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Cat's Guyana Updates!.blop. April 29 RV:
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the next time i post an entry it will be on my old typewriter blog! and i'll be writing from CANADA!!!
to celebrate the end of my time here, i made a list of
50 things i will miss about Guyana:
1. Junior: my frog…my friend. I didn’t really talk to him or hang out with him or anything (I’m not crazy), but I knew that he’d
2. Beverly’s beautiful house.
3. Mr. Funny Guy at work. He always cracked me up. 4. The clippity-clop of horse-buggies traveling along the street 5. Roti being available (almost) everywhere 6. FIRE!: the walking or driving by random fires. I like the smell. Plus I’d always laugh at my initial reaction of want to call the 911. or is it 912? 7. never remembering which emergency phone number was which. I think ‘911’ was police, ‘912’ was fire, and ‘913’ was ambulance. …but I could be wrong. 8. watching current movies on tv: Blood Diamond, Dreamgirls, etc 9. the tropical rain: there’s nothing like that rain. It pounds on the buildings… it’ll drench you in seconds. 10. The cuteness of the little children going to school in their uniforms and the girls with ribbons in their hair. 11. the bright green folders that I used to organize the stuff on my desk. 12. the lizards: lizards are cute. 13. The Cats: Mr. K from the office (He was mighty cute. I wanted to take him.) and Kitty from the house. (we had a fun stare-off. He won.) 14. watching goats freely roam the streets with no owner watching, and seemingly, no care in the world. 15. The Flowers: The tropical flowers that bloomed year-round. 16. the oasis-like feeling I would get sometimes after hanging out at the Oasis. 17. the pineapple. MmMM! That was good ‘pine’!! 18. The Interior: the beauty, the peacefulness, the ‘untouched’ atmosphere, the adventure 19. The experience of living and working in my dad’s “old stomping ground”: experiencing the culture of (some of) the blood that runs through my veins. 20. Ginger Beer being available (almost) everywhere. 21. Buying products that were imported from Brazil or Columbia and had no English words on the packaging. 22. The Currency/Money: there’s nothing like holding $40,000 in your hands. 23. Beverly: what can I say? There are few people who would let some strange girl live in their house for months on end AND treat her like family. 24. The Donkeys: They definitely were not as common as cows or horses, so it wasn’t every day that I’d see one, but it was always cool when I did. I like donkeys for some reason. There’s something about their expression. They seem so content…. take life as it comes… go with the flow… up for anything… 25. Oprah on tv 3 times a day. If I stayed at work late I knew I could still watch Oprah. If it was particularly good show, I knew I could watch it again a few hours later! 26. The anticipation in the air of “World Cup is coming, the streets are being cleaned up, things are improving!” 27: The Brazilian Restaurant: mmm some of the best meat I’ve ever had! 28. 10 oranges for 50cents. 29. Being part of an important organization: it was cool. Telling people that I work for ---- and them knowing the place instantly. Attending meetings with “high-up” public officials, learning a bit about how the ‘back end’ of these organizations work. 30. Seeing poisonous/ potentially deadly animals in the wild: snakes and frogs. 31. watching cows saunter down the street. 32. the art: carvings carvings everywhere! I enjoyed walking down the street and seeing all kinds of masterpieces. AND their creators at work making new pieces! 33. the one-shoe boy from church: he doesn’t know me, and I don’t know him, but he still cracks me up. 34. Getting my hair braided for not a lot of money. 35. Seeing the President at the Oasis: heh, I love the notion of the President chilling at a café along with random people, while his bodyguards stood by the door and outside the establishment. 36. the inexpensive-ness: a hot lunch for $4, intricate carvings for $35, 37. my office on the third floor: my own washroom, up and away from all authority figures. If it wasn’t for my conscience I would’ve TOTALLY taken advantage of the fact that people didn’t really know if I was around and what I was up to.. 38. Chicken Pinwheel… yum! 39. The Pastor at church: he makes me laugh. Super kind too. 40. Main Street: It was always bustling with activity, but not enough people to make me uncomfortable. Plus, this is where the coolio artisans set up shop! 41. mmmm Ovaltine cookies: do they sell them in Canada? How come I hadn’t had them before I came here? Well…I think they’re great. They come in small packages and make a great guilt-less desert! :) 42. The Intraserv bus: It’s probably usually a horrible ride, but while I was on it I had a great time. Whether I was sitting in the absolute front seat beside my sis, with a great view of the scenery, or bouncing around in the absolute back seat beside Fake Tiger Woods, with a crazy strong wind blowing in my face! 43. Sister Paris: she has a great spirit. 