TravelStream™ news feed for member jaime.hurlbut on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/jaime.hurlbut en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Sat, 28 Jul 2007 15:43:47 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jaime.hurlbut/guyana-2006/1183398540/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jaime.hurlbut/guyana-2006/1183398540/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jaime.hurlbut/guyana-2006/1183398540/tpod.html Sat, 28 Jul 2007 15:43:47 -0400 Guyana!

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Friendship, Guyana

There are less than 3 weeks left of my time here in Guyana, which is incredibly difficult to fathom. I don't really feel ready to leave, as I've come to really love living and teaching here and I finally feel that I've really adapted to life in this wonderful yet abrasive place. The word BITTERsweet I think best describes my feelings right now as I mentally prepare to go back to the U.S., although they do seem a bit more bitter than sweet at the moment.








]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jaime.hurlbut/guyana-2006/1180036920/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jaime.hurlbut/guyana-2006/1180036920/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jaime.hurlbut/guyana-2006/1180036920/tpod.html Sun, 03 Jun 2007 17:29:27 -0400 Guyana!

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Friendship, Guyana

Hi! So term 3 has been going well so far, although time is flying and I can't believe it's almost June! I'm getting my students ready for their National Grade 9 Exam, which starts June 18th. Lots of studying and review. It is currently rainy season, so that is pretty interesting. Umbrellas don't really work when rain is going horizontal and you're walking through a street with water up to your knees. Anyways, I'm just posting a few short things today because I don't have too much internet time. Hope everyone is doing well!! :-)

Some Random/funny instances

** The Bird Pepper Plant:

One normal school day some students and I were doing work in the lab during a free period. Somehow a student made his way outside into the thick brush on the school grounds....not too sure why. Soon after, he goes, "Hey Miss! Come here! It's a bird pepper plant!" Okay...so now I'm in the brush investigating this plant. Apparently, it's a small bush-like pepper plant, in which birds make their nests in and lay their eggs. And sure enough, this plant had small peppers, as well as a bird's nest in the middle, complete with little crying baby birds! The student picks off a bunch of the peppers, and we go back into the lab. Other students are like, "ooh! bird peppers!" And they take one or two and pop them in their mouths. Then, of course, "Miss!! You gotta try one!" I think, hhmmmm, and ask, "Are they really hot?" And my students say, "no no... just try one!" So i'm very skeptical, and i don't really trust my students. But i just saw them pop them in their mouths with no problem, so I'm thinking maybe it won't be bad.
So I try one---ONE--and as soon as my teeth puncture the skin of this stupid pepper--which is abouth the size of a tiny paper clip--the ridiculously hot, stinging, disgusting peppery liquid penetrates every taste bud and nerve ending in my entire mouth. I run outside and spit the thing out, but it was too late---my mouth was in agony for about half an hour. And of course they thought it was hilarious. rascals.

** The other day I was on the side of the road, reading a letter while waiting for a minibus. A somewhat scraggly-looking guy comes up and asks (in thick creolese) if I need help reading English. (a little ironic). I say, "no thanks, man, I think I got it." He says, "oh, ok, you sure? I don't mind helping, I like Brazilians." I say, "well I'm not Brazilian, I don't even know Portuguese, but thanks anyways." To which he says, "What's that?"

** One night around 8pm I was outside filling up a bucket with water and a bat flew right into me--it hit me right smack on the shoulder. Shocking and weird. What happened to the little guy's sonar?

** Student (girl) to me: "Miss, I want to tell you someting, but I tink you might get vex."
Me: "Well, is it mean? What is it?"
Student: "Nevermind Miss, I don't wantcha vex"

--5 minutes later--
Student: "Miss, are ya sure you won get vex?"
Me: "I don't know what you're going to say yet, so I don't know."
Student: "Okay Miss---10 second pause---it's just that you look like Cinderella, or Snow White--can I call you Cinderella?"

--haha, guess that's better than Wcked Wtch of the West or something

*Later on that same day:
Student (boy): "Miss!! You look like a Ninja Turtle!"
Me: "ha, is it because I'm wearing a green headbad today?"
Student: "Yea!"
Me: awesome


****A few more creolese translations***
1.) Here wahappn--this is what happened, or is going to happen
2.) Ya tek ur eyes 'n pass me!--you are disrespecting me!
3.) Don rockle me--don't bullshit me
4.) Ya dep on stupidness nai--You are being foolish now
5.) New Yark--the entire continental U.S.

