Living alone and other changes

SLOANE

I kept putting off writing this next blog because I had not taken the promised pictures but decided that it is better to communicate now and photograph later. I have had an amazing 2 months. First settling and getting to know my site. Followed by an unexpected trip back to the states.

First things first. My everyday life has become what I guess you can call routine. Although nothing here is really routine. From the weather whichchanges hourly to the new fruits and vegetables that I have never heard of, to the visits of little frogs and mice to my apartment, life could hardly be called routine.

The weather -- can go from total sunny skies to drenching downpours to totally sunny skies in a space of 15 minutes or less. The moral is never travel without your umbrella. You either need it to protect you from the sun or the rain. Although the sun and rain situation changes frequently the

sun rises and sets at pretty much the same time year round. Up at 5:15 AM and sets by 6 PM. Likewise the temperature is pretty constant at a very hot 90 ish in the day to about low 80's maybe high 70's at night. A fan is not a luxury but a necessity.

The food I have learned to use sterilized boxed milk for my cereal, no real milk to drink which is surprising because cows are grazing everywhere and constantly walking across the main streets (which was one of the photos I wanted to capture, and I will). Also a herd of goats walks by my street everyday as I walk to my minibus. Keep in mind I am in an urban location. The fruits and vegetables are very fresh as their growing season is 12 months a year. Lettuce, tomatoes (the kind you only get in the summer in the states), cucumbers and scallions are in great abundance. In

addition they have a 3 foot long string bean call bora that I have never seen before and is quite tasty. Two sweet potato impersonators are a veggie call edo and another called cassava. They are both in the yam family and they are major food staples for the Guyanese. Along the street as I walk from my bus home are numerous food stands that sell vegetables and fruits such as Pine

(pineapple), bananas, passion fruit, mangos,star apples, sapodilla ( a fruit which has a taste of a mix of pear and brown sugar) coconut and breadfruit. The fruit is extremely fresh and makes for great smoothies. Meat is not something you eat a great deal of here unless it is at a restaurant. The amount of refrigerator space is limited and so your protein comes from beans and peanut butter and eggs, which are by the way very freshly laid. Also to all my gifters thank you for the American Junk food etc., to which I am very much addicted.

Visiting creatures. I guess you would say I am fairly fortunate in that my visitors are limited to very little lizards, frogs and the occasional visiting mouse. I laugh at myself recalling when Michael and I had an occurrence of mice in our Chumani house and I wanted to move to a hotel until they were gone. How things change. I find myself sitting on my sofa (for which I am most grateful, many PCV's have no sofa) and watching a little mouse come under my door scurry along the wall back to my kitchen to check out if I have left any crumbs on the floor and then leave just as quickly as it arrived. My only reaction is to think, glad my feet are propped up on the sofa. The frogs although a little cuter (not much) are more annoying because they just wonder in and can never seem to find their way out without my broom and some prompting. The lizards are good cardio, because they are always where you least expect them to be and jump out sometimes on you always causing at least my heart rate to exceed 150 BPM. I found out at my last group Peace Corps meeting however that I am very lucky. I really have no bugs, possibly due to the fact that I keep very little food in my house. I also have no rats, yes I said rats, nor snakes or bats, all of which have visited other PCV"s houses.

My work I am just finishing my first class at the University and have really enjoyed my students. They are bright and very motivated. Many of them holding down a full time job, going to class and raising a family at the same time. Makes me sit in awe. They take their final next Friday and then I will begin writing my next course on Emergency Nursing. That will begin in the fall. I am also beginning to work on a web site which will seek tax deductible contributions for my project. I am trying to set up a program which will allow for the shipping of donated medical books no more than 2 years old to the nursing school here, because currently their books are significantly older. I have found some schools willing to donate the books but need less to say do not want to incur the shopping costs. I have determined that if I can raise between 10 /20 thousand in a

protected fund I can set up a book donation program sustainable for 10 /15 years allowing the nursing school a chance to have more current books and get on their feet financially. When I get the web site up you can be sure I will let all of you know. I hope I am not being naive in thinking that I should certainly be able to raise that amount of money.