44. The streets with the walkway down the centre and huge-o trees: it were pretty 45. A couple particular cab drivers: the few who weren’t creepy. 46. The old school cars: speaking of taxis, I’ll definitely miss getting driven around in the old cars… the ones with the maroon interior, tape decks, broken seatbelts… 47. The children from the outreach Sunday school: they were disastrously misbehaved, but they were still decent people. I’ll never forget the one girl who had ‘accepted my challenge’ and found out where the verse ‘Jesus Wept’ was found in the Bible. 48. Beverly’s artistic-ness: totally inspiring. I mean, you KNOW you’re good when you can paint pictures and not only sell them, but display them in your own home without going crazy!! (ie, ‘I should’ve done this instead’ kinda thoughts) 49. the tall ‘tropical’ trees: coconut trees and banana trees. They just have a great ‘look’ to them. 50. The Sea Wall: I thought it was a cool idea before I came to the country, and now that I see what it actually looks like (it’s not the ‘Great Wall of the Caribbean’ that I was anticipating) it’s still cool. I love how it varies in width and structure. last night's festivitiesso last night at work i went back to the house and prepared for a normal night of 'chilling'.
the tv was set to Oprah, and i had Mr. Noodles cooking on the stove.
and then after like 20painful minutes of Oprah, Beverly came in and was like, "Do you want to go to the Gifts and Crafts show?! i'm going now.."
and of course i said 'yes'... although i did hesitate for a minute: well, i did suffer through the first 20minutes of Oprah discussing the cervical virus/cancer vaccine, so that i could watch the 2nd half of the show, which looks to be much more interesting... and the noodles just finished..
but thankfully, i decided to go.
the exhibition grounds are only like a 5 minute walk away from the house, so we were there in no time.
the opening ceremonies were taking place and the president was speaking.
but, we got there late enough that we didn't have to listen to the speeches for too long!!!
and then the show consisted of dances and drama/story telling, and live music.
i was too far away for my camera flash to have any impact, but i still tried to take pics.
i tweaked them this morning using www.picnik.com. I LOVE THAT SITE! it's so simple and fast! ...and as long as its in beta, the cool 'special effects' are available for free! (check out the second pic!)
 
so we watched the show, and then eventually it got a little boring so we went to check out the exhibits/craft booths.
as we were walking to one of the entrances, the President and the Minister of Tourism were walking towards us, and of course they travel with a posse of like 6 bodyguards, 5 cameramen, and a mixed entourage of about 10 people.. (the camera guys were walking in front of them. they'd rush up a few paces and then turn around and take a picture.)
so with this huge group of people, there wasn't enough room, so we had to stand to the side to let them pass. ...which i thought was definitely not acceptable.
who do these people think they are?! why should I have to stand aside for them?!!
and then as the President was passing by us he shock my hand and Beverly's hand.
so i've decided that he's cool...
haha.
2 days left!
looking forward to: loblaws March 28 my name in Hawaiian!a few moments ago i decided to find out what my name is when translated into 'Hawaiian'.
it turns out to be: Kakalina.
hah. i think i'll stick with my English name.... 4 dayssomething i'm looking forward to: homemade smoothies. mmmmm
during the taxi ride this morning we passed by a shop that had these words written on a wall facing their parking area: "Bear with us the 40ft trench is smelling stink."
hehehe.
so the Cricket World Cup started in Guyana today.
the office is a Ghosttown.
seriously, i went downstairs and there was no one around!
it wasn't until the other intern mentioned 'cricket' to me that i realized that everyone's probably at the match. hahaha.
i heard on the news yesterday that the President ordered that schools be closed this week b/c of Cricket.
now THAT surprised me!!
apparently the reason had something to do with traffic... (ie, the roads will be less congested b/c the kids won't need to be dropped off at schools.)
the inpromptu holiday is country-wide though...even though Cricket is only happening in the area of the capital city.
...interesting. March 27 long hair is fantastic!so yes, i've been a fan of my long braids since i got the first set back in December.
But today i discovered a new added benefit!!
