“Dear Lord, grant me patients to get through xyz.” This is a
prayer I have said numerous times in my life whether it be stuck in rush hour
in the cities when I am already half an hour late for SR practice, working with
someone I really can’t stand, or no understanding how to do something. This
prayer has been uttered too many times to count while I was in the states. I
think the Lord is finally teaching me a lesson in patience while I am in
Guyana. Things happen in a very different way here, and my to do list? Ha!
Those things happen in a very roundabout way to say the least! Eric had pointed
this fact out to me when talking about his to do list before he went home, but
I really did not think much of it until some of that list came to me. In order
to get some of these things done I have to call someone, who calls someone, who
calls the workers, who, may or may not, show up and do the work after the first
call. This means that things on my to do list can take days. Many of you who
know me well know that it drives me crazy to have things sitting on my to do
list for days on end. It once took us three days to get water delivered to the
house and I sometimes called multiple times a day! I truly feel that this is a
teaching opportunity about patience for me. It may be a hard pill to swallow,
but gosh darn it! You better believe I will swallow that pill down by the end
of this year!
Today (Wednesday) was a very interesting day. I started out
the day by going with Valini (one of my guitar and Dan’s choir students) over
to her other house on West Bank Berbiece. Her gardener picked fruit and cleaned
the yard while she showed me around the garden and then we sat and talked. She
put up her hammock for me to try out. It was really comfortable. I may have to
buy one to bring home with me. We ended up talking for over two hours. It was
really fun to get to know her better. She is retired and has started her own
non-profit organization (in Guyana they are called NGO or Non-Governmental
Orginizations) called Guyfuse. She told me all sorts of things about her group.
Guyfuse is Guyanese Families Unite in Service and Education. Let me tell you, I
think I have found my volunteer work! I also learned that Valini really likes
drama and writes several plays. She asked me to participate in some! After the
gardener was finished she showed me around her home town. It reminds me a lot
of Lake Mills. We also went and spent some time on a farm. While there I almost
got hit in the head by a coconut falling from the tree. Now that would have been
a story to tell because had it hit me I would have lost balance and fallen into
the irrigation canal that was next to that tree. While we waited for the farmer
to pick some produce for us we found a bench in the shade and sat down for a
little while. It was really peaceful. I barely made it back to New Amsterdam in
time to teach! The Berbiece Bridge closes every day with the tide so that large
ships can pass. We were the last car allowed over the bridge before they closed
it. Had we been two minutes later we would have been stuck there for over an
hour! I came home with a bunch of different fresh herbs, fruits, and vegetables
that I can’t remember the name of.
I am currently writing this blog while sitting in the pitch
dark at the academy. The percussion class is trying to use any daylight left
outside before they call it quits. We are in a blackout right now. Yes, we have
a generator installed and it is set up to be able to run the academy so we can
continue to have classes in a blackout. Why don’t we have it running you ask?
Well, we did. For all of two minutes and then it died. Our gas had evaporated
because the lid had a huge hole that was covered with a flimsy piece of paper.
So I went out with a gas can on the hunt for gas. Come to find out Guyana is in
a gas crisis right now and both gas stations in New Amsterdam ran out of gas
yesterday. We have to go over the bridge in order to get gas, and I am not
doing that by myself in the dark. No thank you! We will be making a trip over
the bridge tomorrow to get gas now.
Yippie! The lights just turned back on! Now we will be able
to have classes! This blackout only lasted 45 minutes. That’s not too bad! Here
is to hoping that we don’t have another blackout in the middle of this class.
We had to let the brass and keyboard students go home because no one could see
and the keyboard students had nothing to play.
**If you want to learn more about Guyfuse you can find them
on facebook! www.facebook.com/guyfuse**
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