A Parbo in Parbo

Well why should my adventure start out without a hitch? Monday morning as I awoke early to head to Georgetown (I was staying by another PCV for the weekend) for Mash (Mashramani), my head was pounding, I had a full body rash, fever, got super dizzy/nauseous/weak when I stood up, and as the minutes progressed my muscles began to hurt more and more (it felt like I lifted a ton of weights in the gym the night before). Now those of you who get email updates from the CDC know that those symptoms are A) pretty generic for most ailments B) also sound pretty darn close to the symptoms for dengue/malaria/chikugunya/ebola. So needless to say my mash took a different turn than planned. I ended up going to the PC office to relax and see the PCMO (peace corps medical officer). Since Monday was a holiday I had to wait until tomorrow to go get blood work taken. So that left me to drink (water) in the office and sleep, while my friends went to "mash up d place." To put this in a context closer to home, imagine you're staying in an office on Royale St. while you're friends go off to Mardi Gras on Bourbon. It was a tough decision to stay in, but I think in the long run it was the right one. As on Wednesday after pleanty of fluids and rest, I was feeling much better and began my trip out to Suriname. 

The only real highlight of the journey to Paramaribo (parbo) was getting to cut the extremely long line at customs after the ferry, saving me about 2 hours of waiting time because I was taking a Bus filled with Guyanese who had already gone through first and didn't want to wait for me. 

After about 12 hours, and a really pretty drive through the Surinamese countryside, I arrived in Parbo and met up with the person that I will be staying with. He's a fun quirky guy, originally from the Philippines  working as a nurse, who is so kind to open his abode to me (and another surfer) and helped to cook dinner that night. 

Later on we met up with a pair of brazilians, Americans, and a Dutchman, and while they had Dutch pancakes (think crepes), I shared a "djogo" of Parbo with my host (a litre bottle of beer). 

Today I explored the city by myself going to the synogogue, the market, Fort Zeelandia, walking through old colonial streets enjoying more beer and street food, and am now sitting in the shade of a benab in the Palmentuin, a densly planted park filled with royal palms, writing this post. So the next time I can get to wifi I can upload this through my phone. 

I've been in Suriname 24 hours now and I already love this trip. It's definitely washing out the bad taste in my mouth from the last time I visited. I'm looking to see if I can rent a bike and visit some old plantations across the river, take a day trip to Brownsberg (a rainforest preserve in the interior), and maybe Shabbat services at shul? We'll see what I get into...

"Donkey-well"

Going On a Trip with My Three Best Friends

Monday the 23th of February is the national holiday of Republic Day, commonly known as “Mash.” Mashramani, an Amerindian word for “celebration after hard work,” celebrates Guyana becoming a Republic and the celebrations are similar to Carnival in most countries in the region.

After a day in town watching the parades, I’ll be heading out on a trip lasting just shy of three weeks. I’ll be going to Suriname, French Guiana, and Brazil. Coming with me will be three friends that I haven’t traveled with in quite some time: Me, Myself, and I. The four of us will be doing a bit of Couchsurfing and strolling through each of the countries on a loose itinerary. I’m not sure what my internet access will be like, but if I have the chance I’ll try and post short blog posts updating where I am and what I’ve been up to. I’m getting really excited for this backpacking adventure, and can’t wait to take some great pictures and make some good stories for later.

I’ll finish my trip the day before my COS (Close Of Service) conference, also St. Patrick’s Day! This conference goes over all of the logistics involved with ending my service in Guyana, what to expect in the coming months, and transitioning home. I can’t believe my time here is drying up, it feels like I just stepped off the plane in the pouring rain.

I'll Be Back Jus Now (guest post from Kaylie)

I’m slightly embarrassed to admit that when David found out where he’d be serving for the Peace Corps just over 2 years ago, I had never even heard of Guyana, let alone plan to visit twice in two years.   

It’s weird to think that the next time we go back to visit, David’s 7 year old ‘niece’ will probably have kids of her own.  Hopefully, when we visit in 20 years or so, we’ll see a lot of development throughout the country – hopefully the tourism industry will grow and thrive so people from all over the world can come experience the beauty of the Guyanese rainforest, and maybe the trail to Kwakwani will even be paved – likely reducing the travel time to his village by at least a couple hours (I’m not putting money on that one though)!

