Unconditionally Blessed

Christmas Cleaning!

2012-02-02T06:41:00.000-08:00

A "good Saramaccan woman" washes her house before New Years Day every year. It is just like the American spring cleaning tradition. Well, our hut was getting pretty gross, so Ryan and I pulled EVERYTHING out of the front room and scrubbed down the walls and floor. Talk about a dirty job. I am glad we did it, though. We organized and got rid of a lot of stuff. Less work to do in 5 months when we move back to the states!

Of course, Lefurny wanted to help. Here she is scrubbing down a shelf.

Christmas in a Nutshell

2012-01-31T07:00:00.000-08:00

The week before Christmas: All of the school kids put on a Christmas pageant. They sang songs in Sranan Tongo, Saramaccan, Dutch and English. Talk about multiple languages! It was really fun to go.

A couple days before Christmas: The women cleaned up the yard around the church and asked Ryan and I if we would help put up their Christmas tree. I am sure some missionary gave them one back in the 70s. I had never put one together like that before- branch by branch!

Random fact: I helped put up and decorate no fewer than 5 Christmas trees this year. Personal record.

Women cleaning

Ryan and Tante Fe working on the tree

Christmas Eve: We went to church twice. Yep, twice. Once in the evening around 7ish, then back again at 11:30ish. Tradition dictates that everyone wear white (if you have it).

All the kids received a lit candle to walk back to their homes in the dark.

In between church, Ryan and I exchanged gifts. We decided to set a 15 SRD limit (less than 5 USD) to buy each other a gift at the local convenience store. We already had Christmas and presents with our families while we were home, so no need to feel sorry for us. We just thought it would be fun to have something to open.

Unwrapping my gift

Christmas Day: Can you guess? Our village went to church again. Sidenote: Lefurny keeps up with the latest styles by importing all her dresses from Grandma Barb in America. I do my part with the matching hair beads!

Day after Christmas: 2nd Christmas. Yes, we went to church.

Click here to see more Christmas pictures. Spoiler: You have GOT to see this tree.

Annual New Year's Meeting

2012-01-28T06:40:00.000-08:00

Around the 1st of January, our village holds an annual meeting to discuss what is going on in the village and address any issues. Many people come out from the city. From my experience, it is the only time of the year that men wear traditional clothing and out number the women at a village meeting. This year it was 5 hours long. We took some great pictures, though!

Meeting

Traditional Saramaccan dress for men: badja koto and camisa (Giyer and Gio). Cross stitched by their wives, of course.

Tante Fe, Me, Basia Shirley and Jei

Me and Basia Simon- he is over 90 and so sweet! That is the official basia (village leader) uniform.

During this meeting, Ryan announced to our village that Peace Corps is phasing out of Suriname due to budgetary issues. Unfortunately, several small, expensive Peace Corps countries are being shut down, at least temporarily because Peace Corps worldwide was just not awarded enough money to keep all of their programs running in this year's budget. The group that arrived after ours (SUR 17s) is the last Peace Corps group for Suriname. When they finish their service in 2013 Peace Corps will pull out. This is an unfortunate and challenging addition to our Peace Corps experience. However, Ryan did an excellent job communicating this difficult and sensitive situation to our village, using the traditional Saramaccan meeting etiquette.

For more pictures, click here.

For pictures from actual New Years Day in our village (the New Years meeting was held a couple weeks into January this year), click here.

Thank you Mrs. Tracy's class!

2012-01-19T17:56:00.000-08:00

While we were home for the holidays, Ryan and I were able to visit Mrs. Tracy's class. In fact, we had the opportunity to talk about Peace Corps and our experience in Suriname during an assembly. It was great for us to finally meet Mrs. Tracy's current and past students in person after communicating via Skype and snail mail for the past two years from Suriname.

Today Ryan and I both received birthday cards from Mrs. Tracy's class! They must have been planning ahead because snail mail takes awhile to arrive and they came 7 days before my birthday. Thanks so much everyone! We really enjoyed reading all of your beautiful cards. This one even has some Saramaccan:

Pretty impressive!

The Amazon: Terrifying and Awesome

2012-01-10T16:24:00.000-08:00

Every time I talk to my friend Jason, he always asks me if I have seen a poison arrow frog yet. Every time, I laugh and tell him no. Like any area around a settlement, the animals who once lived around my village, figured out to go deeper into the jungle where they won’t be disturbed by humans. Honestly, I did not think that I would see one of those frogs my entire tour. Well, Jason, I've seen a poison arrow frog! In fact, I have seen three in the past two days. Two black and lime green:

And one black and neon yellow:

The Amerindians (American Indians) indigenous to this area used to rub the tips of their arrows in the poison from these frogs’ skin. Once it hits the bloodstream, I am told that it can be deadly. The yellow frog Ryan found next to our latrine…truth be told he peed on it. The two lime green ones we saw while camping at a nature reserve. About 12 of us went for a day and a half, to hike and look for animals. On our longest hike the group collectively saw four snakes. Yes, we are pretty sure they were all poisonous. I was able to get this awesome picture:

My favorite part of the trip, though, was the monkeys! I saw so many monkeys! Four separate troops of at least three different species. Three of those four troops passed directly over my head! SO COOL. They seem so carefree, frolicking and free falling from tree to tree. We saw tiny ones, medium ones and bigger ones. I think one was a howler monkey. I saw one baby on a mother’s back. They are all so fast, plus very high up, plus covered by the thick trees, so very hard to capture with a camera, but I got lucky with the last troop:

There were also pretty birds, creepy spiders, lots of army ants, a kokoni (large rodent- not sure what the English name is) and unreal flora.

We saw a couple Morpho Butterflies. They are beautiful! I see them frequently when I go to the creek by my house to wash dishes and clothes. They do this drunk, kamikaze flying pattern that makes it impossible (for me) to take a picture. They are said to be a sign of good luck. Here is a picture I found online:

I had my first experience with fish biting me hard enough to hurt. No, not piranhas, don’t worry. We hiked for about 2 ½ hours to a fresh water pool and went swimming. The pond had aggressive minnow-like fish that kept biting everyone. Not enough to cause damage but, boy, did they catch me off guard every time.

I would be remiss if I did not mention that the company was awesome. We have some amazing and talented individuals here in Peace Corps Suriname.

Wei Wosu (House Dedication)

2011-12-29T09:00:00.000-08:00

On “Second Christmas” (December 26^th), a couple in our village dedicated their new house. Meet Bon (pronounced "Bone") and Denisa:

Bon works for the government and Denisa owns a fabric store in the village about a 20 minute walk from our village. They worked and saved and built themselves this western style home:

Their old house is Saramaccan style, like ours, with two small rooms. They have at least four children.

True to Saramaccan tradition, the family and a few close friends are wearing the designated material that they made into clothing, which, not coincidentally matches the lime green house. Pretty awesome.

The church leaders, Basia Jonathan and Mama Nina blessing the home

The beautiful cross-stitching commonly done by Saramaccan women is used to decorate the new house

The dedication consisted of the church leaders blessing the home, praying for the family, singing some hymns, then passing out soda, kool-aide, cake, popcorn (for the kids), and rum (for the men). It was fun. This is the first dedication that Ryan and I have seen. I think it is fairly common but houses just are not completed every day.

Side note: our entire village was burned to the ground in the civil war in 1989. Apparently, there used to be many western style homes before then. When people came back (the few that did), most could only afford to build Saramaccan houses right away. Families will save and slowly build bigger houses but it takes years. If you walk around our village you will see plenty of partially built cement homes that the jungle has reclaimed. They are just waiting until the family has a little bit more money to buy another bag of cement or support beam.

I am glad that we decided to spend Christmas in our village this year. Although they do not do a whole lot for Christmas besides go to church (actually, kind of refreshing), it seems that many other events are packed in since family and friends who live in Paramaribo are able to come. It has been a prosperous and busy time in our usually sparse and slow paced village.

Coming of Age as a Saramaccan Woman

2011-12-27T12:42:00.000-08:00

Besides going to church on Christmas Day, we also celebrated a Saramaccan coming of age ceremony. The 23-year-old girl is from Paramaribo but her family is from our village so they brought her here, to “Saamaka”, to pass this milestone. Keep in mind, our village is in an interesting in-between place. We have a lot of connections to Paramaribo, so people come and go to the city frequently. That access brings heavy influence from the west. Plus, we are a “church village”, so the missionaries erased a lot of Saramaccan tradition, too. It is fascinating to see which traditions are still observed and which are not. All that is to say that this coming of age ceremony does not happen often in our village. This is only the second time that I have seen it and the first that I saw from start to finish. Another contributing factor is that almost all of our young girls move to the city to continue with school once they graduate from the 6th grade. Most of them do not come back, so we really have a generation gap.

Anyways, I am friends with this girl’s family, so they invited us to come. The girl seemed very sweet. We started out at the family’s house with about 50 family members and friends. The older women undressed the girl (yes, in front of everyone), then covered her back with koosus (the material that Saramaccan women wear around their waists like skirts) that they bought for her. They gave her jewelry, as well. Her mother and aunts gave her advice- take a good man, live well with him, have children, etc. There was Saramaccan singing (specific songs for this milestone) and lots of dancing. Soon they said it was time to go.

Once I exited the overcrowded house, I discovered a percussion band waiting outside. This seemed promising! The family carried the girl’s loot in buckets on their heads so everyone could see. One of my friends placed a small bucket on my head which I pretty successfully carried hands free (yes, it was small and light but I’m still proud)! The group set off on a kind of trick-or-treating for koosus. We would dance up to each house in the village and the girl would come to the front and dance with the owner of the house until she received a koosu. Each time she got a new koosu, it was placed somewhere on her body until she had so many layers she was just a bundle of material! And all this in the middle of the day, in the beating sun. I told her later that I don’t know how she did not pass out from the heat! We were at it for hours. At the end, they danced and sang more at the final location but Ryan and I had dropped off the parade due to the heat and exhaustion.

Dancing with my friend Madjo for a koosu

Being given a koosu by my friend's husband, Gali

Dancing with me in front of our house for her koosu

Hugging after I gave her a koosu

It was really fun. Everyone was just so enthusiastic and fun-loving. I love drums and dancing AND the look on people’s faces when they see this white girl shake her hips. ;) It’s hilarious. They are always so shocked that I have some rhythm. I am really thankful to my friends for including us.

Saamaka Tou (Saramaccan Wedding)

2011-12-20T07:24:00.000-08:00

Just as less and less Americans are getting married these days, less and less Saramaccans are getting married as well. Traditionally, the Saramaccan wedding is not legally binding but a ceremony where rum is poured out over the intertwined hands of a couple. Unfortunately, people in my village just do not do this very often any more. We have not seen it since we have been here (over a year and a half).

Another similar trend (yes, I am an anthropology nerd) is that Christians get married (legally) more often here than non-Christians. Of course, these weddings are strikingly like Western weddings, not the traditional Saramaccan ceremony. Anyways, in October, Ryan and I were fortunate enough to attend the wedding of a former language teacher for Peace Corps and a woman who works for the government, works with Peace Corps and whose family is from our village. Here is the happy couple:

That is the Presidential Palace in the background

Now, even though this is the only wedding we've been to in Suriname, it was not hard to figure out that this was VERY high class. The reception was in the National Assembly building for heavan's sake (it would be equivalent to Capitol Hill). Just to reiterate, the bride and groom both live and work in the city, not in our village. The difference between the city and the interior is like night and day, as you can deduce from the wedding party's attire. We estimated about 500 people probably came. The social event of the year!

It is very common in Saramaaka culture for people to pick one material for an event (birthdays, funerals, weddings). Then it is up to the attendees to go buy that particular material and sew it into an outfit to wear to the event. If people cannot afford to buy the material, many will not go, or they will at least try to match the colors. Alongside all the other things going on, I found time to buy the material at a store in Paramaribo. I asked a friend who works there who could sew an outfit for me. She sent me on a wild goose chase to find a seamstress. I never would have found her if Ryan had not of been with me. Of course, she did not speak Saramaccan or English. She promptly found a random, intimidating Saramaccan guy to translate from my Saramaccan to her Dutch. Talk about hilarious! There I am telling this rough looking guy to please sew me a pretty dress or skirt and blouse. He ended up being really nice. People went all out for this wedding (since it was so elaborate) and it was fun to see how creative everyone was with their outfits.

If you notice, Ryan didn't get an outfit made. In everyday life, Saramaccan women still dress traditionally while the men dress in western clothes. True to form, for this wedding in Paramaribo, the men wore slacks and button down shirts instead of making tunics out of the material like the women made outfits.

This wedding was very western and very Christian. First, they were legally married at the city hall. The small room was full and most people waited outside or just came to the reception. At the reception they exchanged rings (not a Saramaccan tradition) and said their vows. One thing I noticed that was different was that another woman and man dressed as bride and groom came down the aisle before the true bride and groom. I think it symbolizes walking in the path of a successful marriage. There was a lot of entertainment from the diverse cultures in Suriname: traditional Saramaccan dancers, Javanese musical performers and Chinese dancers.

Weddings are one of the best windows into a culture. I hope we are able to attend another before our time here ends. I would love to see a traditional Saramaccan wedding where they pour out rum.

Click here to see the rest of the wedding pictures.

Boys, boys, boys!

2011-12-02T21:14:00.000-08:00

Two of my very best friends have kids- boys to be precise. Alysha's ADORABLE son Jesiah is 16 months already. Although we just met a week ago (she had him shortly after I arrived in Suriname), I am happy to report that we are fast friends. He took a liking to his Auntie Lindsay right away. :) We went on a little Disneyland adventure. He was so good! That kid is so easy going and SMART!

Click here to see all of our Disneyland pictures. We had a blast!

I am thrilled to report that I was able to see Valoria pregnant (maternity pics by Claire Wolf here) AND meet her beautiful son Cassius Nasir Jones on this trip. Cash was born on November 29th weighing in at 9lbs 9.5 ounces. Mama and baby are doing well! Congratulations Valoria and Brian!

P.s. I know it has been awhile since I've blogged. I have lots to catch up on- my first Saramaccan wedding and my whole trip to America plus lots more gorgeous babies! Stay tuned.

HIV/AIDS Education Project

2011-10-04T18:14:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I just completed my first major HIV/AIDS Education Project in my village. I worked with two community partners- one of my policlinic nurses (Linda) and the head of the local women's organization (Helga). They were both phenomenal. Though they were my official partners, the 5 week (once a week) educational classes would not have been the success that they were without the group effort of several of my friends and neighbors. I am truly blessed to have such strong, intelligent women in my village.

