brzykcy's Xanga

Tuesday, July 08, 2008

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 03:35:14 GMT

Re-Entry One Month Later

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 08:10:33 GMT

It's hard to imagine that I was soaking up the hot sun just 33 days ago, but here I am just completing the medication I was required to take to prevent myself from getting malaria. I've been on malaria medication for the past two years, which many of us have taken to blaming most of our mental problems and strange dreams on, and now I'm through. I never had malaria, but I did have weird dreams, but then, I was dreaming about weird stuff before I went to Tanzania.

On my way back, I might have mentioned here that I lost one of my bags. It was a drag, because it got in the way of me reuniting with Christina. Well, one day a few weeks ago, I got a call from England, and it was someone with my airlines telling me that they found my bag, and that it looked like everything was there, but that I probably would not recognize the bag. Okay. . . Almost a day or so later, I got a call from a guy at 11:30 at night saying he was outside trying to deliver my bag, except that he was in Chicago at my permanent residence and I was in Champaign at my current place. Well, my uncle answered and received the bag and told him 'thanks' to which he replied that it was the first thanks he had gotten all night.

Now, when I got to my uncle's place, I already assumed that the bag would be different, and so it didn't surprise me that much when I saw it - a nice roll-around bag a bit bigger than the one I had before. I wasn't that impressed though, since the bag I was told I lost was a pretty expensive and nice bag, and I hoped the replacement was of good enough quality. Well, I took a look and it was nice, and brand new (not that mine was in bad shape), but I was still skeptical as to whether this was a fair trade. It was better than nothing.

Next, I opened it up to check inventory of all the stuff, and see if they lost any of it, and right there inside this bag is my old bag!! It had all my stuff in there too, the zippers were open, however, and maybe the person just got frustrated trying to close it and decided to send it in a bag. I take it as a good sign though. What was in the bag you might ask? All of the letters that Christina wrote to me throughout the entire two years! Yikes! It was a bit risky putting them all together, but I had to pack the smallest bag I had with the most dense stuff I had, which came down to the letters and some other souvenirs. Thank Goodness I got my bag back!!

So, a month down and I feel like this is normal. All of it - I'm having a hard time realizing that I was really gone for two years. I am working again - I got a job rather speedily back where I used to substitute teach in Champaign and this time, I have tracked down all of the science teachers I could find in order to give them my info so that when they are out, they can request me and I might actually get to do something related to my field someday. So far I have subbed as a special ed, english, speech, and spanish teacher (i didnt have to speak spanish, but I did tell them I knew swahili). Anyway, I have been told that there is a great need for substitute teachers, but I really haven't been called that many days, and instead, I called the district a few times, and thought I was being sneaky by asking for jobs, until I met another sub who works almost every day because he calls in and asks for them. I guess that's the strategy to having work. Also, I have completed the application for the next district over, in Urbana, so that I might actually get my week filled more with work. It all seems so temporary. I would rather have my own class and my own niche, but that has to wait until I am properly certified.

It's Christmas time, and I am looking forward to the convergence of family and friends in the next few weeks. I feel comfortable now, and I wonder if I will be tired of explaining the last two years to people. I don't worry about people getting what I'm saying, since I know Christina always gets me.

As I have been re-integrating, I have noticed my appreciation for some random things, starting with the nasty spluttering cold November rain that I witnessed after returning. Its just that I have spent so long envisioning this and to finally see it is cheering me up without notice or reason. I have been amazed/impressed with the following: crunching of salt as I walked in Chicago (that means that there was a planner thinking of keeping the sidewalks ice-free and the simple fact that there was ICE) the insides of various malls and all the people (wow!), the incredible number of gas stations that are EVERYWHERE, free water at a restaurant, and just generally the christmas feeling. Its good to be back.

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Wed, 28 Nov 2007 18:21:17 GMT

I am settled in now, to my new home for the next 8 months or so, in Urbana, IL. Life is good.

I have been trying to get the job I had before I joined the Peace Corps, to be a substitute teacher, and am only witheld by one detail, which is that I need medical records which are not in transit between Tanzania and Washington DC. So I have to wait, unless I want to go get a new TB test and physical, but I literally just did them before leaving, its just a small crack I seem to have fallen in just now.

