Tuesday, April 16, 2013

So you want to send me presents... (yay!)

Several people have asked about sending care packages and such while I'm serving in Guyana.  This is what I know about the mail situation so far (taken directly from my Peace Corps Guyana Welcome Book):


Mail service between the United States and Guyana is fairly reliable. Airmail letters from home usually take two weeks to arrive in Guyana and four to five weeks to arrive in the United States from Guyana. Surface mail may take months. The further a Volunteer’s site is from a large city, the less dependable and frequent the mail service.

During training, my address in Guyana will be:

Tori Schwent, GUY 25
U.S. Peace Corps Guyana 
c/o United States Embassy 
100 Young & Duke Streets, Kingston 
Georgetown, Guyana 
South America 



As for packages, Volunteers are responsible for paying import duties on items mailed to them from outside the country. The customs process for obtaining sent items is often lengthy, although the duty on items is generally minimal. Customs will notify me directly if I have been sent a package. Peace Corps/Guyana cannot help get these packages released from customs. Small padded envelopes are recommended over boxes.  One alternative to shipping packages through regular mail is to 
send items through a service, such as DHL International or Federal Express. Both companies have offices in Georgetown, but their services are expensive. You can have items sent through these companies to the Peace Corps office in Georgetown, but you must provide the street address and phone number. (The street address for the Peace Corps is 33A Barrack Street, Kingston, Georgetown, Guyana. The phone number is 592.225.5073.) 

With that in mind, there's probably not going to be anything time sensitive coming my way, so don't worry too much about using an expensive carrier.  USPS should work just fine.  My address will also change after training, and I'll try to keep you updated as to when that will happen.  I'll try to keep a "wish list" posted in the sidebar of this blog for anyone who wants to send me goodies but has no idea what I may need or want.  :)

<3

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Where the @*$% is Guyana?!?!

Guess what!  It's not in Africa!  I was surprised too.

Guyana is on the northern coast of South America.  Right here:


It's bordered by Venezuela to the west, Brazil to the south, Suriname to the East, and the Atlantic Ocean to the north.  Culturally, it's more caribbean than latino.  Guyana is also the only English speaking country in South America.

Here are some fun facts about Guyana for you:

1) The population of Guyana is about 750,000 people with 90% of the population located within 10-40 miles of the Atlantic Coast (roughly 10% of the total land area)

2) Most Guyanese citizens are either of Indian decent (Indo-guyanese), African decent (Afro-guyanese), or natives, which results in a very diverse culture (and lots of holidays/festivals!)

3) Guyana is one of a handful of countries that celebrate the hindu festival of colors known as Holi or Phagwah.  They all get together and dowse each other with colored powder and water.  It looks like so much fun!


4) The country is divided into 10 regions (more or less like our states) and has 5 distinct geographic areas: the marshy plain along the Atlantic coast, the white sand belt beyond that, the rainforest to the south, the desert savannah in the south west, and the interior lowlands.  Most of the country is still undeveloped and it is not uncommon to require a canoe or boat to reach many of the inland villages.

5) Guyana is predominantly Christian, though about 28% of the population is Hindu.

6) Guyana's independence day, known as Mashramani, reminds me of Mardi Gras.  What do you think?


7) Guyana is home to Jonestown, the site of the largest ever mass suicide, which resulted in the deaths of 900 cult followers.  Ever heard someone say "don't drink the kool-ade?"  This is where is started, folks.

8) Guyana has a wide variety of animal species including at least 8 primate species and several varieties of cockroach, many of which can fly.

9) Guyana is about the size of Idaho, but has half the amount of people.  Honestly, Fort Worth, Texas has a larger population than Guyana.  New York City's population is more than TEN TIMES larger.

10) Guyana means land of many waters and was named for the many rivers that run through it.  Roughly 9% of the country's land area is water.  It has so many rivers that empty into the Atlantic that most of the coastal waters are brown from sediment.  The cleanest water to swim in is in the rivers inland in the country.  There are also several fantastic waterfalls, like this one, Kaiteur Falls: 


So there you have it!  Ten fun facts about my home for the next 27 months!  

