Back home after the trip to Tobago. Yesterday we were swimming on the beach at Pigeon Point, which is where all the film stars go - white sand, palm trees, pelicans diving (and sand flies).
Guyana is like the 1940s, Tobago is like the 1960s, so coming back to the UK is a bit surreal. They say it is hot and humid here, but I felt cold this morning for the first time for a year.
Signing off the blog. Thanks for reading!
Saturday 24 July 2010
Wednesday 21 July 2010
Postcard Tuesday
Adventure day - caught a bus over to Speyside and found the recommended "Red Man" to take us snorkelling - he also took us to land on the island of Little Tobago, passing Goat Island on the way where Ian Fleming used to live. Little Tobago is a nature reserve, we saw frigatebirds, pelcans, brown boobies, laughing gulls, terns and brown noddies! The snorkelling was real fun - we floated around above Angel Reef, spotting blue, yellow, red and black fish darting in and out among cushions of coral and trees of coral with white tips. It was difficult to get back home as no buses showed up but we were advised to flag down route taxis which have a P registration. They charge just double the bus fare. We got back to find that there was fruit available here for the first time - unlike Guyana where there is fruit on every corner. Someone should start a business shipping it over here!
Postcard Monday
Early swim at the nearest beach where the Beatles went. We tried in vain to find a bank that would change our remaining Guyanese currency. Strolled around the Botanical Gardesn, enjoying the peaceful trimmed neatness and parkland benches. Then caught the scheduled bus which was on time, clean, luxurious, safely driven and cost 40 pence to go to the other end of Tobago. Our apartment is beautiful, set up on a hill overlooking the sea and the rainforest. We need a bit of beauty to act as an antidote to Guyana. This place is a bit like Cornwall but hotter - with hair pin bends, pretty fishing villages and hidden beaches. We walked along a well used track to Pirates Bay for a swim. Here tourism is the second biggest industry after fishing, so the place is set up with trails, signs, benches and cafes. We had a great evening meal - tuna steaks, rice and loads of different vegetables (veg is hard to buy here, but fish is plentiful).
Postcard Sunday
Despite dire warnings that no tickets were available, we queued for stand-by tickets for the slow cargo boat to Tobago. We were relieved to get on, although amazed that there was masses of space so all the warnings were pointless. Six hours on the boat in the company of a dozen lorry drivers, passing Trinidad's misty hills and islands, rounging the western point close to the Venezualan coast, then along the north coast and across to Tobago. We spotted some dolphins and pelicans on the way.
Postcard from Tobago - Saturday
Saturday
Taxi at 3 am, then a good flight to Tinidad. We went on a personalised tour by land rover all round the Northern Range of mountains including Asa Wright Nature Centre which has a grand house with a veranda overlooking bird feeders attracting hummingbirds, brilliant coloured small birds as well as agouti which are rodents about five times the size of a squirrel. We also had an adventure hike along trails and across streams to a huge waterfall for swimming. We stayed at a massive family house (our guide's mum) with myriad trees and shady verandas. She knew about architecture and took me on a tour of the good old and bad new buildings in Port of Spain.
Trinidad itself is a big shock after Guyana, it is like stettping from the 1950s to the 1980s. There are six lane highways, shopping malls, high rise blocks and a state of the art performing arts centre which looks like Sydney Opera House. It was built by the former president to show off to foreign leaders, but with zero consultation about what was required. The new president of Trinidad and Tobago seems to have been elected as a reaction to the bad behaviour of the last on who was "involved in all kind of stupidness".
Taxi at 3 am, then a good flight to Tinidad. We went on a personalised tour by land rover all round the Northern Range of mountains including Asa Wright Nature Centre which has a grand house with a veranda overlooking bird feeders attracting hummingbirds, brilliant coloured small birds as well as agouti which are rodents about five times the size of a squirrel. We also had an adventure hike along trails and across streams to a huge waterfall for swimming. We stayed at a massive family house (our guide's mum) with myriad trees and shady verandas. She knew about architecture and took me on a tour of the good old and bad new buildings in Port of Spain.
