St. George’s College (Week #90) – Day #419

Date for Entry: (Friday 06 December 2024)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (December 2024)

[T1, W:15 – WD:, (Td:)*].

**stage

Dear Diary,

    This morning I did not feel like wearing any work clothes. Instead, I chose my St George's Mitchell House T-shirt. I still had to pull on shocks. Daddy and I left the house quickly to get to Curepe. I took the old church bag with the things for Isa this evening to give him. I made sure to put it in my bag last night to not forget it. The staffroom was very empty. Everyone was coming in late. I decided to eat the Curepe pie on the way coming down Sixth Avenue though I knew it wouldn't do much for my stomach.

    As soon as I got in Donna was calling me to come help them out with the pan. I went to see about the timesheet first before anything. As soon as my logbook times were sent, the information was transferred to the form. I then walked over to the office and had that transferred over into the school's book. The Principal's voice was heard in the back of the room. I went to leave the form by my desk and then message Afisha about its location.

    Mel had asked me when I was asking Mr Charles to sign the form if I wanted to do Toc-toc for them. As soon as the form was by my desk, I went over to the hall to assist Mrs Noons-Charles with the 3 Cello. Then they did a run of the song with me doing the toc-toc. Somehow there was an issue with the order and amount of times each song was to be played. I waited for Miss Jones and Crystal to come in the second time and for Mrs Noons-Charles to remember her five pitch locations. They were counted in and the same order issue occurred.

    The teachers had to leave for the staffroom to see about leaving for their 'function'. At that time I remained in the hall typing up the journal entries for Wednesday, and yesterday, and then went back. Mel and some students were decorating the hall. She had brought Mr Sheppard in to speak with him about church matters while I began the entry for today. I felt like I wanted to leave but then it was 11:54 and Isa would have been preparing to go to the mosque.

    It was very special to see "Riba" who came to school. He knocked on the wind calling me to wave goodbye. I saw "Jenny" Atwell who came for her consent forms. There was a pot to go through. She had to be given a blank one for Mel to insert her name in the back of the staff room. Mel and Mr Sheppard were in the back chatting for a while. It sounded like Pastor Janelle had called her too. Parents were coming for consent forms too.

    After we went back to the hall, there was the last of the stage to decorate. Since there was only one reindeer I suggested that it be placed in front of the red curtains to the back centre back of the stage. There was an extra vase so I suggested that they put it by the head so that way it would look like the reindeer was eating from the vase. The two security ladies were both helping with the last of the stage's skirting.

    Mel was hungry and asked me if I was. She took me to Hunties and we got lunch there. We both went for a shandy and sat in the back of the staffroom to eat. The two guards had joined us too. I ate from my biscuit pan as a plate like Tuesday night sleeping over at George's. They learned about the concert for tomorrow, the time for it, the MTS celebration part by the Principal and other things. We had a laugh when they saw me using the biscuit pan to rest the big breast bone.

    That evening, Miss and I went to see about lateness and absences. It was very strange to see how it looked over the phone when entering the numbers onto the school's platform. At 3:15 I left school and walked up the road. Thankfully a bus came as I was crossing the road and took me.

    By the middle of the St Goerge’s Savannah, Miss Jones met me on the pavement and said, "Wayz! You now leaving?" We have a lovely chat there. I told her the joke I was telling Mel about all the work in George's that I did and the extra hours at the school that they are trying to make a Georgian too.

    Daddy was waiting outside of the terminal. I would that the ride to Curepe this evening was not a quick one. We crossed the road and went up the stairs to see Isa. He had just finished the first half of the books that were sent by email. The rest of it was the National Anthem.

    Unfortunately, his email did not save the anthem. I had to get him to take it from my flashdrive to print it. It took me one hour and a half to get the pages sorted and then bound. Daddy helped me get the folders out of the package. I got the spines out and then slipped the documents in for him to staple them in. It was so beautiful to hold all of them in my hands. The loudmouth man liked the way they looked too and thought that it was Isa who made the cover.

    That night I returned to Excel, where I tried to make the digital markbook. Some more attempts were made. As the night got later I had to go rest for tomorrow. Mel and I would be meeting in school to work on the rest of the marks and lates and absences. Some more exploring will have to be done with the sizing of the cells and an appropriate way to insert a table for formula tallies. It still looked like a possible idea to materialise and I look forward to that day of accomplishment.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(7:26 am – 3:17 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #90) – Day #418

Date for Entry: (Thursday 05 December 2024)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (December 2024)

[T1, W:15 – WD:, (Td:)*].

Dear Diary,

    This morning I got to school to see the staffroom in a different setting. Teachers were writing all around. It did not look like markbooks from far. As soon as Mel came in to sit by her desk she too was doing what they were doing too.

    I learned that everyone had to do their confidential staff report that was due a long time ago in the year. It looked like they were finally able to get the forms to fill out for the Ministry. I was glad about this because I was not ready for the staff meeting to be so early in the morning although I was looking forward to it.

