Graduation and Kwakwani Teen pageant

Oh, hey, didn't see you there. What's up?

Oh nothing, just hanging out in Kwakwani. I've got the Guyana Marathon next Saturday. I decided to downgrade to the half, don't hold it against me. That should be fun, going out to PCV Kelly's old site and running around. Cue Run Through The Jungle, right?

Last week was the graduation for the secondary school. It was an interesting experience. I thought it was a little strange to be having graduation in the middle of the fall term. The seniors from last year came back and sat through a graduation ceremony. I asked Sirs Rolex and Russell about it and they agreed it was a little silly to have people come back just to sit through graduation.

The ceremony was half variety show, half graduation. There were some songs by the newly formed choir club (they were assembled about a week before), a few dances by the dance team (formed around the same time as choir club), and a poem. Oh, and one stanza of the Guyanese National Anthem. Secretly, I suspect the majority of people don't know the whole thing because I've never heard it all at once. These were all interspersed with speeches from guest speakers and thankings of the sponsors and school board. The assembly only had one speech directed at the graduates and the diplomas were given out afterward while everyone mingled.

All in all, I had a good time. 8/10 would graduate again.

Yesterday was Kwakwani Day. It's a big celebration for Kwakwani, just an excuse for a party really. it was an experience to say the least.

To start, I figured that Kwakwani Day would, in fact, take place during the day. I puttered around the morning then went down to Independence Square. It's the equivalent of the fair grounds back home.

When I got there everyone was still setting up, stringing flags around the fence and setting up the stage. I asked a girl that was sitting in front of the square what was going on. She told me that there was going to be a pageant later that day. I continued on, picked up a few things in town then circled back to the house.

Later, as it was getting dark, I went down to the square again. It's only a five minute walk from my house. As I approached I was once again crestfallen. The place looked nice, the stage was dressed up nicely, there was a fully inflated bouncy house and booths were being set up around the perimeter of the square. To add to the ambiance the soca music blared from the next door club, the Double Deuce. But still there was no one there. A few people were milling around outside but nothing was really happening. I cruised on home and since I could hear the Double Deuce's music from my house I figured when it quieted down that would mean the pageant started.

About 9PM the music quieted down and I could hear people talking over the speakers from my house. That was my cue to head on over so I did.

When I arrived, there were still lots of people standing around outside the field. There was a lady sitting near the entrance so I assumed I would have to pay to get in and that's why no one else was going in. So I paid my $300 and went in.

The field was lit by one large light pole in the middle and the visibility dropped off noticeably at the edges. In the back was the big stage, on the left were the booths selling food, and off to the right was a comically deflated bouncy house with about ten kids inside. They were happily running around but there was little to no bouncing going on. Further off, behind the bouncy house that I hadn't noticed before were a few rusty swing sets that I imagined would result in a hospital trip for a few kids the next day. And behind that was a big aluminum shed that, from what I understood, is where the after party would take place.

I showed up in the middle of the talent portion of the pageant. The first girl was just finishing her song, the next had a choreographed dance, then the next also had a song. Then there was a break in the action and the DJ, referred to by the emcee as "The Selector", played some more soca at a volume that could only be described as deafening.

The next section was the Work Wear. I was very intrigued to see what that would entail, you don't generally see Work Wear in the Miss Universe pageant so I figured this must be a very progressive pageant. I can't quite remember all of them now but I do remember there was a nurse and a construction worker. I remember the nurse because I was pretty sure it was a Halloween costume based on it's brevity. And I remember the construction worker because she was wearing a bright yellow helmet and took a few sexy swings of the hammer that she pulled from her tool belt. She also did something fairly suggestive with a tape measure.

One of the most interesting parts was wondering what they had told the contestants back stage. During this and the Formal Wear section the contestants all walked around a 10' by 20' stage just long enough to make things a little weird. It didn't help that it was very apparent they must have all been told to always look at the crowd. So when they walked from the front of the stage to the back, they craned their necks around and stared at all of us. It got weird. Just to clarify, the young women did a great job just their stage instructions needed work.

