JT in The Land Of Many Waters

Hey everyone.

So things have been rather hectic for the past few weeks and I am still reeling a bit from all of it. For my own sake I want to keep this relatively short.

Due to the most recent global pandemic, Peace Corps Worldwide has been suspended and all serving volunteers have been sent home from the their host countries indefinitely. This came as a shock to all volunteers everywhere as we were swiftly ripped from our lives with little notice.

Guyana is still home in my mind and it might take a while to break that mentality as I left it in a moment’s notice with only a backpack without the chance to say any proper goodbyes.

I have been back in Colorado for the past 5 days or so and I have been coping as well as I can. Please respect the difficulty of this and I apologize to anyone if I may seem particularly chatty. I have a lot to sort out over the next few months. Thanks for your consideration and I will catch up with all of you soon. This will be my final blog post on here. Thanks to all of you that read these and for everyone that supported my journey up to this point.

Hi everyone! It certainly has been a long time since I last posted an update but I have been on a social media blackout for my mental health's sake. It is currently 11:36 PM as I type this and I wanted to share some raw thoughts

I have been here in Guyana for over a year now and it is a huge milestone. I have 13 months to go and it seems both exciting and daunting. There is a well known down point in a Peace Corps Volunteer's service known as the "Mid-Service Crisis." This is a point where we realize we still have a year to go after already putting 14 months in. And I'll be honest, I see it hitting me kinda hard. It has already set in a bit with the school term being done for the summer until September.

I don't have much to do and I find myself bored and seeking things to occupy my time and mind with. This has accentuated my longing for those I miss back home even more. I have been trying to fix some character flaws of mine and do some self improvement. It is hard sometimes as hold habits die hard. I hope to return a better version of myself. But in order to do that I need to confront myself and make the necessary changes for myself and others. I'm trying. And I'll succeed. A lot that I care about depends on it.

Life is smooth here for the most part. But other times it can be very difficult. The isolation I feel at times can be debilitating. I'll stimulate myself with reading, creative writing, downloaded movies, a walk in the neighborhood, but ultimately I am running out of things to do and occupy myself with that doesn't feel redundant and the next four weeks are gonna be especially hard I can feel it.

But I won't quit. I have some real flaws. But being a quitter is not one of them. I just hope I can get through this hard part to coast through the next year of my service happily and then I'll be home to celebrate with all of you that I love and miss.

Sorry for the depressing monologue. I just wanted to give whoever happens to read this a peek into my late night thoughts. They weren't kidding when they said Peace Corps is the hardest job you will ever love.

Stay fresh everybody,

So yesterday the world abruptly lost a very wonderful and impactful woman.

Mary Williams was my host grandmother during my 10 weeks of training after first arriving in Guyana. Her, her Daughter Marsha, and all of family made me feel like I belonged in that family with them from day one. She treated me like one of her very own grandchildren and expressed that same love to me referring to me as her grandson. I visited her and the family a couple of weeks ago and I am so fortunate I got to spend some time, talk, laugh and have some fun like I used to with her.

Granny was a strong woman. An intelligent woman. And most importantly, a kind woman. She was a prominent political figure in the Guyanese government many years ago and helped build up the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples. She was also the Vice Chairwoman of Guyana's Region 2. She saw greatness in her country and worked to bring out it's potential. I admire that so much and aspire to do something similar.

She taught me so much about Guyana and what it means to be Guyanese. She helped me appreciate life so much more. She had always lived a humble life and would maintain her farm with her husband where they grew some of the most delicious fruit you will have ever tasted.

Some days her and I would sit and chat together. I'd ask her questions about her political career, her very large family, her farm, and life. She would show me photo albums of all the things she did and of all her family with such pride. In those moments I truly felt comforted and loved. This woman accepted a random American into her family as one of her own with no hesitation. That is something extremely special and I will always be appreciative of how fortunate I was.

Dear Granny,

I will miss you. Thank you for teaching me and imparting your wisdom on me. Thank you for welcoming me and accepting me. Thank you for your kindness. Thank you for your love and I am sending that love right back to you.

Love,

Heyo! Sorry for taking so long to finally post something again. I have been a busy fella. Some interesting new developments have come to pass in the past couple of months. Three of the biggest ones are what I'll be covering over the next few days. Buckle up, buckaroos.

Let's Get Physical!