***Ones that my students use often:
6.) Please for a let-out--May I go to the washroom?
7.) My pen crank out!--my pen has stopped working
8.) I gonna box ya head if ya tief me pen again, bai!--I'm going to hit you as hard as I can in the head if you try and steal my pen again, boy.
9.) Ya got two pen?--I am a student who came to school unprepared, without any writing utensils, even though it is TERM 3 and I should've learned by now. Now I want to borrow a pen from you...which I'll probably forget to give back.


***Some Random Photos*** (click on 'em to make 'em bigger)














]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jaime.hurlbut/guyana-2006/1177779000/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jaime.hurlbut/guyana-2006/1177779000/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jaime.hurlbut/guyana-2006/1177779000/tpod.html Sat, 28 Apr 2007 14:57:08 -0400 Guyana!

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Lethem, Guyana

Much has happened since my last entry, including an amazing trip through the interior of Guyana to get to the town of Lethem, where a big rodeo was held on Easter weekend. Lethem is in the region of Guyana known as the Rupununi, which covers much of the southern part of Guyana and is mostly Savannah. It is also bordered by the beautiful Kanuku Mountains, which provide an absolutely breath-taking horizon view from nearly anywhere in the Savannah. Lethem is also right on the border of Brazil, with only a small measly little river separating the two countries. The small town of Bonfin is right across the river into Brazil, while the larger city of Boa Vista is a couple hours bus ride inside the country.



To get to Lethem you have a few options: you can fly (takes about 1.5 hours, and costs about $200US, or $40,000 Guyanese dollars - yes, the exchange rate is about 200 to 1), you can take the Big IntraServ Bus (this takes about 18 hours, and costs about $16,000$18,000 Guyanese), or you can take a minibus (which takes about 14 hours, and costs about $16,000 Guyanese....important to note that the Guyanese drive these minibuses like maniacs, and they are much more uncomfortable on a really long trip than on the big bus....also, the dirt road to Lethem is pretty bumpy, so sitting in a minibus that's driving 80 mph down a uneven and pothole-filled jungle road for 14 hours is pretty rough). My friends and I opted for the big IntraServ Bus, since it wasn't too expensive and also because we wanted to see the interior of Guyana on the drive down. We left from Georgetown at about 9:30pm on Wednesday night, and finally arrived in Lethem at about 3:30pm on Thursday afternoon. The ride was not too bad, (those of you who've been on road trips with me would've been so proud! There wasn't a bathroom on the bus...and I didn't have to make them stop even once!) and I drifted in and out of sleep pretty much the whole way. Looking at the landscape on the way down was absolutely amazing. It seemed as though every time I fell asleep and then woke back up I was in a different environment-Costal Plains, to medium size rainforest, to thick, dense jungle, to Savannah, to mountains, etc., etc. It was awesome.



We also passed through the Iwokrama National Forest, which is one of the four last pristine tropical forests in the world (the others being Congo, New Guinea, and Amazonia) and is nearly 3710 square kilometers. Most of the area is covered with lowland tropical forest, and is dominated by tall tropical trees with a dense canopy 20 to 30 metres (70 to 100 ft) high. Since the forest's ecosystem is at the overlap of Amazonian and Guianan flora and fauna, it has an extremely high amount of biodiversity, and several species of animals that are threatened or extinct across most of their former geographic ranges, such the Giant Anteater - which is awesome because we actually SAW a giant anteater while we were driving through!! And just a little more about how great this place is...the forest has the highest species richness for fish (over 420 described so far) and bats (90) for any area its size in the world. It also has extraordinarily high bird diversity (over 500). Iwokrama has been identified as a global hotspot for several plant families, including Lecythidaceae and Chrysobalanaceae. As you can imagine, I really wanted to stop in and explore, but we really couldn't do that much. I'm definitely going to make another trip back down there though--they have a deal where you can string up a hammock at the Field Station and go on hikes and tours during the day. Another really neat thing is that Guyana has established a non-profit institution, The Iwokrama International Centre for Rain Forest Conservation and Development, to make sure that the forest is not exploited and that the priceless biodiveristy is conserved and managed in a sustainable way.

