Diwali, Town Day, December, and Everything in Between

The more time that I spend here, the more pride develops within me that my family hails from Guyana. Living here has made me more aware of why my mom used to do some of the things she did, even why she believes what she believes; it all makes sense.  

My father continues to resonate so much in all that I experience here and all that I'm doing.  Cousin Basil said something really interesting about my Dad.  He said that as adolescents, when Daddy would spend time at his house, everyone in the entire house would listen while he showered, because Daddy used to sing his heart out! Basil said he sounded so good that no one ever wanted Daddy’s showers to end!  And what a voice my father had! 

I want to take a moment to talk about Nigel. My Nigel. My heart.  
A brilliant musician and composer, and my #1 supporter.  

While knowing this move to Guyana would affect our relationship in ways that we were unsure of, he encouraged me throughout the entire decision-making process to go for it.  He reminded me that, knowing me, if I didn't go, I would always wonder, "what if I had done it?" He also reassured me that he would be rooting for me from afar, and waiting for me with open arms when I return.  He knew how much moving here would benefit me as a teacher and as an individual, and he selflessly encouraged me and helped me to solidify my decision to become a teacher for GLMA for an entire year.  It was only after I made the decision that Nigel voiced his feelings of apprehension toward me being away from him for so long.  I appreciated that very much.  

Here is a birthday photo from a wine tasting a couple years ago.

My college graduation from Adelphi University in 2012.

Nigel and I have been together for a while now, and our relationship has grown much stronger since I have been here. From afar we support one another in a different way.  It's been good.  He's been a blessing and I thank God for him.  This is to answer the question that many people have asked me regarding how I am coping with being in a relationship while he and I are so far away.  Yes, it's tough.  I miss our closeness.  A lot.  But I appreciate how much I am growing as an individual without him right by my side.  I handle things by myself more and ask his opinion less, which is healthy for me right now.  He is also doing really well with his own personal aspirations.  A movie that he created all of the musical compositions for has recently reached completion, and he is looking forward to a busy year of performing with several musical groups that he is a part of.  We needed this time to build ourselves up independently.  I'm proud of him! And he's proud of me too.

Towards the end of October, New Amsterdam celebrated "Town Day." It consists of a weekend filled with festivites. To me it resembles a fair or carnival in the streets, but without rides.  The President of Guyana actually attended the opening ceremony for Town Day! Here are some pictures of the final evening of Town Day.

My new friends Celes and Odetta, who I gladly connected with through my awesome cousin Stanford, took me out for Town Day, which was more like Town Night.

Thousands of people, young and old, came out to partake in Town Day festivites.

Here are several pictures of vendor tables and tents.

But perhaps the most unforgettable part of Town Day is the music.  There are between 10 and 15 DJ booths all set up with speakers 15 feet high all down Main Street, all playing music at the same time! It's like having 15 clubs side by side down one strip.  And you can decide which club you're going to join.

                             The music was great, but I didn't get too "whatless" because my students, like these two,

                                were everywhere that night! I couldn't walk two feet without seeing a student of mine.

Diwali Festival was a few weeks ago. And boy, was it amazing. I thoroughly enjoyed it. 

Diwali is a Hindu celebration of light over darkness. We began celebrating with a student of ours designing Claire's hands with traditional henna.

As you can see, it came out really beautiful! 

                                                     

My friend Celes took me and Claire driving to see how Hindus ornamented their homes with lit candle's called diyas, and fairy lights in celebration of Diwali.

As you can see, some people went all out!

Each one of these flickering diyas has to be individually lit.  It is a timely and meticulous process.

This is a Hindu temple.

absolutely beautiful.

Some of these shots are blurry because we were still driving as I took them.

Homes as well as local business lit up their property in celebration of Diwali.

Some homes even included themes of the Hindu gods, imitated by members of the family, like this one.

The weekend before Diwali, there was a motorcade of trucks that were adorned with lights and decorations, and filled with people dressed as Hindu gods like the image above.  

