Good afternoon everyone,
How are things? I have found it! The Garden of Eden. Its here in Guyana. It doesn't quite look the same as the pictures in the publications. I never saw a chicken farm in those pictures. But, Garden of Eden, Guyana, has a chicken farm and some run down houses. Tropical, yes, but Paradise, no. There is also the village of Land of Canaan, Good Faith, Paradise and Fairfield. At least those names I can pronounce. The cities that have names from when Guyana was under Dutch rule, I can't pronounce. Like, Beterverwagting and Blygezygpht.
We have had two bats come into our house. The first time, Jaide and I were watching a movie, and I noticed
something moving. At first I thought it was large moth that often come in the house. But, then I saw how it was moving. That ain't no moth, its a bat. I told Jaide," Jaide, don't panic, but there is a bat in the house." She got up and went into the bedroom with her head peeping out. I armed myself with a box. That wasn't going to work. Next, I armed myself with 2 brooms. One Guyanese broom (made from frawns of the coconut tree) and a normal broom. I managed to knock him down, then sweep him out the door. He wasn't happy with this, with beady eyes glaring at me and his hooks digging into the porch, he tried to scramble back into the house. Like a seasoned warrior, I stared him in the face and screamed like a little girl. Once I composed myself, I sent the bat flying with a swing of the broom. The other bat showed up a few days later. This one was more skilled at dodging my blows. I failed to knock him down with the broom. He flew into the kitchen and I hear Jaide say, "No, not the bok choy!" Yes, our little friend decided to hide behind the bok choy on the counter. I began to move things around him and he crawled into the corner, (see photo) where I was able to trap him in a bucket and throw him outside. This time no screams from me, just whimpers of fear. I hope our experiences with bats are finished.
This weekend, we went to Linden. Its a village about 3 1/2 hours from us. There is a small, official sign
language group in Linden. Saturday was the full sign language meeting. There was 10 in attendance (see photo). They have the only deaf baptized Guyanese brother in the country. It is a new group, less then one year. It was fun to go and see a new area and meet the friends there. Linden is more hilly than where we are, and had white sand everywhere. As with us, they need some more help. All the friends are really new to the language and are trying. I felt so rusty giving a sign language talk. For the past 5 months I have been giving English talks. When we interpret and are on Bible studies, we sign very simply because most deaf here don't know any sign. Now, to try to sign true ASL, I felt awkward and sloppy. We will have to learn ASL all over again when we get back.Guyanese word of the day: duck chicken. Translation: baby duck. I don't know why a baby duck is a duck-chicken, but a full grown duck is a duck. At first I thought it was like the turducken that John Madden always talks about.
Also, our friend Ashtyn from back in Sac, just arrived Wednesday. She will be here for the next 2 months. Yeah!! More help. We need help. If interested please contact me.
Love,
G&J
