NYE

Happy New Year!!!

Last year I spent a freezing but wonderful night in Chicago with my fabulous friends from college. Although this year was no where near freezing and my “fabulous friends” were on a different continent, I still had a worthwhile time.

I went to a church service with my friend Meshana. Usually people ring in the New Year at church, but her church had a much earlier service. Afterwards we stopped at her house to enjoy the traditional Guyanese dish known as cook-up. It consists of rice cooked in coconut milk and spices with beans and beef. When we filled our bellies and finished watching some movie with Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew McConaughey we went back out to go to another church service.

But then we opted to go to a restaurant/bar with one of Meshana’s male church friends. The place was quiet and nice and we rang in the New Year with a couple of beers and some interesting conversation. The male church friend who is married with a pregnant wife wanted his New Year’s resolution to be finding a sweet woman (basically to have an affair). His argument was that because there are more females than males in the world, men have to have more than 1 woman otherwise there would be lonely women out there. Obviously I didn’t buy that, and I couldn’t possibly let him continue to think of that as a valid excuse. I said there wasn’t such a shortage of men that a woman couldn’t find one if she really wanted. But, finding a good one was another issue. He then mentioned something about how Muslim men can have multiple wives according to the Koran. Well, that may be true, but the last time I checked Christians go by the Bible which says one man to one woman. Finally he mentioned that every man here in Parika has at least one woman while not every woman had a man. My answer was that men can get women but women can’t get men. Although seemingly contradictory it is undeniably true in Guyanese culture. In other words it is acceptable for a man to go out and get a girlfriend; however, it is not respectable for a woman to search for a boyfriend. It’s very similar to American culture when we think about the male and female terms for people with multiple partners such as playa vs. slut.

I am happy to say that I won that argument, but whether that has an effect on the “church friend” is another story.

X-mas in Bartica

December 25, 2006 was my first Christmas away from my family:( In preparation for this time of homesickness and loneliness most (11 out of 14) of the PCVs of Guy 17 decided to spend Christmas in Bartica together.

We traveled on Christmas Eve in a 10 passenger speed boat for an hour in the cold rain. When we arrived we had to walk a mile and a half to the place with our heavy load. In addition to my bag I was carrying watermelons and pines—the two heaviest fruits ever!

But the tiredness and back ache was worth it because the Baidarabo guesthouse was absolutely amazing. It was 3 stories high right on the black water with a swimming pool. It had gigantic windows, huge beds, and the best of all a fully stocked kitchen. Now when I say fully stocked I mean they had an oven, a microwave, a full size refrigerator, can-openers, a French press, and pots and pans galore. You might be thinking “What’s the big deal? Don’t most kitchens have those things?” Well, maybe in America, but in Guyana it’s not common to find all those things in one central location. Man, oh man, this place was fantastic!

As soon as we got there we picked out our rooms. I stayed with Liz and Malane in a king size bed. (Btw, the bathrooms had running hot water which is extra special for me because at my house in Parika I have no running water not to mention hot water). Then we started cooking. For Christmas Eve dinner we had turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, sweet mashed potatoes, bora (a local vegetable), pineapple and carrot salad, green salad, dinner rolls, and stuffing. For dessert we had cheese cake and pumpkin crispy crumble. We planned for a secret Santa gift exchange and opened our presents that night. Because I recently got a cell phone my secret Santa gave me a $2000 C-point gift card. (Don’t be too wowed. 2000 Guyanese dollars equates to 10 U.S. dollars).

The next morning we had eggs, bacon, pineapple, and pumpkin and banana bread. The majority of us spent all day lounging out by the pool while a few others went for a hike. We also played Trivial Pursuit in teams of 2, and my team won. HA! For lunch we had leftovers (there was soooo much food). For dinner we barbecued. We had hamburgers, veggie burgers, Calabrese sausage, and grilled veggies. We stayed up late drinking and gaffing.

The final morning we made waffles and eggs, and had watermelon. After a bit of lounging we sadly had to pack up and leave.

Although I was sad to be away from family, I had a fabulous time with my fellow Peace Corps Volunteers.

Please note that every single thing we made that weekend was made from scratch; therefore, everything tasted that much better.