    At 10:04 PM Mr Charles called for the meeting to begin and lasted an hour (see log book for details):

1. MTS working hours and staffing.
2. No LABS and issues pending.
3. Institution Hazard.*
4. Appreciation.
5. Air-Condition situations.
6. Sanitation and Rats issues.
7. Staffing got Teachers and Office.
8. Professional Conduct.
9. Language Day (To be announced in Term 2)
10. Alumni Parang (14th Dec)
11. Class Lists for CSEC and CAPE for review by this evening.

 

    The meeting immediately concluded at 11:58 AM. Teachers were not paying attention. They were busy in their different cliques. Lunchtime came by and Mel started to try inserting the lates and absents for 3L. It looked like they were tallied wrong. And the white page was stapled badly in the roll book. It made it difficult for me to count properly. I ended up leaving it for her to check it over.

    That evening I left school and went to visit Isa. I was telling Daddy that it was a bad day because I wasn't finding the money to pay for the prints today, I left the bristol board to print my cover pages home and the folders for the documents were not with me. Strangely enough, I misplaced my small green bag after leaving it on the top of my desk in a pile of paper while looking for something in Mel's cupboard. I don't know how it could go missing just like that after leaving it right on the top of my desk.

    We met Isa when we walked into the shop. Andrew was with him by the front computer waiting to print something to sign and scan. He left to go do other stuff by the time. A lady before us was taking a while before we got to speak with Isa. He too didn't get to finish all the prints for this evening's work so he told me to come back tomorrow after his mosque time, instead of having the prints to sort home and coming back. I didn't want to eat anything in the evening going home. When Daddy offered me roti I took that.

    Ended up in front of the television watching the "Southern Charm" season marathon. I didn't watch the finale. I went to the computer and fixed up the Form 5 section in Mel's markbook for tomorrow. Those three hours to 11 PM rushed up quickly. It would have been bedtime immediately. My eyes could not remain open at all. Thankfully I remembered the pack everything I needed to use by Isa in my old church bag. I’m sure that everything is now ready for print in the evening.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(7:36 am – 4:25 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #90) – Day #417

Date for Entry: (Wednesday 04 December 2024)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (December 2024)

[T1, W:15 – WD:, (Td:)*].

Dear Diary,

    By the time I was entering the male bathroom to go shower from the night, Miss Ramsaran came in early as usual. It felt like I took a while to come back. As I dried up and got dressed, I got scared that the door could not opened. It had to bend all the way back to open. There were not many people there as yet. I returned to my desk to complete the journal entry for yesterday.

    As the sun began to awaken in the sky, Miss Ramsaran shared with me about the field trip that her Form Class did yesterday too. The time was cut short when Mel came back from the road. We went outside by the hall to count money and made sure we had enough for the sound system people and the class luncheon. Mr Marcelle came in very early. I got him the keys to the music room to do this work by the time.

    The time was getting close by for the function and the hall was being filled with the chairs. She had asked Miss "Celia" to ask form teachers to send the children to put their chairs in the hall after roll class. It looked like not many students had come for that day. Jess came late too. The function was about to begin when she came into the hall. Mr Marcelle was working in the music room until the event was to begin. I went back to get a copy of the programme for him. Seems like everyone needed that sheet of paper. It ended up disappearing after the programme.

    The Host of the programme was Kayla Wright from 3L. She did a good job trying. I'm not sure if she did something like that before. She used a picture of the programme from her phone. At some point in the show, I got to ask her to send me a picture of it. Not sure if she will remember. When it was time for me to do my performance Mr Marcelle was concerned about the sound for me and said that I would need a microphone to project properly. He got the engineer to set up the microphone and helped me carry the tenor pan to the centre of the hall at the base of the stage's wooden staircase.

    I got the book stand that I got from the music room early that morning. It was set to my right. As the students waited, I took in some air and let it out before beginning. It was a good idea because it helped me to concentrate on the song. I decided to play the song twice. When it was time for "Mr Babour" to play he was asking for pansticks. The school's box of pan sticks was not a good place to look for that. I lent him my pair of sticks in the hope that it would give him good luck. There were timing and pitch issues but he did slightly okay.

    Miss Jones wasn't there this morning. I also did not see "Mr Haynes" to do "Silent Night". I knew when I was going to perform I saw "Michael" sitting on the end to my far right. Somehow his name was not added to the list for that song and I felt disappointed about that. When the function ended Mr Marcelle and I spoke for a while. The students went back to their classes with their chairs.  I took my chair back to my desk FIRST before I could take back the box of sticks to Jess' desk.