Anyway, enough of my raging environmentalism, we finally got to Lethem on Thursday afternoon, and after getting off the bus we realized we had to walk about 30 minutes with all our stuff to get to the place we were staying-which was at the boys' and girls' dorms (hostels) at the Secondary School in Lethem, St. Ignasius. Three of the other WorldTeach volunteers teach at this school in Lethem, and they live right on the compound as well. We finally got to the place after a walk through what seemed like completely random paths in the Savannah. After setting our stuff down and catching up with the other volunteers for a while, we all crashed early so that we could be awake for Rodeo, which was held for the next two days.



The actual Rodeo was a lot of fun-during the day there were lots of events, bull-riding, lassoing, horse-racing, etc., and at night there was music (Brazilian and Guyanese), dancing, fair rides (ferris wheel, spinny-things, etc.), and lots of different types of foods and drinks. Most of the goods and events in Lethem have a lot of Brazilian influence, so it was really cool to experience that as well.




One afternoon a bunch of us went swimming in a small river that was located right down the hill from the volunteers' house at the school in Lethem. The walk down to the river was just awesome-a windy trail through jungle brush, twirling vines, crazy-looking trees, etc. The river was very refreshing, and there was actually a rope swing hanging right near to where we were swimming! So we went over and absolutely had a blast...it was so fun. There was a moment when I just looked around and soaked it all in-it felt a little too good/awesome to be true-to be swinging from ropes and swimming in a jungle river near the Amazon. Definitely a moment I'll cherish forever.

There is actually a lot more to say about the trip and about the past two weeks at school, but I'm running out of Internet time and so it'll have to wait until my next post. Glad to hear it's getting warmer over there. Happy Spring!

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jaime.hurlbut/guyana-2006/1175637540/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jaime.hurlbut/guyana-2006/1175637540/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jaime.hurlbut/guyana-2006/1175637540/tpod.html Wed, 04 Apr 2007 14:30:50 -0400 Guyana!

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Friendship, Guyana

This past month has been really great, although really hectic and crazy as usual. The end of March also marked the end of Term 2 in schools here, which means we have 2 weeks off for Easter break before starting the last term. I can't believe it's almost the last term already...very scary how fast time flies sometimes. As I get more comfortable living and teaching in Guyana, the time just goes faster and faster. I am definitely enjoying each minute though, and have learned and gained so much from my experience here. Anyways, Term 2 finished out well, and my students did pretty well on my cumulative exam. I can definitely see progress in their critical thinking and test-taking skills, which is very exciting for me. Along with teaching science, I really just strive to teach them to learn how to learn, and I think they are catching on. This is one of the most amazing feelings ever and probably the highlight of my whole term.

Besides, quizzes, assignments, group-work, small labs and classwork, I also gave my students a larger project on Conservation and Biodiversity-with focus on the tropical rainforest. I was so excited to teach and talk with them about this topic, and I really think they enjoyed it and could relate to and comprehend the material. Sometimes it's interesting because although they live here in Guyana, they don't realize all the resources and diversity that is here. For example, many students didn't know that Guyana has one of the most untouched jungles in the entire world, that Kaieteur Falls is the highest single-drop waterfall in the world (740 feet), that the number of different types of plants and animals is greater within the tropical rainforest than in any other type of forest, or that the Jaguar (native to Guyana) is an endangered species. But in the end, their projects turned out so amazingly well, and I was seriously so proud of them I almost cried.

So here is a quick rundown of interesting happenings within the last month:

** Sunday, March 4th was a national holiday, Phagwah (or Holi), which is the Hindu Festival of Colors. Generally, Phagwah lasts for two days-On the first day bonfires are lit at night to signify burning Holika. On the second day, known as Dhulandi, people spend the day throwing colored powder and water at each other.
So at the end of school on the preceding Friday all the students were throwing water on each other and being completely insane...they tried to get me with a huge bucket, but I sprinted away as fast as I could and managed to escape. Then on Sunday night, we were just hanging out at home and the people from the local shop call up and say, "Hey! Come celebrate Phagwah with us! We're all waiting for you!" So we go walk down to the shop, and as we are approaching it (~ 30m away) we see a mass of very mischievous-looking Guyanese boys coming towards us. The feeling you experience when a ridiculously large number of Guyanese kids are running at you at full speed with handfuls of unknown substances and buckets is quite an interesting/frightening one. Instinctively, I turn and try to spring away, but those little buggers are fast! I eventually succumbed to being attacked with massive amounts of Phagwah water and colored powders. It actually ended up being hilarious and fun, and we eventually got the boys back as best we could. Afterwards, all of us just hung around the shop, talking and having fun while were all caked in mysterious colored substances. Definitely a great first Phagwah experience.



