It's been a while since i've written. I've discovered that it's hard to find time to sit down and write a blog while i'm in the city. When you are in the city you can't get enough of spending time with other volunteers, doing fun things like going to the movies, and eating lots of pretty delicious food. This trip in to the city was really special because they just opened up a Subway Sub Shop here! It is very expensive (on a volunteer budget) but we enjoyed eating there immensly!
Life on the river is still going well. I've hit my groove with my part in the village. I have my routine and I have close friends now. I feel at ease in the community and am no longer stressing out about how I am going to integrate. My villagers will seek me out to invite me to be a part of things they are doing like working or ceremonies. It's great!
I have had a bit of homesickness lately. I thought I was in the clear of that stuff since I haven't really had it since being in Suriname. I've heard before that the 1 year mark can be surprisingly hard. Well turns out thats true. The novelty of life out here kind of wears off, i.e - rats aren't funny anymore they are just annoying and gross now and so on. I've also had the sense of being disconnected from my life at home. It's difficult to try and be in two places at once. I love my life here and I am so thankful i'm here but I'm sad to miss out on my life back home. Friends are having babies, it's Easter and i'm not with my family, I miss my dog, and I miss Chick-fil-a! The good thing is that several volunteers have been through this or are going through this with me. Luckily I am blessed with an incredibly supportive family. I'm almost at my 1 year anniversary here in Suriname, May 3rd!!!
A lot of eventful things happened in the village during my last stint there. We had an 8 foot Anaconda (which is funny since the name of my village Grantatai means Anaconda) in our creek where we wash clothes and dishes. The village decided to try and blow it up with kerosene, twice, but to no avail. Finally after much chaos the teenagers in my village picked him up with long poles and hauled him to the river. They threw him into the river and we haven't seen him since.
A few days later a little boy (6) was accidentatly cut with a machete on the forehead while another little boy (8) was cutting bananas out of my banana trees. He ended up with several stitches. He was a little trooper through all of it though.
I also had Amry Ants swarm my house. I don't have enough time to explain what those are but you should take a minute to Google them and read about them. It was terrifying and luckily I made it out of my house in time! I had a bit of help from my best little buddies!
I'm going back to site today but only for a couple of weeks. I'll be back in the city for a meeting at the end of April.
Happy Easter everyone!
