To Teach or To Beach?

Two words to describe Bermuda:  hot and damp. It's no big surprise that it is hot in Bermuda.  The temperature.  The people. The scenery.  This is one HOT Island!   Being an Island, it is surrounded by water, but not just any water.  Turquoise, clear , warm, wonderful water.  Combine these two qualities--and voila--humidity!  Every day is about 30 degrees with at least 80% humidity--and this is when it is sunny!  There is a fine sheen of sweat as soon as we step outside in the morning.  As soon as the sun rises, so does our internal temperature. Clothes are sticky, hair is flatter than Regina, scooter seats will raise burn welts on bare legs.  Shoes get mouldy in the closet.  Yes, mouldy.  I have had many reasons to go shoe shopping in my life, but I am eternally grateful for this  one.  Any reason is a good one.



Jobson's Cove



And yet none of that matters because Bermuda also has two other words:  beach and air conditioning!  (okay 3 words). Oh, and rum--four words.  Most every place has air conditioning.  As much as I love the sun and the heat, I find myself stopping into various businesses just to get a blast of AC.  A much better solution is to head to the beach.  The sand is pink and powdery.  Long beaches with some surf on the right days or small little coves with gentle slopes.  They are truly the world's best beaches. 

Most of our time has been spent exploring, scootering, reading and beaching.  I knew that  vacation time was soon coming to a close and my job would begin soon so we were cramming everything in that we could.  New Teacher Orientation was scheduled for August 26--I had no other information beyond that.    Luckily, I got a call from the Department of Education.  They had lost some forms and needed me to come in and re-submit them.  So on our way to the beach, I dropped by and was asked why I was not at the in-service for new teachers.   I had my contract with me and looked at it again.  No--it clearly said Thursday, August 26.  Today was Tuesday August 24.   “Um um,” the woman at the counter  said. “Aauungh,” she said. Bermudian translation—“Oh, I don’t think so…” Apparently there had been a change in plans.  New teachers began that morning and were to be at an orientation session for the next 4 days...  So here I was, bathing suit, shorts, helmet head, whipping André from the back of the scooter to drive at least 36 km/h.  I arrived 3.5 hours late for my first day at work and was expected to be there for the remainder of the week. Summer vacation came to a quick end, but thankfully Summer here is endless, but so is the endless bureaucracy and lack of information.

Rather than gradually getting my feet wet in the system here, I was thrown into the deep end!

And so now I am a teacher again!  It is the second week of school and the temperature has not dropped appreciably. I am one of the lucky ones with AC in my classroom. This is good because it means that the printers and photocopiers will work because otherwise the humidity causes endless jamming. Quite a departure from Canada where it is the stupidity that causes the jamming. But again I digress.

After 4 days of new teacher in-service for teachers new to the profession and new to the Island, I was treated to 2 more days of school-based professional development, followed by 2 paid days for teachers to get their classrooms and lessons ready. Now that was a nice surprise that we are not able to do in BC. One of the most striking things that occurred to me in both of these sessions, was that the same topics were offered, the same complaints were heard, the same questions were raised, the same enthusiasm was there as was the same confusion. There is a certain amount of comfort in knowing that our two systems have so many similarities.   There was the person who asked  lengthy and personal questions regardless of the topic.  There was the person who had a negative comment about everything that was said.  There were the presenters who were excited about their topic--but had forgotten how to teach grown-ups.  There were the bright-eyed and bushy-tailed new teachers who couldn't wait to get into the classroom; there were others who were terrified. There was great information.  There was repetitive information. Essentially similar to every professional development session I have attended in any country.

What made it most interesting, though, was listening to the all the people in the room.  Most of them  were Bermudian, a few who had been hired from the Caribbean--and me. Thank goodness I have some facility with language because before doing anything, I first had to learn to understand Bermudian. I was told to not let the students 'suck their teeth at me'. "Don't worry", I thought! When trying to get an outside line from my classroom, I was told, "De pheun don' wark".  And NEVER, EVER greet someone with just a smile or a 'Hi'.  You must say Good Morning or Good Afternoon or risk no service (sahrvice) or making it clear you are the rudest person on the Island.

The M-1 students (Middle 1--Grade 6) all line up in the courtyard before Advisory (Homeroom).  We sing the school song. We recite the school motto. We say a prayer. We go over how to be polite.  We say 'Good morning, Sahr, or Good Ahfternoon, Ma'am.  We do not say 'Hi', like we are common.  We practice how to stand up when a teacher enters the room and how to greet them.  We then go to Advisory where the Advisors check the uniforms to make certain that they are wearing the right socks at the right height, that there is no nail polish, that gentlemen have ONE earring, in their LOBE, and it is a gold or silver stud ONLY.  Young ladies can wear two earrings, one in each ear lobe and also only studs.

My ability with language learning has been put to good use once I started in the classroom.  Typically I make a concerted effort to memorize all student names.  Memorizing generally involves a great deal of repetition and connecting the new information with something you already know.  So when learning student names, I might be reminded that Thomas looks like my nephew Tommy; or that  Taylor dresses nicely (tailor).  Having been an educator for 25 years, I was hardly nervous (nahrvous) on the first day.  I was greeted by 12 students in green and khaki uniforms all truly excited to learn (lahrn) French!  really!!!!  And then I started to learn their names.  D'Ziah (Deeziah), D'Niah(Dee niah) --they sit beside each other, Jai-Zel, N'koya, Satashi, Jaquori, Wytiko, Nakyra , D'Undre (pronounced DEE-Andray) and his sister, D'Andra (DeeAndra), Jalani, Jezardhai.  I found myself wondering if people here name their children after a rousing game of Boggle.

At the end of the day, surrounded by faces excited to lahrn French, being excruciatingly polite (for the most part), I close the shutters, turn off the AC, set off the Roach Bomb, get on my scooter, and head to the beach!