A Rough Week

Life comes in seasons, good follows bad, bad follows good. This last week was the later.

Following a wonderful weekend with the Allens, this past week was one of the hardest. I came down with the stomach flu on Tuesday night, was bedridden all of Wednesday. I went back to work on Thursday and Friday but felt pretty lousy. School wasn't particularly smooth this week either: problems between parents and administration were heightened when school fees are due. We had parents coming in and creating a lot of drama. And though I thankfully wasn't directly involved, it creates an atmosphere of pressure. Kelly has been great about trying to buffer me from parents who are out of control, but she goes in great detail explaining it to me later.

We also had a student suspended for making jokes about niggers. It was a good teaching opportunity, since many of the other students didn't know what the word meant, but still not a very pleasant situation to deal with when recovering from the flu.

Other than that it was a very quite week of solitude. I'm trying to use this solitude for good, but sometimes there can be too much of a good thing! I'm praying that God would provide a little motor scooter for me here. It would really help me be more mobile around the island. No one drives over 35 mph here anyway, and it's relatively safe. It would be very nice to have some transportation to get around after dark (when it isn't safe to ride my bike any more) to have more of social life. The monotony of spending my evenings alone is starting to get to me.

However despite all the things that seem to be challenging, I continue to see glimpses of the potentially wonderful life one could have living in the Bahamas: the place is really very beautiful, the beaches gorgeous, the life laid back, and the weather wonderful all through the winter.  I love being near the ocean and being able to having nice walks along the surf by moonlight anytime I want! The big thing I miss the most right now are friends. No matter how beautiful a place you live in, its hard to enjoy alone. My friend Phil Tanaka has encouraged me to think of this time as a time to grow closer in intimacy with God. I've tried, but it's not an easy thing to learn. So I pray that I will increasingly live into the potential that exists here, and enjoy this place to the fullest.