10 Fun/Intersting/Hilarious Facts about Guyana and my integration process, so far :)

1. The phrase "just now" is used all the time when refering to meeting someone, arranging a time, or making plans. For example: "When are you coming by the house?" response, "I am coming just now." It can mean literally just now or in 10 minutes or in 2 weeks. Very annoying, yet very handy in getting out of things you don't want to do.

2. I went to the grocery store the other day to buy a chocolate bar and rum (the essentials) and the chocolate bar cost twice as much as the rum. Enough said.

3. I have found myself picking up on certain Creolese phrases, such as ending sentences with "don't cha know" and saying "Me nah know" or "Me no like". It will be fun when I use those back home and people just think I have really poor grammar :)

4. I have discovered that large groups of white people make me feel uncomfortable, since I am now used to being the only white person I see for days at a time. If I pass another white person on the street I find myself wondering who they are, why are they here, and why don't I know them. I'm assuming that means I'm fully integrated :)

5. A woman at my health center asked me the other say if I had gotten whiter. I may be the only
Peace Corps Guyana volunteer who doesn't tan and comes back to the states paler than she left.

6. People will repeat a word 2 or 3 times when they want to emphasize something instead of saying really or very. So in the states we would say "That dress is really pretty." or "That candy is very good." In Guyana Creolese you say, "That dress is nice nice" or "That candy is sweet sweet."

7. As a way of hitting on a woman (which Guyanese men do every day, all day, never ending, especially the strange white girls walking around) they making a sound at you calling "sipping". It basically sounds like you are doing a combination of blowing someone a kiss and sipping out of a straw. Will not be importing that pick up line back to the states :)

8. People say good night here as a way of greeting someone after dark. Instead of using it to say good bye, like we do in the states, people in Guyana say “Hello, goodnight.” So confusing the first time you hear it

9. My host mom constantly tells me I eat like a bird or that I am a "funny American eater" because I only take one scoop of rice with my curry, instead of the traditional 3 or 4 giant spoonfuls that is considered appropriate in Guyana.

10. Yes, it really is ridiculously hot and humid here all the time. You literally sweat just sitting or standing around doing nothing. I worked up a sweat watching TV the other day. Very attractive.