Things My Kids Say 2

Update:
I'm no longer working in Guyana, but I'm trying to keep the blog around, especially as some info for potential WorldTeach Guyana volunteers. I have a couple of facebook albums from my time in Guyana. Here are the links:

Guyana Part 1

Guyana Part 2


Somehow this never got published, so here's some blog B sides:


So this isn't really something that's been said in my class, but I have one class where some boys in the class seem to be really keen on meowing in class.  So I've started calling them cat-boys, which everyone else in the class seems to think is about the funniest thing in the world.  It's also cut down on the meowing.

So I'm marking exams from my science class.  We talked about sampling, doing a small survey to estimate a population size and we talked a little bit about how your estimate is good or bad based on the sample.  So I had them estimate the number of dolphins in this river around here, and then asked if they thought it was a good estimate or not, ideally hoping for, "it depends," or "I think dolphins are not evenly distributed" etc

instead I'm mostly getting:

"Yes because the river is long."

"No because there aren't any dolphins in the river."

"No because I think the river is longer than you told me." (I did my research before, the length is pretty accurate)

But my new favorite is "no, because that is too much dolphins."

June Newsletter

June (!) Newsletter

Have you ever been on a roller coaster ride that just kept accelerating? That's how the last few months have felt. My time in Guyana is rapidly coming to a close, and I can't believe it. It seems like just the other day I was finding out I had to live in a dorm, shocked to realize that Thanksgiving was coming, or planning for a second term of teaching. Now my third term of teaching is almost halfway over, and the reality still hasn't really sunk in. Here are some things that have been going on since the last update (in March I suppose).

Easter Vacation - Rupununi

In Guyana there is a 2 week break around Easter, so myself and 3 other volunteers took the opportunity to see a lot more of the country. There are 2 major Easter events, the rodeo in Lethem and the regatta in Bartica. Since I'd been to Bartica on many occasions, I really wanted to go to the rodeo. Lethem is a town in southwest Guyana that is on the border with Brazil. You can either fly there, which takes a couple of hours, or take a bus. There is a road (I'd estimate about 500 km long) that is mostly a wide dirt road. Buses leave from Georgetown, and the trip takes about 20 hours, if the roads are good and there are no holdups or accidents. My team left a few days before the rodeo and got off before Lethem, in the village of Surama. Once you go through the forested areas closer to the coast and cross the Essequibo River (as the 3^rd longest river in South America, travelers pretty much have to cross it to go anywhere in Guyana – its the same river I cross to get from Georgetown to Anna Regina) by ferry, the jungle gives way to a broad savannah. This area, called the Rupununi, is absolutely gorgeous. There are even some mountain ranges, though large hills might be more appropriate. Away from the coast, populations are very small and primarily Amerindian. I believe Lethem is considered a town, but it is the only one, everyone else lives clustered in small villages.

Surama is an Amerindian village that is considered one of the success stories of the eco-tourism movement in Guyana. The village has a fully functioning eco-lodge, complete with a large pavilion for eating and relaxing, and a variety of small “cabins.” We had light at night via solar power. We stayed in Surama for 2 nights, and had a local guide take us canoeing on a river (saw my first monkeys in the wild), hiking up Mount Surama and on a night nature hike. We didn't see any jaguars or anteaters, but it was a great time nonetheless. From Surama, we arranged a trip to Wowetta, the next village up the road. My teaching buddy Luke is friends with a Spanish VSO (Volunteer Service Overseas I think), Sergio who had invited us to stay with him. He was living with a host family in Wowetta, where we stayed for another 2 nights. The family Sergio was staying with lived just a short walk from the road, with 3 houses, a brother a sister and their parents all with their families. It was really fascinating to actually get to interact with an Amerindian family in the interior. Also I was embarrassed at soccer by a host of little Guyanese kids. Over and over again. Sporting failures aside, the gentleman who hosted us, Bertie Xavier, was an excellent host and a fascinating guy to talk to. He was really involved in local and international politics, working with the UN to represent indigenous people in Guyana. He had also gotten the village involved in a UN pilot program that brought solar panels to the houses in the village. A company essentially set up a lease-to-own agreement with each household, with the idea being that the extra working hours gained by using electric lights could allow for increased income through the production of arts and crafts or the processing of cassava.

The family also runs a women's cassava processing operation a short walk from the houses. Cassava, also known as yucca, is a staple Amerindian crop. In the interior regions close to Venezuela on the coast, Amerindian people turn the cassava into cassava bread, which is like a very dry and hard flatbread. In the Rupununi, cassava is turned into farine, which is ground into small round pieces, kind of like couscous but harder if not softened with some sort of sauce. The tricky part about cassava is that it is poisonous if eaten raw, and must be processed carefully to make it safe to eat. This is a long process, which involves the use of a matape, a long woven tube that's closed at one end and has loops at both ends. The large ones are about the size of a person. The matape works kind of like a Chinese finger trap, in that if you pull on the ends, the middle gets squeezed. Milled cassava is placed inside the matape, which is hung off the ground. Then a long tree branch or trunk is placed in the bottom loop, and heavy rocks or concrete blocks are hung on the trunk, removing the poisonous cassava water. Alternatively, someone can sit on the trunk to do the squeezing, which I imagine is a nice break if you've been milling cassava all day. The cassava water can actually be used for cooking and processing into some other products, but I'm not as familiar with that process. After the cassava has been squeezed in the matape, it is then toasted in large metal pans, yielding farine. For the two days we were in Wowetta, there were probably 8-10 women working nonstop, well into the night, making farine. The sun was hot and the labor looked brutal. I couldn't stand near the wood burning ovens that heated the metal pans for toasting for more than about 3 minutes before the smoke made my eyes water. The women obviously didn't complain to us, and I think they have embraced the opportunity to support their families, while their husbands are out farming or hunting.

In Wowetta, we also had the opportunity to trek out of the savannah and into the jungle. About 10 years ago, a villager discovered a nesting site for the Guyanese cock of the rock, an endangered bird with brilliant orange plumage. After an hour and a half of hiking or so, we came upon a collection of large boulders where the birds nest. We saw about 4 different birds and got to see their nesting sites. The birds wouldn't let us get really close, but they were so bright that it was not too hard to pick them out.

After all our fun in Wowetta, it was time to continue our journey on to Lethem. When we got off the bus in Surama, we didn't really have a plan for reaching Lethem. Because all the buses leaving Georgetown were going to be full due to the rodeo, we couldn't reserve a bus ride from Surama or Wowetta to Lethem, as every bus that runs makes the entire trip. So we hoped we could catch a ride in the back of someone's pick-up or that something else would present itself. Naturally, it did. While in Surama, the woman who runs the village community center, where they have a satellite phone and internet for making reservations, etc. asked us what our plans were for reaching Lethem. when she found out what day we were hoping to go to Lethem, she said the Surama football (soccer) team would be heading to Brazil to play a match on that day, and that they could give us a ride. Now, there is no phone in Wowetta, so we just had to agree to a tentative plan of being out on the road in the morning we were to be picked up. Sure enough, a enormous truck (here they're all made by Bedford, which I'm told is a British manufacturer) with about 30 people in the back came chugging up the road. The truck was pretty well packed (it had a bench running down the center), so we had to sit on the side rails. It did have a framework for a tarp, so we had plenty to hold onto. The soccer team was not going to Brazil via Lethem though. We were trundling along the road, when all of a sudden, the truck just turned off into what mostly looked like grassland. There was a faint track. After about 30 minutes of driving on a path that increasingly become more of a suggestion of a direction to go, we pulled up to a river crossing. The crossing consisted of some guy's house, the river, and a couple of rowboats. The soccer team hopped out with their suitcases and friends in tow, and began rowing themselves across the river. From there the driver and a few others stayed on the truck as we backtracked to the main road and headed to Lethem. I got to stand at the front of the bed with a little kid and felt like king of the savannah. It was great, and a lot more comfortable the the first half of the voyage. A trip that took us roughly 2-3 hours on the return trip (in the bus) took us about 8 hours in the truck, but it was absolutely worth it. We finally made it Lethem, the day before the rodeo.

