The First Week!

Wow! What a crazy week it has been. This was the first week of classes. It is a very different experience to teach six days a week compared to the five we are used to back home.  I really love my students, they all bring different perspectives and seem to be very excited to start learning. Every day is a new experience to say the least.  I have two classes of guitar, a class of beginning brass, and a brass class with COFONA. COFONA stands for the Council of Friends of New Amsterdam.  This group is partnered with COFONA in New York and is a marching band of sorts down here. Dan and I are excited to work with them because of our marching experiences back home.  We hope to get them excited about music and to better their playing skills.  It feels good to finally be able to do what we came down to do, teach.  We have been in country almost a month now, and it has been great. I had no clue what starting a school from ground level fully entailed, but it is crazy! I have a lot of respect for Eric for all the work he has put into this for the past three years.

This week, besides the start of school, we also got to celebrate Claire’s birthday. All day Eric and I made sure to keep her out of downstairs so we could set up. I went out and bought decorations to put up in Eric’s apartment and Eric set up a home theatre system with a projector/speaker system.  I also had our first experience using our new ovens by baking a birthday cake.  I was told by others who live on the compound, who are from Canada, that cakes down here usually get dried out because of the oven.  Needless to say I was quite proud when we cut into the cake and it was super moist and delicious!

This week was full of highs for sure. Besides the birthday and classes started we celebrated other things such as, being able to set up our living room because our couches finally came, overcoming our worries about our first classes, having nearly everyone show up to orientation, having 171 students taking classes, having over 200 people register for classes, and Eric getting kitchen and bathroom cabinets put up in his apartment. It is really easy for us to become negative about different things easily, so constantly reminding myself of the highs we have seen this week helps me to stay positive more often than not. Now we wait for a bathroom mirror, our phone, and our internet. J

I know I have said this a lot since I got to Guyana, but I am really blessed to be a part of this team of pioneering teachers.  We are truly like a family. We balance each other out so well.  And we are all there for each other.  Plus, three of the four of us are mighty fine cooks, and the forth takes directions on cooking really well and makes a mean boxed Mac and Cheese.

I want to thank y'all for the support you have given me from back in the states.  I have received a few pieces of mail, and have had people ask me for the address again, so I will give that to you. My address is:

Kelli Lair

Lutheran Compound

Main Street

New Amsterdam, Berbice, Guyana, South America

I promise you this address works, no matter what the post office says in the states. Once it gets to Guyana it is fine. No numbers needed. Mail service works a little differently down here.

My blog has been a little sporadic lately because of our internet situation, but I will have it more consistent once we have our own internet. I promise. All my love to y’all until next time! -KJL