It’s Wednesday and time to engage ourselves for our schoolwork. Marij and I worked out the planning for our last two weeks and prepared everything we needed for that.
Carla (Tineke and Sharon’s principal) pulled up in front of our house around 6 to ask us if we felt like going for a swim. Of course we did (not really, but Ellen had said yes already) and by 7 we were ready to be picked up by her.
A few laps and I couldn’t handle it anymore (thanks Sharon for the cold!) so I went to the small bar for a snack – which turned out to be my dinner. Around 8pm everyone was done swimming and we left to go home again for some relaxing and some lazy couch potato-ing.
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The next day, Ellen left with Joachim for some Scouts thing. Marij and I were home along, a perfect time to work for school again.
When that was finished, I felt kinda useless and thought about cleaning the house. An hour and a half later everything was shiny again and my body screamed for a shower!
When Ellen arrived back home, it was past 6.30 and time to get ready: we were going for a bet tonight.
We all dressed up, this was going to be an unforgettable evening… Nice dresses, shoes, hair and make-up and we were ready to go spend some big bucks.
Well, not really. I spent 40 SRD in total, of which I got 25SRD back. AND we got free drinks and food the entire evening, so in fact I spent less than what I would’ve spent if we just went out for dinner…
It was a fun first time for all of us. Though it was weird to see all those people sitting there, hypnotised by their machines, throwing away all their money on some stupid slot machine or poker table. Some people just don’t know where to stop, I guess…
We only played the one armed bandits, not really comfortable enough to play a live game yet. But that doesn’t mean we didn’t have a lot of fun. I twice won 100 quarters (of which I kept 100 aside), the only one who got at least something back from the money we put in the machines.
This was fun, relaxing, and if we have the time, we’ll prolly go spend another few SRD in a casino here. Cheap entertainment and drinks/food!
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On Friday the other three girls returned from their trip to Awarradam. No more quietness, no more tranquillity… 5 minutes after they had entered, the TV was playing loudly again, like they had never left. I’m really starting to get fed up with that and a lot of other things they do, but I’m going to try to keep the peace for these last two weeks…
Ellen, Marij and I are going to see a movie tonight. We went for a quick dinner at the fast food joint there and for a drink before the movie started – which was at 10.30. Sex Drive, a comedy, was the film of our choice (not like we had a lot of choice, there are only two rooms). The plot: a guy has a date with a girl he met on the internet. He and his friend leave for whatever the place was, with the brother’s nice car. On the way there they, of course, get into a lot of trouble. In the end, the girl he met turns out to be a scammer who’s only interested in his nice ride. But everything gets solved, the bad guys (or girl in this case) get caught and they all lived happily ever after! Not really what I expected, the X-rated version, with a whole lot of unnecessary boobs and dicks… which led to the guys behind us acting like 8-year olds again. Fun!
By 12.30 we arrived home again and it was time for me to go to bed.
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Today we got up in time. We needed to get to the bank to get some Euros to pay for our last trip, Galibi. Apparently the bank doesn’t open on Saturday, so no money. We went to Trips anyway, and already gave something in advance.
Afterwards we went for a refreshing drink and lunch at ‘t Vat. We also went by the tailor, cause Ellen’s dresses would be ready today, very exciting! Alas, no dresses yet. But on Monday, when Marij and I go to pick up ours, hers will be ready as well.
After our short city trip, we went home again and quickly took a shower. Walking, sunshine, midday, hot, … only good thing about all that is the refreshment you get from the cold shower afterwards!
Tonight Tineke and Sharon went to a Hindustan wedding, Evi had bought herself a pizza, so Marij, Ellen and I head back into town to get something to eat. Pasta with chicken and a mushroom sauce, it can’t get much better than that! Especially if you have a yummy cocktail to go along with it!
When we got back home, we watched the end of Yes man, a comedy with Jim Carey and I went to bed afterwards.
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Around 11.30 I got out of bed. Today was the last day we could sleep in, cause tomorrow is a school day again…
Not a lot happened today. I read a bit, solved a few crosswords and watched a movie (Madagascar 2; funny, but not as good as the first one).
Since everything is set for next week, Marij and I didn’t have a lot else to do.
Tonight was “eat whatever we can find around the house”-day. Result: pasta with chicken, schnitzels, peas and carrots. Not really my taste, but I was hungry.
Going to bed early tonight, cause it’s an early start again tomorrow!
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Friday, April 24, 2009
New Amsterdam
Not a lot to say about this week. We’ve been relaxing, doing nothing and sitting around about the entire time. Things that did happen:
* On Wednesday the four-day march through town started. All sorts of groups and organisations walked miles and miles through town in colourful clothes and loud music. The goal this year was to encourage people to give blood. I don’t really feel like donating my precious blood (especially since I don’t know what conditions the needles here are in), but I do hope other people do/did.
* Wednesday evening we went out for dinner at Zus&Zo. Yummy pasta, nice company and soothing background music is all you need to have a good time!
* On Thursday Marij and I went wild and decided it was time to recolor our hair. Now we are truly redheads!
* Thursday evening Marij, Tineke and I went out to Havana lounge. After a few days of doing almost nothing, it was time to stretch our legs again. We had a great time, good music, nice atmosphere, fun people (some of the people we had met at Blanche Marie were there as well), a successful evening.
* Friday was shopping day. Bought some nice fabrics, went to the tailor and we’re now very excited about how our dresses and skirts are going to look when they’re finished!
* On Saturday we met all Blanche Marie people at Chillz, a club/pub in town. Yet again we had a good time and around 2am we decided to head to Zsa Zsa Zsu to continue the party. On arrival we saw the line at the entrance was longer than we could handle, so we all went back to our place for some drinks and some talking.
* On Monday three of our housemates left for a five-day trip to Awarradam, which means we have the house to ourselves.
* Also on Monday, Ellen, Joachim, Pia and I left on our bikes to New Amsterdam, a town across the Suriname River. An hour on a bike really gets to your ass and when we arrived at the dock where we had to take the little boat to the other side, we were thankful that we could give it a little rest.
At New Amsterdam we went to visit Fort New Amsterdam, the fortress that was put up to guard the entrance to the Suriname River from the Atlantic Ocean. A lot of canons, ammunition and buildings, quite impressive to see. After its use as a fortress, Fort New Amsterdam was transformed into a prison. Small isolation cells with only a plank for a bed, a bucket as a toilet and a tiny window, not even big enough to ventilate the room. The information board told us that people were locked in there for at least 7 days and could only come out for lunch/diner.
The other cells were a lot larger, probably a lot more people in one cell then, and they even still had pin up posters on the wall (the prison was closed in 1982)!
We went for lunch at a local pub/bar/restaurant/shop and returned home afterwards. Another half hour (which seemed like forever) and we were back in town. There we stopped at ‘t Vat for a drink and then on homewards. Marij had made us tortillas for diner (which I though was just a big omelette).
* On Tuesday we cleaned out the kitchen cabinets, cause a rat had left us some very unpleasant surprises… But a quick clean and the house smelled like Ajax again instead of rat droppings!
* We also went out for dinner with the students from the other house again and for bowling afterwards. We played in teams (our team lost :( but I did throw a spare and a strike! :p). Afterwards a few games of pool and then return home for a good sleep!
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Blanche Marie
3.30am really IS too early to get up… It’s still dark, no one up, even the birds are still asleep! Luckily the shower’s cold, which is good for waking up. 4.30 and the taxi was already there to pick us up.
We were there on time, but by the time everyone else had arrived, it was past 6am already and we had to hurry so we wouldn’t arrive there too late. Twenty people in a bus with a capacity of 30, you’d think everyone would have plenty of room… Guess again! All cramped in tiny seats, where your knees touch the seat in front of you, no room to even turn around a bit, not a chance I’d still be getting a bit of sleep here… I must say the nature was wonderful: huge trees, wide open fields, forests, … very impressive.
Around 9ish was our first big stop. It was a small village where we could have a break, stretch our legs and have breakfast. We didn’t see much of the village (or the villagers), but at least the breakfast was good and we had the chance to have a quick toilet stop.
By 1pm we had our second big stop: Witagron, a Kwinti-village (the smallest Marrontribe in Suriname) was the chosen place for us to have lunch. Witagron was the place of birth of our tour guide, so he knew the place and the villagers.
Nasi with kousenband, bakabana, tomatoes and cucumbers, yummy!
After everyone had had enough to eat, we all crawled back into the busses and on we went again. The road was bumpy, but less than the one to Brownsberg or Brokopondo. Around 9pm we finally arrived at Blanche Marie, all hungry and tired. We quickly unpacked and installed ourselves on the terraces where we could hang our hammocks.
When we were all ready and headed back to the recreation area, we discovered that the other two busses hadn’t arrived yet. Seemed that they couldn’t get over the mountain without a bit of help, so Diego (our guide) jumped in his pickup and went down there to help them out.
The others finally arrived and could unpack as well. When everyone was ready, it was time for dinner. Afterwards, everyone was so exhausted, we all went straight to bed. No one had even noticed anything from the surrounding landscape; it was too dark and we were too sleepy to care anyway.
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We got up at 7.30 today, breakfast at 8. or so we were told… by 9am we could finally eat: sandwiches with jam, cheese, peanut butter, chocolate paste, sandwich spread and scrambled eggs with cheese and onions. Very good breakfast!
After that we were free to discover the surrounding area and to get ready for the trip. At 10am we were going to leave for the waterfalls. Our group was the first to leave and we went straight to the Blanche Marie. It wasn’t a long walk, not a tiring one either. It still took us about half an hour to get there, cause our guide wanted to tell us all sorts of things about the plants and animals here.
Blanche Marie is the most wonderful waterfall I have ever seen in my life! Irene- and Leofall are nothing compared to this! Blanche Marie covers the entire width of the river and isn’t a straight fall down, but in parts (like the Irenefall). We immediately took our clothes off and got into the refreshing water. The guide warned us not to go too far, cause the currant could pull us down in an instant and it would certainly hurt us, if not kill us if we got carried away over the sharp rocks.
The water was relaxing and refreshing and I could’ve spent an entire day just sitting there, enjoying the cold water on my skin. Too bad we weren’t the only group here and when the second one arrived, it was time for us to leave again.
We first made a short stroll along the river shore and then went on to the next stop. We could choose either the “kidsoelas” (soelas is another word for rapids) or the massage falls. Of course we didn’t doubt for a minute and chose the latter. The massage falls weren’t exactly waterfalls, but more rapids as well. Ropes hung over the water for us to hold on to while the water rushed around us. It certainly deserved the massage-part of it’s name!
Yet again we got disturbed by the other group which “chased” us away again. A short walk took us back to the domain where we quickly head to the river to bathe and relax. Apparently it is custom to wash yourself in the river instead of a shower here, so we took a piece of soap with us and washed ourselves in the cold river water.
After this refreshing part of the day, it was time for lunch: fish, rice, peas and bakabana. Didn’t really like the salty fish, but the rest was nice. After lunch we had the afternoon for ourselves to relax, explore, do whatever we wanted.
at 5pm we all gathered again, cause Easter means: a search for Easter eggs! the guides took the entire group in the forest where they had hidden eggs for us to find. It didn’t take long for 60 people to find 50 hidden eggs, so we turned back to the recreation area faster than expected. The cooking team wasn’t ready with dinner yet, so we had a few moments to relax. After dinner (bami with chicken) a guide came by to gather all chairs for the musical chairs (or however you call it) act. First only girls, then all boys (which weren’t a lot), then the entire guiding team. That was one musical chair too much for me and Marij, Pia and I went to bed. I’ve had a stomach ache all day now, so I hope I fall asleep fast so it doesn’t bother me too much.
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Today, we can sleep in. Sleeping in here, means waking up at 8am because of the birds calling and the water flowing. Marij was up and she had bathed already as well. Time for me to do the same, so I took my shampoo and headed for the river. Nothing like washing your hair with the clean water from the river.
Breakfast was a bit disappointing: the same as yesterday, with the exception of the eggs, which were replaced with leftover fish from yesterday.
The most disappointing part of the day: no activities planned for the day, we had to entertain ourselves the entire day. Our group headed back to the massage falls for a swim, some sunbathing and reading. At 1.30pm we had to go back for lunch. After that, yet again some hanging around and doing whatever you wanted, so we went to the riverside and went for another swim in the cool water.
Around 5ish we finally gathered again and got ready for some action. A walk through the forest took us a bit further along the river, where our guides had improvised a way to the other side of the river by hanging ropes over it. There used to be boats to take us there, but they were all stolen, so we had to solve it this way. Everyone dived into the water, clothes and all, and swam to the other side, guided by the ropes, hanging on to them so we wouldn’t get carried away by the water.
All wet, we continued our trip through the forest to the next waterfall: the Eldorado waterfall. Too bad, no gold here, but it was an impressively high waterfall. We took out our adventure hat and climbed all the way up there, where we got a breath taking view over the waterfall and the forest. No pictures though, because we couldn’t take our cameras with us over the river…
After an hour of just sitting there, we had enough of it and some of us headed back already. A bit of a search to find the right route back, but we eventually got back at the river and could cross it again to the other side.
Different from what we had already done and seen, but it was a fun experience and more adventurous than just walking of course.
When we were all back and dressed again, it was time for dinner: potato salad, coleslaw and chicken, it was delicious! My stomach was still not 100% but I enjoyed it like it was the best thing I have ever eaten.
Plans were to have a camp fire and tell stories, sing songs, … but because of the bad weather tonight, it was cancelled and they had planned another jungle disco (like last night). I didn’t feel like dancing, so I went back to my hammock and lied down a bit to give my stomach the chance to recover a bit. At 10pm I couldn’t keep my eyes open anymore and fell asleep.
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The last day of the trip, which means a 15h drive back home. I really don’t look forward to that, but a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do…
Original plan: breakfast at 7am, pack at 7.30 and leave at 8am.
Eventually: breakfast at 8am, pack at 9 and leave at 10.30… We’re used to the Surinam way of life already, so we didn’t make a big deal of it, except for the fact that leaving later would also mean arriving later as well…
After 5h in the bus, we arrived at Witagron already, where we had moksa aleisi with fish and chicken for lunch. This time, we got a tour around the village. Wooden houses, huts and cabins, a dock for the korjaals (the traditional boats) and a special place for sacrifices, it was a typical traditional Marron village – and don’t worry, no human or animal sacrifices, just food, drinks and clothes. It even had a school and a medical centre.
When everyone had seen everything, we were ready to go again. Still a long way to go!
By the time we had reached our second big stopping place, the small village again, it was dark already (around 8pm). We could go empty our bladders again, but nothing to eat :( I was getting a bit dizzy, but not even cookies or chips around to fill our empty stomachs…
When we finally arrived at the small supermarket near Zanderij (the national airport) I was one of the firsts to head inside and buy everything I wanted (of course it was way too much to eat all at once, but hungry people need loads of food!). The world instantly stopped spinning when I had eating something and I was a happy girl again ^^ A spoonful of sugar is good for more than just helping the medicine go down!
Another hour later, we finally arrived in Paramaribo and were ready to head home again. The trip back home had only taken 13h, so no complaining here! Quickly called a taxi, said goodbye to everyone and got our stuff off the pickup.
When we got home, we couldn’t believe our eyes… the other three girls had cleaned the entire house! They had even cleaned the mirror where they had written “April 1st, a day you won’t forget”. It had taken them two weeks to do that, but it’s clean now, so yay!
I smoked one last cigarette and went to bed. I’m going to miss sleeping in my hammock, especially with this crappy bed!
We were there on time, but by the time everyone else had arrived, it was past 6am already and we had to hurry so we wouldn’t arrive there too late. Twenty people in a bus with a capacity of 30, you’d think everyone would have plenty of room… Guess again! All cramped in tiny seats, where your knees touch the seat in front of you, no room to even turn around a bit, not a chance I’d still be getting a bit of sleep here… I must say the nature was wonderful: huge trees, wide open fields, forests, … very impressive.
Around 9ish was our first big stop. It was a small village where we could have a break, stretch our legs and have breakfast. We didn’t see much of the village (or the villagers), but at least the breakfast was good and we had the chance to have a quick toilet stop.
