Greetings from Suriname! I cannot believe that this country I have thought about for months is now my home for 27 months, and I am really here. So far so good.
My group left Miami about 11:00a.m. on Tuesday. After a layover in Curacao and a stopover in Trinidad, we arrived in Paramaribo at about 1:00 a.m. on Wednesday. It was a long day of travel, but worth it nonetheless.
For the past week my group (SUR 17s, meaning we are the 17th group to serve in Suriname,) has had a lot of orientation with PC staff and policies. The days do not feel long, but a lot of us feel like we've been here for weeks already. It's a strange feeling. As for the group, SUR 17, I really feel like we are a solid group of folks and are all very excited to be here. Everyone is getting along great.
We found out what languages we will be speaking yesterday via a sorting hat! It was funny. A few current volunteers played Harry Potter music and we each sat in a chair while they put a hat on our heads and shouted out our language groups. I will be learning Sarmaccan, a language that only about 30,000 people speak. I am super pumped for language training to start on Monday.
Yesterday I also washed clothes by hand. It was not so bad, but my clothes are still wet, and that was almost 24 hours ago. The humidity is a lot like Mississippi in the summer, but imagine that you had to spend the entire month of August outside in Mississippi. That's what it feels like here. I look forward to my cold shower at night. I am thankful to have a shower and a flush toilet at the moment! That will change soon.
My feet are stinky.
I wish everyone back in the States could see my life here. I really feel very lucky to have been asked to come to this country that not a lot of folks know about. I am happy to be here and cannot wait to learn more about my home for the next 2 years.
From now on, please forgive any errors in my writing. I do not have a ton of computer time, so I am trying to fit as much in as possible.
Hooray for learning and growing. Peace.
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Brooke! I am loving your blog! What a journey you are on...its so you! Brave and courageous, life changing and for the better of others! I am praying for you back home and am looking forward to more updates! Loves!
ReplyDeleteHave you seen any really scary spiders yet!? Bahahahaha :)
ReplyDeleteMy grandparents actually lived in Trinidad when my grandfather was a rep for the oil companies. I remember them telling me stories when I was a child of their home there and how they could walk out their back door and pick pomegranates off of this tree that grew at the apex of a hill in their back yard. I have this awesome picture in my head of how it looked. It's one of the 1st places I plan to visit. After Las Vegas of course. ;)
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