"I walked the avenue till my legs felt like stone
I heard the voices of friends vanished and gone
At night I could hear the blood in my veins
Black and whispering as the rain." --Springsteen, Streets of Philadelphia
On Saturday December 5, 2009, three Peace Corps Volunteers and 16 sixth grade students hosted an HIV/AIDs awareness event in the village of N. Aurora.
My last trip into the city in November was stressful. Catherine and myself had two and a half days to buy everything we needed for the World AIDs Day event. We ran around town buying t-shirts and other visuals for the event. The most stressful and unfortunately memorable moment of my trip to the city was when I got lost looking for the National AIDs Programme building, the place where I'd be given 600+ condoms to distribute amongst the village of N. Aurora. While looking for the building, I happened to walk right past it and into an AIDs treatment center. I'll never forget the looks of the faces on the people in the waiting room, their eyes full of despair while waiting to be tested for HIV. It brought on a whole new meaning to the work I was doing with these kids.
As for the AIDs day itself, it was an interesting event since we were dependent on the 6th graders to run the show. It was far from a success by American standards, but it was probably a success by local standards. We had 100% attendance and participation by the 6th graders which was my biggest fear and the sound board showed up only 30 minutes late, only minor details in this Peace Corps job. The event itself was fun to watch unfold. We started out by passing out pieces of yarn with a red bead to all those in attendance. This was a visual to unite our audience for the AIDs day and was very popular. Then, the kids did four skits and a few raps about how to prevent HIV. We had not been able to practice with microphones before this day because the electricity is so sporadic in this village so this added a bit of uncertainty to the event. Then, in the middle of the skits and raps, the kids--in charge of the soundboard, decided to throw on some dance music and improve a dance.
This left the Peace Corps Volunteers flabergasted and slightly amused, I think everyone else in attendance was just confused though. We wrapped up on stage with the kids receiving certificates from the Peace Corps staff who were in attendance. Finally, the volunteers in attendance passed out condoms to the villagers. People were happy to receive the condoms but a bit upset they could only get 9. They told us that 9 condoms would only last them 3 days--I'll be bringing back 1152 male condoms to the river next week.
In review, the World AIDs day event went about as smoothly as we could expect. Hopefully those in attendance will remember our event when they see a kid or a volunteer walking around the village sporting a red bead which were still being worn a week after the event. But most importantly, we got through to sixteen 6th graders whom I'm hoping won't ever have to sit in a room and be tested for HIV because they know how to prevent it.
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Peace Corps goes to the zoo
"You guys are a bunch of jackasses" --10 year old bully
It's the holiday season in Suriname and the greater majority of volunteers are in the city, Paramaribo, for the holidays either getting ready to go back to America for Christmas or getting ready for the big New Year's Eve party that will grace the streets of Paramaribo and is rumored to rival the fireworks display along the 880 in Oakland--I'll believe it when I see it. But before we bid adeui to some of our fellow volunteers bound for the greater 50 States, particularly those headed for the granite state which is home of the purple finch--yes I'm talking about the fair state of New Hampshire, we are up to no good in the city.
Yesterday, four of us--Ian, Cameron, James the Suriname Ambassador for New Hampshire, and myself, went to the zoo. For those not picking up on the New Hampshire jokes, there are four volunteers from New Hampshire in Peace Corps Suriname which is a disproportionate 10% of our American volunteer population here. They swear it is the most wicked best place ever and James has convinced at least half the volunteers to move there after service.
After another morning of banana pancakes at Ian's house, Cameron convinced us to go to the zoo. He had been there the day before, by himself, and convinced Ian, James and I--it's not a tall feat to convince us by any means, that we needed to explore this magical place. After paying 5 SRD, about a 1.75 USD equivalent, we gained admission into the zoo and were eager to begin our adventure. We quickly spotted the monkeys.
We also spotted an oversized Goodyear tire and thought it would be appropriate to do hand stands on it. What else would you use a big tire like this for? 
After the tire swing we decided to head to the petting zoo portion where we petted a donkey and James gave a cow a kiss. 
Earlier, we had looked into the anaconda display and had not been able to see it. While at the petting zoo, we noticed it was hiding on the backside of its display. It was a big one (that's what she said). 
After the petting zoo, we decided to make our first of three appearances at the playground. The animals could wait for a sweet tire zip line. Unfortunately this is where we met the 10-year old heckler, he picked on us the rest of the day. Here is Cameron ready to go down the zip-line. 
And here's me upside-down on the monkey bars. 
Then, because there are no railroad tracks in Suriname, the only train in Suriname passed us on the road, blasting gangster rap music, carrying its passengers all under the age of six. 
Then we saw something really strange, a caged tree! Apparently it's dangerous. 
And a cool ant-eater. 
Then Cam tried to make friends with an ostrich...where did this ostrich come from!? 
After checking out some sweet tigers and heckling an out-of-shape jaguar the mid-day rainy season rains decided to come out. So we found a gazebo and took a quick cat nap. 
After the rains stopped and we woke up from our naps we felt rejuvenated. And since the heckler kid was busy harrassing an enormous crocile, we felt it would be the perfect time to go back to the playground and do this! 
After entertaining the kids for at least an hour we were able to convince one of the birthday parties to paint our faces. Hence, the first picture up above. Eventually, we would show up at a fancy dinner party later that night still donning our face paint. We don't expect to be invited to anything formal again for the next 2 years. And this was our big day at the zoo. This is how four Peace Corps Volunteers spent their day at the office on Saturday, December 19, 2009, promoting the second goal of Peace Corps: Helping promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served. Minus the poor form we displayed on the teeter-totter, I think we did a good job. Finally, I leave you with a video that sums up the day well.Thursday, November 26, 2009
The HIV/AIDs Lessons
"But sex is so sweet, so once you start you can't just stop."--A 6th grader's response to abstinence as a HIV prevention method
As forementioned, I have spent the last 5 weeks collaborating with two other volunteers to teach the local 6th grade class about HIV and AIDs--prevention, myths, statistics, the whole she-bang. Our goal is to have the 6th graders partake in a big festivity on December 5th for World AIDs Day, which is actually December 1st. Due to some logistical concerns with the village life we felt it would be best to move it to the weekend.
Basically, the other two PCVs and I approached the principal/6th grade teacher about working with his class of 6th graders which is made up of 16 students between the ages of 12 and 17. We wanted to do a 7 week HIV/AIDs course and then have it culminate with a big event where the class will put on a performances for the village about what they have learned in the class. So the first 5 weeks were spent teaching--nay, trying to teach the students about what HIV is, how it progresses to AIDs, how it can be prevented, why it's important to get tested for HIV and other STDs, how it might feel to have HIV and how we can support members of our community who have HIV. I say we tried to teach this because there was lots of giggling, naturally, and definitely a language barrier. But despite the challenges we have definitely gotten through. We have seen improvements across the board in general knowledge about how HIV can and can not be transmitted--even I have learned a few things. And perhaps the turning point for the class was when one of the volunteers I worked with told the story of a woman named Renatha who had come to my village a year earlier for a Peace Corps HIV/AIDs training and told her story about how she had acquired HIV from her husband and had been disowned by her family. When this volunteer told the students that this woman, Renatha, was now dead, I believe our message about the seriousness of the situation hit home for the kids.
Finally, we are beginning to wrap up our lessons and work on our World AIDs event with the students. The students will do a couple of raps, skits, a dance, draw posters and present facts about HIV related issues for the community. Our event, which is funded by UNICEF, will be held at the village's community center. The goal of this event and project is to not only increase general awareness and knowledge about HIV but most importantly to promote testing for young male's.
As forementioned, I have spent the last 5 weeks collaborating with two other volunteers to teach the local 6th grade class about HIV and AIDs--prevention, myths, statistics, the whole she-bang. Our goal is to have the 6th graders partake in a big festivity on December 5th for World AIDs Day, which is actually December 1st. Due to some logistical concerns with the village life we felt it would be best to move it to the weekend.
Basically, the other two PCVs and I approached the principal/6th grade teacher about working with his class of 6th graders which is made up of 16 students between the ages of 12 and 17. We wanted to do a 7 week HIV/AIDs course and then have it culminate with a big event where the class will put on a performances for the village about what they have learned in the class. So the first 5 weeks were spent teaching--nay, trying to teach the students about what HIV is, how it progresses to AIDs, how it can be prevented, why it's important to get tested for HIV and other STDs, how it might feel to have HIV and how we can support members of our community who have HIV. I say we tried to teach this because there was lots of giggling, naturally, and definitely a language barrier. But despite the challenges we have definitely gotten through. We have seen improvements across the board in general knowledge about how HIV can and can not be transmitted--even I have learned a few things. And perhaps the turning point for the class was when one of the volunteers I worked with told the story of a woman named Renatha who had come to my village a year earlier for a Peace Corps HIV/AIDs training and told her story about how she had acquired HIV from her husband and had been disowned by her family. When this volunteer told the students that this woman, Renatha, was now dead, I believe our message about the seriousness of the situation hit home for the kids.
Finally, we are beginning to wrap up our lessons and work on our World AIDs event with the students. The students will do a couple of raps, skits, a dance, draw posters and present facts about HIV related issues for the community. Our event, which is funded by UNICEF, will be held at the village's community center. The goal of this event and project is to not only increase general awareness and knowledge about HIV but most importantly to promote testing for young male's.
4 months in....
"What do you believe in?"--Villager
"I believe in myself."--Me
"Yes man! You are rasta, man!"--Villager
I had been putting off writing this blog for a while. Before I left the city last, I wanted to give an deeply honest account of how I have been feeling about Peace Corps. To be honest, had I wrote this a month ago, it would have been very negative. The first three months were very up and down from day to day. One day I'd wake up and feel great, I could understand the language and I felt like I was being constructive. Then, the very next day, I'd wake up, wouldn't understand the language, would feel sick (I had giardia last time in the city), was missing home, had critters running through my house and/or felt completely useless. By mid-October, I had finally made some grounds on progress. I held a village meeting and found out what they want and what they expected of me. Made some headway at the Peace Corps Early Service Training as well, a one week session for all new Peace Corps Volunteers who arrived in May with myself. I talked with a few good organizations and got some nice contacts. Still, however, I didn't see many realistic opportunities for work, still didn't feel terribly appreciated by the village. But, after I returned from training, a 10 day break from my village, I felt I was finally welcomed by my village. When I showed up to the village in August, no one was there to welcome me on a rainy day and I had to hunt down 2 kids to help me bring a couple of bags up to my place before they got completely soaked. Now, for the first time, I felt the village was finally happy to have me, which is a great feeling and really turned things around this past month. Not to say everyday was great but now I feel generally more positive and like I'm doing something useful. Now, some of the villagers even stick their nose out for me when I'm waking around with them. A kid in another village called me a "bakaa" (outsider/foreigner) one day, and instead of me snapping back at the kid in the Saramaccan language, the kid from my village whom I was walking with snapped at the kid for me, "Hey, he's not bakaa, he lives in Gunzi!"
One of the most difficult things to deal with so far, I believe across the board for every volunteer, has been how you view yourself as an American, volunteer, humanitarian, etc. When you call home, people tell you how proud they are of your or call you a hero, but to be honest when I'm here and I'm spending 75% or more of my day sleeping, reading or lying in a hammock I just think that I could be doing the same thing at home sometimes, except the hammock would be a couch or bean bag. It has also been very difficult because everyone in Peace Corps starts out very ambitious and with good intentions, altruistic types. Clearly, I'm taking a pay cut to help people. As an American or westerner, I'm applauded for this. In the village, this can't be comprehended though. Either I am looked at as being crazy for giving up 24 hours of electricity, a nice house, computers, cars, etc. Or, despite my paycut, they think I'm rich and should buy them a beer. Two of the most prominent phrases used in this culture are "cha ko hesi", bring quickly, and "da mi so", give me some. If you've got it, they want some too. Even though I am usually willing to lend things out, at times, when I haven't given people food or some kind of gadget, like a flashlight, I have been called out as being greedy or selfish. When you get down to the root of the problem, it's just a ridged cultural exchange. I'm not going to give the villagers a flashlight or my CD player everytime, or even the majority of times, when they come over and ask, I've had this epiphany that I'm an American and in my culture if you want these things you should get one yourself--and despite what your preconceptions might be, most people in the village could afford these things themselves. And that's not to say that I'm not willing to share, I have lent these things out before. But some people have this attitude that I should do this or do that for them and I've realized that I'm a development worker, not an errand boy, and that most times people need to do things for themselves. And so one of the hardest things during the first 3 months was how do I be myself, live the way I want to live, in the context of this village. I feel like I've found pretty solid ground at this point and people know what I expect of them and they've more realistic expectations of me.
Besides the daily frustrations of village life there have been a lot of positives during the past month. To battle the boredom of the slow and sedentary lifestyle I had been living, I have been working out every morning and doing a lot of hard labor. Infact, I just found out that I put on 15 pounds since I've been to Suriname and I'd reckon to say that majority of it is muscle--I've developed a little bit of a Parbo baby around the belly too. Anyways, I have been doing a lot of physical activity. I spent one afternoon helping two friends pour cement in the rain, helping to patch a water pump, going for a 6 hour walk through the jungle with one of the tour guides, and I've spent a countless number of days working my plot of land for farming--activities which include carrying buckets of water from the river to my plot, cutting and uprooting trees, and turning the dirt on the ground.
Most importantly though, I've begun doing meaningful work. My most important, and most stressful work too, has been working with the local 6th grade class. I have been working with two other volunteers in the area, Gwen Smith of Arizona and Catherine Cook of the great granite state of New Hampshire, to teach the 6th graders about HIV prevention, HIV/AIDs myths and other facts about the disease. This Monday will be our last class but we will have a culminating event on December 5th to celebrate World AIDs Day(which is actually Dec 1) and the 6th graders are putting together some posters, skits, raps and dances to present to the community. There are some other projects I have got going in the works as well, I've been looking into some marketing opportunities for the tourist camp my village owns, I've been working with the lady who runs the gift shop--she tried to teach me how to make a straw basket but I made a pretty lousy coaster, and I just held a meeting with the guys in the village to draw up a football field project. They told me they want a "football field complete" and asked me to find funding for a field, equipment, 2 grandstands, bathroom, water tank, lights and locker room..... we'll see what happens. I'm confident we can find funding for a field and probably the lights, but the rest will be difficult. But it'll be a fun and rewarding project to do even if it's not what I initially thought was important for the community. I can't really force people to do agriculture, for better or worse I've seen that the most effective tangible projects are when a volunteer meets the communities needs.
Finally, to wrap up, I'm still learning a lot day to day. My language is solid but far from perfect after three months in the village. I'm getting used to the slower pace of life and finding quality distractions in the abscence of television. I definitely feel a lot more positive and perhaps most importantly, realistic about how things should turn out over the next two years.
