Foto Op

So rest assured, I am taking pictures. In fact we started a group photo album so, eventually, I’ll be able to show you many many pictures – but for now we are desperately restrained by the crazy slow upload speeds around here. But, in fact, that is not what I’m talking about. Foto (see I can spell!) means "city" in Sranan Tongo and there is only one city in Suriname. Paramaribo, the capitol.

It was our first time outside of the little town our training center is in and there was a lot of hand holding. The whole gang got on a bus together and headed into the city. It was a public bus, but buses here are sketchy affairs. There are relatively set routes and fares, but not schedules – they leave when they fill up and they stop wherever they see more passengers. Fortunately, our group of Peace Corps Trainees and our escort of our local language instructors made for a full bus. No waiting!

The tallest building in Paramaribo is probably about 15 stories, so it’s a low, hot, dusty city. Muddy too, as you might guess happens to dust when it rains. It’s relatively spread out, but the densest area is around Saramaccan Street - the main shopping district and where we spent the morning on Saturday.

We started in a giant open air warehouse (about the same size as my forming Aurora stomping ground) which was a huge market. About half of it was fish. Did I mention it is a fragrant city? At least in that spot it is – elsewhere is fine. After that it was other meat and then assorted fruits and vegetables. It was awesome and not pushy in the way you associate with Caribbean craft markets. It was a market for actual people, just huge. Apparently there is an upstairs (I saw a 30 foot ceiling so not sure what that means) that sells furniture, fabric, and appliances but we didn’t see that part.

After that we toured various useful places – banks, specific stores, a few restaurants, etc. The department stores here are pretty huge and the buying experience, in general, feels more Asian than Caribbean to me. The Chinese influence is very strong, as you might have read in that recent New York Times article. We also went to a store that sells “I love Suriname” gear – ala the New York t-shirts. They are a new craze in Suriname apparently sparked by a pop song.
Reads like easy souvenirs to me.

That was a relatively short trip and it was just the warm up round. The following day we went in un-escorted to meet up with a bunch of current volunteers. Look at me figuring out public transportation! Now I just have to learn my way around the city…But anyway this was a more cultural tour. It started off with snacks at a decent sized outdoor Chinese market and then a tour of top stores, restaurants, and bars from a volunteer perspective. We also saw the presidential palace and various statues.

After that we got lunch at the waterfront and ended up stuck there, in the good way. Hanging out, drinking Parbo (the local beer) and getting to know the current volunteers and some friendly locals that decided they wanted to buy us a round. Peace Corps has been getting a lot of positive press in Suriname lately (unlikely the last 15 years in country and unlike in the rest of world currently). It was a good relaxed time and a nice introduction to the city.

Now, it’s back to a week of language training and various other explorations. Next weekend we are working on a farm, but no details on what that actually means at this point. After next week, most of our classroom language learning is done and we move in with host families for a week. That's when this whole thing shifts away from summer camp and into the job and the experience it actually is.

You definitely see some people that want this to be summer camp and other of us that treat it more like a job. I think you need a balance given the nature of the work, but it's important to take it seriously. Language is tough and it takes a lot of focus since we are doing 4 hours of class on language every day (and then other unrelated stuff in the afternoon). Still, people are doing a nice job for the most part. I'm excited for that host stay, though, to kick this into gear.