Trinidad itself is a big shock after Guyana, it is like stettping from the 1950s to the 1980s. There are six lane highways, shopping malls, high rise blocks and a state of the art performing arts centre which looks like Sydney Opera House. It was built by the former president to show off to foreign leaders, but with zero consultation about what was required. The new president of Trinidad and Tobago seems to have been elected as a reaction to the bad behaviour of the last on who was "involved in all kind of stupidness".
Thursday 15 July 2010
Packing up, Leaving events
I am starting to feel sad about leaving the many good friends that I have made here. It feels a bit more final when you start putting things in the case. We can only have one case with 20 kg, so we have to leave a lot of stuff behind. People here are grateful for clothes - my landlady runs two old peoples' homes, and they always need things, if only for rags. Pensioners here only have the equivalent of 18 pounds a month, so they have to rely on local relations for handouts, or remittances from family overseas (over half of all Guyanese live overseas). I'm giving my bike to a new volunteer who needs to learn to ride it. I've helped her to scoot along on it, but she still needs to get both feet onto the pedals. We enjoy our challenges on VSO! Books go to the VSO Office, where they have a library.
Yesterday after work we went down to meet a choir friend at their church so that we could use the piano a bit just before their choir practice. St Andrews Kirk is the oldest church in continuous use in Guyana. It was also our last quiz night, we were one point behind the winners. Monday was a farewell meal for a group of volunteers at an organiser's family house. That was lovely as we enjoyed chatting to family members with young children as well as the auntie of the house who was a highly educated lady with interesting conversation.
Today we have a meeting with the director at work. I have to dress up smartly and shake hands and avoid sounding off about issues. This is hard for me as I have difficulty keeping my mouth shut! I am learning to be more accepting and have good grace.
Tomorrow we have a lunch at work as well as an early evening visit to our American friend to play a few hands of bridge, and enjoy her fine snacks!
We leave for our week's holiday in the Caribbean on Saturday very early. I may get to put more things on the blog while on the holiday, but we are planning to be in a fairly remote area. I will access email tomorrow Friday, but then may not be able to read it again until Saturday 23 July when I will be in London, God willing.
Yesterday after work we went down to meet a choir friend at their church so that we could use the piano a bit just before their choir practice. St Andrews Kirk is the oldest church in continuous use in Guyana. It was also our last quiz night, we were one point behind the winners. Monday was a farewell meal for a group of volunteers at an organiser's family house. That was lovely as we enjoyed chatting to family members with young children as well as the auntie of the house who was a highly educated lady with interesting conversation.
Today we have a meeting with the director at work. I have to dress up smartly and shake hands and avoid sounding off about issues. This is hard for me as I have difficulty keeping my mouth shut! I am learning to be more accepting and have good grace.
Tomorrow we have a lunch at work as well as an early evening visit to our American friend to play a few hands of bridge, and enjoy her fine snacks!
We leave for our week's holiday in the Caribbean on Saturday very early. I may get to put more things on the blog while on the holiday, but we are planning to be in a fairly remote area. I will access email tomorrow Friday, but then may not be able to read it again until Saturday 23 July when I will be in London, God willing.
Monday 12 July 2010
Leaving Do
Yesterday was a special day as my landlady had a Yard Party for us. This is a picture of me reading my poem.
Friday 9 July 2010
End game
Definitely getting on the end game now. I am still going round chasing up the last of the assignments for the visual impairment module. It is the last day of the summer term today, so I hope to get most of them, although one teacher preferred to come in on Monday and do the whole thing then - which means I probably will have to be her blind subject, wandering about with a blindfold... I had some good news yesterday, one of the teachers does sewing and showed me a tracing wheel which works really well as a pin wheel for making tactile diagrams. So we now have a low cost local version, using a piece of polystyrene as a mat (cut from the bottom of a fast food box).