Left: Helga Right: Linda

So, Linda, Helga and I gave the same class to two different groups of women every Sunday and Monday for four weeks. The majority of the women were from my village but on Mondays women from two neighboring villages (who currently do not have Peace Corps volunteers) traveled by boat to attend the trainings.

Many people have asked me if HIV/AIDS is a huge problem in Suriname. That question is difficult to answer as accurate, up-to-date data is not readily available. HIV/AIDS has not reached the epidemic status here as it has, for example, in many parts of Africa, however, there are many factors that threaten an epidemic in the near future. In other words, NOW is the time to fight this disease with awareness, education and understanding to hopefully prevent an exponential increase in transmission. Some of these factors include (and this is speaking from a Saramaccan viewpoint, not Suriname as a whole): co-wives being socially acceptable, transient lifestyle of the male population (looking for jobs), poor health education, prostitution in the gold bush, poor condom accessibility, poor HIV test accessibility and immense social stigma.

We gave every woman a teaching booklet so they can spread their knowledge of HIV/AIDS

During the first four weeks we covered how HIV is transmitted, addressed local myths and fears, talked about where villagers can get free condoms and free HIV tests, how to properly use condoms and what to do if someone is HIV positive (medication, lifestyle, first steps, etc). In addition, one of my Saramaccan friends (we'll call her Susan) was brave enough to travel to my village and share her personal story of contradicting HIV and how she lives with it. I have to admit that I was nervous for her to come. I was worried about the ugly face of stigma and I did not want anyone to offend Susan. I was relieved and heartened to discover that the women of my villager really stepped up and, although I could tell many were frightened, they embraced Susan and openly admired her strength and courage. I think this was the most powerful part of my classes and I am indebted to Susan who just cannot help but make everyone love her. After Susan told her story, we pushed deeper into fighting discrimination against people with HIV/AIDS and I could see the change of attitudes right before my eyes.

On the fifth Sunday, men, women and older children were invited to an HIV/AIDS Awareness Day put on by selected women from my class. It was a hectic day but I was pleasantly impressed by the women I had been meeting with one on one (outside of the normal trainings) to give the lesson. They remembered everything and did an amazing job! Besides the total of 54 women who attended the 4 classes, over 100 people came to the Awareness Day.

Helga practicing her part (how HIV IS transmitted)

Melo giving her part of the training (how HIV is NOT transmitted)

Impromptu dancing and singing afterwards

The women in the class each cross-stitched a square for our HIV Awareness Quilt that will be hung at the policlinic in my village. Cross-stitching is a big part of Saramaccan culture and served as a time of discussion among the women while they sewed during the week. Our hope is that it will be a conversation starter at the policlinic and help people feel more comfortable discussing HIV/AIDS. My fellow Peace Corps volunteers Shannon and Amber, who also live in Saramaccan villages, came up with the idea to incorporate cross-stitching into an HIV Awareness activity. Encouraged by the success in their villages, I decided to take the same concept and create an extended curriculum. Thanks Shannon and Amber!

All of the participating women on the Awareness Day with our final HIV Quilt

Helga and Diana with their finished cross-stitched squares

My square! It means "How will you stop HIV?"

I have led HIV/AIDS trainings at Camp Glows, helped other volunteers with their HIV/AIDS projects and had many informal discussions but this was my first official HIV/AIDS project in my village that I alone coordinated. I am really excited to have this under my belt and happy to report that I sincerely think (and pray) that the difference in these people's knowledge of HIV/AIDS will help fight the spread of the disease in Suriname. I gained a lot of hands on experience and look forward to applying it to my next projects.

A special thanks to my hubby for photographically documenting this project for me.

Busy, busy, busy

2011-08-22T07:00:00.000-07:00

A lot is going on, as usual. The mother of one of our good friends in the village recently passed away so we’ve been busy with funeral ceremonies. This is the first time that I have felt comfortable bringing my camera to these events, so I hope you all find them interesting.

In the middle of all that, I traveled to the city to buy supplies for a five week HIV/AIDS education class with the women in my village and two neighboring villages. We had the first class already and it went well! Expect pictures from that project later. I appreciate prayers and good thoughts for success over the next month!

Straight back from the city, we’ve been at end-of-the-school year events as the Suriname summer vacation is starting (during their big dry season). This means no more English lessons at the school for the next 2 months. I am going to take this time to improve the English/Saramaccan workbook that a previous volunteer created before we start classes with the new 5^th and 6^th graders in October.

Two good friends and I are also starting to plan the next CAMP GLOW on our river. CAMP GLOW is a life skills/empowerment camp for girls ages 12-15. I have helped with two already but will be co-leading this one. Wish me luck!

So, here is my picture update. Enjoy!

I have a porch- finally!!!

2011-08-17T16:17:00.000-07:00

Our porch is finished!! Our friend Mark came down (who has a degree in Construction Management) and he and Ryan put their heads together and figured out how to complete our porch. It is AWESOME! First of all, it increases the size of our house by 50% and now we have a place to sit that is out of the rain but out of our house which gets very hot from the sun and from cooking anything. They built a bench so we can seat more people and we can also tie two hammocks! I LOVE it. It makes our house so much more comfortable and easier to have people over.

Here is a picture of our house as we found it one year ago:

And here is a picture of our house now:

Crazy, huh?! Thanks my hubby and Mark! I told them this was practice for the porch they’ll build me in America. :) Click here for more pictures of their hard labor.

Corps Values

2011-08-03T12:48:00.000-07:00

As service is a huge part of the Pepperdine University mission, the alumni office has been keeping tabs on Ryan and I in the Peace Corps. The Pepperdine Magazine decided to do an article on Peace Corps to commemorate its 50th anniversary. They contacted us to be interviewed and to send them pictures. Take a look here to see the online version. Through this article, we discovered that another P-dine couple is serving right now in Guyana (which is right next door to Suriname for those of you who are geographically challenged). Looks like they might be visiting us and vice versa!

Little Saramaccan Lindsay

2011-07-19T09:01:00.000-07:00

This is my friend Zuslien:

She lives close to us but is planning on moving to Paramaribo in August. In this recent picture, she is pregnant with her sixth child. I think she's around 29 years old. A couple of months ago she informed us that if she has a boy, she will name him Ryan and if she has a girl, she will name her Lindsay. We were excited, although, I wasn't sure if she would follow through with it or if our name would be the kid's first name, or second middle name like little Rachel Josina Lindsay Smit from our homestay family (look here).

Well, the day finally came and she had a little girl! I was in the city at the time but my friend who is the nurse called me to say that Zuslien gave birth to a little girl and she was taking my name as her first name! Here's the thing about names in Saramaaka. Everyone has a birth name that is used in school but usually no one uses that name outside of school. Everyone has one or two nicknames that they go by. In fact, I've talked to some new mothers who do not even remember their baby's real name because they don't plan on ever using it except for school. Anyways, when I came to visit little Lindsay, Zuslien and her five other children were all calling her Lindsay already, so I think they will actually use it outside of school!

Here she is in an outfit I bought for her!

Me, Zuslien, baby Lindsay and her big sister Sepora

Zuslien, little Lindsay, Sepora and John, Zuslien husband

A New Road, Emancipation Day, etc.

2011-07-02T13:39:00.000-07:00

Seriously? No one commented on my last post about Ryan climbing inside of our Durotank?

Here is an update in pictures from June through July 1st, which is Emancipation Day in Suriname. You'll find jungle animals, rainbows, Saramaccan party attire, adorable children and a bulldozer making its way through our village. Never a dull moment in Saramaaka.

Dirty Jobs

2011-06-24T08:00:00.000-07:00

If you all have not figured it out by now, we do not have running water in our village. We collect rain water in a Durotank off the zinc roof of our wash house. This is our Durotank on its side:

What you cannot tell in the above picture is that Ryan is inside of our Durotank. Yep. For proper maintenance, you are supposed to clean out Durotanks once a year. It actually was not as dirty as we anticipated, but I am glad that job is done. Reason #468 for joining the Peace Corps as a married couple. I love you, honey!

Village Party!

2011-06-17T12:10:00.000-07:00

The Birthday Girl and I

One of our teachers and a basia of the village (an official leader) turned 50 this year and threw the first big party in Pokigron since we've lived here. She picked out the party material at a local shop. Most of the women in my village bought it and then it was up to us how we wanted to sew it. The other teachers really went to town. You can tell that they are all from Paramaribo and not the interior. :)

All of the school teachers singing for the birthday girl.

Since we live in a church village, the party started off with some hymns (acapella) and a short message about God and the birthday girl. After that different people sang for her and gave speeches about her. Bami, soup, fried rice, soda and cake were served to everyone attending. There was a band who played music way too loud (I swear most of this country will be deaf in 10 years) and I saw some of my villagers dance for the first time (though mostly kids and men).

My friend Solaia and I. She braided my hair!

Ryan and I headed to bed a little after 1AM but I heard the party kept going until 6AM. Saramaccans do not need sleep! I don't know how they do it but I am very jealous!

Ryan was content holding this little guy who would have rather been in bed!

2011-05-26T16:36:00.000-07:00

Random adorable baby picture: this is an updated picture of Julius, my friend Isa's baby. She was pregnant when I first moved to Pokigron and I ended up on a boat with her while she was in labor- we have a special bond.

Things have been busy lately. The new group of Peace Corps Suriname trainees have arrived and Ryan and I are both helping give trainings and act as guides as they transition into this fascinating country. The big rainy season started right on time on May Basket Day (May 1st, also known as Valoria and Brian Jones' wedding anniversary!) so we are enjoying rain showers daily. We are just starting to dive into several different projects in our village, so please keep us in your thoughts and prayers. We are willing (although learning as we go) but our villagers have to be willing every step of the way, as well. We'll see how things go.

In the meantime, we are continuing to make improvements on our little hut. I do not remember if I posted pictures of Ryan cutting vent holes into both the front and back walls. He did it awhile ago and it has really helped to allow the heat to escape the house. We are also in the process of making the porch that we wanted since before we moved to site (you see how slowly things happen here?). Here are pictures of these exciting changes.

We went back to visit our homestay family before one of the new Peace Corps trainees moves in with them. They were thrilled to see us and it was really nice to see them. If you remember, our host mom gave birth to a little girl while we lived with them. She is so big now and beautiful! Click here to see pictures of the kids, as well as Ryan and I teaching English and a monkey because, well, we live in the jungle.

We miss you all and America quite a bit. Send us an email, letter, package or give us a call via phone or skype. We love to hear from friends and family.

Happy Mother’s Day!

2011-05-08T07:00:00.000-07:00

As is true with all children, as I grow older I come to understand and appreciate just how challenging and all-consuming motherhood is for a woman. My own mother has never wavered in her love and support for me even in times that I doubted it in my childishness or no matter where I ventured off in the world. I know she is proud of me and will always be there for me no matter what happens, which are two of the most empowering gifts a mother can give her child. I just want her to know that I realize many children are not fortunate enough to have a mom as wonderful as she is and I appreciate her greatly. I love you Mamuschuka!!!

Not only do I have a wonderful birth mom but I am lucky enough to have found an incredible mother-in-law. She loves me like her own daughter and I cannot express how thankful I am for that. My amazing husband is living proof of her expert mom skills. Happy Mother’s Day, Cecile! I love you!

I would also like to send a special shout out to some new and amazing mothers who are celebrating their very first Mother’s Day- Alysha, Kirstin, Jayme and Rachel. Congratulations all of you! I cannot wait to meet the new additions to the family when I come home.

A Nice, Varied Photo Update

2011-04-30T12:57:00.000-07:00

Click here to check out some recent pictures from my life. Leave a comment and let me know what you think!

Fa Mi e Si En Photo Project

2011-04-26T08:37:00.000-07:00

The two winners with their winning photos and the two PCV Project Coordinators

Two of my fellow Peace Corps Volunteers who are located in the city decided to do a photography project all across Suriname. Every interested PCV selected a child in their respective villages and then mentored that child, teaching them how to take pictures with disposable cameras. There were about 37 child participants. Judges from the Suriname Photographer Association selected the best pictures from each child and then the top picture in two categories: Nature and Culture. My child, Angiti Dalen Van, age 10, won for the Nature category!

Angiti and I

Angiti, her guardian and myself took a trip into the city for a press conference, a private reception, a public expo and private lessons with a professional photographer and artist. It was quite the exciting weekend for her! The American Ambassador for Suriname, the Dutch Ambassador for Suriname, the Peace Corps Country Director and Suriname's Director of Culture were all in attendance.

To read more about the project, check this out from the local Surinamese news. My talented husband was the official Peace Corps photographer for all of these events. To check out his pictures, click here.

Camp Glow (and "Cheenas")

2011-04-21T08:00:00.000-07:00

Camp Glow is a Peace Corps concept for young girls to learn life skills. Peace Corps Suriname volunteers just finished the second Camp Glow on our river. For four days, about 14 Peace Corps volunteers, seven Saramaccan cabin moms, a handful of Saramaccan guest speakers and 50 Saramaccan girls between the ages of 12 and 16 co-inhabited a tourist camp located on a small island in the middle of the Suriname River. The girls attended lessons on Nutrition & Exercise, Careers, HIV/AIDS Prevention, Gender Roles & Leadership, Sexual & Reproductive Health, and Environmentalism. Other activities included slag ball (it is similar to soft ball), soccer, volleyball, Frisbee, jump rope, hair braiding, washing in the river, movie time, Pictionary and soap-making.

All of these girls came from the Upper Suriname River, where tradition reigns and the Western worldviews are scarce. Many of the girls already have men or will very soon. Ryan and I gave the lesson on Leadership and Gender Roles as we did for the first camp, along with a Saramaccan guest speaker who is from Paramaribo. Since gender roles in careers were covered in another session, we focused on gender roles in marriage and in the home. Saramaccan culture is extremely gendered, with women carrying the majority of everyday work. “Marriage” relationships (in quotations because most Saramaccans do not get married legally but just “take a man/woman”) are so different from the Western concept that they are difficult for me to understand. Multiple wives are accepted, although influence from the Western world is changing opinions. A common problem with a man having multiple wives is that he is often unable to provide for them and their many children. In our lesson, we stressed finishing school before taking a man and having children. We emphasized the importance of finding a good man, who will work hard and help provide for the family. Ryan and I told our story- what important things we talked about before getting married, how we share housework, that we both earned the same amount of money in America, our promise to only be with each other, etc. The kids (and cabin moms!) are always fascinated by our story. The reality is that many of these girls will have co-wives. The point of Ryan and I telling our story is not to change their way of thinking to ours, but rather to expose them to other cultures and to encourage them to seek their own paths. We stressed that whether the girls had co-wives or not, finding men who would live well with them was important (after they finish school).

