Hi from Berbice, Guyana!!!

Well, I write from my apartment in Skeldon, sitting in my jocks and with the fan on full blast. I guess I should start from the beginning if I am going to tell the story so far.

So, I arrived in Georgetown, Barbados yesterday at a good hour and all was going well. Despite threats of a late flight, the rickity, falling apart plane took off on time and arrived early – nice! This newfound rapture was quickly added to by the fact that the immigration lady hardly even spoke to me as she issued a 3-month visa, which is a hard-won thing at the moment. I purposely measured who was smiling the most and headed for the youngest of all of the officers. Although I firmly believe that Jehovah guided the situation, I would hope that my charm at least didn’t hinder the interaction, Ha. On a high, I turn the corner to see three bags sitting on the carousel and the rest of my travel companions in a queue and filling out forms with a range of looks from consternation, disgust and anger to submission that this is part of the process. It turns out that in their wisdom, LIAT (not uncommonly) decided not to board our bags on the plane, to speed up the process of leaving. At the look of disdain from all the English people, the ladies kindly looked at the floor and said repeatedly ‘we will get you your bags, but we can’t guarantee when’. Nice. So, long story short, I stayed at a lovely Brother (Gale)’s house last night and hoped my baggage would transpire. It hasn’t. I decided that waiting for the bags could take days, so there is no point me wasting my time imposing myself on the family with whom I was staying in a remote area away from the city, so with my rucksack filled with absolutely nothing useful, I caught a car 4 hours ( with death defying driving ) to Skeldon. This cost about £7 and saw me slammed up against the window of a Toyota Corrola, with a woman with a boy of 6 on her lap and a huge fat old man too. Nice.

Although I still don’t have my bags, I am really glad that I came down. I met up with the guys here and had a lovely evening of chatting, watching a movie, having dinner etc. My ASL is pretty rusty, but could understand most of what was talked about, which is confidence building. They did have a little session of mocking BSL for its rudimentary nature – oh well, I won’t break it to them that there is a facsimile and bastardisation of a contrived and fabricated language (only cos I don’t know how!). The people here are Amy (who I know from years ago), Shamma-Rae (Texan, getting married and due to being a white man, everything one thinks to me – I offered, she said no), girl whose name I can’t remember but starts with an S (nice tho), Drew (21 year old, … unique…, living at the same block as me), and DC and Sarah (Deaf elder and his wife who I know from before). We had an interesting discussion last night about how the ministry is going to work now as there are 3 brothers. Basically, as pretty much ALL of their ministry is study taking, if I go with a sister, then it defaults to me to take it. They were talking about how they find that weird and should they wear a head covering etc – I think in the States they have a stricter approach to bros and sis working together and a married couple being split up – Just another thing to get used to!

Hot off the press! Just got a phone call from my friend saying Brother Gale has been contacted by the airline and ONE of my bags has turned up on the flight today! Hurrah. Now the lottery begins of is it my bag with all my electrical items and random effects, or the one with all my clothes in, shoes and a bottle of whiskey. This will decide my actions tomorrow. Looks like I will have to pay to get my bags brought down in a taxi. It is only about a fiver, so fine. Worth it so that I can change my shirt, and shave!

Off to market tomorrow to help the girls buy some stuff for a ‘party’ we are having tomorrow. Apparently they have been on a 31 day parasite-ridding diet and it ends tomorrow. So they are having a little party, and I am invited! The fact that it is exactly the same people as last night makes the invite no less appealing. I will hopefully be able to buy some underwear (will be three days in 40 degree heat straight) and some antiperspirant. It is so hot here – not as bad as I thought it would be, but I haven’t yet tried going on the ministry or to a meeting in a shirt and tie and jacket! Groan.

Okay, very quickly, a brief run down of the country so far. It is just like India with the hustle and bustle. The land is full of palm trees and farms and looks like everything is in a constant state of being built and falling down. It is definitely more Caribbean than South American. I can’t understand a word that anyone is saying to me, which is a bit annoying, as usually I pride myself on picking up the tone and rhythm straight off the plane – it is such a strong patois, plus the Berbice region here is renowned for being the worst of the lot. The whole country has a musty smell: a mix of turmeric, sweat and cumin. Not unpleasant, but never ceasing and it makes one feel a little sick at times. My apartment is simple – a room which is a kitchen/living room and a bedroom with en suite toilet and shower room – I say ensuite: it is basically one room. Very basic, but quite clean and it is a brother that owns it, so it could be worse. There is no cooker, but rather a gas stove or a microwave. Seems that most things are microwaved here. There is water until 10pm at night and internet occasionally. I don’t think the internet will be so reliable here, so perhaps I will need to upload to my blog and respond to emails at DC’s, so don’t expect a constant stream of emails. So… this is my home for the next… who knows.

Really tired as haven’t really slept in days. Off to sleep. Not sure when I will have posted this, as who knows when the internet will kick in.

Love you all and will keep you posted with everything.xxx