Teaching

Tuesday, June 30, 4:30 PM
Teaching
That was the hardest work I’ve ever done for a day of teaching for certain--I really earned my paycheck today! Wait! I’m not getting paid. That fits. This definitely falls in the category of “you couldn’t pay me to do this”-----but I will do it as a volunteer. That is a paradox that i have felt here many times before.

The going was very slow with every word going through a translator. However, the up side is that the translator is bright, attentive, and 100% focused on his job. I suspect that the students understand a fair amount of my English. After having English speaking teachers since January, they are bound to.

Creativity is stretched to the limits in a hot, bare classroom with a white board propped on 2 chairs and a skeleton. This afternoon, I used dry erase markers to draw first a burn on my arm, then a venous stasis wound on my leg. We used these 2 cases to practice writing notes, which turned out to be an exceedingly slow process. The students will need lots of time to think and process in the clinical setting, which starts very soon.

So I am learning to fall asleep in a stifling hot room with only a fan blowing hot air--something I was not sure I could do, but it is possible (with a little help from modern Pharmacology and a Prestige).

Tonight Duane Dowell arrives on campus and it will be good to have a long time friend and fluent Kreyol speaker here.

I’ll start the long process of trying to post this. Last night it took multiple tries. Shoot me an email and let me know about all things in your world when you have a chance.

A demen, Judy