** The next weekend we met a friend though another mutual friend, who just so happens to be a pilot and own a hangar of airplanes at the regional airport. We were all just talking, and then he's like, "So, do you want to come out in the plane tomorrow?" Well of course I'm like, "um...pshea." He's like, "great-I'll call you in the morning and come pick you up and we'll fly out to Lake Mainstay"-which is this beautiful resort in the Essequibo. We sort of thought that this was too good to be true, and that this guy would never call....but the next morning he called, said be ready in an hour, picked us up, brought us to his plane at the airport, and we were off! Awesome. I got to sit right next to the pilot, and even got to try flying a little! It was just a little plane, which fit about 7. It took about 40 minutes to get to the place, which was on a gorgeous isolated fresh water lake in the middle of the rainforest. You can usually only get there by plane, so it's very natural and pristine. We spent the day swimming, exploring the area, and just hanging out. He flew us back around sunset, which was absolutely amazing. Definitely the best free day trip I've ever had!




** For St. Patrick's day Tiffany and I hosted a big get together at our place. Since we live on the school compound, there was lots of good space for festivities like cricket, football (soccer), volleyball, and some traditional Guyanese games. Some of my students actually stopped by-they ended up playing tag on their bikes around the school (interesting, yea?). When it got dark we played hide-n-go-seek in the school...which was hilarious and lots of fun. Of course we also dyed everything green and listened to some Gaelic music. Quite a switch from the Soca and Reggae that we usually listen to. All in all it was a really nice St. Patty's day away from home,

** So this year the Cricket World Cup is being hosted by the West Indies, and from March 28 to April 8th all of the games are being played in Guyana. This has been very exciting for everyone here, and actually the new stadium and new huge hotel are located only about 15 minutes from where we live in Friendship. A lot of our friends have come in to watch the games, along with a lot of Europeans...it's a little weird to see so many tourists around. We went to the England vs. Ireland game last Wednesday, which was a lot of fun, but very long...the game lasted from 9am to 5pm. It also happened to be one of the hottest and sunniest days ever, so I got really toasted (big surprise, eh?)



** So this next week we're heading down to Lethem, Guyana for a big Rodeo. Lethem is right on the southern edge of Guyana, right next to Brazil, and I'm pretty excited to see this part of the country. A bunch of us are going down in a big bus...so we'll also get to see a lot of the interior of Guyana, which I'm expecting to be really fascinating.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jaime.hurlbut/guyana-2006/1173117840/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jaime.hurlbut/guyana-2006/1173117840/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jaime.hurlbut/guyana-2006/1173117840/tpod.html Thu, 08 Mar 2007 16:09:26 -0500 Guyana!

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago

I recently had one of the most amazing experiences of my life, as some friends and I left Guyana for a little while to experience Carnival in Trinidad & Tobago. We had a truly awesome time and were able to see so many interesting scenes of people, culture, and partying that I don't think my writing will do it any justice...alas, I will try my best.
Our trip to Trini began on Sunday, February 18th, as Joel (a very good Guyanese friend), Tiffany, Yvonne and I took the quick 45 minute flight from Guyana into Port-of-Spain, Trinidad. We were very lucky to find really cheap tickets and to have the wonderful luxury of staying at Joel's uncle's house just outside the capital, so that accomodations were totally free. We arrived pretty late sunday night (~12pm), and we were all very tired...however we were aggressively and passionately informed by Indira (also staying at Joel's uncle's place), that we MUST get up at 3 in the morning (the next day, Carnival Monday, in 3 hours) for J'ouvert. J'ouvert, or "Dirty Mas", always takes place before dawn on the Monday before Ash Wednesday. It means "goodbye to the flesh" or "welcome to daybreak." In J'ourvert everyone dresses in old clothes and covers themselves in mud, oil paint and body paint. So basically there are about 10 bands that march around Port-of-Spain from about 4am until 10am. Each band has its own theme, and consists of huge trucks either blasting Soca music, hosting a steel drum band, or handing out alcohol and massive amounts of paint or mud, which everyone throws on everyone else. Pure chaos. Everyone is marching and dancing at the same time, having so much fun just celebrating fun. After the march, we ended up in this park where these guys were blasting everyone with water from a huge hose...and everyone was just shouting and dancing around in the water, trying to get all of the paint and mud off. It was really amazing to experience this with so many people doing the same crazy thing.