"I believe in myself."--Me
"Yes man! You are rasta, man!"--Villager
I had been putting off writing this blog for a while. Before I left the city last, I wanted to give an deeply honest account of how I have been feeling about Peace Corps. To be honest, had I wrote this a month ago, it would have been very negative. The first three months were very up and down from day to day. One day I'd wake up and feel great, I could understand the language and I felt like I was being constructive. Then, the very next day, I'd wake up, wouldn't understand the language, would feel sick (I had giardia last time in the city), was missing home, had critters running through my house and/or felt completely useless. By mid-October, I had finally made some grounds on progress. I held a village meeting and found out what they want and what they expected of me. Made some headway at the Peace Corps Early Service Training as well, a one week session for all new Peace Corps Volunteers who arrived in May with myself. I talked with a few good organizations and got some nice contacts. Still, however, I didn't see many realistic opportunities for work, still didn't feel terribly appreciated by the village. But, after I returned from training, a 10 day break from my village, I felt I was finally welcomed by my village. When I showed up to the village in August, no one was there to welcome me on a rainy day and I had to hunt down 2 kids to help me bring a couple of bags up to my place before they got completely soaked. Now, for the first time, I felt the village was finally happy to have me, which is a great feeling and really turned things around this past month. Not to say everyday was great but now I feel generally more positive and like I'm doing something useful. Now, some of the villagers even stick their nose out for me when I'm waking around with them. A kid in another village called me a "bakaa" (outsider/foreigner) one day, and instead of me snapping back at the kid in the Saramaccan language, the kid from my village whom I was walking with snapped at the kid for me, "Hey, he's not bakaa, he lives in Gunzi!"
One of the most difficult things to deal with so far, I believe across the board for every volunteer, has been how you view yourself as an American, volunteer, humanitarian, etc. When you call home, people tell you how proud they are of your or call you a hero, but to be honest when I'm here and I'm spending 75% or more of my day sleeping, reading or lying in a hammock I just think that I could be doing the same thing at home sometimes, except the hammock would be a couch or bean bag. It has also been very difficult because everyone in Peace Corps starts out very ambitious and with good intentions, altruistic types. Clearly, I'm taking a pay cut to help people. As an American or westerner, I'm applauded for this. In the village, this can't be comprehended though. Either I am looked at as being crazy for giving up 24 hours of electricity, a nice house, computers, cars, etc. Or, despite my paycut, they think I'm rich and should buy them a beer. Two of the most prominent phrases used in this culture are "cha ko hesi", bring quickly, and "da mi so", give me some. If you've got it, they want some too. Even though I am usually willing to lend things out, at times, when I haven't given people food or some kind of gadget, like a flashlight, I have been called out as being greedy or selfish. When you get down to the root of the problem, it's just a ridged cultural exchange. I'm not going to give the villagers a flashlight or my CD player everytime, or even the majority of times, when they come over and ask, I've had this epiphany that I'm an American and in my culture if you want these things you should get one yourself--and despite what your preconceptions might be, most people in the village could afford these things themselves. And that's not to say that I'm not willing to share, I have lent these things out before. But some people have this attitude that I should do this or do that for them and I've realized that I'm a development worker, not an errand boy, and that most times people need to do things for themselves. And so one of the hardest things during the first 3 months was how do I be myself, live the way I want to live, in the context of this village. I feel like I've found pretty solid ground at this point and people know what I expect of them and they've more realistic expectations of me.
Besides the daily frustrations of village life there have been a lot of positives during the past month. To battle the boredom of the slow and sedentary lifestyle I had been living, I have been working out every morning and doing a lot of hard labor. Infact, I just found out that I put on 15 pounds since I've been to Suriname and I'd reckon to say that majority of it is muscle--I've developed a little bit of a Parbo baby around the belly too. Anyways, I have been doing a lot of physical activity. I spent one afternoon helping two friends pour cement in the rain, helping to patch a water pump, going for a 6 hour walk through the jungle with one of the tour guides, and I've spent a countless number of days working my plot of land for farming--activities which include carrying buckets of water from the river to my plot, cutting and uprooting trees, and turning the dirt on the ground.
Most importantly though, I've begun doing meaningful work. My most important, and most stressful work too, has been working with the local 6th grade class. I have been working with two other volunteers in the area, Gwen Smith of Arizona and Catherine Cook of the great granite state of New Hampshire, to teach the 6th graders about HIV prevention, HIV/AIDs myths and other facts about the disease. This Monday will be our last class but we will have a culminating event on December 5th to celebrate World AIDs Day(which is actually Dec 1) and the 6th graders are putting together some posters, skits, raps and dances to present to the community. There are some other projects I have got going in the works as well, I've been looking into some marketing opportunities for the tourist camp my village owns, I've been working with the lady who runs the gift shop--she tried to teach me how to make a straw basket but I made a pretty lousy coaster, and I just held a meeting with the guys in the village to draw up a football field project. They told me they want a "football field complete" and asked me to find funding for a field, equipment, 2 grandstands, bathroom, water tank, lights and locker room..... we'll see what happens. I'm confident we can find funding for a field and probably the lights, but the rest will be difficult. But it'll be a fun and rewarding project to do even if it's not what I initially thought was important for the community. I can't really force people to do agriculture, for better or worse I've seen that the most effective tangible projects are when a volunteer meets the communities needs.
Finally, to wrap up, I'm still learning a lot day to day. My language is solid but far from perfect after three months in the village. I'm getting used to the slower pace of life and finding quality distractions in the abscence of television. I definitely feel a lot more positive and perhaps most importantly, realistic about how things should turn out over the next two years.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
And the ants go marching on...
"They come into my house too, just let them walk through, they'll leave eventually."--Villager
I have come to the conclusion the people in my villagers would not cut it as exterminators in America. When I had a bat in my house, they told me to hit it with a towel. We killed a snake with a stick. Kaiman, an toobi (no worries). For termites, a wheelbarrow, a can of bug spray and a shovel. This time, I had army ants swarm my house.
I had just come back from the river after washing my dishes. As I was nearly done drying my dishes, I had went outside for a minute to dry off a few more forks, spoons, knives. Not more than a minute had passed since I was in my house. I turn around and go back inside and hear this strange crunching noise behind myself. When I look down at the ground, 2 million red, army ants are running through my house--on the floor, across the walls, going up to the roof. It was as if a sea of red was sweeping across my house. As I found out, they bite and are really strong--they were moving one of my bags across the house. At first though, I thought they were termites at first so I grabbed my bug spray and went at 'em. Unfortunately, as I found out, this was a mistake. I found one of my friends in the village and he told me to let them pass through. I had to fact check that with a few Peace Corps Volunteers because I was worried about the state of my house.
Anyways, after about 2 or 3 hours of watching Heroes at one of the villager's houses the ants finally left. But I had to clean up the ones I killed and there were 2 gigantic piles I had to sweep up. So next time I know, just let them pass through the house, they'll eventually leave.
I have come to the conclusion the people in my villagers would not cut it as exterminators in America. When I had a bat in my house, they told me to hit it with a towel. We killed a snake with a stick. Kaiman, an toobi (no worries). For termites, a wheelbarrow, a can of bug spray and a shovel. This time, I had army ants swarm my house.
I had just come back from the river after washing my dishes. As I was nearly done drying my dishes, I had went outside for a minute to dry off a few more forks, spoons, knives. Not more than a minute had passed since I was in my house. I turn around and go back inside and hear this strange crunching noise behind myself. When I look down at the ground, 2 million red, army ants are running through my house--on the floor, across the walls, going up to the roof. It was as if a sea of red was sweeping across my house. As I found out, they bite and are really strong--they were moving one of my bags across the house. At first though, I thought they were termites at first so I grabbed my bug spray and went at 'em. Unfortunately, as I found out, this was a mistake. I found one of my friends in the village and he told me to let them pass through. I had to fact check that with a few Peace Corps Volunteers because I was worried about the state of my house.
Anyways, after about 2 or 3 hours of watching Heroes at one of the villager's houses the ants finally left. But I had to clean up the ones I killed and there were 2 gigantic piles I had to sweep up. So next time I know, just let them pass through the house, they'll eventually leave.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Post EST
"How I met your mother marathon today!"--PCV at training
So I just completed my Early Service Training here in Suriname. I have been a PCV for almost three months now, been away from home for a bit over five months now. I want to just give a quick run down of what has happened and what has been happening at my site recently. When I come back to the city, hopefully for Thanksgiving time, I hope to get more into the emotional aspects of staying at site, isolated from the city for a month or longer at a time. It has been tough but I want to be fair and give it another month.
So, basically right now in the village they have asked for a soccer field, a community center and English lessons. I am going to be giving English lessons twice a week for the time being and I have offered to help the lady in the gift shop with inventory, both services which the last volunteer helped with. I also plan to start computer lessons soon. At the moment, I am really focusing on training people, sharing my skills and hoping to get some of their skills in return through other avenues--crafts, fishing, etc.
The project I am most proud to be working on is a joint project with the two volunteers in the neighboring village. It is an HIV/AIDs education program that will culminate on December 1st. The project will focus on educating the 6th graders in the local village on HIV/AIDs and promoting testing in the villages. We are hoping this will be the first of many events and classes for HIV/AIDs education and prevention.
So, that's what's basically going down at the moment. When I come back in the city next--either Thanksgiving or Christmas, I'll go more in-depth on village life and the projects. Peace.
So I just completed my Early Service Training here in Suriname. I have been a PCV for almost three months now, been away from home for a bit over five months now. I want to just give a quick run down of what has happened and what has been happening at my site recently. When I come back to the city, hopefully for Thanksgiving time, I hope to get more into the emotional aspects of staying at site, isolated from the city for a month or longer at a time. It has been tough but I want to be fair and give it another month.
So, basically right now in the village they have asked for a soccer field, a community center and English lessons. I am going to be giving English lessons twice a week for the time being and I have offered to help the lady in the gift shop with inventory, both services which the last volunteer helped with. I also plan to start computer lessons soon. At the moment, I am really focusing on training people, sharing my skills and hoping to get some of their skills in return through other avenues--crafts, fishing, etc.
The project I am most proud to be working on is a joint project with the two volunteers in the neighboring village. It is an HIV/AIDs education program that will culminate on December 1st. The project will focus on educating the 6th graders in the local village on HIV/AIDs and promoting testing in the villages. We are hoping this will be the first of many events and classes for HIV/AIDs education and prevention.
So, that's what's basically going down at the moment. When I come back in the city next--either Thanksgiving or Christmas, I'll go more in-depth on village life and the projects. Peace.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Workin with giardia
"Peter: I'm looking for some toilet training books.
Salesman: We have the popular 'everybody poops", or the less popular 'nobody poops but you'.
Peter: Well, you see, we're catholic...
Salesman: Ah, then you'll want 'you're a naughty, naughty boy, and that's concentrated evil coming out the back of you'."--Family Guy
Yeah, I had a lot of concentrated evil coming out of my backside this week. On Monday morning, I woke up with what may have been a case of giardia or something very similar to it. Basically, I woke up with diarrhea and couldn't even tell you how many bowel movements I had that day because I went so many damn times. It was terrible. I am not exactly sure what happened but the main suspect is bad water from one of the villagers, but the villager did say he boiled it so it's a bit of a mystery. So after a day of many-a trips to the pour-flush toilet I finally called the doc and got on some medication. I'm still feeling a little iffy but overall things are solid.
Anyways, I am in the city this week for a Peace Corps training. Once the training is done, I head back to the interior and I have a few different projects that will begin. I am working with two other volunteers on an HIV/AIDs awareness project that will culminate on World AIDs Day, December 1. I also will begin an English class and am working with a woman who runs the local gift shop, helping her with inventory and ideas for selling more products. There are a few other bigger projects that are on the table at the moment but they are in the preliminary stages.
Salesman: We have the popular 'everybody poops", or the less popular 'nobody poops but you'.
Peter: Well, you see, we're catholic...
Salesman: Ah, then you'll want 'you're a naughty, naughty boy, and that's concentrated evil coming out the back of you'."--Family Guy
Yeah, I had a lot of concentrated evil coming out of my backside this week. On Monday morning, I woke up with what may have been a case of giardia or something very similar to it. Basically, I woke up with diarrhea and couldn't even tell you how many bowel movements I had that day because I went so many damn times. It was terrible. I am not exactly sure what happened but the main suspect is bad water from one of the villagers, but the villager did say he boiled it so it's a bit of a mystery. So after a day of many-a trips to the pour-flush toilet I finally called the doc and got on some medication. I'm still feeling a little iffy but overall things are solid.
Anyways, I am in the city this week for a Peace Corps training. Once the training is done, I head back to the interior and I have a few different projects that will begin. I am working with two other volunteers on an HIV/AIDs awareness project that will culminate on World AIDs Day, December 1. I also will begin an English class and am working with a woman who runs the local gift shop, helping her with inventory and ideas for selling more products. There are a few other bigger projects that are on the table at the moment but they are in the preliminary stages.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Snake!
“Snakes make people run into trees...Snake! POW!” –Richard Prior
So, I had my first encounter with a snake at my house. On a cool Suriname night that was again perfect hammock lying weather, I heard something fall near the front window. I thought it was another nail since a few were loose but when I opened up the window and looked down there was a little snake about a foot long, curled up by my shoes. So the only question was what to do with the snake. Naturally, I grabbed my machete. Although I decided to play it safe and ask some of the local teenagers for help and to see what kind of snake it was. According to the teens, it was a poisonous snake. In this case, my choice of machete was ‘hogi poi’—very bad choice. So the teens took a big piece of wood from a nearby construction pile and swung it at the snake. They wounded the snake with the first hit and it struggled to slither away. That’s when I took a bigger piece of wood and finished off the snake. Kaba, the end for the sindeki—snake.
I figured after this snake I had reached some kind of yearly quota for animals at my house in the first two months here at site, but as fate would have it another snake came to my house less than a week later. It squeezed under my door and began slithering through the house while I was writing a letter to send back home to St. John’s School, my World Wise School, and totally unaware that anything had entered the house. For those of you who are not aware I have nightly visits from bats who crap in my house, frequent visits from rats, I have had an abnormally enormous termite nest in my house, ants, one lizard that took me by surprise and chased me out of my house and now snakes. The villagers will probably start a pool to guess what animal will come into my house next.
And all these snake encounters have reminded me that I needed to clarify one very important event from high school cross country: there was a snake on the fire trail, Schieffer!
So, I had my first encounter with a snake at my house. On a cool Suriname night that was again perfect hammock lying weather, I heard something fall near the front window. I thought it was another nail since a few were loose but when I opened up the window and looked down there was a little snake about a foot long, curled up by my shoes. So the only question was what to do with the snake. Naturally, I grabbed my machete. Although I decided to play it safe and ask some of the local teenagers for help and to see what kind of snake it was. According to the teens, it was a poisonous snake. In this case, my choice of machete was ‘hogi poi’—very bad choice. So the teens took a big piece of wood from a nearby construction pile and swung it at the snake. They wounded the snake with the first hit and it struggled to slither away. That’s when I took a bigger piece of wood and finished off the snake. Kaba, the end for the sindeki—snake.
I figured after this snake I had reached some kind of yearly quota for animals at my house in the first two months here at site, but as fate would have it another snake came to my house less than a week later. It squeezed under my door and began slithering through the house while I was writing a letter to send back home to St. John’s School, my World Wise School, and totally unaware that anything had entered the house. For those of you who are not aware I have nightly visits from bats who crap in my house, frequent visits from rats, I have had an abnormally enormous termite nest in my house, ants, one lizard that took me by surprise and chased me out of my house and now snakes. The villagers will probably start a pool to guess what animal will come into my house next.