My downstairs VSO friend is taking a few of us for a meal tonight - I have cooked her loads of dinners so this is her way of repaying. This will be a posh job, I will put on my long frock! But we can't be too late as tomorrow morning we have a birding trip with our local friend, so we are getting picked up at 5.15 am! On Sunday my landlady has a yard party (with caterers) at lunchtime, which is to celebrate her return to Guyana after being overseas for a long trip, and two of us leaving. I will read my poem there, it is easier than making a speech. I will also organise a bit of dancing - before we get stuck into the lunch. Monday night is a leaving meal for the World Teach volunteers to which I am invited.
I read my poem at choir last night, and told them how much I have appreciated their friendship and support - they have really been a family to me.
My downstairs VSO friend is taking a few of us for a meal tonight - I have cooked her loads of dinners so this is her way of repaying. This will be a posh job, I will put on my long frock! But we can't be too late as tomorrow morning we have a birding trip with our local friend, so we are getting picked up at 5.15 am! On Sunday my landlady has a yard party (with caterers) at lunchtime, which is to celebrate her return to Guyana after being overseas for a long trip, and two of us leaving. I will read my poem there, it is easier than making a speech. I will also organise a bit of dancing - before we get stuck into the lunch. Monday night is a leaving meal for the World Teach volunteers to which I am invited.
I read my poem at choir last night, and told them how much I have appreciated their friendship and support - they have really been a family to me.
Wednesday 7 July 2010
Poem
How do you Like our Beautiful Country?
It’s a difficult question without a doubt
It’s taken eleven months to find out
But now I’m leaving, I can reflect
I’m looking back with rose tinted specs
So forget the mosquitoes, rubbish and fuss
And the awful drivers on the minibus
Botanical Gardens with buttressed trees
Toucan calling in the morning breeze
Falcons hunting from the NCN tower
Kingfisher dives by lily flower
Caciques that squawk, humming birds flit
Cayman – just one foot long, I’ll admit!
Blue sky after a day of rain
Sea wall walks – saw a pelican again
Lily leaf offerings set afloat
Demarara view of a docking boat
Shady elegance along Main Street
Pineapple with ice cream today for a treat
Chatting in the yard with our landlady who
Says, “Find a little something you can do
Bring some teachers that you can train
They’ll come for the lunch at NCERD again
Who knows how things will turn out
When you’ve been here some months and found your way about.”
Special school visits by bus, ferry, bike
To listen to needs and find what they’d like
Working in the office, countless mugs of tea
Studying and working to discover how we
Can do training for inclusion, so we will
Banish despair and make hope possible.
My friends in the choir – you gave me a song
To sing in my heart when the hours were long
You let me sit beside you to struggle with the alto
Of ambitious cantatas, the harmony of calypso
You gave me insight into how you cope
With your Guyanese life, with faith and hope.
Soft lights of Diwali and Christmas dining
Meeting the Minister. music and wining
New Year fireworks as people stand
Mashramani parades and costume band
Muslim kasidas, Phagwah paint sprayed
Will it wash out? No, I’m afraid!
Dear VSO friends, if we’re smiling or we’re mad
You’ve put up with my worries, which can’t be bad
You’ve listened to my woes, you’ve cut my hair
You’ve suffered my cooking and the shortage of beer
So I thank all you people, as in God’s hand
I can now find the beauty in this land.
It’s a difficult question without a doubt
It’s taken eleven months to find out
But now I’m leaving, I can reflect
I’m looking back with rose tinted specs
So forget the mosquitoes, rubbish and fuss
And the awful drivers on the minibus
Botanical Gardens with buttressed trees
Toucan calling in the morning breeze
Falcons hunting from the NCN tower
Kingfisher dives by lily flower
Caciques that squawk, humming birds flit
Cayman – just one foot long, I’ll admit!
