Sunday, 3 June 2012
Wednesday, 9 March 2011
Tobago
Festive Paradise- Christmas and New Year in Tobago
Tour Style- Chilled Trip Code- FPCN
£ XXX
Having spent 4 months truly off the beaten track in Guyana’s ` Rupunnuni Savannah, take a 10 day jaunt along Tobago’s well walked tourist trail, treating yourself to the comforts and rapture that are rightly attributed to this tropical island. Let its Caribbean charm cast you under its spell... sit back, relax and take the break you deserve.
HIGHLIGHTS: Bliss out on world-class beaches, cycle the scenic ‘Tour De Tobago’, begin Boxing Day without boxer’s, haggle with locals along the coast, optional excursions to beef out your trip, PARTY in PARADISE.
Day 1Arrival Kick-start your vacation with a kick ass day at Pigeon Point Heritage Beach: volleyball and cocktails on one of the world’s most photographed beaches. What more could you ask for? As nights warm blanket draws closer prepare yourself for a big night... Start your shenanigans aboard a boat party with music blazing and the rum punch flowing. Take a pit stop on a deserted island to refuel and chat. The all you can eat buffet is sure to blow your mind. Next cruise out to an Island pool and let the party continue. Enjoy raving in knee deep water looking back to see Tobago sitting on the horizon.
Day 2 recovery and relaxation Partying all night may have brought some good memories flooding back, but what it is sure to have reminded you of is: HANGOVERS, we’ve all been there. Take this day to chill, sipping on a fruity cocktail or two in the sun.
Day 3 Tour De Tobago Feeling rejuvenated, rent some rickety old bikes. Armed with hats, cash and sun-cream off you set for a tour of the southern part of the island. Highlights include: body surfing naked at Grange Bay, exploring the coastline of Tobago, speeding down deserted mountain roads, treading upstream to Highland Falls and coasting effortlessly home whilst appreciating the sunset visa from Little Rockley Bay. Shower and put on a festive smile, it’s Christmas eve!!! Grid your way through to Christmas Day Caribbean style at an authentic street party with the locals. who said tourists couldn’t integrate?
Day 4 Christmas Day Christmas is a day to spend with the family... so to take your mind of those loved ones back home, splurge on a full day of fun packed activities: Sight colourful fishes in the coral reef off Buccuo Bay in the morning. Indulge on an all you can eat/ drink lunch on ‘No Mans Land’ desert island . Pass the time in the afternoon Jet Skiing and dancing the conga, before hitting the Clubs. Not Bad?
Day 5 Boxing Day Endure an embarrassing walk home at first light having had your clothes washed away by the tide at Store Bay whilst skinny dipping.... Truly boxer-less on Boxing Day! Having re-clothed head to Pigeon Point to delve into a novel and let the tropical rays paint your skin a more relaxed shade of brown. For dinner, dress smart and remember to thank Carol and Catrin (PTV’s) as they dish up a lovely Christmas dinner (only a day a late) at the hotel. Fail to return the favour with a rushed toffee sandwich cake, but remember it’s the thought that counts. Don’t miss out on ‘Sunday School’ the steel drums party.
Day 6 Scarbourgh Hitch a lift into the small bustling capital, Navigate your way through the colourful stalls accumulating some of the local craftsmanship before scrambling up hill to check out the views of the island from ‘Fort George’. End the day on a high as you gleefully watch England SMASHING the Ausies down-under!
Days 7- 9 Mix and Match Relish in the packed party atmosphere as hordes of Tourists from the Cruise Ships swarm the island in search of a days ‘Taste of Tobago’. Play plenty Beach volleyball, Jet Ski, body surf or just chill-out in the warm Caribbean sea what-ever you do you’ll have a blast . Spare a minute to mingle with local craftsmen/ women along the beach managing to get healthy discounts on their work. Say glued to the TV in the early evenings, relishing in a rare period of English dominance in the Ashes.
Day 10 New Years Eve Pick up some souvenirs during the day and party hard into the New Year!
Day 11 Departure Fly back to Georgetown. Good bye Tobago...
“I remember sipping merrily on some ice cold juice during Breakfast on our first morning in Tobago. I had just enjoyed a warm shower. The clothes that had lurched at the foot of my bed would be clean in 30 minutes. All that was required was for me to turn on the machine! As I now reflect, only then did I truly begin to see the luxuries of western living.”
Monday, 17 January 2011
New Years Resolutions
Merry Christmas and a belated Happy New Year to All!!!
I hope you all had a lovely white Christmas back in England. I too had a white Christmas... the only difference being that the white I experienced came from the white sand beaches that cap the pristine shoreline of TOBAGO J. Sorry didn’t mean to rub it in. Last School Assembly, it was my turn to give a ‘Moral Talk’. In my speech I challenged the students to set ‘New Years Resolutions’. The idea being that the process of setting goals would encourage the student to reflect on the past year. I hope the goals themselves will help to give the pupils a better idea of the direction they’re planning of heading, so they don’t lead off course. I thought it would be nice to list a few of my own goals for the coming year:
1. Improve my teaching- One of the highest mountains I’ve climbed was Plumlumon Fawr in the Cambrian Mountains during my Duke of Edinburgh Gold Expedition a year and a half ago. I remember each time we came close to the top, we realised what we had thought was the summit, was only ‘false peak’ cloaking the next stage of our assent. Strangely I have encountered a similar thing with teaching in Guyana... It is only when I reach a new level in my teaching that the true extent of how much more I still need to improve becomes apparent. The teaching is my Everest but I like climbing!
1. Improve my teaching- One of the highest mountains I’ve climbed was Plumlumon Fawr in the Cambrian Mountains during my Duke of Edinburgh Gold Expedition a year and a half ago. I remember each time we came close to the top, we realised what we had thought was the summit, was only ‘false peak’ cloaking the next stage of our assent. Strangely I have encountered a similar thing with teaching in Guyana... It is only when I reach a new level in my teaching that the true extent of how much more I still need to improve becomes apparent. The teaching is my Everest but I like climbing!
2.
2.Become more organised- Let’s make no bones about it... I’m naturally a fairly disorganised person. Anyone who saw my room at boarding school will know what I’m talking about! Owning my own house and hand-washing my clothes this year has spurred me take more care at where I place things... but Dave would probably agree with me here... there is still room for improvement.
2.Become more organised- Let’s make no bones about it... I’m naturally a fairly disorganised person. Anyone who saw my room at boarding school will know what I’m talking about! Owning my own house and hand-washing my clothes this year has spurred me take more care at where I place things... but Dave would probably agree with me here... there is still room for improvement.
3.
3.Improve my Cooking- Cooking is something I did very rarely in England, but do every day in Guyana. At the start of our time in Aishalton, cooking was going great... but as our school work load began to increase, Dave and I both agree that the time we dedicated towards cooking began to diminish. I am eager to keep on improving my culinary skills this term.