So Guyana has an interesting form of celebration of their independence called "Mashramani" or "Mash" for short. This involves a couple weeks of events and competitions of dance, skip-rope, dramtic poetry, Calypso songs, a traditional masquerade, and a physical display. Teachers from primary and secondary schools help with the various activities leading up to the competitions. I was asked to assist with physical display since it has a semblance similar to that of cheerleading in that it requires flexibility and acrobatic skills. So with a couple weeks until the competition, my partner teacher and myself started recruiting and got the max 16 kids do participate. We put some pretty neat stuff together and won the region and will be performing again in the capital!

Check out some of the pyramids!

A little over a week ago one of my older host sisters had her baby!

Introducing my nephew, Niklous.

Hello hello.

Ya hungry?

Well I made some chicken burritos with chips and salsa!

That's right! I cooked up some Mexican food for a bunch of my host family members here in Region 10, Guyana!

I made some tortillas from scratch! The local peppers here are pretty close to peppers in the states. Just as spicy too! And I found some dried cilantro to add to the salsa!

My lovely sous-chef/sister Chadia. I taught her how to make everything and she helped me prepare all the food so next time hopefully she will lead the way and I'll be her assistant!

It felt nice to prepare a small taste of home and have the opportunity to share it with my family. They all really liked it and I am so relieved because I was pretty nervous!

I haven't really been all too homesick since being here and away from Pueblo, but as soon as I bit into that burrito (which I rolled myself 😁), I felt a wave of homesickness. It went away pretty quickly as I continued to gaff and spend time with everyone that came to have some of mine and Chadia's cooking.

I want you all back home to know I am thinking about you and I miss all of you. And if you want to learn some Guyanese recipes I have some written down I can ask Lana for more. Just ask and I'll share with you!

Stay fresh..... and spicy 😋

So I'd like to take a moment to ask everyone for something for my birthday. What I want is for everyone to complete a few tasks for me:

-Call your parents, and grandparents. See how they are doing. Tell them you love them

-Go do that thing you have always wanted to try, no excuses, just go for it. Try yoga, take that dance class, eat at that new restaurant, ask her out...

-Call or text someone you had a falling out with and tell them you are sorry and/or you forgive them. Restore a relationship and be sincere about it.

-Compliment someone on something. Anything. Again, most importantly, be sincere.

-Pet a cat for me because I miss mine.

Positivity can open doors you didn't know were there. My birthday wish is to spread a little bit of it. You just might find that you enjoy it.

Stay fresh.... and kind

An example of things getting lost in translation between accents:

I have been helping out with a PE class and last week the class discussed the Ancient Olympics to understand athletics in ancient times. The teacher gave them homework to discuss 5 of the events that people competed in and to include a drawing or photo of each. A boy handed me this. I was a little bewildered at first. But then I realized that there was a misunderstanding when I told them that the "disc throw" was a part of the Ancient Olympics.

Hey there!

Ya miss me?

Of course you did.

I'm great!

Hey, you.

Yeah, you!

Bring me a freaking Adolfo's burrito. I haven't had one in months.

K thanks.

Okey dokie let's get to it shall we?

At the time of my writing this, I have been living in Region 10, Guyana for about a month and one week. I have gotten a chance to settle myself in quite nicely with my new host family. My family is much smaller this time around. I live with Lana and her teenage daughter Chadia. They have been such great hosts and Lana's cooking has been absolutely fantastic. I will post pics of all if us in a photo "just now"(That's Guyanese for "soon").

Here is my house! The community I live in is really dope. Some people play football in the street and I have even gotten to play some barefoot football on the asphalt. Let me tell you how great my feet felt and looked after that! I have taken some effort to do some community walks and going into different local establishments to introduce myself and state my purpose. As my time here has progressed, the things shouted at me from locals around town went from being playful insults, to genuine greetings by name as I quickly asserted myself as a new permanent fixture of the neighborhood and not just a clueless American guy. Kindness, an introduction, and a simple handshake can go a long way!

So this is my school. I am a few days in teaching and building up the HFLE program in the school and the students are already warming up to me. I am also excited to spectate at all the interscholastic sports competitions at the school! It should be fun!

Lastly, here is my trusty steed, Hidalgo, named after the great American legend. He has been my first means of personal mobility in over three months. It feels good to be in control of my mobility even in a small capacity. We all have learned that Peace Corps is all about the small victories.

Stay fresh,

Until next time my friends!