And all these snake encounters have reminded me that I needed to clarify one very important event from high school cross country: there was a snake on the fire trail, Schieffer!
Ground Hog’s Day
“Peace Corps is a lot like that Ground Hog’s Day movie.” –PCV Suriname
The quote says it all about the Peace Corps here in Suriname. We live a simple, predictable life. On a typical day, I have slept in and wake up to hot weather again, make myself a bowl of Corn Flakes or instant oatmeal if I’m feeling adventurous, wash myself and dishes in the river where one of the men who carries a little bird cage around with him likes to bust my balls and tell me he’s off to do men’s work in his boat, implying my washing of dishes is woman’s work. At first I took it personal but now I just laugh it off and think it’s ironic that this guy is off to do men’s work with his bird cage—talk about differences in cultural opinions. And then I go back to my beloved hammock until I feel like “working”. And to think my folks said I’d never get paid to sleep in and be unproductive. (note sarcasm here plz)
Once I hit the village paths to greet the villagers they will ask me what I cooked and ate. When I tell them, they are usually perplexed that I have not eaten rice before noon. At this time, I am usually perplexed because some folks are on their second helping of rice for the day. So, if I didn’t eat rice, I must have gone fishing, right? Nope. At this point I am almost the worst villager ever. But then, things go from bad to worse. After I am asked about my meals and lack of fishing the villagers want to know why I don’t have a woman. “Do you want a Sarramaccan woman? No!? Why not? I know a perfectly fit one for you, Basiapai, take her back to America. Well if you won’t take her, at least bring me back another one from America!” (Insert awkward silence) “So.” And then I flee back to my hammock for sweet refuge.
Haha, OK, it’s not that bad, it is a bit exaggerated but sometimes that is how it feels. There is definitely monotony and repetition from day to day life here some days. At home stay I was waking up every morning at 6 am and working out but when I came to site I began having visitors in the night—rats, bats, etc. Due to the constant disruptions during the night, it caused me to begin waking up after 9 am, sometimes 10 am. Although, now I am regularly waking up before 8 in the morning. It is hot, every, single, day! Sometimes the heat is relentless, especially in the middle of the afternoon. Sometimes the smartest thing to do is go and lay down in the hammock in the middle of the afternoon. I have tried to keep meals interesting but when I am feeling unmotivated to cook I usually end up eating a lot of rice cakes or spooning peanut butter. I can not make those special Top Ramen noodle tuna casserole everyday, right? And, I do take crap for washing dishes on occasion. And at first, before I considered some of these guys my friends, it pissed me off. Now I can laugh about it.
As for the conversations, they are structured pretty much exactly like I said. Although, first you greet a person and ask if they’re doing good, then you ask what they cooked or ate. I thought asking some what they ate was a bit intrusive at first, what I put in my mouth is my own business (that’s what she said). I asked an older woman in the village why people in the village always asked what you had to eat, she said it was just good manners—understanding cultural differences, accomplished! And then, I am constantly asked if I have a woman and if I’d be willing to take a local woman. I don’t think this will ever stop over the next two years. And even if I had a woman they would want me to make like 5 babies in 2 years probably. Not going to happen.
Finally, the “work”. The whole concept of work for my Peace Corps assignment, and in the village, is different than the concept of work by American standards. By American standards, I’d probably be considered a bum. These first two months at site my work has mostly consisted of talking with people, trying to improve my language, understand the culture and other intricacies of living here. Just a short, 20 minute conversation can feel like a lot of work. It is very frustrating to stumble with a foreign language and not understand everything you are being told. Although I speak the language fairly well sometimes I feel like a complete idiot when I do not understand. I may go around the village for an hour or so at a time, talking with people, before I have to call it quits and go back to my house to clear my head and get myself refreshed for the next rounds of conversations. By village standards, I would assume I am considered smart but sometimes lazy. I read a lot and know how to work computers which makes me smart but that is not traditional work. Work here does not revolve around money so much as it does around traditionally working hard, or as they call it “wooko taanga” (working strong), which is hunting, fishing or building boats or houses if you are a man. Basically, I can’t build nothin’, I am not allowed to hunt and I’d rather sit in a boat and drink a Parbo than pay attention to the fish. Although, not all is bad, I have gotten some respect from the village for planting grounds and making an enormous fire to burn my trash, they were especially pleased that I managed not to burn down the village while I burnt my trash because it was a pretty big heap of trash and brush and shot up pretty high and fast. One lady told me she saw it from the other side of the village. A few people have also been very complementary about my language progression which is always a nice boost for the confidence. As far as Peace Corps standards for doing work, I’d say I am right on par. I have not delved too heavily into the project work which has allowed me to observe the community more clearly and look at the various options I will have available for work. Although, I am beginning to take charge over one project that the last volunteer here left me which involves a lot of computer work and networking with people in the city. I feel it’s a good thing to start now because it does not require mastery of the local language and gives me something to do every now and again. Other projects, though, I have had to put on hold until I speak the language better.
Otherwise, in these first two months on the job, I have tried to put a big premium on sharing my stories with you, my friends, my audience. Having this blog, writing letters to my World Wise School, St. John’s San Lorenzo, posting videos and posting pictures so that friends, family or just the casual internet vagabond can look and enjoy my story and then getting positive feedback has helped to keep me busy and been a huge boost for my morale. Thank you and I hope you will continue to enjoy the sights and stories of my journey.
--Chris Rodriguez, “Basiapai”
The quote says it all about the Peace Corps here in Suriname. We live a simple, predictable life. On a typical day, I have slept in and wake up to hot weather again, make myself a bowl of Corn Flakes or instant oatmeal if I’m feeling adventurous, wash myself and dishes in the river where one of the men who carries a little bird cage around with him likes to bust my balls and tell me he’s off to do men’s work in his boat, implying my washing of dishes is woman’s work. At first I took it personal but now I just laugh it off and think it’s ironic that this guy is off to do men’s work with his bird cage—talk about differences in cultural opinions. And then I go back to my beloved hammock until I feel like “working”. And to think my folks said I’d never get paid to sleep in and be unproductive. (note sarcasm here plz)
Once I hit the village paths to greet the villagers they will ask me what I cooked and ate. When I tell them, they are usually perplexed that I have not eaten rice before noon. At this time, I am usually perplexed because some folks are on their second helping of rice for the day. So, if I didn’t eat rice, I must have gone fishing, right? Nope. At this point I am almost the worst villager ever. But then, things go from bad to worse. After I am asked about my meals and lack of fishing the villagers want to know why I don’t have a woman. “Do you want a Sarramaccan woman? No!? Why not? I know a perfectly fit one for you, Basiapai, take her back to America. Well if you won’t take her, at least bring me back another one from America!” (Insert awkward silence) “So.” And then I flee back to my hammock for sweet refuge.
Haha, OK, it’s not that bad, it is a bit exaggerated but sometimes that is how it feels. There is definitely monotony and repetition from day to day life here some days. At home stay I was waking up every morning at 6 am and working out but when I came to site I began having visitors in the night—rats, bats, etc. Due to the constant disruptions during the night, it caused me to begin waking up after 9 am, sometimes 10 am. Although, now I am regularly waking up before 8 in the morning. It is hot, every, single, day! Sometimes the heat is relentless, especially in the middle of the afternoon. Sometimes the smartest thing to do is go and lay down in the hammock in the middle of the afternoon. I have tried to keep meals interesting but when I am feeling unmotivated to cook I usually end up eating a lot of rice cakes or spooning peanut butter. I can not make those special Top Ramen noodle tuna casserole everyday, right? And, I do take crap for washing dishes on occasion. And at first, before I considered some of these guys my friends, it pissed me off. Now I can laugh about it.
As for the conversations, they are structured pretty much exactly like I said. Although, first you greet a person and ask if they’re doing good, then you ask what they cooked or ate. I thought asking some what they ate was a bit intrusive at first, what I put in my mouth is my own business (that’s what she said). I asked an older woman in the village why people in the village always asked what you had to eat, she said it was just good manners—understanding cultural differences, accomplished! And then, I am constantly asked if I have a woman and if I’d be willing to take a local woman. I don’t think this will ever stop over the next two years. And even if I had a woman they would want me to make like 5 babies in 2 years probably. Not going to happen.
Finally, the “work”. The whole concept of work for my Peace Corps assignment, and in the village, is different than the concept of work by American standards. By American standards, I’d probably be considered a bum. These first two months at site my work has mostly consisted of talking with people, trying to improve my language, understand the culture and other intricacies of living here. Just a short, 20 minute conversation can feel like a lot of work. It is very frustrating to stumble with a foreign language and not understand everything you are being told. Although I speak the language fairly well sometimes I feel like a complete idiot when I do not understand. I may go around the village for an hour or so at a time, talking with people, before I have to call it quits and go back to my house to clear my head and get myself refreshed for the next rounds of conversations. By village standards, I would assume I am considered smart but sometimes lazy. I read a lot and know how to work computers which makes me smart but that is not traditional work. Work here does not revolve around money so much as it does around traditionally working hard, or as they call it “wooko taanga” (working strong), which is hunting, fishing or building boats or houses if you are a man. Basically, I can’t build nothin’, I am not allowed to hunt and I’d rather sit in a boat and drink a Parbo than pay attention to the fish. Although, not all is bad, I have gotten some respect from the village for planting grounds and making an enormous fire to burn my trash, they were especially pleased that I managed not to burn down the village while I burnt my trash because it was a pretty big heap of trash and brush and shot up pretty high and fast. One lady told me she saw it from the other side of the village. A few people have also been very complementary about my language progression which is always a nice boost for the confidence. As far as Peace Corps standards for doing work, I’d say I am right on par. I have not delved too heavily into the project work which has allowed me to observe the community more clearly and look at the various options I will have available for work. Although, I am beginning to take charge over one project that the last volunteer here left me which involves a lot of computer work and networking with people in the city. I feel it’s a good thing to start now because it does not require mastery of the local language and gives me something to do every now and again. Other projects, though, I have had to put on hold until I speak the language better.
Otherwise, in these first two months on the job, I have tried to put a big premium on sharing my stories with you, my friends, my audience. Having this blog, writing letters to my World Wise School, St. John’s San Lorenzo, posting videos and posting pictures so that friends, family or just the casual internet vagabond can look and enjoy my story and then getting positive feedback has helped to keep me busy and been a huge boost for my morale. Thank you and I hope you will continue to enjoy the sights and stories of my journey.
--Chris Rodriguez, “Basiapai”
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Lentil Crises in Suriname!
At Ultima's, 'the one stop shop':
"Do you have lentils?"--James
"They're right upstairs, sir!"--Attendant
~Walk upstairs with James~
"These aren't lentils, these are linens!"--James
There is a crises in Suriname, there are NO lentils in the entire country! I am positive because a friend and I have searched tirelessly through every corner store, market, department store, wenke, woyo, etc. in this country! No lentils! When I asked a clerk at one of the stores about the lentils, he shrugged his shoulders and told me he did not think lentils were being shipped into the country anymore. Womi!(translation: Oh man!)
Basically, the Peace Corps lentil craze was started by a former volunteer who recently finished her service and was an expert on nutrition. She highly recommended adding lentils to our diets to have a maintain adequate amounts of protein and fiber and because they are relatively quick to cook.
So, this story actual begins during my last venture into the city which had lasted 2 weeks. After about 10 days of searching we had yielded 0 bags of lentils between myself, James, from the great state of New Hampshire, and Matt, an O.G. of California but now a Washington resident. On a field trip to one of the tourist beaches, we stopped to pick up some food for lunch at a huge market and finally found lentils, probably the last 3 bags in the country and split them up between ourselves. Finally, we had found them! Unfortunately, Matt and James left their lentils on the bus we took to the beach and that bus did not come back to pick us up. So, I was the lone rider who was able to bring a bag of lentils to site.
Unfortunately, I eat lentils quite a bit. Now, I am out of lentils and back in the city, but they are nowhere to be found. So far my search has been fruitless and as I have said, I am told by one of the market owners that lentils are not being shipped to Suriname for the time being. I am very disappointed. I am hoping to find some before the day is done and I head back to the interior tomorrow so keep your fingers crossed for me and maybe throw some in a care package for me, heh! :D
"Do you have lentils?"--James
"They're right upstairs, sir!"--Attendant
~Walk upstairs with James~
"These aren't lentils, these are linens!"--James
There is a crises in Suriname, there are NO lentils in the entire country! I am positive because a friend and I have searched tirelessly through every corner store, market, department store, wenke, woyo, etc. in this country! No lentils! When I asked a clerk at one of the stores about the lentils, he shrugged his shoulders and told me he did not think lentils were being shipped into the country anymore. Womi!(translation: Oh man!)
Basically, the Peace Corps lentil craze was started by a former volunteer who recently finished her service and was an expert on nutrition. She highly recommended adding lentils to our diets to have a maintain adequate amounts of protein and fiber and because they are relatively quick to cook.
So, this story actual begins during my last venture into the city which had lasted 2 weeks. After about 10 days of searching we had yielded 0 bags of lentils between myself, James, from the great state of New Hampshire, and Matt, an O.G. of California but now a Washington resident. On a field trip to one of the tourist beaches, we stopped to pick up some food for lunch at a huge market and finally found lentils, probably the last 3 bags in the country and split them up between ourselves. Finally, we had found them! Unfortunately, Matt and James left their lentils on the bus we took to the beach and that bus did not come back to pick us up. So, I was the lone rider who was able to bring a bag of lentils to site.
Unfortunately, I eat lentils quite a bit. Now, I am out of lentils and back in the city, but they are nowhere to be found. So far my search has been fruitless and as I have said, I am told by one of the market owners that lentils are not being shipped to Suriname for the time being. I am very disappointed. I am hoping to find some before the day is done and I head back to the interior tomorrow so keep your fingers crossed for me and maybe throw some in a care package for me, heh! :D
Monday, September 14, 2009
Fun with the machette
"You need to sharpen that machette"--Villager
"You need to sharpen that machette more"--Another villager 2 days later
"You should get another machette!"--Another villager one week later
There are a lot of important things Volunteers do in Peace Corps. Probably none more so than wielding a sharp machette. Why is a machette so important? Because it's pretty much the all-purpose tool in the jungle. You can cut sugar cane with a machette, hunt fish, skin fish, cut coconuts, cut termite tunnels, scratch yourself when no one's looking--but you'd best be careful, cut grass and trees and bushes and chase bats and rats around your house. The coolest thing you can do with a machette is cut a cinderblock in half. I learned this art from one of the Peace Corps staff. We took a cinderblock, lightly tapped the machette on all four sides in the middle of the block and then took one big swing down. This yields two cinderblocks and a feeling of awesomeness.
