Indeed, sir

Wow, so many stories.  I went to America (it was awesome).  Andy and Dan visited (it was awesome).  I helped catch and cook and eat! an iguana (it was awesome).  I witnessed a mental breakdown in the jungle (not awesome).  And I've recently been nailing down money for projects like I was...dang it who was that guy with the hammer?  You know the song I'm thinking of?  Children's song.  Something about a button factory?  I could have gone the John Henry route, but I was thinking the button factory song. 

But yeah, instead it's a post about life.  Yup, reflection time.  We just had our midservice training and it drove home the fact that we are past the halfway point.  I'm done in less than 9 months.  As part of the training, I re-read my Aspiration Statement. 

The Aspiration Statement is a part of the application process - the unoriginal but ever loved "why do you want to do this" essay.

......

Yeah, I started writing this three months ago.  Weak, I know.  What can I say.  Sorry?  So I'll just pretty much ignore the above, but I won't delete it (posterity).

You get a lot of time to think out here.  In a way, that was partially the point for me.  Take the time to see the forest (and all the trees!)  Smell the roses!  Contemplate my navel!  Or at least consider life in a place where it isn't exactly simpler, but it is more....connected.  What I mean by that is, out here, there are fewer excuses.

You can see the connection between what you reap and what you sow more clearly, because there is less clutter.  If you work hard and live well with people, stuff generally goes well.  If not, then less so.  I'm not just talking about me personally, but what I observe in my community.  The ability to see that relationship between cause and effect is important.  It means people have to take responsibility for themselves and make choices about their priorities.  Many people out here do not have the priorities you and I might, but it's less likely to be a "failure" out here.  It just is.  They make their bed and then they sleep in it.  Content.

Perhaps even more impactful, it is also easier to see the lack of connection. What you do does NOT always determine what you get.  We in the West often have an illusion of control - or a need for it - that means we think we can and must do more than is possible. People here are far less likely to have that luxury, or that burden.  If it doesn't rain, your food doesn't grow.  If it rains too much, your stuff gets wet. You confront that reality every day here and so you are more likely to accept it and live in the present in a way that is impossible for many of us.  Of course, do too much of that and you lose your visionaries, your planners, your entrepreneurs.  That queen of England really had it right, huh?

What I mean to say is - this is a pretty good place to think about life.  Because it is so different - while still being so much the same - that you get a pretty good perspective and the time and space to consider it.

I also recommend hammocks for that purpose.

So what I have done with all of that opportunity and perspective? Well you think about all those big, soul searching questions.  It's pretty cool because you do actually get a few answers. Without getting too into it,I think I'm finally ready to make myself a home.  I'm not looking necessarily to settle down, put down roots, or junk like that.  But still - Ithaca is kind of home, Ohio is definitely home, and here is surprisingly home.  Temporary or whatever, but still.  I've made this my home.  I want to do that again in an apartment or whatever somewhere.  Preferably NYC or DC, you know.  It doesn't have to be literal, but I'm ready to do it conceptually.  And I need to literally change my permanent address away from my parents'.

Pretty mushy, I know.  What can I say, this isn't the self help section - it's the jungle!  And an adventure!  But still, it's valuable. And it's nice to spend your time feeling like you are adding value to your own life and others.

Later,

Evan

(Belated) Happy New Year!

Hey guys!  Happy New Year to everyone or, as they say around here, Yai Yai Yai Yai Yaioooooo!  Last year I did Christmas in the village and New Years in the city – this year I switched it up.  And this was definitely the superior way to do it, let me tell you!

Christmas in the city was great.  Some former Peace Corps Volunteers-turned-new-embassy-foreign-service types (really awesome people, and still closer in age and outlook to Volunteers than foreign service professionals) threw a semi pot luck party to start it off.  Dude.  You have no idea how good the food was.

I mean, Thanksgiving at the Ambassador’s maaaybe beats it.  Maybe.  And one of the Peace Corps bosses (also a former Volunteer – and in Suriname, actually) threw a burrito party once.  But I mean.  This was pretty close.  Maybe for the win.  Hard to say.  There was a full turkey, salad, Mexican something, a variety of vegetable platters and whatnot.  And for dessert – THERE WERE BUCKEYES.  Yes.  I know.  Buckeyes are not the ultimate dessert; that is and always will be cheesecake.  But that’s at least partially because Buckeyes can qualify as a sweet snack, appropriate for tea parties and…shoot.  I just learned something about myself.  I can’t spell…that French word that means little finger food thingies.  Dang.   Anyway, Buckeyes are the best in the candy/cookie category hands down.  And if cheesecake knew how to lose, that’s where my money would be.

