Drip Drip Drop (Part I)

An old fable that tells how, when the forest was burning and all the animals stood around watching, the tiny hummingbird flew back and forth from the river to the fire throwing one drop of water on it at a time.  When the other animals asked how the hummingbird thought it could actually make a difference, he replied, "It's the best I can do."  Thus was borne the theme of this year's GIN of the America's Conference.

The idea of the GIN Conference (Global Issues Network) is a student-led forum focusing on environmental and social topics, which is held around the world.  The conference is new to South America - this is only the second annual event here - but has been present and immensely successful annually in other continents including Asia, Africa, Europe, and North America for many years.

This year's conference was hosted by another American international school a short drive away in São Paulo and included schools from Brazil, Peru, Venezuela, Ecuador, Uruguay, Argentina, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, and even my old school in Colombia.

Throughout the three days students heard numerous keynote speakers on a variety of topics, many young eco-entreprenuers, as well as attended workshops presented by their peers on various projects, campaigns, and initiatives they have been working on at their respective schools.

It was impressive and inspiring to here the work and successes of students working to end malaria, create sustainable recycling programs in poor neighborhoods, and increase technological literacy for orphans, among many other projects.  Anyone who thinks the world's youth is on downward spiral needs to attend a GIN Conference to see otherwise.

Keynote speaker Bruno Massote, current president of Terracycle in Brazil,
talks about the concept of "eco-capitalism."  He's 29 years old.

One of my students presenting on improving literacy
of favila children through story-telling workshops.

Students from Venezuela discussing their project of recycling & reformatting
computers for use in teaching necessary basic computer skills to orphans
living in poverty in their city of Maracaibo.

Coming soon: Drip Drip Drop (Part II) will include profiles of projects the students I advise are working on.

Centimeter by Centimeter

As opposed to "Inch by Inch"

The business hasn't slowed down and looks to keep up for awhile.  I honestly haven't been this busy since my first year teaching!  I guess that's what four new courses, a new age group, and school will do to you.  I've been so busy I went and sailed swiftly and ignorantly past my two month point; a perfect time for a check in on progress.  

Fortunately, there has been some and I need to remind myself of this more often, especially when the lady at the bakery is simply asking me if I want a bag or not and all I want to do is snatch my croissant and change from her hand and run down the street screaming.

A few more caipirinha-filled afternoons
would be nice...

• I am finally wrapping my thick Gringo skull around centigrade.  My Canadian friends can now rejoice!  The temperature never really fluctuated much in Cali (Colombia) so I new what the lower to mid-30's felt like...and then my education into the mysterious "C" pretty much went on permanent vacation.  There are seasons here, which means fluctuation.
• My trainer at the gym invited me to play soccer with him and some of his friends.  Despite falling down once and being stuck in goal for the seven most terrifying minutes of my life, I appreciated the blind support and encouragement, from everyone.  According to my trainer, "In Brazil, we just like to play the game and have a good time; it doesn't matter if you're good."  It should be noted he said this before I even stepped on the pitch.
• I just discovered a built-in cutting board in my kitchen.
• The number of parent emails I have been receiving keeps going down exponentially by the week.  So, thus far my goal for surviving middle school - covering my rear ten times - seems to be working.
• I finally passed the One Direction quiz.  (Pass = above 60%)

Success in Portuguese is not on this list.

Little by little, bit by bit, pouco a pouco...