Another fascinating part of this culture that challenged camp logistics are “cheenas”. A cheena is a taboo/allergy/superstition. They are more prevalent upriver. One of our campers is not allowed to pass by a particular rapid in front of a particular village on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Well, our camp ended on a Tuesday and the girl would have to pass through this rapid to get back to her village, so she had to have her own boat come take her home a day early. Cheenas are taken very seriously.

The family of two other girls (sisters) had prayed to the gods right before the camp, begging them for something (I am not sure what, but possibly for the health of a family member). In exchange for the gods’ help, the family pledged to not use river water for one day. This is a huge sacrifice, since women wash themselves, their children, their clothes, their plates, etc in the river at least twice a day, every day (as if the Saramaccan lifestyle wasn’t already challenging enough). Of course, this day landed on the last day of our camp. The girls had to wash with rain water that day, while all the other campers went to the river. Later, the counselors filled up water balloons to soak all the girls. Well, the sink water is pumped from the river, so the girls were careful to step to the side to avoid contact. Later, when all the girls were getting into the boat to go home, a long discussion ensued about where was the best place for them to sit in the boat so they would not get splashed at all. The family planned to offer things like rum, clothing material, etc. to the gods when they arrived for even chancing getting wet in a boat. If the gods are angered then something bad could happen to the whole family.

I have heard of other cheenas such as if a women has twins, she can no longer eat any animals that live above the ground. For example, she can eat iguana, tapir, and peccary. However, she can no longer eat sloth, monkey or birds. They believe that if she does, something terrible will happen to the twins.

There is a village upriver from mine that does not allow white people in it. Apparently, the god who lives in the land cannot be around white people. If a white person was to go there, something would happen to the whole village and the white person or the person who bought the white person there. The same god lives in the head of a woman in one of my friend’s villages, so she has to avoid that part of the village.

This is the world that I live in. Fascinating, right?

Going back to Camp Glow, Ryan was the official camp photographer. Click here, here, here, and here to check out his vibrant pictures.

Thank yous!

2011-04-15T16:19:00.000-07:00

Ryan and I received these AWESOME birthday cards from Mrs. Tracy’s 4^th and 5^th graders and we want to give them a special shout out. Thank you!

Ryan especially loved the cards with pictures of him killing tarantulas. Great job everyone!

We also want to say thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Tracy, my mom and dad, and Edgar and Anne for the awesome care packages. Thanks to everyone who has sent us letters recently! We genuinely appreciate your thoughtfulness and support. Those little pieces of home mean a lot to us.

One Year in Saramaaka

2011-04-15T14:59:00.000-07:00

It is hard to believe, but we are coming up on one year since we first set foot in Suriname and it has been a wild ride! To Americans, a year seems like such a long time but to Saramaccans, it is fleeting. I must say that with the goal of integrating into a culture that is SO incredibly diverse from my own, including learning the language from absolute square one, one year is not a long time. In fact, this experience has only strengthened my belief that development workers must put in the time to truly understand a country, a culture, and a people long before they can try to “improve” anything. There are so many things that Saramaccans do that I still do not understand why they do them but you know what? They have lived this way for generations- long before I showed up- and they have survived just fine. Yes, I have been trained in the things of the Western world and some of those things can be applied here to empower the people in order to improve their quality of life. However, in so many things I know nothing and am like an infant. It is amazing that as society “progresses”, people lose the most basic skills and knowledge, like how to just take care of yourself without all the modern conveniences.

Saramaccans left “civilized society” in this Dutch colony to escape slavery and created a life for themselves in the middle of the Amazon jungle- definitely one of the fiercest environments in the world. And they have continued to survive ever since. That is impressive. And then here I come, a college educated white girl who doesn’t know how to grow my own food, light a wood fire or kill snakes, rats, etc. and I am supposed to be educating them? Respect and relationships govern this community, not resumes and individualism. And not self-seeking relationships from heartless networking but sincere, intimate relationships with people you see every day and know well.

This experience has really opened my eyes to the reality of development work- what works and what doesn’t and what effects “charity” has on entire generations and communities. I have worked with numerous international charities/non-profits/development agencies from the pristine walls of offices in Beverly Hills and Santa Monica but diligent research and strategic meetings do not achieve the level of understanding that comes from working in the field. This is the most challenging undertaking that I have attempted thus far (and Machu Piccu was excruciating). Every day takes its toll physically, mentally, and emotionally but it has been and continues to be such an awe-inspiring experience. I have worked my way into a part of this community (worked HARD, mind you)- into its rich culture, complicated past and uncertain future. It is unlikely that I will have the opportunity to be in this unique position ever again.

Two weeks ago Ryan and I were riding in a bus from Paramaribo back to site with a driver that we know well. A couple Saramaccan men who did not know us got onto the bus and one of them asked the driver “ambe dee bakaa?” which means “who are these white people/outsiders?” With a chuckle (since he knew we understood the question), he replied, “they’re not outsiders/white people, they’re Saramaccan.” For not completing one fleeting year yet, I would say that is pretty damn good. ;)

This is My Everyday Life

2011-03-29T06:58:00.001-07:00

This is my first time in the big city in two months (since just before my birthday). I have lots to catch up on but in the meantime, here are a few awesome pictures of my everyday life in my village. Enjoy!

Cassava bread, drying in the sun. I love to design the top but I have not mastered flipping them yet!

This ADORABLE little guy was brought over to my house by my 4 year old neighbor girl. He was found in the jungle and taken as a pet (not to eat!). I got to hold him- SO cute!

Some of the more established women in my village have wheelbarrows to haul all the washing to the river, instead of carrying it all on their head.

Peanuts! My neighbor laid these out to dry.

Suriname has some gorgeous vegetation!

Several women in my village and I peeled pounds and pounds of a palm fruit called Amana. It was later pounded with a mortar and pestle then boiled to make cooking oil. It's a long, labor intensive process!

Hopefully more to come later!

Mi Fujali (My Birthday)!

2011-02-12T15:33:00.000-08:00

I always thought that for my golden birthday I would have a huge party…then I joined the Peace Corps. And due to a recent trip to the city for multiple meetings, my birthday was passed in my little hut in the jungle. And it was awesome. At 6:30am I awoke to women singing very close by. I pushed Ryan out of bed and went to the front door in my pjs to discover about 8 women from my village standing in the pre-dawn on my doorstep serenading me. It was such a cool experience. My friend Ria (who’s birthday is 2 days before mine) told all these women that it was birthday so they came to sing to me. About five songs later (ending with Happy Birthday in Saramaccan and English), I hugged and thanked each of them before they moved on to my other friend’s house, Aropa, to sing to her. Aropa and I discovered a few months back that we are twins- born on the same day in the same year, just on different continents. She, of course, is two kids ahead of me in the game of life but that’s only to be expected here.

My friend Aropa and I wearing our matching koosus.

When I got up for the day (of course I went back to sleep at 6:30am) I walked into the front room to discover a “Happy Golden Birthday” sign with a little jewelry sized box. My adorable husband bought me a gorgeous pair of earrings in the city! I promptly put them on with my pajamas and pranced to the back of the house where he was doing dishes. After that, he made me French toast for breakfast. Best. Husband. Ever.

After my fun, American birthday morning, I changed gears and my Saramaccan birthday started. In Saramaaka, if you do anything for your birthday, you are responsible for doing all the work. So, Ryan and I started baking about 4 cakes at my friend Ria’s house, then we walked to the village next to ours in the heat of the day to buy cold liters of soda and ice. By the way, we do not have electricity right now, so we waited until right before the party in hopes that our now useless freezer would act as a cooler and the drinks would still be cold. It worked! After poor Ryan wheelbarrowed all the loot back (talk about a workout), we popped lots of popcorn and employed a couple ten-year-olds to make little goody bags of popcorn and candy for all the kids. Meanwhile Ria and I cut and bagged all the cake.

The many bags of cake we bagged!

Finally, at about 6:30 (I told people to come at 4:30), about 40 kids and 10 adults are sitting in the front of my house. The adults have all the kids sing for about half an hour (church songs, of course, this is a church village). Aropa and I get many handshakes with “congratulations”. When the kids are finished singing, about 10-15 more adults show up just in time for the cake, soda, popcorn, etc. By now we are all sitting in the pitch black with only our two little oil lanterns. Most of the kids’ parents aren’t here. None of the kids have flashlights. No one is worried. Quickly after the goods are dispersed, the people disperse.

The party at in front of our house.

We are exhausted!!! It was so much work to just have popcorn, cake and soda. I was hoping to have a proper Saramaccan birthday next year with dirty rice and a dish called Bami, but I don’t know if I have the energy!

All-in-all it was an awesome, cross-cultural birthday and I am so thankful for all of my blessings. Most of all, I am thankful for my amazing husband who was such a trooper all day helping with preparations (he kept saying, “I do not want to do anything for my birthday”). J

My friend Ria holds my hand as they sing me "Happy Birthday" in English and Saramaccan.

P.S. - When we were in the city the week before my birthday, I had a fancy birthday dinner with a few of my girls who happened to be in town. My friend Petronela's birthday is January 27th, one day after mine, so we celebrated together. It was such a fun girls' night out!

Birthday girls!

Me, Erica, Petronela, and Megan.

The Tracys in Suriname

2011-01-16T10:41:00.000-08:00

My most favorite sister Summer and her husband Jesse flew back with Ryan and I from Tobago to Suriname to get a little taste of jungle life. First, we all experienced New Years in Paramaribo. People started setting off firecrackers days before New Years with the grand finale on New Years Eve day. There were people and firecrackers everywhere- it was insane.

After New Years we headed to our village. Summer and Jesse were awesome! They learned how to greet our villagers in Saramaccan and enthusiastically jumped into the Saramaccan way of life (washing dishes and clothes in the river, using the latrine and pee pot, etc). Our village loved them and gave them Saramaccan names- Waitimai and Waitipai which means good-looking daughter-in-law and good-looking son-in-law. I am sure everyone will be asking about them for months to come.

Click HERE to look at more pictures of our many colorful adventures complete with captions explaining everything. Thanks Summer and Jesse for coming to visit us! It meant so much to Ryan and I to share our crazy life with you both.

Merry Caribbean Christmas!

2011-01-13T10:21:00.000-08:00

Cecile (Ryan's mom), Edgar (Ryan's eldest brother), Anne (Edgar's wife), Todd (Ryan's other brother), Moka (Todd's wife), Summer (my sister), Jesse (Summer's husband), Ryan and I all flew to Tobago for Christmas and it was a blast!!!

It was SO WONDERFUL to spend time with family and just relax. The beaches in Tobago are gorgeous! It was so energizing to see an ocean again. Edgar's long time friend Dave lives in Tobago with his wife and two boys and they were awesome hosts. We feasted at their home for Christmas dinner. Click HERE to see more pictures of our island adventures.

Thanks everyone for making the long trek to the Caribbean so we could see you all!

Our Little Garden!

2011-01-09T10:17:00.000-08:00

As I am sure you know by now, getting fresh fruits and vegetables in the interior is a struggle. Contrary to what you may think, we do not have a lot of fruit trees in our village and the villagers mostly only grow starchy root vegetables (because they grow really well). We always buy a good supply the day we leave the city, but with the humidity so high and no refrigeration, not much lasts for more than a couple days. Therefore, Ryan and I planted a garden before we left for Christmas, wondering if anything would grow while we were gone. We planted watermelon, cantaloupe, cucumber, koosbanti (similar to green beans), eggplant and pumpkin.

The good news is that everything except the eggplant sprouted! Here are a few shots of everything growing.

Koosbanti is a vine vegetable so Ryan built A-frame trellises for them to climb

He also built a dual purpose frame that serves as both a trellis for the pumpkin and a privacy wall behind our house

Cucumber plants

Ryan also turned our waiting pile into a compost pile so hopefully we'll have good compost in a few months!

Since these pics were taken, everything is growing well except it appears something is slowly killing the pumpkin. :( There is a WIDE variety of insects that could befall our little plot, so we'll see what actually comes to fruition.

No Shave November

2011-01-09T09:44:00.000-08:00

Sorry it has been awhile since I've posted. The busyness of the holidays and not-so-great internet have made blogging challenging but I am trying to catch up!

One of our PC friends named Mark had been asking Ryan to participate in "No Shave November" since October. THEN Ryan learned that his brother Edgar was growing a mustache to raise money for charity during November. I think that sealed the deal.

Mark and Ryan

Then Ryan had the genius idea to remove the beard in stages. I am personally a fan of clean-shaved boys but it was pretty hilarious...

Chops, mustache, soul patch and goatee

Mustache, soul patch and goatee

Handlebar mustache and soul patch

Just the handlebar mustache.

And finally that handsome, familiar face returns!!

Cute Kids (written 11/21/10)

2010-12-03T17:36:00.000-08:00

We have some pretty darn cute kids in our village and I managed to catch a few on camera...

Girls standing outside our window, probably staring at us eat dinner...

Yes, that is a bottle with some fake hair attached. No, the girls in my village are not making "babies" to play "house". They are making mannequins to practice hair braiding- an essential part of this culture.

Check out this sweet car on a string!

Seriously the cutest picture ever, right?! Leuferny (our neighbor girl) turned four in September and started school. This is her brand new school outfit that she wears everyday.

...and her brand new Dora the Explorer backpack!

Ok, so really maybe I should have titled this post "Cute pics of Leuferny". Last week her grandfather came over and told me that Leuferny was in big trouble because she was out playing all day and had not got her hair braided yet. Around 8pm she shows up in my window and asks me to braid her hair. It is a big deal to have tidy braids for school, so even though I had to pack and was exhausted, I agreed. The second I started brushing her hair out the girl falls deeply asleep, not making my job any easier!

This kid. He is not posing for the camera; this is literally how he was lounging in our house.

And not more than one minute later... he's out for the count. He snored on my floor for a good hour or two.

Samiro spent a good hour shooting his little bow and arrow at imaginery animals in front of our house the other day.

This little girl's name is Nunja. She's cute but she's a handful!

