School Children, Dance Theaters and Museums - Kophie

It’s been a couple of weeks since I posted my previous blog and I want to share the experiences I’ve had since. There were three major events I was able to take part in and I wanted to write about them. I visited Grove Primary School, watched a live dance show at the theatre and visited the National Museum.

I would first like to touch on my experience of attending the final day of class for a group of students at Grove Primary School. On July 3, 2009, we visited the Grove Primary School to meet the kids. As I walked through the chain-linked fence, children poured from the tan colored two-story building made of wood. I took a quick gaze of the surroundings and saw kids running, playing cricket and just having fun on their last day. The yard was small with half of it being dirt and the rest grass. We climbed up a flight of stairs to reach the library where we met some of the staff. After we greeted the staff, we headed to the classrooms to meet the children. The children were excited to see us and were very curious about a group of strangers in military uniforms. They were very shy in the beginning, but that quickly wore off. It was only a matter of time before they started to ask questions and we began to play games with them. An Airman named TSgt Jones was mobbed by the kids, who were begging him to lift them up with only one of his arms; he was eventually sent to time-out for his routines in the classroom.

I was no match for the children’s expert techniques in the form of thumb wrestling and lost about dozen times in a row; I guess I will need more practice. Of the subjects that were taught, math was by far the most popular choice followed by science. Unlike the U.S., where kids can’t wait for summer break (I was one of those kids), most of the children here were quite sad that the school year had ended, which is a testament to the hard working teachers and staff who ensure a comprehensive and fun style of teaching. After a couple of hours of answering questions and playing games, we concluded our visit and said one final farewell, but before we left, we were all given gift bags from the children which contained various cookies, candy and juice boxes for our trip home.

About a week ago, I was privileged to attend a dance at the National Cultural Centre. Now I haven’t seen too many live dance shows, so I was really interested to see one in Guyana. The name of the show was called Pitch Black & Tempo and it was broken up into two segments. The first segment consisted of slower, contemporary performances and local dances with amazing costumes. The dances were put together with beautiful chorography and elements of love and passion. After the first portion was completed, there was a 15 minute break. It wasn’t until the second session where things started to get interesting for me.

The second half was much more upbeat and drew a lot more reactions from the crowd. The songs were both of a local variety and by international artist like the Black Eyed Peas. The dances in the second half were much faster and many of them were similar to things you would see in dance clubs or a pop concert. It was quite amazing how the audience transformed over the night, it went from a theater completely silent as if we were watching a classical rendition, to a mad-house concert were people were screaming, yelling and even booing at some of the performers. It was a great night, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who visits Guyana.

A couple of days ago, I went to the National Museum of Guyana here in Georgetown. It was a very informative and interesting experience, and a great place to learn about the culture here. Unfortunately taking pictures of the exhibits is not allowed, so I am not able to post any pictures pertaining to the visit. The museum maintains many of Guyana’s important treasures. The museum is a two story building; the first floor had models of important structures here in Guyana such as the St. George's Cathedral which is said to be the world’s tallest wooden structure which spire reaches over 132 feet. Local paintings and sculptures were displayed behind glass windows to protect them from damage. The second floor was more oriented to unique rocks found in Guyana and the local wildlife. The wild life exhibits were amazing and it was very interesting to see what type of fish and animals there are here. One of my favorite exhibits was the Squirrel Monkey -- I have encountered a few while here. Tourist often feed them and they will take food right from your hands, the monkeys will even steal your alcoholic beverage if you are not careful. In all, the museum was very educational and a great place to learn about the many things that makes Guyana unique.

- Kophie