Easter Vacation – Rodeo

What would you do if you had miles and miles of essentially deserted grassland? Well the Amerindians have decided to raise cattle. This is more prominent in the southern Rupununi, south of Lethem, so we didn't actually get to see any ranches. The rodeo is a yearly celebration of all things cowboy. Aside from the jarring realization that all the cowboys were Indians (in the non-politically correct sense) the rodeo itself was much like I imagine rodeos back in the US to be like. Bull and stallion riding, barrel racing, steer roping etc. There was also a wild cow milking contest, where cowboys had to bring down a cow and milk it, but all the cows were dry, and a watermelon eating contest, which my colleague Suzanne won handily. Her (unofficial) prize? A bottle of rum. But, like all good social events, the rodeo was about more than the rodeo. Tons of people, including foreigners make the trip down from Georgetown and Brazilians swarm over the border. There were lots of carnival type games, a rickey Ferris wheel and booths selling food and drinks. The best food award clearly goes to meat-on-a-stick man, a Brazilian guy who just sold skewers of meat. Steak is hard to come by in Anna Regina, so I think I single-handedly transferred a large amount of Guyanese currency to meat-on-a-stick man. Hope he spent it well. We also saw most of the other WorldTeach teachers, some who had a grueling 30 hour trip down due to a bus going halfway off a raised portion of the road and the vagaries of the river crossing, which is only open 12 hours a day.

After the rodeo, we hung around for a couple of days, found a great swimming hole and saw some waterfalls. It was more like a rocky creek, but the water was cool and clear, and it reminded me a little of the North Georgia mountains. The waterfalls were also the site of an attempted hydroelectric power plant that was built by the Chinese. The Guyanese people had interesting things to say about the Chinese who worked on the project, saying that they lived in spartan conditions but took really good care of their dogs until they ate them. They also told us not to worry about snakes, because the Chinese had eaten them all. The power plant was finished in 2000 but was out of commission a few years later. It was like something out of Jurassic Park. It doesn't take long for the jungle to start reclaiming the signs of human “progress.” After our trip to the waterfalls, it was time to head back to Georgetown. The return trip took a little longer because we took a minibus with only one driver, about 24 hours. We timed it so we got to the river crossing about 4 hours early and the driver could sleep. On the way down we took a bigger bus with two drivers, so we didn't have to make any extended stops. The minibus was actually somewhat comfortable, but I was definitely ready to to get off the bus when we got back to Georgetown. At this point I was wiped out from a busy week and a half so I just returned to Anna Regina for a little rest and relaxation.

ARMS Pageant and Anniversary

ARMS always has a pageant during the final school term. It's a big community event and an opportunity to show off the talents of the female students. This year also happens to be the 50^th anniversary of the founding of the school, so the events were combined. On the first Friday evening of the final term, a handful of 9^th and 10^th grade girls (the 11^th graders are too busy with exams for pageants) competed for the title of Miss ARMS 2011. One of my students won. Unfortunately I couldn't really watch the proceedings because I was working the concessions stand which was hectic but fun. Then on Saturday the school had a reunion in the evening. Unfortunately, not too many people came, but I think that those who did enjoyed themselves. Monday through Wednesday were filled with exhibitions, competitions, reflections of former students and teachers and sports. It was a nice celebration of the school, which I gather has had its good reputation for quite some time. It also meant that not much teaching got done for the first two weeks of school.

Exams

11^th grade exams began with the return from Easter break. Some of my students are writing as many as 13 or 14 different exams, many with two separate tests (a multiple choice and a long answer test) on different days. My physics students told me they thought the first part of their physics test went pretty well, but we shall see. Scores won't come back until sometime during the next school year, so I won't be around to bask in the glory or scramble for excuses based on the results. The school is a different place without the 11^th graders, who take their exams in the auditorium for the most part. The building is quieter and less crowded and I have more free time. On the other hand I miss teaching my oldest students. They were pretty fun to teach. My exam preparations are far from over, however. 9^th grade students in Guyana write national exams in four subjects: math, science, english and social studies. I teach science to all the 9^th graders, so I've been trying to cover as much material as possible in my last few weeks. The students in general are pretty good, so I am hopeful they will do well.

Well, I think that's about it for this update, though its quite a long one. I hope to send out at least one final July newsletter as I wrap things up. The final day of school is the 8^th of July, which some days seems far off but most days feels too soon for my time to end.

Alex

Fruit Quiz

Fruits in Guyana are a little different. Consider this part 1 of your education.

The picture below contains a lemon, a lime and a wild cherry pepsi can (imported from america - woo corn syrup). Which is which?

answer after the jump

Exams Part 2

Here's another couple of exam week nuggets:

1. So the kids all get photocopied tests, but write their answers on their own pieces of paper. I'd already collected this one guy's paper, and he was writing on the back of his exam paper, which is fine. They're bored. I get it. But then it starts drawing a lot of attention, and he's sitting in the back of the classroom, so it must be interesting. Also all the kids sit at these double-wide desks, so its the kid (who's in 8th grade) and a 7th grade girl from a different class. Anyway, I walk back, and he's drawing but (somewhat skillfully) covering it up with his hand. So I let him go for a while, but eventually take it up. There was some crude drawing of something resembling a naked lady or something. Nothing too outrageous, but probably what was causing the commotion. What caught my eye was something else though. He had written:

Hello, my name is Vivekanand Mangar and I am in 8-1. I don't have a girlfriend because I have a big head."

Its possible he didn't actually write it (could have been the girl), but I kind of had a hard time keeping a straight face for the rest of the exam period. I did quietly mention to him that his head wasn't really all that big, and he'd probably grow into it in a few years. Ah to be young again...


2. Unrelated excellent answers to a question:

Q: List three things you should do to take care of your eyes.

A: Never rub your eye with your eye.

A: If you have something in your eye, ask someone to blow it out for you.

Exams

This week is exam week. I was fortunate enough that my largest group of students (5 9th grade science classes) took my exam on Monday, so I've had plenty of work this week but will be able to finish my marking early. One of the topics we covered this term was atomic bonding, both covalent and ionic. Students were asked to identify some bonds.

Some have a little trouble with spelling, so I got some nice answers:

Convection bonding - we did talk about heat transfer and convection this term

Iconic bonding - Michael Jackson and Michael Jordan hanging out, making music videos.

Ironic bonding - I like to picture atoms sitting in a dive bar with tallboy PBRs and trucker hats, complaining about how nobody knows the actual definition of irony.

