We're ACTUALLY Leaving

We're leaving tomorrow for our site, for real. 

If either of us gets sick, we're just going to tough it out and make friends with a plastic bag.  We simply cannot spend any more time in a hotel and at the Peace Corps office looking for something to do.  We've watched movies, checked e-mail 100 times, and taken our pick of books from the PC lounge.

We're off.  We love you.  We'll update you when we can, but you have to promise to do the same.

...In Sickness and in Health...

I'm incredibly thankful that Paul and I are serving in the Peace Corps together for several reasons.  That particular vow is one of them. 

Many people told us serving in the Peace Corps would strengthen our marriage.  Caring for one another in violent illness was not what we envisioned, yet it has.  We have been incredibly silly and laughing in the past few days while we were practically bedridden, too weak to do much more than watch tv and make a small meal.

Paul fell ill Thursday, the night before we were to leave to site, which also happened to be his 25th birthday.  After about twenty vomits, the Peace Corps doctor came to our hotel because we couldn't move Paul as he was sick from two ends.  Needless to say, he was having a blast.  The doctor gave him several shots of antibiotics and antivomiting meds, as well as an IV seeing as his complexion was gray, his eyes sunken, and lips pale.  I almost took a picture so he could remember the celebration, but decided against it.

He spent Friday in and out of it, saying random things and making little sense.  Thankfully sleep seemed to be the magic cure because Saturday we were able to go to the Peace Corps office and check Internet in the glorious AC.  Around 6:00 P.M., while hugging the toilet, I became incredibly thankful for deciding against the before mentioned blackmail photo of Paul at his worst.  The Peace Corps nurse came by and shot me up with some antivomiting serum and told us to spend the night in the Peace Corps office.  I woke up Easter morning feeling better, and we were able to go see the kids flying kites Monday.

Today is Tuesday.  We are tired and we are weak, but we are holding down food.  More importantly, we are ready to go to our site which will be Friday.  So, two more days here, than we're off to our site for real....fingers crossed.

Now its Alyssa's Turn

Yesterday afternoon, at least it felt like yesterday afternoon, I had a 103.2 degree tempurature. All this after having "movements" out of both ends for the previous 16 hours. The doctor pumped me up with everything you can possibly imagine, including some anti-biotic that hit a nerve and hurt like nothing I have ever felt before, and two hours later I was weak, stiff and tired but otherwise completely fine.

So today Alyssa and I decided to head into the Peace Corps office to get some internet access and watch a few movies (All of which are pirated). At about 4:30pm when Alyssa and I were begining to talk about getting a car back to our room Alyssa began to feel tired and Achy, and by 5:30pm she was having the same "movements" I had. As I write Alyssa is in the med room sleeping, or at least trying to, while i'm trying to eat the first meal I would have had in almost two days.

We will be fine. Its definately a 24 hour thing but the Peace Corps is keeping us from getting to our site for obvious reasons and its difficult waiting to get to the place we have been working so hard to get to. So we now will not be leaving for our site until the next plane comes Wednesday morning. Until then feel free to contact us as im sure we will need some help passing the time.

Continue to pray for health and safety. I have to suspect that something spiritual is keeping us from getting to where we feel like we need to be.

So We Haven't Left Yet

So, April 1st was Paul's 25th birthday.  We spent the day finishing up our shopping, then all of the people going to the same region we're going to had some pizza at our hotel and enjoyed some time together before we flew out to our various sites. 

We went back to our hotel room, caught the latest episode of "The Office" randomly, and then the worst happened.  Paul became violently ill.  He threw up over 20 times and was a mess...on his birthday...the night before we are finally to leave for our site. 

So we are still here, waiting for him to fully recover and to be medically cleared to go to our site.  He's doing much better today and hasn't thrown up in over 24 hours.  His last fever broke yesterday evening, so we're hoping we'll be cleared for a flight tomorrow.  If not tomorrow, later this week.

We are patient people, that's for sure. 

We're Leaving, On A Jet Plane

Tomorrow morning we leave for our site.  We won't have Internet, so please don't give up on our blog.  Maybe we'll be pleasantly surprised and there will be Internet in one of the neighboring communities....eight hours walking. :)

Letters are welcome.  We'll write back.

Slaying a Chicken

Paul has made it clear that he really wants chickens at site not only for eggs but also for meat.  This presents a problem.  Who is going to kill the chicken?  All I know is it's not going to be me.
Paul asked our host dad to show him how to kill a chicken, and he came through.  Here is a somewhat detailed description from my journal of what happened:

Paul and I came home to the announcement that Allan had bought a chicken so Paul could learn how to kill it.  We were looking for the chicken outside only to find out it was lying in a rice bag on the kitchen floor.