The hardest part of machette-ing is definitely cutting grounds. Total pain in the ass. Infact, in the three or four hours of labor I spent cutting my grounds--where I'll plant my garden, in the 95 degree heat with humidity, I felt that I earned my Peace Corps salary in that time period for the next two years. And I looked utterly ridiculous cutting my grounds in my rubber boots and Pete Newell Challenge baseball cap, next to some village with sandals and no hat who I towered over by a good 6 inches and probably had at least 20 pounds over. And yet, this little guy, who is probably pushing 50, made me look look like a schmuck. Clearing the grounds, I noticed that while it took me 20 hacks with the machette to cut down a tree, it was taking him no more than 4, that was humbling and embarrassing. Anyways, this lad has been helping me refine my machette yielding ways and I picked up several new techniques for swinging the machette while cutting grounds.
The techniques of the machette vary on the work but at grounds one mostly uses the one-handed overhead thurst to clear out all the eye level vines and then the side chop to clear out the innummerable bush that gets in one's way of walking. Once you've cleared a path to walk through one must clear out all the weeds on the ground so that the weeds will dry out and the ground can be burned a couple of weeks later. This involves the underhand swipe at the grass roots. I have almost lost a few toes attempting this action; it's not my favorite. The most tedious swipe that gives the back a good workout is the angled downt thurst for cutting tree trunks. It is hard work to cut down a tree with a machette but it is really fun to watch them fall over, especially if you knock over like 5 trees in a row. It's like watching really big dominoes fall over and that's pretty entertaining. Finally, there is the double handed overhead flailing with the machette that is usually reserved for when dehydration and heat exhaustion start settling in. My first trip at grounds, this was after about 30 minutes, my next trip, I lasted about 1 hour and 30 minutes before I started flailing the machette around like a mad man.
The most interesting experience I have had with the machette has been hunting the rats that come into my house and terrorize my rice cakes. I have tried setting traps but they stole the bait and did not spring the trap. So, I have had to rely on my trusty machette to drive those sneaky, smart rats from my house. The rats, usually late night visitors, were mightily surprised to see me walking around with only my underwear and a handlamp at 4 am. After chasing them through the house and village and taking a couple swings at them with the machette their appearances have been much less frequent.
And that's pretty much the beauty of the machette. I suppose if there is any way to make it more fun I could get a second one and do some dual-wielding-jedi-action-machette-ing (you can check that word in the dictionary, it should be there). It would definitely make for a great Youtube tutorial. Until next time mi mati (my friends)!
"You need to sharpen that machette more"--Another villager 2 days later
"You should get another machette!"--Another villager one week later
There are a lot of important things Volunteers do in Peace Corps. Probably none more so than wielding a sharp machette. Why is a machette so important? Because it's pretty much the all-purpose tool in the jungle. You can cut sugar cane with a machette, hunt fish, skin fish, cut coconuts, cut termite tunnels, scratch yourself when no one's looking--but you'd best be careful, cut grass and trees and bushes and chase bats and rats around your house. The coolest thing you can do with a machette is cut a cinderblock in half. I learned this art from one of the Peace Corps staff. We took a cinderblock, lightly tapped the machette on all four sides in the middle of the block and then took one big swing down. This yields two cinderblocks and a feeling of awesomeness.
The hardest part of machette-ing is definitely cutting grounds. Total pain in the ass. Infact, in the three or four hours of labor I spent cutting my grounds--where I'll plant my garden, in the 95 degree heat with humidity, I felt that I earned my Peace Corps salary in that time period for the next two years. And I looked utterly ridiculous cutting my grounds in my rubber boots and Pete Newell Challenge baseball cap, next to some village with sandals and no hat who I towered over by a good 6 inches and probably had at least 20 pounds over. And yet, this little guy, who is probably pushing 50, made me look look like a schmuck. Clearing the grounds, I noticed that while it took me 20 hacks with the machette to cut down a tree, it was taking him no more than 4, that was humbling and embarrassing. Anyways, this lad has been helping me refine my machette yielding ways and I picked up several new techniques for swinging the machette while cutting grounds.
The techniques of the machette vary on the work but at grounds one mostly uses the one-handed overhead thurst to clear out all the eye level vines and then the side chop to clear out the innummerable bush that gets in one's way of walking. Once you've cleared a path to walk through one must clear out all the weeds on the ground so that the weeds will dry out and the ground can be burned a couple of weeks later. This involves the underhand swipe at the grass roots. I have almost lost a few toes attempting this action; it's not my favorite. The most tedious swipe that gives the back a good workout is the angled downt thurst for cutting tree trunks. It is hard work to cut down a tree with a machette but it is really fun to watch them fall over, especially if you knock over like 5 trees in a row. It's like watching really big dominoes fall over and that's pretty entertaining. Finally, there is the double handed overhead flailing with the machette that is usually reserved for when dehydration and heat exhaustion start settling in. My first trip at grounds, this was after about 30 minutes, my next trip, I lasted about 1 hour and 30 minutes before I started flailing the machette around like a mad man.
The most interesting experience I have had with the machette has been hunting the rats that come into my house and terrorize my rice cakes. I have tried setting traps but they stole the bait and did not spring the trap. So, I have had to rely on my trusty machette to drive those sneaky, smart rats from my house. The rats, usually late night visitors, were mightily surprised to see me walking around with only my underwear and a handlamp at 4 am. After chasing them through the house and village and taking a couple swings at them with the machette their appearances have been much less frequent.
And that's pretty much the beauty of the machette. I suppose if there is any way to make it more fun I could get a second one and do some dual-wielding-jedi-action-machette-ing (you can check that word in the dictionary, it should be there). It would definitely make for a great Youtube tutorial. Until next time mi mati (my friends)!
Monday, August 24, 2009
Basiapai and the termite nest
"Spray! Spray! Spray!"--The Captain
On my last visit to Gunzi, my site, the villagers had tentatively given me the name Basiapai (Bah-see-a-pie), which translates to something like the boss boy or son in law of the boss. Anyways, upon my return there seemed to be some confusion over what the villagers actually wanted to me; some wanted to call me basiapai, others Konipai, meaning smart boy, and still others were opposed to both names. As of now, I am officially the Basiapai of Gunzi. As far as I understand, I have been named after one of the women in the village. Although, coincidentally, when I was first given the name I had been listening to the record The River. I like the coincidence story more.
After many complications in the city, I did finally arrive in Gunzi on August 6th. But not before more complications arose on the way to Gunzi. First, the SUV I was riding in popped a flat tire on the way to the boat port, Atjoni. Uppon arrival in Atjoni, I found out my things for my house were actually in another town back down the river. So I took a short boat trip down the river to collect my things. Unfortunately, as I was loading the boat that would charter my belongings down the river, it began to rain. To make matters worse, the boat would not start for 20 minutes. When I finally arrived in Gunzi my things were soaked and my food boxes were broken. At the time, I had been laughing about my situation up until this point, up until I opened the door to my house. I wished I would have seen another big, creepy tarantula like the last time I had entered my house here. Unfortunately, I had a termite nest on the ceiling, 15 feet up on the inside of my house. The nest was about three feet long and protruding about one foot down from the ceiling, about the size of three or more American footballs. At this point, I was not laughing anymore. I could not flex anymore as the Peace Corps would stress to do.
The afternoon of my arrival the Captain of the village and I inspected the termite nest and he devised a plan to get it down. The next day, the captain showed up at my house with a shovel, wheelbarrel and a ladder, I supplied the bug spray. He placed the wheelbarrow on my house floor beneath the nest and climbed the ladder with the shovel. I can assume you know where this is going. The next thing I know the Captain is hitting the nest and yelling, "Spray! Spray! Spray!" I must have killed about 2 million termites with that first spray and this process continuted for about 15 minutes until most of the termite nest had fallen. I'd assume I killed about 10 million termites that day and I'm damn proud of that fact because those things are a damned nuisance. That day I had to spend several hours and had to make multiple attempts before I was able to completely destroy and be rid of the nest. I also spent a quality hour or more cleaning the floor of my house because all the dead termites did not land in the wheelbarrel. I spent the following three days finding and destroying the other termite tunnels throughout the house. I went through two and one half bottles of bug spray to kill those pests and continue to stand guard looking for the next tunnel to spring up. So far, none have. And, in celebration of this fact, I decided to take a whole day to relax and begin reading the book "100 Years of Solitude", courteousy of the previous volunteer, Katchupai. And thus begin the adventures of the Basiapai...
On my last visit to Gunzi, my site, the villagers had tentatively given me the name Basiapai (Bah-see-a-pie), which translates to something like the boss boy or son in law of the boss. Anyways, upon my return there seemed to be some confusion over what the villagers actually wanted to me; some wanted to call me basiapai, others Konipai, meaning smart boy, and still others were opposed to both names. As of now, I am officially the Basiapai of Gunzi. As far as I understand, I have been named after one of the women in the village. Although, coincidentally, when I was first given the name I had been listening to the record The River. I like the coincidence story more.
After many complications in the city, I did finally arrive in Gunzi on August 6th. But not before more complications arose on the way to Gunzi. First, the SUV I was riding in popped a flat tire on the way to the boat port, Atjoni. Uppon arrival in Atjoni, I found out my things for my house were actually in another town back down the river. So I took a short boat trip down the river to collect my things. Unfortunately, as I was loading the boat that would charter my belongings down the river, it began to rain. To make matters worse, the boat would not start for 20 minutes. When I finally arrived in Gunzi my things were soaked and my food boxes were broken. At the time, I had been laughing about my situation up until this point, up until I opened the door to my house. I wished I would have seen another big, creepy tarantula like the last time I had entered my house here. Unfortunately, I had a termite nest on the ceiling, 15 feet up on the inside of my house. The nest was about three feet long and protruding about one foot down from the ceiling, about the size of three or more American footballs. At this point, I was not laughing anymore. I could not flex anymore as the Peace Corps would stress to do.
The afternoon of my arrival the Captain of the village and I inspected the termite nest and he devised a plan to get it down. The next day, the captain showed up at my house with a shovel, wheelbarrel and a ladder, I supplied the bug spray. He placed the wheelbarrow on my house floor beneath the nest and climbed the ladder with the shovel. I can assume you know where this is going. The next thing I know the Captain is hitting the nest and yelling, "Spray! Spray! Spray!" I must have killed about 2 million termites with that first spray and this process continuted for about 15 minutes until most of the termite nest had fallen. I'd assume I killed about 10 million termites that day and I'm damn proud of that fact because those things are a damned nuisance. That day I had to spend several hours and had to make multiple attempts before I was able to completely destroy and be rid of the nest. I also spent a quality hour or more cleaning the floor of my house because all the dead termites did not land in the wheelbarrel. I spent the following three days finding and destroying the other termite tunnels throughout the house. I went through two and one half bottles of bug spray to kill those pests and continue to stand guard looking for the next tunnel to spring up. So far, none have. And, in celebration of this fact, I decided to take a whole day to relax and begin reading the book "100 Years of Solitude", courteousy of the previous volunteer, Katchupai. And thus begin the adventures of the Basiapai...
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Fraternity Abroad
"We are... Parbo Delta Parbo!"
So, here is the crazy story about the past two weeks. We, all 22 of us official Peace Corps Volunteers, were supposed to leave the city on July 30, after about 6 days in the city. Due to complications, we have been here for two weeks but have enjoyed. Over the past two weeks, while I was supposed to be shopping for food and other necessities for my site, I went to the beach, twice. We visited the Jewish temple ruins out by Redi Doti. And we swore in as official volunteers at a fancy hotel where they gave us all the peanuts we could eat. Actually, like a herd, we followed the peanuts from table to table as they were being put out. As James would put it: 'there were six of us and they were delicious'. James, my roommate from Miami and again now, at the Stadz hostel, is the quotable guy from the meat bucket video--"step 1, get dirty; step 2, get clean".
Anyways, I would say that I had the most interesting adventure over the past two weeks. One night after I had come back from karaoke, myself and two other chums were standing infront of the hostel and heard some Caribbean dance music playing down the street. Needless to say, we decided to investigate. We walked inside the open venue and went up to the bar and asked one of the ladies what was going on. She told us it was her sister's bigi feryari and asked if we wanted a Parbo. So, we decided to stay. For those who do not know, a bigi feryari is a big deal. It is a birthday that ends in a 5 or 10--it was the birthday girl's 60th birthday. It was a huge celebration with a band and a video camera crew. After sitting down and conversing with some of the locals for 10 or 15 minutes, we were offered chicken on a stick and were told we could stay as long as we wanted......but only if we would dance. Much to the party's amusement we hit the dance floor and let it rip--three awkward 20 year olds in T-shirts and shorts at a fairly formal party. And, they filmed us. I have the feeling we are going to end up on America's Funniest Home Videos some day down the line, the three of us dancing like idiots.
As I was saying earlier, we have been in the city much longer than anticipated. This meant that some of us, particularly myself, had to give up our single/double rooms and be moved. The solution: move six of us onto cots in a two bedroom apartment. So, we decided to start the first Suriname Fraternity, which we called 'Parbo Delta Parbo'. It was basically a great excuse to sit around and play guitar, listen to music, hang out and eat food at Madonna's with our 'crew'. Actually, our initiation was finishing the pork chops complete dish at Madonna's restaurant--it's a big dish of pork chops, chow mein, rice, beans, french fries and kosbanti(green beans). And so, for the past week we have been able to live it up in our little paradise down the stairs and enjoy each other's company before we head out on our big journeys.
And with that, I must bid you all adeu as I will be heading to the interior tomorrow. I may be there for as long as two months. But, I am going to try to have a family member transcribe my blog for me over the phone and keep it updated every two weeks or so. So, bookmark the blog and keep checking periodically. Peace out all.
So, here is the crazy story about the past two weeks. We, all 22 of us official Peace Corps Volunteers, were supposed to leave the city on July 30, after about 6 days in the city. Due to complications, we have been here for two weeks but have enjoyed. Over the past two weeks, while I was supposed to be shopping for food and other necessities for my site, I went to the beach, twice. We visited the Jewish temple ruins out by Redi Doti. And we swore in as official volunteers at a fancy hotel where they gave us all the peanuts we could eat. Actually, like a herd, we followed the peanuts from table to table as they were being put out. As James would put it: 'there were six of us and they were delicious'. James, my roommate from Miami and again now, at the Stadz hostel, is the quotable guy from the meat bucket video--"step 1, get dirty; step 2, get clean".
Anyways, I would say that I had the most interesting adventure over the past two weeks. One night after I had come back from karaoke, myself and two other chums were standing infront of the hostel and heard some Caribbean dance music playing down the street. Needless to say, we decided to investigate. We walked inside the open venue and went up to the bar and asked one of the ladies what was going on. She told us it was her sister's bigi feryari and asked if we wanted a Parbo. So, we decided to stay. For those who do not know, a bigi feryari is a big deal. It is a birthday that ends in a 5 or 10--it was the birthday girl's 60th birthday. It was a huge celebration with a band and a video camera crew. After sitting down and conversing with some of the locals for 10 or 15 minutes, we were offered chicken on a stick and were told we could stay as long as we wanted......but only if we would dance. Much to the party's amusement we hit the dance floor and let it rip--three awkward 20 year olds in T-shirts and shorts at a fairly formal party. And, they filmed us. I have the feeling we are going to end up on America's Funniest Home Videos some day down the line, the three of us dancing like idiots.
