Hanging at home

Our swearing-in as Peace Corps Response Volunteers in Suriname

First things first – the good news! I am now officially a Peace Corps Response Volunteer in Suriname. We were sworn in on Friday morning.

It’s the tail end of the rainy season here in Suriname and I am starting to figure out when the rain is coming (other than the obvious clue, the clouds). The temperature cools down a bit, and the wind starts. It actually feels really nice. Then the rain comes – sometimes in sprinkles, and sometimes in sheets. I was talking to the woman who also lives in these apartments when the rain started, and I stood there in it. She asked if I wanted to come in, and I was just fine – while it was only rain. Torrential rain, not so much. It brought back some memories of when I liked to be out in the summer rains as a kid, and would seek out a mud puddle to squish my toes through the mud. She said it was the first time she had seen anyone not running from the rain. Apparently a lot of people here do, even though it rains a lot. Of course, the neighbors probably thought I was a fool for hanging out in the rain.

The good thing about the cooling down is I can open up all my windows and the top of my “Dutch door” and get a nice cross breeze. The downside? Oh my, I cannot say how many mosquitoes bit me – I was in misery with all of the itching! I don’t feel them biting but man, do I feel the aftereffects. I wonder if my body will at some point just get used to all of the biting…probably not.

Leafy greens – good for you! I forgot what they are called though!

Today she (the same young woman in the same apartments as me)  showed me where the big food market was located downtown. Now, I was told a few days ago that it is mango season right now, so I was surprised that mangoes were $2 Suriname each. I thought that a bit much, especially considering the fact that I bought them a few days ago for $1 Suriname each. I guess I’ll go back to the other location and see if those have gone up.

Of course, I saw, and bought, a number of things of which I have no idea what they are, but they are dark leafy green vegetables, which are meant to be cooked, and looked pretty good. I also decided to try a second variety of passion fruit and a thing that looks like a huge, skinny, light colored zucchini, which I swore the guy called a “poo”.

It looks like I won’t be eating a lot of meat, which is fine with me – in the next few days I hope to find some tofu (today’s outing was bus only because my bike has a problem and I need to get it fixed). However, some chicken now and then would be good too…have to try to budget though!

What did I do with all the things I got? Put them in a pot – in two rounds! The first round I used masala curry and hot sauce to season it, and the second I used a peanut sauce (add water – not sure I did it correctly so I also added “hot” peanut butter). Definitely enough to last me the week, and I even had some of the leafy greens left over!

Not bad for not knowing the veggies…I improvised as usual

Because I have a tile floor, and am not the neatest person in the world, I made a bit of a mess so today ended up being cleaning day as well. But I did get to see some proverbial fruits of my labor and won’t be going hungry or relying on restaurants this week!

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