A Week of Firsts

Thursday officially marked my one week anniversary in Guyana and a lot has happened since then. I moved into my new home Thursday. It's a 2 bedroom flat in the middle of Georgetown, in a pretty happening area. One day in to my new neighbourhood and I'm having drinks with a well known soca artist, Big Red and her mom (a local actress), who I was introduced to by T. It can get loud at night..Alison Hinds, MJ and a hint of Celine Dion can all be heard simultaneously, you just have to tune into the type of music you like.

On Friday we had our first Creolese lesson, which was tricky but awesome.
Here are a couple of examples:
"Everyday buckit a go a well wan day he battam must drap off"
"Dis wata de col col"(adjective repeated twice to convey very much)
As you can see the expressions are very animated and colourful, with a lot of emphasis to show emotion.

The weekend started off with Digicel's 5th anniversary concert, featuring Keri Hilson and Morgan Heritage (a local reggae band). My first concert in Guyana and it did not disappoint!

Other firsts: I learnt how to "Palance", thx A! I did laundry using my washing machine, a.k.a. an empty bucket, then set up a line to dry the clothing outside. I started to boil and filter my water and most importantly sealed all my food in bags/containers to avoid seeing any ants inside..





Despite all these experiences, the best part of the weekend was meeting T. If you look around Georegetown, it is completely inaccessible for people with disabilities (PWDs as they are referred to here), especially wheelchair users. Not all the roads have sidewalks, there are no ramps, etc. The roads can be uneven, filled with potholes and crowded. I actually haven't seen anyone mobilizing around Georgetown with any aids, with the exception of a lady ambulating with a cane. That was until I met T. T is a wheelchair user and navigates the streets of Georgetown amazingly! She uses the mini bus (the crowded mode of transport I described in my first post), which does not have any special seating and can take up to two hours to arrive. There are no lifts or elevators. To access a friend's place, she had to call someone over to piggyback her up 3 flights of stairs. Just a night out to a club would require a lot of preplanning. The lack of accessibility has also impacted T's productivity. She changed her career focus, as the school she wanted to attend was not accessible. It makes me truly appreciate Canada's focus on universal design.

I officially begin work next Monday and can't wait to get started!!

Bye for now!