In the meantime, I'm looking forward to hanging out with old friends who are arriving this weekend and so its sort of convenient that work has to wait a little. For the past few days, I have been attending the small details of grocery shopping (which takes a long time now, since I want to look at everything!) and emailing everyone and trying to get back into touch with everyone. I have a new phone now, so if you want that, you should get in touch with me so that I can get it to you. Constant internet is a huge plus to hanging out without too much to do. I'm happy with the weather too - cold is good.

I'm Home!

Fri, 23 Nov 2007 16:11:19 GMT

Yes, its true! I arrived home on Saturday November 17th!

The plane was on time, and I rushed to the front of the lines in customs (thinking I could beat the crowd and get to Christina sooner) and I got through to get my bags, and then waited until all of the bags had circled around the carousel until finally resigning to the fact that one of my bags was not there. That was a bit of a killjoy. So instead of having that moment of pure bliss and harmony with choirs of angels singing as I ran to Christina, I had to wave to her from plated glass doors, stupidly pointing at bags and signalling one finger and pointing off to a counter she couldn't see. After finally describing my bag and its contents, I was given a number to call and a code for my lost bag. Darn. It wasn't one of my major clothes and stuff bags, it just happened to be the bag with something completely irreplaceable inside - all of the at least one hundred letters that christina wrote to me in the course of two years. I'm not going to be upset about it because I'm still going to believe that it will be found and returned to me. This whole thing sucks, I know, no need to remind me. You can cross your fingers along with me.

Finally, oh so finally, the world stopped turning for a full minute and I had found Christina. That was . . . pretty unexplainable.

Life back has been good, mostly because I'm spending alot of time with Christina. She makes the world go away, and the time i've been gone, I've had to deal with the world on full volume, which has made it hard to concentrate and focus. I'm home now, seeing her everyday feeds my happiness, and getting back to normal seems incredibly simple. We spent the first night on our own, and then a few nights at Kevin's house near to my old town. I was able to go through some of my old stuff and figure out what might be useful in the next month, and marvel over my rather large stack of comic books there. We also had a welcome back dinner, and managed to gather my friends, many of whom had come to my going away, and it was at the same place, so it seemed that everything was returning to the place it had started.

We spent time with my brother, and some time with both her family and mine in a sort of travel tour that crossed from the north side of chicago to the south. I've been enjoying the welcome and warmth of everyone we've been visiting and catching up with. Somewhere in the first two days I also got a stomach ache that wouldn't quit. I figure it was due to my change in diets of all natural to all preserved and flavored. I took it easy and set my focus on researching my next laptop. I bought one that is hovering around the top of the line and with so many cool features, it almost made me forget my stomach ached. Now, my stomach has adjusted and the laptop is on its way. Next stop: Champaign/Urbana - now I'll be the sort of weird old grad, come back for glory and honor. Oh yes.

Top Questions Asked:
What was the best part of your two years?
When Christina visited, she stayed at my house for 3 weeks. That was great, to share everything day-to-day, and not just do the touristy/safari thing with her.

What was the worst part of your two years?
Tough to say. I did get robbed, but that really wasn't so bad. And everywhere I went, if there were hard times, mostly there was someone who understood, and helped either to assuage my anxiety or alleviate some of the stressors. I really can't think of too much that was quantifiably 'the worst'. I had bad days at school, where I lost faith in what I was doing, and I had a few days where I had a sort of breakdown in communications with Christina, so I think that was the worst. Overall, missing Christina was the worst. I feel like I could work any job, so long as I can come home to see Christina's smile. Cheesy, I'm sure, but that was what the last two years lacked.

What did Tanzanians think of you?
This is hard to answer too. Mostly, those who knew me: the teachers, workers and friends, knew I was a volunteer and that I worked really really hard. They respected me and were quite friendly. Those who didn't know me, who saw me as a tourist or stereotypical rich white person, usually treated me with less respect, but that sometimes changed after I spoke to them in swahili.

Do you know Swahili well? Did you always speak it?
I didn't speak it all of the time, and I taught in English. By the end of the training in the first few months, I was given an 'advanced low' grade, I might have improved a little, but I certainly wasn't fluent. It always helped my everyday interactions to use swahili, but I was a hardcase to my students and fellow teachers about always speaking english - to the point where most of them didn't believe I actually knew any Swahili.

What was the first food you ate after arriving in the states?
Christina and I went to Chili's. She got some ribs and I got fajitas. Then we had a chocolatey dessert, which was spectacular. I also enjoyed circus peanuts, brought to me by christina along with root beer and gummy bears. My girlfriend is awesome.

