Orientation highlights

Sorry about the lack of posts recently. A lot has happened, but I didn’t get a chance to finish a post at the end of the second week and I’ve been super busy with teacher training and meetings this past week. There is an internet café across the street from my house, so I’ll post a couple of times next week with the events of orientation.
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Highlights of week 2
The second week here at orientation was much slower paced than the first in terms of formal sessions, but there were some highlights of the week:
On Monday, we headed to the US embassy for a meeting about security issues to watch out for. It was like returning home for a few hours…after everyone filtered through the thorough security search (much like going through airport security), we were treated to a couple of hours of AC, hot water in the sinks, and a taste of life at the embassy. Some of the advice was unrealistic to the point of being silly for people who are going to live like Guyanese (we were advised not to use minibuses, the main form of transportation around here) but I guess for the intended audience, i.e. embassy people getting paid American wages, it was well founded. Other than the novelty of being inside, the trip was pretty uneventful.
On Wednesday, we ventured out into Georgetown for a scavenger hunt that took us through the most famous sights. Among other things, we saw the Umani yanna, the botanical gardens and the national library. We ended up going during the middle of the day, so it was super hot, but I did see a lot of sights that I wouldn’t have gotten to otherwise.
During the last week of orientation, we did practical work with the students in a local secondary school called Cummings Lodge secondary. It’s common to advance students to the next grade even if they don’t pass, but those that don’t do well enough during the year have to attend summer school. On Friday, we all headed over to present ourselves to the parents and the students we’ll be working with (a few of them at least). The students have already been in school for six weeks, and have one more week of summer classes before a one week break. However, it seems like a lot of them started their vacation a little early. It’s a little scary that the school year will be starting so soon, but this week was really good for hands on practice with other experienced teachers as a warm up. More details about the teaching practicum and some pictures are coming soon!
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Some random observations of Guyanese culture
Umbrellas: Being so close to the equator means that the climate is hot and humid all of the time, and the sun is very bright. To stay a little cooler, many Guyanese women walk around with umbrellas while outside to shade themselves. My first purchase here was an umbrella so that I could follow suit. I still sweat buckets even under the umbrella if I’m walking around during the day, but the shade does help a little.
Music: The music that I’ve heard for 90% of the time since I’ve been here has been a mash up of reggae, soca, chutney, and popular American R&B songs, especially Neyo and Rihanna (Neyo had a concert my second weekend here, and RIhanna is half Guyanese). The Guyanese love to listen to music all of the time, the louder the better. It really feels like being in a club even in the middle of the day. One quirk about the radio here that I find kind of annoying is the fact that the DJ will cut in to make announcements (or something like that….sometimes I can’t decipher what’s being said), but it seems like people tend to play their own CDs more that listen to the radio, so I haven’t heard it too much. The Guyanese are also really into 80’s music, especially during Karaoke. I’ve always considered karaoke to be a silly affair where people get up to sing badly, but Guyanese take it to another level entirely: most of the time they’ll choose slow “oldies” ballads and really get into it.
Minibuses: It feels like an adventure every time I get on. Minibuses are vans that go around town on certain routes based on the number painted on it. Usually there’s a driver and a “conductor” that takes the money and hangs out the window looking for more passengers. The one that passes by CPCE is the #44. Sometimes they deviate: when I was headed back from a trip into town with a housemate, a lot of 44 buses said they were not passing by our stop. However, they’re pretty consistent. In the city there’s a bus “station” (strip of road near the Starbroek market) where we can make transfers to another line or catch a bus back to CPCE. The driving can pretty fast…I usually try not to look out the window too much. New Amsterdam is pretty small though, so after I get to my site I probably won’t be using them too often.

Again, there's much more to come about week three and my new site in the next few days!