Between the Work Wear and Formal Wear sections there was another intermission where two Guyanes women came out on stage and did a choreographed dance. The dance itself was one of the most professional I've seen in Guyana. However, I'm not convinced it was the most appropriate for the mixed crowd as it was very suggestive at points. It also didn't help that they were dressed in short, gold shorts and tops that left very little to imagination. The reason I bring it up is that at the very end of the show when, traditionally, the winners and runners up are announced they made another much more sensational appearance.

So they trotted out all the contestants and lined them up. They all stood there in a line eagerly awaiting the results. Then the emcee said we all had to wait while the scores were totaled up by some unseen judges. But the girls didn't move. No one told them to. They all just kept standing there looking very pretty with great big smiles on their faces. After five minutes it got weird. After 10 things were basically unbearable. Then the emcee announced the dancers would be coming back onstage. I assumed that meant the contestants would go backstage and the dancers would come back and do some dancing. Nope. They kept standing there, very professionally, while this time three dancers came onstage carrying chairs onto the stage. I moaned internally.

The dancers did a very good job they were very professional and if there goal was to be more sexually charged than their first performance then they nailed it. My heart just dropped for those contestants on stage though. There they are, standing very primly just trying to do their best and all of a sudden they're getting front row seats to a dance that would be frowned upon in some circles. But there they stood, smiling, looking great they never faltered for a second. It was surreal.

The dancers finished up then the winners were announced. Second place was a girl from my health club at Kwakwani Secondary. After that, I went on home and put myself to bed since it was about 12AM.

And that's the story of Kwakwani Secondary School Graduation and the Kwakwani Teen Pageant.

Run Through the Jungle

                Last Saturday, the 15^th, I ran a half marathon out at Santa Mission. Santa was the site of one of our volunteers, Kelly, who was instrumental in the planning and execution of the race. It was a lot of fun, just running on a trail through the jungle. It was tough, the heat and humidity were worse than any race that I’ve run before and the hills and valleys were a little undersold.

                It started with a meeting at the brand new Marriott in Georgetown. Kaylee, Jeremy, and I left a screening of the new Bond movie, Spectre, to the hotel where we registered and picked up our numbers and packets. I was 21. After that we hung around for a little bit and ate at the pasta dinner in the dining room of the hotel. It was a nice little ceremony then we got on the bus to Santa Mission. Well, let me rephrase. We went down downstairs and waited for the bus to arrive. Like all things in Guyana it was running on Guyanese time which, in this case, was about 30 minutes late. So we left the Marriott about 6:30pm and made it to the dock about an hour later.

                After another half hour the boat showed up and about 20 of us got on and took the boat for a nice little night time cruise under the stars. After arriving on the sandy shores of Santa, we climbed up to Kelly’s old house where we were staying the night. On the walk up I noticed a few new pieces of infrastructure that hadn’t been there the last time I’d visited when John and Scott were here. There were lights strung all over the place making the climb much easier than the first time I’d visited. There was also a small stage area that I didn’t remember being there before and the trail was marked by flags all the way out of the village.

                The next morning people bustled around putting the finishing touches on the course. There were people from all over there, Guyana, the US, Canada. Some people had come all the way to Santa Mission just for running that race which was cool. More Peace Corps staff and volunteers streamed into the village and gravitated towards Kelly’s house.

                The marathon started at 8 so we all went down to watch that. After a little bit of ceremony the marathon started and then in an hour it would be my turn with the half. I meandered around a little bit lined up at the start then we were off! Even though it was only 9AM when we started the days heat and humidity was palpable. The sections of the trail enveloped by canopy were nice and cool though and luckily it was like that most of the way. And that’s how it went for a while then I crossed the finish line after 2:31:49 which was the second best half marathon of my life. And not only that, I came in 3^rd place and won a sweet, handmade basket!