By 1pm we had our second big stop: Witagron, a Kwinti-village (the smallest Marrontribe in Suriname) was the chosen place for us to have lunch. Witagron was the place of birth of our tour guide, so he knew the place and the villagers.
Nasi with kousenband, bakabana, tomatoes and cucumbers, yummy!
After everyone had had enough to eat, we all crawled back into the busses and on we went again. The road was bumpy, but less than the one to Brownsberg or Brokopondo. Around 9pm we finally arrived at Blanche Marie, all hungry and tired. We quickly unpacked and installed ourselves on the terraces where we could hang our hammocks.
When we were all ready and headed back to the recreation area, we discovered that the other two busses hadn’t arrived yet. Seemed that they couldn’t get over the mountain without a bit of help, so Diego (our guide) jumped in his pickup and went down there to help them out.
The others finally arrived and could unpack as well. When everyone was ready, it was time for dinner. Afterwards, everyone was so exhausted, we all went straight to bed. No one had even noticed anything from the surrounding landscape; it was too dark and we were too sleepy to care anyway.
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We got up at 7.30 today, breakfast at 8. or so we were told… by 9am we could finally eat: sandwiches with jam, cheese, peanut butter, chocolate paste, sandwich spread and scrambled eggs with cheese and onions. Very good breakfast!
After that we were free to discover the surrounding area and to get ready for the trip. At 10am we were going to leave for the waterfalls. Our group was the first to leave and we went straight to the Blanche Marie. It wasn’t a long walk, not a tiring one either. It still took us about half an hour to get there, cause our guide wanted to tell us all sorts of things about the plants and animals here.
Blanche Marie is the most wonderful waterfall I have ever seen in my life! Irene- and Leofall are nothing compared to this! Blanche Marie covers the entire width of the river and isn’t a straight fall down, but in parts (like the Irenefall). We immediately took our clothes off and got into the refreshing water. The guide warned us not to go too far, cause the currant could pull us down in an instant and it would certainly hurt us, if not kill us if we got carried away over the sharp rocks.
The water was relaxing and refreshing and I could’ve spent an entire day just sitting there, enjoying the cold water on my skin. Too bad we weren’t the only group here and when the second one arrived, it was time for us to leave again.
We first made a short stroll along the river shore and then went on to the next stop. We could choose either the “kidsoelas” (soelas is another word for rapids) or the massage falls. Of course we didn’t doubt for a minute and chose the latter. The massage falls weren’t exactly waterfalls, but more rapids as well. Ropes hung over the water for us to hold on to while the water rushed around us. It certainly deserved the massage-part of it’s name!
Yet again we got disturbed by the other group which “chased” us away again. A short walk took us back to the domain where we quickly head to the river to bathe and relax. Apparently it is custom to wash yourself in the river instead of a shower here, so we took a piece of soap with us and washed ourselves in the cold river water.
After this refreshing part of the day, it was time for lunch: fish, rice, peas and bakabana. Didn’t really like the salty fish, but the rest was nice. After lunch we had the afternoon for ourselves to relax, explore, do whatever we wanted.
at 5pm we all gathered again, cause Easter means: a search for Easter eggs! the guides took the entire group in the forest where they had hidden eggs for us to find. It didn’t take long for 60 people to find 50 hidden eggs, so we turned back to the recreation area faster than expected. The cooking team wasn’t ready with dinner yet, so we had a few moments to relax. After dinner (bami with chicken) a guide came by to gather all chairs for the musical chairs (or however you call it) act. First only girls, then all boys (which weren’t a lot), then the entire guiding team. That was one musical chair too much for me and Marij, Pia and I went to bed. I’ve had a stomach ache all day now, so I hope I fall asleep fast so it doesn’t bother me too much.
-----
Today, we can sleep in. Sleeping in here, means waking up at 8am because of the birds calling and the water flowing. Marij was up and she had bathed already as well. Time for me to do the same, so I took my shampoo and headed for the river. Nothing like washing your hair with the clean water from the river.
Breakfast was a bit disappointing: the same as yesterday, with the exception of the eggs, which were replaced with leftover fish from yesterday.
The most disappointing part of the day: no activities planned for the day, we had to entertain ourselves the entire day. Our group headed back to the massage falls for a swim, some sunbathing and reading. At 1.30pm we had to go back for lunch. After that, yet again some hanging around and doing whatever you wanted, so we went to the riverside and went for another swim in the cool water.
Around 5ish we finally gathered again and got ready for some action. A walk through the forest took us a bit further along the river, where our guides had improvised a way to the other side of the river by hanging ropes over it. There used to be boats to take us there, but they were all stolen, so we had to solve it this way. Everyone dived into the water, clothes and all, and swam to the other side, guided by the ropes, hanging on to them so we wouldn’t get carried away by the water.
All wet, we continued our trip through the forest to the next waterfall: the Eldorado waterfall. Too bad, no gold here, but it was an impressively high waterfall. We took out our adventure hat and climbed all the way up there, where we got a breath taking view over the waterfall and the forest. No pictures though, because we couldn’t take our cameras with us over the river…
After an hour of just sitting there, we had enough of it and some of us headed back already. A bit of a search to find the right route back, but we eventually got back at the river and could cross it again to the other side.
Different from what we had already done and seen, but it was a fun experience and more adventurous than just walking of course.
When we were all back and dressed again, it was time for dinner: potato salad, coleslaw and chicken, it was delicious! My stomach was still not 100% but I enjoyed it like it was the best thing I have ever eaten.
Plans were to have a camp fire and tell stories, sing songs, … but because of the bad weather tonight, it was cancelled and they had planned another jungle disco (like last night). I didn’t feel like dancing, so I went back to my hammock and lied down a bit to give my stomach the chance to recover a bit. At 10pm I couldn’t keep my eyes open anymore and fell asleep.
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The last day of the trip, which means a 15h drive back home. I really don’t look forward to that, but a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do…
Original plan: breakfast at 7am, pack at 7.30 and leave at 8am.
Eventually: breakfast at 8am, pack at 9 and leave at 10.30… We’re used to the Surinam way of life already, so we didn’t make a big deal of it, except for the fact that leaving later would also mean arriving later as well…
After 5h in the bus, we arrived at Witagron already, where we had moksa aleisi with fish and chicken for lunch. This time, we got a tour around the village. Wooden houses, huts and cabins, a dock for the korjaals (the traditional boats) and a special place for sacrifices, it was a typical traditional Marron village – and don’t worry, no human or animal sacrifices, just food, drinks and clothes. It even had a school and a medical centre.
When everyone had seen everything, we were ready to go again. Still a long way to go!
By the time we had reached our second big stopping place, the small village again, it was dark already (around 8pm). We could go empty our bladders again, but nothing to eat :( I was getting a bit dizzy, but not even cookies or chips around to fill our empty stomachs…
When we finally arrived at the small supermarket near Zanderij (the national airport) I was one of the firsts to head inside and buy everything I wanted (of course it was way too much to eat all at once, but hungry people need loads of food!). The world instantly stopped spinning when I had eating something and I was a happy girl again ^^ A spoonful of sugar is good for more than just helping the medicine go down!
Another hour later, we finally arrived in Paramaribo and were ready to head home again. The trip back home had only taken 13h, so no complaining here! Quickly called a taxi, said goodbye to everyone and got our stuff off the pickup.
When we got home, we couldn’t believe our eyes… the other three girls had cleaned the entire house! They had even cleaned the mirror where they had written “April 1st, a day you won’t forget”. It had taken them two weeks to do that, but it’s clean now, so yay!
I smoked one last cigarette and went to bed. I’m going to miss sleeping in my hammock, especially with this crappy bed!
Brokopondo
Tonight was terrible! This new room with the new bed is horrible! It’s too hot, too small, it doesn’t smell all too good and lying bed feels like sleeping on a wooden plank! Needless to say I was a zombie when I woke up this morning…
Because it’s almost vacation and it’s the end of this period, we start Monday with going to church. Nothing like going to church in Belgium. The second and fourth grade teachers lead the ceremony and we talked about Christ, his death, Easter and sang songs. An hour after we started the ceremony was over and the kids could go back to school. Mr Paulus (our principal) wanted us to meet the people of the A.M.E.C. first (A.M.E.C. is African Methodist Episcopal Church, or something like that).
Because the fifth grade teacher had left before I had even finished the day last week, I didn’t get the chance to ask her if there was something she wanted me to do this week. I had prepared myself for this and made myself useful making stuff for and organising the library again. Not a very productive day, but at least I did something.
Glenn, Marij and Ellen are on shopping duty this week and Glenn had promised us he was going to cook for us today (yay, less cooking for me to do!). it wasn’t haute cuisine (just cooked potatoes with sausages and apple sauce), but it was good!
After dinner I took some time to relax before I went to bed.
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And again a very sleepless night… Dunno if I can keep this up for much longer.
At school Marij and I had the worst day ever so far! It was the day the kids had to come to school with their parents to pick up their report cards. The two of us just sat there, doing nothing, listening, walking around, playing with the kids, being bored, …By 12 o’ clock Mr Paulus finally gave us permission to leave and it didn’t take us long to get ready and go. We stopped at the bike rental to pay for the last month and head back home.
Today Marij, Ellen and I took Glenn out on a trip to the Paramaribo Zoo. Animals to be seen: Kwata monkeys, ostriches, snakes, parrots, tigers, more monkeys, pigeons (yes, ordinary pigeons are kept in cages at the zoo…), a wild snake that scared the sh*t out of us and an invisible American alligator (the animal had too much waterplants to hide under :()
It’s not a very large zoo, but it’s nice to do something else than sit around at home all day.
Just like at the Palmentuin there was a nice “recreation area” for the kids and again, we had a lot of fun there.
At 6pm the zoo closed and we called a taxi to take us into town to grab something to eat. From there out, we left to the Orange bar, together with the students from the other house, because there’s an information meeting about Blanche Marie. I was exhausted and was glad it was over around 10pm. Back home I didn’t even take the time to smoke a last cigarette and just went straight to bed (very unlike me!)
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Today’s Wednesday and Marij and I have to get up early because we’re leaving on a trip to Brokopondo with the teachers. Most of our fellow house mates could enjoy their first (unofficial) day of relaxing and doing nothing because of the Easter holiday.
By the time all teachers had arrived and were ready to go, it was 8am (I can still hear the principal saying: Whoever isn’t here by 7.30, can walk to Brokopondo)…
The road was still exactly the same as when we went to Brownsberg: hobbly bobbly jump-on-your-seat…
Even the van thought this way and we had to stop to tie the exhaust back in it’s place…
By the time we finally arrived, it was 11am already and time for a swim! The water was refreshing and more than welcome. After that, time for lunch! The teachers had all brought something and we had delicious bami and nasi. In fact it was so good, we all had to lie down and relax a bit before doing anything else. Too bad the weather didn’t like our “anything else” plans and dark clouds forced us under a small hut. Just in time, because the typical Surinam Rain showers had arrived. There go our team building games… But no worries, we had hammocks, food, drinks and each other, so it did turn out to be a wonderful day. The sound of the rain was so relaxing, that I even fell asleep… By the time I woke up again, it had almost stopped raining and it was time to get dressed and go back home.
Yet again the hobbly bobbly hit-your-head-against-the-roof road which had now turned into a mud pool because of the rain.
We weren’t very lucky… half an hour after we had left, we got stuck in the mud. Luckily there was a pick-up who was willing to help us out (well, not the pick-up, but the driver). An hour later, we got forced out of the bus again, because of a flat tire… It was already starting to get dark, and with the help of some flashlights, they finally got the job done. No more incidents after that, but I don’t think anyone will complain about that!
Our principal, who was our driver, was so kind to drop us off at home and I was so tired (damn bed!) I could hardly keep my eyes open. still took a shower though, to wash all the sand from uncomfy places.
Glenn is sleeping in my room tonight, so Marij can have her bed to herself as well for a night. Two people in a crappy bed, let’s hope it’ll last the night…
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Didn’t take me long to fall asleep last night. And the bed has survived the weight of both of us (yay!) And today is the first official day of our 2.5 week lasting vacation, which is supposed to mean: sleeping in! Wishful thinking, cause at 7.15 my phone woke me up… (who the hell even thinks about calling at this hour???) I did eventually fall asleep again, but it was more a nap than getting sleep… At 10.30 I gave up trying and climbed over Glenn and out of bed.
Took a long, refreshing, relaxing shower and when I got out, Marij came to tell me they had decided to go swimming today. Even the kids from our street were invited and we were off to Parima. Because I had worn my bikini all day yesterday, I didn’t really feel like putting it on again today, so no swimming for me, but I did get to enjoy the wonderful South American sun! And the kiddy pool was shallow enough for me to walk around in :p
At 3pm the pool closed for maintenance and we went back home.
Today we have steak with veggies and French fries on the menu. Not exactly very Surinam cooking, but that doesn’t mean it’s less tasty! (well, I actually only had the veggies and a sandwich, cause I don’t eat steak and I didn’t feel like fries either…)
After dinner we all got ready to go out to Havana Lounge. Glenn stayed home because he had a head ache. An entire night of dancing, drinking, enjoying and having fun and by 5am we all were so tired we finally decided to go home again and go to bed.
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The next day I slept in. by the time I got up, everyone was up already. Today is Glenn’s last day (he leaves at 4) so he was busy packing and I subtly put some of my stuff next to his for him to take home already.
When he was all ready to go we played a few games of UNO and then it was time already to say goodbye. The taxi was there to pick him up and take him to the airport (we had decided that it was a bit silly for us to go with him, since that would just cost him more).
Marij, Ellen and I played a few more games and then had dinner. I made macaroni and cheese and everyone thought it was delicious! ^^
After dinner it was time to pack. Tomorrow Ellen, Marij and I leave on a four day trip to Blanche Marie. It’s a 15h ride, so we have to get up early… VERY EARLY!! Let’s hope I fall asleep fast...
Because it’s almost vacation and it’s the end of this period, we start Monday with going to church. Nothing like going to church in Belgium. The second and fourth grade teachers lead the ceremony and we talked about Christ, his death, Easter and sang songs. An hour after we started the ceremony was over and the kids could go back to school. Mr Paulus (our principal) wanted us to meet the people of the A.M.E.C. first (A.M.E.C. is African Methodist Episcopal Church, or something like that).
Because the fifth grade teacher had left before I had even finished the day last week, I didn’t get the chance to ask her if there was something she wanted me to do this week. I had prepared myself for this and made myself useful making stuff for and organising the library again. Not a very productive day, but at least I did something.
Glenn, Marij and Ellen are on shopping duty this week and Glenn had promised us he was going to cook for us today (yay, less cooking for me to do!). it wasn’t haute cuisine (just cooked potatoes with sausages and apple sauce), but it was good!
After dinner I took some time to relax before I went to bed.
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And again a very sleepless night… Dunno if I can keep this up for much longer.
At school Marij and I had the worst day ever so far! It was the day the kids had to come to school with their parents to pick up their report cards. The two of us just sat there, doing nothing, listening, walking around, playing with the kids, being bored, …By 12 o’ clock Mr Paulus finally gave us permission to leave and it didn’t take us long to get ready and go. We stopped at the bike rental to pay for the last month and head back home.
Today Marij, Ellen and I took Glenn out on a trip to the Paramaribo Zoo. Animals to be seen: Kwata monkeys, ostriches, snakes, parrots, tigers, more monkeys, pigeons (yes, ordinary pigeons are kept in cages at the zoo…), a wild snake that scared the sh*t out of us and an invisible American alligator (the animal had too much waterplants to hide under :()
It’s not a very large zoo, but it’s nice to do something else than sit around at home all day.
Just like at the Palmentuin there was a nice “recreation area” for the kids and again, we had a lot of fun there.
At 6pm the zoo closed and we called a taxi to take us into town to grab something to eat. From there out, we left to the Orange bar, together with the students from the other house, because there’s an information meeting about Blanche Marie. I was exhausted and was glad it was over around 10pm. Back home I didn’t even take the time to smoke a last cigarette and just went straight to bed (very unlike me!)
