Counting down!

These past few weeks have been flying by! I'm in countdown mode- starting to clean out my apartment, pack and get rid of or give away items. I've accumulated more things that I thought I did! I'm also wrapping up paperwork for Peace Corps, and compiling all the documents I have worked on for the University of Guyana. My students have completed their last clinical attachment with me, and have started their next clinical attachment in Audiology.

This is them working at the Palms Geriatric Home, reviewing client files. I'm extremely proud of these girls and the work that they've done this past year with me- and I'm excited to see how they continue to grow and learn in their next upcoming year (last year) in speech-language and audiology coursework.

Last month I took a trip to Jamaica to be part of the Caribbean Speech Language and Hearing Association (CaribSHA) debut. It was great to meet Speech-Language Pathologists/Therapists and Audiologists who are interested in growing the field in the Caribbean!

Of course we had to have some bonding time outside of the conference!

Touring, shopping, and eating.

On our way to Dunn's River Falls.

Dunn's River Falls

BBQ!

Man selling hats.

Took a trip to Lime Cay- very beautiful water.

I have had more performance opportunities these past few weeks with different venues. I was the Goddess Hina in a body art show and exhibition called Gods and Monsters for Bravo arts. This picture below is of a body artist creating one of the gods backstage.

Me and my artist

Through the event of Gods and Monsters, I met the owner of Pulse Entertainment. I did a couple of performances for him.

In addition to filling my time with some aerial play, I have been doing some wandering around Georgetown. Even though I have been here a year now, I still find the houses, the animals, and just the sites in general fascinating.

There are a number of houses where a bigger house is being built on top of the smaller house.

One of the canals in GT

Mr. Ali's tailoring shop.

Walking down the Seawall

Hanging out on the Demerara Bridge.

Demerara Bridge- the floating bridge.

 Sorry donkey, no pinetarts.

Hanging out at the seawall- BBQ and bonfire.

Attempting to light the fire.

 I also enjoy the signs around town.

Another house built on top of a house.

Family selling fruit at the same time helping their children with their homework

Found McDonalds...the hardware store.

Selling lunch from his van.

Haircuts are done outside.

Horses grazing by the canal.

A daughter helping her grandmother over a footbridge.

I went up back to Hope Estates Farm for probably the last time before I leave Guyana. 

Papaya boats

Cow and her calf

Pig farm

On the way to the farm, the gang decided to protect a baby almond tree by putting a tire around it. Also good sitting place under the tree for when the tree gets bigger.

At Hope Estate Farm, we did a bush cook- making cookup rice!

Simone directing me to what to do next!

The ladies :)

Our boat captain.

I have met a lot of really interesting people, made some great friends, done a lot of exploring, and have genuinely enjoyed my time in Guyana. I am sad to leave- Guyana does now hold a special place in my heart.

What next??

I am not quite done with Caribbean life. I return to Jamaica in October for a short term assignment training rehabilitation assistants with another organization called Multi Agency International Training and Support (MAITS). We'll see what happens after that :)

I'm counting down in weeks by single digits now!

I have 9 weeks to go!

It's been quite a while since I've written my last post and so much as happened since that last post! I've gone to visit Shell Beach to see the sea turtles, Suriname, Trinidad, Miami, and a gold mine. I have also performed in aerial for a dance show, a private birthday and soon a body arts show and exhibition. I have also just recently gave my last final exam for the year and am wrapping up with my students in their final clinical attachments for the year! Whew..I'm tired just thinking about all of it again :)

Shell Beach was fantastic!

A group of us decided to go up in May as the sea turtles were starting to lay their eggs. Supposedly this was a later start to the season than usual. Romeo our host and guide made our trip smooth and memorable! We learned how to make coconut oil, swam in the atlantic ocean, and went on turtle patrols!

The beach :)

Our sleeping quarters

Turtle eggs!

Leatherback turtle in trance while laying her eggs.

The following weekend some of us who went to Shell Beach had another trip planned to Suriname! Being in Suriname was like being in a totally different world. We ate sushi, went in search of markets and river dolphins!