As I was saying earlier, we have been in the city much longer than anticipated. This meant that some of us, particularly myself, had to give up our single/double rooms and be moved. The solution: move six of us onto cots in a two bedroom apartment. So, we decided to start the first Suriname Fraternity, which we called 'Parbo Delta Parbo'. It was basically a great excuse to sit around and play guitar, listen to music, hang out and eat food at Madonna's with our 'crew'. Actually, our initiation was finishing the pork chops complete dish at Madonna's restaurant--it's a big dish of pork chops, chow mein, rice, beans, french fries and kosbanti(green beans). And so, for the past week we have been able to live it up in our little paradise down the stairs and enjoy each other's company before we head out on our big journeys.
And with that, I must bid you all adeu as I will be heading to the interior tomorrow. I may be there for as long as two months. But, I am going to try to have a family member transcribe my blog for me over the phone and keep it updated every two weeks or so. So, bookmark the blog and keep checking periodically. Peace out all.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
The End of Home Stay
"You know you've been in Suriname too long when this(Parbo) is refreshing."--One PCV
So, the last three weeks of home-stay/training could be summed up in three big events: taco day, the jungle walk and the Peace Corps project. Otherwise, we had language class in the morning and spent most of the afternoons watching films with the locals--an Office marathon one day, and eating a lot of ice cream.
So, first things first, the work. For my business training I did a project with youth on how to create a product. It went so-so. I took the idea from a past project at Chico State which was a great success. The jist of the project was to brainstorm different activities or things you liked and try to put together a new product. It could be anything, even something imagined and unrealistic. In the United States when I did this project, the kid decided to build a miniature wooden rocket car. When I practiced this project, in English, with other Peace Corps Volunteers two of the girls came up with a high heel that could double over as a hiking shoe and have a portable pouch inside. Anyways, here, in Suriname, because the learning style and classroom setting is different and because I am not fluent in the language yet, it was hard to convey this process to the kids and even the ones who did understand it were hesitant to do the project. Even though the execution of the project was not a huge success I learned a lot about how to more effectively work with youth here and that's the small victory I am going to have to take with me from here on out.
The jungle walk. Myself and a few other volunteers staying at our home stay put together a little walk with these kids. Myself and Mike, from Florida, split from the main group to go do a nature walk on our own. We saw some cool shit. We saw a ton of toucans, a couple of monkeys going through the trees and a rare crab sighting. The highlight of the trip though, was when we were walking back. In mid-conversation Mike suddenly stops me and says, "Look!" I don't see anything. Within a couple of seconds this huge bird with about 5+ feet of wing span flies out infront of us on the road. It was awesome.
And finally, the taco day. As an appreciation for our home-stay families we cooked up tacos with guacamole, tomatoes, beef, cheese, lettuce and beans. It was a huge success. There are a lot of pictures of this up on facebook. Also, I have never been so sick in my life. Go figure that Mexican food would've been the cuisine to thrash my stomach in Suriname.
So, the last three weeks of home-stay/training could be summed up in three big events: taco day, the jungle walk and the Peace Corps project. Otherwise, we had language class in the morning and spent most of the afternoons watching films with the locals--an Office marathon one day, and eating a lot of ice cream.
So, first things first, the work. For my business training I did a project with youth on how to create a product. It went so-so. I took the idea from a past project at Chico State which was a great success. The jist of the project was to brainstorm different activities or things you liked and try to put together a new product. It could be anything, even something imagined and unrealistic. In the United States when I did this project, the kid decided to build a miniature wooden rocket car. When I practiced this project, in English, with other Peace Corps Volunteers two of the girls came up with a high heel that could double over as a hiking shoe and have a portable pouch inside. Anyways, here, in Suriname, because the learning style and classroom setting is different and because I am not fluent in the language yet, it was hard to convey this process to the kids and even the ones who did understand it were hesitant to do the project. Even though the execution of the project was not a huge success I learned a lot about how to more effectively work with youth here and that's the small victory I am going to have to take with me from here on out.
The jungle walk. Myself and a few other volunteers staying at our home stay put together a little walk with these kids. Myself and Mike, from Florida, split from the main group to go do a nature walk on our own. We saw some cool shit. We saw a ton of toucans, a couple of monkeys going through the trees and a rare crab sighting. The highlight of the trip though, was when we were walking back. In mid-conversation Mike suddenly stops me and says, "Look!" I don't see anything. Within a couple of seconds this huge bird with about 5+ feet of wing span flies out infront of us on the road. It was awesome.
And finally, the taco day. As an appreciation for our home-stay families we cooked up tacos with guacamole, tomatoes, beef, cheese, lettuce and beans. It was a huge success. There are a lot of pictures of this up on facebook. Also, I have never been so sick in my life. Go figure that Mexican food would've been the cuisine to thrash my stomach in Suriname.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Pics/Videos
Pictures have been added to my facebook profile. You will need to be my facebook friend in order to see the pictures. I am in the Chico State, Brighton and East Bay networks if you are looking me up. Send me an e-mail if you have problems with this. icwrockyrodriguez@Yahoo.com
Several Videos have been uploaded to youtube. Here is the link to the video where we were cleaning meat buckets: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1o3exVnOIA
Click on my username, if21 to see more of the videos.
Finally, I found out will be in the city til Wednesday. So keep on checkin out the blog. More updates soon!
Several Videos have been uploaded to youtube. Here is the link to the video where we were cleaning meat buckets: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1o3exVnOIA
Click on my username, if21 to see more of the videos.
Finally, I found out will be in the city til Wednesday. So keep on checkin out the blog. More updates soon!
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Meat Buckets and Swear In
"Oh, 4,5,6 c'mon and get your kicks
now you dont need that money
with a .....wha!???, do ya!"--Matt & CRod performing "Be my girl" by JET at Karaoke
Greetings from Suriname.
Yesterday, we cleaned meat buckets. Like 50 of 'em. Today, we are officially swearing-in as Peace Corps Volunteers. I don't think those two events are correlated. Anyways, Yes, our training period will be officially over at about 6 or 7 o'clock local time. But, we are stuck in the city for a few more days before we go out to site which is okay with me considering I have not done any shopping yet. While some people have purchased beds, tools and food, thus far my biggest purchase has been a pair of soccer cleats.
Anyways, a lot has been happenened over the past few weeks. First, after my initial three weeks of living with a family, I went to my future site; where I will be living and working for two years. Absolutely loved it. The village is south of the lake on the Suriname River. It is a very small village, I was told 60-75 people but I only met 40-50 people during my visit. Everyone was real cool. My first night at village, one of the locals pulled me aside, told me he couldn't read English and asked if I could help him set up a TV. If a village has electricity, from what I've seen so far I'd say it's fairly common for people to have old TVs with a DVD player. So, I go to this guy's house expecting some early-90's Toshiba or cheap Japanese knock off. Can you guess what kind of TV this guy wanted me to set-up!? Flat screen TV! I could go for one of those in my hut too but the Peace Corps ain't goin for it.
Speaking of my hut, it's not too shabby. Two pretty good sized rooms, 4 windows, 2 doors, with a wash house and flush toilet behind the house. I also have some kind of open work house and a pit to burn trash. I have been hanging my hammock in the middle of the house so far and if you lie there and look at the roof and walls of the house you can see some pretty funny and amazing stuff. First thing seen was a tarantula. I was a little uneasy with it at first but we made a peace accord and if he stayed to his side of the room we'd have no problems. Unfortunately, he didn't stay to his side of the room. Crossed over to my sleeping space and he was evicted. There are a lot of other interesting critters in the house too--lots of roaches. The best thing that happened to me so far was the spider that crawled down its web from the roof--about 20 feet up, into my hammock while I was reading. I almost flipped the hammock in hysteria. That would've made for a great youtube video. And the coolest thing I saw so far was a kaiman. Except it wasn't so cool when I saw it because I was fishing on the shore and it darted into the water about 15-20 feet away from me. I was pretty damn scared but the villagers were pretty amused by that.
As far as work in the village, I have a lot of different work opportunities there. First, there is a tourist camp which is already putting me to work. There is also a radio station in my village where I am hoping to DJ--play music, put together informationals on health and business. I have identified other opportunities as well, some of which the other volunteers before me started and others I may try and put together on my own. Most of these will be small group or one-on-one type projects involving education such as English lessons--which if you read the grammar of this blog I am sure you know I am totally qualified to be doing...
Anyways, time to finally go and buy some food--can't live off of Milk Powder, Soy Oil and Soccer Cleats. I will try and post about my last 2 1/2 weeks of homestay tomorrow. I've got some pretty quality stories. Also working on uploading videos/pictures so stay tuned. Te Amanya(Til tomorrow)!
now you dont need that money
with a .....wha!???, do ya!"--Matt & CRod performing "Be my girl" by JET at Karaoke
Greetings from Suriname.
Yesterday, we cleaned meat buckets. Like 50 of 'em. Today, we are officially swearing-in as Peace Corps Volunteers. I don't think those two events are correlated. Anyways, Yes, our training period will be officially over at about 6 or 7 o'clock local time. But, we are stuck in the city for a few more days before we go out to site which is okay with me considering I have not done any shopping yet. While some people have purchased beds, tools and food, thus far my biggest purchase has been a pair of soccer cleats.
Anyways, a lot has been happenened over the past few weeks. First, after my initial three weeks of living with a family, I went to my future site; where I will be living and working for two years. Absolutely loved it. The village is south of the lake on the Suriname River. It is a very small village, I was told 60-75 people but I only met 40-50 people during my visit. Everyone was real cool. My first night at village, one of the locals pulled me aside, told me he couldn't read English and asked if I could help him set up a TV. If a village has electricity, from what I've seen so far I'd say it's fairly common for people to have old TVs with a DVD player. So, I go to this guy's house expecting some early-90's Toshiba or cheap Japanese knock off. Can you guess what kind of TV this guy wanted me to set-up!? Flat screen TV! I could go for one of those in my hut too but the Peace Corps ain't goin for it.
Speaking of my hut, it's not too shabby. Two pretty good sized rooms, 4 windows, 2 doors, with a wash house and flush toilet behind the house. I also have some kind of open work house and a pit to burn trash. I have been hanging my hammock in the middle of the house so far and if you lie there and look at the roof and walls of the house you can see some pretty funny and amazing stuff. First thing seen was a tarantula. I was a little uneasy with it at first but we made a peace accord and if he stayed to his side of the room we'd have no problems. Unfortunately, he didn't stay to his side of the room. Crossed over to my sleeping space and he was evicted. There are a lot of other interesting critters in the house too--lots of roaches. The best thing that happened to me so far was the spider that crawled down its web from the roof--about 20 feet up, into my hammock while I was reading. I almost flipped the hammock in hysteria. That would've made for a great youtube video. And the coolest thing I saw so far was a kaiman. Except it wasn't so cool when I saw it because I was fishing on the shore and it darted into the water about 15-20 feet away from me. I was pretty damn scared but the villagers were pretty amused by that.
As far as work in the village, I have a lot of different work opportunities there. First, there is a tourist camp which is already putting me to work. There is also a radio station in my village where I am hoping to DJ--play music, put together informationals on health and business. I have identified other opportunities as well, some of which the other volunteers before me started and others I may try and put together on my own. Most of these will be small group or one-on-one type projects involving education such as English lessons--which if you read the grammar of this blog I am sure you know I am totally qualified to be doing...
Anyways, time to finally go and buy some food--can't live off of Milk Powder, Soy Oil and Soccer Cleats. I will try and post about my last 2 1/2 weeks of homestay tomorrow. I've got some pretty quality stories. Also working on uploading videos/pictures so stay tuned. Te Amanya(Til tomorrow)!
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Hard rain's a-gonna fall
Greetings from Suriname. I am feeling pretty well today but there have been some ups and downs since the last blog. To start, the title of the post is named for what has happened over the past few weeks. First, for my mandolin wheelin', Bob Dylan lovin' friend who had to go back to America. He was going to be a two hour walk north of my village and was a quality guy. Mike, you are already missed bro.
"This man wasn’t as fast as a speeding bullet and he couldn’t leap tall buildings in a single bound. This Superman came with braces on his legs and sticks in his hands. I am sure people who didn’t know him might have seen him as handicapped. I never saw him this way. When he walked I always thought he was the strongest and proudest man I had ever met. He wasn’t just a man’s man, he was a Superman."--Jim Rodriguez
The hardest news over the past two weeks was the death of my Grandfather. One of my inspirations for joining the Peace Corps because of his service to the United States, it was pretty difficult news to swallow. Thankfully, I was able to talk with him twice the week before he died, once during his 60th wedding anniversary.
And there-in lies the hardest part of the Peace Corps, a total lack of communication with the state side. I found out about a week after the fact, a few days after he had been buried already. It was a very strange and awkward feeling to be so disconnected from such an important family event.
But the strangest thing happened two nights later. I was feeling bummed out throughout the day and was getting ready to go to bed at night, probably around 10 o'clock. I remember when I opened the back door I saw this blinding light in the sky. I am assuming it was Venus but I am not sure. Anyways, it was the brightest light I had ever seen in the sky and I just kind of sat there and stared at it for several minutes and felt more at ease. I have been outside to look for that light again but I have never seen it shine that brightly again. I am sure someone has some logical reasoning why that light shone the way it did at that particular time but I'd like to think it was there for some higher purpose, possibly just for me. It eased my mind in that one moment. And, when I have asked other people if they have seen that light, no one has. Maybe someone or something was shining that light just for me.
--RIP Grandpa George Kilzer
"This man wasn’t as fast as a speeding bullet and he couldn’t leap tall buildings in a single bound. This Superman came with braces on his legs and sticks in his hands. I am sure people who didn’t know him might have seen him as handicapped. I never saw him this way. When he walked I always thought he was the strongest and proudest man I had ever met. He wasn’t just a man’s man, he was a Superman."--Jim Rodriguez
The hardest news over the past two weeks was the death of my Grandfather. One of my inspirations for joining the Peace Corps because of his service to the United States, it was pretty difficult news to swallow. Thankfully, I was able to talk with him twice the week before he died, once during his 60th wedding anniversary.
And there-in lies the hardest part of the Peace Corps, a total lack of communication with the state side. I found out about a week after the fact, a few days after he had been buried already. It was a very strange and awkward feeling to be so disconnected from such an important family event.
But the strangest thing happened two nights later. I was feeling bummed out throughout the day and was getting ready to go to bed at night, probably around 10 o'clock. I remember when I opened the back door I saw this blinding light in the sky. I am assuming it was Venus but I am not sure. Anyways, it was the brightest light I had ever seen in the sky and I just kind of sat there and stared at it for several minutes and felt more at ease. I have been outside to look for that light again but I have never seen it shine that brightly again. I am sure someone has some logical reasoning why that light shone the way it did at that particular time but I'd like to think it was there for some higher purpose, possibly just for me. It eased my mind in that one moment. And, when I have asked other people if they have seen that light, no one has. Maybe someone or something was shining that light just for me.
--RIP Grandpa George Kilzer
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Home Stay/Training
Overheard in garden and farming training:
"How long til it comes?"