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Today’s Wednesday and Marij and I have to get up early because we’re leaving on a trip to Brokopondo with the teachers. Most of our fellow house mates could enjoy their first (unofficial) day of relaxing and doing nothing because of the Easter holiday.
By the time all teachers had arrived and were ready to go, it was 8am (I can still hear the principal saying: Whoever isn’t here by 7.30, can walk to Brokopondo)…
The road was still exactly the same as when we went to Brownsberg: hobbly bobbly jump-on-your-seat…
Even the van thought this way and we had to stop to tie the exhaust back in it’s place…
By the time we finally arrived, it was 11am already and time for a swim! The water was refreshing and more than welcome. After that, time for lunch! The teachers had all brought something and we had delicious bami and nasi. In fact it was so good, we all had to lie down and relax a bit before doing anything else. Too bad the weather didn’t like our “anything else” plans and dark clouds forced us under a small hut. Just in time, because the typical Surinam Rain showers had arrived. There go our team building games… But no worries, we had hammocks, food, drinks and each other, so it did turn out to be a wonderful day. The sound of the rain was so relaxing, that I even fell asleep… By the time I woke up again, it had almost stopped raining and it was time to get dressed and go back home.
Yet again the hobbly bobbly hit-your-head-against-the-roof road which had now turned into a mud pool because of the rain.
We weren’t very lucky… half an hour after we had left, we got stuck in the mud. Luckily there was a pick-up who was willing to help us out (well, not the pick-up, but the driver). An hour later, we got forced out of the bus again, because of a flat tire… It was already starting to get dark, and with the help of some flashlights, they finally got the job done. No more incidents after that, but I don’t think anyone will complain about that!
Our principal, who was our driver, was so kind to drop us off at home and I was so tired (damn bed!) I could hardly keep my eyes open. still took a shower though, to wash all the sand from uncomfy places.
Glenn is sleeping in my room tonight, so Marij can have her bed to herself as well for a night. Two people in a crappy bed, let’s hope it’ll last the night…
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Didn’t take me long to fall asleep last night. And the bed has survived the weight of both of us (yay!) And today is the first official day of our 2.5 week lasting vacation, which is supposed to mean: sleeping in! Wishful thinking, cause at 7.15 my phone woke me up… (who the hell even thinks about calling at this hour???) I did eventually fall asleep again, but it was more a nap than getting sleep… At 10.30 I gave up trying and climbed over Glenn and out of bed.
Took a long, refreshing, relaxing shower and when I got out, Marij came to tell me they had decided to go swimming today. Even the kids from our street were invited and we were off to Parima. Because I had worn my bikini all day yesterday, I didn’t really feel like putting it on again today, so no swimming for me, but I did get to enjoy the wonderful South American sun! And the kiddy pool was shallow enough for me to walk around in :p
At 3pm the pool closed for maintenance and we went back home.
Today we have steak with veggies and French fries on the menu. Not exactly very Surinam cooking, but that doesn’t mean it’s less tasty! (well, I actually only had the veggies and a sandwich, cause I don’t eat steak and I didn’t feel like fries either…)
After dinner we all got ready to go out to Havana Lounge. Glenn stayed home because he had a head ache. An entire night of dancing, drinking, enjoying and having fun and by 5am we all were so tired we finally decided to go home again and go to bed.
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The next day I slept in. by the time I got up, everyone was up already. Today is Glenn’s last day (he leaves at 4) so he was busy packing and I subtly put some of my stuff next to his for him to take home already.
When he was all ready to go we played a few games of UNO and then it was time already to say goodbye. The taxi was there to pick him up and take him to the airport (we had decided that it was a bit silly for us to go with him, since that would just cost him more).
Marij, Ellen and I played a few more games and then had dinner. I made macaroni and cheese and everyone thought it was delicious! ^^
After dinner it was time to pack. Tomorrow Ellen, Marij and I leave on a four day trip to Blanche Marie. It’s a 15h ride, so we have to get up early… VERY EARLY!! Let’s hope I fall asleep fast...
Monday, April 6, 2009
Shopping Shopping Shopping!
Today’s the last day in the third grade. Because I couldn’t pay for our trip to Blanche Marie yesterday, I still needed to go get money today. Not possible without my passport, so I really needed to go get it. Mr Blockland was on vacation, but Mr Zordan was there to help me out. I did need to get there as fast as I could, though, cause at 10am he would be in a meeting he couldn’t get out of until it was done. I was glad my teacher said she would take over some classes and that the principal allowed me to go get it during school hours.
When I arrived, it turned out none of the people there had a key to the vault where our passports are. “It’ll be about 30 minutes till the woman gets here.” Thirty minutes turned to an hour and thirty minutes, and by the time she actually got there, it was past 10am and most of my teaching day had passed.
I quickly head back to school and took over the classes again. Luckily my teacher didn’t have any problems with me being back much later than planned (after all, it wasn’t my fault). I did get back in time to give my first English lesson though: ‘The parts of my arms and legs’, where wrists were feet, ankles were knees and shoulders were hips… But they got it in the end!
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Weekend again! Today is shopping day! Too bad it was raining again... but thank god for taxis!
First stop: Boombox (which, as you prolly can guess, is a music store). Here we bought our tickets for Richie Spice, Dancehall (kind of reggae) artist who will be performing in Paramaribo tomorrow.
Second stop: Ellen. She had already left when we got up and we met her in a nice coffee shop (not the Dutch kind) where she showed us all the stuff she had bought already.
Next stop: Shops!! Bought myself two pair of shoes, two new bags and a CD.
Final stop: Popeye’s for some yummy chicken and biscuits before we head back home.
Around 6ish someone came over to make us real Java saoto soup. It was pretty good, but I like the salty type better than this sweet soup.
Tineke, Sharon and Evi are going out into town and Ellen went to bed early. That leaves Marij and I to entertain ourselves, which we did perfectly with chocolate and a movie!
Wouws and Gunno came by to watch one with us, but by the time it was 4am, I was too exhausted to watch the end of the second movie and just went to bed.
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Today was the day we were supposed to go to Bersaba again. Yup: SUPPOSED to go. Wouws and Gunno were coming to pick us all up at 10, so we could spend an entire day there. By 11am gunno called to say he was going to be here at noon. 12.30 and still no one to be seen, so I called him back. “I’ll call you back at one, I still need to do some things first”. By 2pm we had given up waiting and just went on with our own business. Wasn’t worth going anymore, since it’s an hour drive and we needed to be back in time for Richie Spice. Not worth mentioning we were pissed about all this…
By 3.30pm Wouws finally showed up: in a cab, with all the food he had prepared for us. Still no sign of Gunno, though… By 4.30 he finally arrived with all sorts of excuses: his boss had sent him to pick someone up, there had been an accident at work and he had to go check it out and settle everything, his mom had the car and he couldn’t go anywhere, … I don’t think he even realized he was contradicting himself, which pissed me off even more.
Fortunately wouws had already come with something to eat, so we didn’t have to starve to death :p
By the time it was 9pm, Marij, Ellen and I got ready for Richie Spice. Even though Richie himself would perform around midnight, Ellen didn’t want to miss the entertainment acts that were scheduled before that. And they indeed were very good! I even thought some were better than Richie… we did have a wonderful time, lots of shaking, talking, singing and screaming. Not that we knew the lyrics, but who knows and who cares? :p
By the time we got home, it was past 2am and after a bit of “aftertalk” we all head to bed.
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Last day of the weekend again and I really felt like I had deserved a good sleep in! by 12.30 I finally got out of bed and did a bit of schoolwork.
Glenn, a mate from Belgium, is coming over for a week and Marij and I are going to pick him up at 4. It is nice to have a “new” face around the house and someone else to talk to besides the 5 house mates…
Today’s also the day we switch rooms again. Marij and I have already spent an entire month in bed together (not ALL the time of course, but every night! :p). I am going to miss my talking partner in bed…
We had spaghetti again today. This one was the best I had ever eaten in Suriname (mushrooms!!!)
When I arrived, it turned out none of the people there had a key to the vault where our passports are. “It’ll be about 30 minutes till the woman gets here.” Thirty minutes turned to an hour and thirty minutes, and by the time she actually got there, it was past 10am and most of my teaching day had passed.
I quickly head back to school and took over the classes again. Luckily my teacher didn’t have any problems with me being back much later than planned (after all, it wasn’t my fault). I did get back in time to give my first English lesson though: ‘The parts of my arms and legs’, where wrists were feet, ankles were knees and shoulders were hips… But they got it in the end!
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Weekend again! Today is shopping day! Too bad it was raining again... but thank god for taxis!
First stop: Boombox (which, as you prolly can guess, is a music store). Here we bought our tickets for Richie Spice, Dancehall (kind of reggae) artist who will be performing in Paramaribo tomorrow.
Second stop: Ellen. She had already left when we got up and we met her in a nice coffee shop (not the Dutch kind) where she showed us all the stuff she had bought already.
Next stop: Shops!! Bought myself two pair of shoes, two new bags and a CD.
Final stop: Popeye’s for some yummy chicken and biscuits before we head back home.
Around 6ish someone came over to make us real Java saoto soup. It was pretty good, but I like the salty type better than this sweet soup.
Tineke, Sharon and Evi are going out into town and Ellen went to bed early. That leaves Marij and I to entertain ourselves, which we did perfectly with chocolate and a movie!
Wouws and Gunno came by to watch one with us, but by the time it was 4am, I was too exhausted to watch the end of the second movie and just went to bed.
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Today was the day we were supposed to go to Bersaba again. Yup: SUPPOSED to go. Wouws and Gunno were coming to pick us all up at 10, so we could spend an entire day there. By 11am gunno called to say he was going to be here at noon. 12.30 and still no one to be seen, so I called him back. “I’ll call you back at one, I still need to do some things first”. By 2pm we had given up waiting and just went on with our own business. Wasn’t worth going anymore, since it’s an hour drive and we needed to be back in time for Richie Spice. Not worth mentioning we were pissed about all this…
By 3.30pm Wouws finally showed up: in a cab, with all the food he had prepared for us. Still no sign of Gunno, though… By 4.30 he finally arrived with all sorts of excuses: his boss had sent him to pick someone up, there had been an accident at work and he had to go check it out and settle everything, his mom had the car and he couldn’t go anywhere, … I don’t think he even realized he was contradicting himself, which pissed me off even more.
Fortunately wouws had already come with something to eat, so we didn’t have to starve to death :p
By the time it was 9pm, Marij, Ellen and I got ready for Richie Spice. Even though Richie himself would perform around midnight, Ellen didn’t want to miss the entertainment acts that were scheduled before that. And they indeed were very good! I even thought some were better than Richie… we did have a wonderful time, lots of shaking, talking, singing and screaming. Not that we knew the lyrics, but who knows and who cares? :p
By the time we got home, it was past 2am and after a bit of “aftertalk” we all head to bed.
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Last day of the weekend again and I really felt like I had deserved a good sleep in! by 12.30 I finally got out of bed and did a bit of schoolwork.
Glenn, a mate from Belgium, is coming over for a week and Marij and I are going to pick him up at 4. It is nice to have a “new” face around the house and someone else to talk to besides the 5 house mates…
Today’s also the day we switch rooms again. Marij and I have already spent an entire month in bed together (not ALL the time of course, but every night! :p). I am going to miss my talking partner in bed…
We had spaghetti again today. This one was the best I had ever eaten in Suriname (mushrooms!!!)
Palmentuin, Fort Zeelandia and April Fool's Day
It’s weekend again and that means: sleeping in!
Sharon and Tineke are going on a two day trip to Galibi this weekend, so it’ll be just the four of us. Let’s hope it’s going to be a nice and quiet weekend.
I spent the entire day working for school. I wanted to finish everything, so I could spend the weekend doing absolutely nothing!
Around seven we prepared ourselves to go out: we were going to meet our fellow students to go out for dinner. I had the most wonderful chicken and cheese pasta! After stuffing ourselves, we headed to ‘t vat for an afterdrink. Seemed that a lot of people had that idea, cause when we arrived, the terrace was crowded! We checked out a few other places, but Niky and Vincent decided that they absolutely wanted a banana split from ‘t vat. Our hawk eyes found an empty table and we all gathered around it.
By 12.30pm everyone was exhausted, so we all headed back home for a good night’s sleep.
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Today we planned a trip to Fort Zeelandia, but when we arrived there the sign said: close don Saturdays. Fun!
But luckily the sign that said “Closed till further notice” at the Palmentuin (palm tree garden) had been removed. A few months ago, someone there got hit by a falling branch or leaf and got injured. Poor trees: three or four of them were taken down because of it, but now we could safely walk through without the danger of falling leaves/branches.
Apart from the trees, there’s not much to see, but it is pretty spectacular. They are extremely high and there are around 1000ish palm trees in there. There also was some space for the kids where they could have fun with slides, swings, merry-go-rounds and other things. Of course we had to try everything out! For over half an hour, we were kids again. Even the locals there looked at us in a weird way.
In the late afternoon we finally had enough of it and realised we were thirsty and hungry from all the playing. And yet again ‘t vat was our destination!
A markoesa juice (markoesa means passion fruit) and a banana split filled our stomachs and we were happy and satisfied again.
Tineke and Sharon came back from their trip to Galibi today. They talked for hours about what they had seen and done and it all sounded wonderful, but it kinda ruined the surprise for us, since we also have plans to go there (Galibi is one of the only places where the giant sea turtles come to lay their eggs).
Marij, Ellen and I decided to watch a movie after dinner (bami and nasi, yumm). Sweeney Todd was the film we all agreed on, but Ellen soon regretted her decision… Seems that blood, even in a funny way, isn’t her cup of tea.
I sorta missed the end of the film, cause I had spilled some banana-strawberry nectar and had to take care of the ants that had come to enjoy the sweetness. Hundreds died by my hand and I don’t feel sorry for a single one (those who do can come and talk to me in person!).
After Sweeney Todd, we watched 50 first dates, cause Ellen really didn’t want to go to bed after the first film. That was a good choice: laughing, almost-crying, but in the end, everything turned out ok (doesn’t it always with these kind of movies?)
After this light entertainment I decided it was time for bed. I read a bit and by the time I had finished my book it was past 1am already, so really time for bed!
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We got up around 10.30 today. There is a free guided tour every Sunday at noon and we didn’t want to miss it this time.
It was pretty impressive, but less than I thought. It’s a small fortress and there aren’t many original things left. When it was first used, it was to keep an eye on the Suriname river. That way invaders couldn’t come to Paramaribo unnoticed. Later, they used Fort Zeelandia as a prison, with tiny cells and a pharmacy. Now it is used as a museum and a gallery.
After an hour and a half tour we decided we had deserved a drink, so on to ‘t vat again. In the late afternoon we returned home for some relaxing and Marij still had to finish some schoolwork.
Around 7pm someone came to pick us up. Two mates had arranged for us to have dinner at their moms house. Delicious roti!
After that we got a tour at Gunno’s ENORMOUS house (with bath tub! I miss taking a relaxing bath :( )
By the time we got home and ready to go to bed, it was past 1am… Zombie teachers tomorrow!
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This week Marij teaches fourth and I do third grade. I had been warned about this class: last week Marij had to suspend 4 students because of their behaviour… But they all seemed very nice kids and really worked hard today, lucky me!
Because of the lack of sleep last night, I was completely worn out and by 9pm I just went to bed. Didn’t take long for me to fall asleep.
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Last day of March and I’m guessing the kids sense the nearing of Easter break… All hell broke loose today in class. The teacher had to take over the first grade, cause the teacher was sick, so it was just me and the kids today and now I know why Marij warned me. Savario only hears what he wants to hear and all of them know exactly how to make my blood boil! My throat hurt like hell from all the screaming (which is necessary, cause otherwise the kids just don’t hear you!). I dunno if I can get through another two days of this…
After school it was time for STARS again. Marij and I took the social skills class and got permission to leave afterwards. It’s almost time for report cards and the teachers here celebrate the end of every period. The plans were to each bring an ingredient for a dish and then cook together at school. Marij and I got permission from the principal to arrange a minivan and see if we can celebrate in Brokopondo. So we headed towards the rental centre and because of the contacts of Mr Paulus (thank you Mr principal) it was arranged very quickly.
