This week was the observation of two religious holidays in Guyana, Youman Nabi (Muslim) and Phagwah (Hindu). I celebrated Phagwah with another volunteer’s host family. Phagwah is a Hindu celebration of rebirth and spring where water is thrown on people and then they are covered in various colored powder. “Playing Phagwah” as they say is great fun, but quite a mess too! I scrubbed in the shower over and over and I am still stained orange, kinda like a fake tan! Early in the morning I went for a run and a family and group of young boys having parade, yelling and banging pots and pans, got me! They dumped buckets of water over my head before I could successfully save my ipod (don’t worry, it dried out). Then hey rubbed pink and red powder all over my face and kissed me saying “Happy Phagwah!” Then I had to run through the next village and home all phagwahed! My family laughed at me when I returned home!


On Tuesday a large group of Volunteers, families, and Peace Corps staff went to Lake Mainstay to swim in the black water. The water is actually very clean and the color of Coca-cola. The vegetation releases tannins into the water making it a dark reddish-black color and very good for you skin. It was very cool. My host mom came along with a few other moms from my village. They packed great food for us and we had a picnic. We had chicken curry with dhol pori (which is like roti- an amazing Indian flat bread but made with split peas too), channa (chickpeas cooked with onion, garlic and spices), Guyanese baked mac and cheese, chowmein (similar to Chinese), and bora (Guyanese string beans- like ours but skinny and really long!). My mom taught us how to play some games. We had a human tug-o-war (no rope) match and the girls beat the guys! HA-HA! We also played bog and bone, which is similar to steal the bacon. It was a nice day away from training that’s for sure!!!

Just Now

The Guyanese have a phase they use...."just now." That is used when they say that they are going to do something. For example, "Jenny, when will you update your blog?" "Oh! Just now." Just now can mean 5 minutes, 5 days, or 5years. So, now my answer to people's questions back home about when something will occur here will be... "Just now!" I can't beleive that I have only been with my host family for a week now, It seems like forever. They are so nice! It is just me and my mom and dad, no children. However, my mom and I can sit and gaff (chat) all evening long. This is great because there isn't anything else to do right now. My living conditions are very nice. I have a nice room and my family provided me with a TV, VCR, and DVD player. I haven't used them though becuase I do not want to get accustome to using them and not have them for two years in my site. I have electricity, running water and a pretty nice shower too. The bugs aren't too bad and I only have little lizards in the house, like in Florida. The food is good too. My host mother took me to her gym...yes...her gym! It is like a little barn with a group of woman only. They have some equipment and we do a mix of aerobics and yoga....it is a lot of FUN!!! It reminds me a of home! Who would have thought I would be going to the gym three times of week in a rural village in Guyana!?! We are told that our training is in the safest region in the country. This is a great feeling for now as we adjust, I just hope that Im in a good area for my 2 year site assignment. I started work at my training school on Monday and got to go back today. The students are wonderful and VERY well behaved... but I would be too if the fear of lashes was put into me! We observed on Monday and today two other volunteers and myself gave reading assessments. The results were pretty much what I expected, a few on target, most a bit behind, and a few drastically behind. However, you will find that in the US schools too. I get to teach next week and I will try to let you know all about it. I attempted to include a video of the school students signing their school song during the morning assembly that they have every Monday and Friday, but it wasn't uploading. Hopefully I will post it soon. I haven't seen anything too crazy, except for all the farm animals all over the roads. When I find something crazy... I will post it!:)