After J'ouvert we got back to the house about 10:30am, hosed off in the backyard before taking showers, and we all passed straight out and slept until about 4pm. Then we all woke up, got ready real quick, and went back into town for the first part of Mas (short for masquerade). On Carnival Monday the parade of the mas bands is usually only on a casual scale since the main Mas is on Carni Tuesday. The revelers wear only parts of their costumes, and the purpose of the day is more one of fun than display or competition. So after watching a few of the bands, we met up with a bunch of other friends that had also come to Trinidad from Guyana--mainly other volunteers with PeaceCorps, WorldTeach, or organizations through the UK and Canada. We ended up just hanging out in front of a little shop on the side of the main road just talking, dancing, and just having a low-key good time.
So the next day, Carnival Tuesday, was awesome because this is when the main events of the carnival took place. The people in the bands wear elaborate costumes complete with make up and body paints/adornments. Each band has their costume presentation based on a particular theme, and contains various sections (some consisting of thousands of revelers) which reflect these themes. After following a route where various judging points are located, the mas bands eventually converge on the Queen's Park Savannah to pass "on the stage" to be judged once and for all. We got to see all of the band which ended up winning, whose theme was "India." Also taking place on this day is the crowning of the Road March king or queen, where the singer of the most played song over the two days of the carnival is crowned winner, complete with prize money and usually a vehicle. This year the winner was Machel Montano, with the song "Jumbie." And the next day we saw him perform live because we somehow scored VIP passes to this posh niteclub called Zen. Priceless.

After the main Mas there were of course more trucks blasting soca, dancing, and craziness than one can even imagine...all continuing up until exactly Midnight, when everything shuts down because of Ash Wednesday. The cleaning crews start cleaning the roads and everyone goes home to sleep off the days of chaos.
The next few days we spent relaxing, sight-seeing in the area, visiting with some of Joel's friends/family, checking out the nitelife, and of course going to the beach!

The beach was absolutely amazing and I nearly had a heart attack on the drive up there because we drove up and down this big moutain so we could see the landscape really well. It was absolutely gorgeous.

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jaime.hurlbut/guyana-2006/1170521400/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jaime.hurlbut/guyana-2006/1170521400/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jaime.hurlbut/guyana-2006/1170521400/tpod.html Sat, 03 Feb 2007 12:41:18 -0500 Guyana!

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Georgetown, Guyana

So here is a quick post showing a little bit of how the Creolese language spoken here translates into "normal English." This is probably why the first couple weeks of school I said "what?!" to my students at least a thousand times. After you get the hang of it though, it's awesome to use it back at them (and at other people you meet) and watch their reaction. They think it's hilarious:

I am on the phone - Meh deh pon de phone; I don't know - Meh nah know; What do you want - Wuh yuh want; girl - gyal; boy - bai; car - cyar, ride; what is happening?-Wappenin?; I am not talking about that.- Meh na talk bout dat; Good Morning - Good marning; We are going to cook - Aweeh a gua cook; Dont bring your ass back- Nah mek me see you rass again; I am going back to work on Tuesday - Mi a go bak to wuk pon Chewsdey; dont laugh boy! - nah skin yuh teet bai!; where is Andre? - a whey Andre deh?; he is over there. - he deh deh; gay man. - antiman; come over here boy. - come nuh bai? whats wrong with you. - a wha rong? you- alyah

Also, I recently went to a black-water creek with some of my friends
and posted a couple pictures. It was really gorgeous there and a lot of
fun. Along with the refreshing creek to swim in, there were also a sand
volleyball courts, hiking trails, lots of benops to hang out under,
ping-pong tables, etc. Definitely a nice, relaxing day away from school
:-)
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jaime.hurlbut/guyana-2006/1169493960/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jaime.hurlbut/guyana-2006/1169493960/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jaime.hurlbut/guyana-2006/1169493960/tpod.html Sat, 03 Feb 2007 12:33:21 -0500 Guyana!
Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Friendship, Guyana

