Home Sweet Yoga Studio?

Thursday, June 17, 2010: Day 131

Paul and I almost have the house together.  Medex gave us the old shelving unit from the health center, so we now have a place to put our food.  Paul built two benches out of the extra wood, and we sawed off the two benches that were attached to the table.  Now we have leg room.  Yipee for leg room!  We'll put the two original benches outside, even though it's a risk as our other bench was stolen.  Someone took the top because they wanted a board.  Sad, but true. 

Mangoes are in season, and they're free!

The neighbor kiddos, Lisa and Marlon, came by and discovered our yoga mat.  They grabbed my book of yoga/pilates positions that they found the other day, and did the best to recreate the pictures.  They gave us some laughs.  Marlon grunts while twisting his body around.  They are two amazing kids.

the ultimate fly catcher living in our fly catcher

Two Year Anniversary!

Monday, June 14, 2010: Day 128

Paul and I have been married for two years!  It has gone by so quickly, but at the same time I have a hard time remembering what it was like before I knew him.  I had a frustrating day at work, but Paul was very encouraging and helped me stay focused.  We enjoyed our evening with our creation of spaghetti and soy chunks, as well as a bottle of wine we brought from Georgetown.  Two years here seems like a long time, but the past two years have gone by fast.  Our service here will be over so fast; I have to make sure to enjoy it.

Georgetown

Tuesday, June 8, 2010: Day 122

We flew into Georgetown on Sunday and were overwhelmed by the noise, people, and cars.  We met up with some other volunteers, grabbed burgers and fries at the one burger place, and slept quite nicely in our huge hotel with two beds, a flushing toilet, air conditioning, and a shower big enough to hold four people.

We spent the past two days in a cross-cultural workshop with a wondeful woman from headquarters in Washington D.C., volunteers that came in a year or two ahead of us, and Peace Corps Guyana staff.  We discussed challenged PC Guyana staff face in cross cultural training during our PST (pre-service training).  It was great to hear the feedback from other PC volunteers as well as give our own, and to hear the staff talk about their own struggles.  It's no easy feat getting a group of volunteers ready to take on community development with the help of people from another culture. 

We saw a great illustration for anyone working with someone from a different background.  It's a dual iceberg illustrating how below the surface where the icebergs hit, we clash.  It's exactly how Paul and I have been feeling.  Now only is it difficult for us to learn and understand another culture, but for our village to do the same with us.  It made me want to be a part of training next spring with Guy 23.

Mining for Gold

Friday, June 4, 2010: Day 116

Early evening Paul and I rushed down to the creek in order to do laundry and bathe before it got dark.  We were making good time, and I was scrubbing clothes when I heard, "Uh-oh."  While rinsing clothes in the creek, Paul's ring slipped off his finger and sank to the sandy bottom.  Uh oh is right!  Quickly we recruited the three little girls bathing to come over and help.  They started dunking their heads under water, raking the sandy bottom and looking for anything shiny.  We searched and searched, but the water is tinted brown and was relatively high that day, and the sandy bottom is full of rocks.  They're incredibly tricky and kept feeling like a ring.  Paul had given up and gone back to rinsing clothes when my raking hand grabbed something round that this time wasn't a rock.  I'd found it!

Paul caught this with his camera

Yes, it's just a piece of jewelry, and it is replacable, but its from a very special day with an important memory, and I'm just thankful we found it before it came nothing more than fish food.

a frequent visitor to our house

new baby donkey in the village

Food Security

It has been estimated that sometime in the 2 years, before our Peace Corps service is completed, our planet will reach a population over 7 billion people. It is also estimated that once the planet reaches 10 billion people it will not, pending climate change and a few other factors, be a possible to grow or raise enough food to feed everyone. Of course the wealthier countries will continue to have an unequal distribution of the food supply while the poorer nations, like Guyana will struggle to survive.
Our village is feeling a bit of the pinch at the momement.
We get our supplies from Lethem, the most western "city" in Guyana, and from Brazil. However, truck shipments can only come through the roads during the dry season or a light rain season, and since we have been experiencing one of the wettest years in sometime the village hasn't recieved a shipment of food for at least 3 months. Which means that all the shops in the village are out of oats, flour, sugar, rice and a few other important foods. Yikes!
We have been away from the village for a little over two weeks now and the fear is that we will be returning to a worse situation than the one we left. The trucks are estimated to be able to come across the mountain roads sometime in early september, but even then its just an estimate. Many of the shop owners have been trying to get goods onto planes and bring them in but they have been forced to raise their prices. Supply and demand.
What about crops? All the rain has rotten them out. The main food is cassava which is a large tuber root that is grated into chunks and made into bread. Because it is a root and many of the farms lie on flood planes they have all died out.
To sum this post up: the shops are out of food, the food on the farms has rotted out and Peace Corps gives us money so we can get food. All of this can be a dangerous combination. Which is why PC pulled us into the office a few days ago and asked us to guard our food and to keep them updated on any possible "food riots."

Greatest Find Ever!

I found a copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in the Peace Corps lounge!  Wahoo!  Guess what's going back to my village with me?!?

I brought a collection of all Jane Austen's books, but Harry Potter would have been a good idea.  I've been craving it since I got here, both the movies and the books.  Strange?  Maybe.  Sometimes it's just nice to have something fun, light, easy, and a reminder of home.  I've also been craving chocolate though.

