Our new apartment in Cayenne

I'm sorry for how long it's taken me to update since my last message. My new high school really keeps me busy and, to be frank, exhausted. Class starts at 7:00 am which means I have to get up at 5:30. Temperatures stay around 90° in the classrooms and everyone perspires profusely. By the time I get home, I have just enough energy to hop into the shower and cool off before preparing my lessons for the following day.

Well, here are some pictures of our new apartment. Let's go for a little tour, starting with the kitchen! (Click on photos to enlarge.)

 Then there's the living-room:

and my bedroom:

and Jack's bedroom:

We have a terrace where we eat out on weekends, and we've also got a little backyard:

One activity I enjoy is gardening. When we first arrived, the backyard was empty except for three palm trees and a little lemongrass. (I've learned that lemongrass herb tea is used to lower fever and treat malaria. Also, mosquitos don't like the smell; people usually plant it around their homes here.) With a little work on the weekends, our back yard is starting to look much nicer...

I've added some gardenias and ixora (the yellow flower below):

I've also added this tropical red flower (of which I've forgotten the name...sorry)

One of my favorite additions, however, is my tea bush. Whenever I want some fresh green tea, I just pluck a few leaves and infuse them for several minutes.

Gardening is actually quite fun in Guiana and it's hard not to go overboard with all the tropical plants and flowers you can buy at the local garden store.