So I've been back in South America for 3 weeks now after a wonderful and relaxing visit to home over Christmas. It's definitely great to be back in Guyana, although the first day or so was pretty rough, and I was wondering if Guyana had always been like this, or if I had just forgotten a lot in the 3 short weeks I was home. I think I've come to the conclusion that it's always like this, it just takes a little while to adjust. And it's amazing how quickly we can adjust back into our old ways...so here are some of the interesting things that happened while traveling and on my first couple days back:
First off, I was very lucky to have a wonderful traveling partner, Namisi, who is another WorldTeach volunteer in my region, and is from Buffalo, NY. We met up at JFK to catch the flight back to Guyana, which is about 6 hours. The minute we stepped out of the baggage claim at the Timehri Airport we were bombarded with screaming taxi drivers who were practically trying to shove us into their cars. So Namisi and I gave each other the..."oh gosh, we're definitely back in Guyana look..." and try to make a beeline to the other end of the walkway. As we reached closer to the road, I decided to stop and talk with one of the taxi guys, since we had to take one of them, but I didn't want to get ripped off by somebody who thought I was a foreigner who doesn't know the real prices. Then, as I'm talking with this driver, another guy screams, "Jaime! Jaime my friend! Ride with me -- you remember me?! I know you...you go exercisin' all dem days on de highway! I seen you nuff times...come now!" So that was pretty funny because I had no idea who that guy was. So we ended up going with the first guy...who was definitely less creepy.
Later on that day (I got to my place around 9:30am), I had to go into Georgetown to run some errands. I had definitely forgotten how intense and abrasive it is there -- I kept thinking, "Why is everybody shouting everything?!" Anyways, I did my stuff and met up with some friends for a while, then caught a minibus home around 8. On the way, the driver was speeding like a maniac as usual, and all of a sudden we hear a loud, "WHACK!" on the front side of the bus and the passenger side window cracks. Apparently the driver hit what he thought was a cow walking on the side of the road. He was furious, and cursing up a storm. He turned the bus around, screaming that he was going to take the cow home and sell it off in order to pay for the damages to his bus. Everyone in the minibus was like, "You crazy?! Whatchu gonna do, put the cow in the bus back here with all of us!?" So everybody is shouting now, and when we reach the place where he hit the thing, we see that it was a horse, not a cow, and it's just chillin there on the side of the road with two other horses. not dead. So I guess that was no good for the driver, because then we turned around again and just went on our way.

In terms of school, so far my classes are going really well. Right now I'm teaching my 8th graders about matter, elements, atoms, compounds, etc., and my 9th graders about Energy, fuels, and alternative sources of energy. I'm also currently trying to organize materials for science projects and the national science fair, so that's keeping me really busy. I'm also doing some lessons on careers/jobs in science, so that my students might have a better idea of what they can really do after secondary school. I think some of them have no idea what the options are, and I think that if they have a goal in mind, they could definitely start making more progress immediately.

And here are some more random interactions I've had recently, which I thought were pretty funny:

1) One of my 9th grade girls talking with me during break:
Student: "Miss, I love your headband!"
Me: "Thanks!"
Student: "Miss, you're like a real white woman now"
Me: "ha, what? What does that mean? What was I before?"
Student: "Me no! (creolese for 'i don't know')....you're just realer now"

2) As I'm walking to class, 8th grade boy shouts out: "MISS! (head-nod) Lookin' whiter dan eva today!"

3) This was one of the cutest things ever -- One of my 8th grade students was talking with me:
Student: "Miss! What do you do in America?"
Me: "Um, what do you mean?"
Student: "Like, what do you do?"
Me: "You mean what is my job?"
Student: "Yes miss"
Me: "Well, I want to be a teacher there too"
Student: "ok miss. Miss, a science teacher?"
Me: "Yes"
Student: "wow, those American students are so lucky miss, because we're gonna miss you and they're gonna have a great science teacher"
Me: tear

4) Last Saturday at the Oasis (the internet cafe and coffee shop I always go to) I saw the President of Guyana. He was just sittin at a table filling out paperwork. That was pretty cool.

5) The other day I was writing out notes for a future lesson, and one of my 9th graders was watching me for a while, went away for a little bit, and then came back with a piece of paper he had written on and said, "Hey miss, maybe if you write it like dis too, dem chilren will understand..." Turns out he had so graciously written me out some notes on fuels in creolese:

"Fuel- Dem ting dat you put in machines to wuk and if it na wuk den yo have to get bac yo money"

"Type of fuel- Well it get plenty fuel man it get dem fuel dat to have to get fa get energy and it get another wan ma no o yeah do wan yo tech and put in dem machine to mak it wuk"

~ Transcribed word for word from my student's paper

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jaime.hurlbut/guyana-2006/1163971560/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jaime.hurlbut/guyana-2006/1163971560/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jaime.hurlbut/guyana-2006/1163971560/tpod.html Sun, 26 Nov 2006 13:16:50 -0500 Guyana!
Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Friendship, Guyana

Hey Everyone!

