Aelan Laef!

A few days ago I was sitting in a classroom, making a plan for teaching basic science next term with my new co-teacher Mr. Tete. As we were working, all of a sudden we could hear an uncommon sound from the neighborhood. It was the sound of people crying, moaning and sobbing. "There's been a death", said Mr. Tete instantly. I had heard that sound before. A few weeks ago there was an accident on the Banban road.  Some folks from the Mango neighborhood had packed a truck with people (mostly kids) and driven somewhere for a swim. On their way back, something happened and the driver lost control of the vehicle. They hit a tree. Two people died and 19 got injured. The lady who was sitting at the front was holding her 1-year-old grandchild in her arms. They were the ones who were killed instantly. They were also close relatives of two of our staff members. One of our staff members had her 5 children injured in the accident. Two of them go to our school. W...

I'm learning heaps about communication.  It's said that there are no such things as stupid questions. But, through cumulated personal experience, I beg to differ. I seem to ask them on a regular basis. Thank goodness I'm surrounded by beautiful people who are very patient with me and forgive me my ignorance. It doesn't happen too often, but every once in a while I do manage to ask the most irrelevant of questions. One example being: "If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?" If travel has never, not in your wildest dreams, been a realistic opportunity for you, you don't really think about such things, do you?  The good thing is, I'm quick to realize my tumbles and sense when I've crossed the line - I'm a sensitive person with big feelers and have good intuition. Now I just need to train my feelers to work better BEFORE asking the irrelevant and puzzling stuff. It's a bit embarrassing.  This has ...

Suomeksi alempana!  ------------------------------------------------------------------------- I had trouble sleeping last night. Too many thoughts running through my mind, so fast I could barely follow. It was one of those times when I wished someone had invented a neat little gadget that would "capture, document and save" thoughts as they came. Ahoy, all you inventors out there!  Before going to bed, I was thinking about a verse from the Buddhist Dhammapada. The verse goes: "Let us live happily hating none though others hate. Let us live without hate among those who hate." It hit me. I haven't seen any form of hate since I left Australia. I haven't detected or witnessed any form of it here. Not the tiniest, most minuscule trace of it! I haven't met any young people who'd be full of angst and hate. I haven't met with the bitterness and regret that comes from prolonged years of hating, the marks of torturi...