Things I Will Miss About New Amsterdam

"The contents of this [blog] are personal and do not reflect any position of the US government or the Peace Corps."

I am moving tomorrow. I will start full-time work at the University of Guyana next week and thus will be living closer to the University. After spending my first 5 months at the Psychiatric Hospital, it became apparent that the educational background wasn't in place to yet make changes that would be sustainable. Therefore we decided it would make more sense to start by helping current and future students better understand what therapy is and how it can be implemented before trying to change current practices. Bottom line: I'm leaving New Amsterdam.

And I know you have read all about how I hate the burning trash, cannot sleep because of the barking dogs and dislike running because of the constant harassment I get. But there are several things I'm going to miss about New Amsterdam.

#1: The patients and staff at the hospital. I really liked working there, even though I didn't accomplish too too much while I was there. Everyone was friendly and the patients were great. I will certainly miss that.

#2: My apartment and landlord. I have a nice spacious apartment within walking distance of everything and coupled with an awesome landlord who I'd call a friend and moving to a small studio apartment will be a challenge.

#3: The cane fields. Once I get out of town and away from the people, I love running through the canefields and among the bush motorbikes, or salipenters(which I had erroneously called iguanas previously). Where I will be living won't have any cane fields anywhere nearby.


#4: The little boys racing me. My favorite part of every run I do is this one neighborhood where apparently has no pants. Almost little boy out playing is doing so in just his underwear and when they see me coming a bunch of them challenge me to running races. Depending on how old and how many, I get in  quite a workout. But more importantly it is so cute as they run beside me giggling.

Well that's about it. I am very excited to start teaching and help developing the therapy department's curriculum. I'll be living close enough to the National Park and Seawall that I'll be able to run with other people. I won't be harassed every time I run nor will I have to travel 2+ hours if I have a Peace Corps meeting. Plus being in town will allow me to have a bigger presence with the ministry of health and hopefully can get my media health promotion project off the ground.

All in all, I'm excited about moving but there will be those things that I will miss. But you can never hold anything new if you don't let go of what is already in your hands.

Until next time,


Danny