My House As I have commented before I have been very fortunate in my housing. the peace corps worker living here before me had practically everything and left it for me. She was a little more adept at opening cans with the swiss army knife, which I immediately replaced with a can opener from my visit to NY. I actually just started sleeping in the bed last week

Previously I was sleeping on a mattress on the floor which was tightly encased with a mosquito net because of the visitors. I must say the bed is a level up. I have a dorm sizerefrigerator, and a three burner stove top supplied with gas from tank similar to the

ones we use for our outdoor grills

. I can not believe that I the microwave queen have no microwave and am managing to survive, barely but I am. There is also no oven but baking was never my speciality. Most important is my internet which I actually do know I could not live without. All in all I am fairly well set. I have wonderful landlords who watch over me and make sure I am safe, for which I am thankful.

My trip. My trip started three weeks ago. I was coming home from work and received a call from my son Jack. It seemed his wife Daisy, who had just had a c-section less than 2 months earlier was in the ER with severe abdominal pains, possibly a ruptured appendix. After several calls and realizing surgery was about to happen, I was able to get emergency leave from the Peace Corps to go home and help. Realizing that she would not be able to stand upright,much less lift an 11 pound baby, it was going to be impossible for her to function without someone there all of the time. I would like to publicly thank Daisy for sacrificing her body so I could come home and meet my unbelievable, adorable,fantastic, perfect and beautiful grand daughter Sloane. Not only did I get to spend two unbelievable weeks with Sloane but I also got to be with Daisy, Jack and my daughter Julie, who flew in from LA. Julie's trip was already planned for the end of my two week stay so it was just luck that she was also going to be there. I had seen no one since I left in February and it was wonderful. I got to see all of Daisy's family including her mother, with whom I could continually talk about amazing our grand daughter is. It

is my understanding that Daisy is willing to sacrifice more organs to facilitate my coming

home and for this I thank her. Actually I had already scheduled a trip in September with a non refundable ticket, so the Peace Corps is also letting me do that. So I will be getting to see my little Sloane

in the very near future. I have hardly any pictures of her

on my camera because I was holding her all of the time. Finally I would just like to send a giant thank you to Daisy, Jack, Julie , Holly and Sloane who have stood by me and trusted that I would find my way back out of the black hole. Thanks to them I am once again seeing the light. Much love to all of you reading this. Do me a favor stop what you are doing now and tell the important people in your life how much you love them.

Blonde or Brunette????

Well it has been a month now since I have been at my site. I am beginning to feel a little more settled. My housemate, Hanni is getting ready to depart. She has been here two years and her service time ends July 25.  She is 180 degrees removed from my immediate future.  As I am just settling in she is packing up.  It is a very strange twosome.  Hanni , however has been a godsend. She has directed me to where to shop. Showed me the best DVD store.  Included me in her social life and much , much more.  She is there if I have questions and frankly I don't know how others do this. Everyone should be provided with a Hanni.  

We are getting up every morning at 5:30 and walking approximately 4 miles.  It really feels good to start exercising again .... was that me talking? Yes it actually was, much to my surprise I really missed it when I could not walk.

My job is going well and I feel that I may actually at some point make some kind of impact. It involves teaching nursing students and I am still learning the ropes regarding their standards.  I also needed to arrange for my nursing transcripts to be forwarded, not an easy task when out of the country,but it is occurring, thanks to great help from my former diploma school, Good Samaritan. In addition I must be licensed in Guyana, even though I will be doing no actual patient care. This to has been facilitated by the Ohio Board of Nurses. 

I do find I have had lots of time to reflect, and as you may recall from some of my first blogs, I really needed to do this.  This is a journey in emotions as well as miles. I feel I am already moving forward, from a person who really was 

not planning a future but rather existing day to day to some one who again

 has goals she wants to achieve and multiple plans for my future.  It is crystal clear now what is important in my life, my family and my friends.  These people are gifts that I have been given and I cherish each and every one of you. I watch with envy as a grandmother here holds her grandchild, or the laughter of a group of long time friends as they share stories. Nothing is more important than that. Some events cause blinders to become fixed upon your head, I feel like and hope that mine are being removed. To all those who have stood by my side in my self-centered journey back to life, I thank you.

Life is not all self denial and reflection. Several weeks ago we went to a very nice private pool for the afternoon.  A wonderful lady had us to her house for homemade Lasagna and just this past Thursday myself and another Peace Corps volunteer treated ourselves to dinner out at a lovely restaurant complete with a glass of Cabernet. And finally last night found me a home with Vodka tonics and Great veggie pizza.

