Shelley in Guyana: March 2012

Making kites

The new term started with the third module of the Literacy Professional Development Course on Writing composition, the teachers learnt about the different compositional forms and how to do each of them. We also looked at ways of doing independent writing and to move away from talk and chalk, something which is done a huge amount here. The teachers have assignments to carry out in their classroom and also to do a group presentation on one of the composition forms at the end of March.

We met with the teachers who have previously completed the course. This is a key group which I am keen to keep meeting up. We discussed good practice, problems they are having, shared resources and then carried out a workshop on instruction writing. They made a kite (everyone makes and flies kites for Easter) and then wrote about it afterwards. They will replicate this workshop with their colleagues and other schools in their cluster. They really enjoyed making the kites and I made one too which I flew on the beach the following weekend (much to the amusement of my friends – you only fly kites at Easter not January!!).

I have been getting a few cooking lessons from different friends, I hadn’t been able to make the perfect roti but they are now turning out better after a few cooking tips! The good thing when you go for a cooking lesson is you get a lot of food to take home, luckily I have a freezer box and was able to share out some of the food and sweet meats with friends.

The past few months have also been quite a social time with a few parties and concerts and even karaoke. There is certain etiquette for a party – firstly food, you must provide your guests with a good meal and provide food boxes for them to take the leftovers home, secondly drink – rum and beer and there needs to be ice too! Thirdly loud soca music with huge speakers that play the music very loud and very late – it is not a problem with the neighbours. Fourthly the dancing – people know how to dance here and have amazing rhythm; small children to adults all dance together and that is a nice thing that children come to parties here and stay until the end. There is always a lot of laughing and a lot of fun. A friend turned 30 and we had a party in Georgetown for her and the previous night we went to a concert at the National stadium; Morgan Heritage and I Octane played.

A friend and I visited Orealla for a relaxing weekend; it was the start of the rainy season so we got a bit wet and cold! It has been cold here in Guyana – I can now not cope with a temperature below 28 degrees, if it is that then I have been wearing my cardigan and I did wear leggings to bed one night last week. I am a bit worried about coming home – the body will not be able to cope (get the central heating on Mum and Dad)!

We went to visit a school just a mere 25 miles away but it was an epic journey made worse by the rain. We left New Amsterdam and caught a car to Edinburgh (pronounced Edinburg) then from there went in a Canter for 3 hours having to walk the last mile as the van could not pass. The school was very pleased to see us as they don’t get many visits; in fact the last person from the department was over a year ago! We worked with the teachers and closed the school at lunch to work more closely with them in the afternoon. On the way back (even longer journey) the Canter stopped and picked up people’s goods to sell at the market, he weighed them, agreed a price and then he will sell them in New Amsterdam. Everyone was really nice and we met a lot of farmers on the way back who gave us some fruit and water coconut.

It is Mash time again and the schools have been preparing their children! We went and watched the regional competition where children danced, wore costumes and read dramatic poetry – the winners were invited to take part in a parade and festival in Georgetown.

I passed the one year mark (yes we made it)! We went and visited Suriname, the country to the east of Guyana to celebrate. It was like

Guyana

just richer and more European, it use to be a Dutch colony and there is definitely a Dutch influence. There were lots of beautiful wooden buildings and we took a day trip on a boat and saw dolphins. The whole time we were we were comparing Guyana to Suriname and I am sure we bored the other people around us. What was great is they are set up for tourists so there is a lot of information about the history of country which can be applied to Guyana too.

We went and watched Mash in Georgetown; we secured ourselves a good spot and enjoyed the carnival and floats. The weather was mainly kind minus a short shower. We headed up to the National Park to watch them come in and make their final bid to the judges. The music was loud and everyone was dancing in their bright, tight and short costumes. Different ministries, companies and charities took part. The street was full of people liming and partying in the evening and we headed to a concert with Pop Caan and Matherhorn. They are both Jamaican Dancehall artists (I think) and it was a really good night – though between walking round for Mash all day and the dancing my legs had had enough! The concert finished abruptly when a load of girls stormed the stage for Pop Caan (just like watching a Take That concert!) and the huge bouncers couldn’t stop them (hmm – publicity stunt me thinks!) The police then nicely sprayed something like Mace to help the crown disperse (even though they already were.

New Amsterdam has its own Mash on the Sunday after the day. We headed out onto the road and watched the floats. Sadly a fifteen year old girl died, she collapsed during the procession and was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital.

The night before had been my 30^th birthday party and was a true Guyanese party! I had got the food sorted and friends brought some too – curry, fried rice, cook up, chow mein, roti, potato salad, pasties, sweet rice, channa (chick peas). We also had rum (a lot of it), ice (a must have here and you need a lot), local drink (for the kids), food boxes (to take food home), decorations, loud music (Thank you DJ Dan) a big speaker, and a lot of dancing! It was a great night and was also an opportunity for me to say thank you to my friends for the past year. We had a heavy downpour for 15 minutes and had to push to tarpaulin up with broom handles but luckily it stopped and we enjoyed the rest of the night dry!

It is raining a lot at the moment – yesterday we had heavy rain all day and there is a lot of flooding around. Guyana is below sea level and works on a canal system just like Holland (it was them who built it here). But when it rains real heavy then it cannot cope, luckily my house is a little bit off the floor so I don’t need to worry (too much) about the water getting in but there have been lots of buildings flooded. It is also a pain getting washing dry, but today it is fine so hopefully I’ll get home before the rain starts again!

I got to ride in my first sugar truck this week. One of the schools I work at is by the sugar estate and about 2 miles from the main road. They offered us a lift in it, so I can tick off another mode of transport!

I am having to move house this week which is a real pain, the contract on my house is up and they have someone else moving in, it’s been quite emotional taking down all my letters and pictures and I have grown quite attached to my little blue house. I have 6 weeks left in the new place to will try and make it feel like home (don’t worry I will still get my mail).