Marij and Ellen are chef this week and they threw together a pretty good bami for us. After dinner I got a visit from the Sandman, so I didn’t stay up much longer.
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The 1st of April today… three of my house mates had decided to have a few laughs with us. Some of the very “creative” jokes:
Toothpaste on all door handles and faucets.
Soap on the toilet seats.
Salt and vinegar in the water.
Hide our shoes.
I really really REALLY didn’t like any of them, and was kinda furious when I discovered our shoes were gone when I wanted to leave for school. Maybe I should mention I wasn’t in a good mood when I got up in the first place, since I had lost my voice and didn’t look forward to teaching like this.
Luckily it didn’t spoil my entire day. We only had classes till 10 because of a staff meeting. Too bad that doesn’t mean we can go home at 10 as well… We talked about the kids’ grades and Marij and I suggested our Brokopondo idea. Almost all teachers were in favour of it, so yeay, we’re going to Brokopondo on Wednesday! I don’t think the kids will mind either, cause that means an extra day of vacation!
After school we had to go into town, cause we had to pay for our Blanche Marie trip in two weeks. Since everything trip-related is to be paid in euro’s (more profitable than paying in SRD) I still needed to go to the bank. ‘Sorry madam, we can’t give you any money if you don’t have your passport with you. No a copy isn’t good enough. No, you’re Belgian ID isn’t good either.’ So there I was, no money, no passport (Everyone had given their passports to Mr Blockland, the commissioner that is “in charge” of making sure nothing happens to us in Suriname), no way of paying (I was NOT going to put down 600 SRD for this trip!). Fortunately Diego (the tour operator) didn’t mind and said it was perfectly ok if I paid later this week.
Tineke and Evi are going to watch a football game (European football, not American football :P) tonight, so we’re having hot dogs for dinner: quick but yummy! Them leaving also meant it’s going to be pretty quiet around here, and I’m definitely not going to complain about that!
Friday, March 27, 2009
To swim or not to swim?
Not much to say about Monday. We slept in, worked for school, ate, worked for school some more, ate again, worked again, and so on… 9pm and I couldn’t keep my eyes open anymore, so by 9.30 I went to bed, knock out!
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Today is the first day of our second teaching week. I teach second grade this week, hopefully they’re a bit more mannered than the first graders.
We also had another meeting with the principal today. He told us about STARS, a project he works on to help sixth graders with their difficulties so they have a better chance of succeeding their final exams. Later today there’s a meeting with the parents to inform them about it. We are also invited and if we want, we can help and pitch in where needed.
Or so he said… after the parents were informed, he took us back to his office to tell us what parts we were going to take care of. No more “pitching in”, no more “see for yourself how involved you want to be”, no more “helping out”… But we’ll see how it goes.
When we got home, it was past dinnertime already, so we quickly ate, worked some more for school and went to bed.
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Another school day. The second graders are much easier to work with than the first graders. They actually listen to what you say and act on it!
After school quickly grab something to eat and get ready for STARS. From 1.30pm till 3.30pm we help the kids with math, Dutch, geography, biology and history, the main courses.
We also work on social skills.
It was a fun day, but quite exhausting. Teaching 8-3.30 really isn’t the best idea when it’s this hot… We got informed about tomorrow and what we would be doing then (STARS is three times a week): maths. Yippie!
We expected someone around 6-6.30pm who promised us he’d BBQ for us. He finally arrived at 8.30… We were all starving!
Eating this late wouldn’t be such a problem if you had plenty of time to relax afterwards. But we needed to get to bed, cause tomorrow is another looong day at school!
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Today was terrible. I think the kids were sensing the nearing of the weekend, cause they were horrible little brats! But we stood our ground and got through the day. Even STARS worked out fine! We helped with the social skills and the math.
Yet again, we got home tired. But good news: it’s leftover day, so I don’t have to cook ^^
Watch a bit of tv and go to bed to read a bit before falling asleep. Tomorrow is the last day.
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Because we stayed home on Monday, we had promised to come to school on Friday. So today is the last school day of the week.
We don’t have to stay for STARS today, cause Marij had to get to the post office. Of course they had closed already, so she’ll have to wait till next week.
We’re on a tight schedule for the weekend, cause we have to get everything done in just two days instead of three. So not a lot of time to relax, because all lesson preparations had to be done today…
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Finally, weekend! When I woke up, it was 7.30am… Waaay too early for me, so I just lay myself down again and slept till noon.
We didn’t really do much else today but work for school.
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Sunday as well was a very productive day. We worked out the tutor and reading project and waited for pizza. By the time everyone had decided what they wanted for toppings, it was past 7pm already. The 200 SRD price tag was a bit too much for us, so we ended up going to Burger King instead.
By 9.30 we were exhausted and went to bed.
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Yet again time for school. I’m teaching fourth grade this week Our first interactions with those kids hadn’t been all that positive, so I’m nervous as hell.
It turned out pretty ok. They worked hard, and listened to what I had to say. Not too bad then! The only down side is, that the fourth and fifth grade share a classroom, so you have a lot of back ground noises.
School ended early today because of a staff meeting about some actions of the kids (beating, hitting, lying, annoying stuff)
Tineke and I are on shopping duty again this week, but she needed to head into town to buy some stuff for school. Glad Roché was around, who could come shopping with me (car > bike, especially for carrying everything).
Pizza for tonight, yummm!
The owner of the house had come around to give it a good clean. Apparently a once-a-month-cleaning is calculated in the price we paid for the house. After he left, I rearranged our room again and we watched a movie. By the time it was done, it was way past bedtime, so I ddin’t have any troubles falling asleep.
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Today turned out to be a very relaxing school day: the kids were supposed to have 1.5h of PE, which turned out to be the entire first half of the day. After the break they had a calculus repetition and arts and crafts… very tiring for them, not a lot of action for me…
It was extremely hot today! So after school I stripped a jumped right in the shower.the cold
water has never felt this good!
Nothing much to say about the rest of the day. Every day’s the same: come home, relax, work for school, eat and go to bed…
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Halfway the week again and today was as boring as yesterday was relaxing… I started with maths, but halfway the lesson, the teacher took over. And she’s taught the entire day. I just sat there, doing nothing, observing, trying to stay awake.
Her intervening has a much bigger downside to it as well. She constantly undermines my authority in the classroom.
When I say yes, she sais no and the other way around. She constantly reminds the kids about the fact that I am a teacher as well, but by acting like this they see something completely different.
Later this evening, Marij, Ellen and I were expected at the other student’s house where we would be getting information about our next trip: a four-day one to the Blanche Marie waterfalls (and other things of course, but that’s the main “attraction”).
It was a pleasant evening and by the time we got home, it was time for bed already. Last school day tomorrow, and let’s hope it’s a bit more active than the last two.
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Today is the day where we are going to introduce the reading corners in the third and fourth grade. And yes, I did get the chance to do some more teaching! The only time the teacher interrupted, was when I asked her to take over a lesson so I could prepare the reading.
Marij started after the break. I was going to do the reading the last hour of the day.
The kids all like reading very much, but don’t have the means at home to do so nor the time at school to read what they actually LIKE to read.
We had all sorts of books and stories: comic books, fairy tales, poems, stories and informative books. We divide the kids in groups and each group gets a different type. And each week the group gets another type. The kids loved it! 15 minutes before the end of the day, I took them to the school library so they could all pick out some books to take home for the weekend. Let’s hope we’ll get all our books back as well…
At the end of the day, Marij and I got the subjects for the next week. She’ll be teaching fourth grade and I’ll be doing third. So we both knew what to do when we got home…
Around seven the two of us quickly ate something and got ready for our planned activity: this week’s been so hot, that we’ve been looking forward to going swimming all week!
We wanted to leave at seven(ish), but Wouws (a mate) wanted to come along as well. By the time he arrived, it was almost 8 o’ clock, so of course, when we got to the swimming pool it was already closed…
Never mind the swim then, we’ll just go out for a drink. We found a cosy little café with a terrace and had a very nice time. Around 1am it really was time to head back home, cause Wouws’ friend (who was our driver) had to go to work the next day and had to get up at 6. Oops…
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Today is the first day of our second teaching week. I teach second grade this week, hopefully they’re a bit more mannered than the first graders.
We also had another meeting with the principal today. He told us about STARS, a project he works on to help sixth graders with their difficulties so they have a better chance of succeeding their final exams. Later today there’s a meeting with the parents to inform them about it. We are also invited and if we want, we can help and pitch in where needed.
Or so he said… after the parents were informed, he took us back to his office to tell us what parts we were going to take care of. No more “pitching in”, no more “see for yourself how involved you want to be”, no more “helping out”… But we’ll see how it goes.
When we got home, it was past dinnertime already, so we quickly ate, worked some more for school and went to bed.
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Another school day. The second graders are much easier to work with than the first graders. They actually listen to what you say and act on it!
After school quickly grab something to eat and get ready for STARS. From 1.30pm till 3.30pm we help the kids with math, Dutch, geography, biology and history, the main courses.
We also work on social skills.
It was a fun day, but quite exhausting. Teaching 8-3.30 really isn’t the best idea when it’s this hot… We got informed about tomorrow and what we would be doing then (STARS is three times a week): maths. Yippie!
We expected someone around 6-6.30pm who promised us he’d BBQ for us. He finally arrived at 8.30… We were all starving!
Eating this late wouldn’t be such a problem if you had plenty of time to relax afterwards. But we needed to get to bed, cause tomorrow is another looong day at school!
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Today was terrible. I think the kids were sensing the nearing of the weekend, cause they were horrible little brats! But we stood our ground and got through the day. Even STARS worked out fine! We helped with the social skills and the math.
Yet again, we got home tired. But good news: it’s leftover day, so I don’t have to cook ^^
Watch a bit of tv and go to bed to read a bit before falling asleep. Tomorrow is the last day.
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Because we stayed home on Monday, we had promised to come to school on Friday. So today is the last school day of the week.
We don’t have to stay for STARS today, cause Marij had to get to the post office. Of course they had closed already, so she’ll have to wait till next week.
We’re on a tight schedule for the weekend, cause we have to get everything done in just two days instead of three. So not a lot of time to relax, because all lesson preparations had to be done today…
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Finally, weekend! When I woke up, it was 7.30am… Waaay too early for me, so I just lay myself down again and slept till noon.
We didn’t really do much else today but work for school.
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Sunday as well was a very productive day. We worked out the tutor and reading project and waited for pizza. By the time everyone had decided what they wanted for toppings, it was past 7pm already. The 200 SRD price tag was a bit too much for us, so we ended up going to Burger King instead.
By 9.30 we were exhausted and went to bed.
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Yet again time for school. I’m teaching fourth grade this week Our first interactions with those kids hadn’t been all that positive, so I’m nervous as hell.
It turned out pretty ok. They worked hard, and listened to what I had to say. Not too bad then! The only down side is, that the fourth and fifth grade share a classroom, so you have a lot of back ground noises.
School ended early today because of a staff meeting about some actions of the kids (beating, hitting, lying, annoying stuff)
Tineke and I are on shopping duty again this week, but she needed to head into town to buy some stuff for school. Glad Roché was around, who could come shopping with me (car > bike, especially for carrying everything).
Pizza for tonight, yummm!
The owner of the house had come around to give it a good clean. Apparently a once-a-month-cleaning is calculated in the price we paid for the house. After he left, I rearranged our room again and we watched a movie. By the time it was done, it was way past bedtime, so I ddin’t have any troubles falling asleep.
-----
Today turned out to be a very relaxing school day: the kids were supposed to have 1.5h of PE, which turned out to be the entire first half of the day. After the break they had a calculus repetition and arts and crafts… very tiring for them, not a lot of action for me…
It was extremely hot today! So after school I stripped a jumped right in the shower.the cold
water has never felt this good!
Nothing much to say about the rest of the day. Every day’s the same: come home, relax, work for school, eat and go to bed…
-----
Halfway the week again and today was as boring as yesterday was relaxing… I started with maths, but halfway the lesson, the teacher took over. And she’s taught the entire day. I just sat there, doing nothing, observing, trying to stay awake.
Her intervening has a much bigger downside to it as well. She constantly undermines my authority in the classroom.
When I say yes, she sais no and the other way around. She constantly reminds the kids about the fact that I am a teacher as well, but by acting like this they see something completely different.
Later this evening, Marij, Ellen and I were expected at the other student’s house where we would be getting information about our next trip: a four-day one to the Blanche Marie waterfalls (and other things of course, but that’s the main “attraction”).
It was a pleasant evening and by the time we got home, it was time for bed already. Last school day tomorrow, and let’s hope it’s a bit more active than the last two.
-----
Today is the day where we are going to introduce the reading corners in the third and fourth grade. And yes, I did get the chance to do some more teaching! The only time the teacher interrupted, was when I asked her to take over a lesson so I could prepare the reading.
Marij started after the break. I was going to do the reading the last hour of the day.
The kids all like reading very much, but don’t have the means at home to do so nor the time at school to read what they actually LIKE to read.
We had all sorts of books and stories: comic books, fairy tales, poems, stories and informative books. We divide the kids in groups and each group gets a different type. And each week the group gets another type. The kids loved it! 15 minutes before the end of the day, I took them to the school library so they could all pick out some books to take home for the weekend. Let’s hope we’ll get all our books back as well…
At the end of the day, Marij and I got the subjects for the next week. She’ll be teaching fourth grade and I’ll be doing third. So we both knew what to do when we got home…
Around seven the two of us quickly ate something and got ready for our planned activity: this week’s been so hot, that we’ve been looking forward to going swimming all week!
We wanted to leave at seven(ish), but Wouws (a mate) wanted to come along as well. By the time he arrived, it was almost 8 o’ clock, so of course, when we got to the swimming pool it was already closed…
Never mind the swim then, we’ll just go out for a drink. We found a cosy little café with a terrace and had a very nice time. Around 1am it really was time to head back home, cause Wouws’ friend (who was our driver) had to go to work the next day and had to get up at 6. Oops…
Monday, March 23, 2009
Our first trip
Berg en dal
Today is THE day: we’re leaving for our three-day-trip to Brownsberg, Berg en Dal and Ston Eiland (pronounced
When we got to Trips (the tour operator) the little bus was already ready to go. But our fellow travellers (the other students) hadn’t arrived yet.
When everyone was there and all backpacks were on the bus, we were ready to go: a three hour drive to our first destination. Our tour guide, Winston, was a very enthusiastic, smart and funny guy.
When we got to Berg en Dal it was noon already, but we decided we wanted to do something active before we ate lunch. So we all went on a 2h hiking trip on the mountain, where Hans (our puppy-cute guide) told us all sorts of things about the history of Berg en Dal. It was all very interesting, especially since most of the buildings were still intact. His “people” and “yes” got a bit annoying after the tenth time we got to hear it, but we coped with it.
A little spooky fact: one entire side of the “mountain” has once been used to bury the slaves that worked on the plantage. So where ever you go, you might step on the remains (or bones, since it’s been a few hundred years since they were buried there) of someone.
After two hours of sweaty walking and climbing, we finally were back to our starting point and ready for the next challenge: kayaking.
Marij and I got a double and Tineke was lucky enough to be “carried” over the water by the guide. The rest of us had to manage on their own. We decided to go upstream first and let the currant carry us back to where we started. And lucky me I got Marij with me, cause a HUGE bee-like insect decided to come over for a free ride. The “insectophobe” that I am, I totally freaked out and got hyperventilating… she calmed me down and when I was ready, we continued our trip peacefully. When we reached the turn of the river where we were supposed to stop and turn back, we took our peddles in the kayak and let us float back. This gave us the opportunity to enjoy all the nature around us. And of course we got another visit from our bee-friend, but Marij splashed it away (which got me all wet too, but it was refreshing rather than annoying). When we eventually arrived back at the starting point, we got the chance to go for a bit of swimming. After that: lunch time!
The third part was the most exciting one: canopying! The group got divided into two, because there were too many of us to go in one turn. I waited for the second round, to give lunch some time to digest first. When it was our turn, we got geared up and got a ‘how to’ and a trial run. This was going to be fun!
