Botanical Gardens

This is the biggest and most interesting tree in the Botanical Gardens. It has loads of epiphyte plants growing on the branches. I often walk in the Botanical Gardens early in the morning which is the best time for spotting birds. I've seen macaws, toucans, jacanas which walk on water lily leaves, humming birds, woodpeckers, kites, shrikes of various types. I saw a cayman last week (a foot long crocodile). I go armed with binoculars and an umbrella (for the sun and to feel brave). The style of the gardens is decaying colonial. Families go there on a Sunday afternoon. The gardens are not that big, but you can walk through and then up the street to the sea wall and walk along to see what fish people are catching on the foreshore. I saw frigate birds with the big red pouches last week there. On the shore I've also been collecting shells, pebbles, sticks etc for using for maths games for the visually impaired pupils.

Pool

This is the pool at the posh hotel which is right next door to where we work. I go to swim at 7 am before work, and sometimes at lunchtime as well. We join the pool as a family group for a month at a time. The month rate is twice the day rate! There are quite a few volunteers who are members so it makes a good place to meet up and have a chat. Some volunteers buy food at the hotel, but I am more careful with my money and have managed so far to survive on my allowance, which is about 30 pounds a week. Last night I went to a poetry reading and art display in a gallery that was free. It is interesting to listen to the local intelligensia (he was into the philosophy of shadows) and it was also a great opportunity for people watching.

More about the flat: We have a three bedrooms, two balconies and two bathrooms, and a big open plan kitchen/dining area, lounge. We have the biggest and best flat but then we do share it. We can have friends to stay whenever which is handy for volunteers who are visiting from the regions. Then we can visit them out in the regions to make affordable weekend trips away.

Cheers

This is my flatmate and I at home. This was the first meal that I cooked for VSO friends in the flat - chilli and pasta.

It's before I had my hair cut!

House

We live in the upstairs flat of this house. It is unusual as it has a front garden. It has a kind of broad leaved grass which only grows when it rains, then they cut it with a machete. There is a small back garden as well which is mainly huge trees so is very shady. My landlady gives us bananas, mangos and breadfruit off the tree - the mangos are delicious, far better than the ones from the market, but the breadfruit are fairly disgusting to eat, a cross between glue and potato. Another volunteer is moving into the flat below us, and we have a peace corps volunteer in the house at the back - I go and chat to her when we have evening power cuts - she sits outside then because it is too hot inside without the fan going. Our flat is cooler as it is upstairs, and we get a cool cool breeze through the side windows.

Weekend at the Sea, Maths with the Blind

I'm glad to have found a way that I can get photos on the blog at last, but it takes an hour to load, so I have to do it when I know I am going to be in the office for a bit.
I had a good weekend break, staying in Corriverton on the coast near the border with Suriname. We swam in the sea at the only passable beach in Guyana - it felt like a proper little holiday. The sea was pretty clear and a sandy beach - you just have to look out of broken glass. The journey there is by minibus - you have to wait for the bus to fill up before you can leave - that took an hour- then three hours travel including a puncture stop (only 10 minutes). The trick with the travel here is to view it all as part of the entertainment, but it can get a bit wearing - hot, crowded, noisy music, terrible driving and no loo stops. It helps to have a good travelling companion, my Australian friend is both wise to the tricks of the trade as well as full of stories to help pass the time.
I have got a routine of working down at the Unit for the Blind where I demonstrate some activities and games for maths with the pupils, with staff observing and learning as we go. Then I'm writing it all up as a resource to go on the website. I'm trying to help them become empowered to be more creative by following up their ideas. I've got agreement to go down to the other Unit for the Blind In Linden for a week to run training for them. Then a lot of the things are equally useful for other special needs, so I'm hoping to do training in the other special schools. I can also run training in mainstream and for education officials to sensitise them about the potential of pupils with special needs. I can broaden out my work to anyone who will listen! There was cartoon in the paper today which went a bit like this:
"I had to do a presentation to day where I was pretending I knew what I was talking about"
"Oh, did it go alright?"
"Yes, luckily the audience were only pretending to listen"
A lot of training which is done here is like this. We are trying to make all our training sessions interactive and participatory so that helps to educate the people who run training.
Cheers
Kate

Diwali

This is one of the floats in the Diwali motorcade. The girl is dressed as Lakshi, who is the goddess of happiness and prosperity. She has her raised right hand painted with symbols, and sits perfectly still as she glides past - no looking round and no smiles. The roadside is thronged with people watching, there are police directing the traffic, and in the distance the sound of people setting off firecrackers as they wait for the procession to come past.

Birthday

Just about to cut the cake for my birthday. This is at my VSO friend's house - she cooked a meal for a few of us then we went out to see the Diwali parade. This is the first time I've come across a teapot in Guyana!

You can also note that I've had my hair all cut short - I couldn't stand the heat any more.