Long awaited update...

So very many things have happened since my last post! In chronological order, here are a few interesting occurrences from the past month or so.

The Harvest Carnival is held every year around Hallowe'en and offers our students the chance to set up, organize and play various carnival games for an afternoon. I spent much of my time filling up water balloons, much to my dismay, but there were also several baked goods which made an appearance, brightening my day. So much mess! I would be lying if I said I hadn't hosed off a kid or two (legs down only, of course). Thank you to Dalton for this lovely devil picture (complete with label) from our Hallowe'en drawings. I just had to take a picture - his arm comes out of his head! Hell has a weird sense of humor... :P


Next was my personal favourite so far, a weekend trip to gorgeous Miami Beach, Florida. Our midterm break was 4 days long, so a few friends and I decided to spend our time in South Beach, getting a hostel for next to nothing and a cheap flight, we wandered town and shopped and saw Little Havana, even got to experience the craziness of a Saturday Hallowe'en night in South Beach - oh the costumes! Or lack thereof, if you can imagine... we saw a couple dressed as Adam and Eve - leaves only! Beautiful weather, amazing architecture and fun shopping and eating; not to mention it was a pleasure to be back in the urban jungle and experiencing the perks of efficient and friendly service, something notoriously lacking in the Bahamas.

What is next, what is next... oh that's right - my birthday! The big 2-6 crept up on me but my new friends here helped make it memorable! Special thanks goes out to my roommate Liz who was particularly loving and - among other things - made me pink sparkle sugar cookies! My birthday is only a couple days before Crystal, the Spanish teacher at our school and a fellow Miami traveler, so her parents threw her a surprise party on the Saturday with delicious Mexican food and even gave us a special birthday tequila shot! After the festivities, we went to Senior Frogs for some more drinks and dancing, where we met a few guys who are sailing the Caribbean on their own sailboat! They stayed in Nassau for a week, even took us out sailing on their last night here, which was fun because I got to be helpful while some of the other less marine familiar girls were terribly seasick. Got to love being able to pull your own weight - so thanks Dad!

Lots of excitement is up and coming, and though I have spent much of the last couple weeks marking and doing report cards and planning for parent teacher conferences, I anticipate endless fun ahead: Jen (friend from UTSC for whom I was Maid of Honour) will be visiting in 9 days, while Caitlin (friend from residence at Ryerson) is coming down in 12 days! They will be here at the same time for a while, so I foresee some debauchery and other forms of celebration at having a couple of my best friends around to see how life is for me down here! Then a short 11 days after Jen's departure, I will be home for Christmas!!

I'm off to volunteer at our school's soccer tournament this morning, and I made cocoa quickies last night hahah, just to update you all a bit further. Mmm!

Love Ori

A day of culture... at the Bacardi tent!

Last Saturday, October 17, was the International Food Festival here in Nassau and it was quite a fun day of exploring the food, drink and crafts of various cultures. There were tents set up by many countries who have a presence here in Nassau, including but certainly not limited to: Greece, Ireland, France, India, China, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, South Africa, Chile, Brazil and many others you may see in my photos.

If my memory seems foggy, it is with good reason. The Bacardi tent. A few international beers and some Greek spanakopita and then the Bacardi tent made an appearance to polish off my drinks for the afternoon. The festival was held at the Nassau Botanical Gardens, so the surroundings were quite pretty, and the weather was sweltering aside from about fifteen minutes of rain (ominous clouds pictured). After our day long adventure (noted as one of the only things to do in Nassau besides beach/touristy exploration) we headed to tourist mecca Senior Frogs for some nachos and beer.

Today will be exciting - a wine, cheese and art party held at the National Trust. I will add details and pictures subsequent to my adventure today, which hooks patrons with all the sample wine, cheese and snacks you can handle for $25. Goal: remain capable of speaking intelligently about said art.


