hello!
it’s been a long time since i’ve gotten the chance to blog. i was tempted to call robO a blog-hog but it is much easier for him to blog, given that he has internet access at work.
i thought i would fill you in on a typical day here in Georgetown.
i would never have called myself a morning person in Canada, but here in Guyana i am a classic morning person (and i love it). each morning we are woken up about 6:15 by a variety of things:
dogs barking, the bright sunlight, sweat-inducing heat, the neighbour sweeping the cement or ‘cutting the grass’ outside with a machette, etc. i have been jumping out of bed and doing a morning yoga practice.
we’ve got enough time to have a nice breakfast and an icy shower, and robO even irons his shirts before we head to work.
it takes 5-7 minutes for us both to cycle to work, avoiding crazy drivers and mini-buses along the way. 
it’s been the rainy season, so sometimes it’s pouring when we are ready to leave. in our initial months here we would have rushed out with our raincoats and umbrellas to be sure to arrive at work on time. but now, we’ve adopted a few of the Guyanese strategies and we wait until the downpour has tapered before we leave. rain is a very reasonable and acceptable excuse for being late for anything here.
we get home from work anytime between 3:00 and 4:45, depending on the day. i have been loving trying new recipes and cooking Guyanese food for supper. after a really fast clean up (a futile attempt to deter mice and ants), we’re ready for our evening activities.
mondays i have been teaching a beginner yoga class for fellow volunteers. robO goes to no-ga, a rum and discussion group. thursday nights we go to sign language class, also run by our volunteer friends. other nights are spent reading under the mosquito net, watching illegally copied movies on our laptop, going for drinks with friends, or trying to learn some spanish.
when we stay home in the evenings, i’m embarassed to say that we have a bedtime of 8:30. there are many reasons for this: it’s pitch black at 6pm, so it seems later than it really is, the sun and heat are exhausting, most of the time we are under the mosquito net anyway…
one of my favorite parts of our week is saturday mornings when we go to the market and grocery store. the grocery stores are sort of like what we are used to at home except for the high prices for imported american foods and the lack of organization and order. i’ve learned that if i see something i want i should buy it right away because who knows if it can be found anywhere in Georgetown the next day.
the market was overwhelming at first, but we’ve definitely gotten the hang of it. there is some bartering involved, and it’s always interesting to see what fruits are going to be in season (and therefore super cheap) each week. this week we got 7 mangoes for $200 (about 1 US dollar).
now for a brief mouse update. up to this weekend, we had caught 4 mice in a trap and found 2 mysteriously dead in our kitchen. though we had not seen any evidence of more rodents, we bought a pack of poison ‘in case’. over the course of 2 days ALL of the poison pellets had disappeared, including when we used them as bait on the trap. yesterday i bought that sticky paper, and we set up an elaborate triple threat: poison as bait on the trap, surrounded by sticky paper. within 5 minutes we had caught a mouse on the sticky paper. the celebrations didn’t last long when we realized that we would have to deal with disposal! luckily our neighbour was willing to assist. today we have so far been outsmarted, though we have each seen the enemy (rob actually saw it jump over one sticky paper trap). Aarggggh.
stay tuned for an update on my renovation project!
This is just a quick note because I really don’t have much to say but I feel like I need to post something new. I had big plans to post a new video of me riding to work. The video was made, but upon further review, I agreed with Dawn that it was quite boring. Instead here’s an update on what we’re up to this weekend.