3.Improve my Cooking- Cooking is something I did very rarely in England, but do every day in Guyana. At the start of our time in Aishalton, cooking was going great... but as our school work load began to increase, Dave and I both agree that the time we dedicated towards cooking began to diminish. I am eager to keep on improving my culinary skills this term.
4.
4.Experience more of the TRADITIONAL Wapishani Culture- Being away from Aishalton gave me time to reflect on the 4 months that have wizzed by. In 7 months and I’ll be leaving... to me that seems like no time at all. Experiencing Manoors, Savannah trips, slaughtering cows and making local dishes has wet my appetite for more, and my anticipation to delve deeper in the Wapishani culture has been boiling up whilst I was away. That means poison fishing, hunting with bow and arrow, weaving baskets, learning Wapishan are all high on my agenda for next term.
4.Experience more of the TRADITIONAL Wapishani Culture- Being away from Aishalton gave me time to reflect on the 4 months that have wizzed by. In 7 months and I’ll be leaving... to me that seems like no time at all. Experiencing Manoors, Savannah trips, slaughtering cows and making local dishes has wet my appetite for more, and my anticipation to delve deeper in the Wapishani culture has been boiling up whilst I was away. That means poison fishing, hunting with bow and arrow, weaving baskets, learning Wapishan are all high on my agenda for next term.
So there you go; I’ll be trying my best to achieve these goals over the next few months. Soon I am going to post a blog filling in the eventful week before the holidays and Tobago.
FINALLY... I would like to wish, Preecy, Joe, Morgs and Cal all the best in their epic tour through South America, which they started last week. All the best and I can’t wait to hear the stories.
Sam Wilson
Monday, 13 December 2010
Update before Tobago
Well hello everyone... it’s been a long time since my last instalment and I’m accepting NONE of the blame!!! Haha, only joking, of course it’s my fault. So sorry for that. I know that those of you who kindly sponsored me will have been waiting to see how your investment is getting on in his home away from home-----> Life here in Aishalton has showered Dave and I with so many extremes over the past month and a half. It really has been a surreal time, that has neither dropped in pace nor shown any signs of slowing down.... We have burnt the candle at both ends (at school and during our weekends), and I am absolutely shattered!
Even so, Dave and I both agree that: in all that we’ve accomplished and experienced the fatigue we are suffering from right now is worth it, and that we know without any doubts.
School Life During the past 7 weeks
During the past few weeks Aishalton Secondary School; commonly and rather amusingly abbreviated as A.S.S.; has been hampered by further staff shortages.
Miss. Bonita (the Maths teacher for years 9 and 10) offered her services to look after the athletes heading off to inter-schools sport at Arawanaw Village for a week. Then she offered to look after the athletes (who won their events at Arawanaw) at inter-branch held at Moco-Moco near Lethem for the following week, which was kind of her. Finally to top of her generosity, Miss. Bonita volunteered to escort the athletes who won at Moco-Moco to Georgetown, to compete at the Nationals for two more weeks! Personally I attribute her munificence to the fact that she is resigning at the end of this term and maybe wanted a month of not having to teach any lessons. Inter-Schools is an athletic competition, for schools/villages in The Deep South of Region 9, there were 6 villages competing: Aishalton, Crowda, Murinaw, Arowinow ..... Interbranch is a competition amoungst the different districts of region 9: The Deep South, South Central, Central (Lethem area) and North Rupununi.
Sir Del got offered a place at the University of Georgetown and after being told not to leave due to A.S.S. being short staffed, he resigned that same day and went to Georgetown saying that he would pay for the university fees him-self. With Sir Ardrian (the old Headmaster) having retired, our permanent staff number at the school is 9. However on days it has been as low as 3 teachers. On those days running a school of 250 students - where each teacher has to look after 3 classes each lesson - can get a little tough. Prefects at the school are pretty decent and proactive to be honest and usually help out a fair amount when we are more short-staffed than normal.
As the term has progressed my teaching has progressed as-well. When I give instructions I don’t rush through my speech, I am clearer and I am more precise. I believe the latter two have mainly improved as my diction and vocabulary has become more in tune with the locals as time has gone on, meaning I can explain the points I am teaching better (you may noticed some Creole English in my more recent blogs). .. Someone in Year 7 wrote in their daily dairy for their English Teacher:
Week 2: ‘I really enjoyed Sir Sam’s science lesson today, but I could not understand what he was saying’
Week 4 ‘....now Sir Sam has started speaking English’.
It hasn’t just been my speech that has improved: I am starting to use the Chalkboard better: writing straighter and neater, writing key words in the corner of the board so they can be left up the whole lesson, using colour better and so on. Composing lesson plans and notes is starting to take less time and is definitely my least favourite but one of the most important parts of teaching. Back in England my view of a lesson was: turning up to class, doing the work, and then handing it to the teacher to mark. That feels distant and simple to me... now that I’m on the other side of the fence.
Last month I started up an extra maths class once a week for anyone in school or out of school sitting CXC this year, which has been going well. I have been going over Consumer Arithmetic which is basically, percentages applied to real life situations, for example: Calculating income tax or hire purchase. Turn-out has been good and I think that the students are relishing the fact that I’m fairly meticulous and methodical in my approach to teaching, even though some of the brighter ones say I’m going though the material too slowly for their liking.
When Miss Bonita was away at inter-branch, I was asked if I could take her maths classes for that week. Feeling ambitious and ready for a challenge I accepted. For that week I took all of my classes and all of Miss Bonita’s classes. Every day before and after school I held lessons in order to fit in all the extra classes I was taking. I feel proud to say that I planned, taught and marked all of my lessons, all of her lessons and all of the extra lessons I do outside of school hours; totalling up to 27 double periods that week. When I was informed at the end of the week that Miss Bonita would be away at Nationals for two more weeks I told them I would not be able to do the same for the following weeks, but I ended up teaching maths lessons whenever I had a moment to spare.
Above is roughly what’s gone on at school recently. It’s been extremely busy and gratifying but also energy sapping (I currently have a high fever). I really did miss not having a half term to rest in. Tobago is 1 week away now, can’t wait. This last week entails the Schools X mas concert, and doing evaluations of the progress of each students in my Form Class. For the concert I’m doing the cha cha slide with my class. No-one’s really great dancers, I tried teaching the hump square to do, but the timings not quite there yet.
This week has been pretty crazy, all the exams have been written! Now the students just need to do them. And I tell you writing up thirty multiple choice questions with a, b, c and d sections realllllllly hurts your arms! Dave has been at school until midnight on Monday, eleven on Tuesday and nine o’clock on Wednesday night respectively! He has been typing exams, printing then and everything. Dealing with the school printer is pretty annoying as the exams are printed on annoying legal size paper. But ALL the printing is now down fortunately! Which is a relief, now just the mind-numbing boredom of sitting in the exams while the kids write them! Me - I’ve just been marking my exams and writing termly schemes of work for next term as Dave is much better on computers. I was pretty happy with my CXC Geography class who got, 58%, 77%, and 81%. As it was their first me doing CXC style questions in exam conditions.
