Lately--a Potpourri

It's been a while since I've blogged! I've gotten rather busy, I guess. I also think the novelty of life here has worn off a bit so I no longer feel impelled to record every little thing. Here's what's going on lately:

* Rose--and recently Simon--have been doing group art classes with my friend Sigi, a German artist whose husband works for the E.U. embassy. Sigi has said that Rose has a lot of talent, so we set up private lessons for her, which will begin today. My friend has agreed to do this in exchange for personal training sessions with me. :)

* Sevak and I have started Portuguese classes at the Brazilian embassy. It's a fun little date on Tuesday  and Thursday evenings.

* My friend Bo and I usually do weekly "jam sessions" together--he does guitar and piano; I do vocals and fiddle. We had our first "gig" at Rose and Simon's school the other day.

* I have been taking some Indian cooking classes with a woman whose husband works at the Indian High Commission. The Indian food here is definitely different from authentic Indian food, so these classes have been enlightening. Sevak joined me for one.

We made yogurt, paneer, and naan (filled with a paneer mixture)

* Sevak leaves tonight for Brazil…he's going to run the Porto Alegre Marathon! I'm impressed at his dedication…training in Guyana has not been easy.

* I've been trying to figure out how to really get my Zumba "business" off the ground. I figured I'd make this my little project here because there is so much potential. The market isn't saturated with teachers like it is in the Bay Area, and Zumba is particularly well suited to this people and culture. The trouble is finding a good location. I teach Saturday morning classes at the YMCA, which is pretty nice, but lacking AC. It's also not available at other times during the week, and I'm looking to expand my class schedule. There are very few places in Guyana that have AC, and those that do are very pricey to rent (like hotel conference rooms). If we were staying here longer, I would definitely consider building my own place. I also teach at the Embassy one night (not profitable or very well attended…not open to the public) and the kids' school one night (decently profitable but still only semi-open to the public). The search for another location continues. Recently I contacted the only other legit Zumba instructor in Guyana (she was actually licensed at one point in time). She's doing a big Zumba party at the end of the month and I'm going to be a guest instructor. I think it's a great marketing and networking thing. I also had to laugh because her flyer makes me seem like a pretty big deal:

I'm also headed to the Zumba convention in Orlando in August, on our way home to CA. Looking forward to enriching my career! :)

Doing a special class for the whole school during Health Month

* There's a guy at church who's a very handy man, and a couple of months ago we asked him to build us a garden plot. Sevak and I bought some celery, parsley, and tomato seedlings. Only a couple of those survived, but I saved some seeds from butternut squash, and they are really going crazy in the garden. I'm just a little concerned because some of the leaves are now starting to yellow a bit or go limp, and I'm hoping I didn't cram too many in there. Sevak built a trellis for them to climb so they don't overrun the bed:

 

One of the two tomato plants that survived

Green onions (known as shallots in Guyana). I just stuck the chopped-off roots into the soil, and they grew new greens.

Parsley

 

These passion fruit vines were in our yard when we got here and now they're also climbing onto the trellis and the barbed wire. I love it.

I have been saving my kitchen cuttings and occasionally throw them into a hole to compost. I'm trying to sprout some watermelon seeds and grape seeds, and I'll plant them in that spot if they work. I'm really curious about the grapes because they don't normally grow in Guyana.

* I've started going on milk runs with a couple of my neighbors. The milk at the grocery store is all shelf-stable stuff, ultra-high pasteurized. I know it's probably not the healthiest. Well, now we get fresh milk from an actual dairy farm. It costs around $1 a liter. When I bring it home I pasteurize it myself. The other day I made it into paneer.

Add some vinegar and it curdles

Drain it and form it into cheese! I keep the leftover whey to add to baked goods or mac and cheese.

I used it in palak paneer, except instead of palak I used callaloo, a local variety of spinach:

* We've befriended some local folks who run a nearby produce shop. We had them over for dinner a couple of weeks ago, and then they came again the next week and actually brought the meal. 

Delicious baked snapper, beans and rice, flavorful corn, creamed yams, vegetable macaroni

Our kids enjoy playing with their kids. They (the parents) are also cool people and have some great skills and resources. For example, the man is a sound technician and was giving some great tips on Zumba venues and such. They also give us good deals on produce. :)

So that's life lately!