T.I.A.

so its a new month. hard to believe that January is already over. am sure February will fly by just as fast. crazy crazy.

when we arrived at school this morning there were very few cars in the parking lot. as we were a bit later than usual, i found this kindof strange. when i asked my colleague she told me that there was a memorial service today at 11am for a teacher who passed away last year. as it was in the city, teachers had been told to report to school in the morning and that busses would take them to the venue.

'oh',' i asked, 'but what about the students?'

'they were informed of this yesterday,' she tells me, 'classes for the day have been cancelled.'

??

there is a saying here - TIA (this is Africa) - that is used when there is something or someone or a particular experience, etc., that reminds us that we are in Africa. when i was freaking out about my lack of transportation at 10pm the night before i was to begin teaching despite having been reassured time and time again that it would be taken care of (it wasn't), i remember hearing catherine saying to meritt - 'alex is having a TIA' moment.

there are varying degrees of TIA moments, from hectic to serious to medium and minor. when i was told that classes had been cancelled - every class for the whole school for the whole day - because teachers were attending a memorial service, i guess you could say i had a minor TIA moment. just another example of the many differences in school culture between here and what i have been accustomed to.

in other news, the final element of my application to the MEd program at UBC was submitted late last night after a few technical difficulties.

so now we wait.