"That's what she said."--Anonymous
Greetings from Suriname! All has been going well since my last blog--the skin problem cleared up after a couple of days. Since my last post, a lot has transpired. First, I spent three weeks living with a Suriname family--an older man and woman with 17 kids! Luckily, all their kids are older and only one comes around the house occasionally. This past week, I spent at my future site. I will be taking over for one of the volunteers who is ending service. My site is located on the Suriname River at a tourist camp! Right now, I am back in the city, waiting to go back to my Suriname family.
Home stay with a Suriname family has been real interesting. I ended up in a great situation since there are no kids regularly living in my house. Some other volunteers are living in houses with at least 10 kids. So, in the room I am staying, I am back to sleeping in a bunk bed which I assume was left over from earlier days. It is quite ironic because I can not get away from the bunk bed scene(I had a bunk bed with my bro for 10 years, but at least I get bottom bunk this time) but it beats sleeping in a hammock. Anyways, I have also been fortunate to have only one late night visitor so far. One night, at 3:30 in the morning, I was awoken by a rat. A rat! I could hear it crawling around on the opposite side of the room across from my bed. My solution: headlamp and a machete! At 3:30 in the morning, with a headlamp and a machete, I am moving boxes trying to find this rat. Unfortunately I did not find the rodent because he was actually in the vacant room next to mine. So the pest lived and made a ruckus all night.
My home stay family themselves are pretty hilarious. My homestay mom and dad are older--I'd assume 50's. When my host father first met me, he started laughing and yelling "Yonkupai! Yonkupai!" Now, the whole village where I stay calls me 'Yonkupai', which means young boy. My host father is primarily a hunter and so is his neighbor. So, I have had some interesting cuisine over the past few weeks. The low light has been one of the big rodents he catches which looks like a giant rat. Here, it is called kokoni. In America, I'd assume it is called big rat. It's more tasty than the baboon meat though. The highlight of things caught has been a turtle. Turtle meat is freakin delicious. On the other hand, turtle eggs might take some time getting used to. My host father is a pretty funny guy, he speaks pretty good English and we like to sit around and watch TV--at my homestay I have electricity 24 hours so using the headlamp to try and catch the rat was unnecessary but more fun. I have been able to see almost all of the USA soccer games here and I actually got the locals to root for USA against Spain which was an amazing game. My host father is a big Brazil fan though so I am sure he is waiting for me to come back to site to bust my chops about last weeks game since I was in the interior when it took place. For those of you who are out of the loop on the soccer scene, Brazil beat USA 3-2 in a championship game. The other show of choice has been some crap Wayne Brady show about don't forget the lyrics. Are people actually watching this crap in America too!? The funniest thing about the TV is that there are only two channels so everyone is watching the same thing. One afternoon, the first X-Men movie came on and I watched it. All the kids thought that that the movie was real and actually happened in America. That afternoon, every Peace Corps volunteer in our village was questioned about whether or not we had a mutant problem in America.
Anywho, my host mother is also a hoot. She cooks for me, makes me tea every morning and does my laundry--I freakin' love this lady. My favorite thing about my host mother is her rule with the microwave. No matter what is put in the microwave, it has to stay in for exactly one minute. When I tried to put a piece of bread in the microwave for 20 seconds she stopped me and made me set the timer to one minute--I had to let the bread cool for like 10 minutes. One time, someone else set the microwave to 1:30 and she did not understand what the heck had happened. She started calling me for help and pointing at the microwave. We had to call a neighbor over because she was so flabbergasted and because I could not understand what the heck was going on. But once I figured out that all she wanted me to do was hit the clear button, all was well in the World, again.
While staying with this family I am also in training several hours a day. For training, I have been in language and technical training while staying with my Suriname family. On the typical day, I have language school at 8 am and it is 4 hours. In the afternoon, I usually have a 3+ hour technical training session. In these technical sessions I have learned many different things from construction to gardening to methods for teaching business and life skills in Suriname.
The most memorable training experience has been the construction training. In my neighboring village, I built what the locals call a kaka wosu. Literally translated: "shit house". This was the first project we, 5 of us Peace Corps Volunteers in the village, completed. When I arrived with my fellow trainees, all I could tell people was "My name is Yonkupai and I am here to build a shit house". So, the youth in the village was completely enamored with us and when I climbed through the shit box I think I instantly made friends with every kid under 10 in town. For the whole week while we were building this kaka wosu every kid in the village would follow us yelling "yonkupai! kaka wosu! kaka wosu!" It took a group of 3 of us and 1 Peace Corps staff member about 3 days to build the kaka wosu, then we assisted in finishing a second on the other side of town with the other group. After this, myself and the other volunteers decided to build a wash house without any assistance from staff. We laid some cement and when it had dried two days later, we constructed a wash house in only 5 hours or so. And so, we have been saving the World one kaka wosu/wash house at a time.
"How long til it comes?"
"That's what she said."--Anonymous
Greetings from Suriname! All has been going well since my last blog--the skin problem cleared up after a couple of days. Since my last post, a lot has transpired. First, I spent three weeks living with a Suriname family--an older man and woman with 17 kids! Luckily, all their kids are older and only one comes around the house occasionally. This past week, I spent at my future site. I will be taking over for one of the volunteers who is ending service. My site is located on the Suriname River at a tourist camp! Right now, I am back in the city, waiting to go back to my Suriname family.
Home stay with a Suriname family has been real interesting. I ended up in a great situation since there are no kids regularly living in my house. Some other volunteers are living in houses with at least 10 kids. So, in the room I am staying, I am back to sleeping in a bunk bed which I assume was left over from earlier days. It is quite ironic because I can not get away from the bunk bed scene(I had a bunk bed with my bro for 10 years, but at least I get bottom bunk this time) but it beats sleeping in a hammock. Anyways, I have also been fortunate to have only one late night visitor so far. One night, at 3:30 in the morning, I was awoken by a rat. A rat! I could hear it crawling around on the opposite side of the room across from my bed. My solution: headlamp and a machete! At 3:30 in the morning, with a headlamp and a machete, I am moving boxes trying to find this rat. Unfortunately I did not find the rodent because he was actually in the vacant room next to mine. So the pest lived and made a ruckus all night.
My home stay family themselves are pretty hilarious. My homestay mom and dad are older--I'd assume 50's. When my host father first met me, he started laughing and yelling "Yonkupai! Yonkupai!" Now, the whole village where I stay calls me 'Yonkupai', which means young boy. My host father is primarily a hunter and so is his neighbor. So, I have had some interesting cuisine over the past few weeks. The low light has been one of the big rodents he catches which looks like a giant rat. Here, it is called kokoni. In America, I'd assume it is called big rat. It's more tasty than the baboon meat though. The highlight of things caught has been a turtle. Turtle meat is freakin delicious. On the other hand, turtle eggs might take some time getting used to. My host father is a pretty funny guy, he speaks pretty good English and we like to sit around and watch TV--at my homestay I have electricity 24 hours so using the headlamp to try and catch the rat was unnecessary but more fun. I have been able to see almost all of the USA soccer games here and I actually got the locals to root for USA against Spain which was an amazing game. My host father is a big Brazil fan though so I am sure he is waiting for me to come back to site to bust my chops about last weeks game since I was in the interior when it took place. For those of you who are out of the loop on the soccer scene, Brazil beat USA 3-2 in a championship game. The other show of choice has been some crap Wayne Brady show about don't forget the lyrics. Are people actually watching this crap in America too!? The funniest thing about the TV is that there are only two channels so everyone is watching the same thing. One afternoon, the first X-Men movie came on and I watched it. All the kids thought that that the movie was real and actually happened in America. That afternoon, every Peace Corps volunteer in our village was questioned about whether or not we had a mutant problem in America.
Anywho, my host mother is also a hoot. She cooks for me, makes me tea every morning and does my laundry--I freakin' love this lady. My favorite thing about my host mother is her rule with the microwave. No matter what is put in the microwave, it has to stay in for exactly one minute. When I tried to put a piece of bread in the microwave for 20 seconds she stopped me and made me set the timer to one minute--I had to let the bread cool for like 10 minutes. One time, someone else set the microwave to 1:30 and she did not understand what the heck had happened. She started calling me for help and pointing at the microwave. We had to call a neighbor over because she was so flabbergasted and because I could not understand what the heck was going on. But once I figured out that all she wanted me to do was hit the clear button, all was well in the World, again.
While staying with this family I am also in training several hours a day. For training, I have been in language and technical training while staying with my Suriname family. On the typical day, I have language school at 8 am and it is 4 hours. In the afternoon, I usually have a 3+ hour technical training session. In these technical sessions I have learned many different things from construction to gardening to methods for teaching business and life skills in Suriname.
The most memorable training experience has been the construction training. In my neighboring village, I built what the locals call a kaka wosu. Literally translated: "shit house". This was the first project we, 5 of us Peace Corps Volunteers in the village, completed. When I arrived with my fellow trainees, all I could tell people was "My name is Yonkupai and I am here to build a shit house". So, the youth in the village was completely enamored with us and when I climbed through the shit box I think I instantly made friends with every kid under 10 in town. For the whole week while we were building this kaka wosu every kid in the village would follow us yelling "yonkupai! kaka wosu! kaka wosu!" It took a group of 3 of us and 1 Peace Corps staff member about 3 days to build the kaka wosu, then we assisted in finishing a second on the other side of town with the other group. After this, myself and the other volunteers decided to build a wash house without any assistance from staff. We laid some cement and when it had dried two days later, we constructed a wash house in only 5 hours or so. And so, we have been saving the World one kaka wosu/wash house at a time.
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Koni Koni
I've been busy training near the river. There is no Internet access. I'll be back in touch and post an update at the end of June. Take care everyone.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Three Nights on the River
"Jerky crumbs? Gold bonds?"
I recently spent the last three nights in the interior of the country along the Suriname River.
To get to the interior the other 7 volunteers and I had to bus and then boat out to our sites--we all stayed at differed villages. After our bus ride, we had lunch in a small boating town. Here, I had my first taste of monkey meat which I believe is ordered as baboon. The best way to describe it is that it does not taste like chicken. The taste is fairly strong but the texture was the most unusual part of the piece of meat. After lunch, the other 7 volunteers and I got on our "motorized canoe" as Peace Corps refers to it and headed up river to our volunteer sites. And so I spent the past few days with a volunteer named haansepai.
As a Peace Corps volunteer, you are given a nickname by your village. In this case, haansepai means handsome son. And in every village, just as in haansepai's, there is a social hierarchy within the village. First, there is the captain who is like the mayor of the village. Captain's are established by bloodlines on the mother's side. Then, there are the bashas who are essentially the captain's right hand guys. I am not sure if there is any method to these appointments. Anyways, when there is business to be attended to the captain and bashas are involved. Below these folks you have the other adult villagers who are growing agriculture products, fishing, carving wood or helping to build something in the community. Then, there are kids. Kids who are old enough to go to school leave the village on boat by 7 or 8 o'clock and are gone until school gets out, which is at 1. So until they arrive back in the village, usually around 2 pm, things are very quiet and still. But once the kids are back in the village, things start to pick up, most notably the local soccer games. My first impression of the river is that life moves at a pretty slow pace. There is going to be a LOT of downtime, much more than I expected so I am going to make a plea for movies/books/music.
Finally, now that I am back in the city, I am getting treated by the doctor. I am having some kind of allergy problem and my skin is getting rashes and is covered with bug bites. So, the fun begins...
I recently spent the last three nights in the interior of the country along the Suriname River.
To get to the interior the other 7 volunteers and I had to bus and then boat out to our sites--we all stayed at differed villages. After our bus ride, we had lunch in a small boating town. Here, I had my first taste of monkey meat which I believe is ordered as baboon. The best way to describe it is that it does not taste like chicken. The taste is fairly strong but the texture was the most unusual part of the piece of meat. After lunch, the other 7 volunteers and I got on our "motorized canoe" as Peace Corps refers to it and headed up river to our volunteer sites. And so I spent the past few days with a volunteer named haansepai.
As a Peace Corps volunteer, you are given a nickname by your village. In this case, haansepai means handsome son. And in every village, just as in haansepai's, there is a social hierarchy within the village. First, there is the captain who is like the mayor of the village. Captain's are established by bloodlines on the mother's side. Then, there are the bashas who are essentially the captain's right hand guys. I am not sure if there is any method to these appointments. Anyways, when there is business to be attended to the captain and bashas are involved. Below these folks you have the other adult villagers who are growing agriculture products, fishing, carving wood or helping to build something in the community. Then, there are kids. Kids who are old enough to go to school leave the village on boat by 7 or 8 o'clock and are gone until school gets out, which is at 1. So until they arrive back in the village, usually around 2 pm, things are very quiet and still. But once the kids are back in the village, things start to pick up, most notably the local soccer games. My first impression of the river is that life moves at a pretty slow pace. There is going to be a LOT of downtime, much more than I expected so I am going to make a plea for movies/books/music.
Finally, now that I am back in the city, I am getting treated by the doctor. I am having some kind of allergy problem and my skin is getting rashes and is covered with bug bites. So, the fun begins...
Monday, May 25, 2009
Laundry and showers in the heat
(Day 4): "Damnit! I'm already out of shirts."--me
In my last blog, I tired to give you an idea of the weather pattern here in Suriname. All day the temperature ranges from 75-95 degrees with humidity. Throughout the day, I constantly sweat and have to change shirts regularly. On the average day, I may start out in my Rooney jersey, after lunch and playing soccer from 12-1 I will then change into a polyester T-Shirt. After training is over, I put on a tanktop for the local soccer game and finally end the day with a comfy cotton Tee. Needless to say, I have to take a lot of showers and do a lot of laundry.
To cope with the heat and keep relatively good hygiene, I have to take at least 2 showers everyday, usually 3. The morning shower is not enjoyable because after sleeping under a mosquito net all night, I wake up sweaty and hot and when the water hits me I am practically in shock. On the brightside, I don't need coffee to get me going in the morning though. I would say that water heaters, and more importantly the accessibility to ice, have been the first material aspects or things from America that I really miss. But fortunately, all is not as bad as it seems. The cold showers in the afternoon and evening have been quite pleasant.
After coping with the heat, you can only compensate by wearing more clothing and that is where the laundry comes into play. Doing laundry here has been an experience. First, I have to fill a bucket with soap and water. I carry this bucket and my clothes to the back of the training facility. Next, I put my clothes in the bucket and use a scrubber on the real dirty garments which have dirt, sand and grass stains from the afternoon soccer games. After ringing out the soap in these clothes, I carry everything back to my room. Next, I use the faucet in my bathroom to rinse my clothes and have to wring them out again! My arms are getting ripped ;). Finally, I have to find a spot outside to hang and dry my clothes, and with 23 other volunteers at a small training ground you have to get creative--like the back of a lawn chair or a propped broom. Unfortunately, there is no way to incorporate fabric softener here. So, I have accepted the fact that I will probably be the most smelly guy in Suriname since I can't get the smell out of my soccer clothes and don't care to wash them too often. And to conclude, I think that the people who created the washer and dryer should be given awards. That is all, thank you.