We got to travel a good bit this time around.  David took me to Kaieteur Falls, which is arguably Guyana's most famous attraction.  The Guyanese claim that its the largest single drop waterfall in the world.   Regardless of whether or not thats actually true, it is definitely one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen.  We took a small (13 passenger) plane to get from Georgetown to Kaieteur, and once I got over the fear of crashing, I actually really enjoyed the flight.  The plane flew fairly low, so much of the time we had a really nice view of the country while we were in the air.  

David and I also had the pleasure of visiting Arrowpoint - a small eco resort that is a two hour boat ride down the Demerara River from Georgetown.  It was a very intimate getaway experience.  The only people staying at the resort other than David and I was another couple and the 4 staff people there to help us with whatever we needed.  We spent our time at Arrowpoint enjoying the beautiful scenery, laying in the hammocks, kayaking, hiking, and mountain biking - we even went on a nighttime boat expedition where we saw a cayman (or, as we Americans call it, an alligator) - very cool, but a little scary!

Other than the traveling, I spent the rest of my trip in David's village hanging out with his host family.  It was a really wonderful trip and I can't wait to see whats in store 20 years from now when I visit again!

I've included a bunch of pictures from my time in Guyana – hope you enjoy!

View of Kaietur from the Plane

View of Georgetown from the plane.

    

David's Kaietur Selfie.

They call the water in the Arrowpoint area "Black Water" - supposedly the dark color is from the leeching of tannins from decaying leaves of vegetation.  Between the extremely dark black water and the stillness of the river, there is a mirror-like reflection that is absolutely gorgeous!

The view from David's veranda in Kwakwani.

Taking a stroll through the mines in Kwakwani.

Bush Pool park area in Kwakwani.  

I'm in the Paper!

I was recently interviewed for an article in The Northbrook Tower about my Peace Corps service and it was just published. For those who can sign in to the website here's the LINK

Otherwise here is the article scanned, enjoy!


DOWNLOAD IT HERE!

A Preview of What's to Come

I was just emailed this news article from The New York Times entitled, "A Multiethnic Movement Emerges in Guyana to Counter Politics-as-Usual." It does a good job of highlighting what's been happening in Guyana for the past few months in a very "clean" way, as news here tends to be very emotional and biased (check out Guyana Times www.guyanatimesgy.com, Stabroek News www.stabroeknews.com, Kaieteur News www.kaieteurnewsonline.com, and Guyana Chronicle http://guyanachronicle.com). Essentially the President, Donald Ramotar, suspended Parliment with the opposition party having a majority, and regional and general elections are now scheduled for May 11 (as announced the other day). To give some background to the article you'll read, I live in an area with a majority Afro-Guyanese, so as they say "it'll get hot jus now." In the event that I post later down that I've been evacuated as a precaution from Peace Corps, you'll now know why; that it stems from protests surrounding the elections coming up. 

Here's the article: http://p.nytimes.com/email/re?location=InCMR7g4BCKC2wiZPkcVUgkKl+VN+6Df&user_id=eab417bf162545d0a97a5d27dbbdc025&email_type=eta&task_id=142196242743779&regi_id=0

Enjoy!

What's my work like now?

It’s been well over a year since I’ve come to Guyana. In fact, I’ll be wrapping up my time here just now. So you may be wondering what I’m doing for work and how I’ve settled into a routine during the back half of my service. Here’s a quick breakdown of my schedule.

Mondays are my catch up day. I’m not teaching today like I was last year, and there’s no clinic on Mondays. So I’ll spend my day doing various things like wash (if I haven’t had the opportunity to do it over the weekend), filling out various reports for PC, and working on various other tasks for the Gender and Development task force/Camp Glow/Volunteer Advisory Council/etc. Then in the afternoon I’ll head over to the secondary school as every Monday (Tuesday and Wednesday) there is the Health Club. It’s a group of about a dozen to two dozen students who meet (three days a week) for about 45 minutes after school. Along with at least one other teacher we’ll do various activities based on what the students are interested in, or ideas that the other teacher and I come up with. In the past, we’ve done anatomy jeopardy, alternatives to sex, the reproductive systems of men/women, and have more planned for the coming term. After the club I’ll come home, fill out a quick report of the club (as it makes my huge trimester reports easier that way) and by the time I finish that, the sun is starting to set so I’ll go on my afternoon walk. Then when I come home I’ll help with dinner, bathe, and get ready for bed, maybe watch an episode of TV on my computer (right now I’m watching season 2 of The Americans), then off to sleep to do it again the next day.