I had roti for lunch today and i accidentally spilled some curry chicken on my shirt!
i'm wearing a brown shirt (no jacket!! like the first time in weeks that i haven't worn a blazer!) so you can't see the colour of the stain, just random dots.
...what to do, what to do?
i could always hide out in my office for the rest of the afternoon, but that would probably mean that it'd be a fairly unproductive day.
or just walk around with my messed up shirt. it's not too bad, people would only notice it if they were talking to me for an extended amount of time...
the solution: i took hair out from the ponytail and made sure that a few braids hang infront of the stain!
it works great!!
HAH! :) that's what i'm talking about!!every so often someone comes by and hands out chocolate.
i love free stuff!
now, it's nothing like my previous job where i would get free goodies all the time! (i should make a list of the stuff! pizza, Swiss Chalet, birthday cake, baby shower cake, jelly beans, a fancy pen, big stack of note paper, more birthday cake...)
but hey, i'll take what i can get.
mmm chocolate for breakfast...
hah.
i discovered on the weekend that the government sprays the air w/ mosquito repellent.
like, at night a truck goes around and sprays this stuff.
....i wonder how bad it is for my health?
heh, for some reason i don't trust that it's harmless.
perhaps that's the reason why there isn't a malaria problem in Georgetown. ...apparently there have been several cases of it in the Interior.
funny though, each time i went i forgot to bring repellent along with me.
i'm very excited these days.
I'M ALLOWED TO DRIVE!!!!!!
as of yesterday, i have insurance and the green light to get behind the wheel!!
(cool! a pun! i didn't even do that on purpose! :)
granted, i'm not in Canada so that does me no good. but i will be there in 5 days! and i'm SUPER EXCITED!
DRIVING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
this has by far been the longest time i've spent without driving since i got my license 5 years ago.
will i remember how to do it?
...i wonder if the crazy driving here will influence me. will i forget about stop signs and lean on the car horn as i drive? will i forget that there are enforced speed limits in canada? will i start driving on the left side of the road? will i drive down the middle of the street, disregarding all yellow and white lines?
heh, i love that last one.
it always cracks me up when i'm in a cab and the car is half in one lane and half in the other.
last night when i was taking a shower i was singing a pretty heartfelt part of a song and the water poured into my mouth.
for some reason that's never happened to me before. it cracked me up though. so i was laughing and choking at the same time. :)March 26 the weekend report (6 days!!!)6 days....
another thing i'm looking forward to: Milk. (i know i said the same thing back in December, but i had a cold during the holidays, so i feel like i didn't get to enjoy as much milk as i wanted :)
so it actually feels a bit surreal. like, i can't believe the time is finally here.
i'm going home.
home.
HOME.
lol, okay i'll stop being melodramatic.
after discovering that i like Ruben Studdard's song "i'm not happy", i listened to his new album (The Return) a few times over the weekend.
it's better than his first one that's for sure.
it sounds like they put more effort into the beats and the writing.
i definitely prefer his second album....but this one isn't horrible.
speaking of new albums from people who dropped off the face of the planet, what happened to Maroon 5?!!
i'm very curious about what their new album will sound like.
haha, i remember trying to get someone to take their live album from me... literally GIVING it to people and after they listened to it, they'd return it to me with a look of disgust on their faces. hah.
so this weekend:
saturday morning i went to get my hair 'tidied up'. funny thing, as i was scheduling the appointment with the lady she told me that the day after i was there (early march) the Anaconda escaped!! hahaha, and they haven't seen it since!
i think that's so funny.
i mean, it just sounds obsurd. A wild Anaconda roaming freely in a residential neighbourhood.
just obsurd.
anyways, hopefully they find it before it does anything disastrous.
the rest of saturday involved shopping as usual. i'm fairly proud of the things i purchased at a craft shoppe, and i managed to only spend $15 at the grocery store. (yay Raeman noodles!)
here's a pic of a mask i bought a few weeks ago: 
speaking of noodles, i was reading the Economist and apparently the man who created instant noodles, "Momofuku Ando" of Japan, died in January at the age of 96.
Apparently he had three saying/philosophies of life:
'Peace will come when people have food.
Eating wisely will enhance beauty and health.
The creation of food will serve society.'