I stood outside, camera ready, but as soon as Allan put his feet on the chicken's feet, had its neck in one hand and a knife in the other, I was done for.  I couldn't watch.  I snapped a really quick photo without really looking and stepped back into the house, then stepped back out to see Allan holding a headless chicken upside down as the blood drained out, the head lying a few feet away.

Then he put the headless chicken in a bucket and poured boiling water over it to loosen the feathers.  He plucked out all the feathers, drained the anus which was another experience in and of itself, then chopped the chicken into bits.  The demolished and destoryed chicken was given to Vesta to prepare. 

I'm pretty sure my facial expressions teetered between disgust and shock during the entire process.  I'm seriously debating going vegetarian in the next two years.  Eggs are good protein and don't require headless chickens or anal cleansings.

IMPORTANT MAIL CALL MESSAGE!!!

So, the mailing address to the right of the screen will be invalid in a few days and you'll see it disappear.  When we move to our new site we will have a new address.  Unfortunately, we will not be able to post it on the blog as it will give away our location, and for our safety, we probably shouldn't publicly do that. 

If you have any mail you're sending, it's okay to send it to the address we have posted until the end of this week, but after that you'll have to use our new address.  We will get any mail you send to the embassy address for a few more weeks, so also don't worry if you just sent something.  We will still get it.  Peace Corps promised.

So what is our new address you may be asking?  That is a good question.  We will have it before we leave to our site on Wednesday and will e-mail it to as many people as we can think of.  If you don't get a mailing address by the end of the week and want it, ask someone if they have it, or just e-mail us and ask for it.  Our e-mail addresses will be the same.

With that being said, where we are going does not have any Internet access, so we'll probably be getting letters more often than e-mails.  We'll be able to check Internet at least once every three months, but can't promise anything more.  Don't be fooled by blog postings after this Wednesday.  We wrote them in advance and scheduled them to be posted at random times so you're not completely without info.

Letters it is.  Always welcome.  Never stupid.  Promise.

You should come visit us in Guyana if...

-You hate ice
-You think you can tell the difference between goats and sheep
-You have always wondered what it looks like when puppies are made
-You enjoy bugs of all shapes, colors, sizes and sounds
-You can't get enough white rice in our diet
-You think winter is EVIL!
-You think mole is a Mexican sauce (Guyanese for manure, so dont ask for it on your food)
-You like mosquitoes
-You use bug spray as a cologne
-You think curry could never get old
-You have a great thumb
-You think sunblock is for wusses
-You like to walk your pet parrot in the morning
-You see sunburns as a theraputic spa treatment
-You know what a wicket is and how many you get in a cricket match
-You enjoy green sludge in trenches surrounding your house
-You thought those Brits spoke English funny
-You enjoy watching breastfeeding in the open
-You think pet colars are an act of animal cruelty
-You think global warming is an elaborate hoax (Trust me this is ground zero)
-You wish saunas were porable
-You think you don't sweat alot
-You think the Pacific looks and smells funny after heavy rains
-You thought the spider you killed with a tissue last night was huge
-You think using single use plastics is no big deal
-You think you are a good fisherman
-You would like to see how palm trees were intended to be grown
-You want to spend time with some of the most humble, kind and hospitable people ever
-You want to see a place in the world that fully exhibits God's splendor and beaut

But for real, come visit us!

Guyanese Romance

As we have posted about many times, Guyana is a hot, humid country with grotesque infestations of mosquitos. The general routine is at about 7pm is to shower, dry off, put on bug spray and jump under the mosquito net.
The other night I was sitting on the bed playing my guitar and Alyssa came up to give me a kiss on the neck. Just a peck nothing more. But she was unexpectatedly greeted with deet!!! Which was followed by a 20 minute session of numb lips, spitting, drooling and mouth washing mixed in with my rolling on the floor laughter.
Guyana is different.

"Alyssa, Come Check Out this Toad in my Shoe!"

A few days ago I went to put on my soccer shoe and found that a local Mac-Daddy toad had made his home in my boot. Every morning since I have walked down stairs to find two warty looking eyes staring back at me.
Guyana is known for its wild life, particularly in the remote hinterlands as they would say. Since being on the coast we have found many random animals in random places. Like the toad in my shoe, or the frog that lives in our sink, or the three cats Alyssa has taken to feeding and has threatened to hide in her bags when we leave. There are the Chicken hawks that hover over the coop next door and the beautiful egrets that fly over the rice fields in the evening. There is the water snakes, crabs and fish that live in the trench and then there are the sickly looking cows that trim the soccer field daily.
Animals and wildlife are an integral part of Guyanese life. Just wait till we go to the interior and come back with worse stories than a toad in a shoe. Bring on the scorpions and anaconda.