On Sunday nights each week we go to a little hotdog stand that has the most amazing hotdogs.  It is the dog , mustard, ketchup and mayo if you want, cheese onion and potato chip crumbs, talk about a meal in a bun.  The dog and a beer, what more could you ask for.

Last weekend we celebrated my housemates birthday with a night of food and dancing. So as you can see I have been busy.

OK so the only picture I will post this time is the comparison pictures of Sue the Blonde, and Sue the Brunette.  This is not a vote.  I have already decided that I will again become Sue the blonde but since this will occur before any of you have a chance to see me, here is the brunette.  Every time I look in the mirror I think who is that woman, she looks familiar, but not quite.  Now yes, you may feel free to comment but know that nothing will change my determination to return to my former look

From Host visit to Swearing in

Gosh I cannot believe that it has been over a month since I last added anything, but I have not had access to wireless or pretty much any internet at all. There has been so much going on.  At Easter time here there is a big celebration on Easter Monday. Most of the people on the coast go to the beach for a huge Kite flying contest.  There is a best kite, the biggest kite, the smallest kite and so on.  The day is a holiday from work and everyone makes their own kite.  Yes even I tried to make a kite but I did need lots of help, but it was fun.  The one picture is the guy completely remaking my kite and the other picture is the actual kite which did fly, I gave it to the grand sons of my host family and they were able to fly it. Easter is not even really celebrated until monday. Coloring eggs and hiding baskets are not so much here. We have been working hard at planning our site work and how we can be helpful in a way that they need. And we have been starting to prepare to leave our host families and be on our own.  I will not be on my own for three months after I arrive at my site because I will be sharing a house with a volunteer who is leaving at the end of July.  In many ways that is helpful because not only is she leaving a lot of things for me but she also has lots of good advice. 

A week after our host visits we went to a preserve called Mainstay and saw an amazing

assortment of trees in addition to the walk thru the forest we also got to see a small examples of how pineapples are cultivated, that is the picture above. Amazing how small the plants are.

Although the pictures do not show it we actually spent

 8 hours everyday in a classroom. Usually the weekends were your own, however even then sometimes things wereplanned. My friend Rachelle and I went up to

Charity market and in doing so completed out travel of the coast line road of Essiquibo. We began in Supranam and went                                                                                   CHARITY MARKET

all the way to Charity where the road ends.  If you go beyond there it is by boat. I t

hink that Charity is the biggest market

 of the Essiquibo coast

THE MISSIONARY FAMILY

  It certainly has every

thing you could need to buy.

The next picture is of the Missionary family 

who took it upon themselves to have us over for Easter dinner, American Style, 

Pot Roast, salad, vegetables, mashed potatoes,gravy and cake and ice cream for dessert. Then the very next week they invited us for spaghetti and meatballs and garlic bread.  It is amazing how homesick you can get for your familiar foods.

We did have another picnic on the beach as a group and

 then before I knew it it was time for the offical swearing in. The Minister of Health and the 

Minister of Education were scheduled to speak but there were conflicts and representatives were sent, however the ambassador fromthe United States did attend and speak as did our country director. This was followed by a short social hour and snack and a group party that night.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       MY ROOM

That was Thursday the 23, we stayed at our host families until Monday the 27th, this is my last picture in at my host family, in my room.

Then we  off to our sites. I was very grateful to be arriving at a house that was already lived in.

 Some volunteers arrived at their house to find nothing at all.

                              

The house is extremely cute and well decorated by my new house mate and I very much appreciate her willingness to share her house with me.

                                                                                                                                       

        MY HOUSE                       When we got to our site I naively thought that some of my life

would become more routine, ha ha. It appears that when

 I got to work I was already three weeks behind.  They had no one to do my job so no one did it.  I am playing catchup but it is starting to happen.I am getting to know where to shop and now have a TV to watch.  While I miss the caring of my host family it was time for me to stand on my own

The best news avery came on the 29th of April.  And although most of you know, my grand daughter Sloane Elizabeth was born at 11:20 on April 28.  Mother and daughter did fine and even though I have no picture on my computer to upload for you, they are in my Kodak Gallery and I do not know how to do that, be assured she is the cutest baby ever.

