To Town at 140!

How on earth are we already midway through the week?! We were thrown off by having a holiday observed this past Monday so we did not have classes. All week we have been off a day and confused on what class we were preparing for. Having Monday off was nice through, because we actually got to have a full weekend. We normally teach Monday-Saturday and then would have Sunday off, but we have had people over or something going on with the academy and haven’t really had Sunday off. This weekend was different though.

On Sunday morning we took off towards the car park in search of a car to take us to town. It was crazy! Dan went over to the gas station to get something to drink so all the drivers came to me trying to get us to take their car. One guy even grabbed my hand and led me to his car. We ended up taking his car because he had three spots left and we would fill it up. He drove really fast. I was a little nervous because I was sitting in the front seat and saw how fast and close to things we were. Dan and Claire were in bucket seats in the very back of the car and could feel every single bump we hit. At one point we were going 145 km/hour. When we got to Georgetown we stayed at the same place where we stayed when we first got in country. What a flash back. It seems like a really long time ago we were in that house, but at the same time it feels like just last week.

While in Georgetown we attended the GuyExpo. In my mind it was like the Iowa State Fair, only for the entire country of Guyana. We saw a ton of vendors from all over Guyana and learned quite a bit about different things to do, see, and eat while we are here. We didn’t really try and adventurous food, but we did get some free Guyanese candies. We also met some of the ladies who work at the American Embassy. It was fun to talk to them a little and tell them about GLMA. We came back to New Amsterdam Monday afternoon with a much calmer driver. Everyone (except the driver) in the car slept at least for a little bit. That afternoon we held open practice time for two hours so our students could come in and work a little bit since there were no classes. All in all it was a very nice weekend and a well needed break after how crazy things have been.

There is not a whole lot coming up for GLMA right now. My beginning brass class took home their instruments today and they were so excited! My guitar students are preparing to take home their instruments next week and same with COFONA. I have a lot of work to do before all of these guitars go home though. I have not looked at some of these guitars since the days after the container arrived. I know some of them need to have strings replaced, and they all need to be tuned. Today I got to see the violin students get really excited to play their instruments with a bow. Their faces were priceless and the excitement in the room was contagious. All of our students are so excited to do anything, it is a great feeling to have as a teacher, and very rewarding to see them excelling go much.

We are still working on trying to get internet up and running at our house. We can now call out on our phone. I have been working with the router, and it doesn’t seem to like our computers. I keep getting error messages even though I have followed the directions to a T. I have talked to Pastor Vivian’s husband, Eric (yes, another Eric), and he said he would come take a look at it tomorrow. He used to work for Apple, so we figure he might be able to help us a little. I attempted to upload some pictures to my Facebook while at the academy the other day. After there had been almost 100 pictures loaded my server and the internet crashed and nothing got uploaded. I am thinking I will spend time at an internet café this weekend and upload all of my pictures. Let me tell you, there are quite a few of them.

I want to give a shout out to the Lake Mills High School Marching Band! You guys did great in Algona! I just got to watch your performance. Colorguard girls I am so proud of you! You have worked hard and have come so far. I hope all of you take pride in being a part of such a great group. I miss playing in marching band, and proud to say I am an alumni of this band. I am working with a marching band and I hope to be able to show them videos of marching bands back in the states. I think it will be really neat for them to see something like this.