Why Peace Corps Won’t Let Volunteers Have Babies While Serving (written 11/7/10)

2010-11-25T07:21:00.000-08:00

This is my friend Isa:

She is adorable. She is 29 years old and barely taller than 5 foot. I stumbled upon her house on a random walk through the village to meet people when we first moved here. She has three beautiful daughters and lives next to her mother-in-law. I liked them both right away. They live in a quiet, shady area on the edge of the village that makes a peaceful get-a-way but still makes me feel like I am putting in the time and effort to integrate. Isa keeps a clean, cute little Saramaccan house (the same style as mine). She also seems to enjoy her children which I do not see in every household.

Something else that stood out about Isa was that she was about 6 ½ months pregnant when I first met here. She is very thin and so was all belly. Last week I was sewing at her house and she told me that her due date was that very day but the baby had not come. Ever since then I have checked on her every couple of days and asked other people if she was still pregnant. A few months ago she went to see a doctor in Paramaribo and they were debating whether she should stay in the city to have the baby or go back to our village and give birth at the poli clinic with a nurse. They sent her back. I was glad I got to hang out with her the past couple of months but I was nervous. I know nurses and mid-wives have brought children into this world by the hundreds but what if something went wrong?

So, yesterday I am making lunch for Ryan and I when our neighbor comes over and tells me that Isa is at the policlinic but something is wrong and they are going to air-vac her to the city. We just discovered last week that if there is an emergency out here that the patient is taken on a boat up the river 1 hour to another village where they have a landing strip so a plane can meet him/her and fly to Paramaribo (who pays for this?!). I rushed over to the poli to see her before she left. At least…that was my intention. Somehow about an hour later, I ended up in the boat with Isa, her mother-in-law and the policlinic nurse heading upriver. The father was down river working.

As we are in the boat fighting the rapids up river and I stare at my friend’s back wondering how bad her labor pains are, I think about pregnant women in the U.S. – about the preferential treatment they are given during pregnancy and the comfortable, clean hospitals they have for delivery. The contrast is dumbfounding.

When we finally arrived, the visiting doctor from Cuba (the same one who looked at my ear months ago) examined her. They decided she would have the baby there and not go to the city so they induced her. The room she was in was so hot (obviously no air conditioning). No one offered her ice chips or anything. I sat in there with her awhile having no idea what was culturally appropriate to say and not say.

After a couple of hours the nurse from my poli said we were heading back, so I left Isa with her mother-in-law. The best part? As I was leaving she told me she would see me back in our village tomorrow. Tomorrow?!

This morning I stopped by the poli before church and asked the nurse for news. She told me that Isa had the baby at 9pm last night. A little boy, as predicted. Around 1pm today Isa’s 3 daughters came running up to our house to tell us that Isa and the baby had arrived. Yep, back down the rapids- a woman who just gave birth and her 1 day old child. Completely normal.

Here is the cutie patootie- Julius Darwin. I think Julius is a family name and Darwin is after the Cuban doctor who delivered him.

Here are the proud big sisters.

Coming Home (written 10/17/10)

2010-11-25T06:12:00.000-08:00

Today Ryan and I came back to our village for the first time in about a month. Yes, I know we live in a hut in the jungle and I dislike using a pee pot and HATE all the dirt everywhere but I enjoy making and having a home. I have tried to make our little hut into a comforting, relaxing and organized environment. It was just good to come back to OUR space where we have OUR things that make us comfortable and OUR food to cook as we wish.

That said, let's talk about yet another difference between my life in the states and my life in the jungle. If I had left my apartment in the states for a month and then returned, perhaps I would have been annoyed that I left some things on the nice carpeted floor or I forgot to clean out the huge refrigerator and needed to throw some things away. Maybe the TV stand and side table would have been a little dusty.

Upon returning to our hut, we were actually happy that things were not as bad as we thought. Ryan only killed one tarantula that was living in the outhouse along with some wasps while I and one of my friends swept off every counter and the floors numerous times. Dirt and other wonderful jungle residue was EVERYWHERE. Ryan opens our little freezer thinking some things may be bad and finds everything covered in mold. My friend then tells me that our village ran out of oil to run the generator (at night) almost the entire time we were gone. “Yeah!” for missing not having power. “Boo!” for not being here to open the freezer while it defrosted from no electricity. On top of that, a really pretty tree that bloomed yellow flowers next to our house had fallen over right next to our door. After all that, a quick sweep of the wash house and the latrine and things are looking much better. Our “yard” is a mess, though. Tomorrow I will be raking up all the fallen leaves to make our dirt clean and “pretty” because that is what a good Saramaccan woman does. I also plan to get up on the early side and head to the river to wash dishes and some clothes.

On a different note, we are in the middle of the big dry season here in Suriname and that is much more evident in the interior than it was in the city. The bus ride out here was one big dust bowl with the foliage on both sides of the dirt road covered in a thick red-brown layer. We did not think it was possible but it is substantially hotter now than when we were here a month ago and no more air conditioning like we enjoyed in the city. The plants and trees are drying out so all the Saramaccans are able to clear and burn the brush for the year so they can plant when the rainy season starts again so the village just looks more bare. I already told one of my Saramaccan friends how Ryan and I learned a different way to farm without burning the land and we would be trying it out. We'll see how it goes.

ECO 2000

2010-10-16T16:48:00.000-07:00

Ryan and I recently attended a two day training at an organization called ECO 2000 where we learned a little more about composting and gardening in a tropical climate. Little did I know that in a moderate climate about 90% of the nutrients in an ecosystem are in the soil while in a tropical climate about 90% of the nutrients are above the ground in the foliage. This is why deforestation in the tropics is such a tragedy. Once people cut and remove the trees and plants, the soil loses all nutrients and therefore re-planting is difficult. So, we learned how to take care of the soil by ground coverage (to protect the soil from the sun) and composting.

Me after helping transform the "waiting pile" into the dome shaped compost pile.

We plan on planting a small garden when the rainy season starts (mid-December) so we can have fresh vegetables since they are extremely hard to come by in the interior otherwise. We also plan to start a compost pile when we get back to our village to improve the soil by our house.

The local maroons use the slash and burn technique, clearing the land of all nutrients. It will be interesting when we have to try to explain why we are using a different method. I am sure they will rack it up as another crazy thing those white people do... ;)

The Adventure Continues...

2010-09-20T17:05:00.000-07:00

As many of you may know, I am currently in Panama due to some ear issues I have been having since arriving in Suriname. Panama is the Washington DC Peace Corps approved medical facility for Central America, South America and the Caribbean. It has been a frustrating week with countless doctor appointments in a country I have never been to before with people I do not know from Adam. However, when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade, right? So, I have been trying to make the best out of this opportunity to experience Panama and enjoy incredible luxuries like hot water, an indoor toilet and air conditioning.

At the top of my list was, of course, the Panama Canal. Did you know the canal was under either full or joint U.S. control from 1914 when it was completed until December 1999? As a result, the influence of the United States in Panama is extraordinary.

Next on my list- eating delicious food. Don't get me wrong. Ryan and I have been exceptionally creative with our jungle cuisine but Suriname sadly just does not have a lot to offer for a curious palate. Mexican food, real sandwiches with lunch meat and sliced cheese, fresh fruit, sushi, Root Beer... I even salivated for fake Mexican food- Taco Bell!

That is dark chocolate covered bananas and strawberries at one of the very upper class malls in Panama City.

I went to Panama Viejo to see the ruins of the first Spanish colony in Panama.

Then I followed history's steps to Casco Viejo, where the colony moved after Panama Viejo was destroyed in 1671 by a pirate named Henry Morgan.This part of the city is full of old, deteriorating buildings that people still live in with a few beautifully restored ones in between.

And I went to church at La Iglesia del Carmen. Catholic mass in Spanish brought me back to memories of my homestay in Argentina.

Panama City has some extremely nice areas but I have been told the country outside of the city is quite the contrast. For those of you wondering, I am doing fine and should be returning to Suriname within a week, hopefully healthy as a horse.

Random and Fabulous Pictures!

2010-09-02T11:24:00.000-07:00

Every time I speak with people back home they tell me how much they appreciate my pictures and ask for more. I agree that showing you all the world that I am living in is sometimes better than telling you about it, so I try to make sure to capture as much as I can. Here are a few great ones that I hope you enjoy!

Di Lio- Take Two (written 8-15-10)

2010-09-02T09:52:00.000-07:00

The community sink has not worked for the past two days. With the dry season approaching, we are trying to conserve the water in our durotanks when possible. So...off to the river we went to wash clothes and dishes. My adorable little neighbor girl asked me if she could come and I said sure. Her name is Leufeni and she is three years old. She lives next door with what I am assuming are her grandparents. When we first moved in she mostly just stared at us from a distance with huge eyes and was fairly afraid of us. Over time my smiles, waves and greetings wore her down and I got her to wave back at me. Pretty soon every time she saw me, she would wave energetically, even if we had just waved about 3 minutes before. She then progressed to returning my greetings, then started prancing (she loves to prance) and singing around our house stories about us, narrating what we were doing at that point in time. Now, the girl loves to know exactly what we're doing and where we are at all times and spends a good amount of time perched in our front window, singing and chatting away, all the while watching us with those big innocent eyes.

This is a picture of her carrying firewood back from the jungle with her grandma. Yep, she's three. And adorable. And probably tougher than me.

Cut to: Leufeni coming to the river with us. I soon realized that our dirty clothes and dishes wouldn't fit in our two biggest buckets, so I'd have to use a third. One for my head, one for Ryan's shoulder and one for Leufeni's head. Hey, you've seen her skills above. I asked her several times if the bucket was too heavy and she responded every time that it was not heavy. Off we go in a little line, all the way to the river. After the local women wash their dishes and clothes and whatever else, they wash themselves and then the clothes that they came wearing. Well, Leufeni decided she would wash, too, so she stripped down and jumped in. After that, she comes up right next to Ryan and lays her little tattered shirt on the cement step, grabs our soap, lathers it up and goes to town with our brush, working out the dirt. I watch her go to work, turn to Ryan and simply state, “She's three.” I went back to washing after a minute but Ryan told me later that she lathered and brushed her shirt about 4 times before he took the soap away and helped her rinse and wring it. We loaded up our buckets and headed back, three ducks in a row. Here I am with my cute little helper, back at our house.

Growing up here is no joke. In many ways, the children are far more independent and capable than most kids in the states, which I admire. However, too many are lacking guidance, encouragement, opportunity and supervision. And there is something to letting a child just be a child for a time.

Di Lio (The River) (written 8/9/10)

2010-08-31T08:57:00.000-07:00

Today my new friend Zoozlen took me to the river to teach me how to “hooko” (fish). She had her 5 children, a big bucket of dirty dishes, a fishing pole and some cassava in tow. There are two places on the bank of the river in our village that women go 2-3 times a day to wash clothes, dishes, their children, and themselves. Many people have durotanks that catch rainwater, but that water is reserved mostly for drinking. Also, our village has community sinks throughout, but I have only seen a few women use these (mostly the older women...and me!). They do not work all the time, so, out of habit, the women go where they know the water will always work- the river.

When we arrive at the river, Zoozlen walks down the cement stairs that end in the river, so I follow, soaking the hem of our koosus. She has the fishing pole that she's made just today, a stick with line and a hook on the end. She attaches a ball of flour mixed with water, throws it out into the river and hands me the stick. I caught one big fish pretty quickly. I have no idea what kind in English, but in Saramaccan it is called waku. By the end of our adventure, we caught about 7 fish: 2 big ones and 5 small ones. I thought I was being pretty tough by being able to unhook the fish and carry them back to our bucket with my bare hands. Then I watched as Zoozlen's 9-year-old daughter starts to scale and gut one of the fish and I have to turn away as I notice the fish is still gasping for oxygen as she rips out his entrails. For about the fiftieth time since I have been here, I marvel at how different the world I grew up in is from the reality these kids grow up in.

We are at the water's edge for about 2 hours and during that time numerous other women come with their dirty dishes and clothes. They all bend in half with no effort and grate their clothes against a flat stone while rubbing with soap. There are kids running around everywhere. The older ones are trying their hand at fishing as well. I observe everything and by the time we leave, I have seen women wash clothes, wash dishes, wash their children, wash themselves, fish, gut fish, clean and cut chicken, throw away garbage, clean fresh cassava and pee in the same 11 foot bank of the river. This is their way of life here. The Suriname River runs through some of the most pristine rainforest in the world. It is also the main water source and only mode of transportation for the thousands of Saramaacan people that have lived along it's banks for hundreds of years. It is amazing to me how these people have carved out a life for themselves deep in the jungle and how that life is evolving as influences from “the west” are coming face to face with their traditional way of life.

Here is one of the big fish that we caught. My friend came over and showed me how the locals fry them up. Have you ever eaten a fish that was looking at you? I have.

Doing Well! (written 8-03-10)

2010-08-05T11:52:00.000-07:00

A week and a half in, Ryan and I are doing well in our new village. We are thankful that our house is set in a nice, quiet spot next to an older couple's house. I am getting to know some of the women better and we've gone on a couple walks to talk to people and see the village. This will take a lot of time. We have a larger village compared to other PC volunteers. I am trying so hard to remember people's names, but it's tough. Everyone seems excited to visit with us and is happy we are here to learn about their way of life. There is so much to learn and experience but we have plenty of time! I am relishing not being inside an office building everyday (although that would be air conditioned!) and actually having time to relax, read, not eat breakfast in my car or at my desk, just sit and talk with people and enjoy the cool mornings and evenings. A lot of the time I feel like we've traveled back in time to the pioneer days in North America. There are a LOT of challenges here and not knowing the language and culture can be very frustrating at times, but I would say overall we are doing well and enjoying the adventure. We LOVE getting calls, letters and packages from home and truly appreciate the encouragement and interest in our lives in this fascinating country from friends and family back home.

