Cookee's Genesis, part 2

On the 4th Day

April 3, Thursday. My luggage has landed!!! : ) Well, there you have it--the 4th day WAS a better day… Went to Oasis after breakfast, to email y'all the first installment of this Genesis. Walking back to the guest house for lunch, I ran into the rest of the new volunteers who had just arrived from the UK, we were all supposed to go to VSO for lunch. It was a pleasant bunch (except for SW) and they all seem very happy to be here (especially since NO ONE ELSE lost their luggage). Everybody trying not to notice that I was in four-day old jeans, the VSO staff looked at me as if to ask if there was any news on my bags, I shook my head. Nicole, a really helpful admin. person at the office, yet again had no good news about my bags either. Kristine and her dad's been calling New York as well, seeing what Korean Air could do from their end. So as I was trying to call the number babe gave me of Korean Air in NY, but before I could get through, the other phone rang… it was Caribbean Air.

Aside from the fact that I know my luggage was waiting for me, the 45-minute ride to the airport was extremely enjoyable 'coz of the company. VSO's driver, Roy, who's East Indian, was the most pleasant man. Since the entire drive to and from the airport took almost 2 hours, we got to cover everything from the different religions in Guyana, cost of living, his VSO experience (being with the organization for 19 years), and, beyond all expectation from a first meeting—philosophy, human kindness and understanding. I won't bore y'all with the details; suffice to say, being the first volunteer to arrive in Guyana (for this cycle of recruitment) has given me a most-welcomed head start in immersing myself in the culture of my home-to-be for the next two years. And I'm not wasting any time, getting to understand the heart of it all, the people.

Oh, and about SW, today's also better in that regard. Remember she was getting on my nerves all of yesterday and last night? Well, that wasn't the end of it. After I wrote my entry last night, I was trying to fall asleep but her cell phone was on Volume: Level 5 with Message Alert Tone: Special. For you Nokia users, you have an idea of how loud that is. So I very nicely asked her to turn down the volume. And you know what the B***** said?! 'Di ko alam maarte ka palang room mate.' Given what you read of my disposition at the end of my entry last night, dare to guess what I did? I started rambling on about how she met her match, and I'm very respectful but if you push me you'll see how not nice I can be, and we'd have to learn to live with each other since we're gonna be room mates for two weeks, …"Huwag ka mangangaya porque't mas bata ako sayo; I'm not gonna take any rudeness sitting down; You saw how respectful I was to you from the very beginning and I will demand the same respect; You notice how considerate I am when you're asleep, I expect the same considerate, polite behavior. RATATATATATATAT!" She must've gotten no more than four words in. I can now imagine all of you who love me either laughing their tushes off, or shaking their heads thinking, "Kawawa naman yung ale, nagkamali nang binangga, if only she knew who she was up against!" She later apologized, and shifted to asking for my help in lowering her cell phone volume 'coz she said she's not good with all these gadgets. And, of course, I did. And that was that.  To date, (since I'm writing this entry 2 days later) she's been nothing but a ray of sunshine and nice to me.

You know what I learned, though? I've always had difficulty balancing two goals: (1) consciously trying to look approachable especially amongst new people, and tempering the intimidating air I was born (or raised with; Heehee! Love you mom and pop!), and (2) not looking like a pushover little girl. Made the same mistake at Save-UK. For those of you who know the back story to that, you know how royally screwed over I got. I really didn't assert myself since I was new in that office, etc, etc. And for those of you who know the darker back story, forget you! ;) But, seriously. I came here reminding myself that it's better to be underestimated at first, and later pleasantly surprising everyone that there's more to this 4'10" package I come in, than hawking my laurels for everyone to get impressed or intimidated or annoyed by before they get to know that I'm actually a nice person. Ehehe! No, but kidding aside, for two days I just listened to SW brag about how she does this and that in her work, yada..yada, which I think led her to think I was a lost little girl who knows nuthin'. Mistake.


On the 5th Day…

April 4, Friday. Today's the first formal day of In-Country Orientation (ICO). All the new volunteers went to VSO around 11 am, where we got officially welcomed by the Country Director. The agenda for the day was to discuss security guidelines as well as health briefings. The entire ICO, spread across the next two weeks, is structured around a very light schedule. Very different indeed from the trainings I'm used to attending and conducting in Manila (since NGOs have more limited funds, we try to cram what would be equivalent to half-a-semester's course into three days). Nothing particularly scary about Guyana, both regarding security and health issues. And, no, this is not just for the benefit of my parents who are also reading all my logs. Love you, mama and papa.  But, seriously, it's just like any other tropical and developing country: common sense will go a long way—lock your doors; ready your keys before stepping up to your door (ahem, ahem, Kristine); don't go to cash machines at night; avoid dark alleys, and stick to busy streets; ride only registered cabs; don't flaunt your gold or take out huge wads of cash—common sense, really. As for health, we have all the vaccines we need, access to free medical consultations and treatment, anti-malaria drugs, yada..yada..yada.


On the 6th Day…

April 5, Saturday. Today, two other volunteers who've been here a while took the whole group of new volunteers around town to see the major shopping and commercial areas.

In just a few hours, I've managed to survey all the things (including groceries and fresh produce) we would normally buy back home—and, they're exactly the same prices here as in Manila: DVDs are P40-P50; DVD Players = P2,500; TV (Basic 21") = 7-10T; Washing machine = P12-15T; Microwave = P4T; Gouda cheese = P200; Water = P50 for 5 gallons; Laundry = P40/kg.; Gas = P40/liter; Scooter = P40T. The only thing so far that I discovered which was notably more expensive here is rice, at P100/kg; I dunno why. One of the things cheaper here, though, is the meat/beef, which is surprising 'coz I don't think they graze cattle here. But, Meg, a volunteer who's been here 14 months, say that they get it from Brazil. But, basically I think we'll have more or less the same budget for groceries and food here as in Manila. Another thing cheaper here are the cell phones, I think. But I only have their basic / cheapest Nokia as a gauge, which amounts to only P600. I got to see some of the bikes as well which is well within the bike allowance VSO will provide us.