Blue sky after a day of rain
Sea wall walks – saw a pelican again
Lily leaf offerings set afloat
Demarara view of a docking boat
Shady elegance along Main Street
Pineapple with ice cream today for a treat
Chatting in the yard with our landlady who
Says, “Find a little something you can do
Bring some teachers that you can train
They’ll come for the lunch at NCERD again
Who knows how things will turn out
When you’ve been here some months and found your way about.”
Special school visits by bus, ferry, bike
To listen to needs and find what they’d like
Working in the office, countless mugs of tea
Studying and working to discover how we
Can do training for inclusion, so we will
Banish despair and make hope possible.
My friends in the choir – you gave me a song
To sing in my heart when the hours were long
You let me sit beside you to struggle with the alto
Of ambitious cantatas, the harmony of calypso
You gave me insight into how you cope
With your Guyanese life, with faith and hope.
Soft lights of Diwali and Christmas dining
Meeting the Minister. music and wining
New Year fireworks as people stand
Mashramani parades and costume band
Muslim kasidas, Phagwah paint sprayed
Will it wash out? No, I’m afraid!
Dear VSO friends, if we’re smiling or we’re mad
You’ve put up with my worries, which can’t be bad
You’ve listened to my woes, you’ve cut my hair
You’ve suffered my cooking and the shortage of beer
So I thank all you people, as in God’s hand
I can now find the beauty in this land.
Tuesday 6 July 2010
Caricom Day
Yesterday was yet another public holiday - Caricom Day. Guyana is part of the Caribbean first and foremost. Guyanese medics train in Cuba. Many Guyanese work in Trinidad as they can earn so much more. We also hear about links and agreements with many other countries, still the UK, but increasingly Canada. Large numbers of better qualified Guyanese are accepted for immigation to Canada, mainly in Toronto. The top schools are well supported by alumni organisations there. There are also doctors here from China who run the new hospital at Linden, and we read about aid and agreements with China to improve drainage and sea defences. But everyday the overwhelming influnence is from the US: the TV, the huge 4x4 vehicles which are so unsuitable for the small side roads here, the fast food outlets including a drive thru Kentucky Fried Chicken.
I'm getting a bit nostalgic about Guyana now we are closer to leaving. I've been cleaning up the flat and finding ways to answer the big question ... "So how do like our beautiful country?". I'm writing a poem about how it has taken me 11 months to answer it. The poem will be coming to this page soon!
I'm getting a bit nostalgic about Guyana now we are closer to leaving. I've been cleaning up the flat and finding ways to answer the big question ... "So how do like our beautiful country?". I'm writing a poem about how it has taken me 11 months to answer it. The poem will be coming to this page soon!
Thursday 1 July 2010
Looking forward to leaving...
Two of my good friends are leaving this week. Yesterday one of them had a low key party, and was then going to start packing before getting a taxi at 8 am this morning. I think I will get my packing done a bit earlier than that! Another is leaving on Saturday. We are two weeks from leaving so there are various leaving things coming up. My downstairs friend is taking a few of us out to dinner at a posh place because I have cooked her lots of dinners, she is also leaving on the 17 July, but is coming back at the end of August. My landlady is going to do a leisurely outdoor afternoon event for us, with caterers doing the food. A local friend is organising a day trip on another day, so all in all things are hotting up.
At work I am getting the filing of paperwork sorted, then I will sort out the computer files. I'm still glad to be visiting schools to support ten staff doing the visual impairment module. One teacher finished her assignment today. For her tactile diagram she made a diagram of a big fish with real fish scales stuck on. The scales were from a massive fish, they were an inch across! If I have any time left over I will spend it doing a bit more work on my Maths Tactile Manual.
At work I am getting the filing of paperwork sorted, then I will sort out the computer files. I'm still glad to be visiting schools to support ten staff doing the visual impairment module. One teacher finished her assignment today. For her tactile diagram she made a diagram of a big fish with real fish scales stuck on. The scales were from a massive fish, they were an inch across! If I have any time left over I will spend it doing a bit more work on my Maths Tactile Manual.
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