PLACEMENTS ANNOUNCED!

Yep - I now know where I will call home for the next two years!  More about that later.

I thought you might like to see just what we have been learning since our staging in Miami, FL.  I can't imagine learning a new language along with all of this. Some of these may be on the agenda the last few weeks. Here you go:

Category: Language and Culture
Rules of the house
Creolese 101
Guyana Test Kitchen 1,2,3,4
Relationship Building #1
Express Yourself
Who We Are Part 1
Who We Are Part 2
Folklore
Social Vibes
Seasonings, Spices and Things
Host Family Relationship Building #2 (getting ready for move to site)
Found in the Kitchen
Host Family Appreciation get together
Bush Cook

Category: Medical
Malaria
Alcohol
Mental & Emotional Health
Sexually Transmitted Infections
HIV and AIDS
Nutrition and Dental Health
Domestic Partner Violence
Emergencies


Category: Technical
Crossing Educational Cultures: The Volunteer in the Guyana Education System
Building Good School Relationships
Peer Observation
Lesson Planning
Literacy 101
Classroom Assessment Tools
Co-Teaching, Co-Planning and Co-Adjusting
Debrief/Results of Assessment Tools
Learning Styles and Differentiated Instruction
Classroom Management
Lesson Planning Challenge
Lesson Presentation with feedback practice
Teaching Young Learners
Teaching Large and Multi-Grade Classes
Decoding - Learning to Read
Innovation Challenge - Making Teaching Interactive
Health and Family Life Education
Comprehending- Reading to Learn
Teaching Vocabulary
Introduction to Literacy Workshop
Student Centered Classroom
World Map Project and Content Based Instruction
Workshop Preparation
Workshop Presentations
Challenge Week (Literacy Fair preparation and presentation)
Challenge Week Debrief

Category: Core
Gender Equality & Women's Empowerment 1
Role of Volunteers in Development
Non Formal Education (NFE) Techniques
Monitoring & Reporting Accomplishing PC's First Goal
Behavior Change
Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment 2
 Monitoring & Reporting; Why and How We Monitor, Report and Evaluate, Part 1
Intercultural Behavior & Values, Part 1
Site Identification & Placement Process Part 1
Intercultural Behaviors and Values
Diversity
Resiliency, The EPIC Journey
Monitoring & Reporting: Why and How We Monitor, Report and Evaluation Part 2
Site Identification Process, Part 2
Mentoring
Monitoring & Reporting How We Use Sector M&E Tools
Understanding Work Partners
Counterpart Conference Logistics
Counterpart Conference - 2 nights in Georgetown
Future Site Visits

Site Visit Debriefs (upcoming)
Monitoring & Reporting: VRF Feedback
PACA Debrief
PC Policies with CD and DPT
Reporting Allegations with CD & DPT
Core Expectations and the Assessment Tool
Making the Home Stay Work
Generating Positive PCV Norms
PST Closing & Final Evaluations
SWEARING IN rehearsal and event

Category:  Safety and Security
Georgetown Safety and Security tour
PC Approach to Personal Safety & Mitigation
Unwanted Attention & Harassment
Sexual Assault Awareness
Sexual Assault Reporting & Response
Site Locator Form
Site Entry and Integration
Bystander Intervention
Isolating Events
Gender Issues and Dating
Volunteer Housing
Incident Reporting and Response
Emergency Action Plan
Written Safety Evaluation (fire Detectors distributed)
Swim test
Bicycle test
SAT phone use
HF Radio


Category: ADMIN
Managing Volunteer Finances Part 1
Managing Volunteer Finances Part 2
Managing Volunteer Finances Part 3
Race and Politics
Orientation to Peace Corps Internal IT Support and Policies

Category: Task Force (Volunteers from GUY25)
GAFF
Technology for Development
ICT
Youth as a Resource
VAC elections

PLUS+++
Three field trips
Three Training Assessments
Nine classroom visits + debriefs
Various vaccinations
World Map painting

My group still needs to finish up the world map.  It took us literally hours to make a decision about how to lay out the grid work!  Oh, my goodness.  Once we got started, we could see the process would be long.  We need another 8 hours to finish it up, I imagine.  It will need to wait for about a week. This is how we left it last week:

Friday, the 13th will always be a special day for me.  It is the day I discovered where my Peace Corps home will be for the next two years.  Staff created a very fun game to reveal the locations SLOWLY to us.  They had taken a very large map of Guyana and taped our photos with our sites on the map.  Of course, they covered each photo.  We sat at table groupings that made us a team and played a game based on Pictionary.  As teams identified the picture being drawn, a picture was revealed.  The tension mounted as one after the other was revealed and I sat until the very end.  Yes, my picture was the last to be uncovered - an hour and a half later!  I have patience for a reason.

I was thrilled when I discovered that I am in Region 6.  I had hoped to be remote and certainly, this is.  It takes about 2 hours to get to Georgetown from the tiny village of Sandvoort Village; literally, the end of the road I hear before the Corentyne River that borders Suriname. I understand the school has about 50 children....wow.  This village had a remarkable PC Volunteer that just left earlier in the year.  He assures me there is plenty left for me to do! My host family will be 2 ladies about my age.  I understand I will live under a separate roof on the family grounds.  I laughingly call us the Golden Girls of Guyana!  I will need to see if they know who the Golden Girls are! I have seen the amenities of the new place - missing Internet.  That may be a few minutes down the road once a week!

So, now I am off to pack up my things as we are preparing to take next week and meet counter parts in Georgetown and new family at the site.  I will be back in Harris home on Sunday, June 22nd for about 10 days. It is hard to pack up as they have been wonderful.