Two guides were going to come along: one to go First and catch us and one to stay behind and get us all going. There were 10 platforms, so 9 cables. The first ones were pretty mild ones. The ride from platform 7 to platform 8 was the craziest one: 35m up, 174m long… Right across the
We also got the chance to do some animal spotting: at platform 9a we saw a huge tarantula and when we got to 9b monkeys were all around us, curious to what caused all that turmoil.
The last cable was also a nice experience: this was the one where we could hang upside down. The girls were too chicken to try that, so instead they just let go of the cable, which made the circle around their cords.
To compensate for my freaking out with the bee, I on the other hand DID try it out and I must say it was the most spectacular thing I have ever done! You look down and see the forest shoot by while you go, you can’t see where you’re going, only where you’re coming from. Only sad thing is that none of us had a camera with him :(
When everyone had arrived, it was time to head back to the other side of the river and head to the location at which we would stay for the night: Ston Eiland. Not a minute of boredom on the way there: singing wrong songs, telling jokes and stories, … (as compensation of not having music)
The cabins both smelled weird (manure-like) so Marij and I chose to sleep in the kitchen (with our hammocks of course).
Evi, Tineke and Sharon went to bed early, the rest of us stayed up for some socializing. Around 3am we eventually got tired and went to bed.
For the third time today I got a creepy visitor: a spider this time, who had decided to have a nap on my mosquito net. And yet again Marij came to the rescue. How I love having her around! :p
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Brownsberg
At 6am the nice aromas from Kokki’s (our personal chef) cookings woke us up: scrambled eggs with tomatoes, cucumber and sandwiches with sandwichspread, peanut butter or jam.
When our tummies were filled, we got on the bus again to go to our second stop: Brownsberg.
One hell of a ride up the mountain. Steep, slippery, narrow roads, quite an adventure on its own.
Finally arrived at the reception, where we could recover from the ride and stretch our legs a bit. When everyone was ready, we went on a long hiking trip. First stop: the Irene waterfall at about a 2h descending walk through the rainforest. Too bad we couldn’t enjoy nature at its fullest, since we were too busy looking at our feet so we wouldn’t trip over tree roots, step in mud pools or miss a step. All sweaty and tired, we arrived at the fall. And what a beautiful sight! A 10m waterfall, with a small clear creek running away from it. Everyone quickly undressed and hurried to the waterfall for some cooling down. The water was freezing cold (colder than our showers at home), but after a walk like this, no one cared and was happy with the refreshment. We stayed there for a little while longer, just enjoying the cold water and sunshine.
It was past noon already and everyone was getting a bit of an appetite. Too bad no one had thought of bringing something to eat with them… We head back up the mountain, there was another fall we wanted to see: the Leo waterfall. After about half an hour, we reached it. We thought the Irene fall was beautiful, but it was nothing compared to this one! Leo fall was only a bit higher than Irene, but it was a straight drop down and we could feel the difference when, for the second time today, we took our clothes off and had a good shower. Leo was one hell of a masseur and everyone enjoyed it. You couldn’t stand under it for too long, cause the force with which the water came down literally took your breath away.
When everyone had enough of the relaxing water, we head up the mountain again and head back to our starting point. By that time, our stomachs were all completely empty and growling, so we all hurried back up. The food was delicious and satisfying and we all needed a bit of time out after that. Winston had one more thing to show us: the top of the Brownsberg. It was one more climb, but it was so worth it! The view was spectacular, almost 360° around you, nothing but forest. You could also see the Brokopondo lake with Ston Eiland. After a moment of silence, the guide told us it was time to head back, cause we really should be off the mountain before dark.
When we got back to Ston Eiland, Kokki (you know, our chef) was busy getting the BBQ ready. And after dinner: a campfire by the lake, the perfect way to end the day.
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Ston Eiland and the Brokopondo lake
Today we are going for a trip in a korjaal (think: speedboat meets rowboat) over the lake. When everyone had their super sexy life jackets on, we were ready to go. It will be a more relaxing day today, not too much hiking and walking. Even the boat ride was a quiet and serene one. The boatman first took us to a small rapid (not on the lake, but rapids that lead a small river in the lake) which we could climb. The way up wasn’t a problem, only needed to make sure you didn’t step on a slippery rock. The way down was a bit tougher. Tineke slipped and leaned on me for support, which made me loose my balance. I didn’t have anyone to turn to, so my foot slipped and got stuck between two rocks. Hurt like hell, but no big problems. I got my foot out, rested for a little while and was able to get down safely again.
After that, the boat guy took us to a small island. It was first used to dump sand on, when it had been checked for gold. Now, the poorer gold diggers come here to double check it. We used it as a great beach and went for a swim in the warm water. We weren’t allowed to go too far, cause the lake was piranha territory. Luckily (or too bad?) we didn’t come across one.
After about 15 minutes, the korjaal came back to take us back to Ston Eiland. Again, we took our clothes off and went for a swim, while we waited for lunch to be ready. Seems like we stripped a lot this weekend, huh? :p
Before we could eat, we had to pack everything and put it on the bus. After lunch, it was time to head back to the city. We were all exhausted and I tried to nap a bit on the way there, but that wasn’t quite possible: the road was very wobbly and bumpy and shook you awake every time you even though about falling asleep.
Back in town. God, how I hate being here now. The silence of the nature really got to me and I absolutely don’t want to get back in this rushing, busy, stinking city.
We got out, took our stuff and head straight to ‘t Vat for a drink. Winston and Kokki joined us not long after to talk a bit about the weekend. When they had left to go their own ways again, we walked to
We are all completely worn out from this weekend, but thankfully we have a day off tomorrow, so we can recover.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Phagwa
Exciting, our very first official teaching day. And how very tiring as well!
The “river” we had in our street has vanished, luckily, and we were off to school. Teachers looked at us in a very weird way when they saw us putting everything ready before the actual start of the lessons. I’m teaching first graders this week. When my mentor-of-the-week disappeared to have a “quick” chat with the principal she never returned. Seemed that the sixth grade teacher was absent and she had to take over. So it was just me and the kids. Meaning: a whole lot of testing me and getting me pissed! But we’ll deal with those trouble makers on Thursday… No fun stuff for them!
I was exhausted after school, could barely even stand and walk anymore. So I crawled into bed and took a two hour nap.
Woke up when it was time for dinner and could hardly keep my eyes open. So went to bed almost straight after the delicious improvised spaghetti (very limited shopping because of the weather). A national holiday tomorrow, Holi Phagwa, so no school and loads of fun, I hope.
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How wonderful, sleeping in late in the middle of the week! No need for a shower, cause celebrating Phagwa = getting covered with coloured powder and water and everything people can find to throw on you.
Marij and I first had to make a trip to the bike rental, cause we needed to renew our contract. When we met the others after that, we started our search for Phagwa celebrators. Didn’t need to search for long, cause we quickly found a bunch of people covered in pink from top to bottom!
You know, Catholic holidays can really learn something from these ones: free drinks, free food, free music and free dirt! What more can you want?
After only a few seconds, we could find Phagwa powder just about everywhere. Our clothes were completely covered, our faces were covered with Phagwa paste and even our ears were filled with powder!
At around 2pm most people left to go to the big Phagwa place: a soccer field with a stage, a small bar and loads of space for all celebrators.
Because of the rain these past few days, it was more a mud field than a soccer field, but we were already dirty, so who cares?
Around seven, some got pretty hungry and left to find something to eat. The rest of us stayed to enjoy the wonderfully coloured festivities. After the show of the drum band (which was pretty cool) we as well had a bit of an appetite and went in search of some food. We found a small Chinese restaurant just around the corner of where the other students lived, which had very good bami and nasi.
After dinner, Marij, Ellen and I jumped back on our bikes to head home again. Crossed some huge “rivers” (some streets were still flooded from the rain), but the water was very refreshing.
We hit the showers asfast as we could to finally get all the smudge off our faces, arms, legs, hair, … We all kinda looked like the Hulk.
I don’t think I have ever scrubbed this hard, and still there was no result. After 40 minutes of washing and cleaning and scrubbing, we finally gave up. Most of the green stuff had come off, but our eyebrows and hair are still green…
But hey, it was one hell of a party, so why not enjoy and let everyone else in Paramaribo know we Bakra’s celebrate Phagwa as well?
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Oh I hate getting up at 6am! It’s good to have a holiday in the middle of the week, but it sucks getting up early the next day…
Our second day of teaching today, and it went a lot better than Tuesday. The kids were under control (with of course a few exceptions) and they worked very hard.
Today was also the first day I tried out our project in the first grade. I read a story and they had to do all sorts of tasks about it: painting, colouring, drawing, writing, … which they found very fun to do. The trouble makers of course, were excluded from this fun assignment. I hope they have learned their lesson and will be a lot better next week (though I’m teaching second grade and Marij will be in the first then…)
We’ll spend the rest of the day preparing for next week and preparing for tomorrow. We have our first real trip then: Brownsberg, Berg en Dal and Stone Island, an adventurous weekend trip. Very exciting, so lets hope everything works out ok… At least my hammock is already packed!
The “river” we had in our street has vanished, luckily, and we were off to school. Teachers looked at us in a very weird way when they saw us putting everything ready before the actual start of the lessons. I’m teaching first graders this week. When my mentor-of-the-week disappeared to have a “quick” chat with the principal she never returned. Seemed that the sixth grade teacher was absent and she had to take over. So it was just me and the kids. Meaning: a whole lot of testing me and getting me pissed! But we’ll deal with those trouble makers on Thursday… No fun stuff for them!
I was exhausted after school, could barely even stand and walk anymore. So I crawled into bed and took a two hour nap.
Woke up when it was time for dinner and could hardly keep my eyes open. So went to bed almost straight after the delicious improvised spaghetti (very limited shopping because of the weather). A national holiday tomorrow, Holi Phagwa, so no school and loads of fun, I hope.
-----
How wonderful, sleeping in late in the middle of the week! No need for a shower, cause celebrating Phagwa = getting covered with coloured powder and water and everything people can find to throw on you.
Marij and I first had to make a trip to the bike rental, cause we needed to renew our contract. When we met the others after that, we started our search for Phagwa celebrators. Didn’t need to search for long, cause we quickly found a bunch of people covered in pink from top to bottom!
You know, Catholic holidays can really learn something from these ones: free drinks, free food, free music and free dirt! What more can you want?
After only a few seconds, we could find Phagwa powder just about everywhere. Our clothes were completely covered, our faces were covered with Phagwa paste and even our ears were filled with powder!
At around 2pm most people left to go to the big Phagwa place: a soccer field with a stage, a small bar and loads of space for all celebrators.
Because of the rain these past few days, it was more a mud field than a soccer field, but we were already dirty, so who cares?
Around seven, some got pretty hungry and left to find something to eat. The rest of us stayed to enjoy the wonderfully coloured festivities. After the show of the drum band (which was pretty cool) we as well had a bit of an appetite and went in search of some food. We found a small Chinese restaurant just around the corner of where the other students lived, which had very good bami and nasi.
After dinner, Marij, Ellen and I jumped back on our bikes to head home again. Crossed some huge “rivers” (some streets were still flooded from the rain), but the water was very refreshing.
We hit the showers asfast as we could to finally get all the smudge off our faces, arms, legs, hair, … We all kinda looked like the Hulk.
I don’t think I have ever scrubbed this hard, and still there was no result. After 40 minutes of washing and cleaning and scrubbing, we finally gave up. Most of the green stuff had come off, but our eyebrows and hair are still green…
But hey, it was one hell of a party, so why not enjoy and let everyone else in Paramaribo know we Bakra’s celebrate Phagwa as well?
-----
Oh I hate getting up at 6am! It’s good to have a holiday in the middle of the week, but it sucks getting up early the next day…
Our second day of teaching today, and it went a lot better than Tuesday. The kids were under control (with of course a few exceptions) and they worked very hard.
Today was also the first day I tried out our project in the first grade. I read a story and they had to do all sorts of tasks about it: painting, colouring, drawing, writing, … which they found very fun to do. The trouble makers of course, were excluded from this fun assignment. I hope they have learned their lesson and will be a lot better next week (though I’m teaching second grade and Marij will be in the first then…)
We’ll spend the rest of the day preparing for next week and preparing for tomorrow. We have our first real trip then: Brownsberg, Berg en Dal and Stone Island, an adventurous weekend trip. Very exciting, so lets hope everything works out ok… At least my hammock is already packed!
Monday, March 9, 2009
About hammocks and floods
Yet another “work week”. We started this week with the last of the reading tests. Finally all done with those, it took long enough… Now we can make tutor couples for the tutor reading we have planned.
We were supposed to have our weekly meeting with the principal, but he was in meetings with the teachers today, so it got postponed to tomorrow. And since the fourth grade teacher was absent, they dropped us there to keep them busy (in an educational way, of course). After today, we were completely exhausted. Now I know why the teacher doesn’t wait for silence to start her lessons, but just continues: they absolutely don’t listen and just can’t be quiet for longer than a few seconds!
Tineke and I are the shoppers this week, so after lunch we got on our bikes and left to get grilled cheese sandwich ingredients and some potatoes, veggies and meat for tonight.
On our way back home, we saw two extremely cute monkeys in a cage at the car wash. I felt so sorry for them, cause the cage was barely big enough for them to move in…
Didn’t do much else today.
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On Tuesday and Wednesday Marij and I observed and helped in the first and second grade, cause we’ll be teaching those kids next week. And yet again we got to teaching as well, since the second grade teacher was late. This time, it worked a lot better and the kids actually listened to us. And yet again we were tired as hell when school was over. I hope it’ll be a lot better once we start teaching ourselves, cause I dunno how we’re going to get through a whole week of this otherwise…
While three of my housemates went to a birthday party (the lady had turned 60, so yay, what a party that must have been!), we stayed home to watch another movie, a real chick flick this time :P
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The next day, we finally had our meeting with the teachers to introduce and talk about our project. I think it went well, cause we got a lot of smiles and good comments and even some nice suggestions. Let’s hope it all turns out as planned as well.
Around dinner time, Wesley came over: he was going to make us some saoto soup. Some of us had already had the chance to taste it, but the saoto from this weekend was nothing compared to what we ate today! Really the best soup I’ve ever tasted!
Later this evening we all felt like stretching our legs a bit and we decided to go out. Havana Lounge seemed the best spot, since we hadn’t been there yet. It’s a very nice place: partly terrace, partly inside. There were a lot of people, so it got very hot inside (no airco, not even some fans). That’s where the nice terrace comes in: you can just step outside for a little while, chill out in the little comfy sofas and then head back inside.
By 3am Roché got tired and wanted to go home. His argument “I have to get up to go to work at 7 again” was a pretty good one, so we all went back home.
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Ah, weekend again ^^ We had planned to go to the Saramaccastreet to buy ourselves some nice hammocks, but we hadn’t even reached the end of our street when it started raining. I really didn’t feel like walking around all soaking wet, so Marij and I decided to head back home while the rest continued on.
Of course we didn’t go home to do nothing. We kept ourselves occupied with all sorts of school work. Our lesson plans for next week are sorta ready, my second reflection is done, and we’ve also worked out the planning for the rest of our student teaching.
Around 5.30pm we got a phone call: What are our plans for dinner and if we didn’t have any, were we ok with coming to ‘t vat to get something to eat?
Of course we were and after a bike ride of over half an hour (with the occasional wrong turn) we finally got something to eat.
After dinner we all got on our bikes and head back home. Tineke’s foot is swollen and she really needed to let it rest.
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Today we went hammock shopping. Both Marij and I bought a very nice one! Ellen joinedus, cause she still needed to buy some stuff for school. The rest of the housemates went to Paramaribo Zoo for the day.
We both also bought a panji, which is a piece of cloth some of the inland people wear to show their adulthood. After that a quick stop in Steps, a shoe shop. Bought some very nice slippers! We also met Ellen there again, so off we went to ‘t Vat again for some lunch.
We then walked to Trips, an organisation that organizes trips (duh) to various places more further into the country.
