Living That Guyana Life

9/1/14

Well that was weird. I might have mentioned before that I have a lot of time to kill so I’ve been doing a lot of reading. Recently I’ve been reading Helter Skelter, it’s about Charles Manson and the Manson Family. Very gruesome. So I’m sitting here reading I get up and move to put the book on the table and something falls out. I can see it’s a newspaper clipping and, judging from the printing I can see and the shape of the cutout, the article of interest is on the reverse side. This book is very creepy, anyone who’s heard about Charles Manson knows that he and his family were pretty strange.

So there I am. Standing, looking down at where this newspaper clipping has fallen. I could tell the clipping was old, it was yellowed and on the side I could see was a partial picture of policeman. Judging from his manner of dress combined with the color of the paper I could tell the article was not from this decade. I assumed the article must have been from a time period closer to when the book, and the Manson Family murders, took place.

I reached down and picked up the clipping. I fully expected to see the smiling face of Charles Manson on the other side. I turned it over and the reality wasn’t much better. It was an article, dated by hand in 1977, stating that Roman Polanski would be indicted for the rape of a 13 year old. Roman Polanski’s wife, Sharon Tate, was one of the victims of the Manson Family so that connection made sense but it was a strange thing to hold onto for 37 years. I wonder if whoever put it in the book knew that someday someone would find their article in South America. And to whoever did, that really freaked me out since I was just reading the part about the actual murders. Please don’t do it again.

9/2/14

                Well, its day 3 without running water and only intermittent, unreliable power. I was going to take to Facebook and verbalize my woes a little but then I realized: there are people, some of them very near me and some I know who don’t have water or power at all.

                There’s a comic strip that I really enjoy, Calvin and Hobbes. Nick and Chris enjoy it as well, so much so that Chris named one of his stuffed tigers Hobbes. Now, Calvin has a very philosophical way of putting things if you haven’t read the strip it’s essentially morals and life lessons framed by a 6 year old. In one strip, Calvin takes hold of a helium balloon and it lifts him into space. I forget the actual set up but at the end of it Calvin says, “Life’s never so bad that it can’t get worse.” I’ve tried to keep this in mind during my time here. No matter how bad I have it there’s always someone that has it worse. And often times that person is another Peace Corps Volunteer. What right do I have to complain when there are so many others that don’t have anything close to the few luxuries that I have?

                Interestingly, there is a psychological component to this train of thought. Multiple studies, none of which I can site because of my lack of internet access, have shown that people in lower middle and lower classes will often rank themselves in a higher class then they really are. The idea that someone else always has it worse is a truly human thought and ingrained into our very beings. Food for thought. Or at least a sandwich.

                And as I write this I am enjoying one of the most beautiful vistas from my porch. I’ve posted photos on Facebook and I’ll try to post one here but it is indeed postcard worthy.

9/4/14

                I got water last night! Albeit it was a deep shade of brown red but it was liquid enough to wash my dishes without having to go downstairs for a bucket of rainwater from a quickly emptying rain catchment. Sometimes it’s the little things.

                Apparently someone hit a pole and took the power out on Saturday. Since then electricity had been intermittent. Another volunteer, Naomi, told me that they’re cycling the power from one side of the coast to the other every six hours. They finally got the cycling right so now I have electricity from 12AM-6AM and 12PM-6PM. The water pumps need power to work so pair that up with the water station that’s supposed to, but hardly does, run from 4AM-10AM and 4PM-10PM and I’ve got water for, at best, almost four hours a day! Exciting!

9/6/14

                Unfortunately the water has gone back to not working. My rain tank is emptying quickly there’s about an eighth of a tank left (it’s 200 gallons, supposedly) but it’s not just me using it, the rest of the family does as well. But things will work themselves out I’m sure, at least I have access to water.