So yes, I'm quite proud of myself for finding it. I also found some Michael Buble, Ray LaMontagne, and Etta James in the music box.  What a good day.

A Five Senses of Our Village

How do we answer the question, "What is it like there?".  Well, I decided to pull out one of my teaching tools and go about it through a five senses approach.  Without further ado, if you lived in our village, you would:

SEE:
* green, and lots of it
* 270 degree view of mountains
* mud huts and thatched roofs
* an occassional ATV
* kids in school uniforms
* lightning bugs, which are called candle bugs here
* lightning storms
* every star on a clear night
* water falls (there are seven)
* savannah grasses
* rainbows & rainclouds
* blue skies
* horses running (it's beautiful when they're all together)
* women with babies in slings
* men fishing
* children bathing in rivers

HEAR:
* parrots singing
* donkeys
* soca and foha (Brazilian music)
* sun bees
* roosters
* chickens
* mosquitos
* thunder
* nothingness
* generators starting at about 6:00 P.M.
* rain on zinc roofs
* "Good Morning Miss" followed by "Good Afternoon Miss" followed by "Good Evening Miss" (you get the idea)

SMELL:
* cassava bread
* farine (a hard crumb like thing made out of cassava)
* casseri (a sweet drink made out of cassava and red potatoes)
* deet (unfortunately necessary)
* dirt - it's everywhere and inescapable
* fresh clean air!
* donkey poop
* sunscreen (especially if you're Alyssa)

TASTE:
* rice, beans, chickpeas (always one of them)
* popcorn (our prized snack)
* mango
* passion fruit
* paw-paw
* peanut butter everyday
* avocados (called pears here)
* organic coffee (they grow here! wahoo!)
* hot pepper, if you're not careful
* curry spices

FEEL:
* mosquito and kabura bites (vicious little things)
* rain
* sun
* the breeze
* sunburns (if you're not careful)
* cold river water
* sand on your feet
* chiggers (yuck)

Official Quinlivan Peace Corps House Tour

Next Steps

We have been spending the last 3 months integrating into our community, getting to know people and observing the happenings in the village. After all of our observations, Peace Corps asked us to compile a report which we hope to use for future site development and projects. The report seemed tedious at times but after we were done with the compilations we were able to put our future goals and next steps at our site on paper. We thought we would shared all these with you to see if maybe you had suggestions, ways you could help or just to let you know the things you could pray for in our village.

These are in order of priority, or what we will accomplish on a daily basis to what we wish to accomplish over our service.

Health (Paul)
1.) Weekly health talks in the annex; along with continued work in the Health Center.
2.) Create and implement school curriculum for health and nutrition
3.) Aid in re-developing school garden for food and practical experience.
4.) Home visits for general health, youth, malaria and HIV/AIDS outreach.
5.) Mentor, or lead, youth group in sports, health, life skills, woodworking, crafts, etc.
6.) Teach computer classes

Others: Promote micro enterprise through crafts, promote a coffee growers initiative and try to sell coffee to GT, Malaria/HIV outreach to outlying villages

Education (Alyssa)
1.) Teacher training in literacy, phonics, math, reading, writing, classroom management
2.) Help run the resource center, working with the coordinator to keep the center open more and encourage more of the community to use the available resources.
3.) Lead small group sessions during school day for students struggling in math, reading and writing.
4.) Create visual aids for teachers to use.
5.) Assist in mentoring/ leading youth group.
6.) Support the women's group in meeting consistently, sharing and learning new skills
7.) Help to create a play structure and/or outdoor activities at the school for both play and teaching physical eduction.

You Done Broke It!

June 1, 2010: Day 115

The morning was difficult.  The latrine is so flooded (however, thankfully not overflowing) that there are at least 30 mosquitoes flying out of the hole every time I wave my hand over it, which I do before my behind goes over it.  We still don't have water coming from our pipe, and though time down by the creek is good to talk with people, it would be nice to have options.  The headmistress isn't back from her one day workshop that ended 5 days ago, so I haven't been able to plan much of anything.  Still no mail.  Grrrrr.

Due to the difficult morning, I decided to stay home and work on our Community Diagnostic Report while Paul headed off to work.  I'm really glad I did.  Our neighbor came by with 2 eggs for us, probably partially as a peace offering seeing as her baby chicks are often in our yard.  I told her they don't bother us, knowing she's afraid we'll pelt, hurt, or kill them if they are, as many people do.

That's when she asked the million dollar question of "How old are you?"  I answered, and knowing her next question followed up with, "But no babies yet."  After they find out I'm 27, they always ask why Paul and I don't have kids yet.  Most women here are done or have several already by the time they are my age. I told her we want to have babies after we go home.  She then asked if we are doing family planning.  Great!  This is something we're trying to talk more about in the village!  She's twenty-five and has two kids aged 4 and 7.  She told me about how she wanted to do family planning but had her first baby, and then wanted to have an abortion when she became pregnant with her second.  Breakthrough!  Someone brought up the subject, and now it's fair game.

Talking with her really boosted my spirits.  We're ready to get going and make some progress.  I got myself to go to school in the afternoon which proved to be another good interaction.  After school, we went down to the creek to bathe, and our neighbor kids, Lisa & Marlon, came too.  They're really funny kids, and Lisa is like a little mother.  She even talks like one.  Paul went to pick a flower and Lisa was trying to tell him how when he yanked it and pulled just the top off.  That's when Lisa, in her mother voice, said, "You done broke it."  I do like that kid.