Out Side of School
Even though Aishalton is a small village with a population of only about a thousand, we are still meeting new people. I feel comfortable living here. When Dave and I go up to Burning Hills (about a 7 minute walk from home) to buy food we will usually be there for an hour, caught chatting to people. Even though when you are in a rush it can be a bit annoying, I usually enjoy sitting down and talking to the locals, sharing different views and ideas or just joking around about funny things that have happened. I noticed early on that only by talking to people and asking around do the opportunities to explore and experience new things seem to arise. Dave and I have done many things in our time off. The last 6 weekends have been filled with parties, fundraisers, days at the creeks, cooking lessons, a manour or two and some proper cowboy style horse riding (I’ll explain later).
I’ve been to a few parties now and have kinda picked up the Brazilian Faha dancing that they do at parties down here. I find it pretty hard as the people here are about half the size of me, so I am never really in sync with the girl I’m dancing with. I had a funny photo of me dancing the Faha on my knees with someone at a birthday party near the Toashos house but I don’t know where is has gone. Going to parties here can be a pretty spur of the moment thing, as news is only passed round by word of mouth. No facebook groups or formal invitations like back home. I was up having a few drinks up at Burning Hills a few weeks ago on a Friday and one of my mates Tubes rode in on his bike and asking if I wanted to go to a Big Party that was celebrating the end of interschool sports in another village called Arrowenow which is about 15-20 miles from Aishalton. Feeling ambitious to have a good time off I went. The bike ride in was crazy fun, speeding for an hour or so along bike cut tracks through the savannah, passing through waist deep creeks darting between paths to avoid potholes and puddles alike. I danced all night long when I got to Arrowenow and managed to negotiate with one of the other teachers from the village to let me stay at his house as otherwise I would be sleeping with one of: Grassila, Sandra or Rocksanne (as one of the locals phased it) . In the morning I caught a lift back in a truck with the all athletes who had been competing from Aishalton in Arrowenow. All 62 of us managed to squeeze into one Bedford... not the most comfortable 2 and a half hours of my life!!
I love going to the creeks on the weekend. All the creeks around us our nice, but my favourite one is Cashon which is 15 mins North of our house. When Kristen’s Mum and Brother (Kristen is the Peace Corp. Vol) came to visit from America about a month ago about 16 of us went each bringing different foods which we either roasted or heated up. Like usual we lay on the sun-heated rocks, chatting, eating and listening to music in the shade, bathing in the creek every so often to cool off. We spent all afternoon there. There is a particular rock at one of the creeks, that when the water level is the right height, makes a perfect natural shower. It is truly the best way to wash as Dave is demonstrating.
Along with relaxing at the creeks and going to parties, a major chunk my weekends has been occupied with helping/ organising fundraising events. I guess the fact Dave and I had to raise 5 thousand pounds before coming to Aishalton, is the reason why the locals have asked our help with fundraising. Over the past 8 Fridays, 5 of them have been taken up by fundraising. We’ve had 1 to raise money for the Interbranch Athletes who had to travel and stay near Lethem for a week; 2 events to try and raise funds to keep the Internet Satellite afloat and 2 fundraisers to raise money to buy more books at the school.
Most fundraisers Dave and I will fry up some pancakes, and other people in the village will contribute some dishes to sell; yet most of the money comes from selling alcohol. On one of the Internet Fundraisers, Sir Anthony; the person who I normally organise the fundraising events with; had gone off to Georgetown leaving me to organise the whole event with the help of Dave! Anyway it was a good experience to have done as I’ll feel more comfortable doing something like that again and we managed to raise $35,000 guyanese dollars, which is only about £100, but in Aishalton you could live off that sum for 2-3 months.
Manours: As I explained before: a manour is a Wapishan word literally meaning: Self-Help. Extract from previous blog:’ A Village Manoor is a kind of self help scheme with a twist: like back home, all work is voluntary and the work can be of any type, this is decided by the person who holds the Manoor, the Bossman. The twist is that your payment for your service is in the form of ParaKari (Kari), a local drink made from fermented Cassava.This is served by the women to the working men. If you accept the donation, it is your way of saying you will carry on working for a bit longer’. There are normally one or two manors each weekend, and some during the week, but I only go onto the ones on the week-end because of school during the week. The manors I’ve attended have varied from, digging 6ft deep rubbish pits, Cart making and Cassava grating. We even had a manoor to strain some Kari for another Manoor but we ended up drinking all the Kari we had strained. Sir Chips; the headmaster of a school in the next nearest village, karaudar (pronounced crawdar); has been building a Wapishan house in Aishalton over the past month/ month and a half, near the rock carvings. This has meant that he’s been hosting manours most weekends. I took a truck up to one of his manors a few weeks back, with Dave, Billy, Earl, a few others and a very strong brew of Kari. This particular manoor was to collect the leaves for the roofing of the house. The leaves had been chopped down in the Savannah 2 weeks before, at a another manour, and the leaves had been bundled like hay, tied using something like reed leaf and been left out to dry. Earl and I moved the 80 or so bundles to the truck while, Dave and Billy loaded the truck, with the others, re-tying the bundles that had come loose. The Kari was lethal and after a couple of shots each, the banter started flowing and everyone started enjoying themselves. Earl and I started seeing who could lift the heaviest bundles, as he’s a student I couldn’t back down, but I tell you what, the next day my neck was sore sore sore. I wish I’d taken my camera to help explain what we did, as I found the whole process of what we did fascinating. After driving back to Sir Chip’s house on the top of the truck we unloaded the leaves and then spent the rest of the evening chatting whilst working our way through a pail or two of fly (Potato wine which makes you ‘fly’) sitting on the roof beams of the house, which had been built during a previous Manoor earlier in the day.
Over the past two months we’ve been doing a lot of horse riding which I’ve enjoyed a lot. My horse is called Falaina. When I first rode her she was pretty wild as she’d only been riden a few times and so kept trying to buck me off but now she’s pretty tame. Dave and I were taken out to round up cattle with Billy in the Savannah. One Saturday afternoon we rode out for about 8 hours and slept out on the floor buy some persons house in the middle of nowhere, we brought some tasso (salted beef left out to dry in the sun for a few days), my speakers and some drink. These combined with some good company provided for an entertaining evening. Early next morning we split up into two groups to go to try and find the herd of cattle that were grazing in the savannah somewhere. My group couldn’t find the herd but we did come across a Giant Anteater which was cool. Just before midday we met up with the Verquicos (Cowboys) who had rounded up the cattle to our direction. For the rest of the day we herded the cattle all the way home. I loved herding the cattle... whenever the cows tried to disperse, I would have to gallop alongside the herd, flanking them to channel them in the right direction. To get the herd to move faster you would have to gallop a straight at the herd making as much noise as possible to scare the cow’s onward.
