“How de fish lookin? It thaw out? Ent?” Javan, September 2013

School seemed like carnage this morning! The thunderstorm and rains that hit last night continued into the first lesson. I got to school early but everything was locked- the printing room stayed locked until 9am, science lab until 9am (both of which I planned on using at 8.40am for first lesson). Even the assembly hall was locked and we went straight to our first lessons. I texted my dad about the trauma, to which he replied, “Look on the bright side.” So I looked out of the window and my colleague chimed in, “It’s a white out!” You couldn’t see the ground from our third floor staff room through all the rain.

Lessons were great today. I ran a chromatography lab and the kids behaviour in the practical was amazing. They were so engaged, nobody screamed, ran around the lab or threw chemicals on another student (ahhh, London, I don’t miss you!). I taught year 11 geography after lunch and we learnt about Niger and Russia. Geography is a great subject to teach, not as good as science but still interesting. We have these big, industrial-looking fans in the classes; great for sweat-minimisation but I had to keep turning them off to talk to the class. I asked them to research their countries at the end then present back to the class tomorrow so we’ll see how that goes.

In London I learnt a conduction practical: put Vaseline on a metal rod then stick a pin in the Vaseline. As you heat the rod, the Vaseline should melt and the pin drops off. If anyone is thinking of trying it in Guyana, don’t. Vaseline has already melted before it comes out the pot here and I ended up burning my finger on the metal rod!

I tend to leave school as soon as the bell goes here. I used to stay in until at least 4pm in London but, in Stabroek Market, the buses get really busy by that time and I would feel really sorry for people sat with my sweaty self in one of those buses.

I’m sat here with Javan watching our American television stations. It is truly horrendous, an experience made even worse when Javan says you resemble Ellen Degeneres. Wow. The only intermissions are the Guyanese adverts, which are still brilliant. Especially when you see people in the adverts that you met last weekend.