Have you been readjusting alright to american life?
I think my readjustment has been pretty smooth, mostly because I can relate everything to Christina, and she knows almost exactly where I've been (she still has the 100 letters I wrote her, so no worries on that regard). What has stressed me out a little is trying to make a decision quickly, especially when there are so many choices to choose from. And when you thought you chose one, there are subchoices to make too. Its a bit overwhelming sometimes. Case in point, I spent at least ten hours researching laptops just to be sure I got exactly what I wanted. There are so many choices here. Wow.

Those were just some of the conversations I've been finding myself in with friends and family, in case you were interested.

I'm sittin' in a railway station, got a ticket for my destination . . .

Fri, 02 Nov 2007 06:06:34 GMT

Hi Everybody

Shame on me for not having updated.

The BIG news is that I am almost finished up here. I dont think I need to give any details - you probably know already, or you know where to get the information. In the next few weeks, you might start seeing me pop up on the radar in a town near you. . . .

So how do I feel? I am a bit overwhelmed. I have been working like crazy on a book of chemistry questions and answers. And that sentence didnt quite capture it. I mean, I've really been working harder than I've worked on a project before, and that I've almost driven myself crazy in the process. Thank goodness one of my students has been working on solving the questions with me, and helping me collaborate. For his trouble, he gets a better understanding of how to answer these questions, so I figure its a good exchange for him.

Other than that very massive block of my life, I have been trying to wind things up here at my school. I had a going away party that was pretty successful, and drew a variety of people (mostly peace corps) and left me with an overabundance of sliced potatoes, tomatoes, and bread. I have done my best to try to put them to use, but by now, I still have more than half of the leftovers and Im just going to have to load them as ammunition into the crow/rooster-rocket.

Okay, I dont really have one of those (next thing I hear is "do you really shoot crows in Africa with a rocket??").

Anyway. There's a spare bed in my house that I have loaded all of my stuff that I want to take home with me. It keeps getting more full, but I'm pretty sure I'll have enough room to carry everything I need home with me. There is a point in time, when packing, you start to see the stuff and realize that it's really going to happen: you are going to leave this place. And that's pretty wierd when that hits you. For two years, I've been counting down the days until I get back to my girl, with Paul Simon's "Homeward Bound" floating in the air around my head. I mean, I have enjoyed life here, too. I certainly have taken every opportunity I have had to work as hard as I could and make that difference, but somewhere in the back, as a sort of static, I have a buzzing about when I'll be home. . . and now that time is now. The right words do not exist, I'm convinced, that can explain enough what I mean.

I am really looking forward to coming home. I need to start the next phase of my life. I have enjoyed this adventure, and I have accomplished more than I thought I would, but now is the big step forward, and I'm trembling with anticipation to take it. Soon, everyone. Soon.

If you want to see me when I'm back, just send me or christina an email. I think we're going to sort of tour the chicago area for a while, I would love an opportunity to catch up.

This one's for Dania . . .

Thu, 20 Sep 2007 08:35:52 GMT

I got a letter in the school's mail today, which included a card from Dania, which pleased me immensely, and inspired me to write this update. Sorry it's been so long!

Yesterday was the two year anniversary for me to be in the Peace Corps, and in just under 60 or so days, I will be home. I’m still working on the flight arrangements now, but I have a few options to pursue first. It’s incredibly exciting to know that everything is going to change – again. This time I’ll be coming back, rather than going away.

School is winding down, and I seem to getting busier. This week, my students are taking exams and will leave me for a whole month (and then return just weeks before I have to leave for good). I think I have officially taught my last classes, and am now awaiting the arrival of a new group of volunteers, some of whom will be with me at my school. I have a bunch of reports to write before the end of my service, and I’m going through just about everything I’ve worked on in the past two years trying to come to some sense of closure, but I come up with many questions. It seems that in all the time I’ve been keeping the computer lab open, a bit more than 300 students have come and used it. But in our school, that’s just 40%. The questions are: is that good enough? and, Could I have done anything more to get the other 60%? And if I look at the teachers at my school, after so many attempts to give them a computer course in the first year and a half, I haven’t even attempted any this past half year. Eventually, I have to settle for what I can do, and what I have done, is what could have been done, and I really don’t know how I could have done any of it differently. Its just a bit like a person who works in a soup kitchen getting begged for money on their way home. There’s never enough anyone can give to the world, there’s always going to be one more palm outstretched.

