Parents day. Yes... DAY!

Last night I had a French feast. My housemate had invited a group of friends round to have dinner and he was planning on making them crepes. All but one of us were expats/ volunteers, which was a bit strange as I try to keep a mixed bag in Georgetown. It is very easy to fall into the expat vibe and not really live in Georgetown.

As everyone started arriving (at least 30 minutes late; for some reason Guyanese time is very contagious even for non-Guyanese people living in Guyana), I went down to welcome them in. As I opened the door I was greeted by three English people. I mean properly English people. One I had met before but the other two were new faces so it was surprising to have so much English presence in the room by the end of the evening.

The crepes that we had for dinner were amazing. Bacon, chicken, cheese. Then everyone munched down their sweet ones. I had lemon and sugar. The sugar had been melted onto the crepe a bit and the lemon was freshly squeezed. It was a glorious moment to see each person take it in turns and bite into this. I had a couple of lessons on crepe making but it turns out I haven’t got a wobbly wrist so mine turned into more of a pancake.

Today has been parents’ day at school. The teachers and students have been getting really apprehensive about getting their parents involved in what really happens. I wasn’t fussed at all. I think it is because I spent the past two years in regular contact with lovely parents and freak-show nightmares that you wish never had children. I have experienced the worst and now don’t think much will phase me! This week lots of students have been rushing up to me to ask about repeating exams. They are terrified of their parents it seems.

This last comment rang true today. I saw a pretty shocking sight at another of the teacher’s tables whilst they were having a meeting. One of the mums picked up a stapler and smashed it into the boys head. I was speaking to another parent at the time and it made me pause mid-sentence and lose my words! I’m now thinking about the kids in my classes who have been doing badly and will get a stapler or something similar to their heads when the reach home tonight.

All the meetings that I have had had been fine today. They run really smoothly and I think I feel a positive vibe positive overall.

I am so ridiculously tired now though. I got to bad late last night then got bitten by a mosquito 3 times on the face in the middle of the night. Two on the forehead and one on my upper lip, which swelled up and itched the whole night! I couldn’t sleep at all. By morning I was tired and knew I had a whole day of parents meetings ahead of me.

So here I am now. VERY tired but glad I have managed to sit through a whole day of work and met some lovely parents.