Hi!
October 5th was Teachers Day if you were unaware. All the teachers in Kwakwani took the day off and met at the ball field at the secondary school. I was totally unaware of Teachers Day until I showed up at school. I wasn't totally sure if I was invited but that's one thing that Guyanese don't seem to mind, one more. When I first got there, they were in the middle of taking short video clips of all the teachers and I wasn't sure why. We also have two British girls living in town also volunteering at the secondary school. The three of us sat down in front of the camera and the teachers asked that I, being the man, say a few words for all the volunteers. I gave an emotionally rousing speech about the special kind of person it takes to be a teacher and didn't give it much thought after that.
We cooked up a big pot of fried rice, played games, and just kind of hung out at the field all the day. It was nice, getting to know everyone and spend time with all the people I work with.
When I came to school the next day there was a big signup sheet for a teachers versus students basketball game that night. Obviously, I signed up thinking it would be a pretty small, fun match. In my first class that day a student told me they had seen me on TV the previous night. Thinking that was strange I asked a few more questions and found out that clip I had recorded had landed on the local station. As I went through the day it became obvious that most kids had seen the clip and it seemed like every one of them had to tell me they'd seen me on TV. This must be what Tom Cruise feels like every day.
Later in the day, I went down to the basketball court ready to show off my skills. When I first arrived there were about twenty people there but as we warmed up and shot around more people streamed to the court and the stands (a few benches on the sidelines). The court itself wasn't in great condition. Concrete and cement just don't hold up well here. The court also has lights and, I've been told, is lit all through the night every night. The student team showed up with matching uniforms and as I watched them, they looked pretty good. I asked a few of my fellow teachers about them and it turned out the team we were playing was the best U-19 (under 19) team in the country for the last 5-6 years. They had played all over the country and apparently had played in a tournament in Antigua last year and beaten everyone handily.
There were about 100-150 people at the game when it started. The game itself was a lot of fun. The student team was really good but I think they took it easy on us because somehow we ended up winning. Not to brag but I scored 6 points and had a few rebounds.
When I went to school the next day, of course, all the students had been there and had to let me know they'd seen me play.
Finally, my latest and greatest issue is currently in the bedroom. Now, I've had bats in the house for a while now. I've seen their poop around the house but I've never seen them or had any major issues up until now. So it started with a bat flying around the house. Not a huge deal, when the house is open to the elements like most houses are here, you're gonna get some bats once in a while. Then, the other morning I woke up in the early morning light and I saw 3-4 shadowy creatures winging around the room. It didn't bother me right away because I sleep in a mosquito net so I had a fairly decent barrier between me and them. But then, they all took turns flying under the bed and out the other side. I have no idea why, maybe they think it's a cave or something but it scared the poop out of me. I could hear their wings beating the air under the bed and felt the rush of beaten air on my face as they came out the other side. It really reminded me of that scene from Michael Keaton's Batman where he's talking to the giant bat. Since then, it's happened every morning for the last three days. I'm starting to develop PTBSD (Post Traumatic Bat Stress Disorder) and it's affecting my sleep. I'm starting to think
I'm the Batman.
You should tell your friends about me.
Justice.
Anyways, that's my big problem right now. Anyone know how to get rid of bats?
See ya next time.
No comments:
Post a Comment