So, despite that thought, I feel good. I’m told many volunteers question what they have done in their time, and whether or not it was enough and if there was anything more they could do. It’s normal, they say, so I won’t worry too much about it. I do have the proud title of being perhaps the only volunteer with a warm shower and a university nearby where I can get internet. To quote one of my favorite voices in my head, “life’s been good to me so far.”

I’ve been hanging out with my close neighbor, Jeong-in, who specializes in cooking meals including eggs, bacon, and tuna fish, as well as hooking me up with various TV shows. A lot of TV shows. But we get into interesting conversations too. Saturday, we finished a show at 2am, and were ready to go, but a deep philosophical conversation broke out that took us all the way to 4am, and I hear he got questioned by the guards roaming the university on his way back home. He is teaching himself to speak English, which he is doing much better at than I could imagine I would do – take for example, the subtle difference between saying ‘how’d you’ and ‘would you’ quickly, that was a topic of last night’s education.

The news on my computer lab is that, remarkably, things have been running smoothly. I have things at a good place right now, and it looks like it won’t be that hard getting them in a state I can easily hand over. I still have the problem that there aren’t very many teachers dedicated and knowledgeable to this level of technology, but that problem isn’t new. The new problem is a virus has come to the systems and isn’t getting picked up by the normal antivirus software, so I am having a hard time researching and fixing it. Anti-virus software companies usually do a good job of keeping up with the latest viruses attacking the normal populace, but East Africa is not on that list, apparently, so the Raila Odinga virus that has been attacking computers here, has no real solution. Dag, yo! If anyone has any information on what might help (beyond the obvious) let me know.

And the dreams! I take this medicine that’s supposed to keep me from having malaria, and I haven’t had malaria at all (which is almost as common an illness here as the flu, except that it kills many foreigners who haven’t built up immunity to it). But one of the side effects of the drug is that it can give you seriously messed up adventures in dreamland. This week, I was trying to get myself out of a devil’s trap by trying to convince my partner that we were being brainwashed, and to succeed, only to have the opposite happen to me. Also, I climbed a mountain with my little brother and imagined armies with elephants marching across it. But those dreams are only with me if I sleep long enough to have them, which often, I do not, unfortunately. In fact, as it is the afternoon, and I am on my own timetable now, I think I’ll go take a nap before I get cracking on these fresh exams that need grading. . .

Summary of a Month

Wed, 22 Aug 2007 19:09:14 GMT

So! It has been a long time, indeed. I’m sorry for that. To say that I’ve been busy this past month and however long isn’t really explaining enough of what I’ve been up to. So, I’ll try to summarize. In the past month and however long, I have. . .

Hung out with Jeong In, who is the new KOICA volunteer at Mzumbe University, only, he hasn’t had much to do since he just started and the University is still on holiday until midway through next month. We’ve been watching movies and TV shows from his FOUR portable hard drives. Awesome.
Single-handedly run the computer lab. For some reason, since the return of “ordinary level” students last mid-July and the consequent return of the teachers involved in helping me, they have seemed to forget about helping me out, so I’ve been running things alone, except for one major saving grace:
The new Lab Supervisors. I have been enjoying their enthusiasm and help. They are running things really smoothly so that I can actually do things like write this during the lab’s operation, as well as the next few points. These guys are really awesome, and I will regret not being able to stay with them beyond November, but at least I will leave the next volunteer with a great group of guys to continue our work.
I’ve been scanning old exams and some notes from previous volunteers, to help future volunteers know better what they are doing.
Hung out with Nora, watching movies and popping popcorn with a frosty beverage or two. Life has been pleasant.

And the kicker to what has happened to me, that made me worried to write about it: I got robbed sort of “at gunpoint” except that it wasn’t ever pointed directly at me for that intention, though it was pointed at other people. This occurred when I was out for dinner one Friday night, at a place where many of the ex-patriot community in my area go to, so it was an obvious target for such a thing to happen. To sum it up: a little of my money was stolen, but not my phone or the big wad of bills I had just extracted from my newly deposited living allowance. I was not hit, or even threatened very much – I would guess that they looked at me and decided I wasn’t worth very much, and they didn’t have much time to debate it. I did throw a table over at the first sight of a man running in with a gun to provide a barrier we could hide behind, but they just ran around it, it was still cool to have done. And, I didn’t run, panic, or (probably most important) do anything stupid, which is really the most reassuring outcome from the experience. I suppose I’ll give more detail and harrowing suspense if you want it, but you’ll have to email me. The bottom line is: we are all okay. Please don’t worry.

