goldenrod and the 4-h stone

i had a meeting with the headmistress at annai secondary, and she was very supportive of my after-school program. great! a major setback for the students and even the adults here is their shyness. amerindian people are very, very shy, and do not tend to speak up or express their feelings well. that's one of the reasons YLP was started - to enable youth to find their voice, so they could speak their mind about the things that are going on around them: things like the road being built, businesses and buildings coming up, oil companies drilling.... apparently, the students at the school very rarely speak in class or answer questions. i think that our program will help to deal with that. i hope so. i never thought i'd say it, but 4-H sure has proven itself to be beneficial for me! 8 years of project days and public speaking presentations seem a little less painful now that i see how they've improved my ability to lead.

i am liking this job more and more, and realizing more and more that i want to go back to AFL next summer. i'm not sure how realistic that is. a sage piece of advice i could have benefitted from a year and a half ago: if you have a kick-ass job, don't date your boss. it's bad news. but i'm really excited for all the things i'm learning and ideas i'm having, and the whole point of this internship is for canadian youth to gain overseas experience, and then take that knowledge back to their home community/province/country. so come on, AFL. hire me back.

i had some really nice msn chats last night with some really good friends. i am excited to come home for christmas. i am excited to talk about post-christianity and richard seine and rowing and snowboarding and to have sleepover parties with friends who have already married or had kids. too bad BWIA is the worst airline ever, and i'll be lucky if i can even get on the plane out of guyana.