Since Sloane has been born, all else pales by comparison.  I am learning my way around my site and am staring to feel more comfortable in my job.  And as most of you know have become settled enough to begin a wish list.

Hopefully this brings you up to date.  I am really hoping that by the next blog I will have really good internet.  But that will be a stroy for the next time.

Oh definitely the next time I will show you the new, but very temporary brunette Sue.

Well it is really good to be back I am sorry that 3 of my blogs needed to be PDF'd but couldn't be helped.  It is good to be in Georgetown. 

Here is a little tour

of my house one picture is the living room next is obviously the dining 

room and kitchen. There 

are three bedrooms and one bath. 

 The final picture is laundry day in the city.

The house  has wireless  internet and this afternoon I enjoyed an iced Mocha and chocolate cake at a wonderful little restaurant.

  

   I am doing my best to find a position in G-town.  I have an appointent with the head of the University of Guyana School of Nursing tomorrow and today toured the Blood Bank.  I have also met a number of people at the Ministry of Health. Tonight we are meeting a couple of other PC trainees for dinner and then relaxing at home.  This has been a great experience and confirms my decision to be in a city.  More after dinner.....   

Well.......................................

 instead of after dinner it is two days later.  So much to do so little time.  I had my interview with the Nursing Program and they are very interested.  I will post on the final outcome, but it seems

 to have good potential.  I would be involved as a clinical instructor, something I have already done.

The couple we are staying with are fantastic and hooked me up with another whole aspect of skype,so if and when I get internet I will be able to call some of you for FREE, on your land line

Everything in the city is just convenient.  We walked in the park last night and will do so again.  It is good to be back in an exercise mode. There are many walkers so it is very safe. 

Today they are taking us to the bank and market so we can learn to navigate these things ourselves in the future.

Well I am back from the market and a three 

mile walk in National Park. We are about to make homemade pizza, and chill I am sad that I only have two more days here.  Tomorrow we are invited over to another PCV's house for drinks and then are going dancing.  Should be interesting.

   In my excitement to tell you about Georgetown I forgot to tell you about my very first Cricket Match.  Talk about being confused.  It appears the rules are that you can hit the ball anywhere and then you run up to the pitchers mound with the bat touch the line and can continue running until the ball is able to be thrown at the special line at the pitchers mound or the wickett behind the batter. If you are confused join the club.  They decide at the beginning of the game how many outs there will be and some professional games go one for as much as 4 days. There was not really a Cricket field available but undaunted we used the beach which worked fine for me because I was merely a spectator.  The valient players were great to watch and by the end of the game had endured a major attack of sand flees.

The Pizza we made was terrific.  I should have taken a photo but was too busy eating. We followed the pizza with a Banana/Mango Shake and chocolate....I am in heaven.

Tonight is some drinks and dancing and tomorrow is dinner with some American Embassy People.  Then it will be time for me to take the boat back to Essiquibo.

As this may be my last post for a month. I want to be sure that all of you know I am well and have not forgotten you.  Internet is tough to come by on the Essiquebo Coast and impossible to blog from so it is my great hope that the next time you hear from me I will be posted somewhere with internet access.

I will be informing you as soon as possible about how everything shakes out.

The last thing I want say today is a very very Happy Birthday to one of my most precious gifts...my daughter, she is celebrating today and I want her to know that I love her very much.

Love to all :-)

Weighing in at.....

A little over a week has past since I began packing. First challenge was to fit all of the clothing that you see below into these three bags to the right. With absolutely no time remaining the seemingly insurmountable task was finally accomplished Thursday February 18. 

After a week of sorting, eliminating and re-sorting and eliminating some additional items, I finally managed to pare done my luggage to a mere 40 lbs. over weight.  However, considering what I had started with 120 lbs. of luggage seemed slim and trim. 

 I on the other hand was not so slim and trim. After one breakfast, four lunches, and five dinners, and several lattes I was beginning to also feel 40 lbs overweight.  Little did I know that this was not the end of my food splurge.  After two more surprise parties and one late night Skyline chili I vowed to abstain from food for forty days and forty nights. 

