Thursday, August 17
Thursday, August 17
This week has settled into a bit of a routine of planning our lessons at night, helped along of course by a little rum, and teaching in the morning. I teach from 9:45 to 10:45 which isn't very long but the rest of the morning and afternoon is usually spent trying to avoid the heat and waiting for the rain to come. I never new how exhausting it could be to walk 5 minutes to the store. On the other hand I am perfecting my guyanese walk which just means that I walk at about one fifth of the speed I normally do. I am beginning to understand why everyone is always late and have come to really appreciate the siesta.
Yesterday about 10 of us took a walk to a monastery just to go check it out. I brought my camera in expectations of some great photo-ops but when we got there the monastery turned out to be a pretty average wooden house. We didn't even get a tour of the inside because the priest was sleeping. It did have a nice little garden though and was in a nice spot along the Mazarumi river. Mostly I was disappointed because I had visions of an old stone building left by the Dutch and worn smooth through years of use by the silent monks traversing the halls.
Last night I intended to go to bed early but on my way I stopped to talk with Ross and Vinnie who were outside having a few drinks. We had some great deep conversations, a really good bullshit session, on every subject and so when they ran out of booze I went with them to the store to get more. Just down the street is a little shop and we stopped to get some more vodka and guzzler, essentially bottled tang, to keep us going through the night. There were two guys there who happened to be drinking the same thing, although they were much drunker than us at this point, so we stopped to have a drink with them. A 26 of vodka later, knowing the life stories of both Neil Jr. Diamond and Christopher Problem, we stumbled home and I finally made it to bed.
Today was the last day of teaching here in Bartica so Alicia, my teaching partner, and I had a review game for the kids which I think they really enjoyed. It was out of control at times but also really funny. After their last class today my class met for lunch and they invited the six of that teach them. One of the girls made some cook-up, basically caribbean flavoured rice, beans, and chicken, that was really good and some of the other kids brought some drinks and ice. After we ate some of them danced a little then sang that beautiful song by James Blunt which was absolutely hilarious. One of the girls also gave me a thank-you card which was really sweet. I wonder if it was the same girl that passed me a note last week asking for my full name, address and telephone number. I have only been here for a few weeks and it seems I am already breaking hearts.
Tonight is our last night in Bartica so we are heading out to a Brazilian restaurant for a nice meal and then I assume everyone will head straight home to pack, because we have to be ready to go at 5:30 tomorrow morning. We are taking the speedboats back to Georgetown thankfully, no more ferry ride, and will then have the rest of the day in the city to take care of any business before we are banished to the hinterlands.
The more I hear about my site the luckier I feel. Our fellow Rupununites in Annai are an hour from even the smallest village and a 2 to 12 hour bus from us in Lethem, depending on the roads. Jessie Sue and I, on the other hand, are a mere 20 minute walk to town and a quick boat across the river into Brazil and about an hour from Boa Vista, which is a large town of about 300,000 people. We also have running water, maybe, and a pond in the back that we can swim and fish in. I am getting really excited to get to Lethem and settle in there.
Something that slipped through the cracks. When we originally arrived in Georgetown and had our welcoming ceremony we were filmed and made the national news. They repeat programs here for weeks at a time and everyone gets there information from the TV so we have become minor celebrities. I have been recognized at least once that I know of, and everyone seems to know who we are before we meet them. We have been warned repeatedly that we will have no privacy here and everyone will follow all our comings and goings, so it's fun for now, but we'll see.
This week has settled into a bit of a routine of planning our lessons at night, helped along of course by a little rum, and teaching in the morning. I teach from 9:45 to 10:45 which isn't very long but the rest of the morning and afternoon is usually spent trying to avoid the heat and waiting for the rain to come. I never new how exhausting it could be to walk 5 minutes to the store. On the other hand I am perfecting my guyanese walk which just means that I walk at about one fifth of the speed I normally do. I am beginning to understand why everyone is always late and have come to really appreciate the siesta.
Yesterday about 10 of us took a walk to a monastery just to go check it out. I brought my camera in expectations of some great photo-ops but when we got there the monastery turned out to be a pretty average wooden house. We didn't even get a tour of the inside because the priest was sleeping. It did have a nice little garden though and was in a nice spot along the Mazarumi river. Mostly I was disappointed because I had visions of an old stone building left by the Dutch and worn smooth through years of use by the silent monks traversing the halls.Last night I intended to go to bed early but on my way I stopped to talk with Ross and Vinnie who were outside having a few drinks. We had some great deep conversations, a really good bullshit session, on every subject and so when they ran out of booze I went with them to the store to get more. Just down the street is a little shop and we stopped to get some more vodka and guzzler, essentially bottled tang, to keep us going through the night. There were two guys there who happened to be drinking the same thing, although they were much drunker than us at this point, so we stopped to have a drink with them. A 26 of vodka later, knowing the life stories of both Neil Jr. Diamond and Christopher Problem, we stumbled home and I finally made it to bed.
Today was the last day of teaching here in Bartica so Alicia, my teaching partner, and I had a review game for the kids which I think they really enjoyed. It was out of control at times but also really funny. After their last class today my class met for lunch and they invited the six of that teach them. One of the girls made some cook-up, basically caribbean flavoured rice, beans, and chicken, that was really good and some of the other kids brought some drinks and ice. After we ate some of them danced a little then sang that beautiful song by James Blunt which was absolutely hilarious. One of the girls also gave me a thank-you card which was really sweet. I wonder if it was the same girl that passed me a note last week asking for my full name, address and telephone number. I have only been here for a few weeks and it seems I am already breaking hearts.Tonight is our last night in Bartica so we are heading out to a Brazilian restaurant for a nice meal and then I assume everyone will head straight home to pack, because we have to be ready to go at 5:30 tomorrow morning. We are taking the speedboats back to Georgetown thankfully, no more ferry ride, and will then have the rest of the day in the city to take care of any business before we are banished to the hinterlands.
The more I hear about my site the luckier I feel. Our fellow Rupununites in Annai are an hour from even the smallest village and a 2 to 12 hour bus from us in Lethem, depending on the roads. Jessie Sue and I, on the other hand, are a mere 20 minute walk to town and a quick boat across the river into Brazil and about an hour from Boa Vista, which is a large town of about 300,000 people. We also have running water, maybe, and a pond in the back that we can swim and fish in. I am getting really excited to get to Lethem and settle in there.
Something that slipped through the cracks. When we originally arrived in Georgetown and had our welcoming ceremony we were filmed and made the national news. They repeat programs here for weeks at a time and everyone gets there information from the TV so we have become minor celebrities. I have been recognized at least once that I know of, and everyone seems to know who we are before we meet them. We have been warned repeatedly that we will have no privacy here and everyone will follow all our comings and goings, so it's fun for now, but we'll see.
posted by sean at 12:56 p.m.
1 Comments:
You're such a stud Sean!
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