When we got back home, our tummies were empty and complaining about it. So Tineke and I walked to a waroeng (a small place where you can buy some food like bami, nasi, rice, chicken, …) and brought home some yummy bami and nasi for all of us.
We didn’t do much else before going to bed.
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Last day of the weekend which means: sleeping in late! We didn’t do much today but work work and work for school. Since we start our student teaching next week, we really needed to get everything done.
I also got a phone call from Trips: our trip to Brownsberg, Berg en Dal and Stone Island was going to be a bit more expensive than we had first planned… Seemed that there was an entrance fee for Berg en Dal that hadn’t been taken into account yet. But we all really wanted to go, so we’d gladly pay an extra €35 for three days of adventure and fun.
After that, back to work! Never knew how unorganised teaching over here actually is…
Again our stomachs protested about not getting enough food, so we ordered some roti and Roché was so kind to go get it for us.
After that, yes, again schoolwork!
Around 10pm we were fed up with lesson preps and schedules and tests we called it a night and went downstairs. This is the first night that Marij and I have to sleep together, so we changed the sheets and crawled into bed (which actually is a bit too small for the two of us…). After a bit of reading we turned the lights off and went to bed. Our very first official teaching day tomorrow!
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Well, there goes the teaching… When we went to bed yesterday, it was raining. When we got up today, it was STILL raining! No, water was gushing down. Even the locals told us this was the worst they had ever had. Our entire street looked like a giant swimming pool. It almost reached up till our front door… So we called our principal, asking whether it was ok to stay home today, cause there was no way we were getting outside… Luckily he understood and didn’t make a problem of it.
It kept raining till far in the afternoon, so we were locked inside. Too bad it’s not clean water, we could’ve gone for a free swim otherwise!
We watched a movie while some of the others ventured into town, they still needed to go pay for our trip this weekend.
Around 3pm our curiosity won. The three of us put on shorts and went outside to see how deep the water was: it almost reached our knees!
We’ll have to go outside again later on, cause we need to send our reflection to the teachers in Belgium today. Let’s hope it’ll stay dry for a little while longer…
We were supposed to have our weekly meeting with the principal, but he was in meetings with the teachers today, so it got postponed to tomorrow. And since the fourth grade teacher was absent, they dropped us there to keep them busy (in an educational way, of course). After today, we were completely exhausted. Now I know why the teacher doesn’t wait for silence to start her lessons, but just continues: they absolutely don’t listen and just can’t be quiet for longer than a few seconds!
Tineke and I are the shoppers this week, so after lunch we got on our bikes and left to get grilled cheese sandwich ingredients and some potatoes, veggies and meat for tonight.
On our way back home, we saw two extremely cute monkeys in a cage at the car wash. I felt so sorry for them, cause the cage was barely big enough for them to move in…
Didn’t do much else today.
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On Tuesday and Wednesday Marij and I observed and helped in the first and second grade, cause we’ll be teaching those kids next week. And yet again we got to teaching as well, since the second grade teacher was late. This time, it worked a lot better and the kids actually listened to us. And yet again we were tired as hell when school was over. I hope it’ll be a lot better once we start teaching ourselves, cause I dunno how we’re going to get through a whole week of this otherwise…
While three of my housemates went to a birthday party (the lady had turned 60, so yay, what a party that must have been!), we stayed home to watch another movie, a real chick flick this time :P
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The next day, we finally had our meeting with the teachers to introduce and talk about our project. I think it went well, cause we got a lot of smiles and good comments and even some nice suggestions. Let’s hope it all turns out as planned as well.
Around dinner time, Wesley came over: he was going to make us some saoto soup. Some of us had already had the chance to taste it, but the saoto from this weekend was nothing compared to what we ate today! Really the best soup I’ve ever tasted!
Later this evening we all felt like stretching our legs a bit and we decided to go out. Havana Lounge seemed the best spot, since we hadn’t been there yet. It’s a very nice place: partly terrace, partly inside. There were a lot of people, so it got very hot inside (no airco, not even some fans). That’s where the nice terrace comes in: you can just step outside for a little while, chill out in the little comfy sofas and then head back inside.
By 3am Roché got tired and wanted to go home. His argument “I have to get up to go to work at 7 again” was a pretty good one, so we all went back home.
-----
Ah, weekend again ^^ We had planned to go to the Saramaccastreet to buy ourselves some nice hammocks, but we hadn’t even reached the end of our street when it started raining. I really didn’t feel like walking around all soaking wet, so Marij and I decided to head back home while the rest continued on.
Of course we didn’t go home to do nothing. We kept ourselves occupied with all sorts of school work. Our lesson plans for next week are sorta ready, my second reflection is done, and we’ve also worked out the planning for the rest of our student teaching.
Around 5.30pm we got a phone call: What are our plans for dinner and if we didn’t have any, were we ok with coming to ‘t vat to get something to eat?
Of course we were and after a bike ride of over half an hour (with the occasional wrong turn) we finally got something to eat.
After dinner we all got on our bikes and head back home. Tineke’s foot is swollen and she really needed to let it rest.
-----
Today we went hammock shopping. Both Marij and I bought a very nice one! Ellen joinedus, cause she still needed to buy some stuff for school. The rest of the housemates went to Paramaribo Zoo for the day.
We both also bought a panji, which is a piece of cloth some of the inland people wear to show their adulthood. After that a quick stop in Steps, a shoe shop. Bought some very nice slippers! We also met Ellen there again, so off we went to ‘t Vat again for some lunch.
We then walked to Trips, an organisation that organizes trips (duh) to various places more further into the country.
When we got back home, our tummies were empty and complaining about it. So Tineke and I walked to a waroeng (a small place where you can buy some food like bami, nasi, rice, chicken, …) and brought home some yummy bami and nasi for all of us.
We didn’t do much else before going to bed.
-----
Last day of the weekend which means: sleeping in late! We didn’t do much today but work work and work for school. Since we start our student teaching next week, we really needed to get everything done.
I also got a phone call from Trips: our trip to Brownsberg, Berg en Dal and Stone Island was going to be a bit more expensive than we had first planned… Seemed that there was an entrance fee for Berg en Dal that hadn’t been taken into account yet. But we all really wanted to go, so we’d gladly pay an extra €35 for three days of adventure and fun.
After that, back to work! Never knew how unorganised teaching over here actually is…
Again our stomachs protested about not getting enough food, so we ordered some roti and Roché was so kind to go get it for us.
After that, yes, again schoolwork!
Around 10pm we were fed up with lesson preps and schedules and tests we called it a night and went downstairs. This is the first night that Marij and I have to sleep together, so we changed the sheets and crawled into bed (which actually is a bit too small for the two of us…). After a bit of reading we turned the lights off and went to bed. Our very first official teaching day tomorrow!
-----
Well, there goes the teaching… When we went to bed yesterday, it was raining. When we got up today, it was STILL raining! No, water was gushing down. Even the locals told us this was the worst they had ever had. Our entire street looked like a giant swimming pool. It almost reached up till our front door… So we called our principal, asking whether it was ok to stay home today, cause there was no way we were getting outside… Luckily he understood and didn’t make a problem of it.
It kept raining till far in the afternoon, so we were locked inside. Too bad it’s not clean water, we could’ve gone for a free swim otherwise!
We watched a movie while some of the others ventured into town, they still needed to go pay for our trip this weekend.
Around 3pm our curiosity won. The three of us put on shorts and went outside to see how deep the water was: it almost reached our knees!
We’ll have to go outside again later on, cause we need to send our reflection to the teachers in Belgium today. Let’s hope it’ll stay dry for a little while longer…
Monday, March 2, 2009
White Beach
Today was a pretty boring day. Yet another one of reading tests at school and doing nothing at home.
At around 7pm it was time for dinner. Tineke was already in the kitchen cooking the rice when I started on the chicken and curry. When you have limited access to herbs and spices, you just use what you have, so improvisation all the way for me!
Everyone liked it though and no one had any problems from the food, so I was happy.
-----
Last school day and yet again reading tests. Mr Paulus (the principal) had promised us a teacher meeting so we could introduce our project to all teachers. In the end, we didn’t get anything, so I hope we can talk to him about it on Monday, cause we really want to start with whatever we have planned to stay on schedule.
On our way home, we stopped at Kirpalani, a sort of supermarket with all sorts of stuff like kitchen, garden, office equipment and a lot of school stuff as well (which of course was the reason for us going there).
Today was leftover day (mixed with McDonalds day, since there weren’t enough leftovers for the six of us).
We also decided to watch a few movies tonight: during dinner we watched Snow White, afterwards was A Knight’s Tale’s turn and Enchanted to end the day. By that time it was 1am already, so really time for bed!
-----
God, today was a very filled day! We started with having a relaxed breakfast and decided to head into town for some shopping. Everyone needed something.
Again a visit to Kirpalani, because Ellen needed to buy a mosquito net. We also all bought a white T-shirt for Holi Pagwa, a Hindustan holiday (you’ll probably hear all about it after March 11, the day we’re all going out to celebrate). After this, came heaven: Vaco, the bookshop. Marij and I shopped till we dropped (we spent over 500 SRD on fun books for school, thank you sponsors)! With a few full bags and very empty pockets, we left to go home already, since it’s pretty impossible to have fun shopping when you’re carrying all those heavy bags.
Today was the day we would go out for dinner. So we called the other students to see if they wanted to go with us. They weren’t that hungry, so we went by ourselves. Apparently you don’t use cutlery to eat roti, you use your hands instead.
Afterwards, everyone was ready to leave again, but needed to wait for me, since I couldn’t find the little keys to the locks on my bike… Started to panic a bit, but I eventually found them in my very big purse.
“Mounted” our bikes again and rode back home. Pia, a girl from the other group, called us, to see if we were going to do something tonight. We all agreed to go to Havana Lounge, a club a bit further into town. in the end Tineke, Sharon and Evi decided they didn’t feel like it after all, so they stayed home, bought something to drink and had a party at home on their own while we got in the taxi.
We did have a good time. Pia and Joachim, Marij, Ellen and I went to Havana Lounge, but it turned out you needed a VIP pass to get in tonight… We crawled back in the cab and drove further into town. Drank a caipirinha and almost got knocked out by the amount of alcohol in it!
We felt like doing something a bit more active than just sit there and get drunk, so we headed to Starzz, a night club. The price you needed to pay to get in is 17,50 SRD and we all agreed that was a bit too much.
Our final stop: Zanzibar, a little cocktail bar. Very cheap and extremely delicious cocktails! Nicky and Vincent, the two other students of the other group, met us there and we had a little party of our own. At 3am we headed back into town to see if there was still somewhere we could go. Seems that bars and pubs close at 3, so we called a taxi and drove back home.
Everyone was still awake when we got there, our neighbours from across the street had also come around for a visit.
Ellen was exhausted and went to bed, so the rest of us took everything and head downstairs. Wesley had the brilliant idea to make a camp fire in the back yard and we all took a chair and sat around a cosy, warm “fire” (more smoke than fire, but it was warm and cosy!).
At 5am Wesley and Winston thought about a “fun” game, a bit of a combination of spin the bottle and truth or dare: you spin the bottle and give a task to the one the neck of the bottle points to.
Very fun and it was past 6.30 by the time we went to bed. We’re supposed to go to the plantage around 10am tomorrow, so we’re going to look like zombies! \o/
Some of the fun assignments:
- Drink a full glass of beer, hanging upside down.
- Make 10 turns around a bottle and run to the other side of the back yard as fast as you can without falling over.
- Run around the street in your underwear.
- Be a tree hugger and hug the palm tree.
- Give someone a lap dance.
- Strip.
My favourite task: give Bianca a 10 minute neck massage. (and no, it wasn’t me who gave the task! And it wasn’t me doing all those other assignments either! :p)
-----
I got up at about 10.30am. Pretty early if you consider I only got to bed at 6.30… Wesley came over and we convinced him to go buy us some sandwiches. Roché also came around to tell us that the trip to the plantage was cancelled, because the second car was at the garage and we didn’t have enough room in one car for all of us. This is the third time (?) the trip has been cancelled.
Luckily Winston called us a bit later to ask if we felt like going to Saramacca, a district a bit further into the country. Evi was out to some of her parent’s friends (her pqrents used to live here) and Ellen didn’t really feel like going, since she still had a lot of work to do.
On the way there we stopped along the road to buy some fish and some ramboetans. Us Bakras (which means white person in Sranantongo) jumped out of the car to take some pictures of the Saramacca River which we had passed just seconds before.
After about an hour drive we arrived at Winston’s aunt, who was going to cook for us. Winston left with her to the corner of the street to buy some saoto soup. When he got back the car missed the back window and had a big dent in the trunk. Apparently he had hit a light pole backing up from the parking space. We didn’t really mind, the air cooling was very welcome!
At 7pm we used a rope to keep the trunk closed and drove back home. Because we hadn’t slept a lot the other night I was exhausted, but the good music kept us all awake.
-----
On Sunday we had planned a trip to White Beach with the other students. At 8.45am we were supposed to be at their house to be picked up with a little minivan. Since it was pouring, we called them to see if they could come pick us up instead. They told us it could be arranged, but that they were going to be a bit late because people had broken into our driver’s house.
By 10am they finally arrived and we were on our way. After a 45min drive we got to White beach. This is a small area where they have dug up sand from the river and made a “beach” at the bank (usually, there is only mud, trees and bushes). The indication “White” is a bit misleading, because it’s actually grey sand. After a nice swim in the river (with fairly warm water, a fairly strong currant and fairly gross sand), some of us lay themselves on the beach for some sunbathing, while the others searched the shelter from our little rented beach cabin to play some games.
When it was time for lunch, Marij and I head over to the little pub-like place to buy ourselves something yummy: Nasie with chicken and some samosa, which are small pastries filled with potatoes, kousenband and a mild curry (very delicious).
After lunch Marij and I head back in the water to play some beach ball (a game with two wooden “rackets” and a small ball) to cool ourselves down again. The sunbathers joined us (all red and baked) and after that time for some more sunbathing. All the girls lay themselves down and took a nap, read a book or made some Sudoku’s (or did all three).
Around seven pm we packed everything up again and head back home. It was a very fun, exciting and active day!
At around 7pm it was time for dinner. Tineke was already in the kitchen cooking the rice when I started on the chicken and curry. When you have limited access to herbs and spices, you just use what you have, so improvisation all the way for me!
Everyone liked it though and no one had any problems from the food, so I was happy.
-----
Last school day and yet again reading tests. Mr Paulus (the principal) had promised us a teacher meeting so we could introduce our project to all teachers. In the end, we didn’t get anything, so I hope we can talk to him about it on Monday, cause we really want to start with whatever we have planned to stay on schedule.
On our way home, we stopped at Kirpalani, a sort of supermarket with all sorts of stuff like kitchen, garden, office equipment and a lot of school stuff as well (which of course was the reason for us going there).
Today was leftover day (mixed with McDonalds day, since there weren’t enough leftovers for the six of us).
We also decided to watch a few movies tonight: during dinner we watched Snow White, afterwards was A Knight’s Tale’s turn and Enchanted to end the day. By that time it was 1am already, so really time for bed!
-----
God, today was a very filled day! We started with having a relaxed breakfast and decided to head into town for some shopping. Everyone needed something.
Again a visit to Kirpalani, because Ellen needed to buy a mosquito net. We also all bought a white T-shirt for Holi Pagwa, a Hindustan holiday (you’ll probably hear all about it after March 11, the day we’re all going out to celebrate). After this, came heaven: Vaco, the bookshop. Marij and I shopped till we dropped (we spent over 500 SRD on fun books for school, thank you sponsors)! With a few full bags and very empty pockets, we left to go home already, since it’s pretty impossible to have fun shopping when you’re carrying all those heavy bags.
Today was the day we would go out for dinner. So we called the other students to see if they wanted to go with us. They weren’t that hungry, so we went by ourselves. Apparently you don’t use cutlery to eat roti, you use your hands instead.
Afterwards, everyone was ready to leave again, but needed to wait for me, since I couldn’t find the little keys to the locks on my bike… Started to panic a bit, but I eventually found them in my very big purse.