In the afternoon we bathed the horses at some small waterfall and ate some farine and beef. We managed to get all the cattle home just before sun down which was lucky as it was a new moon meaning pitch black nights. Getting off the horse after 2 days hard riding was nice but my feet were blistered from my bare feet digging into the sturips and my legs were like jelly. Definitely something I’ll be looking to do again soon.
On the Wednesday after the Savannah trip I just mentioned, we went by Billy’s house to help him lasso one of the cows and then slaughter it. I still have a funny image of when we had got the rope round the cow’s neck and only me and Dave had the rope. The cow was mad and started running at our direction. Thinking the cow would be frightened of us like when we were on horses, we stood our ground. Billy then realising we weren’t moving shouted at us to run towards a tree that was lurking nearby. Pretty scared by the anxiety in Billy’s voice, we pegged it, getting chased by a bull with foot long horns. By feeding the rope through a branch in the tree we ran to, we managed to trap the bull. Whilst the bull was trapped, Billy drove a knife into the back of the bull’s neck, killing it pretty quickly. Skinning the bull was a bit sick, but Dave had a pretty good stab at it. I, still in my pj’s decided to give skinning a miss that morning. Whenever we had beef that week it tasted extra good, as I knew I was involved.
Needs to be finished
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| I hate marking!! |
School Life During the past 7 weeks
During the past few weeks Aishalton Secondary School; commonly and rather amusingly abbreviated as A.S.S.; has been hampered by further staff shortages.
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| A.S.S. |
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| Cheers Sam A (PTV and Region 8 Swimming Coach) for the pic from Nationals |
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| Students saying After-noon prayers before home-time. |
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| Me covering Brother Edwin's 2B Allied Arts class outside |
Week 2: ‘I really enjoyed Sir Sam’s science lesson today, but I could not understand what he was saying’
Week 4 ‘....now Sir Sam has started speaking English’.
It hasn’t just been my speech that has improved: I am starting to use the Chalkboard better: writing straighter and neater, writing key words in the corner of the board so they can be left up the whole lesson, using colour better and so on. Composing lesson plans and notes is starting to take less time and is definitely my least favourite but one of the most important parts of teaching. Back in England my view of a lesson was: turning up to class, doing the work, and then handing it to the teacher to mark. That feels distant and simple to me... now that I’m on the other side of the fence.
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| Challenges facing tourism in Barbados, had to get a pic... it took long enough to write up!! |
Last month I started up an extra maths class once a week for anyone in school or out of school sitting CXC this year, which has been going well. I have been going over Consumer Arithmetic which is basically, percentages applied to real life situations, for example: Calculating income tax or hire purchase. Turn-out has been good and I think that the students are relishing the fact that I’m fairly meticulous and methodical in my approach to teaching, even though some of the brighter ones say I’m going though the material too slowly for their liking.
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| My Form 2A with me at our end of term Class Party |
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| Cha Cha Slide... 'Hands on your knees' |
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| MC Dave!!! |
This week has been pretty crazy, all the exams have been written! Now the students just need to do them. And I tell you writing up thirty multiple choice questions with a, b, c and d sections realllllllly hurts your arms! Dave has been at school until midnight on Monday, eleven on Tuesday and nine o’clock on Wednesday night respectively! He has been typing exams, printing then and everything. Dealing with the school printer is pretty annoying as the exams are printed on annoying legal size paper. But ALL the printing is now down fortunately! Which is a relief, now just the mind-numbing boredom of sitting in the exams while the kids write them! Me - I’ve just been marking my exams and writing termly schemes of work for next term as Dave is much better on computers. I was pretty happy with my CXC Geography class who got, 58%, 77%, and 81%. As it was their first me doing CXC style questions in exam conditions.
Out Side of School
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| Burning Hills are the collection of buildings in the centre of the picture |
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| Some of the students dancing Faha at the class party |
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| A truck like the one I took, but smaller and with less people on it Thanks James |
Along with relaxing at the creeks and going to parties, a major chunk my weekends has been occupied with helping/ organising fundraising events. I guess the fact Dave and I had to raise 5 thousand pounds before coming to Aishalton, is the reason why the locals have asked our help with fundraising. Over the past 8 Fridays, 5 of them have been taken up by fundraising. We’ve had 1 to raise money for the Interbranch Athletes who had to travel and stay near Lethem for a week; 2 events to try and raise funds to keep the Internet Satellite afloat and 2 fundraisers to raise money to buy more books at the school.
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| The best way to wash in the morning!! |
Manours: As I explained before: a manour is a Wapishan word literally meaning: Self-Help. Extract from previous blog:’ A Village Manoor is a kind of self help scheme with a twist: like back home, all work is voluntary and the work can be of any type, this is decided by the person who holds the Manoor, the Bossman. The twist is that your payment for your service is in the form of ParaKari (Kari), a local drink made from fermented Cassava.This is served by the women to the working men. If you accept the donation, it is your way of saying you will carry on working for a bit longer’. There are normally one or two manors each weekend, and some during the week, but I only go onto the ones on the week-end because of school during the week. The manors I’ve attended have varied from, digging 6ft deep rubbish pits, Cart making and Cassava grating. We even had a manoor to strain some Kari for another Manoor but we ended up drinking all the Kari we had strained. Sir Chips; the headmaster of a school in the next nearest village, karaudar (pronounced crawdar); has been building a Wapishan house in Aishalton over the past month/ month and a half, near the rock carvings. This has meant that he’s been hosting manours most weekends. I took a truck up to one of his manors a few weeks back, with Dave, Billy, Earl, a few others and a very strong brew of Kari. This particular manoor was to collect the leaves for the roofing of the house. The leaves had been chopped down in the Savannah 2 weeks before, at a another manour, and the leaves had been bundled like hay, tied using something like reed leaf and been left out to dry. Earl and I moved the 80 or so bundles to the truck while, Dave and Billy loaded the truck, with the others, re-tying the bundles that had come loose. The Kari was lethal and after a couple of shots each, the banter started flowing and everyone started enjoying themselves. Earl and I started seeing who could lift the heaviest bundles, as he’s a student I couldn’t back down, but I tell you what, the next day my neck was sore sore sore. I wish I’d taken my camera to help explain what we did, as I found the whole process of what we did fascinating. After driving back to Sir Chip’s house on the top of the truck we unloaded the leaves and then spent the rest of the evening chatting whilst working our way through a pail or two of fly (Potato wine which makes you ‘fly’) sitting on the roof beams of the house, which had been built during a previous Manoor earlier in the day.
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| Me on Rum, Dave's Horse |
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| once again, thanks James.... much better than my pics!! |
In the afternoon we bathed the horses at some small waterfall and ate some farine and beef. We managed to get all the cattle home just before sun down which was lucky as it was a new moon meaning pitch black nights. Getting off the horse after 2 days hard riding was nice but my feet were blistered from my bare feet digging into the sturips and my legs were like jelly. Definitely something I’ll be looking to do again soon.
