Very sorry, it’s nearly the end of November and I haven’t even written for October! How did that happen? Time is flying so quickly…

This month I’ve had some amazing experiences. Rosie and I walked to another village where there are Project Trust volunteers called Kato, which is about 4 hours up a mountain away! We spent a long weekend with the boys there, visiting creeks, cooking in the bush and learning how to dance forro.

This month Rosie and I also visited an Amerindian farm and helped with the work which was an amazing experience. We helped to pull up cassava, scrape it, wash it and make cassiri (a traditional drink, fermented cassava and purple potato). I tried to lift up the warshi full of cassava, and just about managed it but felt as though my knees would buckle under the weight. I can’t fathom how little old ladies in their 80s can walk for hours up a mountain carrying a warshi full of cassava or fire wood, and I can even barely lift one! The women here work so unbelievably hard. All the teachers work full time and have just as much as me to do at school and at home, plus they get up at 4.30am most mornings to make cassava bread or cassiri, or spend their whole day doing hard labour at their farms. I expect when they turn out to work at school on Monday they actually feel as though they are having a rest, compared with the amount of work that they do at home at the weekends.

Teaching is still going well – although getting very busy! My grade 11s (same as year 11s) have had a CXC (equivalent to GCSE) pre- test from the Ministry which I have to mark. So far I have only marked the multiple choice questions… a bit disappointing as most of them got Es. I also have to mark paper 2 which comprises of an essay, comprehension questions, a summary of an article in 120 words, and a story. It’s going to take hours to mark! I am glad to be marking it though, as it is the first time I have actually seen a mark scheme for the exam I am preparing the students for!  I also have to set my entire grade 10s and 11s at least 4 end of term assessments. So far they have done 2, and are currently doing one more, so I have lots more marking to do!

Although I have had a lot more work to do this month than I did last month I think the main difference has been in the attitudes of the kids. Last month they were very shy and reserved, and hated to do anything other than copy from the board. This month they have really come out of their shells, sometimes getting a bit unruly! It is very tempting to set them to copy out notes sometimes as it keeps them very focussed and quiet, but I have tried to make my English lessons as interesting as possible, even though it sometimes results in over-excited children.

I am still really enjoying the lovely warm climate, and I never fail to appreciate the beauty of Paramakatoi’s views when I eat my porridge on the front step every morning, and especially when the sun sets in the evenings. The people are as generous and kind as ever, and I feel that I have made some really genuine friendships here.

Having said this, I have started missing some pretty weird things, as well as some expected things. Firstly, I would like to urge you all to appreciate sandwiches. I never really appreciated how good sandwiches were when I could eat as many as I liked, and I wish that I had eaten more sandwiches when I had the opportunity. Make sure you get thick crunchy crusts, cheese and LOTS of lettuce. You should really appreciate lettuce. I wish I had eaten more lettuce…

Understandably, I also miss washing machines. I vow never to complain about ‘doing the washing’ if I have a washing machine. It simply doesn’t count as washing. It’s just moving dirty clothes from the bedroom floor to the washing machine, to the washing line. Sitting on the front step on a Sunday morning and scrubbing the dirty clothes for 3 hours – now that’s washing. Appreciate washing machines.

Also, my dad’s fruit crumble, stilton cheese, crunchy apples and red wine. Nuff said.

I am looking forward to next weekend, with the visit of Heloise from Project Trust on Friday to Sunday. Rosie and I are having a Thanksgiving dinner party on Saturday with our Project Trust friends Jordan and Jake, along with Rachel an American Peace Corps volunteer, and our friend Shamir the AREO (Assistant Regional Executive Officer) who are all coming from Kato (4 hour walk away). We also invited our neighbour Samantha, Nurse Wall (an American Missionary who has been in PK for the best part of her whole life) and Sammy the shopkeeper. In total we are a party of 10, so Nurse Wall offered up her house as a venue for the evening, as it will be quite cosy with 10 people in our little house!

As well as that I am also looking forward to having a well-deserved rest at Christmas. The plans are to spend a week exploring around region 8 with the Kato boys and the Project Trust volunteers in Chenapou, Ben and Mark. After that we will all head off to Georgetown to catch a plane to Tobago, where we will spend another week and celebrate Christmas with the rest of the Guyana group. For New Year we are all heading off to Suriname, as we heard that there were some spectacular although slightly hazardous street fireworks that we couldn’t resist the opportunity to see.

Probably by the next time I write another update I will have moved house again as there are plans for my lovely little house to be renovated. We don’t mind this, but they want to build two more apartments underneath the house which we are not so happy about. I’ll tell you what’s going on next time!

I hope you’re all well, I bet there are hundreds of annoying Christmas adverts already, and you’ve all probably got your advent calendars! Don’t forget to send me a letter and I promise to reply, I love to receive mail - it really makes my day. I’m collecting a nice stack of mail, and I love to watch it grow and to re-read my letters when I’ve had a bad day.

Hope to hear from you soon!

Lots of love

Charlie