Its Friday and its a Good Day

Congratulations to my Dad for getting through a serious illness and now being well on the way to a good recovery and well deserved holiday, and for my mum for being there even though I couldn't be, over the last few months, you were both constantly in my thoughts. I am looking forward to seeing you both at Christmas.

OK today was Friday and the first day without Diana which meant that Nelson our technician was going to be spending a lot of time in the classroom. On a day 6 My timetable matches Dianas so I couldn't cover any classes but Nelson could. By the time lunchtime came the poor guy looked like a shadow of his normal self. And was mumbling something about kids in spanish. I really did feel sorry for him.










Just before the end of the day it started to rain, I know I go on about the rain here but it really is like no other rain I have seen or experienced and lets be honest coming from Scotland I've seen more than my fair share. I left the class at 330 to walk to the bus, it takes about 5 minutes and about 80% of it is covered so means I am out in the open for all of about a minute. But that minute was enough to soak me from head to foot through a waterproof jacket. Getting home my only choice was to change completely. The closest I can come to what its like is standing in a power shower except this one is miles wide. it will have blown over by tomorrow so hopefully I'll get my walk in as I still need to buy a few odds and ends and time is getting short - 3 weeks till I head home for Christmas. I am really looking forward to some food with taste and to see some familiar sites (like the local pub).

Due to the problems the school have been having 3 members of staff have already applied for new posts and I know of 2 more who are not going to extend their contracts. The Junta have no idea the damage they have done to the school with such a blinkered view of the work a teacher does. The trouble is that even if they back down now the damage has been done and confidence in their ability to promote the schools best educational interests over money has been severely dented. Even though they have made the decision (to either back down on their demands for teachers to only have 4 weeks holiday in the summer and no October break, or not to back down) they will not pass that decision onto the teachers until Wednesdays meeting. I can see that will be fun... I expect they will find some way of back tracking without losing face and try to make themselves look like the Kind and Caring board being impressed by the staffs solidarity and commitment etc etc... BUT I can almost guarantee the committed and excellent staff here will be digging their tunnels and it will just be a matter of time before one after another leaves. It should be a lesson which wont be understood, but one thoughtless act of mis-judgement has put back many years and efforts by the dedicated team here. Its times like this I am glad I only have a 1 year contract though getting them to actually put that in writing is harder than getting them to admit it was the right contract in the first place.. It is now 65 days since I first asked. Got to love Colombian speed and efficiency - though I do have a very soft spot for Colombia itself, and can see why many staff who do come here don't want to leave. Ten years ago I would have felt like that too, today the experience and learning opportunities I have had here are priceless and that will be the memories I take away with me when I leave.