Guyanese Things: Drinking

Drinking

Guyana is home to some of the world's best rum. El Dorado 5 Year has won a lot of awards, and you can get a .75 L bottle for about $5. Some rudimentary research online suggests that you can get it in the US for about $30 a bottle. However, all the guys I hang out with prefer to drink vodka. And that same $5 will get you a bottle of vodka here, the locally made Ivanoff. I don't think anyone has ever considered giving it a medal for anything. It is pretty terrible. But the guys, for some reason, love it. I reached my breaking point with the Ivanoff a while ago, so I've had to try alternative strategies. Buying rum for myself works ok, but usually ends up with me getting really drunk, so that's a method that can only be strategically deployed. Another alternative is to drink beer. There are two (well really three) problems with this. Firstly, the beer is, relatively speaking, expensive. $1.50 a beer doesn't sound like much, but when you can get 3 beers for the price of a bottle of liquor, its hard to justify the cost on my meager living allowance. Secondly, you get dirty looks if you're drinking beer while everyone else is drinking hard liquor (aside: for some reason Guyanese call all liquor "rum," like "we should drink some Smirnoff tonight, its really good rum.") But I have found that if I drink Guinness, I get some respect. Much to the detriment of my liquidity, I've been drinking more Guinness. Here's a quick rundown of the beers in Guyana and what I think about them.

Guinness - This isn't your run of the mill, bread-in-a-bottle Guinness. This is the Foreign Extra Stout breed, a 7.5% abv beast that actually has some flavor. The flavor isn't all that great, but you can taste some hops and toasted barley. Its definitely my favorite beer here, though it'll sneak up on you.

Banks - This is the national beer of Guyana. Its a pretty typical Caribbean lager - not much taste, but pretty good when cold. It's the Budweiser of Guyana.

  
Carib - Another lager, this one made in Trinidad. Less flavor than Banks. I don't really like it all that much. Unlike Banks, bottles are not recycled. I think the lack of hassle with deposits and the ability to throw your bottles anywhere when you're finished (which I think is a bit of a national pastime here) are reasons for its popularity.

Parbo - Surinamese beer. Nominally a pilsner. Does have a little pilsner-y bite, which is nice. Probably my second favorite beer.




Banks Light - ugh.

Banks Premium - Banks regular is made with rice. Banks Premium is made with surgar. Why? Sometimes a place will have Banks Premium drink specials, but that's pretty much it.

Mackeson - A stout from the Carib people. More like normal Guiness. Not much alcohol, kind of sweet. I usually don't bother, but its tolerable.

There's some other beer, but that's about all that I've had. The third problem with beer that I alluded to above is, as you can see, the options are pretty limited. One of the things I'm missing the most food/drink wise is real beer. Hops and flavor and all that stuff is in pretty short supply here. At least the rum is good.

March Newsletter

March Newsletter

Despite trying the opposite of my usual March Madness strategy
(painstaking research vs. watching 0 college basketball games), I
managed to whiff on all 4 of my Final 4 picks. Maybe I should have
gone by uniform color or mascot.  March (I can't believe its already
almost over) has been a busy month school-wise, and also life-wise.
Here's a little peek into some recent holiday activities.

Mashramani
I had planned on going to Georgetown for Mashramani, where I was
assured the festivities would be "more bright" than those in Anna
Regina. Unfortunately, most of coastal Guyana experienced heavy rains
and flooding during the week leading up to Mash. Mash was on
Wednesday, and we actually had to cancel school on Tuesday at ARMS
because water had entered the building. The water came within about
1/2 an inch from our front doorstep, but luckily receded. Because
Georgetown also experienced some flooding and isn't the cleanest city
even the best of times, I decided just to stay in Anna Regina. Keith
did go to town and had a great time. He was even on tv.

As I might have mentioned before, Mash is sort of a combined Republic
Day and Brazilian/Trinidadian Carnivale. In Anna Regina, there were
about 5 different groups representing government organizations,
private businesses, etc., all in various costumes. Through a friend in
the education office, I was able to "mash" with the Region 2
Department of Education. We had spray painted t-shirts and some
headgear. There was a parade that covered probably 3 miles in the
midday heat (I was exhausted and sunburned at the end), terminating at
the Anna Regina car park (the community cricket ground was unusuable
due to the rain). We marched and danced down the road, and everyone
came out of their houses to watch us. It was really cool to see my
students and a few other people from the community that I know. I
think some were pretty surprised to see me. After the parade and a
dance-off, a few fellow teachers and I went back to the education
office to escape from the heat. Events continued at the car park for
the rest of the afternoon and into the night. We returned to the car
park that evening for a few more drinks.

It was a pretty late night for a school night! For some reason the
school decided to have parent-teacher conferences the day after Mash.
This was good for me, because not many parents showed up, so it was a
low-key day. The parents that did show up were in for a surprise, as I
had dyed my hair red for the parade and didn't have a chance to get it
re-colored. One of the teachers has a friend who is a hairdreser, so
she gave us some nice hairstyles for the parade. None of the parents
said anything about my red stripe, but I did get some funny looks. The
headmaster quietly asked me to take care of the situation on Friday.
Not sure if anyone complained, but I guess as a teacher you're
expected to look professional for school. It was a fun week.

Phagwah
Phagwah is the Hindu celebration of colors. It also marks the
beginning of spring and the new year on the Hindu calendar. There are
some stories about how it came to be, but I wasn't able to get a clear
picture. Anyway, Phagwah is a big holiday, especially here on the
Essequibo Coast where there is a high Indo-Guyanese population.
Fortunately, the holiday fell on a weekend this year, so I was able to
invite some of the other WorldTeach teachers to come visit. 5 in all
came to say with Keith and me for the weekend. We had planned on
visiting the lake one day, but the weather didn't cooperate. We did
get to attend a temple that one of the teachers goes to for Phagwah
celebrations. There was a religious ceremony, everyone had a nice
lunch (pumpkin curry and potato curry, yum), and then the fun started.
The "celebration of colors" bit of Phagwah manifests itself with white
and colored powder. I'm not sure if the colored powder serves any
other purpose during the rest of the year, but for Phagwah, everyone
gets some and walks around throwing and rubbing it all over everyone
else. Its a really social experience. Everyone was really excited to
"play Phagwah" with us, I think mostly because they liked the way the
colors looked on our (mostly white) skin. Children also use squirt
guns and dye to escalate the color throwing. I think my shorts are
permanently stained. The powder got everywhere. That night we had a
proper housewarming party, which was really great.

Unfortunately everyone had to go home on Monday, the actual day off
from school, because they had to teach on Tuesday. There was a big
Phagwah event at the community cricket ground. More people, cultural
dances and singing and much much more powder. I'm still finding it in
between my toes and behind my ears. As great as it was to go to the
temple on Sunday, I had just as much fun at the bigger community
event. I've often wished that I could become more a part of the
community, not just the school and the school compound, and seeing all
my students and new friends and being able to just walk up to them and
smear color all over their faces (I didn't emphasize this enough, you
really rub your hands all over everyone's face) was really satisfying.
Afterward, a few of us went with the hairdresser and her sister (who's
actually one of my best students) to the outfall of one of the lakes,
where we did our best to get all the powder off. The past few weeks
have been really great here in Anna Regina, I feel like I'm starting
to fit in and make some real connections, and this Phagwah weekend was
definitely the highlight. I can't believe how fast the year has gone
by. Fortunately, the third term will be a little less demanding
teaching-wise, so I hope I can continue to enjoy my last few months
here in Guyana.

Easter Vacation
We get a 2 week break for Easter. A few other WorldTeah teachers and I
are going into the interior for most of it. We'll be going to Lethem,
a town on the Brazilian border, for the huge rodeo they have there
each year at Easter. We're also going to visit an eco-lodge and
Kaiteur Falls, the world's largest single drop waterfall. Should be a
lot of fun.

