Monday fast approaching

Monday is to be the last day in the city for me - then it's back to WH for a spell. So happy! I miss my friends out there. I'm excited to see everyone - especially the slogball women and the kids! The kids - I can't wait to see the kids!!

A handful of us (pcv's) got asked to come in the first weekend of October for a meeting with the PC big guy from Washington who is coming for a visit. So I'll spend that weekend back in the city to meet him and I think there is a dinner party with the Ambassador. I will also get to check my mail that day - on pins and needles for a certain package to arrive! (Love you Kir!) After that I'm not coming into the city for a long, long time. I will still get my mail though - so please send letters - I love getting updates from everyone!

I'm excited to get back out to site - the house is finished!! Con's has been living there and building me a safe and clean home. I'm told that my wash-house is connected to my house. Talk about luxury. I can take a bucket bath now - instead of heading to the river to bathe! I will still wash dishes and clothes in the river. The latrine is across the path from the house -- but I'll take it! I actually prefer it like that, ya know?

Some final shots I had from my last visit to the house.

I will make sure to post shots of the new, improved and updated living quarters. It'll be fun to see what they turned this pile of timber into!

The tarantula was on the floor of the house - scary!

These birds are all over here. They are like our robins - but yellow chested, and they sing. (Bamboo tree)

Babysitting

I haven't babysat since I was 14. Hain had some arrands to run so Raoul and I watched the boys....I don't speak Dutch. They all speak Dutch. It was chaos in that house.

I made pasta for dinner - the boys didn't like it, made faces at me even...told me they wanted pancakes. I gave that a whirl (even had to call a pcv friend to tell me what I need in order to MAKE pancakes.) They told me it needed more sugar. I told them - eat it or go hungry....they laughed at me again. Hain finally came home and amazingly they were charming little angels.

Johnathon laughing about something spoken in Dutch.

Givoney telling Johnathon something apparently REALLY funny in Dutch.

Boys will be boys - and these guys are to cute for their own good. I do love them.

Hanging and eating with my boys...

A typical afternoon eating with my guys at Hain's house. Raoul cooks (he will even call me and tell me that food is ready and he's on the way to get me) - all of you that have asked me if the food is good here... I've had a change of heart now that I've got my Raoul. I am trying to convince him to move to WH with me so he can be my boilman. He's almost convinced...

Scandal (aka - Raoul) teaching me the ways of the kitchen. And chicken feet soup.

Energy Soup.

I bow down to him in the kitchen - my bowl if you will notice - he didn't serve me any chicken feet. What a guy! Hain the very descriptive food critic.

Tonite's menu includes bamie by special request (Raoul is Javanese) my mouth is already watering.

my new digs..

Back together with Con's at WH on Friday to fix the NEW house. Yes guys - this is really true!

are you still red like a turkey?

Yesterday I woke--more awoken, then woke.... at 7:00am (this is extremely early for me) and headed off for a day of fishing with Hain. Apparently I now need to contribute. I am family. ;) Since I don't cook - I catch.

Deal.

Hain's took me out to learn to fish. Starting with what to wear -- eesh and thank god. He gave me a long sleeve shirt (first I was confused...then once that sun beat on me - I understood. A hat - and told me to wear long pants) This paired with my cool-girl white sunglasses...I looked like a a rockstar...or a streetwalker. I perfer to think I looked like a rockstar.

I helped to 'launch the boat.' And first lesson of the day - how to put the bait on the hook. I needed MORE clarification on how to just get the bait out of the bucket!! He uses live shrimp - they are squirmy. So now I am well versed in the bait catching and apply to hook process....He shows me how to 'cast' this takes me a while - as it tends to go 'thunk' right infront of the boat. A handful of tried later...I'm getting the swing of this fishing thing.

You guessed it - I caught the FIRST fish of the day - the LAST fish of the day...and the BIGGEST fish of the day. No! - not all the same fish. ;)

Luckily Hain caught the MOST fish of the day...

The day ended with 40 Snook (They are like trout I think) flopping around in the ice cooler. 40 fish - that's a lot of fish you guys! Hain believes he caught 25 so that leaves me having caught 15. I like fishing.

