The Obvious
Food -Cook-up Rice, Curry and Roti, Pepper Pot and there is just something about Fried Rice from a Guyana Chinese cook shop, does not taste the same over here.
Dance - usually at a party the dance is influenced by Jamaican dance hall and American hip hop, at national events its a combination of African and East Indian styles.
Art - can range from indigenous and African carvings to abstract painting, but i think the influence is more European than anything else.
Architecture: Old buildings of note are of colonial design. Lord, I think they lack imagination in this department, except for the 30 million dollar mansions are just about square or rectangular.
So those are some of the obvious cultural things. But what are things that have influenced me? I grew up in the country (yes country bumpkin always) so there is a strong sense of community. I miss that because everyone here is so busy and when they get home they stay in there homes. There is no local hang out spot per say where you can go and catch up on the day's goings on and have a beer or two. Yes, I know there are bars here but it's not the same.
The pace in Guyana, and the Caribbean in general, is slow. We are never rushing to get things done. If work knocks off at 4:00 pm everyone packs up at 3:30. I must have been the exception to the rule (lol). No my mom always believed in being punctual so I was always early for work unless I had things to do down town and if I am late I always make up the time. So you would never find a stressed Guyanese, well except maybe for the politicians, well then again the President parties just about every Friday night so i guess not.
I like different kinds of music and books. Well maybe I should say I have great ambitions on the kinds of books I should read but I seem stuck in the horror and suspense, action and science fiction genres. I partly blame my mom for the horror and suspense, my dad for the action and my former supervisor and one of my BBF for the science fiction. As for the music would be my grandparents. They have shop/bar with a dew box that use to have everything in it and then my uncle got into music I was set for life.
What else can I say about my culture, we use to believe that the community helps to raise the child/children. That has been changing in recent years the more American tv became part of our society. I still think its important. Being close with family is important because you are alway aware that you have support whenever needed, and I am not talking just about close family. I can probably go any part of Guyana and find family that will take care of you even if they haven't met you before. Make that around the world, Guyanese are everywhere :-).
Education wise it was important to my family. Generally though if its was not your thing and you feel better learning a trade that was fine. But the North American influence of needing that paper and the fact that a lot of people are beginning to travel a lot makes it doubly important now.
So that is just a little bit about my cultural influence. I have been trying very hard to articulate the things that have influenced me, just about gave brain freeze. To let you know how much of a country bumpkin I am i still try to use the sun to find my way around Toronto whenever I have to go someplace new and I still go the wrong way because the sun is so hard to see behind all those tall buildings.
I wish you all the best on you trip, have lots of fun and post lots of picture. I'll try my best to do the same.
Peace out
Deirdre
