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!