Even after my creative wardrobe my whole face and chest turned a really nice shade of pink and hot to the touch. After we got back in from the day out on the water - I took a shower and chilled out due to exhaustion and watched 'Wanted'. Rodney and Raul stopped by to see the fish (they were not convinced that we caught that many) and also to laugh at how pink I had turned. I told them - you just wait tomorrow I am going to be golden brown again. (I infact AM golden brown again....nice huh?) It was then off to my hotel to sleep. I have a curfew there where they literally lock the gate at 11:00pm.

Having some lunch with my girl Michelle today - she got a kitten and I'm soo excited for her. She continues to crack me up with her stories. I miss having her as my roommate when I'm here. Lonely sometimes without her here as my roomie!

Caroline and I desperately need to catch-up as well. This girls lost some pounds! Looks good, but she needs to make sure and eat! Cristin is hanging in there - she's got a handful more days in the city...love that girl! Everyone is doing okay for the most part ;)

Today - I'm off to a soccer game with my guys. Hopefully Suriname fans don't throw bags of urine, like the Mexican fans. I'm sure I'll have some more stories for you...never a dull moment!

'I don't have'...no problem - you are my sister!

This weekend I learned a whole new side of Suriname and it sure has been an funfilled experience! Since I seem to have defaulted into a city girl here - I've made myself a handful of really nice friends to hang out with and you guys would love them!

I get the call Friday from Raul that it's his birthday and a cab is on the way to pick me up at my hotel. As I tried to explain to him that I don't have cash on me (that day I also walked around the whole city looking for an ATM that had money in it to despense. The end of the month and the end of the week...ala sani a na bum when it come to ATM withdrawels) he tells me it's a black waggie, the driver's name is Winston - and he know's where he's going. Completely ignoring my money concern. Yes, I compeletely trust this situation ...Hains is actually a policeman. These guys have become pretty much 'my guys' if you well....(Raul has informed me that 'Pink is the new Gansta'. And he's serious....everytime I see him, he's in pink.)

I arrive at my destination - Hains is outside - tells me 'this is no problem...you are my sister!' We have a crazy birthday celebration for Raul and Winston comes back to take me home that nite.

I get a call the next morning - 'what are you doing - we are fishing and bbqing' when can we pick you up...Witney is also with (she is my new girl partner in crime here...she's Hain's niece) We have all veggies for you and watermelon...you come eat. We know you don't cook. Someone is on the way now to pick you up. It's no problem...no problem.

These guys can COOK! Good stuff.

That nite the boys and I went OUT on the town....I crawled (as I've crawled many times in my life before) up the stairs to room number 8 and to bed at 4:30am. My guys continued on to 'one more place'. That nite I did learn to salsa, how to tell who is 'for sale' (prostitution is legal here) where the best food to eat at 3:00am in the city is....and how lucky I am for A/C and cold water the next day.

A bunch of my pcv friends came in last nite - sooo good to see all of them. Sharing stories and getting caught up with everyone. Jack's lost a ton of weight - but everyone is happy and in good spirits.

Tonite I think I may just decide to eat some fresh caught fish and go for a late nite swim.

When in Suriname.....

Muah!

Things that go bump in the nite....

Hey guys!

I've been back in the city now for exactly a week - it's been an interesting week. Infact just this morning, I was just finished showering and walking back to my room...this lady stopped me and asked if she could borrow my shampoo. Sure, right - why not? She knocks on my door to return it - picks up a letter with a photo on it - tells me 'you and your man will make beautiful children.'

The photo was of Johnny Depp! (thank you Jen!) All I could do was smile and said 'thank you - I look forward to making babies with him...when I get back home.' She nodded and told me I shouldn't wait to long.

I've been having a blast in WH! It took me two full days (we're talking 7:00am-8:00pm full days!) to clean the place! I bleached all the walls...the whole sha-bam! I will admit it's a cute little house - all girlie in pinks and purples. I put the kids drawing on the walls, and sheet of words translated from Aculn to English.