On the Wednesday after the Savannah trip I just mentioned, we went by Billy’s house to help him lasso one of the cows and then slaughter it. I still have a funny image of when we had got the rope round the cow’s neck and only me and Dave had the rope. The cow was mad and started running at our direction. Thinking the cow would be frightened of us like when we were on horses, we stood our ground. Billy then realising we weren’t moving shouted at us to run towards a tree that was lurking nearby. Pretty scared by the anxiety in Billy’s voice, we pegged it, getting chased by a bull with foot long horns. By feeding the rope through a branch in the tree we ran to, we managed to trap the bull. Whilst the bull was trapped, Billy drove a knife into the back of the bull’s neck, killing it pretty quickly. Skinning the bull was a bit sick, but Dave had a pretty good stab at it. I, still in my pj’s decided to give skinning a miss that morning. Whenever we had beef that week it tasted extra good, as I knew I was involved.Needs to be finished
Wednesday, 17 November 2010
Description of our house
The housing situation.
95% of the housing in Aishalton abides by a tradional wapishsan design. The roofing is made from sun dried ..... leaves, wooden beam supports and mud brick walls. House building is not constrained by planning permission, money or differing views between architect and homeowner like back home. Here, every man must build his own home as there are no contractors to do it for him. It would therefore be reasonable to assume that houses in Aishalton vary in appearance vastly as designs are only limited to: the workman skills and creative ability of the man who’s building along with the time he’s put aside to build. However this is not the case, most houses appear to end out being built in a similar format: one floor, a kitchen, two or three bedrooms and a communal room of some sort. I believe that the emphasis the Wapishan people place on keeping traditions alive along with the lack of an aspiration, that many people in this remote community seem to have, to strive for change, may provide an adequate explanation for this lack of variety. Having said that, every so often you’ll see or enter a house where a conscious effort has been made to break the trend, and different usually looks nice.....
Dave and I don’t live in the type of housing I just mentioned above, just thought it would be something nice to comment on before I gave a brief description of our living quarters.
Our house is part of an apartment block of 5 build by the government in the North part of Aishalton about 3 years ago. We have 4 small rooms, 3 of which are bedrooms and the other one which is a for the shower and toilet. In addition we have 1 large room which houses our kitchen and communal area where we eat and work.
We currently have running water (apart from in the shower) which is nice but no electricity, even though the house was installed with power sockets and cables. However, our situation may be changing soon... in our last meeting at school we were informed that a generator had been bought in Georgetown in order to provide electricity to the school and our house that is about 50 metres away. Although this sounds promising the other teachers in the apartments seem less enthusiastic as the promise of a generator has been going on for about 2 years now. I just think the prospect of not having to light a kerosene lamps at 6 each night to start lesson planning is too good to be true... It must be said that: ‘Burning the Midnight Oil’ is much more tedious when the ‘Oil’ is not just a figure of speech like in England, but is actually the thing that is struggling to provide you with enough light to work by!!! So, the electricity will be a big plus if it comes, but with the dry season having kinda started (it’s still raining heavy but not as frequently) our water tank will soon run dry, and with that we will have to say bye-bye to running water until it starts raining again (don’t know when that will be). I’m not too fussed though as Dave and I are both pretty good at getting most our water from the well outside our house, at the moment we only really use running water for flushing the loo (which has no seat).
Anyway as always I’ve rambled on a bit but dotted in this blog are photo's of our house
95% of the housing in Aishalton abides by a tradional wapishsan design. The roofing is made from sun dried ..... leaves, wooden beam supports and mud brick walls. House building is not constrained by planning permission, money or differing views between architect and homeowner like back home. Here, every man must build his own home as there are no contractors to do it for him. It would therefore be reasonable to assume that houses in Aishalton vary in appearance vastly as designs are only limited to: the workman skills and creative ability of the man who’s building along with the time he’s put aside to build. However this is not the case, most houses appear to end out being built in a similar format: one floor, a kitchen, two or three bedrooms and a communal room of some sort. I believe that the emphasis the Wapishan people place on keeping traditions alive along with the lack of an aspiration, that many people in this remote community seem to have, to strive for change, may provide an adequate explanation for this lack of variety. Having said that, every so often you’ll see or enter a house where a conscious effort has been made to break the trend, and different usually looks nice.....Dave and I don’t live in the type of housing I just mentioned above, just thought it would be something nice to comment on before I gave a brief description of our living quarters.
Our house is part of an apartment block of 5 build by the government in the North part of Aishalton about 3 years ago. We have 4 small rooms, 3 of which are bedrooms and the other one which is a for the shower and toilet. In addition we have 1 large room which houses our kitchen and communal area where we eat and work.
We currently have running water (apart from in the shower) which is nice but no electricity, even though the house was installed with power sockets and cables. However, our situation may be changing soon... in our last meeting at school we were informed that a generator had been bought in Georgetown in order to provide electricity to the school and our house that is about 50 metres away. Although this sounds promising the other teachers in the apartments seem less enthusiastic as the promise of a generator has been going on for about 2 years now. I just think the prospect of not having to light a kerosene lamps at 6 each night to start lesson planning is too good to be true... It must be said that: ‘Burning the Midnight Oil’ is much more tedious when the ‘Oil’ is not just a figure of speech like in England, but is actually the thing that is struggling to provide you with enough light to work by!!! So, the electricity will be a big plus if it comes, but with the dry season having kinda started (it’s still raining heavy but not as frequently) our water tank will soon run dry, and with that we will have to say bye-bye to running water until it starts raining again (don’t know when that will be). I’m not too fussed though as Dave and I are both pretty good at getting most our water from the well outside our house, at the moment we only really use running water for flushing the loo (which has no seat).  |
| My room, tidy as always!!! |
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| Friends and Family..... I miss you all |
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| The walls mean that Dave and I can chat whilst both in our beds. |
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| The large room |
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| Spare Bedroom where we chill out some times |
Wednesday, 13 October 2010
Few days of note in our first month in Aishalton
Hi Again
WE'VE BEEN IN AISHALTON EXACTLY ONE MONTH!!!!
As I promised at the end of my last blog, this blog is going to be dedicated to talking about a few of the days so far that spring to mind as being of note to describe. This is by no means an account of all we’ve done outside school.
Saturday 25th September-
This was an extremely busy day. After an early wake up, we attended a small Christian gathering at Sir Anthony (a very kind Primary teacher/ influential guy in the community) and his wife Renata’s house. Although it was interesting to see how the people practiced Christianity (Namely Roman Catholicism), being atheist ourselves we mainly went along to meet some more people and for the free breakfast afterwards!
