Sandvoort, I made it!

Hello all,

I know it's been a while since I last wrote.

Here is a quick update on my life. Quick quick.

I am officially at site. I live in region 6 Berbice, google map it!

Zandvoort is small and normally pretty quiet. I was welcomed by a current volunteer Miss Patty who truly made me feel so comfortable at my new site. The whole first week she cooked for me, made sure I was taken care of and filled me in a little on the village.

I helped her with her summer camp for a week, and now I'm plant sitting while she's on a well deserved vacay(:

The kids call me Miss Frances, I sit in my hammock every day and kids pass by yelling my name. I'm still getting used to the bugs and critters, sometimes I hide under my net, cook in darkness, and talk to myself. Living alone surely is different for me. Sometimes I feel lonely, but I've been keeping busy with reading, making things for school and having some kids over to cook and play card games. I've learned my lesson on when and how often to have kids over, and I've been enjoying the experience of what feels like me growing up.

Cool fact about my village is that they first got electricity in 2002. AKA it is still sort of new. Most have TV sets and few have internet. (I have neither)

In fact the only app that really works on my phone is whatsapp. So my insta, Facebook, email and other world wide web usage is quite limited.

My hope is that I can get internet installed maybe around christmas because that would just make life easier. I will budget accordingly to make sure I can afford it, but it seems like it would be good for me.

I'm currently at another PCV's house borrowing her internet and no joke I had a list of things to do. Update my phone and kindle, send, check emails, downloads to do, pictures to upload, messages to send and so on. In fact the blog was one of the last things on my list.

Alright so I live in Sandvoort and if you follow my instagram which you all should do, we just celebrated emancipation for the past week! It's been a lot of history and it's been amazing to see the pride that comes from those within the community, how they worked together to pull off the event, decorating and cooking, preparing dances, poems, songs, and even getting the newly elected president to come out!

School starts up at the end of the month. I'm still getting used to the laid back environment here. You know I like order and plans and what not. But those things aren't a part of the culture...

So I've decided that it's ok to not have a plan for school. I'm going to assess the literacy levels of each student so if it takes me over a month, then it takes me over a month. I'm going to assess the levels, get to know them, have them tell me about themselves and I'm going to make note of it all. Then once I'm finished I'll devise a plan from there. Figure out who needs my help the most and what I'll be covering for each child. It's going to work out!

I'm not posting pictures today bc of time and also bc I forgot my chord. I  had to tote a whole bunch of other things so it slipped my mind. After this I'm headed to the market to buy my veggies (I'm still figuring out how to buy for 1 without things going bad and only going to the store once every week and a half or so). Then to the store to grab a few other things.

Check out my fb and instagram: Frances Anna & frannadee

FINALLY I HAVE A NEW ADDRESS!
mail is greatly accepted. I'm trying to write to people too, just give me time to reply!

Frances DiFabio, PCV
94 Sandvoort Village
West Canje, Berbice
Guyana
South America

Also, PLEASE download whatsapp. I can't communicate without it. My number is +592.689.5076 don't forget the +!

Love ya lots!
Fran

This is one of Miss Patty's pics from her hike around Sandvoort!