Still have a handful of bat roomates - I evicted most, but there are a few that refuse to give up their home. I'm coming to find them oddly cute...fangs and all.

The women made quick work of taking me right under their wings - invloving me in games of Slogball, going to grounds/gardening, random chats (they LOVE to ask me about my man back home, and what I'm cooking...cuz I don't cook!) not one single day went by that Shannon and Kendila didn't call me over to a group of people and tell me to dance. Yes, I danced EVERY time. They laugh - it's entertaining for all. ;)

Some of my favorite quotes in my first three weeks:

'Good morning Mariah, put on the red harness and get up here - weathers great!' - (Wendel, who was building a cell tower - daily tried to get me to climb with him)

'I am very, very tired. I want to eat something and go to my bed - my dear.' (Shannon praticing her English)

'Mariah, it's you, it's you!!' (two girls looking at a Vouge magazine and coming across a picture of some model in a "priceless add')

'You find god - you wino!' (telsur worker....what he was saying... once I understood the alcun and heavy accent.....you have a bodygaurd - yes?)

'I heard you scream, but it was a different langauge so I thought I was dreaming...and went back to sleep' (Linda the morning after I screamed my head off in the middle of the nite)

'You have a nice system - let's get married.' (old man in my village)

'You're rich - I know because you have nice toliet paper.' (kid in the village that used my latrine - toliet paper was compliments of Ilya's care package)

Some really cool things that I got to experience in my first three weeks:

I took a two-hour walk and saw monkey's by the dozens jump from tree to tree.

There is a hummingbird that frequents the tree outside my front door.

Slogball - there are no words for this game....it's random and silly. I love it!

Teaching the women yoga - this is one of my favortie memories! A good 15 women and children in the sand mimicking me and laughing as they fall over. It was a very effective first lesson ;)

Making friends with Mr. French who brought me a book of Suriname birds (after I pointed to a huge bird and asked what it was....he told me with a laugh, a vulture) He comes daily to check on me and talk about history. He's good stuff!

To date - the village has been so gracious with me. I have received 11 watermelon, 1 papaya, 3 oranges, bags of cassava chips and snacks, one raw egg, a used sticker.....drinks. There's even a man that likes to bring me plates of food for dinner.

Men aren't allowed into my hut (ground rules of my counterpart) so they stand outside and chat with me or I go outside to join them. The women just walk themsleves right on it -- bouncing babies and talking so fast I can't understand them half the time!

Unforunately I had a incident that brought me back into the city for awhile....

Last week Friday 1:00am I was almost asleep when I hear my name being called - urgently. So I open my eyes, as they are adjusting to the dark - I see a HAND pulling down my window shutter thing. Then a bright light - (flashlight) being shone in my eyes! He's still calling my name as he makes quick work of tearing down my window (so forceful that he took it off the top hinge) He's at the window by the side of my bed. He got his foot up on the window - and at this point, I took my yoga book and chucked it at his head. It didn't detour him to much, and I didn't want to touch him...so I took my pillow and started to wack and wack him. Luckily he was stuck between the wall and my mosquito netting around my bed. I was able to push him back out the window. He ran. I pulled the window thing back closed (this took some time as I didn't want to go outside...) I turned on every single flashlight I had and lantern...and candles. Since there is still bats in my walls - I was freaking out cuz I couldn't tell if it was the man or the bats rustling around....so I sat by my front door and waited for my friend Waotto to walk by on his way to the bush. (he goes at 4:30am) once I saw his flashlight I called out to him...he helped calm me down and get in contact with P.Corps. They came and took me back to the city. I'm still here, as they are securing my house, and holding meetings on what to do to make it safe for me and see if they can figure out who the man is that did this. I do want to go back to WH, the women and everyone I've met are amazing, and I really like my house and village. I just want a safe home -- ya know?

Luckily some of my friends are coming in on Sunday so it'll be good to see everyone and get caught up with how they are doing at site.

Hopefully I'm back at site by Wens of next week ;)

Love ya all - and hope everyone is doing well!