Tuesdays are the infant and child clinic. This clinic focusses on newborns to 5 year olds, making sure they're up to date with all of their vaccines and growing at a healthy weight, helping mothers learn about proper feeding and nutrition (exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months then slowly weaning off, etc.) of their children and so on. I’ll help to weigh and measure the children, prepare the vaccines, and talk with mothers on their initial intake when they first come to clinic. Not that I was looking into pediatrics, but now I know I definitely don’t want to be a pediatrician. After clinic I’ll head over to the secondary school for the second day of the health club, then home for my report, walk, dinner, etc.

Wednesdays are the antenatal clinic. Here pregnant mothers are coming in and we make sure they maintain a healthy pregnancy. I’ll help with weighing and measuring the mothers, check blood pressure and a quick urinalysis, and help out with initial intakes when women first come to clinic. After clinic I’m off to the secondary school for the third and last day of health club for the week, and then home for my report, walk, dinner, etc.

Thursdays are the family planning clinic. Today’s focus is on women (and men) choosing the right form of contraception for them (pills, injectables, IUDs, and condoms). I’ll do their intake, take their weight and blood pressure, set a return date, and keep the clinic records up to date. Today is also the day when newborns come in. So we’ll create their clinic card, do their initial weight, height, physical examination, and give the BCG vaccine. After clinic I’ll come home, relax in the hammock reading a book, go on my walk, dinner, etc.

Fridays I’m at the secondary school. This year I’m not teaching, but co-teaching with another teacher who’s using the HFLE curriculum I developed last year. Another teacher is also teaching HFLE using the curriculum I developed but she’s scheduled to teach when I’m working at the clinic so I follow up with her on Fridays to see how she’s doing and what support I can offer.

Saturdays and Sundays vary depending on what’s going on. If I’m in my village, I may be doing wash, cleaning up my room, relaxing and reading, or working on various other tasks. Though I could easily be out for various things like a Volunteer Advisory Council meeting, Gender and Development task force meeting, various camps or other projects depending on what’s going on in the PC community.

I’m supposed to be starting computer classes here in my village, but I think it’ll be pushed back until after the holidays (which is pretty normal in Guyana). There’s a private school run by one of the churches here. They offer continuous education style classes on various topics for various ages based on what the community needs. About a month or so ago the government (of Guyana) delivered laptops to all the families here under their “One Laptop Per Family” program, which has been great, except most people are using the computers just for movies/music/games. So the Empowerment Center (the name of the private school) wants to offer computer classes offering basic computer skills, along with office skills to teach Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Publisher. They have almost a dozen desktops in their computer lab and people can bring in their new laptops too (whether they have Microsoft Office or not, they can use Open Office, a free version). So we’ll see how that goes; I’m hoping it starts up quickly in the New Year and I could potentially have classes 5-6 days a week. I’d fit it in after the health clubs on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, after clinic on Thursday, and after school on Friday. And all day on Saturday.

That’s just a basic outline of my week, I hope this is a good companion post to my “Day in the life” I wrote last year.

One Big Weekend

The other weekend I was in town at the same time that GuyExpo was going on. This is one event that is talked about all year round as one of the biggest events in Guyana. It is an exposition showcasing all that the country has to offer from local manufactured products, artists, foods (both for commercial production and plenty of snack booths to buy food), rum and beer, electronics, a health fair, native Amerindian tent, children’s games and rides, and more. The mornings are closed to the public for companies to network and place orders (I’m assuming what Costco is like before it opens to the public, where businesses can do their shopping and eat hotdogs without having to listen to screaming children). Then in the afternoon GuyExpo opens for the public with busloads of school children on fieldtrips and anyone else in Georgetown to come and stroll the fairgrounds listening to live broadcasts of local radio stations, and fill their pockets with tons of free handouts from all the booths. Then at night is really just a big party. A stage is set up for local artists to play, the beer and rum flow, plenty of food, adding up to one of Guyana’s biggest “Limes” of the year. It was really nice to be in town for this to see what everyone talks about all year round.

But that’s not all! On that Sunday was the Muslim holiday of Eid-Ul-Adha (which is also a national holiday since Guyana recognizes all Christian/Hindu/Muslim holidays as public holidays; and since each Sunday is already recognized as a national holiday, whenever a holiday falls on a Sunday, Monday is also declared a national holiday). I went and visited my friend on the Essequibo Coast as her host family is Muslim to see what the community does to celebrate; since there aren’t any Muslims (not that I know of) in my community, it’s almost entirely a Christian community.

