Back in Guyana!

Hey all!
I had an amazing time in America with my friends and family. I am the luckiest girl to have the opportunity to see so many people that I love. I shared some of my Guyanese experiences with my friends and family during my "Guyanese Night." It didn't go quite as I planned, but even still--we had fun! I had to make a lot of alterations, such as...using canned pumpkin for the Pumpkin curry. The pumpkin curry also turned out really spicy because although I brought back Guyanese spices to America, I gave them as presents and I didn't want to use their presents for the night. So Ali (my sister) and I went to an Indian market and got another kind of curry that was REALLY spicy. So that didn't turn out as planned. Then we didn't have a gas stove at home, so I couldn't cook the boulanger (eggplant) on an open flame and it didn't have the same flavor OR consistancy. Ali helped me with that one and she put it in the blender. It turned out great...but it didn't taste like boulanger choka! Then I made chana (chickpeas) which actually turned out really nice! I also made bhaggie curry (spinich) and that turned out good too. I had oil roti (everyone thought tasted like pita bread) and rice to eat the curries with. Everyone liked the food and so I am glad that I could "kind of" share what Guyanese food was like!!
I am back at school and it has been pretty exciting so far. I finally got my shipment of donated books (20 lbs!) to my school. 58 books in total...which doubles what we have now! The kids looked through the books already. They absolutely had a field day with these! I am hoping that this is the beginning of something bigger and better!
A special thanks to Elaine, Nick, Ali, and Holly for making the trip to Ohio to see me while I was home. Thanks to my family who rearranged their plans for me and made me feel so comfortable. And more thanks to all the people already in Ohio who took the time to visit with me and listen to my experiences. It meant so much to me.
More later!