We are done our teaching internship in PG and I think it is safe for me to say that this was nothing short of an experience of a lifetime. I feel like I grew so much not only professionally as a teacher, but personally by living and teaching in this amazing town. We could not have asked for a more welcoming school. There is no doubt that this was the most challenging teaching practicum I have encountered so far, but it was hands down the most rewarding. Looking at how far some of my students have come has been more inspiring for me than I can describe and has made me realize that teaching is what I need to be doing. They have become so excited about reading and some of their writing has really blown me away. I was so impressed with the scary stories that they wrote for me I complied them into a book and added it to our class library, which they were super pumped about! I see a new found confidence in a lot of them and I hope that they will continue their hard work and enthusiasm after I leave. On the same token I have never been so touched by a group of students, making leaving them so difficult. I can´t help but feel like I am abandoning some of them, they don´t really understand why I have to leave which makes it hard. One student who I was particullarly concerned about how he would deal with my departure didn´t show up for my last day and I couldn´t find him anywhere in town (which is rare). It´s so hard when I don´t even get to say a proper goodbye to some of them. On my last day I was truly touched by the staff and students of my school. The day started off with my students throwing me a surprise party which they had organized themselves. There was food, cake, music and of course, dancing! It was awesome having a whole morning just hanging out with my students and having fun. At lunch the teachers had a lunch for us girls and the principles presented us with a certificate of appreciation. At that point we thought that there wasn´t much more that they could do for us but we were definitely wrong! All of the Standard 1, 2 and 3 classes put on a talent show in our honor. There was dancing, singing, poetry and it ended up with a Garifuna dance and drum performance which was incredible! They brought us up onto the stage and we had a blast dancing with them to the drums. We were a little thrown off because they asked the three of us to start off the show by singing O Canada...yikes! Fortunately we have been hitting the karaoke in PG so we were feeling somewhat capable..
By the end of the day I was so overwhelmed by how much my students and the staff had put into my last day, I was truly touched and will miss them all so much!
And if that wasn´t enough to deal with we also had to say goodbye to all our new friends in the community. In our 4 months in PG this town has completely welcomed us with open arms. There are people you get to know and are used to seeing around all the time from the ice cream parlor, to the karaoke bar to the family that lives in our building. We became particularly close to some American volunteers that lived down the street from us and tried to squeeze in as much hangout time as humanly possible before we left. On our last weekend we hit up the karaoke bar where I got the courage to bust out Celine Dion (who is a big deal in Belize, randomly), take in the town and go see the infamous SUPA G! He is a Punta singer that is huge in Belize and we all went to his concert on Saturday night and had a blast. We were shocked that we recognized and knew the words to almost all of his songs, we Puntaed like we had never Puntaed before! One of our best nights in PG hands down!
Overall, I feel so blessed to have been able to do this amazing experience. Before I left I had people tell me that I would grow and change so much on this trip that I wouldn´t be the same person when I returned but that was so hard to imagine. But after being immersed in this culture and school for four months I can´t believe how much this has opened my eyes. I don´t feel like I can do it any justice by trying to put it into words, I don´t even know where to start. We were talking the other day how we are going to experience some serious reverse culture shock coming back to Canada, I can´t even imagine how I will deal with going to a mall, or a traffic jam, or crowds in general. I will try and not think about it for the moment. Until then I will do all I can to soak up every single moment!
BYE PG, WE WILL MISS U!!!
“Change is the essence of life.
Be willing to surrender what you are for what you could become.”
anonymous