In the morning we went to the Masjid (Arabic for Mosque I found out) to see them slaughter all their bulls. From what I was told, the holiday commemorates Abraham’s sacrifice of his son Ishmael. Members of the (Muslim) community get together to purchase a bull to sacrifice in honor of this holiday and then share out all the beef to the rest of the community. I asked why they don’t use a ram as in the story and was told that in Guyana it is common to use a bull, one gets more meat for the price of the animal, but other places around the world may use rams or other animals. At this Masjid we saw probably two dozen bulls being slaughtered. It was so impressive to see how quickly all the men worked with the animals. From a live bull to being skinned, quartered, and then cut into smaller pieces took well under a half hour for each animal. When asked if I eat beef, I said of course and the man I was speaking with came back moments later with a bag full of beef for me.

Later we went back to my friend’s house to cook our “steaks” as a late brunch. I have had fresh chicken before, where it was killed, plucked, cut, and cooked immediately, but never beef. All the beef I’ve ever eaten has spent days in refrigerators before I’ve ever consumed it. Never have I eaten beef that came from a living cow/bull less than an hour before eating! Needless to say it was amazing. The pieces we got in our bag were great; we separated the large pieces of beef from the little bit of fat, gristle, and bones, rubbed the meat with different spices we had on hand and put it straight on a tawa (think flat iron) to cook to a nice medium rare. It was really nice to have a steak cooked this way as all the meat I have in Guyana (though absolutely delicious) is finely chopped up with the bones and pressure cooked well above done, before being mixed into various veggie stews or rice. A nice piece of “organic/free-range” beef (and a cold beer) really hit the spot. Though there wasn’t much else to the holiday it was nice to spend the morning at the Masjid as I definitely wouldn’t have had that opportunity to find out what the holiday is about where I live.

But wait, there’s more! Though most people celebrated Yom Kippur the Friday night/Saturday, at the Hebrew Cultural Center in Georgetown, the Israelites celebrated starting Sunday night/Monday to coincide with the exact phase of the moon over Guyana. So since I was in town I was able to visit the HCC on Monday to celebrate Yom Kippur with them. They celebrate in a very similar way as in the states except that most people sleep over starting the night before and stay there until the sun sets the following day, there are no tickets, and there isn’t a fashion show to see who’s wearing what to services. They still fasted and had a similar type service (reading the Torah and various other prayers) although there was no special High Holiday book used with a regimented service; it was more like an expanded Shabbat service with more discussion and sharing. At the concluding announcements they mentioned needing volunteers to help set up for the following holiday “the Festival of Booths” (Sukkot) but alas I would be back in site and not able to return to spend the holiday with them. The big question remains: If I fasted twice (one to coincide with Israel and one with Guyana) do I have to fast next year?

10 Things You May Not Know About Guyana

In a BuzzFeed style post, here’s a list of ten things you might not have known (bonus points if you have) about the country I’m currently serving the Peace Corps in (Notice Jim Jones didn’t make the cut because his famous Kool-Aid recipe is all anybody knows about).

~             1              ~

It’s not Ghana. It’s not Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gambia, or French Guiana. It’s Guyana. Let’s say it together na? Guyana. ‘Guy’ like, “hey David you’re such a cool guy serving in the Peace Corps.” And ‘ana’ like, “hey Ana, have you read David’s new blog post on how to say the country he’s serving in?” Guyana. Good, now that we’ve got that taken care of, let’s look at a map to see where the heck this place is? Guyana, believe it or not, is not even on the same continent as the places I just listed (ok you caught me, French Guiana is), Africa. It’s located in South America in the magical gap in our minds (“The Guianas”) with Venezuela to the west, Suriname to the east, Brazil to the south, and the Atlantic Ocean to the north. So next time you mail ANYTHING to me, make sure in big capital letters you put SOUTH AMERICA under the address; otherwise it WILL end up going to the other PCVs in Ghana or the other African PC posts.

~             2              ~

 

The country changed its name after independence. Guyana used to be called “British Guiana” before its independence on May 26^th 1966. Since independence the country has been Guyana, an Amerindian word for “land of many waters.” Because for many years Guyana was a colony of the Queen, English is the official language of the country, a point of pride for international marketing. But me know why dem bais say duh, dem bannaz speak real brux here, ya understand na?