In my last blog, I tired to give you an idea of the weather pattern here in Suriname. All day the temperature ranges from 75-95 degrees with humidity. Throughout the day, I constantly sweat and have to change shirts regularly. On the average day, I may start out in my Rooney jersey, after lunch and playing soccer from 12-1 I will then change into a polyester T-Shirt. After training is over, I put on a tanktop for the local soccer game and finally end the day with a comfy cotton Tee. Needless to say, I have to take a lot of showers and do a lot of laundry.
To cope with the heat and keep relatively good hygiene, I have to take at least 2 showers everyday, usually 3. The morning shower is not enjoyable because after sleeping under a mosquito net all night, I wake up sweaty and hot and when the water hits me I am practically in shock. On the brightside, I don't need coffee to get me going in the morning though. I would say that water heaters, and more importantly the accessibility to ice, have been the first material aspects or things from America that I really miss. But fortunately, all is not as bad as it seems. The cold showers in the afternoon and evening have been quite pleasant.
After coping with the heat, you can only compensate by wearing more clothing and that is where the laundry comes into play. Doing laundry here has been an experience. First, I have to fill a bucket with soap and water. I carry this bucket and my clothes to the back of the training facility. Next, I put my clothes in the bucket and use a scrubber on the real dirty garments which have dirt, sand and grass stains from the afternoon soccer games. After ringing out the soap in these clothes, I carry everything back to my room. Next, I use the faucet in my bathroom to rinse my clothes and have to wring them out again! My arms are getting ripped ;). Finally, I have to find a spot outside to hang and dry my clothes, and with 23 other volunteers at a small training ground you have to get creative--like the back of a lawn chair or a propped broom. Unfortunately, there is no way to incorporate fabric softener here. So, I have accepted the fact that I will probably be the most smelly guy in Suriname since I can't get the smell out of my soccer clothes and don't care to wash them too often. And to conclude, I think that the people who created the washer and dryer should be given awards. That is all, thank you.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
A day of Peace Corps training
"What the people of the world want most and have always wanted...are bread and peace."--Patricia Young
Here is how a typical day of training goes for the Peace Corps in Suriname. I have come to realize that my day revolves around the ringing of a bell for food. My training ground is in a little Suriname city off a dirt road. We have several neighbors nearby and most are very friendly. I am rooming with a guy from Arizona, he goes by A.T.
7 am: Breakfast bell rings
So long as I do not sleep through my alarm, I wake up at 7, otherwise A.T. kicks me out of bed at 7:30. About 7 am, a man comes out of the kitchen to ring the first bell of the day, the breakfast bell. I head to the mess hall for a healthy portion of bananas and peanut butter on bread and possibly a bowl of corn flakes. After food, I go back to my room and proceed to get ready for training. It is usually about 80 degrees this early in the morning.
8 am: Morning(mamanten) Training begins
Morning sessions have consisted of several different activities. We usually start off with our community meetings and talking about what is on tap for the day and the coming weeks. Then, we break into our sessions where we have done self-assessments and language training. The language training, thus far, has been mostly Sranan Tongo. But now, I will be required to speak fluent Saramaccan as I will be working with this tribe along the Suriname river. One morning, our sessions were interrupted by a puppy who wandered into our meeting room. Wandering dogs on the grounds are very common but at least they are much nicer than those Naples dogs. By the end of morning training, the temperature is starting to reach 90 degrees and the humidity is starting to wear on us.
12 pm: Lunch bell rings
Lunch and dinner at our training grounds has been quite an experience. Most nights, we are things we have never seen before--local stews, roti and some ridiculously hot peppers. No, seriously, I had to take a shower after dinner one night because the peppers were SO hot! Rice appears to be the main staple of the local diet but I have enjoyed that so far. Most meals are usually accompanied with some type of meat and a third course. Besides eating, the rest of this hour is spent conversing with other volunteers, my newest friends.
1 pm: Afternoon(bakadina) training begins
In the afternoon, we have had a series of medical sessions on how to keep one's self safe and healthy in the interior, which plants and bugs to avoid, how to clean water and how to shit properly in a hole. After these sessions, we are either in meetings with our bosses or getting a couple of numerous vaccinations--my right arm was sore for two days after the yellow fever shot.
4:30-5 pm: Training ends
After training, there is a local soccer game we have been attending with the locals in the community. We found out about this by talking to a local while walking back from town. So far, we have played two games and we were able to beat the 12 year olds once--I do not think we are ready for the men's game yet. The soccer field itself is quite a site. It is surrounded on three sides by two houses and a long building and at the far end is surrounded by a thick wall of jungle. The main game is played on the sand field with 11 players on each side and usually has several spectators hanging out in the trees or on the benches around the field. The game is usually played in 85 degree weather.
6/7 pm: Dinner bell rings, I eat again!
7 pm - ?: Post training, the night(neti)
Most nights we have tried to get out on the town and do something or meet someone new. We have been out and about at a few local restaurants trying the local cuisine, hanging out at the local markets/shops, and making some new friends along the way. The internet cafe where I am at now, is also a very popular spot in the town and with new Peace Corps volunteers. We have also been able to meet up with some of the volunteers who came to Suriname last year and they have been a huge help for us. In town on our own, usually, Wednesday's Champion's League final is the hot topic of conversation. Unfortunately, most people in Suriname are rooting for Barcelona which makes me the outlier.
So far, my most favorite night was going to the city of Paramaribo for the first time. I got to see my first football(soccer) game in South America. The club champion's from Suriname played one of the club teams from the Netherlands. As we walked into the game, a Suriname marching band performed and they were awesome--they had style. During the game, the Suriname people were totally confused--they thought we were Dutch, and they could not figure out why we were rooting against the Netherlands team. The game was pretty exciting but ended in a 1-1 draw; Suriname almost scored in the injury time.
After the game, we came back to our training site and stayed up way too late, again, playing games, watching movies (Old School is the movie of choice) and just hanging around with one another. We have a great group this year and the next two years will be exciting.
Here is how a typical day of training goes for the Peace Corps in Suriname. I have come to realize that my day revolves around the ringing of a bell for food. My training ground is in a little Suriname city off a dirt road. We have several neighbors nearby and most are very friendly. I am rooming with a guy from Arizona, he goes by A.T.
7 am: Breakfast bell rings
So long as I do not sleep through my alarm, I wake up at 7, otherwise A.T. kicks me out of bed at 7:30. About 7 am, a man comes out of the kitchen to ring the first bell of the day, the breakfast bell. I head to the mess hall for a healthy portion of bananas and peanut butter on bread and possibly a bowl of corn flakes. After food, I go back to my room and proceed to get ready for training. It is usually about 80 degrees this early in the morning.
8 am: Morning(mamanten) Training begins
Morning sessions have consisted of several different activities. We usually start off with our community meetings and talking about what is on tap for the day and the coming weeks. Then, we break into our sessions where we have done self-assessments and language training. The language training, thus far, has been mostly Sranan Tongo. But now, I will be required to speak fluent Saramaccan as I will be working with this tribe along the Suriname river. One morning, our sessions were interrupted by a puppy who wandered into our meeting room. Wandering dogs on the grounds are very common but at least they are much nicer than those Naples dogs. By the end of morning training, the temperature is starting to reach 90 degrees and the humidity is starting to wear on us.
12 pm: Lunch bell rings
Lunch and dinner at our training grounds has been quite an experience. Most nights, we are things we have never seen before--local stews, roti and some ridiculously hot peppers. No, seriously, I had to take a shower after dinner one night because the peppers were SO hot! Rice appears to be the main staple of the local diet but I have enjoyed that so far. Most meals are usually accompanied with some type of meat and a third course. Besides eating, the rest of this hour is spent conversing with other volunteers, my newest friends.
1 pm: Afternoon(bakadina) training begins
In the afternoon, we have had a series of medical sessions on how to keep one's self safe and healthy in the interior, which plants and bugs to avoid, how to clean water and how to shit properly in a hole. After these sessions, we are either in meetings with our bosses or getting a couple of numerous vaccinations--my right arm was sore for two days after the yellow fever shot.
4:30-5 pm: Training ends
After training, there is a local soccer game we have been attending with the locals in the community. We found out about this by talking to a local while walking back from town. So far, we have played two games and we were able to beat the 12 year olds once--I do not think we are ready for the men's game yet. The soccer field itself is quite a site. It is surrounded on three sides by two houses and a long building and at the far end is surrounded by a thick wall of jungle. The main game is played on the sand field with 11 players on each side and usually has several spectators hanging out in the trees or on the benches around the field. The game is usually played in 85 degree weather.
6/7 pm: Dinner bell rings, I eat again!
7 pm - ?: Post training, the night(neti)
Most nights we have tried to get out on the town and do something or meet someone new. We have been out and about at a few local restaurants trying the local cuisine, hanging out at the local markets/shops, and making some new friends along the way. The internet cafe where I am at now, is also a very popular spot in the town and with new Peace Corps volunteers. We have also been able to meet up with some of the volunteers who came to Suriname last year and they have been a huge help for us. In town on our own, usually, Wednesday's Champion's League final is the hot topic of conversation. Unfortunately, most people in Suriname are rooting for Barcelona which makes me the outlier.
So far, my most favorite night was going to the city of Paramaribo for the first time. I got to see my first football(soccer) game in South America. The club champion's from Suriname played one of the club teams from the Netherlands. As we walked into the game, a Suriname marching band performed and they were awesome--they had style. During the game, the Suriname people were totally confused--they thought we were Dutch, and they could not figure out why we were rooting against the Netherlands team. The game was pretty exciting but ended in a 1-1 draw; Suriname almost scored in the injury time.
After the game, we came back to our training site and stayed up way too late, again, playing games, watching movies (Old School is the movie of choice) and just hanging around with one another. We have a great group this year and the next two years will be exciting.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
The Peace Corps thus far...
"Dude, your ass was sticking out like two feet..."--David
Greetings from Suriname. It took quite a while to make it here, but I have finally arrived and begun my training. For those of you who need a re-cap, I left the bay area on Thursday and flew to Miami to meet the rest of my Peace Corps group and go through orientation. I, as well as the rest of the volunteers who reside on the West Coast of the United States, arrived one day before orientation due to the length of our flights. After being delayed for over two hours, I arrived with Amber, another volunteer in Miami, around 11:30. At about midnight, I checked into my hotel, and by 12:15, to my surprise, my phone rang. "Hello, this is Chris." "Dude, this is Adam from Peace Corps, you need to come hangout in my room." Needless to say, we were off to a fun start. Anyways, Friday was spent doing Peace Corps paperwork during our orientation, nothing too exciting until the Peace Corps gave us an allowance to spend in Miami for our last American dinner. We made the most of it while kicking back at a sports pub eating burgers and watching the Dodgers lose; it was glorious.
The next day, Saturday, was one of the longest I have ever had. I was up nearly 24 hours straight. It started with a 3:30 AM EST wake up call and off to the airport by 5 AM to catch a plane. During our four hours at the airport I ate my last American meal which was an egg, cheese and sausage croissant from a Chinese restaurant--not my dream meal, but it got the job done. We finally made our way to Trinidad and Tobago in the afternoon but we were stuck in the airport for another 8 hours until our flight left for Suriname. On Trinidad, I decided to add another shot glass to my country collection since I was stuck in the airport for so long and because I got to fly over the island at least twice. I also tried what seemed to be the most popular cuisine in the airport: Kentucky Friend Chicken.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, we arrived in Suriname at about midnight local time. We were picked up in an old Peace Corps VW-esque wagon and all 24 of us new volunteers rode across Suriname to our training camp. Upon arrival, we could see quite a few rowdy people waiting for us. As we pulled into our parking lot, our van was immediately surrounded by cheering and ecstatic volunteers already serving in Peace Corps. As we stepped out of the van, the volunteers gave us all pongies which are Surinamese clothing--I turned mine into a headband. Around 3:30 AM local Suriname time, I finally fell asleep.
Most of Sunday afternoon was spent in an orientation. We also took our first walk through the town we are staying in. This place is much different than I pictured it. I am staying off a dirt road, less than a quarter mile near a main, paved road which has tons of traffic from cars and mopeds. There is even a Shell station in the town. Throughout the town, there are tiny grocery stores or markets like you might find in San Francisco--I have not seen any big retail or supermarket type stores, yet. In these stores the selection is very interesting, they have anything from toys and soccer balls to food like Pillsbury cake mix, soy sauce or noodles to my personal favorite, Parbo. Parbo is the local beer in Suriname.
Finally, on Sunday night, the Peace Corps staff put on an event for us. They invited members from the Aucan tribe to do a traditional dance and music display for us. After the first set, the dancers started pulling the Peace Corps Volunteers on stage to do the traditional dances. Near the end of the night, I was pulled on stage by one of the Aucan women and that should explain the quote at the top of this post. I was shakin' the booty crazy. And apparently, the cameras were flashing like crazy during my dance so there should be pictures. Afterwards, my volunteer class and I enjoyed sometime with the currently serving volunteers and I had my first bami and nasi, which was delicious!
Needless to say, we are having a great time. I was pretty nervous before I left the States, but when the bus pulled up and the other volunteers were waiting for us, cheering us on, I knew right then I had made the right decision. There will be more good times, as well as tough times, but you've got to take them in stride. I can not wait to see how the rest of this adventure begins to unfold itself. Hopefully, by my next blog, I will know the site I will be working at for the next two years. Til next time....
Greetings from Suriname. It took quite a while to make it here, but I have finally arrived and begun my training. For those of you who need a re-cap, I left the bay area on Thursday and flew to Miami to meet the rest of my Peace Corps group and go through orientation. I, as well as the rest of the volunteers who reside on the West Coast of the United States, arrived one day before orientation due to the length of our flights. After being delayed for over two hours, I arrived with Amber, another volunteer in Miami, around 11:30. At about midnight, I checked into my hotel, and by 12:15, to my surprise, my phone rang. "Hello, this is Chris." "Dude, this is Adam from Peace Corps, you need to come hangout in my room." Needless to say, we were off to a fun start. Anyways, Friday was spent doing Peace Corps paperwork during our orientation, nothing too exciting until the Peace Corps gave us an allowance to spend in Miami for our last American dinner. We made the most of it while kicking back at a sports pub eating burgers and watching the Dodgers lose; it was glorious.
The next day, Saturday, was one of the longest I have ever had. I was up nearly 24 hours straight. It started with a 3:30 AM EST wake up call and off to the airport by 5 AM to catch a plane. During our four hours at the airport I ate my last American meal which was an egg, cheese and sausage croissant from a Chinese restaurant--not my dream meal, but it got the job done. We finally made our way to Trinidad and Tobago in the afternoon but we were stuck in the airport for another 8 hours until our flight left for Suriname. On Trinidad, I decided to add another shot glass to my country collection since I was stuck in the airport for so long and because I got to fly over the island at least twice. I also tried what seemed to be the most popular cuisine in the airport: Kentucky Friend Chicken.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, we arrived in Suriname at about midnight local time. We were picked up in an old Peace Corps VW-esque wagon and all 24 of us new volunteers rode across Suriname to our training camp. Upon arrival, we could see quite a few rowdy people waiting for us. As we pulled into our parking lot, our van was immediately surrounded by cheering and ecstatic volunteers already serving in Peace Corps. As we stepped out of the van, the volunteers gave us all pongies which are Surinamese clothing--I turned mine into a headband. Around 3:30 AM local Suriname time, I finally fell asleep.
