Everyone had a story that can break you heart....

As I enter my sun filled classroom every morning, followed by several of my students, I am often surprised to see it so empty and tidy. The state that it is left in, on most days, closely resembles the post Hurricane Ivan houses. I've received many compliments on my neat classroom, as well as my organization, but I have come to the realization that what makes my classroom seem continually messy, untidy and unpredictable to me, are my students. Once they are removed, the room really is a different place. Every morning, my students arrive with a caseload of luggage. I am not speaking of actual suitcases, but of the baggage that weighs down their lives. Never have I seen so many burdens and hardships carried on such young shoulders. I am going to share just a few of the stories from my students that have been getting me down lately. Some I may have mentioned in earlier blogs, some are new, but the one thing I can say about my kids are that they do grow up fast, and they grow up tough, but they also have the most resilience I have ever seen, and their spirit and liveliness is enough to make me laugh on even the most upsetting of days.

(of course, all names have been changed!)
On Tuesday morning of last week Marcus walked into class, came up to my desk and said, "Boy Mrs Schneider, I saw an incident last night." I was busy shuffling through my paperwork and getting the day's lunch orders sorted, but this student's use of the word "incident" caught my attention. Always a sucker for great vocabulary used by the young, I was intrigued. Could I possibly prompt more three syllable words out of this boy? Not really listening for the story, but for the adjectives, I continued to half-heartedly listen; until I realized what he was saying. The previous night he had been at the Barber Shop, in the chair when outside two men got into an altercation and guns were brandished. One thing led to another, and one of the men pulled out a knife as well, stepped forward and stabbed the other man. He ran off before the police arrived. The bloody victim entered the barbershop where he then waited for the ambulance. My poor ten year old Marcus had witnessed the entire thing. He told the story so matter of factly that I had to prompt him for more details and inquire into how he felt. The part that broke my heart was when he told me "I was so scared, my knees were a-knockin'." By mid day the story was old news... maybe kids had similar experiences, or maybe it wasn't that abnormal, but I was still shocked when the story showed up headline in the news the next day- with the whole incident exactly as Marcus had dictated.

Jose is a prankster in my class. The best natured child I have ever met. He laughs at anything and I had never seen him lose his cool. He is one of those boys that likes to stay after school and either help me out in the class, or finish up his homework. Lately he has been displaying some unusual behaviours, like mock tantrums, persistent calling out and a few little fights with classmates. I called home three weeks ago, when the behaviour first started, and he returned the next day with a huge blue bruise the length of my forearm on his thigh, that he showed me. When I asked him if that was the only place he had been struck, he responded with "no, but it was where I got it the worst." Spankings and what the kids call "beatings" are as normal here as time out is in Canada. But this instance I was worried. I decided not to call home again, and deal with it in class. The other day I sat down again with Jose and asked him why is was acting out lately. He told me a bitterly sad story about how his mom had made him go into the gas station to put minutes on her cell phone account, but when he was entering her number, he accidentally entered the last digit incorrectly. He told his mom who then, in his words "smacked me this away and that a-way until I didn't remember my name!" (told while he is laughing at the memory). Appalled, but thinking perhaps his mom was upset about losing a lot of money, I asked how many minutes he had purchased. It was $5 worth.

Taniyah jumped enthusiastically over to my desk last Thursday. "Guess what Mrs. Schneider," my top reader and excellent speller asked. "We just found out yesterday that my Daddy got 18 years in prison. I'm sad. Thats long. I'll visit... I guess."

When reminding my students that their parents will have to come in to pick up their reports next month, Jason comes over and reminds me that it will be his mother coming in. His father was recently sent to prison for trying to light her on fire, along with the office of a touristy condominium on 7 mile Beach. He also recently divulged that this was his father's second trip back, as he had previously tried to kill his aunt (his own sister) by stabbing her in the head.

Danya always meets me at the my car door each morning, eager to help carry in my supplies. Last Friday she was eager to be let in the classroom so she could put down her heavy pack. Knowing, for a fact, that Danya NEVER does her homework and doesn't bring lunch, I asked what could possibly be in her backpack that was that heavy. "Well," she rolled her eyes breathlessly "Its because...." she lowers her voice to a whisper, " I've been wearing it since 6:00 when I got to school." Her mother was out of town and her sister made her walk to school that early so that she could catch the bus into the highschool in town.

Two of my students have been buddy-buddy since the beginning of the year. One day, Cariah tells me that it is because they are cousins. A few weeks later, her buddy Dayton's father comes in. I mentioned something about the two of them being close cousins, but received an odd look from the father. The next day I pulled Cariah aside and asked if they were really cousins. She explained that because her real dad was perpetually driving drunk and getting abusive with her mother, her mother had in turn fallen in love with Dayton's dad. The whole ordeal was hush hush though, since Dayton's dad was just getting out of a marriage too.