After the event mentioned above, Nora, Jeong In and I (with a special guest, Sara) returned straightaway to my house in the quiet hills far away from the craziness of the evening, and ended the evening trying to relax with movies and comfort food and popcorn. The rest of the weekend was spent deliberately slow, with careful attention to our sanities and whether or not we were processing enough. We got supported quite a lot by the Peace Corps, who not only called, offering a ride to Dar to officially process, but also, I got a house call from one of my supervisors who lives nearby.

In retrospect, I am not happy to have gone through the experience, just overwhelmed with gladness that I and my friends got through it mostly unscathed.

Aside from that event, I have very much enjoyed the company of Nora and Jeong In, who are getting me to play computer games less and pop popcorn more. J I have also spent everyday contemplating how close I am coming to being finished here. This week is literally my last week of teaching: next week I have to travel for professional reasons, and then from September on, the students are primarily focused on preparing for and taking exams. After mid September, my students will all go on holiday for a whole month, and hopefully return before I go, if only to just bid me farewell as I return for home in early November. The actual date that I have for being finished is now November 7^th, but I think I will get an opportunity to show my mom around for a week or so, so I am refraining from saying I will be home then, but I will definitely be home for Thanksgiving. Essentially, I am done teaching here, and that is strange for me to accept. I still have tons of work to do – reports to write, a book to update, notes to compile, and on and on, so I am sure I will be busy in the last few months despite not having chemistry to teach.

So that’s the story. I have been busy. I have been having a good time, and trying to enjoy things here in the short time I have left to enjoy them. I haven’t been spending a lot of time online, since I have been working more hours lately, and every time I look at Xanga, I get confused at where to start. How would I have written any part of that which I just wrote without getting all involved like I just did? Ah well, its out there now.

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Thu, 19 Jul 2007 14:23:17 GMT

This weekend I went to a wedding for my good friend Mukama. He has been with me since I arrived at my school, and has been one of my best competitors in Scrabble so far. We have talked about him getting married for quite some time - probably as long as I have been here. So, it finally arrived, his big day, and I think I saw watery red eyes in his face as he marched slowly toward his chair with his bride at the reception.

It was a nice reception. I brought another volunteer, Nora, so we were hanging out there together, which was good because we got there about an hour before anything actually began (but we were half an hour late by the time on the invitation). We had plenty of warm beer and the food was served around midnight, but I had planned for that, and had had some sandwiches around five. I dressed up in my suit and Nora had a dress made, out of material found in town, so we were a sight for all those eyes. I also got the gumption to sing "Today", although after midnight probably wasnt at the right moment in the program for it, but I kept getting bumped down the timetable by other things.

The pictures Nora took, are going to be uploaded sometime when I get a hold of her pictures, so stay tuned for those. All in all, the wedding was great, and Nora said something like she had the best time at a Tanzanian social function thus far.

Also in the weekend, I KILLED A RAT! There is a little rat-sized hole in the screen above my sink, and there has been a little visitor that I have had a few encounters with since last Thursday. I placed an empty bleach bottle right in front of the hole, so that I would know when he was inside, and then on Friday, I found him trying to hide under my dishrack. I armed myself with a frying pan and spatula, ready for any attack.

Nora was with me, and together we figured we had it cornered, but it made a break for it to the window, and I cut it off at the pass. It switched directions and leapt at me instead! I felt wetness on my arm from when he bolted like a pinball off the kitchen sink, bouncing off my forearm and skirting under another table that lead to my mini fridge. Nora went at it behind the fridge with the broomstick, but it was hiding in a cavity under and behind the fridge, so the only option was to pull out the fridge . . . and out it went again! this time, its options were more limited and confusing, since he had never been on the floor (there are no means to get to and from the kitchen sink if you are a rat), and so he tried for the door which was shut, yet we could see that he was smelling freedom and outside air from under the door.

