Merry Christmas and a belated Happy New Year to All!!!
I hope you all had a lovely white Christmas back in England. I too had a white Christmas... the only difference being that the white I experienced came from the white sand beaches that cap the pristine shoreline of TOBAGO J. Sorry didn’t mean to rub it in. Last School Assembly, it was my turn to give a ‘Moral Talk’. In my speech I challenged the students to set ‘New Years Resolutions’. The idea being that the process of setting goals would encourage the student to reflect on the past year. I hope the goals themselves will help to give the pupils a better idea of the direction they’re planning of heading, so they don’t lead off course. I thought it would be nice to list a few of my own goals for the coming year:
1. Improve my teaching- One of the highest mountains I’ve climbed was Plumlumon Fawr in the Cambrian Mountains during my Duke of Edinburgh Gold Expedition a year and a half ago. I remember each time we came close to the top, we realised what we had thought was the summit, was only ‘false peak’ cloaking the next stage of our assent. Strangely I have encountered a similar thing with teaching in Guyana... It is only when I reach a new level in my teaching that the true extent of how much more I still need to improve becomes apparent. The teaching is my Everest but I like climbing!
1. Improve my teaching- One of the highest mountains I’ve climbed was Plumlumon Fawr in the Cambrian Mountains during my Duke of Edinburgh Gold Expedition a year and a half ago. I remember each time we came close to the top, we realised what we had thought was the summit, was only ‘false peak’ cloaking the next stage of our assent. Strangely I have encountered a similar thing with teaching in Guyana... It is only when I reach a new level in my teaching that the true extent of how much more I still need to improve becomes apparent. The teaching is my Everest but I like climbing!
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2.Become more organised- Let’s make no bones about it... I’m naturally a fairly disorganised person. Anyone who saw my room at boarding school will know what I’m talking about! Owning my own house and hand-washing my clothes this year has spurred me take more care at where I place things... but Dave would probably agree with me here... there is still room for improvement.
2.Become more organised- Let’s make no bones about it... I’m naturally a fairly disorganised person. Anyone who saw my room at boarding school will know what I’m talking about! Owning my own house and hand-washing my clothes this year has spurred me take more care at where I place things... but Dave would probably agree with me here... there is still room for improvement.
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3.Improve my Cooking- Cooking is something I did very rarely in England, but do every day in Guyana. At the start of our time in Aishalton, cooking was going great... but as our school work load began to increase, Dave and I both agree that the time we dedicated towards cooking began to diminish. I am eager to keep on improving my culinary skills this term.
3.Improve my Cooking- Cooking is something I did very rarely in England, but do every day in Guyana. At the start of our time in Aishalton, cooking was going great... but as our school work load began to increase, Dave and I both agree that the time we dedicated towards cooking began to diminish. I am eager to keep on improving my culinary skills this term.
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4.Experience more of the TRADITIONAL Wapishani Culture- Being away from Aishalton gave me time to reflect on the 4 months that have wizzed by. In 7 months and I’ll be leaving... to me that seems like no time at all. Experiencing Manoors, Savannah trips, slaughtering cows and making local dishes has wet my appetite for more, and my anticipation to delve deeper in the Wapishani culture has been boiling up whilst I was away. That means poison fishing, hunting with bow and arrow, weaving baskets, learning Wapishan are all high on my agenda for next term.
4.Experience more of the TRADITIONAL Wapishani Culture- Being away from Aishalton gave me time to reflect on the 4 months that have wizzed by. In 7 months and I’ll be leaving... to me that seems like no time at all. Experiencing Manoors, Savannah trips, slaughtering cows and making local dishes has wet my appetite for more, and my anticipation to delve deeper in the Wapishani culture has been boiling up whilst I was away. That means poison fishing, hunting with bow and arrow, weaving baskets, learning Wapishan are all high on my agenda for next term.
So there you go; I’ll be trying my best to achieve these goals over the next few months. Soon I am going to post a blog filling in the eventful week before the holidays and Tobago.
FINALLY... I would like to wish, Preecy, Joe, Morgs and Cal all the best in their epic tour through South America, which they started last week. All the best and I can’t wait to hear the stories.
Sam Wilson