I'll be putting up some photos of the events throughout the week.

Bicycle

So I finally broke down and bought a bicycle. This metallic beauty (named Oscar because that's the brand, I'm so original) only cost me $13,500 (about $75 US). I don't live far from town proper, maybe a half mile, but the bike makes it much easier to get there and back, and I've been using it a lot. Its also much easier to carry stuff to and from the market, etc, so I've been really happy with it in general. However, because its basically the world's cheapest bicycle, there have been some issues. I was riding back into the rice fields just to see where the road went and the seat came loose. For some reason there is an adjustment at the top of the seat post if you want to angle the seat up or down or something, and the nuts allowing this adjustment had gotten loose. So I had to ride for about 30 mins alternating between a severely angled seat and an awkward squat. Also, for some reason all the bicycles here have the breaks switched around backwards from what I'm used to. So the front break is on the right hand side of the handlebars, and the back break is the left hand. So I almost killed myself a few times by using the wrong break until I figured it out and got them switched around. The bike is a little small, so its a little awkward to ride. And every time I need to make an adjustment, I have to go to the market (only open until about 4 and school gets out at 3) and hope the guy is there. Sometimes its just his wife or female workers or something and while they are pretty handy, they can't do everything. So then other times I have to go to the guys house where he keeps all his tools and such. He's been really friendly and helpful though, and it turns out that I teach one of his daughters. Its a small town.

So I love riding the bike, probably moreso because of its “character,” but I've also managed to open pandora's box at the school. One day I was riding back from town, and one of the dorms kids asked if he could borrow the bike. I said sure, and he rode it for a while and brought it back. Now not a day passes where at least 2-3 kids ask if they can ride the bike. Other dorms kids have bikes. There are plenty of bikes around. For some reason they all want my bike though. Its only the younger kids and some of them didn't know how to ride and now are looking pretty good on the bike. The constant stream of kids knocking at my door asking to use the bike gets a little annoying, but I figure there's not really any harm in letting them ride around the school compound in their free time.

Mashramani (Part 1)

Mashramani (shortened to Mash and also called Republic Day) is Guyana's independence day celebration. Its held on the 23^rd of February every year. As the day hasn't actually come yet, I don't fully know what all will be going on that day. However, there are a variety of school-related Mash events, that culminate with a national competition in Georgetown just before the actual holiday. So a few weeks ago, there were 3 days of events in Anna Regina, similar to inter-school sports. Events were held at the community cricket ground, and students could attend if they wanted. Naturally teachers were needed to escort those students who wanted to attend, and I was asked to go for all 3 days. With half the school gone, there wasn't much teaching to be done, so I was happy to check everything out. A summary of the events follows.

Dramatic Poetry

Before I start talking about dramatic poetry, a word about the number of schools present. All the schools in the central Essequibo Coast were eligible to participate. I think this was about 5 secondary schools total, and about 8000 nursery (kindergarten) and primary (grades 1-6) primary schools. So each event was primarily made up of children ranging in ages from very young to young. Most of these children performed their dramatic poetry readings by screaming into the microphone as loud as humanly possible. The theme of Mash this year is “celebrating our culture, preserving our pride,” which seems kind of weird, but whatever. The upshot was that most of the poems (yelled at ear splitting volume) were very patriotic and full of Creolese slang. So the readings were very hard to understand as well as very loud. I had a headache after dramatic poetry. The best entrant was a little kid in a suit who proposed to a person-sized map of Guyana dressed in a wedding gown and veil.

Calypso

The calypso competitions consisted of both groups and individuals singing a variety of Caribbean and Guyanese songs. I think there's a real niche market here for some vocal trainers. Some of the children have beautiful voices, but I don't think anyone has really been working on the concept of harmonizing. As a terrible singer, I know the best way to hide is to just sing simple stuff off on your own, staying out of the way. All the group singers sang exactly the same parts, which is tough enough if you're an excellent singer. The dramatic poetry headache only got worse after calpyso. That was the end of day 1.

Masquerade

So around Christmastime in Guyana (at least on the Coast), roving bands of street performers wander around with a few drums, maybe a recorder and triangle, and play music for tips. They also will do some rhyming to impress their patrons. Its sort of like Caribbean caroling. For some reason, this tradition is also part of inter-schools Mash competitions, with both individual and group performers. The individuals do all sorts of dance moves to the beat and have to be adept at picking up money that's thrown to them. The groups have some certain archetypes of costumed dancers: a boy dressed up as granny with lots of junk in her trunk, a doctor, the bad cow (someone with a big cow costume who just jumps around), etc. They all just sort of bounce around on stage for a while to the drum/recorder/triangle noise. I'm not sure how anyone could judge it, but they did. One school had the granny give birth on stage, which was entertaining.

Dance

Choreographed dance routines. The individual performers from ARMS both did Indian dances and were excellent. The girl in the older age group was unfortunately disqualified when her song ran on too long and she was impolite to the judges. I had heard that she'd had quite a streak of national Mash performances going, so everyone was pretty upset. I'm not sure if any appeals were heard on the matter. The group dances were pretty entertaining, though we heard a few popular songs over and over. Both groups from ARMS also did very very well. They had some excellent costumes and choreography. The older girls also had some flags, it was a little bit like a color-guard routine. Both groups of girls took first place in their age categories. Day 2 was a lot more fun than day 1.

Costume

The final day commenced with a costume competition. In reality it was more like a float or display type thing. A student would get up on stage in costume, usually pulling some sort of decorated cart or something. Lots of little kids barely dragging around various decorated carts. ARMS didn't compete in the costume competition. Another school's girl had on this massive dress type thing with an enormous flared collar. She too could barely walk.

Physical Display
The week's events concluded with the physical display. The younger kids did all sorts of exercises and balancing stunts, while the secondary schools basically did competitive cheerleading things, without any yelling or awkward forced smiles. Some of the younger kids at the school got put up really high. Another school made a human pyramid 4 persons high, all standing, which was pretty impressive. They won.

On the whole it was a pretty fun day. I think the national competition is coming up next week and I don't think I'll get to attend. I am planning on going to Georgetown for Mashramani proper. Its supposed to be one of the biggest parties/spectacles of the year, so I'll report back afterward.

Volleyball

Thanks to a generous donation from the Saint Mary's College of Maryland women's volleyball team, Anna Regina Multilateral is now the proud owner of about 12 used volleyballs. The school has a net that's currently set up outside, but I'm told can be moved inside. I've just started playing with some of the kids after school and during their free periods. This gives me a great opportunity to break down some barriers with the kids and seem like more than just some foreign teacher who talks about boring science stuff all day. 

I found out that I'm free when my grade 11 science stream kids have a guidance period. The other WordTeach volunteer, Keith, is supposed to teach them during guidance. Despite the fact that 11 science is filled with some of the best kids in the school, they aren't terribly self-motivated and sometimes I really feel like I'm struggling to get through to them. So Keith quickly ran into trouble with the unstructured guidance class, and just decided the best thing was to just give them a free period every week. So I didn't find out until recently, but this week I took them outside to play volleyball during the free period. Some of them went elsewhere to play cricket, but most of them stuck around and were interested to learn. They said it was the best guidance period they'd ever had. Hopefully it'll pay some dividends in the classroom as well.

