One Wild and Precious Life

 I'm going to start this week off with a picture from the end of the week so that you know that I came out the other side of this week doing a-ok!  But it was a hard week for me as I learn more about what it means to live and work in this place.  I spent a lot of time thinking about what was driving the way that I was feeling, and I honestly think that it all comes down to control, or lack thereof.  There are so many aspects of my day-to-day life that directly impact me, but are beyond my control.    And I appreciate that this is always true--there is truth in the saying that "control is an illusion".  So maybe it's not really a lack of control per se that has me feeling a little topsy-turvy but the lack of feeling like I can do anything that makes a difference in a variety of different situations.  Some examples from the week to illustrate: I came home from work on Monday and almost slipped to my death on the water that had flooded my kitchen floor.  I do not have a

 I'm starting this week off with the view from my balcony this morning.  At 6am, it was a rare cloudy morning, which meant that I could actually sit outside and not get fried by the sun.  I also felt almost "cool" outside--imagine my surprise when I checked the weather to see that it was 80℉, with 85% humidity, and a dew point of 74℉.  I guess some acclimatization has actually occurred!   I sat out there reading my book and drinking my coffee and just marveling at this place I call home now.   I'll give y'all a quick school update: I spent the week visiting more classes and got to see some really positive approaches to teaching and learning.  I also got to engage more with students in the classrooms, which was exactly what I have been waiting for!  I got to do things like have 1st graders tell me about the parts of a tree and help 3rd graders read and write large numbers.  I spent some time in kindergarten (tbh I am confounded by grade K) where I fell flat on clas

It's finally back-to-school time!!  This is one of my favorite times of the year.  I always love the anticipation of meeting new students, seeing my colleagues, and the energy that is part of a new school year.  All of this feels a little different this year, but I still found myself excited and eager for things to kick off on Monday!   I am at a Roman Catholic combined school that teaches grades K-6; we have about 270 total students.  For the first day, I think I was a curiosity to most of the students (and their parents).  As the principal said at one point "they haven't really seen many people with your complexion."  But on that 1st day, I stayed after classes were done and hung out with some of the students as they waited for the bus to take them home.  They were just telling me stories and asking me questions about what it would be like to be on a rocket and go to space (not sure why space was on their minds, but that was the topic du jour).  Since I get to schoo

 This was "planning week", the week before students come back where teachers come together to get ready for the academic year.  For me, it was a week of learning--about my school, the faculty, work culture, and myself.   The week kicked off with prayer--the Eastern Caribbean in general is Christian, and prayer is a usual part of the school day.  I am not a Christian; during training we had several conversations about how to navigate these situations.  However, none really handled the situation where this was the first  thing that you did together with your new colleagues (we hadn't even done introductions at this point).  I wasn't comfortable with the 1st thing out of my mouth to this group being "I'd like to not participate."    I'm going to make a slight detour here for the sake of background context.  There are several things about me that seem to confound a lot of St. Lucians--the fact that I don't eat bread, that I have no children, that I h