a quarter of a century

Weather report: rainy with scattered sunshine- just enough to go to the market for tamales!

Hmmm... what to say. It was the premier week for peer tutoring at Julian Cho Technical High School and Toledo Community College. And though things did not go as 'planned' the experience as a whole was positive. The day before the peer tutoring program was set to commence the vice principal @ JCTHS decided to inform me of a last minute change to their class schedule. Since I had intentionally correlated our program with after school activities this news caught me off guard. Thankfully, this will be a simple amendment as long as the students are willing. JCTHS will officially begin peer tutoring next week. Wednesday I met for an hour and a half with the students @ TCC. There is so much potential bottled in young minds- my goal is to get them excited about unleashing its power in the coming weeks!

Okay everyone, remember those dorky games that teachers would make you play to break the ice when you get into groups? I was SO that teacher this week. They grimaced and rolled their eyes as I asked them to pair up and exchanged preferences about chores, 'soft-drinks' and waking up for school. And don't think I wanted to be THAT teacher. But, I felt lead to do it and in the end we all learned something about each other and shared a couple of good laughs. I found out that all of my student rise before 5 in the morning and one gal catches a bus into town at 430 am. If you have a moment, stop and consider the challenges of paying attention through eight hours of class-chemistry, physics, literature- after a morning like that. Talk about self-discipline.

In other news, although I can't say I am glad to have left another year behind, I am happy to report I had a blast welcoming in the next one- live reggae and a bit of punta dancing on the sea :D

And in spite of the rain, we spent last weekend at a privately owned 'Caye' or key about an hour and a half off the coast. The family, which recently made the switch from fisheries to eco-friendly tourism, boasts of world class diving and some of the best conche ceviche south of the border. I didn't need any convincing; Belize is said to be second only to Australia for its coral reefs and you can't get much fresher than sea to stomach in about an hour.

Alright already, I've gotten myself all excited about food again, typical. That's all folks!

signing off.....