The Peace Corps packs quite a bit into one week. There was the hotel arrest, a boot camp, and an adoption. Let me explain. In order to prevent us from mistakenly happening upon the “Red Zones,” the Peace Corps staff mandated that we stay in the hotel for our own safety as we started our first training sessions. Hence, “hotel arrest.” We had luxuries galore, including blessed air conditioning, so we didn’t complain.
As for the boot camp, we had to endure the most rigorous collection of swimming tests: front stroke, floating on our backs while wearing a life jacket, and paddling a kayak to a buoy approximately forty feet from the shore. Obviously we have quite a group of athletes because everyone passed.
The adoption came last on Friday, when our group was split up. Of the 37 trainees in Guyana group 23, 12 went to a rural location for training while the remaining 25 of us ventured to an urban location, West Demerara. Once we arrived at West Demerara, we herded ourselves into our training building to meet our prospective host families. We will be boarding, eating, walking, and generally learning the Guyanese way of life from these families for the next 9 weeks.
Essentially we are their shadow. However, I discovered that I gained a couple of shadows of my own since I arrived at my house. Their names are Mark, Jennifer, Daniel, Elizabeth, and Gabriel. If I signed up for the Peace Corps as a test-run of having children, I would certainly be getting my money’s worth. Curiosity certainly is their strongest attribute. At church today, I believed I had become a conjoined twin because of the intimate proximity of little Elizabeth next to me.
On a different note, within two days I attended two wakes and one memorial service in Guyana, which is more than I ever went to in America. At the memorial service a boy was video recording, and I couldn’t help but think that people watching it later might wonder: “What the heck is that white girl doing there?”
In the meantime, I think I discovered the first bug I am allergic to. As I write, I have about ten bites on my leg, and I am watching them increase in size. How long should I hold off before I take the Benadryl? It might get me out of going to a group meeting at church tonight.
Now it is time for the weekly highlights; the focus this week is food:
Most interesting food I have eaten: Chicken liver (oddly enough—it does not taste like chicken)
Most challenging meal to eat without gagging: Fish for breakfast—Fish still tastes fishy at 9 o’clock in the morning
Most delicious meal: Can’t beat pancakes for breakfast!
Advice when looking for sugar: Don’t listen to what the four year old identifies as sugar or you will be choking down tea that has a mystery clumps that are definitely not sugar
Most exciting fruit discovery: Hannah, they have star fruit. Except they call it “Five Finger” fruit
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