So that was a fun Christmas party.  Hanging out with a gang of expats and Peace Corps folks, eating good food, and…well we may have watched some Monty Python clips on youtube.  Not sure why, but always appropriate.

On actual Christmas, a different member of Peace Corps staff and a good friend of mine threw another party.  This one featured Tur-duck-en.  If you don’t know what it is, look it up.  It’s ridiculous.  I respectfully request that someone attempt Tur-ba-duck-en soon.  If they haven’t already.

Anyway, the Christmas week in the city was meant to be pure relaxation, but pretty quickly it became work.  Because I got free stuff!!!  Yay!  Free stuff!  That is to say that the money for my river landing project finally made it into Suriname!  The cement donation also came through. 

So I sorta took a break from the break and worked feverishly for a few days.  More on that in a separate post, however.  I thought about coming back to site with the stuff, but there wasn’t really room in the truck for me and they weren’t likely to start work right away anyway….so then I went back to taking a break!  And I’m glad I did, because that’s when all the above food stuff happened.

On New Years Eve Eve, or so, I came back to my village.  I am so glad I did.  It was AWESOME in the village.  Just a constant ongoing party with fireworks, food, drinks, dancing – everything.  It was a super fun couple of days.  There was also a boatload (literally – they were on a 45 meter sailing ship for 3 months) of Dutch high school students and their teachers, and they turned out to be super cool.  So just all sorts of fun social adventures.

On actual New Year’s Eve, I baked cakes and prepped drinks and then went wandering with my main posse of dudes.  We went from house to house, including mine, and basically just ate and drank and danced our way through about half the village.  Then we jumped on a boat and did the same thing in two other villages.  It was super fun.  Really just super fun.  There was significant silliness.  Yes, silliness.  So much so, in fact, that I took a nap after that.

And then it was time for fireworks!  There is no other way to describe it except as an orgy of fireworks.  More than three people, no socks, and fireworks everywhere.  Just lucky no one lost a finger or something!  So much fun though.  Most of the village gathered at the ball field and set off as many firecrackers as possible to welcome in the New Year.  At some point there was a concert, but I was tired and couldn’t really hear.

But an absolutely awesome couple of days!

Media Presence

So I’ve been doing a lot with the media recently – relatively speaking.  I’ve helped guide two different PR trips organized by the Surinamese government, one similar trip by the US embassy, and I was asked to do a couple of interviews/whatever for Peace Corps.  I know, I’m kind of a big deal.  Like supersized.  Check out the magazine article if you are interested!  It’s a bit melodramatic, but pretty cool.  And the girl pictured in it is the dancer from my village (also the head of the day care center.  Also 19.) http://www.caribbeantravelmag.com/files/_attachments_articles/suriname_article_caribbean_travel_and_life.pdf

I really enjoy that type of work – suddenly you have a group of people that are hanging on your words and you seem really cool and smart and all of that.  Who would have thought?  It’s fun and probably highly useful for the country.  Any little bit of positive exposure to a North American audience which I can encourage is a pretty big thing, especially given how few of my gentle readers had heard of Suriname before I went here.

So PR work is fun, valuable, and you often get free stuff out of it – lunch, cold drinks, pretty Javanese girl’s phone numbers (she’s a model!), etc .  On the other hand, it also feels…just a bit off.  I think guiding people about like I was doing is probably a bit like mining.  It’s necessary if you want to get some good stuff introduced to the wider world and the market, but you know you are losing a bit of yourself and the environment in the process.

Showing people around spends social capital.  I have a lot of it, because building it is basically my job, but still you feel yourself spending it when you walk around a group.  Especially when that group wants to take a million pictures, no matter how respectfully they do it.

When I show outsiders around, I can often help them see and understand so much more than they would otherwise – and the same for the villagers they meet.  At the same time, I feel like I risk being lumped in with those outsiders as someone there to exploit or export.  And I honestly don’t know how I feel about the exploitation piece.

Take that picture of my friend Jacintha (the dancer from that link).  Yes, she was paid for that performance.  More than usual, even.  But tens of thousands of people will see that picture of her, read about her, maybe even see videos of her – and she will never realize any direct benefit from that huge increase in exposure.  That doesn’t seem fair.  Especially for an activity that has so much cultural weight, with elements of sex, religion, and the echoes of ancestors escaping into the trees wrapped up in it.

On the other hand, she may have encouraged those tens of thousands to come to Suriname – people that never would have heard of the country otherwise.  So she and every other cultural performer will very much benefit from that.  It IS exploitative…but that is the point isn’t it?

It’s something I’ve not decided how I feel about yet.  But I do enjoy guiding people around.  Especially if it is just a small group of one or two friends.  So come visit!  There’s still time!