Some of the older kids in the school have clearly played volleyball before, which is both good and bad. They generally know the rules, and have some technique. There's almost no attempt to hit the ball more than once on a side though, and no setting of the ball. Bumping is an unstructured mess. I'm hoping that with time I can gradually get them to start working together and playing real volleyball. Its also a fine line to walk because this is rare recreational time for the students, so its important to me that they have a good time and don't feel like they're at practice. Anyway, I have some tall kids and some high flyers that I think will be really excited to learn to spike properly and really start playing. Its a gradual process, but I'm really enjoying it.

In addition to the older kids that I've played with afterschool and a little during school, I've been given a grade 8 gym class. We meet once a week for 30 minutes. One of the gym teachers has a permanent schedule conflict on Mondays, so they had to divvy up his classes and somehow I got this one. There aren't any grades or curriculum, they are just supposed to play team sports. So we're going to play volleyball until they get tired of it or I get tired of trying to teach them. So far I've only had 2 classes this term, but the first class we learned about the rules of the game, how to keep score, proper technique etc. The second class we actually broke out the balls and worked individually on bumping and setting and then on how to serve and rotate. In the future I want to do some simple drills and then start playing games, of course. The kids seem really enthusiastic about it, which is nice.

Christmas

Programming note:  Sorry for the lack of posting in the new year. I was buried in a book and the internet has been kind of lousy lately. I have quite a few posts queued up for the coming days and have a new batch of photos up on Facebook.

I spent Christmas in Tobago with my family. It was great to see them and to be in such a beautiful country. I'd forgotten how much I missed hot showers, air conditioned bedrooms. Tobago has its litter problem under control, which was also refreshing. We stayed in a quiet fishing village on the Caribbean side of the island and it was really peaceful.

As great as it was to see my family, it was also a little strange because we were coming to Tobago from two very different places. For me, it was almost development overload, with all the conveniences I'd been living without for 4 months. For them, Tobago was a bit undeveloped and a challenge. Driving was scary, there were farm animals everywhere, and the grocery stores didn't have much to offer. So that was a little frustrating at times. Its hard to hear complaints about a place that only make you think “man, they have no idea how different things are just a few hours by plane from here.” Anyway, just an observation on expectations and vacationing, I suppose. I think I'd probably be pretty happy if I ended up living on an island like Tobago.

Bartica!

Last weekend I went to visit my British friend in Bartica.  Here are a few brief observations.

Bartica is a prety laid back town.  It's about an hour up the Essequibo River, and its the last town before you really get into the jungle, so there's a lot of mining influence.  This also means there are a fair amount of Brazilians there.  I think the mining money and Brazilian influence makes it a pretty laid-back party place, moreso than other parts of Guyana.

Drank a lot of beer with some other white guy volunteers.  There are a couple of older British and Australian guys and a couple of Peace Corps volunteers as well.  Most of the Guyanese people I hang out with drink hard liquor because its cheaper, but it was nice to have a change of pace.  The place they normally drink at is called Ease the Stress, which is a pretty fantastic name.  At Ease the Stress I saw a couple small groups of women out at the bar, and even some mixed-gender groups.  This is something I haven't seen in Anna Regina very often, so I think it can be chalked up to Bartica's laid-back mentality.

Lots of beer.

Straightforward enough, I think.

The WorldTeach teachers live about 3 miles up the only road leaving Bartica, at Three Mile Secondary School (a functional name if I ever heard one).  Cabs are pretty expensive, but there's a semi-regular bus service.  Since there's pretty much only one road, sometimes you can get other people to stop and give you a ride, or pay bus fare for a cab.  So in the morning Luke and I are waiting for the bus to go into town, but a guy with a lady passenger stops and gives us a ride.  The lady turns around and stares at me for like a minute or too, and makes an excited noise when I took my sunglasses off.  Then she turns around and proceeds to reach her arm beside the seat and grab my leg.  She didn't say anything.  I sad "hey now!" or something, and that was that.  Then she did it again.  Longer.  I said "Excuse me miss, I don't even know your name!" which she thought was funny.  She repeated it to the driver and then said some other stuff to him that I couldn't really understand (I'm still kind of hit and miss with the Creolese).  Nothing else happened, and the guy let us out along the road at the Australian guys neighborhood.  And that was that.  I don't think I've ever been sexually harassed before.  We watched some Premier League football.  It was nice.

Three Mile Secondary School is about 2 years old.  The teacher quarters where the guys are staying have ceiling fans, 110V electricity and outlets.  Marek has an air-conditioned computer lab basically to himself.  Both apartments have refridgerators.  Basically, I hate them.

Bartica sits at the confluence of three rivers: The Essequibo, Mazaruni and the Cayuni.  I'm not sure about that last one, but I think it starts with a C.  Anyway, Luke took me on this jungle walk just off the main road about halfway between the school and town.  There was a raised wooden path through some swampy areas, I saw some sort of prehistoric palm tree thing, observed some butterflies, typical jungle stuff.  The path lead to a small sand beach along one of the rivers (Mazaruni maybe?).  There were a few kids wandering around, but we pretty much had the place to ourselves.  Apparently the beach is a Sunday thing.  Bartica also has a bigger beach in the town proper.  Anyway, the water was nice, we played frisbee with the kids and had a great time.

Note the kid in the tree.  They were doing flips off the branch into about 4 feet of water.

Bartica has hills!  That might not be surprising or noteworthy to anyone else, but I don't think there's anywhere that's more than about 3 feet above sea level anywhere on the Essequibo Coast or in Georgetown, so I hadn't seen a hill in about 5 months.  So I was excited.  Around Bartica is also pretty jungle-y, which I also thought was pretty fantastic.  Tropical coastal plain is cool and all, but I liked seeing all the trees.

Transport was a bit of an adventure as usual.  To get to Bartica from Anna Regina, I have to go to Parika, across the Essequibo River.  All the boats leave from that side of the river.  So I was running late on Friday, as usual.  The last boat supposedly leaves at 5.  I got off the boat in Parika at 5:15.  I think I caught the last boat up the river.  Unfortunatley I couldn't really enjoy the ride because I was jammed in the front of the boat and it was dark.  However, it was uneventful.  Leaving Bartica was another story.  I got to the stelling (boat dock) around 3pm.  Last boat leaves Parika for the Essequibo Coast at 5.  The boat ride is an hour long, so I had plenty of time.  But I just missed a full boat at 3, and had to wait for the next one to fill.  That took an hour, but I still had some time, plus a little last-boat wiggle room on my side in Parika.  What I didn't account for was engine trouble.  We got about 3 minutes down the river and one of the engines isn't running, and wont' crank. They eventually get it working, but anytime they shut off the engine it takes about 5 mins to get both engines up and running and get up to full speed.  Still ok on time.  Then we randomly have to meet up with some other boat (it has police on the side, but was full of regular looking people) to trade captains or something.  More engine issues.  Then, I think because of the issues, we were burning through fuel at an abnormal rate.  So we had to stop twice to get more gas.  A one hour boat trip instead took about 2 1/2 hours.  I did not make the boat home.  Fortunately, I have some friends (other WorldTeach teachers) who live on the Parika side of the coast, so I was able to stay with them.  I had to get up at 5 or so to catch the bus and boat and cab back to school.  I made it to school around 8:45, late, but not late enough to miss any classes.  It was a bit of a stressful end to an otherwise relaxing and wonderful weekend.  I think I'll be returning to Bartica at least once in the new year, its a really nice place.

November Newsletter

 November Newsletter

 So naturally things have been pretty hectic here in Anna Regina, so I'm sorry I haven't written a more timely update. Here are some of the recent goings-on.

