Learning the Language

Dear friends and family,

Hello!! I hope your past week has been well. Mine has been good and busy. I started out the week by getting a whole new set of Trainee's. But at least now finally I have all of the students that I will have total. It was an interesting adjustment for me to get new students - but with the planning i've done by this coming wednesday they should all be on the same page - and I can just worry about one lesson plan.
I really enjoy being at school and almost missed being with the kids on saturday - but not quite. I shouldn't call them kids they are between 15-20 and so some of them are almost my age. The girls here find holding hands completely acceptable - and now they always try and hold my hand. Its cute - Some of the boys this week started to ask me advice on girls. I thought it was kind of weird - but whatever. One of the boys was telling me how he wants to become a pastor. He told me that the reason he came to Mercy Wings was so he could learn how to read better. He told me he tries to read his bible - but at the same time its hard because he only has a King James version. I told him if I found a bible or an old bible I would try and send it his way - but I made no promises. Then I was looking through an old book store and there really was no bibles - it was weird. But at least there were some other books.
Anyway. One of the teachers is named Ms. Yvonne and she has become my Guyanese mother. She always takes very good care of me. My classroom is right next to hers so I go and visit her during break sometimes - or eat lunch with her. I really enjoy all my teachers though. Ms. Yvonne and I are on the same "team"/"house" for sports which happen next friday. We will be like their captains. Don't worry - there are other teachers with us. Thank God.
On friday night Mr. Lambert took us out - with one of my co-teachers Sir Niles and his wife. They took us to a restaurant/bar called Jerry's. It was a lot of fun we went on a Caribbean "cruise" as Lambert called it. We had Banks beer from Guyana - A Trinidadian beer and a beer from Suriname. I really liked the Banks beer and the others were okay. We sang karaoke - and we really sucked - but it was still fun. One of my students - well a male student - works at the bar. He is a cook. He is one that I talk to quite a bit and I got a chance to talk to him that night! He sent me out some free chicken! He is very sweet. It was Jerk Chicken which is really good. It may be my new favorite here.
Yesterday we just hung around and went to the market. Today though we went up to the boys orphanage to play with the boys. Its hard to keep them off you. They all want to sit on your lap and play with you. They really enjoyed playing with my watch. It was a good thing that all three of us came so we kept them pretty entertained. Some of them had just come from the other home so they are really young and really enjoy being held. All three of us really liked it and I am sure we will go back again soon.
I stole this from my roommates Audrey's e-mail:

FUN PHRASES: The Guyanese English is difficult to explain, but they tend to swallow their words, drop their h's, and emphasize the last syllable.
three = "tree"
home = "ome"
crispy = "cripsy"
Can I have a pencil = "Please for a pencil"
Did you bring your camera? = "You walk with your camera?"
the game "chutes and ladders" is called "snakes and ladders" and has snakes instead of slides
flashlight = "torchlight"

I have also encountered:
Gauphing = Talking/Gabbing
Liming = Hanging out
Vexed = Angry (we use this too - but they always use it!)

Anyway. I think I have definatley gotten used to the heat. I no longer enjoy cold showers. When I get in the shower at night and its cold I really really hate it. Also the other night there was a really strong breeze and I had to go into the house and put on pants because I was "cold". Being cold is relative here. But I am also not always dying from the heat. Our porch has a really good breeze so we can almost always cool down. I hear that it will get hotter but its pretty "cool" now.

I guess I am also going to boast that we cook a lot of Guyanese food already. We make doll every week - and a lot of rice with random things. At school I eat only Guyanese food and I really am enjoying that. However - ask me in a few weeks how I feel about rice everyday. We had a house debate about potatoes vs. rice and its 2-1 potatoes.

Sarah and Audrey has some pretty blond moments I just can't help but share. There is TV at our house - and we get like 4-6 channels depending on the time of day. And Audrey was always confused at why "Play" kept showing up on our TV followed by a Guyanese commercial. And she also couldn't figure out why American companies were advertising down here. We had to explain to her that the TV was American stole/or/bought TV and they were just overlapping the Guyanese commercials. Sarah's moment came when she freaked out cause she thought that the mini-bus was going 130 mph. I had to explain to her that the mini-buses were in Km and that she was probably going around 70ish. It was a good day for the three of us.

Well anyway as always I am sure I have more to write but enough for now.

Sending my love and prayers,

Ashley