Three Month Aniversary in the Bahamas

The Oyster Bar

 Unlike sub-Saharan Africa, the Bahamas has distinct seasons. And with the cooling, it is pretty much perfect weather now. It's like the most perfect day on Bainbridge Island in mid-July, every day here-- mid 70s during the night and peaking at 80 during the day.

David at the Oyster Bar

I'm settling in well at the Allen's. Last weekend was the best weekend I've had since being here. It was a perfect balance between rest, work, and fun. David and Vicki like to go out to the little cafe on the Sandyport canal for boiled fish and johnny cake. It's always very relaxing and David ends up talking with pretty much everyone in the restaurant by the time he leaves.

Then I helped Vicki do some cleaning and did some writing in the afternoon. I've started in on my book and will be slowly chipping away on it over the next few months.

Then I met Kari down at the Catholic cathedral in town for their annual street fair. It felt like a quaint small town festival in the summer. It was great to just walk around and see all the kids running around, listen to the band play local favorites, and watch the old women play bingo.

Sandyport

On Sunday I went to the 7am service at St. Matthew's Anglican Church like I do every week, and then went back to the Presbyterian Church for their 10:30am service and listened to a new friend of mine preach (someone I met last Friday at one of David's lectures). He was a good preacher and it was fun to hear someone my age in the pulpit. (Unfortunately he's a missionary on one of the other islands and only comes to Nassau once a month so I won't see him often.)

Sunday night David, Marlene, and I went out to a jazz concert at Marlene's cousin's house. It was wonderful! They had big back patio that sat all thirty of us. There was great food, lots of interesting people to meet and talk to, a little dancing, good music, and a perfect warm night with the stars and moon overhead.

View from the balcony at sunrise

Perhaps one of the best things about my new living situation is that I now have my morning prayers over the most beautiful scene I could imagine: sunrise on the Caribbean. It's so majestic and contemplative...the predawn light making the clouds golden and purple, and then the first rays of light sparkling on the turquoise waves. Amazing. 

Getting around on my scooter is great. I'm feeling more comfortable weaving through the thick traffic. It's a beautiful commute along the ocean, past all the big hotels, through downtown Nassau, and past my church.  I am usually on the road right when the sun has risen and I have to wear a hat under my helmet to block the eastern sun from my eyes.

And as for school, it has really evened out and I've found a good rhythm that doesn't stress me out and the students are thriving in a schedule that is more predictable. We had our first PTA meetings last week, which went fine. I had about half my students' parents come out. They had a long lecture by this guy who had given all the students an IQ test and had all sorts of numbers and stats to decipher for the parents...for a 'reasonable price' of course. After his little shtick I tried to help the poor moms relax and told them that the most important thing in an education is the development of the whole person: relationally, spiritually, and personally, and that all those tests couldn't determine what really mattered.  They were all hard working women who were mostly concerned about their kids not completing their homework, and I think they left feeling more relaxed.

Steaming Coffee

The discipline issue is much better and once we've established the boundaries, the students are much more behaved once they've tasted the consequences a few times (usually their parents giving them a good spanking).

We finished reading The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe last week and now we are listening a dramatized audio reading of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. I'm going to try to persuade them that books are better than movies, but it will take some clever persuasion to convince this lot!