Watch the Walk

My classes do a "graduation" In America expectations are that everyone will graduate high school with only one senior year. Here on Clove Island, expectations are different. Once in high school, each year of school is labeled by the number of years left. The last grade is called “last”, and at the end of the year you have to take a big national exam. Many students will take this final exam several times before passing. After exams finish they announce what day the results will be released. On the appointed day, most radios on the island are tuned to the proper frequency to listen as name after name is read of those who passed. Some pass with high honors, some with honors, some only pass. And then there are those who are allowed to try again with the oral version of the exam. But if your name isn’t read, you’ll have to try again next year. There’s no graduation ceremony. No Pomp and Circumstance with robes and hats and diploma covers for the end of high school. Nope. So what d...

Wedding season is in full swing here. Still. It seems like it never ends. And my neighbors have even started to comment on it. "It's just money, money money. Every night we're giving away $25 and staying up until after midnight. And then we work the next morning." "Maybe when the wedding season is over, I'll be able to study English." "When wedding season is over we should get together and talk again." It seems, the higher in society you are, the more weddings you're invited to and the fancier those weddings tend to be. Some weddings you'll give about $1.50 and that's it, but other weddings are the "high roller" ones and you have to dig deep in your wallet or risk being embarrassed. Wedding favors. We pay the couple, they reward us. Speaking of embarrassed, here's a bit of a funny story for you: weddings consist of multiple events, but there's one climactic event where the bride and groom appear together a...

It's essentially the ends of the earth, the island that I live on. Although you can reach it by plane, the process of getting from home in America to home in Africa is a several-day, several-plane and often several-problems/delays sort of affair. To be fair, the problems normally occur only on the last leg of the journey-- getting from the international airport to my island. Other Africa-based flights are fairly predictable and rarely cause problems. But the islands where I live are plagued by airline issues. -- the government regulates different airlines differently -- airlines refuse to pay taxes or landing fees until they're forcibly grounded -- strikes occur when either government employees or airline employees aren't paid -- maintenance can't be fully done on the islands, so sometimes a plane is out of country for a month at a time, limiting the possible number of flights -- the government doesn't have its own plane, so airline planes are chartered at the last ...