Sir Anthony happened to be holding a Village Manaur, after the service which we joined eager to meet some more villagers and to get involved with village life. A Village Manaur is a kind of self help scheme with a twist: like back home, all work is voluntary and the work can be of any type, this is decided by the person who holds the Manaur. The twist is that heavy drinking is a major part of Village Manaurs. Para kari, a local drink made from fermented Cassava, is served by the women to the working men. If you accept the donation, it is your way of saying you will carry on working for a bit longer. Anyway this particular Manaur was digging a rubbish pit that was 6 foot deep...Work was good until about lunch time where the alcohol appeared to be kicking in on the guys and by about 2 pm everyone had stopped work and were sitting round chatting, eating and drinking heavily in the shade. Dave and I left at about 4 pm to go and learn to make some Roti Bread, but as a penance leaving early Dave was encouraged to play a couple of songs on the guitar to the drunken rabble, they loved his comedy and theatre. It was quite strange to see a teacher and our headmaster getting absolutely plastered, in the middle of the afternoon, but I think that’s just what happens out here... Who am I to question their practises?
Alison our neighbour taught us to make some Roti, and they also agreed to teach us how to make other Guyanese food next weekend as well.
In the evening, Dave and I went up to Burning Hills and chatted to uncle Roy who was at the manaur earlier who agreed to take us out fishing and hunting with him some time.
Thursday 30th September
This day was the end of Amerindian Heritage Month and so lessons were called off to go and watch the precessions that went on the whole day at the Sports Ground. Most acts performed were done by Wapishan people from Aishalton and surrounding villages and were mainly dances. If you’ve seen one dance, trust me, you have seen them all! After lunch I was asked to play in a football match for Aishalton against another village. We won 2-1. As it got late and proceedings drew to a close a lot of people just stayed round chatting. After a few glasses of Para Kari I was in the mood for the party which I had heard was going on past the Airstrip (a patch of flatted grass). It was about a 20 mins walk away but Chubes and a few cool guys were going as well so I didn’t end up getting lost. When I got there it took another glass of Kari before I was brave enough to try my hand at Faha Dancing (Brazilian Dancing). If I were to describe it I would say that it was a mixture of Salsa and just grinding. To be honest I was fairly terrible but at least I gave it a go. Unfortunately, I don’t think my two left feet will ever possess the co-ordination required to dance Faha. But I made it home in the end, so that was a success.
Sunday 3rd October
Sunday afternoon, James (an English guy who lived in Aishalton for 1 and ½) and his friend Kreda rocked up asking whether us and the Peace Corp Vols: Kristen and Chris, wanted to go see the Petro glyphs near Aishalton and to spend the watch the sunset at a local view point.... and thats exactly what we did. Both parts were amazing but I particularly enjoyed the lying on the sun heated rocks taking in first the setting sun and then the milky-way. Oh and driving through the Savannah standing on the back of the pickup truck, wind blowing through my hair was also pretty cool.
Monday 4th October
Thursday and Friday 7th-8th October
These days were really fun. The sports were held at the school grounds and it was nice to see so much support from parents, pupils, teachers and other village members alike. Everyone seems to love sports here, so naturally winning was deemed very important by all. Kikoi won the March element to the day, winning all three sections: Best uniform, Best Banner and Best Marching. I was so happy we won this section as I and the marching team had worked for numerous hours in the early mornings and after school to try and pip Odo’oda (the other house, prenounced Oohdow)... I also came up with the motto for our banner!
Anyway, Kikoi narrowly lost the main sports event, 333: 330 which Dave keeps reminding me about, but I only have to recount my clear victory over him in the 100 metre’s in front of the whole school to shut him up!!! Haha its only light hearted jokes though, we’re not at each others throat’s or anything.
So those are a few of the things that have gone on so far. Tomorrow Dave and I are heading to Awarewaunau for to watch the last few day of the Inter-schools competition for our region, The Deep South. This is where all the best athletes from all the villages in the region compete at: Swimming and Track and Field. We’ll probably stay there for a few days exploring and come back on Sunday but we’ll have to see.
I plan to post a few more little extracts, explaining various things like the layout of the village, also things like a bit more on our house and a ‘who’s who’ in the village.
If you have suggestions on something I haven’t explained very well ect.. just let me know by email.
Many thanks
Sam
WE'VE BEEN IN AISHALTON EXACTLY ONE MONTH!!!!
As I promised at the end of my last blog, this blog is going to be dedicated to talking about a few of the days so far that spring to mind as being of note to describe. This is by no means an account of all we’ve done outside school.
Saturday 25th September-
This was an extremely busy day. After an early wake up, we attended a small Christian gathering at Sir Anthony (a very kind Primary teacher/ influential guy in the community) and his wife Renata’s house. Although it was interesting to see how the people practiced Christianity (Namely Roman Catholicism), being atheist ourselves we mainly went along to meet some more people and for the free breakfast afterwards!
Sir Anthony happened to be holding a Village Manaur, after the service which we joined eager to meet some more villagers and to get involved with village life. A Village Manaur is a kind of self help scheme with a twist: like back home, all work is voluntary and the work can be of any type, this is decided by the person who holds the Manaur. The twist is that heavy drinking is a major part of Village Manaurs. Para kari, a local drink made from fermented Cassava, is served by the women to the working men. If you accept the donation, it is your way of saying you will carry on working for a bit longer. Anyway this particular Manaur was digging a rubbish pit that was 6 foot deep...Work was good until about lunch time where the alcohol appeared to be kicking in on the guys and by about 2 pm everyone had stopped work and were sitting round chatting, eating and drinking heavily in the shade. Dave and I left at about 4 pm to go and learn to make some Roti Bread, but as a penance leaving early Dave was encouraged to play a couple of songs on the guitar to the drunken rabble, they loved his comedy and theatre. It was quite strange to see a teacher and our headmaster getting absolutely plastered, in the middle of the afternoon, but I think that’s just what happens out here... Who am I to question their practises?
Alison our neighbour taught us to make some Roti, and they also agreed to teach us how to make other Guyanese food next weekend as well.
In the evening, Dave and I went up to Burning Hills and chatted to uncle Roy who was at the manaur earlier who agreed to take us out fishing and hunting with him some time.
Thursday 30th September
Sunday 3rd October
Sunday afternoon, James (an English guy who lived in Aishalton for 1 and ½) and his friend Kreda rocked up asking whether us and the Peace Corp Vols: Kristen and Chris, wanted to go see the Petro glyphs near Aishalton and to spend the watch the sunset at a local view point.... and thats exactly what we did. Both parts were amazing but I particularly enjoyed the lying on the sun heated rocks taking in first the setting sun and then the milky-way. Oh and driving through the Savannah standing on the back of the pickup truck, wind blowing through my hair was also pretty cool. Monday 4th October
School inter-house swimming. Kikoi, my house lost pretty badly.
Thursday and Friday 7th-8th October
These days were really fun. The sports were held at the school grounds and it was nice to see so much support from parents, pupils, teachers and other village members alike. Everyone seems to love sports here, so naturally winning was deemed very important by all. Kikoi won the March element to the day, winning all three sections: Best uniform, Best Banner and Best Marching. I was so happy we won this section as I and the marching team had worked for numerous hours in the early mornings and after school to try and pip Odo’oda (the other house, prenounced Oohdow)... I also came up with the motto for our banner!
