Sunday, June 15, 2014

Last weeks in Georgetown!

Hello at-home followers,

It is hard to believe that we are on our FINAL week in Georgetown! Before we get ahead of ourselves though, we can't wait to share with you last weeks adventures that have brought us to this point in our journey. It has been a hectic yet eye opening week as we finished up our teaching curriculum and began to wrap up the classes.

Tuesday was the first sunny day we've had in a long time since rainy season began. Luckily the nice weather continued for the rest of the week and we were able to take in the glorious Guyana sunshine. Tuesday afternoon we taught at St. Pius Primary School and had a successful class on drugs and alcohol. Later on in the day we joined the children at Ruimveldt for a fun time reading books and playing games.

Some fun and games at Ruimveldt!

Our Wednesday's we spend most of the day teaching the various grades at Chase Academy. This week Marni and Colleen focused on contraceptives and safe sex practices by challenging one of the classes to a condom relay race in order to practice the steps of condom use. It was a good effort put in by both teams but Marni's team came out victorious. Meanwhile Casey and Steve focused their lessons on substance abuse where they also had a challenging quiz game for the students whereby they divided the class in half to see which team knew the greatest amount of facts/myths about drugs.

Colleen and Marni's Form 2 class doing a condom relay!
Thursdays are one of our favourite days! We start off our mornings with our weekly television segment on NTN This Morning. Before our segment this week we were interviewed for a newspaper article in the local newspaper in Georgetown-- so be on the look out for the new stars of Guyana. As always, RBI is such a pleasure to teach at because the students there are so well behaved and eager to learn. Next week we have exciting jeopardy games for the classes which will review all of the material we've covered-- we can't wait to put the students on the spot!

On Friday morning we taught at Sophia Training School about serious topics including depression, suicide, self-esteem and stress management. The class was very keen on this lesson in particular, it seemed as though they understood the severity of mental illnesses and took a lot away from the lesson. Later on, we said our first (of many) goodbyes to the beloved Tricia, our favourite waitress at our favourite restaurant, Steppers. She has fed us delicious black eye and potato stew almost everyday for the past six weeks and we still can't get enough!

Some of the students from Sophia Training Centre
The girls and Tricia at Steppers 
Casey and Colleen headed to Berbice for the weekend Friday afternoon while Steve and Marni stayed in Georgetown. Marni and Steve had a productive weekend here as they wound down from the past week's stress and started to organize things for the final week. Casey and Colleen had a fantastic weekend in Berbice with Ali and Eric. Not only did the girls get to meet all the wonderful children at the youth spaces in Berbice, but the group was also invited to a high school pageant show (where Ali and Eric teach). The group had an unforgettable night filled with laughter as they kicked back and watched the hilarious performing acts and the raw talent and effort put forward by the pageant contestants and staff. Afterwards the group reminisced over the great times we've all shared over the past 6 weeks of project and the great deal of progress we have all made. Before heading back to Georgetown, the group went to the beach in Berbice with some of the local Letter Kenny children where they experienced sinking sand (or what seemed like it). As Colleen likes to say "This is what the people on Naked and Afraid deal with everyday".

The group visits the Miss Compri Pageant in Berbice, here are the contestants

One of the many fantastic performances at the Compri Pageant
Now that the Georgetown team is back together again we are beginning to dread this upcoming week as we know it is filled with goodbyes. We plan to make the most of our time here and can't wait to show the students what we have planned for their teaching lessons this week (GAME WEEK)!

All our love from Georgetown,

Casey, Colleen, Marni, Steve

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