These are just a few of the more recent stories that have arisen from home, but it is mentally and emotionally exhausting to listen to these stories every day. To see students sent to school 2 hours early and picked up three hours late. To come with no food and be told that the only thing left in their house that morning was beer and ice cream. To watch 7 reports lie in my cabinet for months because the parents don't care enough to collect them, or are embarrassed because they can't read. Of course, I have repeated only the sad stories. The highlights will be another entry. The one thing I would like to emphasize though, is that despite all of the obstacles, most of these children still care so deeply for one another, and have amazing senses of humour and show a maturity that the kids back home don't and heaven forbid ever will have.

That time of year

It's that time again...Last night we were woken up from a peaceful slumber to the deafeningly loud crash of thunder, right above our heads. At first thought I was certain there was an intruder who just fired a rifle beside my ear, but once I managed to remember where I was, and take a quick look around the room, I realized it was just a thunderstorm... or rather, a very lonely thunderclap, since there was only the one. The night before, Blake and I had fallen asleep to the strobe light effect of lightning. I know I've mentioned it before, but there is really nothing like a Caribbean thunderstorm. I have never seen lightning this intense, or heard thunder this loud. It was at the precise time when the huge raindrops started falling on our roof, creating a constant drumroll, that I remembered our car window. When the boys were here, we managed to get the backside window stuck in the down position, which really wouldn't be that big of a deal if the other side wasn't permanently stuck in the up position. Anyways, with such dry winters, we paid the back window no thoughts, until now. Rainy season is looming right around the corner. This past weekend we saw the first of the cloudy days, and with the last two nights being punctuated with little storms here and there, I know it won't be long until the tropical storms and flooding begin. In a frantic effort to save the already decrepit upholstery of our backseat, Blake duct taped a white kitchen garbage bag over the window. It did prevent most of the water from entering, but it gave us a distinctive "white trash" look on our drive to work this morning. We knew it was time to call in Alando (pronounced Orlando). We used to have our Jamaican connection Marvin, but something has happened to him, and he has quite literally disappeared without a trace, so we are on to our second guy. Alando happens to be a Jack of Many Trades, and is also happy to pick up your mail, run your errands and get your passport stamped at Immigration while he has your car at the mechanics, but it turns out he is not to good with a key. It wasn't long until Blake got a call that the key to the car was locked inside of the car, only after they had managed to stick the window in the "up" position. Despite many attempts to break and enter (and break our car handle he actually did), they were forced to drive all the way out to my school and interrupt me in the middle of an assembly that I was leading, to get the spare key. Luckily by the end of the day, the window was still stuck up. However, it turns out the brakes needed repair, and of course, the front door handle was broken. Sigh. We never learn our lesson when it comes to strange men and our cars.

Anyways, the point of this entry is that rainy season is back, which means more indoor days, less sun, massive land crab domination of South Sound Road, nightly nightmares induced by said land crabs, intense thunderstorms and a few minuscule reasons to make us look forward to..... moving home in August.

Pictured above: Cloudy days

New York with a side of Miami

Blake and I recently jetted off to New York for a much needed weekend of shopping and sightseeing. It had been 6 months since we had been off island, so we were in desperate need of some serious civilization. Unfortunately it was going to be a quick trip. We decided to leave on Thursday morning, and return on Sunday. In our excitement, we had overlooked the fact that we had promised we would never fly American Airlines again. They had ruined our Costa Rica trip by grounding our first flight of the day in Cayman due to "Crew Rest," thus making us miss our connection to San Jose, our 3 hour bus into the interior of Costa Rica, and our first night in a hotel. As compensation, they had sent us two $200 vouchers for travel anywhere they fly. Despite our intuition, we decided to use these towards our New York trip.

Of course, we got to Miami, and were mere moments away from boarding our New York connector when it flashed "cancelled." There was noone behind the ticket counter either! After much confusion and waiting, we found out that there were no more outbound flights to NYC that day! We would have to sacrifice a day of our already short vacation to stay in Miami. Also- we were told we wouldn't be able to get our luggage back! Making the best of a bad situation, we headed to the mall. What had started as a pesky delay turned into a wonderful shopping night. Although the whole missing toothbrush thing did put a damper on my overall state of hygiene.

The next morning we returned to the airport for our 6:00 am flight. Another positive turn of events was that the Royal Wedding was just beginning. Talk about a captive audience. The wedding was being broadcast from all corners of the airport, and I nearly missed our connector for a second time as I ogled Kate's beautiful dress (and Pippa's).

