FALL 2014

Fall 2014

Greetings during the holidays from Guyana!  It is hard to believe that I find myself in warm South America at this time of year.  I have been listening to Christmas music being played since early October and the references to snow and a chill outside are more foreign that my presence here.

Let me get you caught up on my activities.  The village bustled with a 70 year old “Coming of Age” party and a wedding,  I traveled to Barbados and returned in time to share the US tradition of Thanksgiving with the school.  Finally, I have traveled to another PCV home where many of us came together to enjoy AMERICAN food favorites of the Thanksgiving holiday and, in fact, give thanks for our part in this world. Pictures to follow when I get better connectivity!

My friend, Aieleen has been so supportive and helpful as I have settled into Sandvoort Village.  She is an amazing woman that was born in Guyana and lived 25 years in England, just returning to Guyana last December.  I have to say that I am happy she decided to return!  She lives across from the street from the school and provides ices for the children at break. (That is a flavored water that is encased in plastic, something like a Popsicle.)  She had family and friends gather in celebration of her 70^th birthday.  Her son had great fun speaking about how his mother had “come of age”….whatever that meant.  It is customary at birthdays in Guyana to share with other and the person celebrating the birthday brings food and gifts to others.  She thought of everyone in the village, from shut-ins to school children.  Everyone got a meal.  The actual celebration started at 4PM for older adults and finished with younger adults arriving at 8.  A DJ played oldies in the beginning, gradually changing the music as 8 closed in.  Party music was heard up and down the village road most of the night with a “bar” set up just outside her fence along the roadside.  Hosts customarily retain Styrofoam boxes and utensils for guests to walk away with a meal.  That is on top of the meal they would eat at the event.  THERE IS A LOT OF FOOD!

Our PC group of volunteers reconvened at a nice hotel in the Georgetown area the last week of October.  It was nice to see everyone (we missed two in the US temporarily).  The last day was on Halloween and the group took full advantage of the opportunity to have a party.  Someone came up with the idea that we should have a group costume.  It was decided the each of us could be a letter from the Scrabble game.  We donned our letters and late that night I actually went clubbing with what I call “the kids”.  I did have a blast and felt primed for the party scene that would be coming in November.

Nov 12^th, a large pallet of books was delivered to the school. The former PCV, Matt Cusimano has been SO supportive of the library that HE initiated and built. He collected books from across the US and arranged to have them shipped by boat, consigned to me.  That required me to travel from my area to Georgetown during business hours Monday – Friday and set up an account to that I would receive notification and arrange for customs clearance.  It was also necessary for me to find a canter (a short haul trucker) that would also handle the cargo at the end.  Believe me, that was NO EASY TASK!  The driver and the broker needed cash payments and so I was forced to carry an amount of cash that left me nervous.  I also needed to ride with the canter into Georgetown to collect the freight.  As a safety precaution, I did call my Safety and Security Department and felt assured that they knew my travel plans.  We made our way to the dock with the “large” shipment awaited.  It looked SO TINY!  I enjoyed my brief visit to the dock as it reminded me of the few times I had gone to various docks when I worked at Matson Navigation Company.

 

My host Mom, Jenny was married November 15^th and another grand celebration was had.  Jenny is a hard worker who never says “no” when asked for a favor.  Unbelievably, SHE prepared all of the food for the kweh, kweh the night before and for the reception.  If you saw my blog from Emancipation Day, you might recall seeing her bending over the cannery over open fire in her back yard.  The food prepared for an army is back breaking work.  She was dead tired on her wedding day but pulled through as a beautiful bride.  Her husband recently returned from the United States and tirelessly works to make improvements on Jenny’s home.  I think they will have a rewarding life together. 

BARBADOS!! 
 Arrival ~

Sitting just outside the hotel room.

 November 19-25 will always be remembered as one of my favorite vacations. Response volunteer, Jenny Sanchez and I traveled to Barbados and attended a Food, Wine and Rum Festival.  We had six events in five days.  I would say that is covering it pretty well.  However, as much as we saw, there was an equal amount that we could not get to.  Folks from around the world attend this relatively new event. There is something for everyone. We arrived on a Wednesday about 5PM and got to the condo quickly to get ready for a 7PM dinner. 

  We were seated at a table with US Embassy representatives from Barbados, two sisters from the Pacific NW, an upcoming chef in Barbados and his date.  We had lively conversation and enjoyed comparing opinions as we sampled two different sets of wine with each course of a 5 course meal.  Fancy stuff!  The following day we opened our curtains and were THRILLED with what would be our home the next few days.  It was tempting NOT to leave the condo, but we did since we had prepaid for our outings! We made our way to Bridgetown in the late afternoon and started the party that would lead to a night Jolly Roger cruise. We made friends with what we call the two Brendas and others. More food, wine and open bar along with dancing.  Yes, all while on a rocking boat. Friday was a rainy day and a good day for me to do my genealogy work. 

