February

February 14^th

Happy belated pancake day everyone!

I spent the day at school, and in the evening Samantha, Rosie and I enjoyed pancakes with our precious sausages and CHEESE, followed by classic lemon and sugar. Samantha enjoyed it so much that we made pancakes for breakfast on Valentine’s Day too, after staying up the night before watching Jackie Chan in his glory days when his hair was glorious.

I’ve been incredibly busy this term, as I have started to run a debate club on Monday, a Karate Club on Tuesday and I am continuing with my computer classes afterschool on Wednesday. The Karate club has been going really well – I have a total of 64 students on my register and regularly get 50 in my class! They all love it, although because of the large class It does get a bit cramped sometimes. I always get good vibes from the students and they are much better behaved that when they are in school! The class is probably 40% girls 60% boys most of the time, so it is pretty even. This weekend I am doing a self-defence workshop for a women’s group of a nearby village called Kato, where there is an American volunteer called Rachel who runs the group. Apparently they are all very excited, so that should be fun!

The weather here is still much warmer than back at home, I am sure, but it has started to get colder and darker with the rainy season. Sometimes there are some quite cold gusts and heavy tropical rains, and the ‘bad’ weather has meant that I have started to get a cold. During the day the sun still gets quite hot most of the time, though sometimes the cloud cover is so thick we don’t really see the sun! The clouds and the cold, wet weather also means that looking at the stars at night is a bit more difficult, so we have started to stay in and wrap ourselves under blankets to watch films.

Last week we enjoyed a visit from our Desk Officer, Chris. He brought us two big packets SWEETS which we devoured as soon as we got them (mini eggs and gummy snakes if you want to send any in the post … hint hint), and he watched us teach a couple of lessons. We had fun staying up and chatting, and playing cards by the light of a candle. The next day he went off to Kato to visit Jordan and Jake, and due to being unable to get a flight we went and joined them for the weekend. I think that all that I am allowed to say on the internet is just that it was a hilarious weekend in which there were many laughs.

Anyway, that’s all for this month… oh, and happy Valentine’s day.

Love

Charlie

January

Tuesday, January 8^th 2013

Time is flying by so quickly! In a spare moment at work today my thoughts drifted off to the future, and the topic of how much time I have left in Guyana sprouted up. I find it so strange that the half way mark is coming up, and I still feel like I’ve just arrived. One year is really no time when it comes to all I want to learn and experience in Guyana.

At the end of the Christmas term Rosie and I moved house again, this time to the Medex quarters which are unoccupied as the Medex has his own house in the village. It’s not a bad house by any standards, but it just doesn’t feel like home. We hope to move back into our old house by the end of February at the latest, but the contractors say they might have it done by the end of this month (I am very sceptical about contractors’ perceived deadlines, though). They are raising up the whole building, renovating the inside and building two new apartments underneath, so no more liming in hammocks or cooking under the house! L

I only returned back from holiday on Sunday, and already it seems so far away. I think that’s when you know somewhere is really home. It seems like so much has happened in the three weeks that I’ve been away; we spent a few days in GT before all 22 of us headed off to the balmy beaches of Tobago. It was nearly only 20 though, as the boys in Kato only just made it to the airport before check-in closed! They decided to decline the flight that was offered by the region, instead taking a brilliant trip from Kato to GT on the back of a contractor’s truck, where they got to see a large amount of Region 8 and 9. We were all a bit relived when they turned up at the airport covered from head to toe in orange dust and looking a bit windswept.

Tobago was great, I went scuba diving in the day, and at night we partied on the beach, partied in the clubs, and the other vols partied on a boat on Christmas day, though I had a fever so I spent the day sleeping! Despite being ill for a couple of days, I had a brilliant Christmas. For New Year I stayed in GT with a few of the other volunteers, and the rest went up to Region 9. New year in town was probably the best new year I’ve ever had. The rest of the holiday I spent time with very good friends that I had made, went shopping, ate out, partied out, played a bit of water polo, and did a HASH too J Don’t worry, not the drug. It’s ‘a drinking group with a running problem’. Essentially it’s an adventure run with a party-with-a-twist at the end. Check it out in your area of the world – it’s so much fun!

Although I had a great time on holiday and I was sad to leave the friends that I have made, I am happy to be back in the cool climate of Paramakatoi with all my friends here. I definitely feel that I am back home.

This term I should be even busier than last term, with the addition of HSB (Human Social Biology), a karate club and a debate club to my timetable, in addition to my English and Computer classes. I am determined to take up running in the mountains, though watch this space to see if I actually do it. One thing I don’t need much motivation to do is horse-riding, which I will be doing a lot of at the weekends now that I have found the owner of the horses in PK! Hopefully next time I write I will be back in the comfort of my hammock in my old house J

I’ve been putting all your letters on the wall, please keep sending them to me – Sammy the shopkeeper/postmaster will tell you that I get very excited whenever I have post!

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year,

Best wishes for 2013

Love Charlie