Site visit

Hello again!
Training is getting close to wrapping up! We only have less than a month before we are sworn in and start our service!

We have been back at NAKS for a little over a week now. Prior to coming back to NAKS we did a portion of training that involved visiting a current PCV at their site and then visiting our future sites for a few days. The purpose behind visiting a current PCV is so that we can see how they live in their villages. We were able to see how they set up their houses and witness their daily routine. I was super nervous before I arrived to the PCV’s site that I was visiting. It was just weird that I was actually finally in the area of my future site! After a 5 hour wagi (a van) ride down a partially paved road and then a one hour boat ride I finally arrived at the current PCV’s site. She was waiting at the waters edge for me when the boat pulled up. Side note – the boats are about 25 feet long canoes with a big out board motor. There were women of her village washing clothes and dishes at the water front while I was awkwardly trying to get out of the boat without falling into the water!
The visit was great! I loved the PCV I got to visit with and she was a HUGE help. I made a list of everything she had in her little house that I want to buy for my own house. We also cooked a lot so it was great to see what she cooked with and get ideas for cooking at my future site. You have to be creative since fresh food is hard to come by in the interior. I’m going to load up on canned veggies and tuna. We made tuna melts one day and they were delicious! Cheese doesn’t last long so that’ll be something I treat myself to my first week at sight.

After a few days of visiting with the PCV it was time for me to hop on another boat and head to my site. I was very nervous but super excited too. My village is about 45 minutes away from the PCV I was visiting. The boat pulled up and two young girls from my village helped me carry my stuff up the ramp to the village entrance. It was weird to finally be by myself with no other trainees or volunteers with me. It was an adjustment but a good one. As the girls took me farther into the village more and more people started coming out of their houses to greet me. It was overwhelming how excited they were to have me there. All the women gave me hugs and were super nice to me. By the time I reached my house I had a crowd of probably 20 women and children with me. Everyone took me into my house to show me around. I’ll put up a picture! It’s a wood house with a thatch roof. Super small but cute! The crowd of women huddled together to discuss what my name should be. I think I’ve mentioned before that in their culture they think it’s bad to use someone’s name too much so they call each other by a nickname. So after they discussed it my new name for the next two years is Bajamai. It means “Good hips woman”. Ha!

After being naming me they helped me set up my water filter and my hammock. The women of the village then brought me some food. Rice and Sopropo (super bitter cucumber thing) with an egg. It was awesome that they brought me some food. I didn't have anything to cook with or on. I did bring food but i had no way to prepare it. The rest of the day i hung out with the leader of the village's wife. Her name is Mama and I love her. She's super old and very sweet. They walked me around my village which takes about 10 minutes to walk around the whole thing. It's super small.

So eventually evening rolled around and it was truth time for me. Everyone probably knows that my biggest phobia is the dark. Yep i'm scared of the dark and always have been. I knew it was coming that i would be by myself in the jungle at night but i was still nervous. The ladies of the village brought me a kerosene lantern after they saw me fumbling around with my headlamp. So i had a little bit of light! I locked up my little house with me in it at about 8pm and hopped in my hammock. My heart was racing! My village has electricity but my house does not. Maybe one day! So the rest of the village was still up watching movies and listening to music SUPER LOUD. I couldn't sleep... I was scared. :) So grand total that night i got about 2 hours of sleep. Maybe! The next night was MUCH better since i was exhausted from the previous night/day. I'm proud of myself that I made it through it! And i'm excited to go back so i'm totally conquering my fear of the dark! Having the lantern on all night was what saved me though. So i need to make sure i bring plenty of kerosene with me when i go back.

During my visit i hung out with different women of the village and tried to talk as much as possible. My language is still lacking so I didn't talk much. I decided it would be better if I tried whatever they were doing. So one day I banged rice with a huge club thing, banged a nut open to get the seed out so that they could make cooking fat with the seed and carried lumber on my head! My village seemed to be impressed with me trying out their chores. Two women invited me to go to their grounds with them. Grounds is where they grow their veggies and rice. We walked for about 20 minutes through the jungle on a path that i could not see! I don't know how they know where they are going, it must just be instincts. Finally we came to a clearing and they showed me around their grounds. They grow rice, bananas, okra, tayauwii (looks like elephant ears) and a bunch of other stuff. It was super hot when we were there so we came back pretty soon. Each night i slept a little bit better than the previous night. The women would wake me up at 6:30am each morning by walking to my door and yelling "BAJAMAI, I WEKI NO????????????". I loved it! i'm sure i'll get tired of that but it made me feel great that they were excited for me to be there. i'm also getting numb to creepy crawlies. My house has spiders called House Spiders that are literally the size of your palm. They are so big you can hear them running on the walls! but they eat other bugs so you learn to love them.

I loved my village and i'm excited to go back. Next time i'll take pictures of the actual village not just my house. :)

This week we are headed back to our host families for another visit then we go to Paramaribo for swearing in! I can't believe training is coming to an end! I officially move to my site on July 16th! I have a lot to buy since my house is completely empty. But i'm super excited about it.

Well i'm out of time and need to make my way back to NAKS. I miss everyone! Love you guys!