“Mounted” our bikes again and rode back home. Pia, a girl from the other group, called us, to see if we were going to do something tonight. We all agreed to go to Havana Lounge, a club a bit further into town. in the end Tineke, Sharon and Evi decided they didn’t feel like it after all, so they stayed home, bought something to drink and had a party at home on their own while we got in the taxi.
We did have a good time. Pia and Joachim, Marij, Ellen and I went to Havana Lounge, but it turned out you needed a VIP pass to get in tonight… We crawled back in the cab and drove further into town. Drank a caipirinha and almost got knocked out by the amount of alcohol in it!
We felt like doing something a bit more active than just sit there and get drunk, so we headed to Starzz, a night club. The price you needed to pay to get in is 17,50 SRD and we all agreed that was a bit too much.
Our final stop: Zanzibar, a little cocktail bar. Very cheap and extremely delicious cocktails! Nicky and Vincent, the two other students of the other group, met us there and we had a little party of our own. At 3am we headed back into town to see if there was still somewhere we could go. Seems that bars and pubs close at 3, so we called a taxi and drove back home.
Everyone was still awake when we got there, our neighbours from across the street had also come around for a visit.
Ellen was exhausted and went to bed, so the rest of us took everything and head downstairs. Wesley had the brilliant idea to make a camp fire in the back yard and we all took a chair and sat around a cosy, warm “fire” (more smoke than fire, but it was warm and cosy!).
At 5am Wesley and Winston thought about a “fun” game, a bit of a combination of spin the bottle and truth or dare: you spin the bottle and give a task to the one the neck of the bottle points to.
Very fun and it was past 6.30 by the time we went to bed. We’re supposed to go to the plantage around 10am tomorrow, so we’re going to look like zombies! \o/
Some of the fun assignments:
- Drink a full glass of beer, hanging upside down.
- Make 10 turns around a bottle and run to the other side of the back yard as fast as you can without falling over.
- Run around the street in your underwear.
- Be a tree hugger and hug the palm tree.
- Give someone a lap dance.
- Strip.
My favourite task: give Bianca a 10 minute neck massage. (and no, it wasn’t me who gave the task! And it wasn’t me doing all those other assignments either! :p)
-----
I got up at about 10.30am. Pretty early if you consider I only got to bed at 6.30… Wesley came over and we convinced him to go buy us some sandwiches. Roché also came around to tell us that the trip to the plantage was cancelled, because the second car was at the garage and we didn’t have enough room in one car for all of us. This is the third time (?) the trip has been cancelled.
Luckily Winston called us a bit later to ask if we felt like going to Saramacca, a district a bit further into the country. Evi was out to some of her parent’s friends (her pqrents used to live here) and Ellen didn’t really feel like going, since she still had a lot of work to do.
On the way there we stopped along the road to buy some fish and some ramboetans. Us Bakras (which means white person in Sranantongo) jumped out of the car to take some pictures of the Saramacca River which we had passed just seconds before.
After about an hour drive we arrived at Winston’s aunt, who was going to cook for us. Winston left with her to the corner of the street to buy some saoto soup. When he got back the car missed the back window and had a big dent in the trunk. Apparently he had hit a light pole backing up from the parking space. We didn’t really mind, the air cooling was very welcome!
At 7pm we used a rope to keep the trunk closed and drove back home. Because we hadn’t slept a lot the other night I was exhausted, but the good music kept us all awake.
-----
On Sunday we had planned a trip to White Beach with the other students. At 8.45am we were supposed to be at their house to be picked up with a little minivan. Since it was pouring, we called them to see if they could come pick us up instead. They told us it could be arranged, but that they were going to be a bit late because people had broken into our driver’s house.
By 10am they finally arrived and we were on our way. After a 45min drive we got to White beach. This is a small area where they have dug up sand from the river and made a “beach” at the bank (usually, there is only mud, trees and bushes). The indication “White” is a bit misleading, because it’s actually grey sand. After a nice swim in the river (with fairly warm water, a fairly strong currant and fairly gross sand), some of us lay themselves on the beach for some sunbathing, while the others searched the shelter from our little rented beach cabin to play some games.
When it was time for lunch, Marij and I head over to the little pub-like place to buy ourselves something yummy: Nasie with chicken and some samosa, which are small pastries filled with potatoes, kousenband and a mild curry (very delicious).
After lunch Marij and I head back in the water to play some beach ball (a game with two wooden “rackets” and a small ball) to cool ourselves down again. The sunbathers joined us (all red and baked) and after that time for some more sunbathing. All the girls lay themselves down and took a nap, read a book or made some Sudoku’s (or did all three).
Around seven pm we packed everything up again and head back home. It was a very fun, exciting and active day!
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Bersaba
Ah, weekend, finally! Ellen and Evi still had a school day today, but the rest of us has today off to “work for the project”. The other two needed to go to school for the annual “Kangoeroebazaar”, the school’s carnival. While they were off having fun with the kids, we stayed home to do the weekly cleaning again. While Marij and I did the down stairs, Sharon and Tineke cleaned the upstairs. We got into a little “water fight” at some point, cause I was cleaning the downstairs terrace and they were doing the upstairs one. All the water they used ended up on my clean one, so I just gave up and waited till they were all done to do the rest of mine.
In the early afternoon Marij and I left to the Hermitage Mall to do some project shopping: we need a whole bunch of materials to be able to make all our lessons work. At about 1.30pm we had about half of what we needed and though it was time for a lunch break. Instead of going for the local bamie or nasie, we went for the third option: fries and chicken nuggets!
After the yummy lunch, we continued our shopping spree. After spending around 150 SRD on arts and crafts materials, we thought it was time to get a bit selfish and see if there was something for ourselves as well. So we entered the book store (our heaven!). I bought some very nice Animal Alphabet cards and a Surinam cook book. (not that I’m a good chef, but perhaps one of my house mates would like to try something from it? And I’ll have something to show when I get back home :p)
When we were waiting for the bus, I got bitten by a red ant (and those bites sting!) which didn’t really put me in a good mood… though the sulking didn’t last long.
Dinner looked awful but tasted pretty good. We didn’t do much else and went to bed shortly after. (For some reason we always end up having dinner around 8-9 o’clock…)
-----
The second day of our weekend started (again) with sleeping in and having sandwiches for breakfast. I think, by the end of this three month period, I’ll have sandwiches coming out of my ears and nose…
After lunch, Gero came around asking if we were interested in going out of town for a swim. Of course we couldn’t say no to that! Sharon and Tineke could come with us. A child from their school had drowned earlier this week and they had to go to his funeral. (Pretty sad really, a 6 year old in a little white coffin, because no one was watching him in the swimming pool…)
The rest of us packed in a hurry and head to Bersaba, a little local holiday centre with a small river you can swim in. when we got there, I unloaded everything from my backpack to discover I left my bikini pants at home. Typical… No swimming for me :( Though I did enjoy just walking at the bank of the river.
There was a big birthday party happening and, like all Surinam people, we just invited ourselves, took a plate and helped ourselves to some delicious food, even though we didn’t know any of the partying people.
Around 5pm we packed everything up and drove back to Paramaribo. When we arrived home, we had about 5 minutes to get changed, because Gero was taking us to one of his friends for a BBQ. No sign of Tineke and Sharon when we got home, so we assumed they were still at the funeral (it started at 3pm).
After a great evening meal, we did get a bit worried, since we hadn’t heard from them yet and it was getting late. So around 9pm I called them. Apparently they had left a note on the table saying we should call them when we get home, cause they were heading into town for the big carnival. But since we had to rush to get ready, none of us had noticed it…
When we got home afterwards, they were a bit pissed at us and we got very short, snappy answers when we asked them any questions about how their day went.
We decided to leave it at that, since we thought they could’ve rang us as well to ask where we were and if we were back already…
After an eventful and tiring day we all went to bed early.
-----
Last day of the weekend already… nothing much happened really. We had a house meeting to discuss diner plans for the coming week. This way, we can buy all ingredients in advance and don’t have to rush to stores to search for what we need.
We also set up a task schedule: people to do the shopping, people to do the cooking and people to do the dishes. Next week it’s my turn to cook, so I sincerely hope no one will end up in hospital with food poisoning…
The last point on our agenda was trips. When, who, what, where, …? All things were discussed and we decided that we are going on a two day trip to Brownsberg in a fortnight. Brownsberg is a natural environment where you can do all sorts of adventurous or recreational stuff.
After all this was discussed, Marij and I left to do some of the mentioned last minute shopping for tonight’s dinner. We needed to find some fish and “kousenband”, but since it’s Sunday, we needed to ride around a bit before we found what we needed. When we left the shops, one of those typical rain showers had started again, so we hurried back home and changed clothes real quick.
When we were done, some of us started dinner, while the rest of us worked for school.
Not long after dinner we all headed to bed; tomorrow is a new school day after all.
-----
Pffft, getting up early again…
At school we are concentrating on taking some reading tests to see which kids can and which can’t read and how good they are at it. This will take up about a week, cause we have to test each child individually and we have about 120 students.
We also had our first evaluation with the principal, about our observations. This lasted about the entire morning, so we didn’t have much time left for the testing. We were also advised to have more conversations with the teachers and the students, so this week we’ll also concentrate on that.
Because of the rain this morning, we took a taxi home again.
We didn’t do anything else till about 6.30pm. Tineke and Sharon’s vice-principal had invited us all to a Hindu temple for a celebration. Lots of singing, chanting and talking, but we didn’t understand a word of what they said! (Apart from a few thank you words that were translated)
We also got some very delicious food: barras (a sort of savoury donut) and roti (looks a bit like burritos, but it’s filled with potatoes, beans and some sort of curry).
When we got home, we all ate everything fast (it was 9.30pm) and went to bed.
-----
On the second day of the week we again did the reading tests and took a taxi home again (two days in a row where we wake up with rain, kinda depressing).
After calling a taxi, we waited for about half an hour. Still no sign of him, so we called a second cab. 15 mins later the first one finally arrived, so I called the second taxi driver again to cancel, but he didn’t pick up his phone…
When we got home, that cab driver was waiting for us at the supermarket on the corner, pissed off cause we “stood him up”. After explaining we did try to contact him, but we didn’t get any response, he got back in his car and drove off.
Marij and I worked a bit for school and then she and Ellen head to the supermarket to buy some flour. Ellen had found a Mac and cheese recipe and she wanted to try that one out. (Let’s just say it was a lot of mac, a lot of cheese and not much else.)
After some relaxing and finishing our work, I headed to bed.
Halfway the working week again, time flies by when you’re having fun!
In the early afternoon Marij and I left to the Hermitage Mall to do some project shopping: we need a whole bunch of materials to be able to make all our lessons work. At about 1.30pm we had about half of what we needed and though it was time for a lunch break. Instead of going for the local bamie or nasie, we went for the third option: fries and chicken nuggets!
After the yummy lunch, we continued our shopping spree. After spending around 150 SRD on arts and crafts materials, we thought it was time to get a bit selfish and see if there was something for ourselves as well. So we entered the book store (our heaven!). I bought some very nice Animal Alphabet cards and a Surinam cook book. (not that I’m a good chef, but perhaps one of my house mates would like to try something from it? And I’ll have something to show when I get back home :p)
When we were waiting for the bus, I got bitten by a red ant (and those bites sting!) which didn’t really put me in a good mood… though the sulking didn’t last long.
Dinner looked awful but tasted pretty good. We didn’t do much else and went to bed shortly after. (For some reason we always end up having dinner around 8-9 o’clock…)
-----
The second day of our weekend started (again) with sleeping in and having sandwiches for breakfast. I think, by the end of this three month period, I’ll have sandwiches coming out of my ears and nose…
After lunch, Gero came around asking if we were interested in going out of town for a swim. Of course we couldn’t say no to that! Sharon and Tineke could come with us. A child from their school had drowned earlier this week and they had to go to his funeral. (Pretty sad really, a 6 year old in a little white coffin, because no one was watching him in the swimming pool…)
The rest of us packed in a hurry and head to Bersaba, a little local holiday centre with a small river you can swim in. when we got there, I unloaded everything from my backpack to discover I left my bikini pants at home. Typical… No swimming for me :( Though I did enjoy just walking at the bank of the river.
There was a big birthday party happening and, like all Surinam people, we just invited ourselves, took a plate and helped ourselves to some delicious food, even though we didn’t know any of the partying people.
Around 5pm we packed everything up and drove back to Paramaribo. When we arrived home, we had about 5 minutes to get changed, because Gero was taking us to one of his friends for a BBQ. No sign of Tineke and Sharon when we got home, so we assumed they were still at the funeral (it started at 3pm).
After a great evening meal, we did get a bit worried, since we hadn’t heard from them yet and it was getting late. So around 9pm I called them. Apparently they had left a note on the table saying we should call them when we get home, cause they were heading into town for the big carnival. But since we had to rush to get ready, none of us had noticed it…
When we got home afterwards, they were a bit pissed at us and we got very short, snappy answers when we asked them any questions about how their day went.
We decided to leave it at that, since we thought they could’ve rang us as well to ask where we were and if we were back already…
After an eventful and tiring day we all went to bed early.
-----
Last day of the weekend already… nothing much happened really. We had a house meeting to discuss diner plans for the coming week. This way, we can buy all ingredients in advance and don’t have to rush to stores to search for what we need.
We also set up a task schedule: people to do the shopping, people to do the cooking and people to do the dishes. Next week it’s my turn to cook, so I sincerely hope no one will end up in hospital with food poisoning…
The last point on our agenda was trips. When, who, what, where, …? All things were discussed and we decided that we are going on a two day trip to Brownsberg in a fortnight. Brownsberg is a natural environment where you can do all sorts of adventurous or recreational stuff.
After all this was discussed, Marij and I left to do some of the mentioned last minute shopping for tonight’s dinner. We needed to find some fish and “kousenband”, but since it’s Sunday, we needed to ride around a bit before we found what we needed. When we left the shops, one of those typical rain showers had started again, so we hurried back home and changed clothes real quick.
When we were done, some of us started dinner, while the rest of us worked for school.
Not long after dinner we all headed to bed; tomorrow is a new school day after all.
-----
Pffft, getting up early again…
At school we are concentrating on taking some reading tests to see which kids can and which can’t read and how good they are at it. This will take up about a week, cause we have to test each child individually and we have about 120 students.
We also had our first evaluation with the principal, about our observations. This lasted about the entire morning, so we didn’t have much time left for the testing. We were also advised to have more conversations with the teachers and the students, so this week we’ll also concentrate on that.
Because of the rain this morning, we took a taxi home again.
We didn’t do anything else till about 6.30pm. Tineke and Sharon’s vice-principal had invited us all to a Hindu temple for a celebration. Lots of singing, chanting and talking, but we didn’t understand a word of what they said! (Apart from a few thank you words that were translated)
We also got some very delicious food: barras (a sort of savoury donut) and roti (looks a bit like burritos, but it’s filled with potatoes, beans and some sort of curry).
When we got home, we all ate everything fast (it was 9.30pm) and went to bed.
-----
On the second day of the week we again did the reading tests and took a taxi home again (two days in a row where we wake up with rain, kinda depressing).
After calling a taxi, we waited for about half an hour. Still no sign of him, so we called a second cab. 15 mins later the first one finally arrived, so I called the second taxi driver again to cancel, but he didn’t pick up his phone…
When we got home, that cab driver was waiting for us at the supermarket on the corner, pissed off cause we “stood him up”. After explaining we did try to contact him, but we didn’t get any response, he got back in his car and drove off.
Marij and I worked a bit for school and then she and Ellen head to the supermarket to buy some flour. Ellen had found a Mac and cheese recipe and she wanted to try that one out. (Let’s just say it was a lot of mac, a lot of cheese and not much else.)
After some relaxing and finishing our work, I headed to bed.
Halfway the working week again, time flies by when you’re having fun!
Friday, February 20, 2009
About teaching, libraries and swimming
Don’t really have anything interesting to say about Sunday: just was a typical lazy Sunday.
