Time flies....

The fact that July 1st is tomorrow is blowing my mind. How fast is this year going by?! It can’t just be me who feels like what happened 2 weeks ago seems like it happened yesterday and the fact that I’ve been gone for almost 5 months seems like 5 days. My friend Alyssa and I have been talking about going home for Christmas for weeks now and yesterday I realized that I already need to buy my plane ticket at the beginning of next month. Crazy, right?

And in just 2 short weeks it will also be the 5 month anniversary of being in country and the 3 month anniversary of being an official Peace Corps volunteer. Also in 2 weeks is the reconnect conference that all of us Guyana 23 volunteers are required to attend. It is always set 3 months after being sworn in and living at your permanent site and it is basically when all the new volunteers get together with Peace Corps staff and talk about our sites, our jobs, what we like, what we don’t like, and what Peace Corps can (hopefully) do to help. It is also the time when all the volunteers get to see everyone again after being apart so inevitably there is a lot of gaffing (gossiping), liming (laying around in the sun), and sporting (drinking rum) that goes on :)

So I’m sure I don’t have to remind everyone that a very important and momentous occasion occurred recently, on the 23rd of June to be exact. Yes, that would have been my 24th birthday. Other than feeling slightly old at the age of 24, my birthday was very relaxed and low key, which is how I wanted it. My one friend baked me a delicious chocolate cake, which I have been eating for breakfast all week, and a few other friends made me a bottle of homemade rice wine (pretty much a bunch of rice, sugar, and water that you let sit and distill for a few weeks until it becomes a very sweet tasting alcoholic beverage. Delicious). I woke up late (which around here is 8 am), lounged in the hammock, and then had a few beers down at the docks with some friends (yes that is as shady as it sounds but it is also very fun and very Guyanese.) Overall, it was a very good day and I’m lucky to have so many good friends that were here to share it with me.

I’ve had some time off of work this week so I have taken it upon myself to do some walking around and exploring of Georgetown, which is the capital. Now, I love Guyana and it truly is a beautiful country but Georgetown is just not a very aesthetically pleasing town. It definitely is not the kind of city you walk around to look at the sites and enjoy a beautiful day, mostly because if you are looking for sites and not where you’re walking you’ll step in some sewage and it’s hard to enjoy a beautiful Guyanese day when there is a distinct smell of urine in the air. However, if you look for them, there are some areas of Georgetown which have quite a bit of character to them, you just have to know where they are :) One of my favorites is Regent Street, which runs almost the entire length of the city and is the main shopping hub. There are small shops and stands lining the street selling everything from clothes and shoes to pirated movies and music to snacks. You can’t walk more than 3 feet without running into a music stand blaring the latest reggae or hip hop or 80’s power ballads right next to a guy selling water coconuts. I love that Regent Street is always busy and crowded and the same vendors are always out in the same spot, rain or shine.

On a recent trip to Georgetown, a friend and I had an experience which I think everyone back will find amusing. We were on the hunt for a bathing suit, which is almost impossible to find in Guyana. (Guyanese don’t wear swim
suits, they swim in their clothes or their underwear. This is one trend I will not be adopting, I promise. ) So as we were looking for the elusive American style bathing suit we were directed to the “City Mall”, which is the only mall or large indoor shopping complex in Guyana. It is about a fourth of the size of a traditional American shopping mall but when you go inside it pretty much looks the same. It has 3 levels of stores, kiosks and a small food court downstairs. Now when my friend and I walked into the mall we pretty much stood in the entrance for about 5 minutes with our mouths hanging open. It had been quite a few months since either of us had been inside a mall and it’s amazing how the culture shock can hit you, even when it’s something as simple as a shopping mall. We just stood there, looking around, and saying “Oh my god, it’s like America. It’s like a real mall. This is so weird.” As we were trying to decide where to go first, my friend tapped me on the shoulder, pointed at something and said “Look”. Where was she pointing, you ask? At the escalator. The only escalator in the country of Guyana and it’s located in the City Mall, between the 1st and 2nd floor. Here’s something I think everyone at home should try. For the next 5 months, don’t go anywhere where there is an escalator. Don’t use one, don’t look at one, don’t even think about them existing, and then go and try to get on one. It is terrifying. It actually took me a minute to step onto the strange moving stairs contraption. It was hilarious and weird and it made me wonder what I’m gonna do when I get home and I have to get in an elevator, something else that doesn’t exist in Guyana. Now that is gonna be some serious culture shock :)