As an aside, here is a picture of me high-fiving the first Bahamian-born Governor General of the Bahamas. Tim and I explored the downtown Nassau area on Discovery Day; many things were closed but it was great to see the infamous Straw Market and have a donut at Dunkin'!

Vacation day...

For a day we got to experience The Bahamas the way a tourist may - all inclusive resort style. $60 got us access to the Breezes Super Inclusive resort just down the way from our place; the deal included all food and drinks; pool/oceanfront access, non-motorized water sports, trapeze and a rock climbing wall. We didn't bring running shoes which limited our fun, but we know for next time! The day was just me, Sam and her boyfriend Charlie, but we had loads of fun just the three of us. The food was great, we had good weather and even managed to sneak in for dinner - including a bottle of wine! Aaah, the all included life.

School is coming along nicely, my students are really starting to show their personality and that is turning out to be quite fun! A long weekend awaits us as Monday the 12th is Discovery Day. For information, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discovery_Day#The_Bahamas. Its pretty much the celebration of good ol' CC (Christopher Columbus) discovering these fine islands and the whole of North American in general. No big plans as of yet, but a day less of school is enough of a reason to celebrate as far as I'm concerned! I have yet to be to Paradise Island or Atlantis yet so perhaps a visit there is in order.

Otherwise not much else is new, I have started about 5 hours a week after school which is good money and helps out the kids who are behind their peers. We each tutor our own kids, with the exception of one of my students who sees Sam (roommate and grade one teacher) one day a week because she needs grade one math catch up help. Sam's cats have fleas (ew) but she got their medicine yesterday before our adventure so they should be gone by now.

I miss the crisp fall days you at home are surely experiencing these days but am still encouraging visits by all to my temporary neck of the woods - Caitlin is coming at the end of November, and Laura will be down at the end of December for New Years and Junkanoo! Visitors welcome!!! :D

Yours wondering if I even still have a winter coat at home (and where it might be),
Ori

Out came the sun and dried up all the rain...

This title is both homage to "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" and the introduction to a very lovely story about a spider who made its way in to my classroom.

An eight legged friend (approximately the size of a loonie - and then add legs to that) was crawling under a table in our room and after stepping on it, I figured the excitement was over and we could get back to math. Minutes later, I had a student call out my name during the lesson, to which I of course answered, "Put your hand up if you have something to say!" I waited a bit of time before answering her, but when I did, dear Alexia proceeded to tell me that the spider was being dismembered by an army of ANTS. Not only that, but one of the legs had be carried halfway across the room by ten or so of the fast, evil little buggers! My solution was of course to spray both crime scenes with aerosol disinfectant spray (killed them all) and give the kid who swept up the subsequent mess a sticker. Ahh, to be seven and touch so many dead bugs for a sticker! Thanks to little Lerotisha who took one for the team and tidied up the bug situation.

Aside from insect and spider incidents, most of my days are smoothing out one at a time, and the kids are (finally) calming down and realizing I mean business - nobody gets away with much in Miss Bowers' class that's for sure! Despite my intolerance for tomfoolery, I still get love notes and hugs from my students who are happy to see me and sorry I was off sick (with a mean virus!) for two days last week.

We sneaked into a resort nearby this past Saturday to use their lovely beach equipment and lounge chairs. Drinks were not free, but we managed to overtake a big ocean floaty device that left us all relaxed and sun burnt after four plus hours in the Caribbean sun! Don't get too jealous: today on the way home from work I got trapped in a downpour that left me soaked and muddy (bad day to wear a white skirt!) and its currently still raining cats and dogs.

I'm off to watch Jeopardy!
Miss you all!

And so it begins...

Classes have started and fourteen bright eyed faces make up my eager student body. Well, make that ten bright eyed faces, two quasi-engaged faces, one face that rarely looks my way, and another that can't sit still for more than fifteen seconds. I had a few criers, a couple 'fake sick' incidents and a daunting reading program that -without exaggeration - was designed and published in 1989. One of my little gems got sent back to the pre-k program for acting like a four year old and another asked me to house sit their family dogs while they go to Disneyland.

