Speed Boat Life vs. Ferry Life

"It's style," I declared with confidence, as I craned my neck around to the bus seat behind me.  The courteous stranger laughed at the explanation of why I had put my shirt on inside out.  I could tell it would be one of those days.  It was only 9:30am.

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Staring.  Glaring as if I were a giant piece of white meat.  In fact, they'd no problem declaring it aloud, time and time again.  
Oh, did you want practice slitting a throat?  Don't worry, I'll be your sacrifice.  Maybe the dark meat bull isn't enough.  
I'M GIVING UP MY FALL FOR YOU, didn't you know?!?!?!?!?!  
It's my favorite season. 
I'd give up everything for you.  Isn't it obvious by now?  
My heart is a bleeding one.  But only as long as it's beating.  So therein is where the dilemma lies...

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Have you ever thought about what your life would look like if it were time lapsed and shown on a screen?  I don't just mean a head shot snapped, every day, but rather, your entire life filmed, and compressed into mere minutes.  Obviously, I'm not the only one who has ever thought of the idea.  There are even people who have actually executed the idea, as identified through the links.

I am not entirely sure what got me started on thinking about this, but I think it has something to do with my having developed quite a work week routine.  I enjoy routine, don't get me wrong.  But for the first time, in a very long time (probably since high school), my routine during this life chapter has ceased to greatly deviate, from one day to the next.  And I wonder what that must look like, to the outside observer. 

Waking up around the same time and biking the same route to work, passed the same trench construction workers, who inevitably shout and sip the same calls, dodging the same school traffic, boarding the same aggressive buses to the schools, coming home to run one of two routes I am comfortable with, and alternating between the same five outfits, seems kind of ordinary to me.  Yet to the outside observer, here in Guyana, it is probably anything but.

The moon is once again nearly full.  Talk about an interesting time-lapse.  Where did the last month go?  I am more than halfway finished with my service here in Guyana.  All at once, it feels like I've just arrived, while I get the feeling I should be planning for what's coming next.  But how can one plan for the unknown? 

More importantly though, what can I do to stay present, while knowing if a plan isn't in place for when I return, I will function less favorably.

Me and my new friend, Natalia, waiting for the ferry to Leguan.

It was a three day weekend for the Muslim holiday, Eid Al-Adha, so I took the opportunity to visit my friend Mary, who lives on Leguan Island, in the Essequibo River.  It was one of those mornings when they ferry was confused, so instead of leaving at 10am, it left around 12:30pm, which meant I had plenty of time to sit in the sun, under my umbrella, and write a bunch of letters, listen to a bunch of music, make a bunch of friends and get a bunch of stares.  By the time the ferry arrived in Leguan, it was close to 2pm and most of the activities of the festivities had already passed.  Nonetheless, Mary took me around the island, visiting with co-workers and co-worker's families.  I borrowed the small BMX bicycle with minimally working breaks, of her Head Mistress' 12 year old son and rode in the dress I wore, planning to maintain my cultural sensitivity of the conservative Muslim island.  Instead, I likely accidentally somewhat flashed every person who watched two white chicks ride by on bikes. 

Eid Al-Adha, also known as the Feast of the Sacrifice represents the day Ibrahim was about to prove his holiest commitment and submission to God (Allah) by sacrificing his first born son, Ishmael.   However, just before sacrifice, Allah provided a ram to sacrifice instead.  I have to give Guyanese credit.  Considering the melting pot of religions, races and class, the people of Guyana get along very peacefully (albeit aggressively).  Muslims sacrifice the Hindu's sacred animal, while Hindus cook the filthiest animal to a Muslim, the swine, all in a matter of meters from each other.  Christians span from Seventh-day Adventists to Jehova's Witness.

That day, on Leguan, Mary witnessed the entire slaughter of a cow, from it walking in and being knocked out, to the slitting of its throat, hanging of its legs, skinning of its hide and butchering of its organs and meat.  She and her counterpart went around the entire island, delivering meat to families, after they had enjoyed the organs.  I got there just in time to sample the heart and liver.  It had been a long time since I ate anything like that, and I nearly gagged.  Who knows if I would have eaten it if I had actually watched the slaughter...  Probably so, actually.  I tend to be a "when in Rome" kinda gal.

Shooting  commercial for WEnEX!

It was a short and sweet visit to Leguan, visiting with friends and riding to the "beach".  We caught the 6am ferry and were back in Georgetown by 8:30am, just in time to figure out the plans for filming commercials for the Women's Expo (my secondary project) happening on November 26th.  Finally, after a little over 4 hours of filming, we got the materials we needed, and left the studio.  I got to play hostess made lunch for the other PCVs staying with me.  We enjoyed a nice, leisurely rest of our Saturday afternoon, before deciding it was imperative to get dressed up, go out to dinner, and then dancing at the hippest hotel party in Guyana. 
After all, the theme WAS Pirates of the Caribbean. 

Natalia's 8th Birthday Party!

This afternoon, I attended the birthday party of my 7-year-old friend, whom I met waiting for the ferry Friday morning.  Coincidentally, her party was being held at a relative's house not too far from my neighborhood.  I guess that's one of the perks about being a white girl.  You can become good enough friends to be invited to a birthday party within the first hour of meeting.  Attending the party made me realize two things:  1. I miss having a host family and 2. I gravitate towards befriending people twenty-something years younger, or forty-something years older, than myself.  I spent most of the afternoon talking with Margie, an elderly woman with five grown boys (one in Pennsylvania), whose husband left her after 46 years of marriage, 5 years ago.  

Article was published and (mostly) written by yours truly!

Talk about a life transition.  Talk about an interesting time-lapsed life.  An well to do elderly woman in a developing country, who has not only seen the emergence of technology, but the emergence of development.  From outhouse and candlelight, to electricity and machine washing clothes, to Internet and cell phones...to the capability of digitally time-lapsing images.