Headed Home For The Summer

Here's the latest collection of photos from Orealla! :)
We can't wait to show more pics to everyone in person.
Thanks for all your support this year!

Our slideshow/openhouse dates are as follows:

Sunday, 15th of July, 7 pm at Calvary CRC in Holland, Michigan
Sunday, 29th of July, (time yet to be determined) Rosewood CRC in Bellfower, California
Mid-August (via Raven Correspondence) Delta Junction, Alaska

A typical afternoon in the rainy season!

Another snake killed in our house! :)

Crammin' for National Exams

Stone Soup Cast

Gettin' Prepped for the Play

Our Knights in Shining Armor

Finished Library (facing south)

Finished Library (facing north)

Achievement Award Winner (thanks to Wasilla, AK homeschoolers for the prizes!)

Thomas gets his hair done! :)

Moving Sale

Parent Open Day

Village Farewell

The Rainy Season Has Hit

Thought we'd post a few pictures from the rainy season in Orealla to give you a feel for what life during the monsoons is like. Enjoy! More pics are also available at flickr!

Doing laundry at the laundry mat (on a rare sunny day).

Our underhouse swamp....

Because it's wet and cloudy nearly all the time, it's impossible to keep mold from growing--even on clean, dry clothes that you put in the closet. It's not just us newbies, either, we notice many kids with mildew on their shirts, as well!

Hosting Ingrid's 25th b-day party at our house. The best part? Esther (on left) wanted to ensure that her daughter had good Guyanese cooking, so we didn't have to prepare any food!

Opening day of the new Orealla Library

Becky & Laurimel on a Saturday story hour

Unpacking the shipment of books from Valley Elementary (California) and Raven Correspondence (Alaska)

Our very able library assistants at work! (from left to right: Kristy, Valerie & Gail)

Grade 3 students enjoying the library

Our congregation at Church of the Nararene

Headed back to Orealla on Neal's boat. To get on, you have to literally carry your luggage on the plank shown in the middle of the picture. It's rather sketchy, especially when you consider that your groceries for the next 3 months are in your luggage!

Happy Easter!

We're finally near some relatively speedy internet so we thought we'd try to get some more pictures of Orealla up on the net. Sorry they're a little dark... they seem to be posting better on flicker, so here's the link to our more detailed album on that webpage: http://www.flickr.com/photos/54808715@N00

We just found out the school year has been extended (for various unexplainable reasons) two weeks. So our last day of school will likely be July 13. It looks like we'll probably be back in the states to visit in late July. We'll keep you posted on additional changes! Thanks for your continued support!

The first pictures show you some of the stages of our library-building project. We hope to open the school library in mid-April. Thanks to all of you who've donated books, bookmarks, library cards, and more!

Movie Night (at our house powered by a borrowed generator) for 8th graders who completed their regional projects on time

Popcorn provided courteousy of Grandma DeVries. It was a little tricky making it on a camping stove but the kids seemd to like the result.

S'mores & Movie Night w/Library Aides & IT Leaders (thanks for the chocolate, Ahlia!)

Valentine's Dinner.Flowers picked fresh from the savannah! Other decorations courteousy of Brand/VZ families (napkins, candy, candle holders, etc).

Thomas and our good friend, Mitchell (who also built the bookshelves for the library) during a trumpet lesson

Grade 8 students working on their Regional Project. The projects remind us of science fair type of work but occur in all four core subjects at the same time and samples have to be sent to the Region for evaluation.

Above and below our pics from our Mashramani Picnic Day (kinda like the 4th of July but the homeroom teacher is supposed to plan the activities). Carrie's class decided to go on a hike to a local creek. No surprise, huh?

No Iditarod Down Here and no internet to check on the status of mushers... but least red lanterns are abundant and well-used as one of the only sources of light at night in the village. (This will probably only make sense to last year's seventh graders... ask them to translate for you!)

Midway Through Term 2

What was supposed to have been a quick overnight trip to Georgetown to hit up a used book sale and repair the school laptop is turning into a 5 day+ venture. The tech team that was going to work on the computer never showed up and now the village boat (our transportation back to Orealla)has steering problems and is awaiting parts to get fixed. They should be here "just now" (it could be a day--it could be a month!) Alas, life in Guyana continues to be unpredictable and good for growing patience...

To look on the bright side, at least we weren't on the boat when the steering went out! Plus, we now have a little extra time to post the latest Orealla pictures on the web (both here and a more in-depth collection on our flicker account).

We miss you all! Thanks for your continued support. We've really been enjoying the Christmas cards that slowly trickling into the village! Take care until Easter!

Thomas and Carrie

Carrie With Her 8th Grade Form Class
(This picture reveals the personality of some students quite well!)

Caricatures of Orealla Staff (created by students during Carrie's political cartoon unit)

Friday Afternoon Tae-Bo

Small plants to experiment with are quite easy to find in the savannah.
What's harder to find is shade from the sun! :)

Frog err.. Giant Toad Dissection (students captured and dissected their amphibian of choice from the rainforest!)

Praise Team Practice at Church

Laundry Mat (Log on Right)

Hiking Chalk Hill

Stove-top Pizza

Limin' with Students On Beach

Library: a work in progress

Solar Batteries (that don't work!)