Well it has certainly been a long time since I have written -- I have been really busy with school and other festivities going on here, and I am happy to say that everything is still going great. So, I'm going to try to write about the main/most interesting things that have happened in the last month:

*October 21st was Diwali, a Hindu holiday representing the Festival of Lights. Tiffany and I were invited over to a friend's house (Mandy) to celebrate. The people in the neighborhood that celebrate Diwali light small candles and put up lights all around their house. They do this about the time that the sun starts to set (6 pm). After the sun set we walked around the neighborhood looking at all the candles and lights and talking with people, which was really fun. Food is also everywhere -- and people are very eager to share their food with you. Another fun part of Diwali in Guyana is the spinning of the steel wool -- where there is a piece of seel wool at the end of a metal wire and you light in on fire, then spin it around your head, letting off lots and lots of sparks, until the wool is gone. This festivity is mostly done by the young boys of the community, as it is very possible that one can get burned while spinning. So of course I had to do it, and it was awesome. And I didn't even get burned :-)

*On November 5th I went to this really big Reggae/Soca party at the National Park, which was a blast. Pretty much everyone in Guyana is an amazing dancer. I'm pretty sure they start dancing in the womb. You'll see little 5 year old boys dancing better that a 25 year old American guy. Anyways, the music was awesome and we got to see a lot of great dancing. I'm trying to learn how to dance...some of my local friends are giving me some lessons. Along with just freestyle, there are many specific Caribbean dances that they do here, like the passa passa, etc.

*In regards to school, my last day of teaching for this term was actually this last friday. I didn't know that would be my last day until this past monday. I thought that I had two more weeks for teaching and review, but on monday they sent around a sheet that said, "Hi teachers! Next week we'll be starting exams, so have your final term exams turned into the HM by wednesday. Have a good day!" So I read that, was totally shocked, and immediately started reviewing with my class. They really like to keep us on our toes here I guess. Anyways, the week turned out to be alright and I actually got in a lot of review with my students. It was actually very encouraging because they remembered a lot!! So these next two weeks are allotted for exams, and then the last week of school is for graduation and the school party. I'm pretty sure that those things could all fit into one week, however they want to take 3 weeks to do them. Hmm. I don't know.

*So I guess nothing else really big has happened within the last month. I've mainly just been teaching and lesson planning a lot, and then enjoying time with friends on the weekends.

*Below I want to just state some interesting things about Guyana that have happened and don't fit in any particular category:

- So one normal school day, I'm standing at the door greeting my class as they walk into the lab. One of my 9th girls exclaims, "Miss! Looking sexy today!!"
and how does one respond? After the initial shock of the statement, do I say "thanks!" or "that is completely inapproppriate!" So I wasn't really sure what to do at all, and I actually just laughed out loud -- is that bad? They didn't teach us what to do for that situation in Orientation.

- On another pretty normal school day, I was teaching a lesson, when a herd of goats ran into the lab. No joke. Of course all the students screamed like it was Godzilla coming to get them. I think the goats were just as scared, and immediately turned around and ran out. It was bizarre.

- On Teacher Appreciation Day the kids hosted a biscuit-eating contest between Tiffany and I in front of the whole school. I've never heard the students cheering so loud. It was deafening. And awesome. I won :-)

- The other day somewone threw a snake at me while I was teaching. Luckily it was fake :-) But seriously, who throws a snake?
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jaime.hurlbut/guyana-2006/1160845980/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jaime.hurlbut/guyana-2006/1160845980/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jaime.hurlbut/guyana-2006/1160845980/tpod.html Sat, 04 Nov 2006 14:33:51 -0500 Guyana!
Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Friendship, Guyana

Good day, good day!

