Today we were up dressed in our best clothes and ready for
the open ceremonies. When we arrived they were still setting up which was as
George predicted. We entered Memorial Hall with all the attendees who were
looking us over. When they finally got set up and ready to go they sang the
national anthem and the teacher’s song. After that there were a series of
speeches made by their union leader, our fearless leader and rep of CTF,
George, the replacement for the minister of education (who was again unavailable),
the course leader Jimmy, the rep for McMillan book publishing, and a rep for
the Basic Needs Trust Fund (who spoke about the need for quality education for
all). All in all, about two hours of ceremony. Lots of good things said but
needlessly long.
After that we all walked for five minutes up to the girl’s
school where we will teach our workshops. There was confusion there as Jimmy
hadn't divided the participants into three equal groups, and some of the people
were disgruntled when they learned (apparently for the first time) that the
focus was on special education. I am working with Wendy and Mavis who are both
special education people focusing on Early Childhood Education. Irnice is
working with Nevette and Eugena and George is working with Simonique. When we
got everyone settled we had to get them to fill out paperwork: registration
forms, attendance forms and a survey from CTF. Then it was lunch time for the
participants. When they came back we had a half hour to introduced ourselves to
our group and introduce the topic and get them thinking about special
education. We got them to share some thoughts and experiences and that was it.
We adjourned for the day. It was a varied group that we started with, 42 people
with a range of experience from 0 years (new graduates) to 40 years! The start
for the days will be 8:30, with two 1 ½ hour sessions before lunch and then one
more session to take us to the 1:30 dismissal time.
Then we were served lunch – all the co-tutors, union leaders
and us. It was the usual fare: chicken or fish and root vegetables. The food
down here is pretty bland and boring. They serve chicken, fish, which is either
salted and/or boney, some root vegetables, plantain, corn bread, and some
limited vegetables. Not much variety. All the meals we have been served are
very similar. There is little fruit other than bananas, pineapple and a couple
of local fruits that aren't very exciting. Generally we are shopping and doing
some cooking in our guesthouse. A - it is cheaper and B - it is more appealing.
So we made spaghetti one night with a homemade sauce and we have lots of
sandwiches. We have only eaten in a restaurant once so far and it was the same
as I described above.
Wayne sent his son to pick us up in the uncle's car and he
took us grocery shopping again. We bought our supplies and headed home. We
relaxed for a bit and then Irnice went for a nap and George decided to follow
and is sleeping on a lounger out here on the deck.
While they were sleeping the British neighbour that Irnice
and I met on our first day popped by and invited to us a bbq sometime next week.
Had a chance to talk to him about the island and their retirement here. They
paid about $300,000 for a large house and a big piece of property.
After dinner Ken came by for a visit. He sat and talked to us
for a couple of hours. He gave us insights into the island, the politics, the
lack of development and the lack of tourists. The island is building a big new
airport but it's further up island and we're not sure how it will help tourism
as they don't have a lot to draw tourists. Also found out that although he has
recorded with famous people he has no recorded output of his own. However, he
has agreed to play for our Canada celebration next week. He left around eleven
and we all headed to bed immediately.
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