Halloween came early!

Today to continue our celebration of the 40th anniversary of my school the teachers and students dressed up in costumes!  Here are some of my favorite outfits!

Cooking with Lucie

Yesterday I had my first cooking lesson with my friend and counterpart Lucie.  We are going to cook every Sunday, switching from Guyanese to American cuisine.  Yesterday we made Metagee, a Guyanese soup/stew made from provisions.  Metagee is a staple in most Guyanese household and is relatively easy to cook and affordable to make.  And its supper filling and yummy!

Below is the recipe:

• Provisions: 
•  1 lb of ripe plantain 
•  1 lb of green plantain
• 1 lb of eddo
• 1 lb of sweet potato
• Eddo leaves
• 1 lb of cassava
• 1 onion
• 6 cloves of garlic

Spices

•  Pinch of salt
• Pinch of crushed pepper
• Pinch of time
• Pinch of rosemary

Liquid

• Milk from one coconut

Directions:

Cut up all provisions in to similar sizes, put aside ripe plantains, toss into pot.  Add spices.  Add water to pot make sure all provisions are covered. Boil for about 15 minutes until fork can pass smoothly through provisions.  Add coconut milk and ripe plantains and boil until contents thicken.  Adjust spices and enjoy!

Before cooking!!!

After!!

The Teaching Celebrity

Miss Missy, Miss Missy, hi Miss Missy!!  This is what I hear wandering the halls of my school.  I am a local celebrity, the American teacher.  Even if I don’t have them in one of my classes they know who I am.  It is surreal.  Classes are going well so far.  I am not teaching per say, I am more of an observer to help answer questions when the teacher doesn’t know.  I am also working on a syllabus for the classes and fun assignments and teaching tools for the teachers.  We are just starting and it seems like the students are eager to learn.  Starting a new school is always a hard but add starting a new school in a new country at it was overwhelming.  I am in week three and I still can’t find my classes.  I rely on the students to tell me that I am teaching them today!  They are normally pretty good about it, although I’m sure I taught a random class the other day.  Oh well they had fun and that counts right? The school I am teaching at just celebrated their 40^th anniversary!  The students and teachers put on a talent show of sorts and best of all we got cake!  I hear that in the coming month we are doing sports day, think field day, for teachers.  I am hoping they don’t ask me to participate in sports! 

I am also making friends with my fellow teachers.  They all are pretty concerned with my eating habits, having a sandwich and chips is not a proper lunch here. Hehe.  Miss Bibi took me to a Hindu wedding last weekend, and lent me a Sari to wear.  It was awesome!  I loved seeing all the outfits on both the men and women!  We also had 7 curry, a traditional dish served at Hindu functions.  It’s fun to eat because you do not use any utensils or plates.  You get a giant leaf and then they put rice and 7 different types of curry on top, and you mush it all around and eat with your fingers! 

I am also hanging out with the other volunteers in the area!  It’s nice to be near some other Americans to have a taste of home.  Sign Language classes are going well.  I hope to be able to carry a conversation at some point!  I am hoping to go on more adventures soon.  The Peace Corps doesn’t like us traveling out of site much in the first 3 months, to help us integrate in to our communities.  Once that time period is up I hope to go see some other Volunteers in other regions!