I just wanted to post a quick one saying that things are going very well and seem to get even better each week. I'm really beginning to love teaching here in Friendship, and although the students are a handful sometimes, overall it is a really awesome and rewarding experience. As I spend more and more time with the kids, I'm beginning to understand what they really need in terms of schooling, and what kinds of lessons will work best with them. And so I'm pretty sure that they are actually starting to learn some real stuff about science! It's very exciting :-)

Since I am writing this now, I obviously survived the escapade through the jungle to the Amerindian Heritage Festival, which was really fun and interesting. To get there, people piled into pickups (about 20 ppl in the back of each truck), and took the bumpy jungle trail ride for about an hour into the middle of nowhere. Surprisingly, in the middle of nowhere there also happens to be St. Cuthbert's Mission, which is where the Festival was held. It was a really cute little village, and there were a ton of people there partaking in the festivities. There was a lot of food, dancing, and drinks...Cassava bread, plantains, pepperpot, etc. There was also this potent alcholic drink called piwari, which is made from fermented cassavas. Apparently it is sometimes made from women chewing up the cassava root and then spitting it out into a jar and letting it ferment until it's a drink. splendid, really. So we (Yvonne, Tiffany, and I) pretty much spent all day there just hanging out, talking to people, dancing around, etc. A good friend from our school who is also a teacher, Kunta, actually had a dance-off with his brother-in-law. It was probably one of the most hilarious things I have ever seen -- check out the pictures :-)

So everything else here is still going well too. I still run every morning (at 5:30 am to beat the heat!) and get catcalls from the same stupid guys every single morning. You'd think after I had ignored somebody calling at me like a thousand times that they would stop. but no. they don't stop. I hate it. Everything else about Guyana is good, but man, i hate that.

On a more positive note, there is a guava tree in my backyard and the pineapples here are AMAZING. Mangos too. And oranges are actually not orange, they're green.

So please keep in touch and write letters :-)

till next time,
a happy guyanabanana
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jaime.hurlbut/guyana-2006/1159568640/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jaime.hurlbut/guyana-2006/1159568640/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jaime.hurlbut/guyana-2006/1159568640/tpod.html Fri, 29 Sep 2006 19:02:48 -0400 Guyana!
Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Friendship, Guyana

As the first month of teaching at Friendship comes to a close, I can honestly say that it is still going very well and that I do love teaching the students here. However, I have never been so exhausted in my whole entire life, and I cannot even begin to understand why someone would think that putting 45 8th graders in one class was a good idea. It must have been the same person who made my schedule have back-to-back classes all day, every day, while other teachers have only 1 or 2 classes a day. Anyways, some of my students are absolutely great and I can tell that they are learning and are really striving for a better education. I have started after school sessions for help and review, and it is here that I really get to spend more one-on-one time with the students who really care about learning and science. These kids just make my day and really keep me going when I'm really overwhelmed or tired. To see the look on their faces when they really begin to understand a concept that they couldn't understand before--it is just priceless. It gives me tingles every time, and it really reminds me of what I am here for.

With that said, I'm almost positive that some of the students here are demon-possessed. Some of them are so rowdy, rude, and out-of-control, that I sometimes think they really are of a different species. I've found that in order to really have an effective class period, I have to take care of the bad kids right away. I never thought I would have to yell and scream at students to get out of my class. But doing that is really the only way that students will listen and behave. It is definitely true that a few bad apples can ruin the whole bushel. Anyways, I'm trying my best to maintain control and order in the classroom, while also encouraging questions and participation and staying friendly.

Today was actually "Sports Day" at our school, and so classes were cancelled and the students competed in a big intra-school track meet. The students were divided up into for teams, or "houses," to compete against each other. It was really fun to see the kids competing in running and jumping events--and some of them are really good! It was also a very nice break from teaching for a day.

Outside of teacing things are going well also, and I really love getting to know the people here. I really love just sitting around and "gaffing" (talking) with the locals. I've gotten to know some really great people who've taught me a lot already.

Tomorrow some of the other Friendship teachers, WT volunteers, and I are going to an Amerindian Festival, where I hear there will be fun cultural stuff, dancing, singing, food, drinks, etc. It sounds like a lot of fun, and apparently you need a 4-wheel drive truck to get there. So we'll see how it goes...hopefully I'll make it out of the jungle alive!

So that's all I have time for, for now. Hope everyone is doing well--be sure to send me e-mails every once in a while!




"To laugh often and much;
To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children;
To earn the appreciation of honest critics and to endure the betrayal of false friends;
To appreciate beauty;
To find the best in others;
To leave the world a bit better whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition;
To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.

This is to have succeeded."

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
]]>