School Life

Things have settled into more or less of a routine teaching wise. While there are the usual assemblies, events and other disruptions, I feel like I've been in a pretty good groove teaching wise. Next week is the last week of teaching, followed by a week of exams and then a week of grading, paperwork and Christmas parties. The kids will be at school even for the last week, though they won't be doing any work other than preparing for parties. I'm hoping to squeeze a little teaching in during that week if I can get all of my grading done, especially for my 11^th grade students preparing to take their exams at the end of next term.

I'm slowly staring to learn some students names, though I still have a long way to go. Some of my classes are starting to get a little loud and rowdy, and I'm not sure if its because I've been to lenient on them or because we're close to the end of the term. Probably a little bit of both. We had a parent-teacher conference day the other day and most of the kids who came in said they were happy with the way I was teaching and could understand me in class, which is encouraging.

Essequibo Night

The Essequibo coast had what was essentially a state fair type event in October, called Essequibo Night. The event actually was on both Friday and Saturday night down at the community cricket ground. There were booths from all over the region, including businesses, restaurants and government agencies. For a small town, the place was packed both nights. There was also a huge main stage with a live band both nights. The event was part of Guyana's Agriculture month, to help celebrate all the rice production that goes on in Region 2. Some of the other WorldTeach teachers came to visit. It was great to see them again, since we hadn't hung out since before school started. We had a great weekend sharing our experiences so far, culturally and in the classroom.

Graduation

At the end of October, ARMS had graduation for last year's 11^th grade students. Because the Caribbean-wide exams are so important and results don't come back until August, graduation is pushed back into the fall term. I think it is so late in the term because it gives everyone a chance to plan the event, since nothing really happens during the summer break. Leading up to graduation, I was placed on the stage setup committee and the snacks committee. The week before graduation we had work during the afternoon periods, setting up the stage, lighting etc. The event was held on the school grounds, in an open air covered area. The tin (actually zinc, and everyone calls it zinc rather than tin) was very dirty and dusty, so the school had a firetruck come and spray out the area. I've seen a firetruck in action before, but it was still pretty cool. The best part was that the man operating the hose had no regard for anyone who was in his way. No one received a riot-control blasting, but a few people (myself included) got a little wet. One nice thing about living on the school compound is that it's easy to go change your clothes!

For the snacks committee I had to help prepare snacks for all the graduation guests. We planned on about 1,000 people showing up. So some teachers and the dorms kids helped make cheese spread sandwiches and stuff them into bags with cupcakes all morning the day of graduation. It was a lot of hard work, but it was nice to have a lot of willing hands helping out. I also helped to serve the snacks and drinks to everyone as they were leaving the school after graduation.

Graduation itself was very nice. The stage was all dressed up with curtains, a nice sign and some decorated tables. There were all kinds of trophies and book prizes (gift-wrapped books) given out. Academic awards were also given out to students of all grades for the previous year. The ceremony lasted about 4 hours, and I was told that it was a relatively short one compared to previous years! Unfortunately I was so busy that I didn't really get a chance to hear any of the speeches, but it was a very nice ceremony nonetheless. After the event, all the teachers and special guests had a nice dinner in the dorm dining hall, served by this year's 11^th grade students. It was nice to socialize with the teachers a little bit.

Main stage at graduation.  The school's headmaster is speaking.

Halloween

Halloween isn't really celebrated in Guyana, but I ended up having an unexpected party anyway. I was heading back to the dorm after doing some schoolwork in the lab in the evening on the Sunday of Halloween, when the dorm mother stopped me in the stairwell and asked me come back down to her room after I got myself settled in. Normally Sunday nights are painfully boring because everything is closed and the students have mandatory study time. Well it turns out that the dorm mother's daughter was having her 17^th birthday and the dorm mothers decided to have a little party. It was a little strange because the daughter herself wasn't there until later in the evening (she was out at some sort of police horse show event at the community grounds for quite some time). So it was just myself, Keith, the dorm mothers and one of the security guards hanging out and having a few drinks in the dorm mother's room. Eventually some of the students came in, one brought a laptop so we had some music, and the rest of the kids crowded in the hallway by the door. Anyway, the party turned into a Halloween party when the kids started coming down the hallway (for the girls) or down from upstairs (for the boys) in costume. There were a lot of painted faces and hair whitened with baby powder, and a few more elaborate costumes (bedsheets, toilet-paper mummy, etc). Each time someone would make an appearance, all the kids in the hall would crowd around them screaming at the top of their lungs. It was quite a spectacle. This was one of my favorite times in Guyana so far, mostly because it was so unexpected and pleasant. It was really nice to interact with the dorm mothers and kids in a social setting as well.

Dorm mothers and residents on Halloween.

Thanksgiving

Naturally, Thanksgiving isn't really celebrated in Guyana either. Fortunately, Thursday is my lightest teaching day (I have classes for only 3 of the 7 periods), so I had the time to write this newsletter. Unfortunately, Keith and I are still living in the dorms with only a single electric burner to cook with, so I'm not preparing any sort of Thanksgiving feast (we've been told the place should be ready by next week though, so we'll see). My mother did send me some butternut squash from the family garden (arrived just yesterday!) so I think I'll cook some up and have a simple Thanksgiving anyway. I am so thankful for all the support my friends and family have given me so far this year, and also that I have the ability to keep in touch with them throughout the holiday season. With things being so hectic at the end of the year, I don't think I will have time to send a December newsletter, so I'll try to make up for it in the coming year. I hope this newsletter finds you well and that everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving and holiday season in general.

Alex

Guyanese Things: Money

In Guyana, the currency is in dollars.  Guyanese dollars, naturally.  The exchange rate is about $200 Guy = $1 US.  Things are generally cheaper here, but not dramatically so.  I'd say on average things are about half as expensive, though it is pretty variable.  I've gotten a decent feel for how much things cost in Guyanese dollars, so I don't have to convert everything back to USD, but I'm also getting pretty quick at doing that.

The most interesting/frustrating thing about the money here is the denomination of the bills.  There are $20, $100, $500 and $1,000 bills.  (There are also coins - $1, $2, $5, $10 but usually stores will properly round prices or wont even bother with change.  I've been given a $5 or $10 piece of candy instead of change on a few occasions.)  So the largest denomination is about $5 US.  This means when you're buying something expensive with cash, the physical stack of cash gets pretty large pretty quick.  A bicycle for example costs about $20,000 ($100 US), so if I do end up buying one, its going to be an interesting trip to the ATM.

So on top of the general weirdness of hearing that your dinner cost $2,000, teachers are paid in cash.  I'm receiving a stipend that is paid through the school of about $49,000 per month.  Due to paperwork delays (I'm told only missing one month is quite remarkable), this past month I received my stipend for both September and October, which totaled to about $98,000.  So I go into the office and one of the secretaries takes out massive stack of thousand dollar bills and counts out 98 of them.  I don't think I've ever seen that many bills in one place.  It was quite  a wad of cash, especially when you think that it is basically about $500 US.  So it would be like having $500 in $5 bills back home.

 Ballin so hard.

Things My Kids Say

I think I'm quite a curiosity to most of the students in my classes and around the school.  Naturally, I get asked a lot of questions.  Here are a few off the top of my head.  Some of these are paraphrased since it's been a while since the event in question occurred.

"Sir, there are going to be lots of nice teachers at school sports, you should chat them up."

"Sir, there are going to be lots of nice teachers at graduation, you should chat them up."

"Sir, we really want you to enjoy your time in Guyana.  So you should definitely find a wife.  We want to get invited to your wedding before the year is out." Noticing a trend here?  I have one class that's obsessed with my personal life, or lack thereof.