One of the markets.

 River ride looking for dolphins!

Our river tour guide and his pet parrot.

Oh look a dolphin!

Saw this little guy going fishing with a chicken head!

Our Suriname trip was great, but we ran into some unexpected bumps at the end. We had learned that our ferry back to Guyana was not running and no one knew when it would start running again. Two of us on the trip needed to be back at work on Monday. Our ferry was supposed to leave Sunday morning. Having no other option, we decided to fly to Trinidad in the wee hours of the morning Sunday, spend 24 hours in Trinidad and fly back to Georgetown early Monday morning. We made it to work just in time! 

That week following the Suriname trip was a busy week for me. The American Speech Language and Hearing Association (ASHA) committee involved in helping develop the University of Guyana Speech Therapy and Audiology program was visiting that week. It was a productive visit. Those on the committee were able to meet the speech students, give guest lectures, discuss the program and its progress with the Ministry of Health and the University of Guyana. They also brought down additional resource material to add to the resource library we're trying to create!

I met my husband in Miami at the end of May for a quick getaway! I will say it was a little challenging readjusting to what life is like in the States. But it was nice to see my husband!

It was also nice to eat different kinds of food I have not had in awhile! Living in Guyana this past year, I have come to realize I do enjoy living the simple life I have in Guyana. I do miss some conveniences such as a washer and dryer or hot water and driving, but I'm realizing I could also probably live without some conveniences as well. The work I do in Guyana is a lot of work, but at the same time it's not exhausting and I feel I have a better work-life balance. Now, how to transition that feeling back to working and living in the States might be a challenge. Or will I want to transition back to the States? That remains up in the air.

Leaving my husband in Miami was hard, but I had an aerial performance lined up that I needed to concentrate on. I performed for a private birthday party with a Mardi Gras theme! It was very fun :)

From this performance, I was asked to be part of another event that's set to happen this upcoming Sunday! I will be Hina, the goddess of the moon! I'll post later on that event!

Most recently, I had the opportunity to visit a gold mine. It is a medium size gold mine, and very much different from the traditional gold mines in Guyana. They are organized and structured- a well run operation.

The trip there was 8 hours in a minibus on a red dirt road full of potholes.

This was at one of the rest stops. Someone had a pet monkey.

Taking the pontoon across the river.

One of the dogs at the mine. Her name is Regular, but I like to call her Miss Piggy :)

There were at least 5 different puppy litters at camp, with a total of over 20 puppies.

Black sand and gold.

I got to try my hand at handling the jets. They decreased the pressure of the water for me! I can't imagine doing this for 8 hours every day.

Ok! So now we're up to speed on my weekend adventures! 

Coming up the last 2 months of my service, I will be headed to Jamaica in August for the 21st biennial Society of Linguistics Conference.A group of Speech Pathologists in the States have been working very hard to create and launch the Caribbean Speech Language and Hearing Association which will make its debut in Jamaica at this conference. I will be going on behalf of the University of Guyana. I'm excited to be part of the development of an association and university programs for Speech-language and Audiology. I have grown very attached to the program started in Guyana, and I want to see this program continue to grow and thrive. I am also very proud of the first cohort of students to go through this program; and I'm very grateful for their patience in enduring all the bumps in the road with the start of the program! 

Also within this month, a blog posting of mine should be published through the ASHA leader blog, which is the official blog of ASHA designed to inspire discussion related to speech-language and audiology issues. My post will be on the sustainability of the Speech-Language Therapy and Audiology (SLT-A) program at the University of Guyana.

Other news...

I am supervising my final clinical attachment for the next 6 weeks. My students are currently placed with the adult population working on assessing speech-language and cognitive-linguistic abilities. Once this placement is completed at the end of August, I have 3 weeks left in country to tie up all work related things at the university and with Peace Corps.

My plan (although this seems to change every other day)...

My plan is to come back to the States and find an SLP position as a contract therapist while actively searching for other international positions. 

Ok, that's it for now. I will leave you with one last picture!

Mangos!

I am happy to announce I now have had 9 different kinds of mangos in Guyana!