~             3              ~

The world cup is finally over, with an exciting overtime goal by Germany. So in the spirit of international football, here’s a FIFA fact for you. Guyana has the worst football team in South America. Not surprising when you think of the football countries here, but still, Guyana is the worst (155th place in the world)). Although on the bright side of things they’re only in 11^th place among the Caribbean countries, and Guyana is much more a Caribbean country than it is South American so it’s all good.

~             4              ~

On the upside of sports, Guyana has produced some of the best cricketers in the world. Cricket, after football (thanks to the British Empire) might be the 2^nd most popular sport in the world, and Guyana has supplied some of the best players on the international stage. For you Yankees, cricket is pretty much a combination of running bases with a bat, but don’t tell anyone who knows cricket that, they might get super offended.

~             5              ~

Being a Caribbean country, Guyana shares many of the same aspects as the islands in the surrounding sea like reggae and soca music, a laid back sense of time, and a delicious culinary blend of all the ethnic groups that make the Caribbean their home. In its commitment to the Caribbean, Guyana was one of four founding members of the Caribbean Community or CARICOM. An organization similar to Europe’s EU, CARICOM is a group of various countries in the Caribbean that forms political, economic, and social groups and institutions. And guess where CARICOM is headquartered? You guessed it! Right here in the capital of Georgetown is the CARICOM Secretariat. Now who says we’re not a Caribbean country?

~             6              ~

So you’re tired of The Man taking away more and more holidays that you used to get off of work or school? Well move to Guyana. Here the government recognizes all the holidays of the three main religions in Guyana: Christianity, Hinduism, and Islam, on top of secular federal holidays. You’re not Hindu? No problem. Enjoy the day off on Phagwah and cover your friends in dye and colored powder, or just hang out and enjoy the day off. Never been to a mosque or masjid? Don tek stress, enjoy the day off while your friends celebrate any of the “Eid's.” And after all these holidays off, everyone can get together for a “celebration after hard work” for Guyana's Mashramani, celebrating the country becoming a republic.

~             7              ~

Ready for an American female president? Guyana beat Americans to the punch. The 6^th president of Guyana was an American woman, a nice Jewish girl from Chicago in fact. Janet Jagan went to school at Northwestern University where she met a handsome man named Cheddi from Guyana, fell in love, and the rest is history for this First Lady, Prime Minister, and President.

~             8              ~

Forget Niagara, Victoria, or Iguaçu, Guyana’s got the highest single drop waterfall in the world; or something like that. No one is exactly sure why Kaieteur Falls is so awesome, in this country of superlatives, but come see it for yourself! I’m hoping to get to go by the years end.

~             9              ~

We’re gonna rock down to… Guyana? Want to know what song will play when you call me? Electric Avenue by Eddy Grant, who’s a Guyanese. Pretty cool huh? All this time you’ve been listening to this song you never knew he came from Guyana (or knew of Guyana).

~             10           ~

As you know, I live in Guyana. But believe it or not, half of the PCVs in Guyana actually live in Venezuela. Do they have a long commute you might ask? No not at all. Venezuela claims that all the land west of the Essequibo River is part of Venezuela and not Guyana, in an area they call Guayana Esequiba. That is equal to half of the country! I’m sure it has absolutely nothing to do with the majority of the gold and diamond fields in Guyana are located west of the Essequibo, they’re just claiming it for pure historical reasons. So have I been to Venezuela? Well, it depends on who you ask.

Hey I'm on TV!

So one of the TV stations in Guyana came to camp GLOW and interviewed me on the program. so if you want to see what I'm like at camp towards the end of the day (exhausted if you couldn't tell), enjoy the video clip!

Hey Barack, What's the Peace Corps All About?

Here's a video Obama made. Yes, its quite a recruiting plug, but hey it's from the prez! Enjoy




And if you're wanting some tongue and cheek humor, here's another explaining exactly what the Peace Corps is like lol

One Down, One To Go

So I’m just over the halfway mark of being in Guyana with the Peace Corps, with one more year to serve. My cousins wedding was a good excuse to come home at the halfway point to see family and friends; and I did not mind one bit catching up on craft beer, hot showers, fast/clean laundry machines, and some food I can’t get here. But alas, here I am back in the heat and humidity of the tropics getting ready for my next year – with Camp GLOW coming up all too soon.

