12/10/14
Two weeks ago we celebrated Thanksgiving down in Linden.
Linden takes about an hour and half to get to from Georgetown and Georgetown is
between 3 and 5 hours from my home in Suddie.
The whole thing went very smoothly, getting there, enjoying
friends, and getting back. Here’s my favorite part.
That Saturday, the 29th, my friend Ryan announced
that he had a radio show to do from 7:30-9:30. He said that his friend and
co-host said that we’d get into the club for free later that night so it seemed
like we should go. Longtime friends of mine, and short time, will recall that I
used to do a radio show with a couple of cool cats back in the day. K-hurtz,
Snack Daddy, and DJ Bailout, you know who you are, what you did and what’s on
film.
Obviously, I jumped at the chance to get back on the
airwaves so Ryan had one of his buds drive us out there. When we got there, we
were greeted by the producer and, I think, manager of the station 104.3 Power.
The station looked like it was set up in someone’s house. The foyer was a huge
room with a pile of speakers in one corner blasting the voices of the people in
the booth that you could see through the giant window. Ryan’s co-host comes out
and it’s this giant Afro-Guyanese man wearing a tank top revealing an intricate
network of tribal tattoos covering his arms and chest. He introduces himself as
Gavin. I recently read that if someone maintains eye contact with you for more
than 6 seconds they either want to kill you or have sex with you. Apparently he
wanted to kill all of us. I don’t care to think about the alternative.
Initially there were
about 10 people that came to the station but most of the party got bored and
left early leaving only me, Ryan, the “Boo Crew”, and Gavin his DJ name was G.
Ryan’s DJ name was West and obviously mine was JT. The “Boo Crew” were three
Guyanese women who looked like they had been tricked into coming and definitely
didn’t appreciate the moniker.
The way the booth was set up G had a mic stand next to him
sitting on the desk between him and me and Ryan. Ryan and I shared a handheld
microphone. It was not a great set up but it was a good time. We talked
celebrity news and talked about all the stupid stuff DJs talk about. We also
played a top 10 list pilfered from some American music site. It was definitely
a return to something that I really enjoyed and still enjoy.
This week, our Safety and Security Coordinator is checking
out all our homes and workplaces making sure we are all safe and secure. I went
out to Machabo with him today because I had literally nothing to do today. Some
of you will have already seen the pictures. Written words don’t do it justice
but it is definitely an Eden nestled on the coast of Guyana. I’ll try to post a
picture or two when I post this.
12/16/14
Hi everyone, just a quick check in I just got back from Linden again. We were doing a GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) camp. There were about 20 or so girls there at different times. It was a good learning experience for me at least since I'll be doing about the same thing with a boys camp at the end of March. I don't want to give anything away just now so I'll post more details later on. Have a few pictures in the mean time.
This is me drinking the last gallon or so of juice from the camp GLOW in Linden. If I had to describe the flavor it would be ground up Pez mixed with water.
This is a skeleton my friend Andrew painted at his health center.
This is an arty photograph of Joe holding the remains of breakfast.
This is my trusty hammock. I spend several hours a day in this bad boy.
From left to right, Erika (top), Mollie (bottom), Andrew, Kaylee, Me, and Ryan. This is from Linden two weeks ago and we're eating vanilla Oreos donated by Matt and Kathrina (not pictured).
This is Machabo lake, we had to cross it to get to Machabo.
This is Machabo. It's Ally's, another volunteer, site. Very beautiful. That little building is her house.
This is the boat that four grown men took across the lake for a half hour. I wish you could see the scale of the boat better but it got scary, quick.
This is from Essequibo Night, a big cultural event from my neck of the woods. That's me on the left, Ally in the middle and Mark on the right.
This is the view from my porch.
This is the group at kaietur falls. Too many people to name without confusing you. Just know that everyone is pretty cool.
While I've got your attention, I'm trying a new thing. Find me on whatsapp and I'll add you to my broadcast list and you can see all my photos, hear all my thoughts, and get all my cool updates. To do that, download Whatsapp on your smartphone and add this number as a contact 5926748145. Also follow me on Twitter @_This_is_Tim_. You just might like it.
