I think I’ve now caught up on my sleep… maybe

Wow. Wow wow wow. You know those times when so much is going on that you don't have time to breathe, let alone blink. And when you do, 3 weeks have just passed by?
Yes? Great, you know exactly how I feel.
No? Well, you should come out to Camp Glow.
I literally feel like August just began and now I'm looking at the last few days of the month, as if I just tessered get the reference? (Channukah gift, just sayin) across three weeks. So what happened?
On a Wednesday, I made the long journey from my site out to Georgetown where I pretty much lived at the Peace Corps office from that Wednesday to Friday night getting all the last minute logistics for Camp Glow settled along with the 5 other members of GAD (Gender and Development Task Force), the other PCV's who help to organize and run the camp; we're essential the admin staff at camp. I was responsible for organizing all of the ground transportation: trucks, busses to move campers from the meeting point in town to camp, all the individual legs of everyone's (campers, counselors, CIT's, PCV's) travel from wherever they live all over Guyana to camp. Confirming that each girl was still coming to camp to finalize the list of campers (as some had to drop last minute for whatever reason). And confirming all of our guest speakers and presenters that would be coming to camp throughout the week and organizing their travel to and from camp.
Then on Saturday all the counselors and CIT's (all of whom are Guyanese) arrived at the PC office, along with other PCV's who would be at camp this week to help out (think of them as added staff, Glow would not be POSSIBLE without them). Where we packed up a truck with all of our luggage, supplies, and food for the week, boarded a bus and drove out to the camp site. Once we arrived some PCV's helped right away to start the counselor and CIT training while myself and the other GAD members helped to unload the truck and set up camp. Sunday was continued counselor and CIT training all day. Then Monday was the first day of camp!
Surprisingly, all the time I've spent at arts & crafts at all the camps I've been to I've never heard this phrase, "glitter is the herpes of art supplies." It's SO TRUE. As I sit here now writing this post I'm still finding glitter on my body, clothes, and belongings; it won't go away! To kick off camp the CIT's went wild covering everyone and everything in glitter in excitement for the campers to arrive. Once the girls got off the bus they were fair game for glitter too. It kind of reminded me of some watered down version of sorority hazing, but hey the girls were all smiling and at least seemed to like it. From that Monday to the following Monday was one camp experience I'll never forget. There were definitely highs and lows and things I could have never seen coming.
One of my highs was at a night activity called "diversity circles" watching a few Amerindian girls (Amerindians are notorious for being shy and soft spoken) speak up about their own feelings out loud to the entire group, about 100 people in the room, and then being cheered on by all the other Amerindian girls. That just blew me away to see these girls transform in just a few days to be able to stand up, literally, for how they feel and what they believe in. Jaw dropping. A low was running around trying to make camp run and missing out on too many sessions to be able to sit down and listen to more girls as they participated in each session. Something I didn't see coming? The very first day when the girls got off the buses and met their camp groups they had lunch: fresh baked pizza Guyanese style i.e. plenty of corn, carrots, borra, ketchup, and Anchor cheese. This one girl ran up to me kind of panicked,
"Sir, where is the rice?!"
"The rice? We're having pizza for lunch, we'll probably have cook-up (a rice dish) for dinner tonight."
"But where is the rice?!"
"I'm sorry there's no rice for lunch."
And she walked away with her eyes bulging with this look of horror on her face as if to say, "What the hell have I gotten myself into?" A) I wasn't in charge of meal planning B) even if I was, I still wouldn't have thought to have rice for every single meal. I guess we should have seen it coming since in Guyana "a meal without rice, no matter the size, is not a meal. It's just a snack." That was something no camp in America could have ever prepared me for; the cultural differences between Americans and Guyanese. "Camp" is still kind of a foreign concept here. Even if you never went to a single camp in the states you still know about "camp" via friends, family, or the media. Don't get me wrong, I think the vast majority of the campers and counselors had a blast and would come back if they had the chance (I'd like to think), but just the idea of staying on a schedule, eating whatever camp food is prepared, singing silly songs, and doing nighttime activities is still new. But that's ok, it's all part of Peace Corps' 2nd goal "To help promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served."
Finally a week later camp ended and after the typical hugging and crying everyone scattered back all over Guyana leaving their new friends but vowing to stay in touch. It would seem that since camp was over I would be heading back to site. Oh no. Back to the office to finish wrapping up camp, doing a debrief with PC staff about how the week went along with other tasks to complete before heading back to site several days later.
Was it exhausting? Yes. Was it stressful? Definitely. Was it rewarding? Absolutely. All that and more. Despite needing a few extra days to relax and catch up on sleep, I'm really looking forward to being part of at least one, maybe two more Camp GLOWS.

Thanks for Paying Your Taxes!

So not too much has happened after moving to my site. I'm starting to get into a routine where I work Monday through Friday at the health center from about a little before 9 to a little after 2 (though the times vary day to day). Then once the sun starts to go down so it's a bit cooler, around 5 o'clock I go out for a walk around my town for an hour or so until the sun sets and its dark out. It's nice to get out and stroll at a cooler time of the day because it is SO HOT here. Not even going inside in the shade is a releif because the heat just builds up inside. So once it starts to cool off a bit (comparitavely) I'll go out.

But as for the title of this post. Many people have been asking me, well before I left for the Peace Corps, what the medical care would be like. I must say it's great. I think I have the best medical coverage now during the next two years than I ever will the rest of my life. The other week I had to go into town (Georgetown) because I chipped my tooth. PC staff in the office wanted to know how it happened, "rock in your rice?" "eating bones?" "did you fall/get injured?" No. None of the above. It's much more comical. With my first host family, being of Indian/Amerindian decent, I ate with my hands almost exclusivly, with the occasional spoon depending on the meal. But in my new host family, of African decent, I rarely eat with my hands; using a fork and sometimes a knife. Well, I guess after getting used to eating with my hands, I forgot how to eat with a fork! So one day over breakfast I ended up chipping my tooth by biting onto the fork I was using. I couldn't help but laugh at how funny it is, I've used forks most of my life, but not using them for a bit I guess I've become a bit more awkward with them. So needless to say I needed a dental appointment.

I called the PCMO (Peace Corps Medical Officer) and had an appointment set up 5 days later. My transportation out of site into town (and back), the full cost of the appointment (at an "international/western standard" dentist), and a hotel stay (since theres no way to get to town and back in 1 day, I have to stay overnight and leave early the next day) were 100% covered with no co-pay. Even of the best insurance plans, which ones pay for transportation and hotel?! So thank you readers for paying your taxes, I really appreciate it! Without it, I might just be stuck with a chipped tooth forever. My favorite part of the entire experience was learning that waiting room smooth jazz transcends international boundaries.