Adventures in Georgetown

 June 1, 2013  Here are a few pictures from around Georgetown and a story about our evening with the Indian High Commissioner and his family at their new restaurant.

They are building a big house across the street.  This guy
is balancing there working on the electricity.

This picture was taken from the top of our steps.  They were
working on this house when we came eight months ago.

There are many interesting plants.

We see this lady every now and then carrying her goods on her head.

We love the orange blossomed flamboyant trees.

Those trees are planted all the way down Thomas Street.

Here are Elder Richard and Sister Hazie Brown.  They are the auditors.
They are going home soon.  We love having visitors.

Because our windows are always open the floor gets very dusty in a week.

The construction here is mainly concrete, but they use skinny poles to frame things up.  They haul up buckets of cement by hand to pour into a framework for a mold.

This is a picture of the new Indian Restaurant called the Aagman located on Sheriff Street.. The restaurant is on the top floor.   We were invited to a private dinner party there last Saturday night.  The son of the Indian High Commissioner and his wife are creating the restaurant.  Their names are Raj and Neha Meena.  We sat by them at a Christmas party hosted by Reza Chowdery, an India Indian, who lives in Maryland and has developed a medical school here.  He goes back and forth to India doing fund raisers for his school.  The party started at 7:30, and we were about 10 minutes late and were the first one's there.  Neha sat us down in a portion of this beautiful restaurant with her father-in-law, the Indian High Commissioner and his wife and son.  We visited with him for about 20 minutes before any one else came.  We asked him to tell us what he does here.  The population in Guyana is around 47% East Indian.  They have many holidays.  He sends students to India and brings students here from India, and is very involved in many kinds of businesses.
The next couple who came were the Sizovs, the Russion diplomat and his wife, Maria.  We enjoyed visiting with them very much.  He had a fun outgoing personality.  His English was good, but his accent was strong.  The more beers he had, the harder he was to understand.  He tried to teach me some Hindee words.  Then about eight gold miners came, and the Commissioner spoke to them in Hindee and we couldn't understand.
About 8:30, they took us to our table to eat.  We sat with the High Commissioner's wife and son.  The son just graduated in India with his MBA, and came to Guyana to help take care of his mother who has had a stroke.  They started bringing out appetizers.  First they brought vegetarian dishes like Veg Hara Bhara Kebab, Paneer Tikka Shaslik, Tandoori Aalu, and Tandoori Mushrooms.Then came the non vegetarian appetizers; Tandoori Chicken, Chicken Tikka, Chicken Hariyali Kabab, and Mutton Seekh Kebab.  After that came the spinach soup.  This was followed by the vegetarian main course Paneer Tikka Masala, Veg Handi Hyderabadi, and Dal Makhani. and then the non vegetarian main course which included Butter Chicken, Mutton Rogan Josh, and Fish Goan Curry.  These were served with Jeera Rice and Pineapple Raita, and Tandoori Roti, Missi Roti, Plain Naan, and Butter Naan which were different kinds of breads.  Then we finished off with two desserts, Gulab Jamun, and Doodhi Halwa.  It was 10:30 by then and we passed on the tea.  All the food was delicious.  Elder Beecher thought a couple things were a little spicy.  The son showed us how to eat the roti and the dishes that went with it.  They eat it with their right hand and then they brought a little bowl with lime slices in it to wash your fingers in.  It was a delightful evening.  We had an enjoyable time with our table mates.  Raj and Neha stopped by to speak with us as well.
The church is having a big Family Awareness Week from June 8th to June 15th.  On the 8th they are having an opening ceremony and 27 dignataries are invited.  We took invitations along with a framed Family Proclamation to the Indian family and the Russian couple.  We hope they come.  When we delivered the invitations we were blessed with a tender mercy and we were able to speak to the son and his mother and also the Russian, Petr Vizov.
Georgetown is an interesting place.  Elder Beecher is always after me to take a picture of the pot holes.  Here are a couple of good ones.

Sometimes you can't drive around the potholes.

This fellow sold newspapers. He had an energetic stride and manner. He seemed to work hard and we saw him often.