Random things I'm experiencing:

Washing my dishes and clothes by hand all the time. My back is not feeling it.
Having random people that I don't know ask what I cooked today. This is an everyday conversation starter. In general, I don't answer chicken and rice, which is what most people cook everyday, so lots of bewildered looks ensue.
Having every door and window open all day in the house for air (without screens) but having to close them at dusk to avoid mice entering the house. Even at night the house is hot but when the electricity comes on at 7pm we have our fan.
Being able to see a billion stars at night. It's beautiful if I have enough deet on to protect me from the mosquitoes so I can enjoy standing still and gazing up.
Greeting everyone I see with the scripted lines that depend on what time of day it is. Many PCVs find this annoying but I kind of like it. It's nice that everyone acknowledges everyone.
Preparing every meal from canned or dry goods. I try to ignore the thought of my sodium intake for the next two years. I am used to shopping in the produce and frozen food sections at the grocery store. Neither one is possible here. Fruits and vegetables are only abundant in the city and they go bad really quickly due to the weather. We hope to start a garden (though it will take a while for anything to fruit) and find some people in our village who have gardens and are willing to sell us some things. We do have a baker in our village who sells bread and some of the little stores sell eggs, so we are thankful for that.
Having to put on sunscreen everyday and mosquito repellent literally ALL the time. You'll be happy to know that I've only mildly burned once in the entire 3 months I've been living on the equator, Mom, which is pretty damn good. All of the locals get a big kick out of the fact that I am way more white than Ryan. Many people in our village have asked if he is American and where his family comes from. I'm still working on light conversation vocab, so try going into a politically correct ethnicity discussion in a language you barely know.

Here are a few pictures of our house and from our first week in our village, complete with captions explaining what is going on. Enjoy!

Tu Dede Sembe Aqui (written 7-25-10)

2010-08-05T09:49:00.000-07:00

The title of this post is the phrase that Ryan and I kept hearing the first day we arrived in our new village. It means two dead people here. Apparently, two men died right before our arrival and their bodies were being brought from the capitol city to our village. A couple PC trainees in our group had experienced deaths in their village during training, so we had some ideas as to what might happen. It was definitely still an experience.

So, the first day at site we put all our stuff in one of the two rooms that our little hut consists of and pitched our hammocks in the other. Sidenote: we have mosquito nets that are made specifically for hammocks, so you look like a giant cocoon once inside. It's pretty sweet. Here is a picture of Ryan tying them up with his headlamp on.

Oh, and I saw a huge spider in the second room right when we finished unloading our stuff into the house. Ryan grabbed our insect spray and went for it, saying it was the same brown spider that our friend Jack had in his house. I replied that this one had a big white bottom part of his body, though. My sexily smart, knows random ish husband replies the white thing is an egg sac. Wonderful. He proceeds to hit the spider with the spray and from where I was standing it looked like a million little ants went running in every direction. They weren't ants. They were teeny tiny spider babies. Welcome to your house in the jungle.

The next day we cleaned the empty room with bleach water (the unfinished wood walls and cement floor) to try to disinfect everything and get the funky stink out. Due to the intense humidity, it takes forever for anything to dry in this country, including our house. Ryan took this time to try to fill every hole big enough for a mouse to come into the house with some hardening foam the PC gave us. To give you a visual on how many holes we had in our house that were big enough for a mouse to come in, if you are standing outside, it looks like a giant marshmallow creature is trying to burst out of every crack. If you're standing inside, it looks like it's trying to get in. We're not really going for aesthetics here in the jungle, though, are we?

By nightfall, the floor and walls were thankfully dry, so we were able to set up our bed and mosquito net to sleep in for the night, which made it feel much more like a home. I was planning on doing the same with the other room the next day. However, the captain of our village informed us that the bodies of the deceased men were arriving midday, so the men of the village were going into the jungle at 9am to dig the graves and he would come get Ryan to help. Here he is looking all ready for the jungle with his machete (in an American way-most of the locals were wearing flipflops). * I will still take a picture of Ryan and I both with our machetes, Vincent, but here is a start!

I decided to try to organize a few things before I ventured out to see what the women were doing (all activities are split by gender here). An 11-year-old boy named Zidani came by and was chatting it up with me while watching me organize our food in meat buckets (they are the only containers that keep out both mice and bugs).

Then two adorable little old ladies came by, Mmma and Dii and sat with me a little while. When I was getting ready to walk to my neighbor's, Ryan comes walking up to let me know that he needed something to pay with I order to go back to helping dig the graves. Apparently, all the men who were working together brought something to contribute to the group such as cigarettes, beer, rum, etc. Very 1950s army-ish, huh? Anyways, we had bought a bottle of Palm Rum before we came, as we were told we should have it on hand to offer our captain or basias (they are the council below the captain; we have 8 in our village) whenever they come over to visit. That stuff is like 80 proof and they just sip a shot or two like it's tea. So, I gave him that to take, which ended up being a hit with the men.

I went over to our neighbor's house, who sent me with another woman to go cook food for all the men who were digging the graves. That was nice because I had some one on one time practicing my language and asking questions about the village. It turns out that one of the dead men was our contact person's big brother and he killed himself by drinking pesticide. The other man was older, in the military and had been sick for a long time (I don't know with what, the people here don't really differentiate between illness, they just say “sick”. Another girl told me maybe it was AIDS, which started my first informal discussion on how HIV/AIDS is trasmitted). After we finished cooking, we carried the food to a central meeting place where I met back up with Ryan. He and the other men were served food there and then went to the family of the other dead man where they were served another meal.

After awhile more people came from the city for the funeral and the bodies arrived. Then the wailing started. I'm talking head thrown to the sky, mouth open, tearing of the clothes wailing. After a few hours we were told we could go home to wash and everyone was meeting in the public, outdoor hall around 8pm for “booko di dia” which literally means breaking the daylight. Basically, we came back and everyone sang for 3 hours straight. One guy would call out a line and everyone would sing it back. No music. Very traditional hymn sounding. Three hours. Let me just say that every day since we've been here Ryan and I have been completely exhausted by about 9pm. So by midnight I felt like I'd been awake for about 3 days. Thankfully, just before my breaking point, women came with sandwiches, cake and coffee and served everyone. Then a guy stood up and proceeded to do standup in Saramaccan for about 4 hours. Considering we only understood random words and no jokes, I focused on trying not to fall asleep and praying fervently that it would end soon. By 4am about ¼ of the people had gone home and we realized the rest were staying through the next day. We hoped our effort was appreciated by the village and quietly left. We decided there was no way in hell we'd be able to get up at 5:30 to come back for the burial so we'd just sleep in. Of course, that meant two different neighbors coming by to wake us up because they were concerned why we had not come out of the house yet.

About midday, we learned that only one of the bodies was buried in the morning as military personnel were coming in from the city in the afternoon for the second burial. We decided to quickly bleach the second room so we could go to the second burial. I was surprised how many people from the military showed up, how many hindustani people are in the military (this shouldn't surprise me, I think they are the majority in Suriname, but for 90% of our time here, we've only been around maroons, so other ethnicities throw me off) and how many women were in the military, especially for how genderfied society is here. I was even more surprised that they brought the military band! After some singing and speeches, a processional started through the village and then into the jungle with the band playing the entire way. They started out playing slowing and solemnly, then it changed to almost jazz and the soldiers were dancing with the casket. Finally, at the grave site, the bugle player did a solo, much like military funerals in the states. The soldiers lowered the casket and left. Then the village men laid freshly cut logs over a lip in the ground they made a couple feet above the casket. Then they laid a sheet of fake linoleum, then put the dirt on top of that. I found it interesting that they did not want any dirt directly on top of the casket. I wonder if there is a specific belief behind that. As you can tell, I did not take any pictures of the cultural events. I didn't want to be another white person with a camera right away but I promise more pictures of our village as time goes on.

There are two things I learned from this experience: one, all the women wear white, blue and black to funeral events, but mostly white. And since all the women here wear plaid koosus (just a piece of cloth that you wrap around your waist as a skirt) all the time, everyone looked like they were wearing the same uniform of some kind, which did not make it any easier to pick out the few women I knew in the crowd. Unfortunately, I stuck out a bit (you know, more than being the only tall, skinny white girl) as I need to invest in a matching funeral koosu. Two, either come early to the booko di dia, go home to nap and come back, or sleep first and then come around midnight with a couple Red Bulls. There is no reason my body wants to stay up for 24 hours straight.

We are official Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs)!

2010-07-21T12:16:00.000-07:00

Ryan and I have made it through almost three months of in-country training and officially taken an oath to the U.S. Peace Corps. We will be leaving for the jungle tomorrow morning bright and early with all of our stuff to set up our new house for the next 2 years. The past few days have been pretty stressful as we've been trying to think of everything we will need, buy it, and haul it either to our hostel or the PC office. We are anticipating doing quite a bit of work once we arrive to site on our small house built by a PC volunteer about 15 years ago, so the next few days and weeks will probably continue to be slightly stressful. On a side note, we will not have internet until we come back into the city. We are not sure when that will be, but probably not for a few months. You can always reach us via cell phone.

Our swearing in ceremony was hosted at the U.S. ambassador to Suriname's home for the first time, which was very gracious of him and his wife. Their house is, of course, BEAUTIFUL and the ceremony was very nice. We are closing the first chapter of our PC adventure and moving into the next with excitement and nervousness! Our language is coming along, but 7 weeks learning a new language doesn't make anyone an expert, so that will be our biggest challenge once we get to site. I pray that we will have patient and kind neighbors to help move it along quickly. We are looking forward to having our own space and cooking for ourselves but are sadly saying goodbye to the running water and flush toilet at our homestay house. Subsequently, we are saying hello to a brand new latrine and outside wash house with a choice to either haul water from a community sink (better than the river!) or our durotanks, which are just huge plastic containers that catch rainwater. Also, Suriname is heading into its 3 month dry season which means no rain to cool of the days. I can not imagine it becoming even hotter than it has been, but apparently it is going to happen. :)

We miss you all very much and look forward to hearing from you. Click Here to look at a few pictures from our swearing in ceremony and following celebration.

SUR 16

2010-07-19T14:57:00.000-07:00

I realized that I have not posted many pictures of our PC group, so here are a couple from a few brief nights out in the city: http://picasaweb.google.com/101047715207299927751/MyFellowPCTraineesSoonToBePCVolunteers#. I need to take more pics in order to make sure to get the whole group represented. We are called SUR 16, meaning the 16th Peace Corps group to come to Suriname (one comes every year). Enjoy!

A Few More Pictures from Homestay

2010-07-19T11:32:00.002-07:00

Ok, I think a Picasa web album is the best way for me to upload pictures for all of you, so..........check out this link for more pictures from our homestay adventure: http://picasaweb.google.com/101047715207299927751/AFewMorePicturesFromCBT#. This way the captions work so you'll know what you're looking at!

P.S.

2010-07-04T09:18:00.000-07:00

Be sure to check out Ryan's blog: http://backfromhello.com/. My adorable photographer husband has some amazing pictures of our experience here.

Special thanks from Suriname to............... my wonderful parents, my super in-laws, my amazing sister, my Clairebear, my Lor, Miss Meggers, my Aunt Marly, my rockin' SILS and BILS, my diligent grandfather and my sweet friend Jody for your letters, packages, calls and especially love! We love hearing what is going on in your exciting lives and just news of the outside world in general. ;) Summer and my parents have our address and phone numbers if you need them. You are welcome to email us, but our response will be a long time coming. The only immediate way to reach us is via cell phone. xoxo

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures!

2010-07-04T09:15:00.000-07:00

Our host mom showed me how to cook "Bami", a Javanese noodle dish that is very popular here. From left to right: Denzel, our host brother, Brigita, our host mom, me, Oozlen, our host sister (well, cousin, technically), and Diosa, our host sister.

A side view of our host family's house. The front area surrounded by shutters is a porch. The back green window that is closed is to our room. The handsome boy posing in his towel is our host brother Denzel. Our home for the last 2 months and only two weeks more. The structure on the front right is the gangasa, or outdoor cookhouse.

Our host mom is teaching me how to use her sewing machine to hem my new koosus (the cloth material that Saramaacan women wrap around their waists as skirts). I will be wearing these everyday in my village. Once I get there it will just be sewing by hand if I buy any more.

Family picture! Back: Ryan, Josef, our host dad, Oozlen, our host cousin, Brigita, our host mom, Justin, our host brother Front: Janeeghel, host cousin, Diosa, host sister, Denzel, host brother, Denielson, host brother

A sweet picture I took of my host sister Diosa in the mirror of our host dad's motorcycle.

Our host family on Emancipation Day! Adults, left to right: Rai, our host cousin, Josef, our host dad, Oozlen, our host cousin, me, Ryan, Brigita, our host mom. Kids, left to right: Diosa, our host sister, Denzel, our host brother, Janeghaal, our host sister, Denielson, our host brother, and Justin, our host brother, who is about to dash out of the picture to kick his soccer ball.

Other Wildlife

2010-07-04T06:44:00.000-07:00

Per one of my best friend Jason's request, I am trying to get a picture of all the random animals and insects that I come across here. Here's what I have so far, Jay.

I saw three toucans flying around the other day and a crocodile, but I didn't have my camera with me. Oh, and I saw three little monkeys jumping through the trees outside of language class one day. That was awesome, but alas, no camera then either. No colorful frogs yet, but I promise not to touch any.

Rachel Josina Lindsay Smit

2010-07-04T06:35:00.000-07:00

Our adorable host mom finally gave birth to a beautiful little girl! In case you haven't figured it out from this post title, if nothing else, I will be leaving behind a namesake in this mysterious and beautiful country. I am, of course, thrilled! Ryan and I have been extremely blessed to live with such a wonderfully kind family for our home-stay experience. Do not get me wrong, the numerous children have been more than challenging at times, but I have felt safe and welcomed here, especially by our host mom, who always gets a kick out of me. Rachel is pronounced “Raquel”, Josina is pronounced “Yoseena” and Lindsay is, of course, Lindsay. :) Our household is now perfectly even: 6 boys/men and 6 girls/women.

My Husband is Turning Black

2010-07-04T06:20:00.000-07:00

Some of you might find that title slightly abrasive. However, being a bi-racial couple, Ryan and I are becoming more and more blunt with what color we are. I would say that is mostly a result of other people's reactions to us, rather than who we inherently are. Some of you might be thinking, “wait, isn't Ryan already black?” I should start writing down a list of all the ethnicities that random people assume Ryan is. Talk about entertainment. I will leave that question to him. Anyways, here is a picture of Ryan in California before we left and here is a recent picture of him. It is truly amazing to me how quickly he tans. After just a few short hours in the sun, he moves like 5 shades down the color scale.

In case any of you are wondering, I am developing a nice, golden tan at a much slower rate with a bazillion new freckles. Sunscreen (next to bug repellent) is my constant companion.

