razors/blades
Sunscreen
Deodorant
Lotion
Soap
Make-up
Hair cutting shears
Nose trimmers
Chapstick
Ear plugs
Anti-fungal creams

For the Home
Bed sheets – x2
Mattress cover- x1
Wall calendar
Map of US/ World
Photos (laminated)
hammock
hobby supplies

Job related
Peace Corps paper work
EDU books/resources
Medical reference book

And You Thought Your Parents Were Cool

Seriously, I have the coolest parents.

Leaving the country party. This Saturday 2-8pm at my parents house. There will be a jungle bounce house. Yes, for real.

If you want to come and you don't have my parents address, e-mail me and I will give it to you. This will probally be the last chance you will have to see us so you should come.

The Itinerary

Our next three weeks look like this:

On January 16th we're flying from Washington state to the east coast for one week.  We'll start in Virginia where we'll see my mom's family in Richmond: grandparents, aunt and uncle.  Then we're off to Charlottesville to visit Paul's best friend Nate and his wife Emily who we haven't seen since their wedding last March.  Then we take the train up to Maryland to visit my dad's parents.  All of this happens in one week before we fly back to San Diego to spend our last two weeks in the U.S. with Paul's family and see our friends.

We leave February 5th for Philadelphia where we do staging with the Peace Corps.  There we turn in last minute paperwork, receive any vaccinations we need, and are briefed on what to expect when we get to the country.  Then we drive up to JFK on the 7th and fly to Guyana!  :)

Yesterday we received a call from some people working in the Peace Corps office in Guyana.  They talked a little bit about what to expect and how we felt about living in a rural area.  Paul and I are hoping to live in a rural community without electricity and running water, so we were excited to hear that they are sending a lot of volunteers to the interior of Guyana (rural) and that part of our training will be how to grow some of our own food.  We're hoping to raise some chickens as well. :)

Until we know more.....

We're Sorry. We've been busy.

Please excuse the fact that we haven't updated our blog in far too long.  Things have been nothing short of busy even though we've been out of work since Dec. 31st.  Also, please excuse the fact that this blog is very long.

We'll start with Christmas which was great and relaxing.  We went to Green Valley's Christmas Eve service which was wonderful.  I will really miss that church.  They have found a way to keep all ages connected and feel appreciated.  I'll greatly miss the community and kindness I found there.

After Green Valley we headed over to Paul's parents to spend the night and celebrate Christmas.

We gave both sets of our parents dog boots and packs.  Holly was not too thrilled about the whole wearing dog boots thing.  I'm sure it was because they were uncomfortable, but she may have also picked up on the fact that we were laughing at how ridiculous she looked prancing around in them.  This picture should pretty much sum up how she felt about wearing boots:

We tried out our new lightweight hammock that Paul got from work.  We're definitely taking it with us to Guyana as a "luxury item".

We both finished out our jobs on New Year's Eve, spent a wonderful evening with our newly engaged friends, Wesley and the future Trevor, Marla.  Wes's sister and brother-in-law put together a great list of cocktails and we rang in the New Year playing a never ending game of Trivial Pursuit. :)

New Years Day we started to wrap it all up.  We sold the rest of our furniture, keeping only our bed and night stands.  We packed up the apartment in three days, taking all of our Peace Corps gear to Paul's parents' house in San Diego, and loading the rest into a U-haul to take up to Washington where my parents will store what we've kept.  Sally enjoyed her last few days laying in the sun and avocado plant on the patio before her big move up to the Washington rain.

After cleaning the apartment from top to bottom and turning in all of our keys, we said goodbye to Paul's family for a few weeks and were off to Washington!

The ride up to Washington went smoothly.  We left Sunday the 3rd and drove up to Moraga to see good friends, the Ricketts.  Dave was the officiant at our wedding, and his family has always been very important and looked up to by Paul.  They truly are great people and provided us with hospitality we couldn't have asked for.  It was so nice before heading back on the road.

The next day we were back in the U-haul and drove the rest of the way through California, Oregon, and up to my parents' in Washington.  Paul drove quite a bit that second day while I slept.  I cannot stay awake in a car (or an airplane or any other moving piece of equipment for that matter).

The trip was uneventful.  Naturally I was unnecessarily worried about the cat getting carsick or freaking out and having a heart attack.  She was fine and loved being able to curl up in a blanket and look out the window.  I worried for nothing.

Since pulling up to my parents' on the 5th, we've been building shelves in the garage, going through boxes one more time before they're stored, getting lots of last minute paperwork and randomness taken care of, and enjoying time with family.  Oh, and the view is pretty nice as well.

We spent some time in Seattle and drove down to Vancouver (Washington, not Canada) to see my sister's new apartment and help her get settled in a bit.  We really like Seattle, and found this really great artistic use of soda liter bottles down an alley way.  If you stood under it, it spelled out "Waste Not".

I apologize to Paul in advance for posting more than one picture of the cat on this blog posting.  Bear with me.  It's pictures of the cat or pictures of kids.  Take your pick.

I love animals.  I especially love my cat Sally.  Call it pathetic if you will, call me a cat lady even, I don't care.  Brenna and I were cleaning through some of my craft boxes and found a plastic flower.  We stuck it on her head and she didn't budge.  Instead she fell back asleep.  I just get a kick out of her.