They are supposed to sit or stand completely still without moving, like a statue.  

 These trucks are competing for the best visual display.  

Each truck is then judged and the winning truck gets to compete in the nationwide competition held in Georgetown.

Interesting Tid-Bits

Cows do what you least expect-You know how at night raccoons, maybe stray cats, and possums go through your trash when you take it outside? Well, cows do that here.  One night when I stayed up in the living room until about 3:00 in the morning reading one of Erica Buddington's amazing short stories, I heard rustling in the trash. First I thought it was a homeless person.  I decided to look out the window and, low and behold, there were two cows in front of my house. One was facing the trash digging in like it was the Last Supper, and the other cow was facing the road, serving as a lookout! I kid you not! You can't make this stuff up. I wish I could have taken a picture or recorded it. Cows here are so entertaining to me!

Random Food Shots 

We did Mexican night. Fresh, homemade tortillas, black beans, beef, salsa with tomatoes, onions, sweet peppers, and mango. Mango folks. Mango should be a staple in every salsa. Uuugghh. Sooo good. Also we made fresh guacamole, rice and we had shredded cheddar.  That meal...Good Lord. Tears. Real tears.

This was a random mixed meal of fried rice, baked ziti and sweet-n-sour chicken we cooked.  Can't wait to cook this when I get home for the fam! 

Fresh, homemade cinnamon rolls from scratch (Claire's creation), made with left over pie crust 

from the pumpkin pie below.  These were so delicious.  

Pumpkin pie made with fresh pumpkin from a harvest service we attended, with whip cream on top.  Thanksgiving was pretty nice here for us! 

Last But Not Least... 

I was having a conversation with Nigel over something that was circulating the internet.  It was a meme that read, "Name a non-sexual thing or act that turns you on."  And I read many different answers from different people: nice smile, someone who is goal-oriented, passionate towards something, natural hair (ayeeee lol), appreciative of reading books, gets along well with children, someone who takes care of himself or herself, etc. The list went on and on.  But one particular answer that most people agreed on was "great or meaningful conversation,"  I thought that was valid, but Nigel disagreed.  He believes that " 'good conversation' shouldn't be a part of this list because conversation is sex."  "Huh?" was my first response, and probably yours too.  But after breaking it down and really talking about it for a good 30 minutes, I acknowledged that he's absolutely right.

I realized it's true. The same way people undress eachother before sex in the physical realm, long, deep and intimate conversations leave people naked before one another in the emotional and spiritual realm. And that level of intimacy can be even more attractive than physical attributes or characteristics. Also, most people don't put a guard up for this kind of "mental intimacy." They often welcome it.  They bathe in it.  And then, before they know it, they've begun mentally having sex with someone through amazing conversations, and eventually physical sex can either follow, or become irrelevent because emotionally and spiritually they are already hooked. It's only a matter of time before they are physically hooked.

This isn't necessarily a bad thing. But I do believe it is something worth thinking about.  I'll use myself, for example.  I am happily involved with my darling Nigel, and we talk often.  We share intimate conversations and thoughts with one another, as any couple should.  I encourage it.  However, being down here in Guyana has caused for many of my friends to reach out to me.  I've found myself corresponding with people and getting to know them better through email, letters and text messages than I knew them while in the States!  

So now I'm talking with my friends on a regular basis, discussing my highs and lows, sharing personal moments, deep thoughts, even prayers with them.  Then it hit me how close I am becoming to people.  How open and vulnerable they are with me, how intimate our conversations have become.  Nothing sexual. I hate that I have to use that disclaimer, but people often confuse intimate with sexual, and they are two quite different things.  So intimacy is almost inevitable after enough personal exchanges are made through conversation.  So I'm being quite careful about this!

That's all for now.  Thanks for stopping by. I sincerely hope you enjoy your holidays and appreciate all of the many good things and great people that you have been blessed with. I for sure am beyond grateful for you. Please share with me your thoughts on any of the above, especially the part about having deep conversation and the intimacy of it.  I feel a developing interest in researching the subject more.