Oh Yeah... And We Freed A Sloth

2010-07-04T06:09:00.000-07:00

So, on the second day of our visit with a veteran PC volunteer in Suriname, we were walking back from canoeing on the river when one of the women of the village called us over excitedly. We walk up to find her poking at the most depressed looking sloth I have ever seen (ok, you caught me, it's the first one I've seen up close), trying to drag itself to freedom in painful slow motion. They had found this unfortunate creature in the jungle and were minutes away from starting to prepare him for dinner. In my experience so far, it seems as if the Saramaacan people will eat any kind of animal they find in the jungle- iguana, alligator, tapir, sloth, monkey, wild boar, etc. This is not surprising considering the Maroon peoples were once living in the bush in hiding as escaped slaves from the Dutch plantation owners. They hunted to survive and ate whatever they could. The Peace Corps volunteer we were visiting asked the woman for what price she would be willing to sell the silo (“sloth” in Saramaacan). She asked if he knew how to cook it and he assured her that he did and that silo was suuuuuuuuuuuuuuti (“delicious”, commonly said in a sing-song voice). She stated $30 SRD and looked ready to defend that price but it was quickly agreed to. The PCV handed over the money and informed Ryan that he was responsible for carrying the sloth to freedom. The woman handed Ryan her 2x4 previously used for torture and, for $10 USD, Ryan carried the insanely lucky sloth on the edge of the wood back to the PC house. After taking some “I'm joining the Peace Corps and living in the jungle”-worthy pictures, we hiked into the Amazon jungle behind the village and set the sloth free. We did not hear of anyone else eating sloth and rice while we were there, so here is to hoping the little guy had sense enough not to wander back onto any hunting paths.

In case anyone is wondering, even though his fur looks super thick and scratchy, it is actually extremely soft. I was also surprised to discover how strong this little guy was. And yes, those claws are
not to be reckoned with. Hence the 2x4.

Welcome to Suriname

2010-07-04T05:48:00.000-07:00

If any of you have checked out Suriname on Wikipedia, one of the country's major claims to fame is having a broad mixture of ethnic groups and languages. This aspect of Suriname has already completely fascinated me. I thoroughly enjoy sociology, general people watching, and cross cultural experiences. Sooooo...Ryan and I visited a PC volunteer who has already been here for 2 years last week. He was a gracious host and we had a relaxing, mostly kid-free stint. The third day there, however, my ear started to hurt, so I gave the PC doctor a call. He said that he had a good contact at the nearby medical mission, so I should go there to get it checked out. We show up and the Doc's contact was very excited to tell us that he had two doctors in that day, so he would have them look at my ear. The two doctors walk out. One is about 6'7” and from Holland while the other is about 5'5” and from Cuba. Apparently Cuba sends healthcare providers to many nearby nations in need and I am told they are very good. Holland is Suriname's biggest investor, charitable partner and, of course, former colonial power. Apparently, they send an array of skilled individuals (largely in the medical field) to Suriname for field experience.

At one point, the Surinamese contact was taking to the PC doctor on the phone in Dutch with probably a mix of Saramaccan and Sranan Tongo, then the Surinamese guy would tell the Dutch kid what the doc said in Dutch, who in turn told the Cuban doctor what was said in English and they both tried to tell me in English. I then turned to the Cuban guy and spoke to him in Spanish. It was a very entertaining experience.

Dee Maku (Mosquitoes) and Bucket Baths (written 6/7/10)

2010-06-18T12:08:00.000-07:00

Our home stay Peace Corps adventure has begun. At the time that I am writing this, we've been living with a local family in the Surinamese jungle for almost three weeks. A different way of life is what we signed up for and that is what we got. We live in a small village that consists of one paved road (recently paved) running through the center with about 30 small, rudimentary houses on either side, one church, and two small convenience-like stores (although one our family does not want us to go to as they do not like the owner, so we're down to one). That's it. There are two other Peace Corps volunteers staying with other families in our village, which is nice. Also, we can walk to two other nearby villages. One of the villages houses two more PC volunteers and the other is more of a “business center” where the PC rents a room to have our weekly group meetings with all 24 volunteers.

Before I go any further, I want to say thank you for everyone who prayed for a good home stay family. In comparing stories with other PC volunteers here, we really lucked out. They are genuinely kind people and really seem interested in what we are doing. Our host parents are 32 and 37 and there are 7 kids living in the house with us. Yep, 7. I'm not going to lie, having 7 hands and eyes all over you most of the time is starting to wear on us, but we've realized that in comparison to many other kids here, ours are some of the more well behaved. They range in age from 1 to 15. Four are our host parents' kids and three are relatives that they have taken in. Have I mentioned that our host mom is almost nine months pregnant? She is due in just two weeks so that means by the time you are reading this, the baby has hopefully arrived. That should be an interesting addition to our experience. I mention the pregnancy as a side note because that seems to be how it is treated here. Our host mom has been working from dawn to dust since we've been here, cooking, cleaning, taking care of her children, taking care of the bakaa (white people), sewing, etc. Not to mention it is freaking HOT here. I cannot imagine caring around a child inside of me on top of all of that. Women in this country are tough.

Ryan and I have language classes with the two other PC volunteers in our villages four hours a day, five days a week. Our teacher is from this village but lives in the capitol city now. Most days we have separate technical training as well, as Ryan is a business volunteer and I am a health volunteer. So far, I have learned that the biggest health challenges this country faces are non-communicable diseases, such as heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and anemia. Furthermore, these issues are directly correlated to the diet, which consists of starch, starch, starch, sodium, sodium, sugar, and a tiny bit of protein. Being a health volunteer should prove to be especially challenging here.

Life here in Suriname is TOUGH. We are blessed that our family has running water, electricity AND a flush toilet. Many other PC volunteers are battling latrines, pee pots and head lamps already. All of those things will be awaiting us at our permanent site in about a month and a half. For now we are adapting to ants, mosquitoes, bucket baths, mosquitoes, bugs, 7 children wanting our attention, everyone asking us where we've been and where we're going, not understanding anyone talking a new language to us, mosquitoes and trying to stay clean for more than 30 seconds.

New things/feelings that are now a part of our lives here:

· Chickens and roosters wandering around all the time, crowing every 7 minutes, 24 hours a day. Ryan has had to convince me that killing all the roosters in the village would be a bad way to impress the neighbors. At 3 in the morning I don't really care.

· Chicken feet soup

· Everyone calling us bakaa (it just means any white person, originally intended for Dutch people)

· Geckos are now on our top 3 favorite animals list as they eat insects. We welcome them into our house and bedroom.

· Mosquitos and fire ants are our top 2 most hated creatures. Every single person reading this that lives in California, stop right now and take a moment to be thankful for that beautiful, mostly insect free state.

· Rain at least once every day (usually 2-3 times). We love the rain here. For one, it cools everything down and secondly, I've just always loved rain. It'll start pouring in an instant and then get sunny and cloudless within 15 minutes. The best is when it rains at bedtime and lulls us to sleep or when it rains in the morning, so the freaking roosters are taking cover somewhere besides standing directly outside of my window crowing.

· Wrapping plaid pieces of cloth around my waist as a skirt everyday.

· Not looking in mirrors. After about a week, I realized that I had not looked in a mirror once since coming to home-stay. Think about it. How many times have you looked in the mirror just today? There just aren't mirrors in homes here. In fact, physical things are very minimal...except for the huge amount of tupperware, pots and pans in our kitchen that are seemingly unused.

· Eating everything with spoons, including chicken on the bone. In fact, I've only seen 2 forks in our house and no butter knives. Everyone uses spoons to eat everything.

· Bathing by bucket bath. We have a wash room in our house and running water, which is unusual. So, Ryan and I have our own bucket,we fill it with cold water, then splash it on ourselves with a cup to wash. It is so hot here that the cold water usually feels good...but I do miss clean American bathrooms and brushing my teeth in a sink instead of spitting down the drain hole while trying to fight off mosquitoes. At our permanent site we'll have a wash shanty outside, so that will be the next level.

· Eating chicken and rice for lunch and dinner at least 5 days a week. And our family cooks more variety than a lot of other host families.

I have come to discover that there is Peace Corps and there is Peace Corps Suriname. From what we've heard from current and returned PC volunteers who have served in other countries, Suriname is much more intense and … less modern than most PC locations. We are definitely getting our taste of Africa in this strange South American country. I have traveled through five other countries in South America, so I can say firsthand that Suriname does not in any way belong in a category with them. From my experience so far, I would say it is mostly Africa, with a little bit of Caribbean mixed in. In fact, it's hard to believe that I am on the same continent as Buenos Aires. It seems like I am worlds and decades away...

Special thanks to my wonderful mother, my cool pops, my awesome friend Jody, my sweet grandpa, my amazing sister and her adorable 5^th graders and my rockin' father-in-law for sending us your love via mail and care packages!! Your time and effort really means a lot to us and it is very exciting to get mail!! We love you all a ton and miss you!

P.S. I tried to upload pictures, but this internet connection isn't strong enough. :( Hopefully I'll have time to try another connection, but I don't know. Huge bummer!

We've arrived in Suriname and are doing well!

2010-05-08T14:53:00.000-07:00

We were greeted at the airport by Peace Corps (PC) staff giving us beautiful flowers. We were then welcomed to the Peace Corps training camp by many current Peace Corps volunteers who traveled into the city just for us (okay, probably also for food and to speak English). Each current volunteer put a pangi around us (which I can use later as a skirt, it is just a bright piece of fabric) and helped carry our luggage to our rooms where there were welcome baskets full of fruit, our medical kits, things to wash our clothes, prepared beds complete with mosquito nets, etc. That was around 1am Thursday morning. Since then, we have been in orientation sessions most of the time, getting to know the PC staff and other trainees (we are not PC volunteers until we swear in around July 20th), and trying to get used to the heat.

Ryan with his pangi showing you our room with our double bed mosquito net. There have not been many mosquitos though!

It is HOT here. It is during the rainy season so it drizzles throughout the day (and sometimes pours), which is a relief from the sun...until the moisture just makes it even more humid. Supposedly, this is the cool time of the year, though, so we'll see how much hotter we can stand it.

Our two welcome baskets and two buckets and scrub basins to handwash our clothes! We have not attempted this yet...

We've been able to get to town just a couple quick times to use the nice (and air conditioned!) internet cafe. It is strange to not know ANY of the language. Even when I was in Argentina and I did not know any of the Argentine slang or understand the accent, I still knew some Spanish. So I could get my point across, read most of the signs and understand a word or two. Most people start to speak to us in Dutch (at least I am assuming that is what it is). Some people know English, like the guy who works at the internet cafe (thank goodness!).

The sun setting behind our training camp

The PC staff is kind and the food has been very good, although repetitive. There is A LOT of chicken and rice in our future, which, luckily, we both like. We are supposed to find out which village we will be permanently placed in and get our cell phones on Monday. However, we're having trouble buying a SIM card for the phone as the little phone store cannot handle the demand of all 24 trainees. Hopefully it will be sorted soon.

I miss everyone back home and look forward to hearing from all of you. We've only been here for about 3 days, but it feels like a lot longer! We will be at the training site until Thursday, then move in with our host family and the real adventure begins!

2 Days 'Til I Leave the Country!

2010-05-03T11:50:00.000-07:00

I absolutely cannot believe it. Ryan and I started the Peace Corps process so long ago and every step of the way has been so….unsure... that I do not really believe we are actually starting our adventure in 2 days. Well, 1 day really, as our adventure starts in Miami tomorrow (5/4). I don’t think it will sink in until after we have been in Suriname for awhile.

Our LONG “to do” list is finally checked off and we have been enjoying time with family and friends. We are SO thankful for all the love and support that we have been shown and realize how lucky we are. We have loved every minute of our send-off from CA to MS.

A few days with the Joiner Fam in San Jacinto, CA:

In San Diego for Mexican food and Mulvaney's (my country bar):

A few days in Austin, TX with the BIL & SIL:

Yes, Anne and I rented a giant swan. Be jealous.

And finally a few days in Gulfport, MS and New Orleans, LA with the rest of the Dapremont Fam:

Hmmm warm beignets while we escape the thunderstorm!

My first crawfish boil at the Havers!

I'm just missing pics of the 3 generations of Dapremont men from when we visited Gramps with Doctor Dapremont! Doc or Moks, please send!

Prayers for safe travels are appreciated! Love y'all.

Change is a Good Thing

2010-04-24T16:22:00.000-07:00

First off, apologies for not updating my blog recently. The Dapremonts have been BUSY. Busy with what? Preparing to leave the country for two years. It is way more complicated than you would think.

In case you haven’t heard, Ryan and I are joining the Peace Corps and moving to Suriname for 27 months (a small, former Dutch colony in South America). Adventurous. Inspiring. Crazy. We’ve gotten all of the above reactions. We want to have an exciting adventure outside of the States before we settle down. We want to experience new things and love on others in the process. It will be extremely challenging and, hopefully, rewarding. Regardless, it will all be an adventure.

Ryan and I will most likely be living in a small village in the jungle along one of the major rivers in Suriname. We will learn a local dialect and live amongst the villagers. Unfortunately, our site will be more on the basic side, which means very limited access to the Internet and any city conveniences. So, we will be able to check our email, update our blogs and pick up mail but we are not sure how often (perhaps once a month or once every couple of months).

So…to symbolize this huge change (and in preparation for the hot, humid weather and having to bathe in a river), I chopped off all my hair and donated it to Locks of Love. I am ready for the jungle!!

Here I am, annoyed with that long mess of hair…

Now see if you can tell what is different in these two pics…

I Have Been a Married Woman for One Year Yesterday!

2010-03-15T19:12:00.000-07:00

My wonderful and thoughtful husband was secretly saving money for our one year anniversary and planned a surprise trip to Santa Catalina Island, one of the stops on our honeymoon cruise one year ago. It turns out that a 2 hour ferry leaves right out of LA, just minutes from our apartment. We stayed in the enchanting Hotel Catalina, went for a beautiful (and tough!) hike, had a delicious, fancy meal, toured the island's exquisite theater and ballroom built in the 20's and just relaxed along the gorgeous shoreline. It was a wonderful weekend away.

Thank you for being so incredible guapito!!

p.s. Ryan also broke the news that he is learning how to play the guitar so he can play me our song!! He's been teaching himself during his lunch breaks and after the gym in the morning, etc. I am so excited!!

Happy Birthday Husband!!

2010-02-22T18:27:00.000-08:00

The love of my life has been on this earth for 25 years today, almost 4 of which I have been a part. He is an amazing man- strong, capable, loving, gentle, understanding, talented, kind, open and intelligent. He truly observes the beauty and tragedy in the world around him while many others, like myself, simply blow on by. Happy birthday, my angel. I hope you enjoy the day, knowing that you are incredibly loved by so many and are every bit worthy of that love and admiration.