                One thing I’ve noticed is that whenever I’m casually strolling down the street and there’s a small child grasping his mother’s hand coming the opposite direction they always stare at me. I think, for some of these children and maybe some adults as well, I must be the first white person they’ve ever seen. It’s an interesting feeling and I resist the urge to pick my nose for fear of labeling the entire white community that I am now an ambassador for.

9/14/14

                I’ve been working on finding things to do lately. Right now, I might have an in with a local primary school. I’m going to try to paint a world map for them. I went to the school on Friday but the Head Mistress (Pricipal) wasn’t there. I spoke with the Secondary Mistress (Vice Principal) and she said she was all for the world map idea. Then she said it was her last day at the school and that she was transferring to a new one on Monday. That’s actually pretty typical down here.

                Yesterday morning I was washing my dishes and I found a dead cockroach in the sink. As I looked at it I had a singularly disturbing thought. Cockroaches, I’ve heard, can basically never die. They are supposed to be able to survive a nuclear apocalypse. The thought that I had was if this cockroach is indeed dead, and not just playing dead to lull me into a false sense of security before leaping up and biting me, there is an aspect of my life that is so toxic it has killed the one creature designed to survive a nuclear explosion. Something I do on a daily basis is able to kill what, essentially, cannot be killed. How filthy of a human being am I?

                Yesterday afternoon I helped another volunteer with a project. She started building a library for her school. It was the first day so she was literally just starting. When I got there it was just her and 2 parents of children at the school sawing rebar and wiring it together to make forms for the concrete to grip. I pitched in as much as I could. This was definitely one of those brochure moments that you hear about in Peace Corps, building a library in a developing country. It was cool.

                When I first got there I felt a little out of place. I don’t really know Iris that well and I wasn’t sure what to do. Then I remembered, “What happens when you go outside your comfort zone? It gets bigger.” After that I tried to be as proactive and volunteered to do anything they needed. Thanks Kristin.

                My mom taught me to be proactive. Whenever she had my brothers and I out in the field or in the garage working on some project she always stressed being proactive and anticipating needs. It’s something that’s been instilled in me and I’ve been trying to use it here. I think it’s working. I can feel my schedule filling up. Thanks Mom.

                My grandpa Pat has to be one of the most friendly and outgoing people I’ve ever had the joy of knowing. There have been moments when I’ve thought, “What would grandpa do?” Generally, I try to do whatever I think he would do. Thanks Grandpa.

                My friend Reed emailed me this past week. This is a guy I haven’t talked to in at least 3 or 4 years but it’s still good to hear from him. All it took was me moving to South America. He said that he sometimes envisions leaving his office job and coming down here. Reed you’re always welcome here. Thanks for the email. It really does mean a lot.

                My friend Abby sent me a Facebook message after that last post. Abby and I aren’t the closest but I still appreciated her reaching out. She’s also become a co-owner of my fantasy football team. Thanks for the support Abby, I appreciate it. A lot.

                Thanks Scott for being commissioner fantasy football gives me something to do in my free time. It can be a great distraction from some of the stuff that goes on down here.

                My friend Sarah has provided me with some technical and moral support. I don’t think she realizes how much she has helped me even before I left. Thanks, friend.

                And thanks to everyone for all your support, moral and otherwise. It gets tough down here sometimes. I’m tearing up just a little thinking about all of you and I know I say it all the time but I miss all of you. I miss Oregon. I miss the rain. I miss hating the U of O. I miss waking up cold. I miss just about everything at one time or another. But I’m going to stick it out for as long as I can, this really is a great opportunity that I’m going to try to make the most of.

P.S.

Emily, I don’t know if you read this but I imagine someone will forward it to you, maybe Chase? I really will miss you, you’re a pretty cool cat and I know that you’re going to do some pretty great things back home. We’ll definitely meet again sometime.

P.P.S

                Also, as I’m posting this the morning of September 15, 2014 I saw that this blog has been viewed 1084 times! This is probably the most successful blog ever. Thanks for reading, everybody! Shoot me an email sometime, timdaniel25@gmail.com.