A Day in My Life

A day in THIS guy's life

Around 7am my alarm goes off. And by “alarm” I mean the family of birds living in the circuit breaker box above my head, start chirping. And those birds are pretty accurate, after a few more mornings of checking the time they start chirping I may not use my “real” alarm clock any more. As I lay in bed for a few minutes before I get up I hear my host sister yell, “Makayla! Get up, it’s time for school!” as she tries to get her daughter up for primary school (something I really haven’t heard before, I always got up on time to get to school as a child, my parents never had this problem with me; my two brothers on the other hand…). Since the inside walls to my home only reach up about a two feet past the height of the door all the rooms are open up top so I can easily hear what’s going on in the entire house from my room. By this time my host mom has already gotten up and cooked lunch for the day as well as prepared tea (what Guyanese call breakfast). Even before this time my host brother has been up, fed the pigs, fed the chickens, let the yard fowls out, had tea, and left for work.

My real life cuckoo clock

Tocino and Jamón

Yard fowl

90 hens a layin...

I get up and put on a pair of shorts and walk outside to the pit latrine out back passing Diamond our dog, the two twin cats that hang around the yard, and maybe a fowl or two, with the sun already shining hot on my back. Afterwards I get dressed and ready for work. Tea varies from morning to morning but today it’s a cup of plantain porridge. I mix in a spoonful of powdered milk and a tiny bit of raw Demerara sugar (absolutely the best sugar I’ve ever tasted, beats anything from Mauritius, it’s more than just sweet it has a lot of flavor; you can eat it straight like candy). I grab a hunk of cassava bread (what I envision sailors’ hard tack to be like), dunk it in the porridge, and walk out back and stand on the top step overlooking the whole garden trying to mute my smile so I can at least finish my breakfast. Other mornings it might be a cup of tea (which really means any hot drink like tea (bag), instant coffee, Milo, Ovaltine (I still hear kids screaming “more Ovaltine please!” in my head), or milk (powdered)) which I drink with cold water instead because I try and hold off sweating for at least another half hour), bake (like a savory doughnut), eggs, fried plantains, other types of porridge (plantain, barley, corn, oat, or wheat),  or fresh baked bread with a little peanut butter or homemade guava jam. Then I fill my water bottle (from my PC approved water filter), take my malaria pill (if it’s a Thursday), and pack up my lunch into a compartmental thermos to carry to work. Then it’s down the stairs passing Diamond with a quick “oh don’t you get up just for me,” and I’m off walking to work.

The view off the back porch

Diamond our "guard" dog

New house for 2 years?

It’s about a 15 minute leisurely walk in the hot Guyanese sun (most Guyanese (though it’s really women, I think it’s a gender thing) walk with an umbrella year round to give some shade from the sun and if it’s raining then they’re covered too) to the hospital, on the way saying “good morning” to everyone I pass on the road. Then a few hours at the health center (located in the hospital) of weighing babies, watching kids scream their lungs out getting a vaccine, or talking with pregnant mothers about breastfeeding. Then comes lunchtime.

So excited to make choka out of this balanje

Today I’m having rice with pumpkin stew and a piece of fried fish. Lunch is always a base of rice with other types of stews: burnt sugar chicken, balanje, fish, macaroni and cheese, liver, dal, etc. but ALWAYS with rice. Then after a little bit more at the health center I begin my walk home. I stop and gaff (creolese for chat) with other staff at the hospital as I make my way to the entrance and head home. Another 15 minute easy going walk through the market and back home, the “good morning” changing to “good afternoon,” taking my shoes off and changing into shorts as fast as I can.

The view coming home

My new hangout

I cool off and relax in the hammock or stroll through the garden/farm. Here’s a list of everything I could think of that’s here though I know I’m missing more: mangos, plantains, coconuts, 2 types of bananas (I didn’t know that there were “types” of bananas until I came to Guyana), pine (pineapples), guavas, pawpaw (papaya), cherries, five fingers (star fruit?), pumpkin, squash, cassava, 3 types of peppers (hot), callaloo, carila (bitter melon?), balanje (eggplant), ochro (okra), bora, pear (avocado), thyme, yard fowls running around, 90+ chickens (the eggs should start in December), 8 pigs, and plenty of plants around like aloe, and a bunch more that I have no idea what they are but look nice.

I'm lovin this house

The Garden

More veggies

Plantains in the backyard

Peppers!

Mmmmm coconuts

Then around 5pm I breeze out (creolese for “taking a stroll”) around town for a bit stretching my legs and relaxing my mind from the day; normally I walk for an hour or so. When I come home it’s about time to get dinner started so I help out in the kitchen with anything from chopping vegetables, stirring a pot, to rolling out dough. Tonight is chowmein with chicken. Other nights it’s sausage (hot dog) and eggs, liver, cook-up (it’s like rice and beans with coconut milk and often with a type of meat), fried rice, soup, dried food (a provision stew), bake, etc. and almost always with a cup of hot “tea.” 

One of my neighbors "breezin out"

Host niece and neighbor kids

Want this as your shower view?

Afterwards I hang out with Makayla helping with her “take away cards” (subtraction flash cards), play guitar on the front veranda (balcony), or gaff in the kitchen or on the back step with my host mom, brother, and sister until it’s time to get ready for bed. This is BY FAR my favorite time of the day. I wrap up in my towel and walk outside to the washroom (shower stall), and bucket bathe under the banana trees with the moon and stars for light. With the exception of the bucket part, I can just imagine people stateside willing to pay big bucks for this shower/view while on vacation at a remote tropical resort. By this time it’s finally cooled off outside and the water is so refreshing, definitely a great end to my day. I walk back upstairs grab my toothbrush and brush my teeth off the back step. Then I head into my room, set up my fan (which I recently bought, a great decision), and crawl underneath my mosquito net where I’ll read a book (off the kindle I got from PC) with my headlamp for light. When I either get to a good stopping point or become too tired I roll over and head off to dream land. Although there has been a surge in demon possessions recently amongst the secondary students and the exorcisms (prayer sessions as they say) are being done at the church across from my house so it’s definitely been an experience listening to the blood curling screams as I try and fall asleep. They blast gospel music from a huge speaker system to try and mask the noise, so I really end up falling asleep to a mixture of screams, people shouting prayers, and recorded gospel; it’s great. And that’s just a typical day in my life, and I LOVE IT!