And to the woman who brought him into this world and did a hell of a job raising him- thanks Cecile!!

My Perfect Valentine’s Day

2010-02-21T18:55:00.000-08:00

For anyone who doesn’t know, I thoroughly enjoy being outside in God’s majesty. Whether it is at the beach, in the water (lake, bay or ocean) or in the mountains, I find His creation refreshing and absolutely awe-inspiring. So, for Valentine’s Day, Ryan and I decided to go to our favorite place to hike and go farther than we’ve ever gone before. It was SO FUN! I loved it! The vast majority of the hike was climbing up a rock waterfall. We also brought delicious cheeses, meat, French bread, fruit and wine for a yummy, restful lunch. Thank you for a rejuvenating and beautiful Valentine’s Day, guapo.

And anyone who loves to hike, we are more than happy to be your tour guides any time!

Beautiful Colorado

2010-02-21T18:50:00.000-08:00

Claire and I went to Colorado to visit two of our amazing friends, Alysha & Ara back in January. It was so fun!! My one and only wish (besides spending time with these incredible women) was to play in the snow. Claire and Alysha both enjoy looking at the snow but preferably through a window of a nice, warm building (potentially their one big flaw! ;). Anyways, God sent Ara to my rescue and we set out on a mission to find snow (of course we went the one time that Colorado hasn’t had tons of snow this winter). Much to my delight, we found it!! My high school friends and I used to drive to the snow at least once every winter, but, sadly, I have not been in quite a few years (I know, Kristin, you’re trying to imagine this crazy life I lead). I was SO excited to tromp around in snow up to our thighs, throw some snowballs, make an amazing snowman (his name is George Allen) and, of course, a snow angel. These few hours did my heart a lot of good!

Next on the agenda in Denver was….the rodeo, which, in Denver, is apparently a HUGE deal. Man, was that an experience. I find different cultures and lifestyles very intriguing and I was fascinated! The four of us could not have stuck out more as the naïve California girls (well, ok, maybe if we were wearing pink PETA shirts or something, but we were close). Thankfully, I was sitting next to a very knowledgeable woman from Kansas (yes, who drove to Colorado just for this rodeo) who helped us understand the rules, scoring, and general background of the different events.

Back in Colorado Springs, Claire, Alysha and I went to the Garden of the Gods, a public park with really unique rock formations. Claire and I were also able to see Alysha and Clifford’s beautiful home for the first time.

Thanks to Ara, her roommate, and Alysha for their hospitality and for showing Claire and I around Colorado. It was such a fun girls trip and I love you all!!

I Have A New Job!

2010-01-31T21:48:00.000-08:00

In case you haven't heard, I have a new job!! I am working as the Grants Management Assistant at the International Medical Corps (IMC) in Santa Monica (even closer to our apartment than my old job). My passion is really international affairs (hence my degree in International Studies) and it has been my goal to work for an international non-profit for a while now. However, almost all international non-profits are located in Washington, D.C. or NYC, with only a couple of options in LA. Besides that, the economy has not really helped the hiring process for non-profits in general. For those reasons, I feel extremely blessed and thankful to God for this job, as He truly made everything fall into place.

If you are wondering, the International Medical Corps is a global, humanitarian, nonprofit organization dedicated to saving lives and relieving suffering through health care training and relief and development programs. And no, I do not write grants but actually track all of them to help monitor exactly where your buck goes when you donate (IMC has a remarkable record). If you have a minute, you should check them out here: www.imcworldwide.org. IMC is one of the leading U.S. organizations doing amazing work in Haiti.

Tomorrow is the start of my second week, so send me good thoughts!

Orrin “Denny” Joiner, my Grandpa Joiner

2010-01-14T19:28:00.000-08:00

September 8, 1926 -Dec. 15, 2009

It is fascinating how many different lenses one person can be viewed through, one lens often isolated from the others. A Commander. A pilot. A husband. A friend. A father. A church member. A veteran. A volunteer. A neighbor. A grandfather.

There are two things that I will always remember about my Grandpa Joiner. First, he was courageous and strong. He served our country in three wars, WWII, Vietnam & Korea, the majority of that time as a pilot. I am not sure if his career in the military is to blame (that is what I always thought) but he was extremely hard of hearing and around the age of 70 he became legally blind. My grandpa took these setbacks and ran with them. He learned tricks and bought gadgets to make up for his lack of sight to a point where he could fool many a stranger into thinking he could see just fine. He never slowed his enthusiasm for computers, even volunteering at the San Diego Center for the Blind teaching computer classes to others. He re-learned how to do everyday tasks, chores, social and volunteer activities so as not to miss out on his obligations. I always admired him for that. So many people would have quit, used their handicap as an excuse but I do not think he ever considered that option.

The second is that he loved my grandma. Married for almost 58 years I am sure they had many ups and downs. I don’t know what really went on between just the two of them. I don’t know what they were like as a young married couple or how they handled every situation with their 4 kids. But I DO know that after my grandpa went blind he continued to care for my grandma and their house to the best of his ability; that when my grandma was sick, my grandpa was right next to her instructing her in her rehabilitation exercises and encouraging her to get better for my wedding; and that after my grandma passed away and he was suffering from hallucinations far away from the present time, questions about my grandma brought him back to us. On a whim I asked him if he could describe grandma in one word, what would it be? Honestly, I was really not expecting an answer. I think he was seeing men he fought in the war with, not his granddaughter in front of him. But he answered quickly, “devotion.”

Happy New Year!

2010-01-10T22:24:00.001-08:00

I know it has been quite awhile since my last post so here is an attempt to catch you all up on our crazy but wonderful life…

November 3^rd was Darby’s birthday! Darby is the son of one of my best friends from high school and he is ADORABLE! Ryan and I, of course, went to his party in Santa Clarita (suburb of LA).

My best guy friend (before my husband!) got married on November 14^th, exactly eight months to the day after my wedding! I am SO happy that Jason found a wonderful and amazing woman to spend his life with (and to take care of him!). Congratulations Jason & Rose!

We spent Thanksgiving with the Dapremonts in San Francisco and had a blast! It was so good to have the usually far-flung D family (minus Doc, sadly) all in one place and, of course, the food was delicious! Thanks for hosting Todd & Moka!

The best man from our wedding came back to the states from serving overseas in the military and he and his wife (!) Kim came to visit. Ryan had been looking forward to seeing him for awhile, so thanks for sharing your leave time with us Mike!

Christmas was, in turn, with the Joiners in San Jacinto and it was a special time. Mom outdid herself with presents and Ryan took part in another Joiner family tradition by reading the Christmas Story this year. And those are our Christmas crowns (Dad accidentally threw his away, so he used his hand). Don't ask. My family rocks.

Cut to New Years Eve in Santee baby! There is nothing like a country bar in East County with some of your best friends and tons of be-dazzled 50 to 70-year-olds to bring in the New Year.

January 3^rd is my favorite sister’s birthday- YAY! Happy Birthday Sums! We had lots of fun celebrating with you.

THEN January 4^th is my mom’s birthday, so back up to San Jacinto for a birthday lunch. Happy Birthday mommy, we love you!

I think that about sums up November, December, and the beginning of January (very busy, in case that wasn’t evident). We thoroughly enjoyed spending quality time with our friends and families over the holidays. And Ryan and I are looking forward to a bright and exciting year in 2010.

p.s. Thanks to Summer and Jesse for letting us stay at the Hotel Del Tracy!!!

I love rollerblading!

2009-11-22T22:33:00.000-08:00

For those of you who don't know, I love rollerblading!! It is super fun and great exercise. Pretty much I love doing active things besides running, preferably with speed. My favorite is rollerblading on any boardwalk at the beach. Currently, my closest beach is Venice, which is a very entertaining and luxurious place to rollerblade. The last couple of times I've been out, however, have been a bit further inland, much further south... and closer to my roots- SANTEE. We have gone to San Diego frequently in the last month- for Halloween, my best friend Jason's wedding, etc. The tragedy is that I bought new rollerblades (my $5 thrift store ones finally broke) back in September and had barely had time to try them out. So, I convinced my best friend Claire to meet me at Santee Lakes in between our hectic SD schedule. We've done this twice now and I feel a new tradition coming on. It was super fun to go to the lakes (my dad, sister and I used to ride our bikes there from our old house), catch up with Claire, and get some speed on my rollerblades.

ALSO, my adorable husband decided to give rollerblading another go after he swears he almost died attempting rollerskating in his childhood. He is doing FABULOUS and soon we will be a mean, lean, rollerblading machine cruising through Venice Beach together!! I can't wait!

Kanye West & Taylor Swift

2009-11-04T22:09:00.000-08:00

What actually happened at the VMAs:

What should have happened:

So………. clearly Ryan and I embraced pop culture this Halloween and went as Kanye West and Taylor Swift. Pretty good fit, right?! Our extremely talented friend Ixie was so generous as to shave Ryan’s hair exactly how Kanye had his- didn’t it look amazing?! Summer safety pinned my silvery dress together like a pro and I rocked that red lipstick!

Anyways, we drove down to San Diego to spend the holiday with Sums and Jes. We first went over to their friends Roger and Karen’s house for some famous elk chili and passing out candy to trick-or-treaters. Then we headed to Mulvaney’s (our hometown country bar) to line dance and win their costume contest! I am happy to report that my favorite sister won “sexiest costume” for her 80's rocker and my ~~adorable~~ tough husband won “scariest costume” for being Kanye West in a country bar. ;) We had lots of fun. Thanks for having us Summer and Jesse!

Yes, Jesse was a mormon. Look at him trying to show that hot rocker the Book of Mormon.

My Sister is the Best Teacher Ever

2009-11-03T10:38:00.000-08:00

For those of you who do not know, my sister is a 5th grade teacher and she is phenomenal!! Besides working so hard to teach her kids the required subjects, Summer goes above and beyond everyday to expand her kids' worldviews and teach them how to be contributing members of their communities. For example, she allows her kids to decorate paper bags which are then used by a great organization called Project Angel Food to hold nutritious meals that are delivered to people with life threatening diseases. A decorated bag is much more cheerful for these clients than a plain bag! To see the shout out to Mrs. Tracy's 5th graders from Project Angel Food, click here: http://www.facebook.com/projectangelfood

We are SO Hollywood

2009-10-23T10:50:00.001-07:00

For those of you who are unaware, my husband is a man of many talents. He is an exceptional writer, photographer, cameraman, editor, cook and overall vessel of vast knowledge. He is also now a famous actor: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3609014/!!! Well, ok, maybe not so famous, but an actor with an imdb credit nonetheless.

THE PEANUT BUTTER THEORY was a project that many of Ryan’s co-workers were involved in and asked Ryan to step in when an actor flaked out. He thought the stage makeup was super cool.

It’s Pumpkin Pickin’ time!

2009-10-11T20:57:00.000-07:00

Every year without fail, the Joiners head to the closest pumpkin patch (NOT the nearest grocery store) to pick our own pumpkins. This year we decided to go the first weekend in October, which just happened to be the weekend that one of my best friends Alysha and her husband Clifford were coming to town. So…..they came along!! J This is not the first Joiner family tradition that Lysh has been a part of. She has spent at least one Easter in the Inland Empire during college, so she is definitely part of the family.

I think we all walked away pretty pleased with our selections. I know my pumpkin is adorable and currently making our balcony very festive! As you can see, we not only found our pumpkins, but also went through the corn maze, picked out some gourds and managed to convince Dad to bring home half a bale of hay for Mom to get her fall decoration on.

My Girls

2009-10-11T20:44:00.000-07:00

All my bridesmaids (minus my matron of honor) all in one place and “no one was wearing a white dress” as Valoria put it. We all got together last weekend at the Jones’ house for a BBQ- it was so fun to hang out! Valoria & Brian have a beautiful home that was full of delicious food. It makes my heart happy to have all my girls with me and this time (for the first time ever) all the hubbies were there too! Too bad Aaron Wolf has serious issues smiling…

Fun fact: Claire, Valoria, Alysha and I ALL had wedding ceremonies within one year of each other (08-09). How CRAZY is that?! I say wedding ceremonies, cause Alysha and Clifford got married the summer after our freshman year (those crazy kids) but just had their full wedding last summer. Claire, Lor and I all got married within 8 months of each other. I swear it wasn’t planned……well, maybe Claire’s and mine. We like to do everything together. Just kidding…mostly. ;)

A Trip to the 'Bu

2009-09-27T22:37:00.000-07:00

This weekend one of my best friends (and bridesmaids) Valoria came to visit us with her brand new hubby Brian. We had a blast!

We went hiking at Solstice Canyon in Malibu, where there is a house that was built in 1950 but burned down in 1982. Cement, stone and bricks are left for hikers to imagine what the sprawling ranch house once looked like in it’s glory (and, thanks to Lor’s discovery, a new plaque with a picture of the house). We decided to keep exploring up the waterfall and ended up rock climbing for a ways back in the mountains.

I LOVE to be outside, especially in green nature getting exercise, so I was very content with the day. We were definitely covered from head to toe in dirt by the end, but I am positive we all thought it completely worth it and wouldn’t change a thing! Good times with good friends make me happy. Thanks for coming Lor & Brian!

p.s. Yes, in answer to the threatening picture below- we are hardcore.

6 Months

2009-09-14T22:42:00.000-07:00

So, yesterday, Ryan and I walked to a costume store by our apartment in search of a good Halloween costume. The shop ended up being a dud, so we continued on in hunt of a Sunday newspaper (we are all about the coupons these days). We found a newspaper stand outside of Yum Yum Donuts where Ryan spotted an ad for “puffies”, delicious looking, little cream puffs. After we went in search of quarters for the stand and ended up finding a newspaper elsewhere, I made him walk back to Yum Yum’s to get those puffies. Sadly, they were out for the day.

This morning I got out of the shower and walked into our room where I discovered a Yum Yum Donuts bag with a card. My adorable husband wrote the sweetest note to commemorate that today is our 6 month wedding anniversary and he went to Yum Yum’s to buy me puffies along with fresh squeezed o.j. on his way back from working out. Let me tell you-the way to this girl’s heart is through her stomach! But more than that, I really appreciated the thought behind it. The only way he knew I wanted those puffies is because he had spent quality time with me going on a walk the day before (quality time is my love language). I love thoughtful & meaningful presents, especially heartfelt cards! I thought that was so sweet. I took a picture of my puffies & o.j. with my phone so I could blog about it later cause they made me so happy.