Anyway, Kikoi narrowly lost the main sports event, 333: 330 which Dave keeps reminding me about, but I only have to recount my clear victory over him in the 100 metre’s in front of the whole school to shut him up!!! Haha its only light hearted jokes though, we’re not at each others throat’s or anything.So those are a few of the things that have gone on so far. Tomorrow Dave and I are heading to Awarewaunau for to watch the last few day of the Inter-schools competition for our region, The Deep South. This is where all the best athletes from all the villages in the region compete at: Swimming and Track and Field. We’ll probably stay there for a few days exploring and come back on Sunday but we’ll have to see.
I plan to post a few more little extracts, explaining various things like the layout of the village, also things like a bit more on our house and a ‘who’s who’ in the village.
If you have suggestions on something I haven’t explained very well ect.. just let me know by email.
Many thanks
Sam
Thursday, 7 October 2010
First 3 weeks in Aishalton
Hello from Aishalton......
It’s been a while since I posted any text on my blog (3 weeks or so), but frankly I’ve been doing far too much to have time to sit down and document what’s gone on. I’ll try to give you a brief summary of what’s happened so far...
The day after my last post we (Dave, Gary the PTV in Shurinab and I) ended up going to Kumu Fall’s instead of Moco Moco Fall’s as we were told it was easier to reach.... not the case. We hired a normal taxi driver that turned out to drive like a manic rally driver through the dirt tracks, ditches, pot holes and deep puddles. Half an hour in our car got stuck doing down a steep hill where there was a big puddle. The next 20 minutes we spent trekking through a jungle path to reach the base of the Falls, this hike through the jungle was so different to any I think I’ve done before. Walking shin deep in warm murky water, breathing in the thick jungle air with the rich green rain forest vegetation strangling our view to only up and down the path is a memory that will not soon fade. I dared not take any pictures of our walk as slipping and sliding in the mud was a common occurrence.
At the base of the falls a Banab (traditional marquee with palm-tree roofing) had been built and there we two guys: Benjamin and Peter who owned the land round Kumu Falls.
For $1000 Guyanese dollars each they offered to guide us up through the jungle to the falls. The walk was about 5 minutes to the first of 4 levels the falls had. We spent time at each one except the last level which was too difficult to reach. Seeing the waterfalls was a spectacular sight but my most enjoyable part of that day was the evening, where Benjamin and the three of us went fishing with a stick and line and cut some coconuts down. We gutted the fish and roasted it on the fire. The fish weren’t big enough to provide dinner but they were a nice evening snack to have with our refreshing coconut water. Night fell and we decided to head back home
Getting back to the taxi, which we had left, was a bit sketchy due to fear of snakes/ other scary insects and animals that may be lurking in the water that we were blindly treading through. Fortunately none of us were bitten.... not so fortunately, the taxi we had left did not start for about 5 mins, putting bought in all our minds about getting home that evening!
The following morning the three of us got up and dressed for a 5 o’ clock departure but in the typical Guyanese fashion our ride didn’t arrive till just after 7. Two VSO workers at the ministry where coming as well meaning the jeep with 4 in the back was pretty cramped. Shulinab was 2 hours away from Lethem where we dropped of Gary who had been with us in Lethem recovering from some nasty sunburns on his shoulders. Shulinab is a small village, of about 200 people, surrounded by the Kanuk Mountains (blue mountains). The housing the PTV’s are staying in is a small traditional house that is very habitable, would I believe be much nicer to live in than the government built, tin roofed flat that we’ve got down in Aishalton.
The second part of our journey lead us out and away from the mountains that surrounded Shulinab, entering the flat and forever stretching savannas. As we drove I looked out to pan flat landscape with nothing obtruding but for the odd palm tree here and there.... and no people or settlements....anywhere. This gave me a real sense of detachment from the hustle and bustle of modern western life. We drove for the next 3 hours passing no one. I decided that I liked this. Dadanawa Ranch (what used to be the largest cattle ranch in the world) was reached 5 mins or so after an eventful crossing of the Rupununi River by pontoon which I wish I had been brave enough to photograph. From Dadanawa to Aishalton the drive was about 1 hour.
We were dropped off at our flat on arrival, where Sir Adrian the head for the past 11 years greeted us and let us in (He retired last week :( ). The government built teacher’s quarters were completed 3 years ago and are a stark contrast to the traditional housing that occupies the majority of the village. Its tin roofing and western design seem strange in such a remote Amerindian Village. Compared to most the other PTV flats in other parts of Guyana we have it pretty cushy. Even though the house is fairly clean and habitable I am a little disappointed that we couldn’t live in the traditional Wapishan mud huts with thatched roofing. The initial idea when the flats were built was to supply electricity and running water. Currently we have running water as our water tank is full but we’ve been told that we’ll soon be without as dry season is starting. As for electricity....well I’m not hopeful. Dave and I have made our house a home pretty fast (thanks mum for forcing me to pack all those photo’s, laminated print outs and flags) filling wall space has been a challenge. Our neighbours are all really nice in the government built block, we have:
Sir Arial and Miss Gale- Sir Arial is acting head atm and teaches DT and Miss Gale is second in charge, she teaches Social Studies. They have two children, the oldest who is about 4/5 and is called Matt.
Miss Alison- Teaches at the Aishalton Primary School the other side of the village. she has a son called Raul who is 9 and a daughter who is a few years younger. Alison is a very good cook and has been showing us how to make a few dishes on the weekends.
Chris and Kristen- They are the Peace Corp Vols who have been out in Aishalton for 1 and ½ years. They are both lovely people and have always lent a helping hand, whether that been lending us a Keresine lamp and pillows or inviting us to various social gatherings. Kristen has tried to revive the Aishalton Resources Centre for teachers and Chris works at the hospital.
Sir Adrian and Paula- Sir Adrian is a really organised guy who is going to be missed as the head of Aishalton Secondary School and discipline issues are going to increase without his stern hand. Having said that I’m sure we’ll manage it can’t be too hard to run a school... Right DAD??? Haha. Paula makes us bread for a small fee which I like. She I’m told weaves cotton hammocks, so I may see if she can make me one.
Getting thrown straight into teaching has been really tough and a very very steep learning curve, the days are long and tiring but I wouldn’t change the unique situation which I’ve been placed in for anything.
I’ll run you through a typical school day:
5:00- Stumble out of bed, fall into some form of sports attire and head to school
5:30- Having gathered together the children in my house (Kikoi- Harpy Eagle in Wapishan) who are staying in the dorms. We walk to either the Sports Ground or the Creek for Athletics or Swimming practice where we are usually met by people from Kikoi who live in the village.
6:45- Sport finished and I walk the dorms kids back to school and then head home myself.
7:00-8:00- Bucket shower to save water and then cook up some breakfast, usually consisting of porridge.
