First day at school

Finally ORIENTATION IS OVER! and we have started work! although it isn't quite the full 14hour day I'm use to :)
I think that I am suppose to learn how to relax and not jampack my schedule I tihnk right now I'm like uggh, so much time i could be doing this that or the other thing if  I only had transportation to a b or c which I don't and so i get to stay in my room, or in the house (but I generally stay in my room, so I can be in less clothes, its soo hot or can be under my mosquito net) Maybe I'll even relax williingly when I'm home (that'd be nice eh J? xo)

I started work today, at a school. It went really well, all the kids are super cute, some a shade hmm... clinging!
The educational system here is sooo different from home, the schools are almost all denominational (religious) and the system is more punitive than our schools.
I feel bad for the kids they're ridiculed for bad grades, but there are no systems or paraprofessionals to assist them to get up to speed, they never get to catch up on what they are clearly very very behind on. It was pretty sad, anyways I may try with in one class room I'm in, wtihin which the instructor seems really nice and I can tell she feels guilty about the punitive approach, a little literacy circle for kids who are doing poorly in reading
The kids i worked with all day to day would be in grade 5 or so at home, (so a note to mom, Jessica and any other teachers/educator literacy workers out there email me please; if you have any literacy tips or anything for me let me know :)  tmuccgit@gmail.com )

Anyways! I did have a great day with the kids though!
All the kids were astonished by my eyes, there are not any Trinidadians with naturally green eyes, or blonde hair. I kept on being asked if it was fake, or if my eyes were real, and stuff by some of the younger kids. The kids who were a little older were just starring at my eyes. I took to closing them when they were suppose to be listening to the teacher.
A couple girls touched my hair and were like its soo soft! hahaha its quite funny but its also the strangest experience ever! When I was in Bolivia those kids had so much interaction with foreigners that I we weren't a shock to them.

Oh and they were astonished by freckles they kept on racing eachother to find one they hadn't found yet. They asked me what kind of bug bites they were. i have freckles on my arms
Fortunately Miriam is part red head or at least has more of that complexion and so I was like they're freckles, white people have them, go look at Miriam she has more! hahah it worked to get a few of them from dangling off my arms. The kids love Miriam too and shes great with them!
We played an impromptu game of I ran away with my hands in the air because too many people we're trying to hold them at once. And this is all just one recess!!! :) I'm tired hahaha

They asked me to sing the Anthem today and I was like umm... I did my best but I recently learnt the protest version that is arguing against climate destruction by the Canadian government and condemnign the construction of the Olympic village on Aboriginal land and the Alberta tarsands and I coudln't quite remember the whole regular version properly! :S I didn't tell them that I just stopped early haha

I got to teach physical education and I did Dragonfly, Mosquito, Human tag (Thank you Eco-U)
you split up into two groups and decide which of the three you're going to be as a group and then walk to face (team one and team two) eachother and its like rock paper scizzors en mass but if you lose you have to run to a certain boudary without being caught or you change teams!
Its a game where no one loses! which is great :)
and its adorable (Mosquitos bite humans, human hit dragonflies with their cars, and dragonflies eat mosquitos) We then played it a second way which was elephant, mouse, cat. Because elephants are afraid of mice, and mice are eaten by cats, and elephants squish cats hahaha
The funniest part was that all the kids ran when they did the same thing even though no one was chasing them!
Then we played a freeze tag game and simon says to stretch and do some final exercises!
Then I 'taught' geography which really meant that I answered a host of questions about Canada we looked it up on a map, and Trinidad fits in lake superior so they were pretty astonished about how big Canada was, we talked about the equater and how the sun affects our climat, about the different time zones in Canada because of time zones relations to latitutde and then about what snow was like and what you had to wear in -40
They're really cute!

Then it was lunch and they actually provide all the children with lunch (the government does) so we got to eat that too, it was pretty good! I tink they use less flavor for the kids, i don't know if its economics or kids tastes but I am loving school lunches :) We had one the day we visited the school too and it was also delicious

they SALT everything. I was really excited for steamed broccoli at dinner tongiht and I took a ton of it before tasting it. i have learnt a valuable lesson!!!! I didn't think someone could wreck steamed broccoli, broccoli is practically my favorite food! but it was maybe the most disgusting thing I've ever eaten, if not taste wise certainly emotionally because it was such a let down form what I was expecting, the broccoli tasted like green slimey french fries they were so salty.
I'm employing my grandfathers advice and joke "I hate it but I eat it" out here!  
I was jokign around at a dinner on Saturday that Carribean people must find Canadian food so bland! Everyone at the table with me agreed whole heartedly, and started talking about how they brought hot sauce with them so that they didn't have to endure the boring food!
 Jacey says I'm an extra bland cooker, which is true, when it comes to food I'm all about subtle to non existant taste, so this is certainly a shift! But I think I'll defiantely at least have a tolerance for spice wehn I get home I still might not cook with it though haha

Anyways, I asked for no salt to be put on things so that we could add salt if we wanted it, and it kinda went over okay, I'm finding that I 'm just going to need to make some of those awkward requests because as of yet, we are told everyday we can feel free to cook our own dinner, but we're always fed the minute we walk in the door so I'm never hungry by dinner time because 'snacks' are too big that I just want a V8 and a fruit or something 

Tomorrow we get to see the schools Diwali celebration assembly and then Wednesday we're going to a Hindu school (a public school still) to see their Diwali celebration.
Diwali^[1] is popularly known as the festival of lights. It is an important five-day festival in Hinduism, Sikhism and Jainism, occurring between mid-October and mid-November.
Whats cool about that is that I studied Janism in my university class on Nonviolence.

 For most Hindus and Indians, Diwali is the biggest festival in the entire year and is celebrated with families performing traditional activities together in their homes. Deepavali is an official holiday in India, ^[2] Guyana, Trinidad & Tobago, Mauritius, Malaysia, Nepal, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Myanmar , Fiji ,Suriname and Guyana
The name Diwali is itself a contraction of the word Deepavali which translates into row of lamps.^[3] Diwali involves the lighting of small clay lamps (diyas)  filled with oil to signify the triumph of good over evil. During Diwali celebrants wear new clothes and share sweets and snacks with family members and friends. Some Indian business communities begin the financial year on the first day of Diwali, hoping for prosperity the following year.
In Hinduism, Deepavali marks the return of Lord Rama,who Ramlilla was about. That I sent you the picture of the burnign guy, tahts who Lord Rama defeated. So after his kingdom of Ayodhya after defeating (the demon king) Ravana, the ruler of Lanka, in the epic Ramayana. And people lit lamps so that he could see the way, hence the festival of lights.
This is just what I found on the internet I will tell you more when the kids teach me stuff tomorrow and wednesday in their plays and performances :)

To end on a laughing note here is ajoke I heard on Sunday at a Youth Fellowship Service
A women gets arrested for stealing a can of peaches and has to go to court for sentencing.
At court the judge asks "how many peaches were there in the can?"
The woman answers "there were 5 peaches in the can your honour"
The judge says "then I sentence you to 5 days, one day for each item stolen"
Her husband stands up in the crowd and says "your honour, she also stole a can of peas!"

With Love and Hope for a Peaceful and Just World
- Tessa