 I did manage to get all of my multiple carry ons on despite the two carry on rule,  I managed to carry on one pillow, a binder, an 11x14 picture, a back pack, a computer and a roller carry on, and no one even blinked.  To continue my good luck the seat next to me was empty and the lady across the aisle saw my peace corps things and informed me one of her friends is serving in the PC in Guyana, He has been there for a year and she is sending him my e-mail so he can hopefully provide me with some good new comer advice. Is this a small world or what?  Also I happen to be one of the luckiest people I know. 

  

As you can see my fast lasted until the Philly steak and cheese. 

I have had an amazing past week. I have 

unloaded a truck load of things at my friend's

house and she has yet to complain. Every single

friend has met me at my convenience and friends

whom I wanted to see but it just did not work

out were amazingly understanding. I am really

blessed.

Today was the first real Peace Corp day.We all registered and had our first sign in.  We all

started to get acquainted and spent the evening together at Abner's ... the origin of my Philly Cheese.  The group is diverse in both age and geography.  Everyone is interested in getting to

know everyone.  Later some of the group went off to see some of Philly, but I had done that earlier today,  As planned I saw Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, and climbed the Rocky steps., all 72 of them, 144 if you count coming down. The steps actually lead to the Art Museum. I was saddened to discover that Sly Stalone actually only did 5 of the steps and a stunt double did the rest, so much for hero's.  At least he looks good as a statue and the steps were fun.

Tomorrow we actually start learning what and where we will be for the next few months. I have learned that I have not been alone on the emotional roller coaster, but was unknown to me accompanied by all of my fellow PCV's.  Since it is now about 2:30 AM I think that it is time for me to sleep.  Less than 24 hours from now I will be on a plane to Guyana. More form there when I arrive.

Hope this post finds all well.  Will be back later.

The Journey Begins

This is a journey of beginnings and  endings.  It is the end of a life as I have known it for many years. As I start on this new journey I have discovered many things .  First and foremost I have had the privilege of hearing first hand what many people only have said about them after they die.  This past week I said good-bye to a job of over 20 years.  At my departure party I was told so many wonderful things by so many people with whom I have worked.  The week end before this I had the wonderful pleasure of spending time and saying good-bye to my family, all of whom made me felled incredibly loved. It made me realize how I should not neglect telling people how much they mean to me. Why is it so hard to tell people how much they mean to us?  To each of you receiving this,  know that you in some way have made an indelible mark on my life which I appreciate and hold dear. 

Secondly I have learned that most of us have much more than we need.  In fact more than we can ever use, but we cling to it with great ferocity. However once you start to let go of all of this material clutter the feeling of freedom is quite surprising and unexpected.  So enough sermonizing,  is that a word???  I am about to embark upon one of the great journeys of my life.  Almost 4 years after the death of my soul mate I am attempting to find new purpose and goals for myself.  As many of you know I will be leaving next week for Guyana, South America to begin service in the Peace Corps. This comes about 1 1/2 years after I received my first post card from the Peace Corps, saying  "Have you ever thought about joining the Peace Corps?" I can honestly say I never had, but just prior to receiving this card I was searching for some new way to approach life. The more I investigated this option the more right it seemed. As I stand here today it seems perfect.  The journey has not been without difficultly. The signs you see above had been up since the middle of August. Not anticipating the great October collapse I did not also know that 3 weeks before departure I would still have my house unrented and unsold.  Then out of the blue a gentleman calls and rents the house for the exact amount of time that I will be gone. He will be moving in as I leave. Life is always a surprise. So things continue to work out.  I start my journey next Sunday in Philadelphia, where I have never been to visit. I will start at the Liberty Bell, proceed to Independence Hall and finish at the Rocky statue and trying to do a Rocky climb of the steps. We'll see how that goes. After a short orientation on Monday we will proceed to JFK for departure to Guyana. I received a call from the Peace Corps representatives in Guyana on Friday and now know that we will be in Georgetown for three days before going to the Essequibo Region. I have not attempted to imagine or anticipate anything but have decided to go with the flow.My challenges so far have consisted in removing all personnal things from my home, which seemed to multiply by the minute, and to figure out how to downsize my life into two suitcases.... I am still working on that one. My emotional roller coaster is beginning to level out for a while but it has been quite a ride. Things have worked out my bills are now autopaid and my Real Estate is rented and thanks to my daughter and Holly I can now use Skype, a definite disadvantage if you are not looking your best, but actually a wonderful invention. Next step Guyana.