40ish Days in Guyana

Well, I’ve been here for 40ish days now, hence the title. Since then I’ve learned a few important things that I’ll share just now.

·         Just Now (I’ll devote an entire post to this later)

·         My family knew who Ken Jennings was. There’s a woman on Jeopardy who’s won for 20 days straight, I think. Murica said that she was going to break Ken’s record.

·         You want to talk about shrinkage? Take a cold shower every day for 30 days. They’ve gone back up into my body.

·         My sister, Ja’El, legitimately thought Run DMC’s name was Ron DMC. Hilarious.

·         On Monday we were talking about Guyana and Guyanese culture and comparing them to the US. The teacher asked our class to sing our national anthem. So we all did, it was an incredibly patriotic moment in a country far, far away.

·         Every night my family and I watch the 8 o’clock movie on the Guyana Learning Channel. They show math and Spanish lessons during the day. Last night it was Muppets take Manhattan, before that it was The Great Muppet Caper so pretty quality films. Usually it’s a kid’s movie and if there’s more than one they do the whole series before moving on. There’s a bunch of Muppet movies so I’ll be an expert by the time I come home.

·         Commercials seem to be run by someone pushing buttons on a dvd player. At a commercial break the screen will pause on a graphic then a play logo will pop up like someone pushed play.

That’s most of the new things that I’ve learned. I’ve tried a lot of different fruits and vegetables. Corailla is pretty good, and never eat a sugar apple.

On Friday, I get my final site placement. It basically determines the next two years of my life so I’m simultaneously excited and scared. No matter what happens though I’m sure it will be a great experience. Staying positive is something you learn pretty quickly out here. If you’re not framing things positively, you won’t survive here very long. Not that things are bleak or bad but this place can get overwhelming fast. Still riding that high of being in South America. I’ll definitely post this weekend to let you all know where I’m going since I’m sure you’re all on the edge of your seats.