I’ve been doing a lot of reading recently; it’s strange how I’ve come to like something I’ve hated being forced to do for the last decade or so. One article I came across talked about the differences between "communities and networks" I couldn’t have read this at a more opportune time, as it was perfect in my reflection of what I'm doing here in Guyana and the relationships I've made. You're more than welcome to read the article yourself, I liked it, but the main thesis is that networks are an anonymous group that connect with only one aspect of a person, and communities are a tight knit group with giving and receiving an integral part of membership. With this lens, it gave me a new perspective in looking at my life now in the Peace Corps.

We use the term “community” quite often in the Peace Corps so it was nice to look at the article’s criteria in seeing the different communities I belong to. “Community” is more than just the village I live in, but also the staff I’m part of, and the group of volunteers I belong to, or even my host family; people often have more than one community. Though right now I'm missing showering with two hands and choosing what to watch on TV, it was so nice to be welcomed back by so many people as soon as I got off the plane (running into friends who work at the airport). Taking my afternoon “breeze out” I passed by various students who shouted “Sir” as they rode by on their bikes, or people at the hospital welcoming me back to work.

My CU alumni newsletters, though sometimes entertaining to read, never mention anything if I click “delete” before I open it, but the relationships I've made here over the past year seem to really point out how I'm part of a community rather than a network. Here in Guyana, in various circles I now realize I've been built into a system where I not only benefit and receive, but others depend on my input as well. It’s been nice to step away at this halfway mark to be able to come back and evaluate what I'm doing here in Guyana.

Is what I'm doing “hard”? At times yes. But other times it’s so enjoyable. I really do appreciate this opportunity I've embarked on and am truly looking forward to my next year to see what lies ahead of me. I'm not sure I’ll ever really be able to do something like this again and I try my best to remember that and to take advantage of every minute of it. I'm learning so much but I'm not sure I’ll even realize just how much until it’s all over.

Well, the sun is starting to set and it hasn’t rained that much today, so if you’ll excuse me, there’s music playing in the air, I’m going out on a walk.

PC Guyana Bulletin #2

Hey everybody, here's the next installment of the PC Guyana bulletin, highlighting everything that happens at this post.



DOWNLOAD IT HERE
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-pSgYjtR2BVTHdiaXJ3cHhiOW9OTmRqVGxwUkNBVHl3ejNN/edit?usp=sharing

Creolese 101

Eh wam de bannaz (hello, how are you my fine upstanding friend)!?

It’s now been a year since I’ve been in Guyana, you know “the only English speaking country in South/Latin America.” If I haven’t made it clear in my blog as yet, that there’s multiple things off with that "Peace Corps phrase.” Like how I serve in the Caribbean rather than South/Latin America (saying I serve in South America conjures up a whole different idea of what Guyana is like), or how this is an English speaking country. Guyana is definitely NOT an English speaking country. Besides all the indigenous languages spoken in the interior (though no one I interact with speaks any of these languages, but other PCV’s do), English is definitely not spoken; it’s Creolese. Yes the same Latin alphabet is used, and even many of the same words, but with totally different meanings. Here in Guyana we do not speak English but instead a different language altogether. I’ve put together a little compilation of videos/songs and local news articles to give you a taste of what language is like here in country.

Here’s a medley by a Guyanese group The Tradewinds. It’s three folk songs: “In Guyana,” “Lilly Gyal,” and “Bamboo Fyah” with a nice montage of pictures from all over the country. This kind of old folk music isn’t really played very often but listening to the songs is a good representation of how you could expect people to sound when you come to Guyana.

In a local paper, the “Kaieteur News,” they have a column entitled “dem boys seh.” In this daily newspaper the writers comment on local/national news stories in Creolese. It’s best if you read it out loud at first to hear yourself if you’re trying to understand what the articles are about. These are a great way to see how people talk here in Guyana. Here’s the link to find the column online http://www.kaieteurnewsonline.com/category/features-columnists/dem-boys-seh/ pick any story, they're all just as good as the next.

Another song by The Tradewinds that I listened to in training called “The West Indian Alphabet.” They go through all the letters in the alphabet matching them with local meanings.

I hope this gives you a better understanding of what language is like here in Guyana. PS please let me know what else you’re interested in me covering in upcoming blog posts.