Peace!







Monday, April 1, 2013

The cliche application timeline post

In true Peace Corps applicant/volunteer tradition, here is my application timeline.  It's a bit different from what any new applicants will experience.  I applied on the old system, in the mist of the change to the new system, so it's a hodge-podge, learn as you go, communication challenged approach to becoming a PCV.

Feb. 28, 2012 - Submitted my application online.  It took me about a week to get all the information together, and over the following month all of my absolutely amazing references submitted their portions.

March 7, 2012 - Heard from my recruiter for the first time.  She sent me some forms for further information and asked me to send her more information about certain skill sets.

March 21, 2012 - Received my legal clearance packet.  I was living in South Korea, so it took an inordinate amount of time to get to me.  I had it sent back with my fingerprints and everything within a week.  Getting fingerprinted in Korea was a bit of a challenge.  I went to the local police station armed with some very basic Korean, found out I had to go to the headquarters a few miles away (thanks to a deputy's very kind wife translating via cell phone for me), and got a deputy to escort me in his squad car to the other side of town, translate for me, and drive me back home.  I'm happy to report that is the ONLY time I was ever escorted in a Korean squad car.  haha.

April 19, 2012 -  Had my video interview with my recruiter.  There were some technical difficulties, but we got it sorted.  If any of you are trying to connect to WebEx from a mac, you may have to use Safari.

May 1, 2012 -  Received my nomination for Central/South America, March 2013, in Primary Education/Teacher Training.  Did a happy dance.

May 5, 2012 -  Received my medical information packet.

May 2012 -  Got all my medical stuff done.  All in all it took three appointments US Dental and three visits to Seoul National University Hospital's International Clinic over five separate trip to Seoul.  There are some other posts further back in the blog if you want more information about getting your medical exams done in South Korea.  I had it back in the mail by the first week of June.

June through October 2012 - Absolutely nothing.  Nothing at all.  Most frustrating months of the whole process.  I did move back to the US and have all of my sad farewells to keep me occupied, at least.

October 24, 2012 - Dentally cleared.  Medically cleared about 30 minutes later.  Did another happy dance thinking I was within a couple weeks of an invite.  I wasn't.  It was still a good day.

December 3, 2012 - Asked to submit an updated resume and availability date.  Done and done.

December 16, 2012 - Received an email with a whole mess of questions to answer from placement.  They wanted to know everything.  Had my motivations changed, how will I cope with stress/cultural differences/altering aspects of my personality, can I ride a bike, how flexible and I geographically.  Oh, and they subtly slipped in that list that my departure date and location have changed.  No indication of when or where I'd be leaving but my nomination was officially irrelevant.  I spent the next two weeks freaking out about whether or not I should continue to study Spanish or switch to another.  Started frantically studying French as well "just in case."  I feel so sorry for my family who had to live with that.

December 28, 2012 - Finally, FINALLY got my invitation!  Guyana, April 30, Community Education Promoter.  Happy dance doesn't really cover it.  After googling Guyana and learning that it's in South America and not Africa, I jumped around screaming, ran into mom and dad's room and jumped on their bed, waking them up, still screaming, ran back to my room to grab my world map (GREAT Christmas present), ran BACK to mom and dad's room to show them where I'd be, read every bit of information sent to me... twice..., screamed some more, attacked facebook, read everything again... You get the idea

January through March, 2013 - Sent yet another resume and aspiration statement to my Guyana country director, applied for my new passport and visa, got a yellow fever vaccine, found fellow Guy 25 group members on facebook, got an amazing amount of friend requests from the Guy 24 group already down there, answered some surveys from the Guyana regarding my training, location and host family preferences, etc, filled out all of my paperwork on the new Onbording portal that replaced all of the paperwork I received in my big blue packet, and had my phone interview with one of the trainers in the Guyana office.

April 1, 2013 - contacted by staging and booked my flight to Philly through SATO Travel.

Come April 30, I'll be on my way to Philly for a day and a half and on May 2, I'll be in Guyana to start my 2-3 months of training and the next 27 months of my life in the jungle!  Bring on the monkeys!