Ask and you shall receive…or don’t ask and you shall receive

Alicia and I moved into our house. Ahh it feels good to be home! Home is definitely subjective though! Try to get this picture into your head: we walked into our house with nothing but a bed frame, a couch, a mini fridge (smaller than a dorm size!), and a non-working microwave. Therefore, we had to get mattresses, sheets, pillows, dishes, towels, something to wash our clothes with, something to cook our meals with, table and chairs, and what else….Oh! FOOD! So after a busy day of buying some things for the house, Alicia and I settled into hammocks for the night. Yes, this sounds exotic and like a tropical dream…sleeping in a hammock…but let me tell you…it was not so dream-like! First of all—we did not have mosquito nets (which is crazy…even for a Guyanese who always sleeps with a mosquito net), we also had to sleep in long sleeves, long pants, and socks—to help prevent mosquito bites. Then Alicia and I found out that we live in dog central. It seems like when the village goes to sleep, the dogs come out and party. There was so much noise from all the stray dogs that I was almost upset that I was missing all the fun! Another exciting thing that Alicia and I got to experience were the planes taking off. Okay, okay, they were not planes, they were cars, trucks, and mini buses…but they were so loud that it sounded like planes taking off. So you can probably imagine that we did NOT sleep too well the first night! So when I got up at 5:30 to run, Alicia was like, “morning.” Clearly she did not sleep either. Haha. The second night was so much better! Our landlord and his wife are absolutely amazing and sweet. They gave us so much to put into the house. They gave us a stove (with an oven!), mattresses, curtains (so all the Guyanese won’t be looking into our windows…they are very curious of new people), plates, silverware, towels, etc. They kept going out of their way to make sure we were comfortable. The only problem was that we forgot pillows! So we had another awkward night sleeping…but at least we had beds! Now we have pillows and life is SO good. We also met our neighbors. They are so sweet. They found out that we didn’t have a stove the first night and they cooked us fish curry and rice and said that we can keep the silverware a plates! They also brought us over fresh papaya. They have been giving us so many great fruits and veggies. Let’s see they have already given us mangos and three HUGE squashes—that will be dinner tonight! Alicia and I also had a guava from our very own guava tree in the back yard. We have also made cherry, mango, and golden apple juice (the cherries and golden apples are also in our backyard. I cannot get enough of the fresh fruits and veggies! I am in heaven. Plus I am able to make food for myself and it is beyond amazing. I feel like I won’t be cooking carbs for a long time…I definitely had my fill with the host family. Oh and I got an amazing package from my dear bopch and mom with chocolate and coffee and other goodies that I seriously melt over when I got them. I had my first instant starbucks Italian roast coffee today. I think I heard the angels singing in heaven. Thank you so much guys. The coffee was so amazing. I am savoring each one. 11 more left! Aka 11more amazing mornings! Haha okay I am being to dramatic here. But thanks. It is so nice.

On the job front, the children are not in school because of the Easter break; therefore, I don’t have school either! For Easter some of the PCV (peace corps volunteers) are flying kites on the ocean because that is a Guyanese tradition no matter what religion you are. So that will be fun! Plus these two weeks are a great time to get things settled with the house. We built a compost bin in our backyard and we are starting up a garden this week! We are also looking for a puppy….so that will be exciting!

OOO so Alicia and I went on a walk in the back dam (rice fields) and we say like 5 or so wild horses in the forest parts. So beautiful! So…who is coming to visit me? I’ll cook you something amazing…anyone, anyone?