Most of Sunday afternoon was spent in an orientation. We also took our first walk through the town we are staying in. This place is much different than I pictured it. I am staying off a dirt road, less than a quarter mile near a main, paved road which has tons of traffic from cars and mopeds. There is even a Shell station in the town. Throughout the town, there are tiny grocery stores or markets like you might find in San Francisco--I have not seen any big retail or supermarket type stores, yet. In these stores the selection is very interesting, they have anything from toys and soccer balls to food like Pillsbury cake mix, soy sauce or noodles to my personal favorite, Parbo. Parbo is the local beer in Suriname.
Finally, on Sunday night, the Peace Corps staff put on an event for us. They invited members from the Aucan tribe to do a traditional dance and music display for us. After the first set, the dancers started pulling the Peace Corps Volunteers on stage to do the traditional dances. Near the end of the night, I was pulled on stage by one of the Aucan women and that should explain the quote at the top of this post. I was shakin' the booty crazy. And apparently, the cameras were flashing like crazy during my dance so there should be pictures. Afterwards, my volunteer class and I enjoyed sometime with the currently serving volunteers and I had my first bami and nasi, which was delicious!
Needless to say, we are having a great time. I was pretty nervous before I left the States, but when the bus pulled up and the other volunteers were waiting for us, cheering us on, I knew right then I had made the right decision. There will be more good times, as well as tough times, but you've got to take them in stride. I can not wait to see how the rest of this adventure begins to unfold itself. Hopefully, by my next blog, I will know the site I will be working at for the next two years. Til next time....
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Next Post from Suriname
Just left Peace Corps Orientation in Miami. The next post will be from my host country, Suriname.
So far everyone is real cool and everyone is already calling me C-Rod. Five of us went out to a cool little sports pub and watched some baseball and had some burgers in Miami last night. Today, our Peace Corps group woke up at 3:30 AM to catch our bus and flight in the morning, it was pretty rough. Next, we will arrive in Suriname and start our training, I'm very excited about it!
Just a quick update while I get the chance, more next time!
--CRod
So far everyone is real cool and everyone is already calling me C-Rod. Five of us went out to a cool little sports pub and watched some baseball and had some burgers in Miami last night. Today, our Peace Corps group woke up at 3:30 AM to catch our bus and flight in the morning, it was pretty rough. Next, we will arrive in Suriname and start our training, I'm very excited about it!
Just a quick update while I get the chance, more next time!
--CRod
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Why? (One Step Closer)
So here I am, one day away from leaving, still trying to justify and convince you that there is some greater meaning to this journey. The past few weeks have been spent memorizing Sranan Tongo, loitering in the big city, spending time with friends in Chico and the bay area, spending time with family, and even meeting with returned Suriname PCVs--Robin and Dan. And mostly, there has been an abundance of pacing and praying. My feelings on leaving are a bit hard to describe since they are so up and down between moments. In one moment, I am excited to be going to Suriname, in the next uncertain about the future, my aspirations, about family, friends, what may happen while I am in Suriname, even about what I do once I get back from Suriname. Even when I am in the good company of friends and family, I already feel faraway from home, as if Suriname has already begun to surround me. It is a strange feeling one can only relate to if they have experienced it before.
And so to answer that impending question, 'what the hell for?'. First, there are choices we make every morning when we wake up and get out of bed. Those choices are simple life decisions based on values to make the most of each day, to expand one's knowledge and to give something back. I believe these values are what tempted me to consider Peace Corps. But what inspired me to make that leap of faith and apply for the Peace Corps were the elements that have surrounded me throughout my life.
The true inspiration for my ambition to even consider the Peace Corps came from the friends I have made throughout my life, as well as my grandfather who served abroad during his youth. Thinking back to St. John's, I remember becoming acquainted with people from all over the map, especially the Philippines. In college, meeting guys like Jimmy and Khalid, or the study abroad in Brighton and all the friends I met across the pond who came from all over the globe, from Europe to Asia to Africa. By joining the Peace Corps, it gives me the chance to better understand the challenges these people have had to go through in their lives--moving to a new country, learning a new culture and language. And finally, Peace Corps gives me the opportunity to apply my skills in a place where I can succeed, where I can take back the knowledge of another people while giving something back to them. I believe this is my purpose as a volunteer and a human being.
And even though I will miss out on a lot over the next 27 months: graduations, Christmas with the family, Thanksgiving Turkey, my brother's band shows, last season of Lost, new Family Guy and Office episodes, Harry Potter movies, Transformers sequel, my San Francisco Giants, two more lackluster Raiders' draft picks, and another highly-anticipated-Will Ferrell-summer-blockbuster, I look forward to the new things, people and places I will discover in Suriname.
To my friends, family and others who come upon this blog, I hope you will enjoy my tales from Suriname. And to anyone else contemplating to take a big step forward in their own life, I leave you with this quote:
"Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear." --Ambrose Redmoon
And so to answer that impending question, 'what the hell for?'. First, there are choices we make every morning when we wake up and get out of bed. Those choices are simple life decisions based on values to make the most of each day, to expand one's knowledge and to give something back. I believe these values are what tempted me to consider Peace Corps. But what inspired me to make that leap of faith and apply for the Peace Corps were the elements that have surrounded me throughout my life.
The true inspiration for my ambition to even consider the Peace Corps came from the friends I have made throughout my life, as well as my grandfather who served abroad during his youth. Thinking back to St. John's, I remember becoming acquainted with people from all over the map, especially the Philippines. In college, meeting guys like Jimmy and Khalid, or the study abroad in Brighton and all the friends I met across the pond who came from all over the globe, from Europe to Asia to Africa. By joining the Peace Corps, it gives me the chance to better understand the challenges these people have had to go through in their lives--moving to a new country, learning a new culture and language. And finally, Peace Corps gives me the opportunity to apply my skills in a place where I can succeed, where I can take back the knowledge of another people while giving something back to them. I believe this is my purpose as a volunteer and a human being.
And even though I will miss out on a lot over the next 27 months: graduations, Christmas with the family, Thanksgiving Turkey, my brother's band shows, last season of Lost, new Family Guy and Office episodes, Harry Potter movies, Transformers sequel, my San Francisco Giants, two more lackluster Raiders' draft picks, and another highly-anticipated-Will Ferrell-summer-blockbuster, I look forward to the new things, people and places I will discover in Suriname.
To my friends, family and others who come upon this blog, I hope you will enjoy my tales from Suriname. And to anyone else contemplating to take a big step forward in their own life, I leave you with this quote:
"Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear." --Ambrose Redmoon
Friday, April 24, 2009
Why? (Family and Friends)
“Truly great friends are hard to find,
difficult to leave, and impossible to forget.”--G.Randolph
And so, over the next few weeks I have to decide what is important enough to pack up and bring to Suriname and what must start collecting dust under the already innumerable stacks of boxes in the family garage. The first thing that has already started collecting dust is some of the friends and family I already have to leave behind.
For better or worse, in January I already had to say goodbye to one of my good lads. Kevin, an old roommate from Chico State, is in the midst of an epic study abroad on my old stomping grounds at Brighton University in England--God Bless the Queen, Sussex-U still sucks and go Man-U! When Kevin left, it was a pretty awkward situation because he was the first person I would not see in a very long time and I was still five months prior to the start of service. I was definitely bummed to see Kevin go but I am very pleased that he is enjoying University and travelling. And perhaps, Kevin leaving was a bit of a blessing in disguise. Don't get me wrong, I'd have loved to tackle the chap in a few more games of pong but his early departure helped me realize the reality of the situation.
And gradually over time, I have been on a farewell tour saying goodbyes to more and more of my friends, family and co-workers. It started in Arizona, parting ways with my mother's relatives--grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, who I will probably not be able to see again until after service.
After kicking up that desert dust, we flew back home where I had a month left of work. Making minimum wage while the debt and bills were piling up, I had to swallow the pride, roll up the sleeves, work morning and night and do what I had to do to make the ends meet. And although I won't miss the work, I will definitely miss the people. I have a lot of respect for the folks I worked alongside, particularly the recovery crew who were there night in, night out helping me get through closing--as well as Kevin who was stuck doing closing with me, especially during Christmas. And of course, I can not forget to mention Drew, bruh-bruh, the sole survivor from our hiree class who made the afternoon shifts a lot of fun. With no work left to be done, there was only one more place to bid adeu, my home away from home: Chico.
(The next blog, on my times in college at Chico, will be posted on facebook due to the abnormal length)
difficult to leave, and impossible to forget.”--G.Randolph
And so, over the next few weeks I have to decide what is important enough to pack up and bring to Suriname and what must start collecting dust under the already innumerable stacks of boxes in the family garage. The first thing that has already started collecting dust is some of the friends and family I already have to leave behind.
For better or worse, in January I already had to say goodbye to one of my good lads. Kevin, an old roommate from Chico State, is in the midst of an epic study abroad on my old stomping grounds at Brighton University in England--God Bless the Queen, Sussex-U still sucks and go Man-U! When Kevin left, it was a pretty awkward situation because he was the first person I would not see in a very long time and I was still five months prior to the start of service. I was definitely bummed to see Kevin go but I am very pleased that he is enjoying University and travelling. And perhaps, Kevin leaving was a bit of a blessing in disguise. Don't get me wrong, I'd have loved to tackle the chap in a few more games of pong but his early departure helped me realize the reality of the situation.
And gradually over time, I have been on a farewell tour saying goodbyes to more and more of my friends, family and co-workers. It started in Arizona, parting ways with my mother's relatives--grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, who I will probably not be able to see again until after service.
After kicking up that desert dust, we flew back home where I had a month left of work. Making minimum wage while the debt and bills were piling up, I had to swallow the pride, roll up the sleeves, work morning and night and do what I had to do to make the ends meet. And although I won't miss the work, I will definitely miss the people. I have a lot of respect for the folks I worked alongside, particularly the recovery crew who were there night in, night out helping me get through closing--as well as Kevin who was stuck doing closing with me, especially during Christmas. And of course, I can not forget to mention Drew, bruh-bruh, the sole survivor from our hiree class who made the afternoon shifts a lot of fun. With no work left to be done, there was only one more place to bid adeu, my home away from home: Chico.
(The next blog, on my times in college at Chico, will be posted on facebook due to the abnormal length)
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Why? (Half Filled Suitcase)
“Home is a place you grow up wanting to leave,
and grow old wanting to get back to.”--John E. Pearce
To those whom it may concern:
A lot has developed since my first blog attempt. On the Peace Corps front, I am booked for orientation in Miami and Pre-Service Training in Suriname. This morning, I chatted with my Community Economic Development Advisers about my training, expectations and what to expect in Suriname--an all-you-can-take buffet of rain, heat and humidity with a high probability of no electricity or running water. I already know what you're thinking: I must be crazy. And in all honesty, a part of me agrees with you.
As my departure date approaches, I stare more intensely at my half-filled suitcases and wonder what else can I put in them. On one of my regular excursions up to Chico, the packing list is pretty simple: Irish Pub and Springsteen T-shirts, pair of blue jeans, maybe two pairs of boxers and walk in and out with the sandals on my feet. For the Peace Corps, I've decided to switch to boxer briefs and add a few more pairs to my inventory for sanitary purposes. But jokes aside, the clothes are the easy things one packs up. It's the scattered pieces on the floor that are most difficult to pick up and pack because you're afraid you might forget something that really matters.
Literally, scattered across my bedroom floor are some old flicks, records, paperbacks, yearbooks and pictures of family and friends. As much as I'd like to bring all these things with me to Suriname, I know the logistics will not work out. And even if I could take all these things, they won't shorten the distance I will be from home. And therein lies the craziest thing about the whole Peace Corps experience. It is not the electricity or the running water that will be difficult to give up and overcome, but the lack of familiarity, the people I have known and the comforts of home. And when you're sitting there in your room at night, trying to pack up the past 23 years of memories into some already half-filled suitcase, you realize it is an impossible chore...
and grow old wanting to get back to.”--John E. Pearce
To those whom it may concern:
A lot has developed since my first blog attempt. On the Peace Corps front, I am booked for orientation in Miami and Pre-Service Training in Suriname. This morning, I chatted with my Community Economic Development Advisers about my training, expectations and what to expect in Suriname--an all-you-can-take buffet of rain, heat and humidity with a high probability of no electricity or running water. I already know what you're thinking: I must be crazy. And in all honesty, a part of me agrees with you.
As my departure date approaches, I stare more intensely at my half-filled suitcases and wonder what else can I put in them. On one of my regular excursions up to Chico, the packing list is pretty simple: Irish Pub and Springsteen T-shirts, pair of blue jeans, maybe two pairs of boxers and walk in and out with the sandals on my feet. For the Peace Corps, I've decided to switch to boxer briefs and add a few more pairs to my inventory for sanitary purposes. But jokes aside, the clothes are the easy things one packs up. It's the scattered pieces on the floor that are most difficult to pick up and pack because you're afraid you might forget something that really matters.
Literally, scattered across my bedroom floor are some old flicks, records, paperbacks, yearbooks and pictures of family and friends. As much as I'd like to bring all these things with me to Suriname, I know the logistics will not work out. And even if I could take all these things, they won't shorten the distance I will be from home. And therein lies the craziest thing about the whole Peace Corps experience. It is not the electricity or the running water that will be difficult to give up and overcome, but the lack of familiarity, the people I have known and the comforts of home. And when you're sitting there in your room at night, trying to pack up the past 23 years of memories into some already half-filled suitcase, you realize it is an impossible chore...
Monday, April 13, 2009
My Peace Corps Timeline
Welcome to the Chris Rodriguez blogspot, all. I will start out with a timeline of my somewhat epic Peace Corps application process so future prospective volunteers can get an idea of the length of the process, something that I did not know about when I applied.
November 2007: Started filling out online application.
January 2008: Completed online application with references.
February: Interviewed with Peace Corps recruiter, Travis Axton, RPCV in Africa. Cool guy!
April: Nominated for the Caribbean--probably Jamaica.
July: Completed medical forms and the other forms. Dentally cleared.
October: Medically cleared.
December: Invited to Suriname, South America.
Jan-Apr 2009: ...?
May 2009: Leaving for Suriname.
Next Blog: When I'm leaving, Why the heck I'm joining....
All this and more on the same bat channel, same bat time...
November 2007: Started filling out online application.
January 2008: Completed online application with references.
February: Interviewed with Peace Corps recruiter, Travis Axton, RPCV in Africa. Cool guy!
April: Nominated for the Caribbean--probably Jamaica.
July: Completed medical forms and the other forms. Dentally cleared.
October: Medically cleared.
December: Invited to Suriname, South America.
Jan-Apr 2009: ...?
May 2009: Leaving for Suriname.
Next Blog: When I'm leaving, Why the heck I'm joining....
All this and more on the same bat channel, same bat time...
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