Due to the delay, we had to hit the ground running in New York. We arrived at our amazing hotel and found out that our room was on the 39th floor! So high that our ears popped on the way up the elevator. With the Cayman dump being only a few metres above sea level, anything with more than four floors is exciting. We had a view of the gorgeous Chrysler building and the Empire State Building. We stowed our stuff and headed down to Wall Street to watch the Friday morning unfold. I was surprised by the security carrying automatic rifles, but anything goes in the states I guess. We then headed to Battery Park to see the statue of Liberty and then to Ground Zero to look at the new buildings. We then headed up Manhattan to Broadway to look at the shops. That evening came the highlight of Blake's year thus far; the Blue Jays and Yankees game at Yankee Stadium. I nearly lost him once we entered the stadium. He was drawn like a magnet to the field- he reminded me of a kid on Christmas morning. Our seats were amazing, being only one up from the field. We had the delight of sitting in front of a very Italian resident whose wisecracks and Noo-Yowk accent kept us laughing the entire time. One Blue Jays victory later (and numerous beers and a very mustardy hot dog) we were on our way back to the hotel.
The next day we set out early for an authentic Big Apple breakfast diner experience. We found the perfect B-grade restaurant located on the corner of our street and Blake proceeded to have a marvellous American breakfast. Full of calories and a lifetime's worth of grease, we walked over to see Bryant Park and the library, then we headed over to Rockefeller Centre where we ascended the 60+ floors to reach the look out. From there you can see clear from the statue of Liberty to Harlem in one gaze! Afterwards we walked up to Central Park where we rented bikes and cycled the entirety of the park in 2 hours. We checked out the Plaza hotel and saw the tail end of a very wealthy wedding, then worked our way back down to Times Square and sat in awe of the lights, people and sights. I have NEVER seen anything like it in my life! There was so much going on that I don't know how any of it can possibly register in one's brain. We headed back to our hotel and got ready to go out for dinner at a small local hide-out recommended by friends. Going by the name Panna II, this Indian restaurant is known for its overwhelming display of Christmas lights and chili pepper lights year round. It is also known for offering towering plates of food for a small fee. I have no words to actually explain this restaurant, other than You Must Go!
The five course meal cost us $13 each, and the atmosphere was out of this world. In a room that many would use to store shoes, there are ten or so tables, each huddled under a massive display of lights. To stand up, you must first duck under the strings of bulbs and disentangle your arms, coat and purse in order to even move. After giving gluttony a whole new meaning, we decided to walk most of the way back to the hotel, but temptation got the better of me, and in classic NYC style I wanted to try hailing a cab. I am proud to say I got one on my first try!
The next morning we had to fly out, but first we decided to venture off to see the Flatiron building and the Empire State building. We were sad to see the end of our New York trip, but lucky for us, our flights home happened to be on time (except a minor delay in Miami... of course).

I never thought that I would have my heart captured by a city, but New York was magical. I would never want to live there, but just to see the sights and sounds of one of the most famous cities in the world was surreal. It is one of those places all should visit in their lifetime!

Pictured above: Panna II, Times Square, Yankee Stadium, The view from our hotel room, Blake at the top of the Rock!

Visitors from Canada

To help ease the stress of decision making, we were fortunate to have Blake's brother Joel and friend Darcy come down from the crazy cold Canadian spring to join us! We haven't had many visitors since we came down, and they have all been mine, so it was a nice change to have Blake's side of the family come! We knew we were in for trouble when only minutes off the plane, Joel and Darcy were gulping down rum punches and beers by the pool. It sure doesn't take long to unwind in this kind of a climate. For two boys, Darcy and Joel were sure easy visitors. Joel's gym obsession had him buying a weekly membership the very next day, and Darcy found Blake's Theo Fleury book and had his nose stuck in that for the rest of the week! The best part about having visitors is getting to participate in all of the touristy things that we so often forget about. I still get giddy every time I get in the water with the stingrays, and Pasta Thursday on the ocean front patio at Grand Old House is to die for. We did a trip around the island with our friends, and wound up meeting a crazy Caymanian with one hand, named Allen who gives free tours of the free blowholes, doling out free information while taking up thirty minutes of your free time at a site that usually takes about 3 minutes! Allen also informed Joel that he must be of Asian decent, although we could never really figure out why.
The main priority for these Canadian boys were the hockey playoffs, and alcohol of any shape, form or strength. It was not unusual for Blake and I to turn in early, only to hear the boys sneak in after midnight, rowdy off of some unknown concoction of coconut, rum, punch and pineapples. During the day, the pool was generally where we found them ( I think they really only ever made it to the beach twice)! It only took Darcy three days to burn his shins to a lobster-esque red, but Joel fared slightly better due to the fact that he arrived freshly fake-and-baked.
The highlight for the boys was the Sunday brunch. We warned Joel to approach with caution. He was just off a crazy cutting program and had less body fat than any human being on the planet should ever have. However, they dove head first into the yorkshire puddings, sushi, crab, potatoes, omelettes, bacon, pancakes, potstickers, fish, cadbury cream eggs and chocolate cake. In a surprising show of sobriety, both of them actually passed on the bottomless champagne so that they could gorge themselves even further! That takes self-discipline!
Needless to say, we sent them back a little heavier on the scale, a lot lighter in the wallet and sporting a lovely shade of sunburn. I am hoping they had an equally great time visiting!