March/April

20/04/13

As always, a lot has happened since I last wrote. I’ve completed another term of school, seen Andrei, my parents and my brother in REAL LIFE (I was beginning to think that they were made of pixels), gone to the famous Rupunni Easter Rodeo,  rediscovered what luxury is in Barbados, and turned 19.

1.       

Another term of school

The Easter term was so busy!! I’ve really got into teaching Biology, and I think my students are really enjoying it too. I’d like to think that the standard of English of my students is improving, though it may just be that I’m not shocked anymore when I see sentences like ‘They does play in bush’ being written by 16 year olds.

Karate classes are still going very well; my students can nearly do the first Kata by themselves and they know quite a lot of self-defence techniques, and I have been very impressed by how quickly they have picked up the Japanese terms!

I had so much marking to do at the end of the term, but it was relieving to have Andrei in PK at the same time (though not as productive for my marking). He really helped out by teaching my science students a crash course on genetics, and I have found that they are picking up concepts like sex-linked inheritance and co-dominance much more quickly because of it.

2.       

Easter Holidays!

The Easter holidays, although only a short 2 weeks were such a nice break! As I said, Andrei came to visit in the last week of school, so we went out for walks exploring PK, and he made friends with many of my friends here. Despite the attack of a huge jumping tarantula the evening before we were due to leave for Georgetown, we both had a lovely time!

We spent a few days in Georgetown seeing the (limited) sights, buying cheap clothes and eating way too much,  and then we went on our ways. I headed up to the Rodeo in Lethem for the weekend. If anyone fancies it, it really is a lot of fun, despite the 16 hour bus journey on an non-existent road that will take you there. There are bucking broncos and bulls, which the vaqueros valiantly ride. Project Trust volunteers ride them slightly less valiantly, but Harry, Ben and Dougie did a pretty good job! In the evenings there was lots of farine and meat on a stick, and of course forro dancing (mixed in with wining).

After the Rodeo I caught the bus back to Georgetown so that I could get a plane to Barbados. My family decided to holiday there, so I went along to re-discover luxuries like flushing toilets and running showers. In the few days I spent there I went scuba diving over the reefs, jet skiing, wave jumping and submarining. And of course no holiday is complete without lots of eating! The fresh fish in Barbados really made a nice change of diet too.

After that, it was back to PK to enjoy my final term.

3.       

Turning 19

I had a lovely birthday, mostly just liming around doing nothing much! On the night before my birthday Rosie and I went to a girl’s birthday party and danced forro for about an hour, and although I didn’t really feel like going to the party I actually had a really good time.

Anyway, my dance partner was a very good dancer, one of those that made me feel like I was a good dancer too!  After the party we went back to Samantha’s, and spent the night watching Brave. I kept falling asleep though… I was so tired  and cold that I didn’t feel like walking home in the (relative) cold and the dark, so I stayed for a sleepover at Samantha’s, whilst Rosie went back home.

The next day I woke up late! Woo! Samantha even woke up before me and woke me up by giving me a birthday hug and a birthday song. She gave me some presents – a lovely cream linen skirt with sequins at the bottom- great for school – and a green shell necklace and earring set. Really pretty! I had some tea and listened to country music whilst I watched the world go by on the balcony. Rosie came over and gave me a birthday hug, a 4 pack of caramel biscuits and a birthday card which contained my main present. I’ve been wanting to build a warashi for a long time, so she arranged for me to weave one with Leon, one of the teachers at school, after school every day. It’s such a nice thought, but realistically I will only have time to do it on Thursday and Friday and at the weekend.  Still, if all goes well I’m coming home with a warashi!

She made pancakes, which we ate with lemons fresh from the tree and delicious brown sugar. Samantha made some fried onions with calabrase (Brazilian sausages) and it was so yummy with the pancakes! We limed about dancing, chatting and cooking lunch, and had a late lunch/dinner picnic. Sadly, it was a picnic that had to be held on the balcony as it was a bit rainy… it was still really nice though! And for Samantha’s birthday I think we will be going on a real outdoor picnic  J

 For the picnic I made boiled eggs, cut open and filled back with the hard yolks mashed with mustard and butter and Samantha made tuna sandwiches with brown bread, whilst  I baked a chocolate cake  from a box that Sammy had given me (as well as a smiley face mug from his wife). We feasted on the cake, some other piece of cake that Rosie had bought and some biscuits that Rosie had sponsored.  Then we went for a walk to mountain top and watched the sun set, walked back to Samantha’s and watched El Dorado, another animation, stayed up talking after which Rosie and I went back home to bed.

Thank you for your birthday wishes!

Right, that’s all for now. I’m off to eat Samantha’s chicken curry!

Send me a letter and the reply might even get back before I do.

My address is:

Paramakatoi

North Pakaraimas

Region 8

Guyana

South America

P.S. If you know Jake Dowell or Jordan Rickard  (vols in Kato) you can send them mail by sending it addressed to them at the above address.