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Published: October 17th 2011
Yesterday morning, at about 7:45 AM, I found myself sloshing down a long dirt road in the middle of a tiny island off the coast of Central America, battling torrential rain with a half-broken umbrella. Thunder and lightning crashed seemingly directly over my head, shaking the ground and illuminating the sky, leading me to mutter “I really hope this umbrella isn’t metal” while I splashed through mud puddles up to my ankles which spanned the entire road. I comforted myself with the thought that once I reached the main road, I would hop into a nice dry taxi which would take me to West End. Finally I reached the road, muddied and damp, and waited for a taxi. And waited. And looked at my watch. And waited. Apparently taxis don’t like the rain either since there were absolutely none passing on the road, so I ended up walking the 20 minute walk to West End, still using my battered umbrella to feebly fight against the rain.
Okay, enough melodrama. I had to make a point. Walking through a thunderstorm down muddy roads is not my Saturday morning activity of choice. What’s more important is the reason I found myself in the aforementioned situation: I’m getting dive certified! I’ve been wanting to do this since I got to the island, which is world-renowned for its diving due to the fact that it’s surrounded by the world’s second largest barrier reef. Unfortunately the weather, as you may have guessed, was not cooperating with me, so this weekend I only got to do the first “confined dive” (which here, instead of a pool, just means going off the beach into shallow water), and got all the academic stuff (reading, watching DVDs, quizzes, and the final test) out of the way. Hopefully next weekend the weather will be better and I’ll be able to do the rest of the dives and be certified by the end of the weekend! I’m excited. In case you couldn’t tell.
In other news, this past Friday was Culture Day at school. I, along with another teacher, was in charge of coordinating the whole thing, and it ended up being really successful, so that was good. Basically the whole school was split up into groups, which were each assigned a continent. They then got to pick a couple countries from each continent to represent- they came up with presentations, demonstrations, decorations, food, etc. On Friday was when all of this came together. First the students “travelled” to all the continents and presented to each other, and then parents came and the students presented to them. A lot of parents showed up, which was awesome, and the kids really had fun with it (and MAY have even learned stuff too!). It was a lot of work to put together, so I’m really glad it worked out so well.
A few brief notes:
I just killed a mosquito that was chillin' on my pillow, and now there's a blood stain on my pillow. Not my most genius plan.
The only thing worse than finding a bug floating in your rice as you cook it: Finding the bug, only to have it disappear into the depths of the pot, never to be seen again. (Note: This happens way more than I’d like to admit. There’s always bugs everywhere).
Hopefully the next time I write I’ll be a certified scuba diver! Also, hopefully the next time I write I will have gone grocery shopping, done laundry, and written more lesson plans. None of which happened, due to the rain and the whole diving thing. Oh well. It’s worth it.
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Andi
non-member comment
Love reading about your adventures! Good to talk with you tonight. The bugs don\'t sound very appealing but they out-number us by gajillions so I guess we have to deal. Kudos on the Culture Day! That is one of my FAVORITE activities to plan/organize/execute. Glad it went well! Good luck with your diving next weekend. We will hope for clear weather!