Happy Holidays and See You Soon,

~Twy

It's November...Wow.

 "Don't fear mistakes. There aren't any." ~Miles Davis 

Oh, Miles. Thank you for that. This has been my go-to quote for the past couple of weeks.  I apply it to my teaching. Teaching in this capacity is entirely new to me.  I am truly learning as I go how to be an effective teacher in the setting that I've been placed in.  I'm not sure I completely believe that quote (I truly wish that I did, maybe one day I will), but thinking it after I feel like I've made mistakes during teaching helps me cope and feel like I have learned something valuable, no matter what. 

What I'm trying to say is, if you made a terrible mistake, learned from it, and have done much better, has that mistake not made you a better person? And if so, was it merely a mistake or a teachable moment/learning experience?  Lot's of beautiful things come from what we think are terrible mistakes.  So thank God for your mistakes, the lessons they have taught you and how much better you have become from them.

I mean, think about it.  If you are a Christian, and believe that your steps were ordered before you took one step, don't you think that God knew everything you were going to do?  And haven't wonderful things come from these so-called 'mistakes?' Who, then, determines that a mistake is actually a mistake? You? Certainly not God.  I think He probably agrees with Miles Davis.  But hey, who knows?  Miles Davis! You philosopher you!

Now I want to take a moment to talk about Claire.  

Claire, as I've mentioned before, is my coteacher/roommate for this entire year. She truly is something special.  Claire doesn't need to be acknowledged or ever be the center of attention.  She is completely comfortable NOT being in the limelight. So much so that she finds more joy in rehearsing for a major performance than the actual performance itself! That is the complete opposite of me.  I feign for the stage! 

There is so much to be admired in a personality like hers. We are opposites in a lot of ways. She is my Yin and I am her Yang.

She helps me to prepare and plan better, and I help her to "improvise."

It makes for a great teaching and living relationship.

Even when it comes to dancing! Claire likes formal dances, and I like informal, improvisatory dancing. I told Claire that if she teaches me to Square Dance, I'll teach her how to do the Wobble.  Her reply: "The Wobble? Hmm...okay. Sounds dangerous though."

When you teach, you eat, sleep, shower and BREATHE it. You wake up adding to your lesson. You remind yourself to go over whole steps and half steps with frets BEFORE they begin playing the major scale. You revisit lessons after the fact to make them better.  Not because you want to all the time, but because it consumes you. And I don't mean consume in an uncomfortable, overwhelming way, but in a pleasant way, like when you are cold and drink hot chocolate, and you feel it pouring into your body and warming you from the inside out. THAT kind of consume. 

And as you live, eat, drink and BREATHE teaching, you yearn for the moments when you can see the bulb brighten in your students' minds as they begin to process and understand the concept of a major 7th chord vs. a dominant 7th chord, and so on. Your heart leaps when you have made even just ONE student say, "Oh, okay...I get it now!" 

My birthday was incredible.  I spent it starting with my students.  They sang me "Happy Birthday" and played it for me on guitar! Click Here to see them singing me "Happy Birthday." They bought me and Claire a cake and refreshments to share out with the entire choir! They gave me beautiful cards with the sweetest inscriptions.  So thoughtful. I was so touched.  Here are some photos with my students on my birthday.

Here are most of the members of the GLMA Choir

The tenor section wanted their own photo op!

And Claire decorated the wall over our fireplace.  Hey! Don't judge our fireplace!  We miss fall and winter here so we have to enjoy our created fireplace until we get back home! 

Then Claire and I headed to Georgetown for the rest of my birthday weekend, where we spent time with my Cousin Basil and his mother Auntie Monica.  Cousin Basil has been my "Guyana Historian" since I've been here.  He has a wealth of knowledge about the country's political history, along with many other facts about Guyana's progress as a nation.  He took me and Claire to many historical sights, along with places like the mall, karaoke, and simply sightseeing. 