Ants are the biggest burden we face and school and they never cease to amaze me with their infiltration skills. Children cry on a daily basis because their food supply has been infested, making their food uneatable and their hopes of instilling their peers with snack envy dashed. Not only do they infest food supplies (mine included) but they crawl up your leg and arms and get absolutely everywhere. In Canada, if you feel a tickle on your arm, chances are it's a renegade hair, pet fur, leaf or other neutral force. Here, that tickle is an ant, and there is a 50% chance that it's a fire ant. Fire ants sting when they bite. Sam is currently dealing with quite a number of stings, her ankle swelled to the size of my sprain within hours and remains itchy, burning and swollen. I had a minor swarming the first week during set-up but it has since calmed down. Apparently, they enjoy the heat and humidity, and go away more after hurricane season is over in November. In a nutshell: its absolutely annoying.

Today we went snorkelling at the beach known to locals as "Jaws Beach" because segments of the movie were filmed here. There were looming clouds, but we ventured out and discovered a Brittle Star, a very odd looking starfish. I suggest you wikipedia it cause it's neat but we didn't get a shot of it with Tim's underwater camera. Posted here are some pictures of the impending weather and subsequent storm we got ever so caught in. After a wet 20 minute drive home, we decided that popcorn and Rockband were in order. All in all a typical day during the rainy season. See the captured image of the TV forecast for a glimpse of our weeks here thus far, with a few exceptions.

Missing home and certainly feeling the homesickness,
Ori

Side of the road...

The following post relates to things that I have seen for sale on the side of the road. It will be updated as I explore the islands further. To date, I have seen:

1) Mangoes.
Charlie (Sam's boyfriend) insists that they have been stolen from his Uncle's farm. I believe it, but others may also have fallen victim to mango thieves as there are mangoes for sale periodically throughout what I have seen of Nassau. Sold out of a wooden crate, often a car full of mangoes parked nearby.

2) Daquaris.
There is a daquari stand in front of the resorts down the street. Apparently they are about $6 and worth the detour on the walk home from school! Yet to be explored.

3) Cell phone cards.
A small wooden stand (roughly the size of a port-a-potty) where men sell phone cards. Phones are pay-as-you-go here for the most part, and so adding $10 or $20 at a time becomes much more convenient when you can pull over for more time and/or buy it while stopped in traffic!

4) Back to school supplies.
I assume this is dependent on the time of year, but I will get back to you. Beside the mall, a series of stands selling backpacks, clothes and other related items.

5) Peanuts.
Apparently some guys drive around on a bicycle, selling hot peanuts. Reminds me of a depression-era book I read which involved the sale of hot nuts on the street. Question: in 40 degree weather, who wants hot nuts? That's right: nobody.

6) Hubcaps.
A guy riding some sort of bike thing, completely loaded up with more than thirty different hub caps. We were driving or I'd have taken a picture, but Charlie and Sam can verify it's existence. I hope to one day capture the spectacle.

Getting settled...

I have officially been here for three days! I have a National Insurance Board card, and a bank account, so the Bahamian government is officially aware of my existence.

My house (shared with roommates Sam and Liz) is great, a good size regular stucco house with three nice bedrooms. I live in the attic! All the comforts of home except wireless internet (plugged in only) and cable TV (courtesy of Miami FL) and running water (undrinkable). Believe this: we are 60 seconds (closer to 4 minutes considering the ankle) away from the beach! It's beautiful and clear, with white sand and even the odd fishy exploring.

Some random facts that I have uncovered thus far...
1. There are ants EVERYWHERE. Small and determined ones, that are quick and plentiful.
2. The iphone is an astonishing $950 here.
3. They drive on the left side of the road, and make good use of the roundabout.

More to post soon, including photos of my classroom and the beach!
Don't forget about me!