One Week in Paramaribo

Old Dutch buildings in Paramaribo.

            I have most definitely been ignoring this blog so far. Since leaving the U.S, things have been a bit hectic. Whether it be unforeseen weather delays and missing connecting flights in the States, or the normal challenges of moving to another country and culture. As of now, I’ve been in Suriname for over a week, although it most definitely feels much longer than that, in a good way that is.

            The first week I stayed in the capital, Paramaribo, living in a guesthouse/hostel type place traveling back and forth to the Peace Corps office everyday for various trainings, including things like medical, safety, language, and job preparation. Reorienting myself to Peace Corps hasn’t been that difficult, after more than two years previously, I have a strong understanding of the goals and challenges of living and working in another country with Peace Corps. The difficulties in the training came more from the general challenges of moving to another country. However, these are also some of the most exciting aspects of Peace Corps. Here is a short list of some of the training discussions, made even shorter . . .

• Mosquitoes have malaria.
• Here’s how to construct your water filter for clean drinking water.
• Here are the two languages you should learn to speak, but there are many more.
• Watch out for the largest spiders in the world and poisonous snakes.
• This is the place you will live at for the next 6 months.

Goliath Birdeater Spider

Fer de Lance

It would be unfair to the amazing Peace Corps staff who did the training to say that this is the way training went. However, I believe that this short list that I just wrote down is an example to the difficulty of traveling to and preparing to live in a place so different from your own. There is only so much you can try to learn in such a short time. Real learning and adjustment takes much longer than one week. Also, the first time I did Peace Corps, we had three months of training, so there is definitely a confidence that Peace Corps probably has that I have the skills to adapt again.

My delicious water filter!

            After one week in Paramaribo, I have now been at my permanent site for a few days. A very interesting place that I will share more about as I learn . . .