"Guyanese girls are nice.  The diet here gives them nice bodies."


"Sir, do you listen to metal?  [Prompted for examples:] Like Linkin Park or Breaking Benjamin."  I guess they're a little young for Megadeath or Metallica.

"Sir, what is a pap smear?" This must have been some sort of school assignment, since Keith said he was similarly asked.  I guess this is what to expect when you're a science teacher.

"Sir, are you having a bad hair day?"  Upon reflection, I think I was.

"Sir, what do you think of the [rum, beer, etc] in Guyana?"  I've been asked so many times that I've given up trying to dodge the question and tell them that I think its nice.

That's all I can think of off the top of my head, but I hope to revisit this topic in the future.

Guyana: Nerds Not Welcome

So, just because inter-house sports are over here at ARMS, that doesn't mean sports are over. Far from it. This week on Thursday and Friday, we have inter-school sports, where the top athletes from ARMS will compete against the best from other nearby schools. Following that at some point, the best of the inter-school competitions will advance to inter-branch (maybe the region level? not totally clear) and then on to national competitions. The take-home message is that students are missing class like crazy for what I think will be about the next month to practice, and the whole school gets out on Friday to watch.

Anyway, that's a long intro to give a short story about a brief speech the headmaster gave today to all the students. He basically said something like this (paraphrased)):

We have school sports on Thursday and Friday this week. On Friday, all the students will be able to attend. You can attend or otherwise you should stay home. I noticed the other day when we had school sports that some of you were just sitting around under the pavilion, not watching or participating. Some of the students at this school are nerds. All you care about is books. Here at this school we want well-rounded people, not nerds. So next time we have inter-house sports, I suggest that you just stay home.

Presented without further comment.

Fun With Food and Drink

So I've been here in Guyana for almost 2 months now, so naturally I've eaten and drank a few new and interesting things. On the balance, the food here is pretty normal. There's a lot of curry, beans and rice cooked with coconut milk (they call it cookup) and fried rice, but nothing I eat on a regular is all that out of the ordinary to me. I have had a few notable exceptions:

Food
Labba - This thing (sorry I couldn't find a better, bigger picture. I think its also called an agouti, if you want to do some independent research. It's a large rodent. I'd say it was sort of pork-like. Not bad, would eat again.

Iguana - Definitely tasted like chicken. Also had an egg, which tasted like, you know, an egg. Would eat again.

Goat parts - The people I was with wouldn't tell me what I was eating until after I tried it. Even after I tried it they were still vague. Anyway, I think it was various goat organ meats cooked in goat intestine. It was chewy and pretty heavily seasoned, so I don't have much opinion of it. Not bad, not great. Would probably try again.

Curried duck - I have had what is claimed to be the best curried duck in the southern Caribbean (an area that may or not actually exist, but I am using to refer to at least Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago). I'm not sure how popular duck is here or there, but it was pretty tasty. The curry was a little spicy, but in a good way for my wussy spice preferences. The duck was great. Would eat again.

Drink
Piwari - Amerindian drink, made from fermented cassava. Opaque brown color. Tasted like a combination of bark and campfire. Would prefer not to try again, but did finish my drink.

Fly - Another Amerindian drink. Made from fermented red potatoes. I guess the actual potato is red not just the skin, because the drink is magenta colored. Tasted like really vinegar-ey wine. Not the best think I've ever had, but I found it a nice contrast to all the sweet drinks I've had since I was here. Would drink again.

Capadulla - Some non-alcoholic drink made from tree bark (what tree? who knows? not me) that I got a juice stand the other day. It was most reminiscent of chocolate milk, mixed with a little bit of that tree/campfire taste, much like the piwari. The campfire taste was subdued, and since there's not really any milk around, the chocolate milk taste was appreciated. The woman at the juice stand told me it would make me big and strong as well, so I'll be looking forward to becoming popeye.

Anyway, I think that's about it for now, off the top of my head. I'll revisit as the year goes on. I think I can outdo large rodent or iguana for weirdest thing eaten this year.

September Newsletter #2

Things have been a little busy around here lately, but here's the latest newsletter update I've just sent out.

School Life

So I'm now into week 4 of the Christmas Term here at ARMS. I think I'm starting to get into a routine. Here are some things I find interesting about school.

Every day, the bell rings and the students line up at 8:45 outside the main academic building. They are not allowed to enter the building before class starts. Just outside the building there's a covered pavilion area, with a podium and two speakers. A microphone is hooked up and any announcements are made. Announcements can range from encouraging the students not to litter, informing them of assemblies later in the day, club meeting time reminders etc. The national pledge and school prayer are recited by all students. The students, who are lined up by their base (homeroom) classes, then proceed into the building in what is supposed to be an orderly fashion. It's certainly more organized than the chaos I remember following the bell in high school. The teachers are expected to inspect the students during the walk in and base class time to make sure their uniforms are appropriate. Every student has to have a monogrammed badge with the school logo on it. The boys often get in trouble for having belt buckles that are too big or leaving the second button of their shirt undone (top button undone is ok). Common offenses for girls involve improper styling of hair (braids or ponytails are expected for the most part) or too much jewelery. Once in base class, attendance is taken. All this is supposed to take place in 15 minutes, though it rarely does. When this happens, first period is just shorter. Irregular scheduling will be a recurring theme of “School Life.”

As far as class itself goes, the students stay in their base classes while the teachers rotate around. This has its advantages and downsides. One positive is that there is no hustle and bustle during class changes, as only 45 or so teachers are moving about instead of 1,000+ students. It also means that the kids in their classes get to know each other very well. For the most part, they spend the first 3 years in the same base class, then get split up into tracks where they spend 2 more years together. So I think it helps greatly as far as student bonding goes. On the other hand, it's not very useful to spend a lot of time putting a lot of instructional material up in your classroom, since for the most part you won't be teaching in there. Class changes are governed by an electric school bell out in the covered pavilion. Someone has to throw a switch to ring it, so sometimes the bell is late, sometimes early and sometimes it doesn't ring at all. The bell is also outside the school building so sometimes it can be hard to hear, adding to the intrigue. Students get a 30 minute break in the morning, and an hour break at lunch. After lunch the lineup and march into the school is repeated, giving way to afternoon classes.

Almost all the administrative work that classroom teachers go through to make a school work anywhere in the world (department meetings, club meetings, paperwork etc) happens during the day. So that means for clubs and meetings, you can meet during break or lunch, or just whenever you want during the day. Inevitably, when these meetings run over, teachers have to stick around and wrap up. While this is going on, the students in whatever class you're supposed to be in are just left unsupervised. The same thing happens when teachers who are organizing things like sports and have things they have to attend to, their students are left unsupervised. There are no substitute teachers in Guyana, so if a teacher is sick or takes leave, the students are left unsupervised. Sometimes the bell will ring for staff meetings in the middle of class. When this happens, all the teachers leave their students, you guessed it, unsupervised. If this sounds like a recipe for disaster, you'll be pleased to hear that for the most part, things stay pretty orderly. I haven't heard about any school fights, and only occasionally have I had to stick my head in a next door classroom because the noise was disturbing my class. I have in general been very impressed with the students discipline and behavior.

