Last Night as a PC Trainee!

Hey friends and family!
I hope everyone is doing well (wherever you are). A lot has been going on in the last week or so. Let's see, me and the other volunteer gals were really excited to get into the schools and work on our projects. Unfortunately, plans did NOT go as we expected. We learned a thing or two about how the Guyanese operate...and what we should do next time to make things more effective. So, we went to the school at 11am because the children were finished testing by that time. We had our materials at the school (wood, nails, hammer...and the head master said he would provide a saw). Apparently, the deputy headmaster and the PCT (us) were on completely different pages. We thought we were repairing a fence to keep the goats out of the school yard, but instead we made a gate that went to the second floor of the school (to keep the goats out). Oh well, Peace Corps is all about being flexible...so we went with it! Either way, the goats would not get upstairs. haha. To make a long story short--the PC gals didn't really get to get our hands dirty...aka the hammers, nails, and wood were taken away from us :( It was kind of a bummer because we didn't get to really be involved as much as we wanted to. But I have to put things into a cultural perspective. Many times, (not all) the women in the country do the "stay-at-home mom" thing...so I think it was really hard to change that way of thinking for a male. But let's be honest, even men in the States try to be macho...so there was no reason to get upset or mad. GOOD NEWS IS: we created a lot of cool educational games for the teachers to implement into their classrooms. So on Friday we went into all the classrooms and played math and literacy games with the students. We had such a blast! The children also had an awesome time because they just finished two weeks worth of country-wide testing. So...it was a good day after all (a positive attitude also helps A LOT!) It was really hard to say goodbye to my sixth graders though. I gave all of them my email...so hopefully we will all stay in touch!!
On Thursday, Beth, Mark, Robbie, and I went into Georgetown (on a boat...because the bridge was closed) and I finally got a sim card for my cell phone. YES--Ladies and Gentlemen--I got my first Guyanese cellphone! But, I am probably not going to use it that much because 1.) It is too expensive to call home 2.) I honestly only got one for emergency purposes because it was SO nice not to have a cellphone--believe it or not! BUT, some people have been texting home...and I heard it was cheaper from Guyana to the US. I also heard it was even reasonable to text to an AT&T phone (because I have a "GT&T" phone!) So let me know if you have an AT&T phone and I will try and text you!! I might even try to just text Verizon and see if it works because all of my loving (immediate) family has that!
On Sunday, Beth and I went to our first Cricket game at the National Stadium. We got to the field at about 9:30am and stayed until 3:30pm (two and a half cricket games...and people said baseball was boring! Bah humbug! I miss baseball and the Yankees). I think Beth and I watched a full 30 minutes of the game and talked the whole rest of the time..but hey--we supported the West Coast Demerara team...which is the area where we live at the moment. We even got interviewed by the announcer and won a prize for knowing there were 10 regions (he gave us an easy question). It was hilarious. It's funny that Beth and I always get into weird situations in public. First the president, then this. Who knows what is next! We did have a ton of fun. When I got home I spent the rest of the night with my host family. I said goodbye to my host family on Monday morning. It will be weird not staying with a host family, but I feel like they have prepared me enough to live on my own! I think I might be going back in July for a wedding. So it isn't really a final goodbye!
As of now, I am in Georgetown. Yes, Georgetown+me=warm showers with water pressure, air condition, and no mosquitoes or mosquito net! Tomorrow we are officially going to be sworn in as a Peace Corps volunteer! I am wearing a beautiful red sari (thanks to my host mom who lent it to me). Lady in Red? haha sorry that got stuck in my head because it was playing on the minibus, along with Boys 2 Men and KC and JoJo! Good times. After the ceremony tomorrow we all get to kick back, relax, and have a good time partying! It will be sad to leave all the volunteers because we will all be departing to different sites. But the cool thing is that we will all have a place to visit. I am super excited to go to the interior parts of Guyana and do some hiking as well as go to some of the Amerindian villages and see the difference in culture there!
So, soak it up now...last time as a trainee! Later Gaters and thanks for all the support, letters, and prayers. It completely makes my day :)