THEN, I got a call at my desk (later at work) saying that there were flowers for me in the lobby. He had a beautiful bouquet delivered to my work with another sweet note! I love fresh flowers. They especially cheer up my desk at work and make me happy throughout the day.

So, THANK YOU my wonderful husband for making our 6 month anniversary special. You made me feel especially loved and extraordinary like you do every day. I am the lucky one.

New furniture!!

2009-09-13T14:41:00.000-07:00

For those of you who have seen our apartment, we have been sans coffee and side table for 6 months. We looked around at some and were surprised to see how expensive they both are, even at places like Target! We decided that they weren't really necessary for now. THEN we got an Ikea catalog in the mail (I don't know why) and they were advertising super inexpensive coffee and side tables in classic, simple styles, so we decided to go for it.
As you can see, my adorable husband put them together (because I was working on another project, not because it was a "man's task" or something). Don't they look great (besides the fact that nothing really matches in our apartment-we're aware, thanks)?!I have to admit that I was starting to get tired of not having any tables in the living room. It makes it a bit more dangerous to eat or drink anything while sitting on the couch. I am very excited!

Los Angeles Wildfires

2009-09-01T16:54:00.000-07:00

Hi All -- the wildfires in CA, especially the ones in LA are only getting worse, unfortunately. Please don't worry--Ryan and I live so far into the city, that we are not in any danger although it is raining ash where Ryan works (and large parts of the city). In case you are wondering what you can do to help the people who have been directly affected, I've put together some resources below. At this point, organizations are saying the greatest need is monetary in order to sustain supply lines of food and to maintain counseling and relocation services.

Red Cross

To make a financial contribution, call 310-445-2685 or go online at:http://american.redcross.org/site/PageServer?pagename=COGP_CA_LosAngls_main.

To volunteer, call 310-943-5268 or visit: http://redcrossla.org/volunteers/american-red-cross-volunteer-info-for-station-fire.

Numerous blood drives have been canceled due to fires and the blood supply is dipping. To make an appointment to donate blood, call (800) GIVE-LIFE or visitwww.GiveLife.org.

Goodwill

Donors of clothing and household goods at Goodwill stores in Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Riverside counties can ask that their gifts be used to help provide shopping vouchers to fire victims under an arrangement with the Red Cross. Goodwill Southern California has 100 stores and donation centers, which can be found by calling (888) 446-6394 or going online to www.goodwillsocal.org.

Salvation Army
To donate or volunteer, call (800) 725-2769 or visit: www.salvationarmy-socal.org.

A Perfectly San Diego Weekend

2009-08-08T16:23:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was Miss Meghan Ann Sheehan’s 24th birthday!!! Happy birthday Megaroni!! So, Ryan and I headed down to San Diego to celebrate. We spent Saturday at the San Diego Bay soaking up the sun on the Sheehans’ sailboat and a friend’s motor boat. We had so much fun! Everyone knows it doesn’t take much convincing to get me to the beach and out on the water. I’ve only every been sailing with Megs (well, I guess also with some random guys in Brazil) but I really love it. It is just SO calming and takes you away from the craziness of this world. Of course the Sheehans made delicious chicken & shrimp tacos for lunch.
It just so happened that when I called Summer to ask if we could crash at her place for the weekend that she was planning a big Brew-B-Q that Saturday night. So, naturally we invited ourselves and headed back there after our day at the bay. It was nice to meet a few of their friends and neighbors that we hadn’t previously met and hang out with old friends as well (newlyweds Cory & Kirstin!!).
THEN, on Sunday, Summer, Ryan and I went over to one of my best friend Claire and Aaron’s new apartment on Coronado Island for lunch. She moved to San Diego to live with her hubby when I moved in with my hubby (we were roommates for like 4 years before that). Anyways, they have a nice apartment right on the beach and I am SUPER jealous. The irony is that Claire would rather live in LA. She’s nuts. We walked a few blocks to a yummy brewery for lunch (thanks Aunt Barbara!), then strolled along the water and by the park that Ryan and I got married at! I must say, it was not looking as great as it did during our nuptials. Too many summer tourists and lots of brown grass. I am so thankful we had our ceremony when we did cause it was BEAUTIFUL.

In summary: delicious, free food + treasured family & friends = a very successful & blessed weekend!!

LaLa Land

2009-08-08T14:15:00.000-07:00

Two weekends ago Ryan and I decided to mark a few things off our “LA To Do List” and went to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) and the La Brea Tar Pits for the first time (they are right next to each other). Please comment whether you actually did or did not know that there are tar pits in the middle of Los Angeles! In fact, the tar pits were discovered when a construction crew was putting in a parking garage for the LACMA.

The tar pits are FULL of animal & plant remains. Animals that died a slow, painful and confusing death. All over the grounds there are little areas where tar is bubbling up from the earth. There is a museum on site with many of the bones they have found, as well as excavation sites and a laboratory where you can watch experts and volunteers cleaning tar off bones. It was actually really cool!

A few thoughts to take away:

Tar smells REALLY terrible!

There is a statue of a mother elephant sinking in the large tar pit in front of the museum, crying out in agony as she sinks. Yes, it’s great that they are showing what really happened so often over the years. But then they put a baby elephant statue on the bank with her trunk extended calling out to her mother with this horrific fear in her eyes. I found it disturbing.

The most common bone found in the La Brea tar pits is the Dire Wolf. This is because they would hunt in packs and attempt to feed on animals that had separated from it's herd and/or looked weak. AKA animals that were trapped in the tar. Hence, the Dire Wolves became trapped themselves.

The LACMA, unfortunately, did not have many exhibits open that Ryan and I were too excited about (the photography one was closed!). Plus we were tired from walking all over the tar pits. We did take pictures outside where they have tons of street lights in rows that are pretty cool.

I know I say I hate LA (which I do) but I am not so hateful to say that it doesn’t have cool things to do. Hence our list.

IOWA!!!

2009-07-16T12:14:00.000-07:00

Over the 4th of July, Ryan, Summer and I traveled halfway across the country to Sioux City, Iowa, the beautiful city that I spent 8 years of my childhood. It was awesome! I have always been thankful for the time that I spent there, for the snow filled winters, firefly filled summers and good ‘ole Midwest values. Even though I had not been back for over 7 years, Iowa is and has always been a huge part of who I am. I like to say I am a unique combination of Sioux City & San Diego.

Anyways, Ryan and I stayed with my cousin Kristin and her family (I wish I had taken a picture of her beautiful guest room) and Summer stayed with our Aunt Marly. We had such a wonderful time! We were able to get to know our adorable second cousins: Trey, Bryce, Shelbee & Aubree, which was a ton of fun. We BBQ'd at Brian and Mel's and celebrated the 4th at Marly & David's. We also spent several visits with our 92-year-old grandpa who still lives on his own-can you believe it?! It was so special to spend time with our Iowa family. They were wonderful hosts & made us feel very welcome.

We were also thrilled to spend the day (her birthday!) with one of my best friends, Lindsay Domke, her beautiful daughter (and my niece!) Olivia, and her sister Laura. Olivia was the flower girl in my wedding. It was such a treat to see them so soon after their trip to California. Lindsay and I were in the same preschool in Sioux City and then became best friends in the 4th grade and have somehow managed to stay in touch through the years. She and Olivia live in Minnesota now. I am so blessed to have incredible relationships like this one!

Ryan was lucky enough to get the Joiner Family/Sioux City tour, complete with every house we lived in, every park we loved, every great friend's house we had, (and yes, Dana, even where Summer, Lindsay D. and I were chased by a bear AND cow), etc. He has been to San Diego numerous times and gotten to know my life there well, so having him experience the other part of what makes me "me" was special for us. He really enjoyed the trip, Sioux City, and meeting my family and friends. While the South and the Mid-West are very different, they also have plenty of wholesome similarities.

To check out more pictures from the trip (have I mentioned that my talented hubby is also an excellent photographer?!) click here: Dappygolucky.com

One last thing-we caught fireflys and did our own fireworks- two things I love to do!!

Galaxy Game VIP Style

2009-07-05T10:48:00.000-07:00

My most favorite sister Summer came up to LA yesterday (YAY!!). She, Ryan and I went to our first Galaxy game at the Home Depot Center. The Galaxy is the LA soccer team, for those of you who don't know. The main reason you would have heard of them is because David Beckham recently joined the team.

Anyways, we were gifted box seats which were pretty cool, although, sadly, no free food came with the seats, which is the way to this girl's heart. We are happy to report that the Galaxy won (unquestionably due to our attendance) and we can now say we've all been to a professional soccer game in the US.

It was to be expected, but the game did not even come close to my professional soccer experience in Buenos Aires, Argentina. That was probably one of the most dangerous things I did in BA (and boy did we do some sketch things) just because soccer is SUCH a big deal down there and the fans are so hardcore. I've never heard so many Spanish curse words yelled in chants before or since...

My Girls

2009-06-20T22:59:00.000-07:00

I just came across this AWESOME picture and decided to share it with the world. These are three of my best friends.

Alysha (3rd from the left) and I were randomly assigned to the same suite freshman year of college at Pepperdine (a suite consisted of 4 rooms with 2 people per room & 1 joint living area). After one semester we became rommates and have never looked back. She is my country, chill, loyal, responsible, married for 5 years already, up for anything best friend. I am VERY upset to say that she lives in Colorado and therefore miles away from where she should be-with me.

Valoria (1st on the left) and I were in the same freshman seminar class at Pepperdine-the social action and justice colloquial. Not too far into the class a bunch of people were talking about partying and I discovered that she also didn't drink. She seemed nice and chill. I, of course, walked right up to her and told her that we should be friends. And so we were. :) She is my deep conversation, honest, she'll ask anything at any time, hardworking, passionate best friend. She got married 2 months after I did, so we now have to share each other with our husbands....so far it's working out but we'll see.

Claire (furthest to the right) and I fell in love in Argentina (it's so exotically romantic!) our sophomore year while studying abroad through Pepperdine's international program (Alysha & Valoria both stayed in Malibu that year). She is my responsible, artistic, keeps me in line, likes to have a good time as long as there are rules, no nonsense best friend. She and I are currently living out each other's location dreams-I in LA and her in SD. We were roommates for almost 4 years before we left each other for our hubbies.

(all three were bridesmaids at my wedding)

I love these girls. They each represent a part of who I am. They each have incredible and unique attributes and talents that they offer their husbands, families, friends and the world at large. I am so blessed to have them in my life, to learn from and to grow with. I know they will all impact this world in a wonderfully gigantic way and I am excited to be a witness.

Why does my husband keep breaking?!

2009-06-17T19:20:00.000-07:00

Ryan smashed his big toe. Not stubbed, not bruised, not slightly cut. Smashed. He and one of his co-workers were carrying a heavy piece of furniture at work and his co-worker lost control and dropped the furniture on Ryan's foot. Lots of blood ensued. Thankfully, it is not broken, but (stop reading now if you are squirmish) the doc had to burn a hole in his nail to relieve pressure and drain blood. Ryan is supposed to wear an open-toe boot and use crutches so it can heal. Plus keep it elevated as often as possible (see above photo).

The poor guy is hobbling around in lots of pain. The average person definitely does not think about how functional her big toe is on a daily basis but Ryan is now. The Dapremont Family Reunion is this weekend in New Orleans so he is super excited about traveling with crutches and hobbling around the French Quarter in pain...that was sarcasm. Hopefully it will be much better by Friday night!

Taylor & Gwen Williams: Pretty in Pink

2009-06-15T20:00:00.000-07:00

My single friends are dropping like flies. SERIOUSLY. But that's a whole other blog post.

This past weekend Ryan was in his previous roommate Taylor's wedding as a groomsman...and I manned the guestbook with my trusty partner Claire. She and Aaron came up and stayed with us on Saturday, which was fun (especially since they made us pancakes Sunday morning!). Taylor & Gwen started dating the same summer that Ryan and I started dating. Boy, did Taylor pursue that girl! After that summer, she went to Europe to study abroad for 8 months. He sent love letters, flowers, care packages, etc. Determination pays off!

They had a beautiful, bright wedding in Stauffer Chapel at Pepperdine, which is where I would have been married if we had tied the knot in LA. In front of the chapel is my favorite place on campus (it looks out across the ocean). Taylor and Gwen are in Hawaii on their honeymoon and then off to Dallas to start their new life together. We hope they find nothing but happiness in the Lone Star State.

Cory & Kirstin Peters

2009-06-14T21:24:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Ryan and I went to my friend Cory’s wedding. Well, Cory is more a part of the Joiner family than a friend. We lived just down the street from each other for 7 years and even after we moved, he would come to my parent’s house in Hemet for some holidays. And let me tell you, he’s as annoying of a brother as they come!!

Anyways, by the grace of God, Cory met Kirstin and convinced her to marry him. She is awesome and Summer and I are so happy to welcome her to the family, too. Their wedding was beautiful (same colors as ours!) and lots of fun. The best part was seeing how happy the bride and groom were. Cory and I give each other a hard time (my mom would say we fight like a cat and dog) but it makes my heart SO happy to see him this happy (not to mention my relief that he has Kirstin to guide him through life). I pray for years and years of happiness and laughter for them.

Worker's Comp

2009-06-12T10:42:00.000-07:00

Even though I'm sure you all love Ryan at least partially as much as I do, I promise that I won't mention him in EVERY blog post...but probably a lot. :)

Anyways, my poor husband sprained his arm a couple days ago on the job. His job is very physically demanding, which is great because he gets a good workout in on most days but sometimes comes home very tired (especially after his 5am workout at the gym in the morning). The poor guys spent hours waiting to be seen by his doctor who finally told him that it is a sprain-no bones chipped or broken, thank goodness! He is wearing a sling, is supposed to rest it for a few days and should be as good as new by Monday (I hope!). We have a busy weekend of wedding activities for Ryan's previous roommate Taylor, but the doctor said it is ok for Ryan to not wear the sling during the ceremony (as he is a groomsmen). I'll try to post a picture if I can!

"My husband rocks"

2009-06-11T23:06:00.000-07:00

That was my husband Ryan's suggestion for my blog title. My husband does rock. Not going to be the name of my blog. :) Truthfully, I blame this blog on one of my best friends Claire. She started a blog awhile back (http://clairesmusic.wordpress.com) and everybody loves it-her family, her long distance friends, even her. As she put it, it gives her the power to tell the world what she wants it to know....and keep private what she does not. So, here is my attempt at technology and keeping everyone I love up to date on my unconditionally blessed life. I hope you enjoy!