Here is my Auntie Monica. She is my Dad's eldest living sister.  She is 85 years old and cooks some of the best pork dishes ever.  She cooked for Claire and I and boy was it good.  Sorry I have no pictures of the food. I tore it up too quickly.  I enjoyed hanging out with her very much.  She has a great sense of humor!

Basil and I at the site of Guyana's former President Burnham's casket.  A beautiful location for an amazing President.

Basil took us to "Midtown Chariot," a local Georgetown restaurant that provides live music and great mixed drinks.

 Here is the Sea Wall at sunset. You know how I love my sunsets.

This is a monument built in memory of a major slave revolt in the 1800's that helped to catapult the liberation of Guyana from colonial reign.  Such a powerful image. The story behind it is bittersweet, because so many slaves were killed in their efforts to reclaim their freedom.

 And here are some other sights that Basil took us to. This is where the current Parliament building.

 Many Guyanese leaders and officials are buried here.

 This monument also represents a slave-led rebellion.

It's November, folks. November.  This year zoomed by.  I will say that I 'm in a much better place than I was when I first got here. I'm way more comfortable! And my students. Gosh I love my students. Uugghhhh. This is more rewarding than I could have ever imagined.  I've never cared so much about other people, so much more than myself. Yep. I just said that.  I've been quite a selfish mofo before now.  I mean, I've still LOVED others, and done for others, but not often can I say that I've LIVED for others. And right now I believe I'm doing that more than ever before. Parents, you know better than I what it's like to LIVE for someone else. But being a young woman with no kids, I've had very little conception of that. Now I am beginning to.

The love that I have for my students is indescribable.  And I'm excited to say that in only two months, I believe that the feeling is mutual. I love them and they love me. With all my flaws, my stammering, my mixing up words and forgetting things, they love me. They appreciate what I'm doing, and they see the bigger picture, which is them becoming a better musician.  And I will do EVERYTHING within my power to make that a reality for each and every one of them. Drops mic. Then picks mic back up. I'm so clumsy. And it's silly to drop mics on purpose.

Click Here and Here to see videos of some of our 2nd Year students jamming out on some instruments after class.

Met more family for the first time!! Man. My family is huge! 

Here is my first cousin, Chatsuba Sommersell.

 and Chatsuba's daughter, Synovea.

Chatsuba, also known as "Suba," is great.  Her father and my father were brothers.  Both of our fathers died when we were young.  I was fourteen when Daddy passed.  Suba was only a year old!! All she knows of her beloved father are the stories everyone tells her of him and the pictures that she keeps.  I was lucky to have my Dad even for the 14 years that I did.

Meeting Cousin Suba and all of the other family I have gotten close to while being down here has made me realize something.  We tend to be so guarded when we are around family.  We simply get by with hello's and how are you's and how is school and how are the kids?  Most of us are never really comfortable around our extended, older family members.  We just kind of know that they are there.  But we don't really ever get to know them.  I want to actually know my extended family. Not just know who they are and have those pleasant, but empty conversations.  I want to really know my family.  I want to know what drives them crazy. What do they think about God, life, death,  sex, money, happiness, gay rights (well, maybe much later in the conversations lol that’s a touchy subject for many people), etc. I want to know them.  What tickles their fancy and makes them laugh? What is their idea of romance?  What do they think about their life and how it’s going/gone?  I think we should aim to know our extended family members better. Perhaps I’m just in a really thoughtful and perceptive place.  But I think it's a good place to be in.  

People have been reaching out to me with an encouraging word, a thoughtful video, a funny link or post, etc. and it means soooooo much to me. I need that and it truly helps to satisfy my craving for my immediate family and friends, since they aren't nearby. So that has been pretty great.  Thank you.

I'd like to sincerely thank you for reaching out. I'd like to thank you for stopping by and allowing me to share this experience with you. It is a great outlet for me, and I am glad that you are a part of it. Thanks for all of your comments about my posts too. Keep them coming! I appreciate you.  Until next time, I love you and be well.

~Twy