He searched back and forth the width of the door, looking for a way out, that freedom so close yet so far far away. Meanwhile, we two fearless combatants repositioned to the only other outlet in the room and I stood prepared with my frying pan. When he finally gave up on the door, he thought to try the pantry, which was open and where Nora was trying to hold ground. As soon as he got within a foot of the opening, though, I let loose with all my do-it-or-forever-have-rats-in-my-house fervor and SMASH! The rat was confused. SMASH! and he was reduced to a pitiful twitching mass of fur and pooling blood.

We quickly swept him out the door, and onto the dirt he so recently was desperate to get to. I put the frying pan in the sink, noticing that it was a slightly differently shape. I felt sad, but I had to do what I had to do. This is Africa.

Authors note: I dont think Xanga would appreciate it if I put a picture up, so I left it to your imagination. . .

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Tue, 10 Jul 2007 18:39:39 GMT

This is from around Easter, when I went to the north to visit some friends in Lushoto. I ended up going up to a pretty neat mountaintop and looking out at everything. It was cool, but maybe you can decide. Suyenne took this video on her camera, but only because mine wasn't as fancy as hers.

A day on my break. . .

Tue, 10 Jul 2007 18:35:32 GMT

Hi Everyone!

I know its been a while since my last update. Not that much has happened, I have just been changing my daily routine enough to not really have too much time to write. I do have time for exams. Lots and lots of grading exams. My students took their exams last week, and now have a mid-term break this week, and then classes start up as normal next week. We have about 8 or 9 weeks of that and then they take their terminal exams and leave for a month. Pretty crazy, huh? Basically after they get back next week, I'll have my last 8 weeks to teach them anything I haven't yet covered, and then they go away for a month, and when they come back, I'll be departing from their lives within a short time. I'm looking at these next weeks as my last as a teacher here.

So, its a bit quiet now. I'm almost finished with my exams and would be today if not for another teacher who has the last of the ones I need to grade and a small meeting with some head teachers. The meeting was great - it wasn't too long, and we/I got to talk on some issues I thought needed attention (like what to do about teachers not coming to my free computer classes, etc) and I got some good information on what they think. Sad to say, I don't get enough, even though I really should get more feedback. One small problem was that the last meeting of this sort they had was held July 4th, 2005. Whoops. I tried to think of why I didn't attend, realized it was the fourth, and I was probably in Dar (as I was last year) and then realized it was in 2005, when I wasn't even here yet. And the head teacher kept saying we were supposed to have two of them every year. That is not a completely out of the normal thing for school here.

I managed to spend some time talking to Christina on Skype afterwards - it keeps the phone bills and the sanity on manageable levels. And then I went running on one of my two trails that lead away from my house and away from Mzumbe, to where scrub clings to hills and is reclaiming one of my favorite trails. I can't run on it lately without getting brutally scratched and hitchhiked by little spikey mean seed hopefuls. Today I ran the other one that runs a small loop and comes up next to a sugar plantation. The best thing about these trails is the lack of people, but the worst thing is that I am running through brush that might be housing some animal/poisonous creature, but I've been running them for the past year and a half without seeing anything alive to speak of and they seem to see alot of foot traffic besides my tired running shoes.

After that, I attended another meeting for my good friend, Mukama and his upcoming wedding (this saturday - stay tuned for new suit pics!!). The interesting thing about that is that the people who plan a wedding here are not those who are getting married in it, its the community that takes all the details and makes little 'kamati' (which is swahili for committee) of which I am on the 'music and entertainment kamati' but I'm more of a figurehead, I dont do very much. The meeting consisted of about 20 people debating on the details of the wedding, how much it was going to cost for this or that (paid for by the community too), and making sure they hadn't left anything out. It is an interesting idea, but I wouldn't want anyone else to plan my wedding. At least those who attend the wedding can't complain too much.

So, those are the highlights of a day without school. I didnt teach, but there was a heck of a lot more in there anyway. I am always amazed at how more stuff just keeps popping up to be taken care of. Just 18 more weeks left - and I say that more to keep it in perspective than excitement (though there is a fair amount of that too), I just need to always remember how much time is left so I can hurry up and finish everything I can!

That's it for now. If you haven't lately, let me know what's up - I'm more likely to get back to you while I have this short break.

Pictures of my students taking their exams last week!

If you look here, you can see my time progress bar drawn in chalk on the blackboard - its my way of giving them some perspective on how much time they have left.