I took the bus to the Barbados Museum and found in their library a most willing and capable librarian who brought volume after volume to me.  She also brought me a five inch deep folder of original letters written to the library, all written by people like me doing research.  As I thumbed through these originals, I was reflecting on the difficulty of tracking our heritage before the internet.  As cumbersome as this project may be, it is far easier over the last 20 years! I was able to find out a few details.  I knew the family left England to enjoy religious freedom.  As Quakers, they arrived in Barbados as indentured servants. Eventually, they earned their land and slaves.  A Quaker cemetery fell into disarray and was only recently cleaned up.  I did not have time to find and visit the cemetery.  However, I did take some solitary time to run to the top of a hill in the general area where an observatory lay.  There is an amazing view of the ocean and it was meaningful for me to think that a relative from 400 years ago might have had the view. 

Later that night, we headed out to the Concorde Experience.  The Concorde is in a hangar at the airport and that hangar is cleverly leased out for parties.  This was a club scene and what great fun.  We found two Brendas and toured the chef tables all the while enjoying local rum drinks or wine.  The event ran 10PM – 3AM with a great local band and DJ playing dance music. 

 

Saturday we had to be up quickly to see a cooking demo at the Hilton by Anne Burrell.  She is a TV chef, quite funny and it was fun to watch her prepare breaded pork cutlet.  However, since it was a Food, Wine and Rum festival, I was disappointed to NOT have a sample of her dish.  Of course, smelling the food we did become hungry and enjoyed lunch with two Brendas at the Hilton before heading back to our condo. 

 Saturday night was the big Chef completion and the event took place on the Prime Minister’s property. 

 

 It was crowded as we made our way from table to table to see what new and imaginative concoction the 12 chefs had conjured up. We especially looked out for Omar Roberson who we had met opening night.  Again, free flowing wine and open bar.  A reporter from a local paper found me and asked for some feedback which I would find in The Nation Newspaper the next day.  Sunday at the same venue we enjoyed a Bajan Buffet with many bartenders contending for top award for a new cocktail.   There were bouncy houses outside for children to be entertained while adults wined and dined.  Our final event was a Catamaran Cruise on Monday from noon to about 5PM.  We took sail north and cruised by Rihanna’s HUGE mansion before we stopped to snorkel, eat and dance.  Lovely time! I got my wine for the evening and took my leave on the deck to see the last glimpses of the amazing blue water!  Soon, I would be returning to the land of brown water. 

 

I had scarcely returned to Guyana when I needed to shop and cook for the cultural exchange I had vowed to share with the school children.  Yes, I cooked Thanksgiving meal for 40!  That was a first!! The children had ALL earned their meal with me during a behavior challenge that started November 1.  I cooked, two turkeys, mashed potatoes and gravy, dressing and desserts.  I could not find ingredients for my yam casserole that I love, so I made a bora, pumpkin dish sautéed with garlic and onion.  Bora is a slim (they say fine) green bean that is long, long, long.  It is very tasty and cooked up with pumpkin, it looked very appealing.  Children here DO eat vegetables.  They actually LOVE them! The pies were actually pumpkin tarts and I had pumpkin cookies that flew out the door.  Pumpkin is big in a lot of ways in Guyana….year around!  Good for me, as I love my pumpkin, banana wheat germ pancakes on Sundays!  The children came in two shifts so I had 18 and 20 about ½ hour apart.  They ate quickly, I cleaned up, mopped my way out of the door and grabbed a cab to start out for my OWN celebration with fellow PCV!

 

There were 30 of us that gathered in Linden.  That is about 2 hours south of Georgetown, the capital.  My village is 3 hours east of Georgetown.  I left the area about 3:30, arriving hungry in Linden at 8ish.  I was so happy to have a pizza place to satisfy my craving!  I had been a LONG time since I saw pizza.  There are several PCV pretty close together in Linden so it was just a matter of who does what and who has a working oven to get things organized the next day.  Our target was to eat at 3 but we had some oven mishaps and dinner was late.  However, I was pleased that it all got out by 6PM and boy, it was a feast!  “The kids”….not a one seemed to know what to do with turkeys so I got them going.  I really think turkeys are about the easiest thing to fix.  The trick is in letting them sit out for a good hour after cooking before getting a knife in them! We had Guyanese help prepare some local food and it was a lovely cultural exchange! The next day several of us headed back to our villages and another week has begun.  

 CHEERS to the cooking being done!

First term will end on December 12^th!  Wow…that is a long Christmas break, right?  I do have some travel plans, but you will need to check in later to see where! 

In case I am not able to blog again soon, MERRY CHRISTMAS to all of my friends and family.  I have been motivated and propelled by your belief in me.  Believe me, there have been days that I wondered about this endeavor!  Thank you for your vote of confidence and undying support!  I love you!

Patty