As far as coursework goes, I'm just beginning to start asking for some graded assignments in my classes. The official school policy is to have at least 3 graded assignments per term, one of which should be a test. This excludes final exams, which happen during the second-to-last week of school, so most students are given 4 assessments per term. I plan to do a lot more because that's what I'm used to and it helps me ensure my students are learning, but I think it will also mean that I have a lot of grading to do. The school has a photocopier, but it is currently not working and I have been warned not to hold my breath for its repair, so all assignments must be written on a chalkboard and copied down by students. The school has a library with some books and I believe all students have received textbooks for maths and english classes, but for other courses, books are scarce. From what I have heard from teachers at other schools, I am very fortunate to have a library of any sort! Book scarcity means that teachers have a certain responsibility to provide content in note form, so the students have something to study for their exams. This results in a lot of writing notes on the board to be copied down, which is not the most stimulating practice for teachers or students, but that is the reality facing these students. On top of that they have been doing this for a long time, so they're pretty good at taking notes from a chalkboard. The chalkboards, by the way, are all plywood painted black. Some of them are nicely finished and are a pleasure to write on, but some are very rough and just devour chalk. Also, they're magnets for graffiti. Sometimes I'm impressed with the students ability to read what I'm writing through the accumulated chalk dust and the gouges in the board, but I guess they have a lot of experience in that regard. In general, I've found the students to be pretty delightful. They generally behave themselves, are a little quiet but are willing to answer questions after some prodding and have a surprising love for learning and attending school. I'm not sure if its just a fuzzy memory or the reality, but I have been pleasantly surprised with the students versus my expectations based on my own time in high school. So despite all the things that certainly seemed chaotic during my first few days of school, I have settled into as much of a routine as I can manage, am thoroughly enjoying teaching and am now working on improving my teaching techniques.

Dorm Life, Part 2

Keith and I are still being put up in the dorms. There are about 115 kids staying in the dorms. The building is 3 stories. The boys (and the two foreign teachers) are up on the third floor. The girls and two dorm mothers (normally they are one to a floor) are on the second floor. The first floor holds the cafeteria and kitchen. The kids have free time after school until 5pm, when dinner is served. They use this time to do laundry, play cricket, hang out outside, play table tennis and otherwise relax. After dinner, the kids have mandatory study time from 6-8pm in the cafeteria. At 8, the students go upstairs and have some more free time, until around 9pm. At 8pm, once all the kids are inside, the dorm mother locks the door. So Keith and I have been locked out a few times, but its not too hard to shout up or call someone with our cell phones to get let in. If we are on the ball, we can also ask the dorm mother to just leave the door closed but not locked for us, which also helps immensely. On the weekends the children have free time all day and then have game time from 6-8pm outside. There is a lot of cricket played. They also really love volleyball, but there is only one ball, which I have been placed in charge of. A few weekends ago I played some frisbee with the kids as well, which they enjoyed. Hopefully I'll have them playing proper ultimate frisbee by the end of the year. I did play a little cricket with them the other day as well. All those years of shunning softball and baseball have really come back to haunt me!! I whiffed on quite a few easy bowls (pitches). I think I just need a little bit more practice. While the swing is different, the bat is wider, so I think I might become soundly mediocre by the end of the year.

School Sports

Last week we had school sports. When someone first told me about school sports, I was assuming they were talking about a variety of teams that formed throughout the year and competed after school. You know, pretty much what I experienced in high school. Boy was I wrong. In the 7th grade, students entering the school are placed in a “house.” As far as I know, the only purpose of the house is to group the students into teams for sports. At ARMS there are 7 houses. For school sports, each house is assigned two teachers to serve as house master and mistress. Other teachers are also assigned to houses to support these teachers. I was assigned as house master of house 5. Each house is given a color and name, and the name is based on a lake somewhere in the Essequibo Coast region. House 5 was given Ikuraka and the color yellow. No one I talked to knew where Lake Ikuraka was.

So as house master, I had a variety of responsibilities that I knew nothing about. Fortunately I had an excellent, veteran house mistress so I was not completely fed to the wolves. Firstly, school sports only consists of track and field events. Nothing out of the ordinary (sprints, distance runs, jumping throwing etc). Each event was separated into age and gender categories (boys under 14 200M for example). Teacher duties for the house involved facilitating the election of students to house boy and girl positions, filling all the events, providing snacks for the first day of sports and lunch for the second day of sports, creating a banner and determining what the house uniform would be. Filling all the events proved tricky because when we would dismiss the students from their 6th and 7th periods at the end of the day for house meetings, the older students would scatter to the winds. So it took some effort to hunt them down and “encourage” them to sign up for events. Its a job I call House Truancy Officer. The banner and uniform were judged as part of a parade at the opening of the track events. Participants and winners for all the events score points for their houses. We fortunately had a student whose father paints signs for a living, and were able to arrange for him to paint our banner, so it looked very snazzy. We had yellow sashes and yellow posterboard hats for the march. I helped the house mistress cook some fried rice for lunch on the second day in the dorm kitchen (that's a tale for another day - I've never cooked in a wok the size of a Mini Cooper before!).

So after spending almost a full weeks worth of no 6th and 7th periods, we had two days of school sports. There was no class for anyone on either day. The field events came first. All the students theoretically watched their classmates compete in all sorts of events. Because all the teachers were either busy making sure things were going smoothly with their house or monitoring the events, there weren't any bodies available to keep an eye on students who decided to wander off. Also, the field events were held mostly between the dorms and main office building, so it was a bit cramped for all the students to fit in, so there was some allowable spillover. For the most part, I think this was tolerable and I didn't hear about any incidents. However, being in charge of a house means you're responsible for making sure the students that signed up for events actually participate in the event. While there were a few megaphones set up to make announcements, their range was pretty limited. So I had to embark on what I call House Truancy Officer 2: What Did That Kid Look Like? The events went pretty well and were quite enjoyable. I noticed that none of the students doing the high jump employed the Fosbury Flop. Then someone pointed out to me that the landing area consisted of a couple of old mattresses and some pads that looked older than I am. So it was hurdling all the way. ARMS has quite an impressive collection of jumpers and throwers. At the end of the day, the teachers all tried their hands at the throws. Having never thrown a javelin, discus or shot put before, I was pleased to say that I managed to throw them all properly and keep them in bounds. I did not set any school records however, and was surpassed by all the other teachers.

On the second day of school sports, we went out to the schools field, which was freshly mowed. Here we had all the banners presented and the parade. Each house marched around the track in their colors, carrying their banners and leading chants. It was pretty fun. They had two sheds set up to shelter us from the heat, which was nice. Finding athletes was again a challenge, but by now I had moved on to something I call House Truancy Officer 3: The Delegator. I'd just ask nearby students if they knew the child in question and when I found one that did, sent them off to find them. I found this method to be much more efficient. As far as the events went, the students were again impressive. Most students ran without shoes. There were a few teacher events, including the 100M dash (I finished 3rd out of 5 I think), and then at the end of the day, the lime and spoon (think egg and spoon race but without the danger of breaking your egg) and the balloon toss. My partner and I tied with another house for balloon toss champs. I think we were robbed though because the balloon developed a tiny hole which eventually led to our downfall while the other team went out by dropping their balloon.

On the balance, our house finished 3rd overall. Not bad for a first time house captain and makeshift rice cook, I think. The top athletes from the school will go on to compete in inter-school competition, which will take up 2 days next week (more missed class for everyone!). The best inter-school athletes will go on to inter-branch (I think within the entire region) and then the national championships. I think the school had quite a few (around 10 or so) national athletes last year, so I'm looking forward to cheering them on for the upcoming month or so. Getting out of school for a couple of days isn't the end of the world either.

There are a bunch of new photos up on Facebook. Here's the link again.