-----
Today we observed a PE lesson. “PE”, cause I didn’t really see the kids moving much…
Marij and I taught for the first time today, no preparation, no materials, no nothing! Thankfully the 2nd grade teacher appeared with a few exercises the children could make. After an intense search for the right books for the kids, we finally got them to make the exercises. We got home extremely exhausted. Let’s hope a whole week of teaching isn’t going to be as bad as this one day or I won’t even make the first weekend…
-----
We had a meeting with all Dutch student teachers. We were getting a bit more info about Suriname, the habits, culture, values, … (not really *that* interesting, cause we had already figured out most of what the policeman/social worker said)
Afterwards we went for a drink and then headed into town for some shopping. Since I don’t like shopping (at all!) I was bored after visiting two shops already. Evi and I headed back home, while the rest continued spending all their money.
After one last game of Time’s Up I was so exhausted I couldn’t even think straight anymore, so I went to bed early.
-----
On Wednesday we got our hands dirty at school. Marij and I had our minds set on cleaning up the school library. We got about half of it done when school was out, so a pretty productive day. Continuing this tomorrow and hopefully have everything done then, so we can start using it next week.
We also went for another refreshing swim today and met two of Tineke and Sharon’s fellow student teachers (from The Netherlands). Two very cheerful and sociable girls who already invited us over to celebrate their birthdays with them.
We got hopelessly lost riding back home, but after about 15 minutes we came back near our starting point and Marijke and I took over pole positions to lead everyone home safely.
Once home I realised how very tired I was, so after unpacking my wet towels I went straight to bed.
Our second week is already halfway… time flies when you’re having fun!
-----
Last day of the school week for us already again. Marij and I finished the last bits of the cleaning up right before school was out. The entire library is now done and ready to be used again.
When everyone got home we had a quick lunch (bread again) and Sharon went to bed for a nap. Ellen and Evi have a carnival at their school tomorrow, so they spent some time making their improvised costumes (a flower girl and a butterfly).
A few of the house mates got ready to go out to Zus en Zo (a little pub/meeting place thing) while Evi and I stayed home to work for school (feeling a bit guilty about not having done a lot yet). But it paid off, I’m very proud to announce I have finished one of the assignments already! (this one’s due on Monday, so yay for me: I’m three days early!)
-----
Today we observed a PE lesson. “PE”, cause I didn’t really see the kids moving much…
Marij and I taught for the first time today, no preparation, no materials, no nothing! Thankfully the 2nd grade teacher appeared with a few exercises the children could make. After an intense search for the right books for the kids, we finally got them to make the exercises. We got home extremely exhausted. Let’s hope a whole week of teaching isn’t going to be as bad as this one day or I won’t even make the first weekend…
-----
We had a meeting with all Dutch student teachers. We were getting a bit more info about Suriname, the habits, culture, values, … (not really *that* interesting, cause we had already figured out most of what the policeman/social worker said)
Afterwards we went for a drink and then headed into town for some shopping. Since I don’t like shopping (at all!) I was bored after visiting two shops already. Evi and I headed back home, while the rest continued spending all their money.
After one last game of Time’s Up I was so exhausted I couldn’t even think straight anymore, so I went to bed early.
-----
On Wednesday we got our hands dirty at school. Marij and I had our minds set on cleaning up the school library. We got about half of it done when school was out, so a pretty productive day. Continuing this tomorrow and hopefully have everything done then, so we can start using it next week.
We also went for another refreshing swim today and met two of Tineke and Sharon’s fellow student teachers (from The Netherlands). Two very cheerful and sociable girls who already invited us over to celebrate their birthdays with them.
We got hopelessly lost riding back home, but after about 15 minutes we came back near our starting point and Marijke and I took over pole positions to lead everyone home safely.
Once home I realised how very tired I was, so after unpacking my wet towels I went straight to bed.
Our second week is already halfway… time flies when you’re having fun!
-----
Last day of the school week for us already again. Marij and I finished the last bits of the cleaning up right before school was out. The entire library is now done and ready to be used again.
When everyone got home we had a quick lunch (bread again) and Sharon went to bed for a nap. Ellen and Evi have a carnival at their school tomorrow, so they spent some time making their improvised costumes (a flower girl and a butterfly).
A few of the house mates got ready to go out to Zus en Zo (a little pub/meeting place thing) while Evi and I stayed home to work for school (feeling a bit guilty about not having done a lot yet). But it paid off, I’m very proud to announce I have finished one of the assignments already! (this one’s due on Monday, so yay for me: I’m three days early!)
Monday, February 16, 2009
Mi lobi joe for troe
An early start again: we were expected at the police station at 8am, to go to the ministry to get our passports checked.
“When in Rome, do as the Romans do.”
So we arrived about an hour late (and still actually were an hour early, go figure).
It took us half a day to get everything sorted out (and a lot of driving from here to there and back again), but eventually everything was ok. Our “Tour guides” also took us to a place where we could rent a bike. Marij and I now ‘own’ our own little bicycles to go to school (daily taxis would turn out to become a pretty expensive thing)… I just hope we don’t get lost tomorrow!
When we finally got back home, some of us went to the cybercafé, while the rest stayed homework for school. After dinner (yummy hot dogs!) the rest of us made the trip to the internet café to upload part of our blog already and talk to friends. Being this busy, I didn’t even realise I missed them so much! And an hour is gone so quickly when you have lots to talk about…
Back home for some late night chit chat and a good rest.
-----
The alarm went off too soon (yes, again! I’m just not used to it anymore!) And I had a horrible night. Woke up at 1am, sweating like a pig and feeling extremely nauseous. Took a pill to calm down my stomach and didn’t have much problems after that, though it did f*ck up my sleep…
Went to our school again today, by bike. And we didn’t get lost! (Yay for us!) We spent a whole day of observing local teachers doing their job. Did notice that discipline isn’t something they’ve heard of yet. Chaos everywhere, which is very exhausting cause you need extra energy to be ably to concentrate on what they’re saying. I’m glad school is only half a day over here. Got back home (again without making any wrong turn) and had a quick lunch.
We managed to lock ourselves out on the terrace… But luckily we have very friendly neighbours and Roché came to the rescue! We got our bikini’s out and just chilled out a bit.
Roché took us out for ‘bakabana’, a baked banana. Then off to the supermarket for some last minute shopping and Roché took us on a little sight seeing trip around the block. Back home, we quickly did the dishes and cooked dinner.
Only one more day and it’ll be weekend! (We arranged to have Fridays off to work on our project) So more chilling, relaxing and doing nothing! :p
-----
Last day of getting up early! We all had breakfast together and then went our own ways.
Observing the fourth and third grade was our job today. After the raising of the flag and the national anthem (like every morning), all kids went to their own classroom.
The fourth grade wasn’t any better than the others we had already seen: a lot of noise and running around. And while the teacher was writing everything down on the blackboard, the kids had fun switching their shoes and parading through the classroom.
After the break it was time for the third grade. Apparently this is the worst one. All kids were just walking around and it seems that hitting, kicking, pulling and pushing each other is a daily activity.
After lunch we hung out with the guys from our neighbourhood. We had our personal chefs for the night: Gero and Roché, our neighbours from across the street, promised us they’d cook dinner.
Three hours after he started, we were all starving and ready for some food, but still no sign of it… At 10.30pm everything was finally ready and we had the most delicious bami we had ever had!
We were all exhausted from this last day, so after dishes we chatted a bit more with our chefs and went to bed. I am looking forward to not having to get up at 6 for once!
-----
Friday today and got out of bed at 10.30am. a quick trip to the supermarket and then sandwiches for breakfast.
We decided that today would be cleaning day, so we went on a little search to find the brooms, buckets and detergent. We rid the kitchen from all ants, cleaned our bedrooms, the living room and the terrace. By noon we were all sweating like pigs, but we were done! So time for lunch. Afterwards, half of us went on a trip to the Hermitage Mall while the other half stayed home for some chilling, relaxing and sunbathing. Even though it’s rain season, we had a few days with loads of sunshine, so we’re definitely not complaining!
After about half an hour of sunbathing the three of us decided we wanted to go swimming. So we invited our neighbour and took a taxi into town. At the swimming pool we stood before a closed door: seems that the pool wouldn’t reopen till 7pm (it was 5.30 at that time)… So we headed into town for a drink till it was time to head back. Marij en Roché also felt like going for a swim, so when we got back to the pool they arrived as well.
After about an hour of swimming and playing, Roché needed to go to football practice and we went to get something to eat. A delicious eggroll with “kousenband” (kind of beans) and “bakabana” (baked banana).
When we got home, there wasn’t a sign of the other two and everything was dark. Seemed that they were taking a nap. By midnight we went to wake them up, since we had plans to go out today. Roché showed up right as we were all dressed and off we went to Zsa Zsa Zsu, the local disco.
We had a blast! It was pretty empty, so loads of space for dancing and moving. To our surprise there weren’t many Surinam people, most of the people inside were Caucasian (probably students as well) and even the music wasn’t much different from the music we play at home.
By 5am our feet hurt like hell and so we left to go back home. Thank god we can sleep in late tomorrow.
-----
The next day was a very relaxed day. Some of us headed into town to go food shopping, while we stayed home to work for school (after all, we’re not on vacation). Luckily we didn’t have the temptation we had the past few days: the sun was hidden behind a layer of dark clouds and soon rain started pouring down. We kinda feared our city housemates would be soaked by the time they got home, but fortunately they found shelter at the house of the other Belgian students.
When it had finally stopped raining, we got a nice surprise. Our neighbours from across the street had company. And one of them had brought a cute, sweet cuddly little monkey with him! He did seem to like me, since I got a thorough grooming. Even though it was one of the cutest things I had ever seen, it was also very sad to see the little thing with a chain around it’s waist…
Spaghetti for dinner tonight. Apart from the fact that the sauce had too much pepper, the pasta was too salty and the meatballs had turned into schnitzels (the shoppers took the wrong kind of meat home), it was very delicious!
Today and tomorrow is washing day and I was the first one to try the weird washing machine out. Once you get the hang of it, it’s not that hard and everything came out of the machine in the same condition as how it went in (but it was clean!).
Another nice fact: Marij brought a hammock with her, and we tested it out today. Very cosy and comfortable for napping! ^^
Mi lobi joe all for troe!
(I love you all a lot!)
P.S. I'm trying to upload a few pics to my photobucket, hopefully it'll work, since the internetcafe has a very slow connection...
http://s199.photobucket.com/albums/aa171/Myrea1986/Suriname/
“When in Rome, do as the Romans do.”
So we arrived about an hour late (and still actually were an hour early, go figure).
It took us half a day to get everything sorted out (and a lot of driving from here to there and back again), but eventually everything was ok. Our “Tour guides” also took us to a place where we could rent a bike. Marij and I now ‘own’ our own little bicycles to go to school (daily taxis would turn out to become a pretty expensive thing)… I just hope we don’t get lost tomorrow!
When we finally got back home, some of us went to the cybercafé, while the rest stayed homework for school. After dinner (yummy hot dogs!) the rest of us made the trip to the internet café to upload part of our blog already and talk to friends. Being this busy, I didn’t even realise I missed them so much! And an hour is gone so quickly when you have lots to talk about…
Back home for some late night chit chat and a good rest.
-----
The alarm went off too soon (yes, again! I’m just not used to it anymore!) And I had a horrible night. Woke up at 1am, sweating like a pig and feeling extremely nauseous. Took a pill to calm down my stomach and didn’t have much problems after that, though it did f*ck up my sleep…
Went to our school again today, by bike. And we didn’t get lost! (Yay for us!) We spent a whole day of observing local teachers doing their job. Did notice that discipline isn’t something they’ve heard of yet. Chaos everywhere, which is very exhausting cause you need extra energy to be ably to concentrate on what they’re saying. I’m glad school is only half a day over here. Got back home (again without making any wrong turn) and had a quick lunch.
We managed to lock ourselves out on the terrace… But luckily we have very friendly neighbours and Roché came to the rescue! We got our bikini’s out and just chilled out a bit.
Roché took us out for ‘bakabana’, a baked banana. Then off to the supermarket for some last minute shopping and Roché took us on a little sight seeing trip around the block. Back home, we quickly did the dishes and cooked dinner.
Only one more day and it’ll be weekend! (We arranged to have Fridays off to work on our project) So more chilling, relaxing and doing nothing! :p
-----
Last day of getting up early! We all had breakfast together and then went our own ways.
Observing the fourth and third grade was our job today. After the raising of the flag and the national anthem (like every morning), all kids went to their own classroom.
The fourth grade wasn’t any better than the others we had already seen: a lot of noise and running around. And while the teacher was writing everything down on the blackboard, the kids had fun switching their shoes and parading through the classroom.
After the break it was time for the third grade. Apparently this is the worst one. All kids were just walking around and it seems that hitting, kicking, pulling and pushing each other is a daily activity.
After lunch we hung out with the guys from our neighbourhood. We had our personal chefs for the night: Gero and Roché, our neighbours from across the street, promised us they’d cook dinner.
Three hours after he started, we were all starving and ready for some food, but still no sign of it… At 10.30pm everything was finally ready and we had the most delicious bami we had ever had!
We were all exhausted from this last day, so after dishes we chatted a bit more with our chefs and went to bed. I am looking forward to not having to get up at 6 for once!
-----
Friday today and got out of bed at 10.30am. a quick trip to the supermarket and then sandwiches for breakfast.
We decided that today would be cleaning day, so we went on a little search to find the brooms, buckets and detergent. We rid the kitchen from all ants, cleaned our bedrooms, the living room and the terrace. By noon we were all sweating like pigs, but we were done! So time for lunch. Afterwards, half of us went on a trip to the Hermitage Mall while the other half stayed home for some chilling, relaxing and sunbathing. Even though it’s rain season, we had a few days with loads of sunshine, so we’re definitely not complaining!
After about half an hour of sunbathing the three of us decided we wanted to go swimming. So we invited our neighbour and took a taxi into town. At the swimming pool we stood before a closed door: seems that the pool wouldn’t reopen till 7pm (it was 5.30 at that time)… So we headed into town for a drink till it was time to head back. Marij en Roché also felt like going for a swim, so when we got back to the pool they arrived as well.
After about an hour of swimming and playing, Roché needed to go to football practice and we went to get something to eat. A delicious eggroll with “kousenband” (kind of beans) and “bakabana” (baked banana).
When we got home, there wasn’t a sign of the other two and everything was dark. Seemed that they were taking a nap. By midnight we went to wake them up, since we had plans to go out today. Roché showed up right as we were all dressed and off we went to Zsa Zsa Zsu, the local disco.
We had a blast! It was pretty empty, so loads of space for dancing and moving. To our surprise there weren’t many Surinam people, most of the people inside were Caucasian (probably students as well) and even the music wasn’t much different from the music we play at home.
By 5am our feet hurt like hell and so we left to go back home. Thank god we can sleep in late tomorrow.
-----
The next day was a very relaxed day. Some of us headed into town to go food shopping, while we stayed home to work for school (after all, we’re not on vacation). Luckily we didn’t have the temptation we had the past few days: the sun was hidden behind a layer of dark clouds and soon rain started pouring down. We kinda feared our city housemates would be soaked by the time they got home, but fortunately they found shelter at the house of the other Belgian students.
When it had finally stopped raining, we got a nice surprise. Our neighbours from across the street had company. And one of them had brought a cute, sweet cuddly little monkey with him! He did seem to like me, since I got a thorough grooming. Even though it was one of the cutest things I had ever seen, it was also very sad to see the little thing with a chain around it’s waist…
Spaghetti for dinner tonight. Apart from the fact that the sauce had too much pepper, the pasta was too salty and the meatballs had turned into schnitzels (the shoppers took the wrong kind of meat home), it was very delicious!
Today and tomorrow is washing day and I was the first one to try the weird washing machine out. Once you get the hang of it, it’s not that hard and everything came out of the machine in the same condition as how it went in (but it was clean!).
Another nice fact: Marij brought a hammock with her, and we tested it out today. Very cosy and comfortable for napping! ^^
Mi lobi joe all for troe!
(I love you all a lot!)
P.S. I'm trying to upload a few pics to my photobucket, hopefully it'll work, since the internetcafe has a very slow connection...
http://s199.photobucket.com/albums/aa171/Myrea1986/Suriname/
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