Like this:

The last two weeks of mine have been fairly challenging in retrospect.My flash drive with all my computer data from the States got corrupted. This means I lost all my recent pictures and the journal I was keeping. Then I started noticing that a large percentage of the kids in my class were feeling ill. Of course once you notice, it is already too late. Then my cell phone broke.

In relation to being sick, I was in bed for one day. After that, all I had was the occasional cough.  It was fairly comical though because everyone thought I had Swine Flu. I really didn’t think twice about it, though I am not really sure what I would of done if I did have Swine Flu.

So as I am sitting here, reflecting on the past two weeks and I noticed something. At no moment was I worried or angry at the events that unfolded. Whether this is ignorance about the severity of each event, or simply being apathetic, I find this incredibly interesting. Somehow in college, an upcoming test or project would stress me out, but this hasn’t phased me a bit.

School is getting better and better. I think I have always garnered the respect of my kids as an academic, but now I feel their respect as a friend and mentor.  I have become accustomed to  their poor work ethic, but sometimes their interests are there in the class and genuine.  I am no longer the homeroom teacher for a class which actually makes me sad. I had learned to love the kids and all their mistakes but I still teach them mathematics three times a week. More kids are coming to my tutoring sessions after school (after telling them that if they refuse to learn how to do simple mathematics I will not pass them to the next grade level,) and I have been asked to hold more tutoring sessions for higher grade levels.

There is a new buzz word floating around here. Kids here are commonly associating themselves with a movement called “Gaza.” I started seeing it written on kids exercise books, and backpacks. One day I asked a young girl (with Gaza written on her backpack) in one of my classes if she knew anything about the conflict between Israel and Palestine in that area of the world (which made me reflect on my conversations with Colin.) She really didn’t know anything about this region and mentioned something along the lines that she just wants to fit in. I knew the use of this word was really picking up though when I heard it in one of the local popular songs. Like anything that youth seem to really pick up and overuse, none of the adults really fully grasp the meaning and the kids are even more confused. One child finally shed some light on it and said it is a word in the Caribbean that means to fight or war. So people associated with Gaza means you are ready to fight. Any furthering questioning from the child led to empty and vague answers, so I left it at that.

The Guyana Power and Light Company is currently installing a new power plant to the grid my house is located on. I am not sure why this means that I have a blackout everyday for hours a day, but it does. It usually happens right when I am reading and there are no flashlights near me.

Life in the red, yellow and green is good.

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