Friday, October 27th

Sports week finally came and after all of the annoyances the actual days of events were a lot of fun. It was a whole community event and a lot of people came from lethem and the area to watch all of the sports. There was marching, and banners, and even some speeches. I ran in the teachers 100m dash and placed 4th, not great, but not bad for a skinny white guy who can't handle the heat. Plus it was hilarious.

Saturday a bunch of guys we met from georgetown, they are down here training new employees for the bank, invited us out for a trip to Kumu falls. So together about 16 of us loaded into a 13 passenger van a drove out into the Savannah towards the nearby Kanuku mountains. We stopped at the Tuachou's house (chief) for permission to go to the falls but he wasn't there. Luckily his daughter said it was ok and we continud on. We soon began to see signs of the jungle then all of a sudden we were in it. It is almost like there is a line between the jungle and savannah and we had crossed it. The road tightened around us and a few of us had to get out of the vehicle to walk ahead and make sure the road was passable. Finally we reached a stream that was too deep to cross and that was our single to start our hike. The walk was short, only about 15 minutes and except for one drowned cell phone pretty uneventfull. The falls appearead out of the tangled brush and awesome. There are three seperate falls each one above the previous and each one larger than the lower. At the top fall you can climb through the water and sit behind the rushing water in a small cave. Very cool. We spent the day hiking around the area and playing in the pools. The guys we went with brought lunch and they made a fire to grill chicken over and roast some vegetables. It was an awesome experience, luckily because Jessie Sue and I are taking some of our students there this weekend. Should be fun.

School is back to normal now with few interuptions which is nice so I am looking forward to getting some work done in the next few weeks with my kids.

Not much news about the robbery except a flurry of rumours spreading around down each as unlikely as the last. The latest I heard was that our stuff was buried in a secret lair behind the school...

Tuesday, October 23rd

Sports week finally came and after all of the annoyances the actual days of events were a lot of fun. It was a whole community event and a lot of people came from lethem and the area to watch all of the sports. There was marching, and banners, and even some speeches. I ran in the teachers 100m dash and placed 4th, not great, but not bad for a skinny white guy who can't handle the heat. Plus it was hilarious.

Saturday a bunch of guys we met from georgetown, they are down here training new employees for the bank, invited us out for a trip to Kumu falls. So together about 16 of us loaded into a 13 passenger van a drove out into the Savannah towards the nearby Kanuku mountains. We stopped at the Tuachou's house (chief) for permission to go to the falls but he wasn't there. Luckily his daughter said it was ok and we continud on. We soon began to see signs of the jungle then all of a sudden we were in it. It is almost like there is a line between the jungle and savannah and we had crossed it. The road tightened around us and a few of us had to get out of the vehicle to walk ahead and make sure the road was passable. Finally we reached a stream that was too deep to cross and that was our single to start our hike. The walk was short, only about 15 minutes and except for one drowned cell phone pretty uneventfull. The falls appearead out of the tangled brush and awesome. There are three seperate falls each one above the previous and each one larger than the lower. At the top fall you can climb through the water and sit behind the rushing water in a small cave. Very cool. We spent the day hiking around the area and playing in the pools. The guys we went with brought lunch and they made a fire to grill chicken over and roast some vegetables. It was an awesome experience, luckily because Jessie Sue and I are taking some of our students there this weekend. Should be fun.

School is back to normal now with few interuptions which is nice so I am looking forward to getting some work done in the next few weeks with my kids.

Not much news about the robbery except a flurry of rumours spreading around down each as unlikely as the last. The latest I heard was that our stuff was buried in a secret lair behind the school.

Photos Again!!

Cute kid and sports day addition

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Tuesday, October 17th

Sports Week Sucks!

first off it isn't really sports week but sports weeks. For a total of 3 weeks there are no classes in the afternoon while the students trudge down to the field to "practice" in the heat. Most of the kids end up just sitting there and complaining while a few run laps around the field. I sit in the staff room trying to think of things that I can do to fill the time. It will all be over Friday though and I'm looking forward too it.

Otherwise things are pretty normal here, no great adventures to relate, except maybe the ongoing saga of the break-in. Last week Winter, our police investigator, came up to the school to talk to Jessie Sue and I. He brought with him two other men who looked very official and were obviously his superiors in some way. He told us that someone had been trying to cash an American traveller's cheque at one of the informal money changers here. One of our friends at the bank had been asked about the cheque so we went down to ask him some questionas. He confirmed that it was one of my cheques (it was in my wallet that I got back). So we went back to the police station and sat there for 3 hours while we gave a new statement. Two days ago I saw winter in town and he strangely pulled me aside and conspiratorely asked me what I knew. I truthfully replied nothing and he told me he was very close. I couldn't tell if he was drunk or just nervous. Since then we have heard lots of rumours about my laptop being spotted in Brazil, and gangs of thugs in safe house, and raids, but so far nothing has come of it.

...to be continued

Wednesday, Oct 4th

It has been a while since I first updated and a fair amount has happened.

First things first, 2 weeks ago today my house was broken into. Jessie and I were home for lunch and left back to the school around 12:30. Jessie returned an hour later to use the washroom (the ones at school are scary) and noticed that her closet which is normally locked was open. She checked quickly, noticed the lock had been broken and rushed back to the school to tell me. I returned to the house to find my Laptop, hard drive wallet and about 150US dollars gone from my room. We told our head teacher and shortly the police and head of the school board were there to check out the place. The cops put on a big show of dusting for prints and checking the entry point. It turns out the thieves broke through the window and undid the bolts on the door (which has since been reinforced). Since the break-in there has been lots of supposed leads and people keep telling us we will get our stuff back. I would like to think so, but I still doubt it. Then, yesterday I was walking to the store and a girl stopped me and told me that she found wallet on the road. All of the ID and credit cards were still there but the money was gone. Weird...

I still have my camera and I can use the computers here in the cafe but it means that updates to this blog and my photos may become a little more spaced out. I was pretty choked at first but now I have a few weeks to mellow and things are returning to normal.

Last weekend we went to a village called Nappi for the end of Heritage Month. We were told to expect crafts like basket weaving and these models they make called Ballata as well as lots of traditional foods. I should have known that crafts and food means the making and drinking of alcohol. Not he most exciting day but the drive out was cool and I got to swim in a creek on the way home.

This week the Red Cross girls are out of town so Jessie Sue and I are house sitting for them. Which means we are down in Lethem more and that we have a TV with movies! It has been a nice break from being up at the school all of the time.

Also, I bought a bike finally and It is definitely nicer getting around on it rather than walking everywhere. Plus, biking home at night under the moonlight is damn awesome.

School continues and I have started to get into a bit of a routine, which is good. The next 3 weeks however are dedicated to sports so every afternoon classes are cancelled and the kids go down to the field to run around the track in the baking sun. Yesterday I went down to run with the kids to provide encouragement, other than a switch, and after 3 laps of the field I couldn't move anymore. I am part of a house though and their are teachers races so I better get into shape so I can win some points for my team.

That's all for now, hopefully pictures in the near future.