8:00- Head into school to do some lesson planning before school starts
8:30- School starts with a quick 5 minute assembly and roll-call
2 lessons (70mins long)
11:00- Lunch break
12:00- quick assembly and afternoon roll-call
2 more lessons
2:30- Lessons finish
End of Day assembly
2:45- End of school
3:00- sports Ground or the Creek for Athletics or Swimming practice where we are usually met by people from Kikoi who live in the village.
4:30- end of sport and I walk the dorm kids back to the dormitory.
It gets dark by about 6:15 so Dave and I usually try and cook and plan lessons for the next day before then as trying to do these tasks with a kerosene lamp is pretty hard. On Monday nights from 6:30-8:oo pm I volunteer to monitor the internet at Burning Hills, looking after the pay book ect... other than that we spend our time either, chilling in our hammocks out the back of our house, or appreciating a beer or two with some of the guys up at Burning Hills or the Tushao’s (village chief’s) bar; a western comfort I’m glad I’ve still got!
You may think after reading of my typical school day, that this gap year is shaping up to be ‘all work and no play’ so to speak. This I can assure you is not the case. Yes, the school days are long and I quite often find my-self slumping into my hammock come end of school energy sapped from a full day’s work, but the weekends provide plenty of opportunities to explore, to meet people, and to let our hair down. We’ve been learning from some of the locals how to cook some nice Guyanese food, Attending village events, going to manors (a mixture of ‘self help’ and a lash up), and going to a couple of parties.
All of this I could talk about for another 1600 words, and I probably will at some point, but not quite yet. Hopefully this piece will provide this of you who haven’t heard from me directly for a while, sufficient information of what I’ve been up to recently. Once things here settle down, I’m sure I’ll have more time to chat to more of you guys back home. I hope you don’t attribute my lack of communication to a lack of willingness to keep you informed.
It’s been a while since I posted any text on my blog (3 weeks or so), but frankly I’ve been doing far too much to have time to sit down and document what’s gone on. I’ll try to give you a brief summary of what’s happened so far...
The day after my last post we (Dave, Gary the PTV in Shurinab and I) ended up going to Kumu Fall’s instead of Moco Moco Fall’s as we were told it was easier to reach.... not the case. We hired a normal taxi driver that turned out to drive like a manic rally driver through the dirt tracks, ditches, pot holes and deep puddles. Half an hour in our car got stuck doing down a steep hill where there was a big puddle. The next 20 minutes we spent trekking through a jungle path to reach the base of the Falls, this hike through the jungle was so different to any I think I’ve done before. Walking shin deep in warm murky water, breathing in the thick jungle air with the rich green rain forest vegetation strangling our view to only up and down the path is a memory that will not soon fade. I dared not take any pictures of our walk as slipping and sliding in the mud was a common occurrence.
For $1000 Guyanese dollars each they offered to guide us up through the jungle to the falls. The walk was about 5 minutes to the first of 4 levels the falls had. We spent time at each one except the last level which was too difficult to reach. Seeing the waterfalls was a spectacular sight but my most enjoyable part of that day was the evening, where Benjamin and the three of us went fishing with a stick and line and cut some coconuts down. We gutted the fish and roasted it on the fire. The fish weren’t big enough to provide dinner but they were a nice evening snack to have with our refreshing coconut water. Night fell and we decided to head back home
Getting back to the taxi, which we had left, was a bit sketchy due to fear of snakes/ other scary insects and animals that may be lurking in the water that we were blindly treading through. Fortunately none of us were bitten.... not so fortunately, the taxi we had left did not start for about 5 mins, putting bought in all our minds about getting home that evening!  |
| School Grounds at Shulinab |
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| The view at sunset from a hill showing the surroundings we drove through to get to Aishalton |
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| washing outside our flat, our water tank was overflowing |
Sir Arial and Miss Gale- Sir Arial is acting head atm and teaches DT and Miss Gale is second in charge, she teaches Social Studies. They have two children, the oldest who is about 4/5 and is called Matt.
Miss Alison- Teaches at the Aishalton Primary School the other side of the village. she has a son called Raul who is 9 and a daughter who is a few years younger. Alison is a very good cook and has been showing us how to make a few dishes on the weekends.
Chris and Kristen- They are the Peace Corp Vols who have been out in Aishalton for 1 and ½ years. They are both lovely people and have always lent a helping hand, whether that been lending us a Keresine lamp and pillows or inviting us to various social gatherings. Kristen has tried to revive the Aishalton Resources Centre for teachers and Chris works at the hospital.
Sir Adrian and Paula- Sir Adrian is a really organised guy who is going to be missed as the head of Aishalton Secondary School and discipline issues are going to increase without his stern hand. Having said that I’m sure we’ll manage it can’t be too hard to run a school... Right DAD??? Haha. Paula makes us bread for a small fee which I like. She I’m told weaves cotton hammocks, so I may see if she can make me one.
Getting thrown straight into teaching has been really tough and a very very steep learning curve, the days are long and tiring but I wouldn’t change the unique situation which I’ve been placed in for anything.
I’ll run you through a typical school day:
5:00- Stumble out of bed, fall into some form of sports attire and head to school
5:30- Having gathered together the children in my house (Kikoi- Harpy Eagle in Wapishan) who are staying in the dorms. We walk to either the Sports Ground or the Creek for Athletics or Swimming practice where we are usually met by people from Kikoi who live in the village.
6:45- Sport finished and I walk the dorms kids back to school and then head home myself.
7:00-8:00- Bucket shower to save water and then cook up some breakfast, usually consisting of porridge.
8:00- Head into school to do some lesson planning before school starts
8:30- School starts with a quick 5 minute assembly and roll-call
 |
| School Assembly |
2 lessons (70mins long)
11:00- Lunch break
12:00- quick assembly and afternoon roll-call
2 more lessons
2:30- Lessons finish
End of Day assembly
2:45- End of school
3:00- sports Ground or the Creek for Athletics or Swimming practice where we are usually met by people from Kikoi who live in the village.
4:30- end of sport and I walk the dorm kids back to the dormitory.
It gets dark by about 6:15 so Dave and I usually try and cook and plan lessons for the next day before then as trying to do these tasks with a kerosene lamp is pretty hard. On Monday nights from 6:30-8:oo pm I volunteer to monitor the internet at Burning Hills, looking after the pay book ect... other than that we spend our time either, chilling in our hammocks out the back of our house, or appreciating a beer or two with some of the guys up at Burning Hills or the Tushao’s (village chief’s) bar; a western comfort I’m glad I’ve still got!
 |
| It's always nice to feel apreciated!!! |
 |
| Trip to the Petroglyph's near Aishalton |
All of this I could talk about for another 1600 words, and I probably will at some point, but not quite yet. Hopefully this piece will provide this of you who haven’t heard from me directly for a while, sufficient information of what I’ve been up to recently. Once things here settle down, I’m sure I’ll have more time to chat to more of you guys back home. I hope you don’t attribute my lack of communication to a lack of willingness to keep you informed.
Hope your all well
Sam :) (oh.. if you’ve read this and found lots of mistakes, sorry.. i haven’t checked it thoroughly)
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