Welcome 2016

Welcome to the new year!  

This means the countdown is ON.  Just a few months and life will be upside down again for me. Who knows where I will land?  What will I do?  All will be revealed...quicker that I can imagine! Oh, I have ideas and my family know what they are.  But life has a way of flipping any plans out the window. 

School started on January 4th.  Shortly after that, I had an MRI done on my back.  I entered Peace Corps with a condition for which I received physical therapy.  With the nature of one's lifestyle in a third world country, the poor ole back is acting up.  I realized I was walking around every day assessing my pain level.  Now, you know that's not right.  Time to get some medical attention.  The MRI shows I have a mild case (doesn't FEEL so mild) of L4/L5 out of alignment.   I was referred to a physical therapist and, on doctor's orders, relocate into Georgetown during the week to receive PT sessions. I have had 3 of 10 so I will be out of school until sessions complete.  I do return to the village on Friday afternoons.  Last weekend I gave lessons to 10 of the children, so I have major down time during the week and crunch time on the weekend.  I want them to know I am there for them...maybe not as much, but I am there!  It's too soon to tell how the PT is going to work out.  PC Medical and I have talked about options.  I liked this one for now, thank you. 

So, after PT session yesterday I walked with a friend to a bank to do some business.  As I sat outside the bank, I saw a man in long, heavy garb proselytizing with a megaphone to the long line of people waiting to get to the ATM.  I am finding him interesting; yet, perhaps a bit mad.  Suddenly, he is speaking of the woman on the bench.....me.  OK.   "That woman is not your friend; she is the ghost monkey!" he shouts. The 40 some stoic people suddenly bristle, smile and some look at the target. I wanted to laugh, but I just sat stoically as one in Guyana might.  Now I have heard, "Mommie, Auntie, Whitie, Granny, white woman, rag lady (bandana on head), but NEVER have I ever heard GHOST MONKEY!  This place is amusing.

My good friend, Michelle is a NEW YEAR'S baby.  Well, she was 65 years ago. We gathered the weekend after her birthday to celebrate.  Another birthday tradition is to feed the birthday person a bite of their cake.  So, we all took turns feeding the baby. LOL    You can see what that looks like on HER blog: http://momsgonesouth.blogspot.com/

                                                   That's Michelle in the middle. 

This is Selywn making roti for Michelle's party.  

He learned as a boy how to cook and he's damned good at it! 

This is James moving chairs from a former party back to his place.  These Guyanese are sometimes flat out amazing!

By now, I have visited nearly all of the museums in the Georgetown area.  The Guyanese Heritage Museum is also a hotel.  Located at Meten-meer-zorg West Coast Demerara, they have more artifacts than the main museum in downtown Georgetown.  Pictures are only allowed on the street level but most items are up some steep stairs.  The view from the top is lovely.  I would recommend the place to visitors.  

My PCV village partner, Fran has decided to return to the United States.  As luck would have it, she and I have been at the same hotel until she leaves...tomorrow.  I cannot explain how sad I am to see her go.  She brought the village to life. I ache passing the house she was in.  Why, only a month ago we sat at her kitchen table enjoying a lovely Christmas dinner by candlelight and twinkling Christmas lights. I told Fran that the six months that she was in the village felt like a gift to me.   Well, time moves along and she will get settled into her snowy environment and I will get along.  

                                                Fran from trainee to PCV~

People ALWAYS thought Fran was my daughter.  We can see that....can you?

Thank you for sharing this experience with me, Fran!  

Lastly, just to end on an upbeat note, I have taken literally MONTHS to get the November 2014 donation of books in order and shelved.  When the books arrived, I was under the mistaken impression that the library committee and I would work together to get them into reader's hands.  The second school term ended in March 2015 and I left for a trip.  When I returned, this was what greeted me and NO WORDS could describe my disappointment.

Library April 2015

Over the course of many months, I would have a PCV stop in and give me an hour or two of help.  I am grateful for all of the additional help I received!

Same room Dec 2015
I am proud that the library LOOKS like a library now.  I pray that the villagers will find it among themselves to honor the time, the effort and the costs to make it full and inviting!

That's all I've got for now, folks!