...interesting.
let's see, sunday, i went to church in the morning..i was 30minutes late, but it wasn't my fault.
 afterwards i was debating whether to take a nap or to go to the Oasis and surf the net for hours on end.
eventually the tv won out, and i watched parts of a few movies: Amistad, Rocky (the one where he retires), The PeaceMaker, Ella Enchanted (lol, don't judge me!), and a few others i can't remember.
and then i went to the night service at church.
church is great. i love how it's always familiar regardless of what city/country/continent i'm in/on.
The weather on Sunday was pretty cool! literally. ...as in 'almost cold'. it rained all morning and into the afternoon. it was very exciting.
and that was basically my weekend.
exciting eh?
;)
there were several moments that made me crack up.
one was when we were driving back to the house after the evening service at church.
we were "giving a drop" to a lady from the church and as we drove down Camp Street (pic attached) she commented, "wow, all the trees have their socks on tonight!"
other person: "yeah, but some need to pull them up. they're all uneven...hmph, no uniformity"
i cracked up.
and they laughed that i thought they were so amusing.
they were speaking of how the bottom on the trees/poles are painted white.
the city is getting ready for the tourists. (the World Cup comes on Wednesday, and some of the teams are already here.)
there are commercials on tv telling people that it's time to take pride in the country and stop littering.
i find litter interesting...cuz there really isn't much of it at home. I don't think i know anyone who would just throw an empty bottle on the ground. ...like to me, it doesn't even seem like an option on how to get rid of garbage.
anyways, the commercials are hilarious.
i want to tape them so i can show them to people.
i mentioned to my family the commercial about the new Value Added Tax.
it's like a government message set to Soca Music.
they crack me up, cuz the words are serious and complex and the people are on screen dancing around. "V-A-T, VAT eh!! it's a conditional tax!" and they go on to explan that it's on imported goods and not on rent and utilities and things.
anyways, i think the new 'keep guyana clean' ones are partly sponsored by CIDA (Canadian International Development Agency).
speaking of keeping guyana clean, for a while now there have been bumper stickers on cars that say, "Lash it in da bin, cricket a comin"
okay, enough of that, the next thing i find amusing is what people call speed bumps: "Sleeping Policemen".
cracks me up every time.
the third funny moment was a comment by a cab driver.
i called some random cab company to take me to church on sunday night.
he looked at me weird, but i just ignored him.
and then as we reached my destination i asked him how much it costs and paid him and as i was handing him the money he was like, "you look like a lawyer."
HAH!
MOST RANDOM COMMENT EVER!
so i laughed and got out of the car.
that cracked me up.
and then i thought about what i was wearing, "it's not like i'm wearing a toga and carring a staff!"
and then i laughed even more because i realized that my view of a lawyer is apparently a cross between Moses and Lady Liberty. hah.
i almost forgot! here are some of the recent pics of Junior:
i just learned a few weeks ago about his 'hiding spot'.
March 23 i'm still alive.it's been a few days since i've blogged.
i've thought about it lots, but i don't really have too much to say.
and i want to post pics, but i haven't taken any new ones. (i use italics b/c i take pics of Junior all the time. i think he's great. ...i find myself poking my head into the washroom multiple times during the evening just to see if he's sitting by the window. and even if he's just staring off into space, i want to go and grab my camera and take pics of him. heh, i try to fight that urge though, b/c he doesn't seem to like the camera flash too much.)
so why am i still here? it's after 6:30!
i have a hardcore work ethic.
LOL.
actually, i AM doing work. (well, right now i'm blogging, but besides this i'm doing work.)
there's a project that i was going to start next week, but for whatever reason when the clock hit 5:00pm i decided to start it now!
i had the office to myself for most of the day today so i've been playing my music aloud. sometimes humming along.
when it passed 4:30 i started singing.
right now i'm listening to a new song by Ruben Studdard. i'm not a fan of the turn his career is taking, but i DO like this song. (i rated it 4/5 stars on my mp3 player!)
it's called "i'm not happy"
hehe.
so what else... i decided that the list of blogs that i like has grown to monstrous proportions, so i got a Bloglines account to manage it.
so i'm excited about that. it's gonna save up so much time!!
sometimes when i stay here super late the guard calls to double check that i'm still here (and didn't secretly climb out a window).
He just called.
i feel like that's a cue that i should leave.
like, it's so unnatural that i'm still here, that he has to doublecheck.
8 more days to go!
thing i'm looking forward to at home: Chapters book store. |
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