    The rest of the time was waiting by my desk for Mel and Mr Bain to return to school. They went out the road to get ice and the food still had to come. I was waiting for the last 5 minutes for twelve to reach for my fasting to be completed. I saw Pastor Janelle in the compound. Mel took me to the class to meet her and I got to speak with her. It was nice to see her mommy there too. It was about 1:25 PM when we decided to pray and have lunch. Mr Bain wasn't around as we were waiting for him. All the other classes had finished and were out of their classrooms.

    Mel and I ate after the children. I enjoyed the ham. This time the garlic bread was not overpowered by the garlic. Miss Jones came over to eat with us after being with Mr Marcelle in Jess's classroom. I left after He and Mr Bain came to have lunch. Jess and Roberts were giving Mr Bain a Christmas gift. I went back to the staffroom and went back to insert my times into the logbook. All that I got to work on was the markbook for Miss. She had to get names for her Form 5s and their classes. There were a few of the students that Mel was able to remember their surname.

    I was glad that I still had the 2023-2024 class list of names. I can find the names of some of the students under their assigned classes. I didn't have time to do much time to do a lot. The ride from Sixth Avenue to Curepe was a painful one. Thank God the bus was empty. Only a few paintings were done. I do the painting when sitting on the couch to do them. It was good to be back home after a whole two days and a night spent at George's.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(7:46 am YESTERDAY MORNING – 3:33 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #90) – Day #416

Date for Entry: (Tuesday 03 December 2024)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (December 2024)

[T1, W:15 – WD:, (Td:)*].

Dear Diary,

    This morning I got up early. Leaving the house was lightly late. Daddy was complaining bout his back. We laughed at him when I was ready to go since he got comfortable on the couch and couldn't get up. He mentioned that his back was still hurting from lifting all those galvanised sheets. When I asked why he had to lift them it was because there was no one else with the driver. I told him that since I cannot lift heavy things I would let someone know.

    We left for Curepe and only one bus was waiting like the weekend. The rain started pouring from the car. The air conditioner was cold after being wet. It looked like I did not shake the umbrella enough before entering but that could not happen even if I tried. Drivers like to take off one time. I still had to shelter with my umbrella while walking down Sixth Avenue. Thankfully by the time  I got to the school, it stopped. That was another joke for the morning I suppose.

    The atmosphere of the staffroom felt very different. I did not like it and it felt very depressing. It was just like someone died and people were grieving. I needed to get the hell out of there. Immediately Mel came in and said that she was having a test in a Form 3 class. We decided to do number inserts to the mark book while the four students did the makeup test. Form 2s were entered first and the 1F and 1L. She did not have all the names for 1M and it took me a while to put in the main class list file and then transfer over into the markbook. We did not do any of that until after school because the teacher's Choir practice was going on.

    Instead of wasting my time and waiting I went back to my desk. While inserting marks we heard the panorama tune earlier this morning. After 3 times of sending a different student to tell them to stop I ended up having to run to the hall. Raising my hands in the air like the Phoenix in front of the band they immediately stopped. Since they could not hear me I went to speak to "Vannah" and told her that only the Christmas Programme ensemble piece and the solos could be run. I told her that when Mr Marcelle comes for practice then it could be played.

    I was feeling too upset in my stomach in the second half of the day. Jess came to speak with me. She got to school late and went to sit in the corridor by the teachers. "GG" left early today and was asking me if I wanted to go with them but I stayed back. We got the 1M class list ready but with the girls, there was a mix-up with the names. It took a while to fix. Even with the Form 4s later that evening some of the surnames were not remembered. Luckily I had the school list of names that I made from the previous academic year to recycle.

    After 5 PM, Mr Raymond came back to the school compound. He was going to practice with Mr Marcelle who returned for the evening to George's. Miss Jones and her husband were practising for the performance tomorrow in the hall also. I tried to see if Sir and I could find back his umbrella but it looked like someone took it and went with it. 

    When we first spoke in the staffroom earlier this evening, he was asking if I was going to play with the teacher's band for the function tomorrow. He said that I could fall in or do the toc-toc if I wanted. The term he used at first was "jam-block". That was the first time hearing jam block. He said that was the first original name before it was called the Toc-Toc.

    Mr Raymond left with Miss Harris. She was still complaining about $800 that went missing. Mr Marcelle came back he had forgotten something that he needed to do some work. Mel and I decided to take a recess after finishing the remaining 1M class. As we walked out of the compound we saw Miss Jones and her husband practicing still. She told me that Chinese would be better since I was fasting and full more as if I ate food. We were going to the place called Hunchies opposite the school to the back at first.

    We ended up going for the Chinese, which was almost half the walk from school to the bus route. The wait was long. We spoke more about the programme for tomorrow and the concert on Saturday. She met someone who recognised her and we walked back to meet Matthew. As we were about to make our way back and make the end to the school, a person came asking for food and then the rain broke down on us.

    We ended up running to the hall door to rest our bags. We were both soaking wet. Matthew couldn't wait so she got an umbrella and went out to the road. I could hear that Mathias was there. The sound system men came after we were done eating. Mr Marcelle's food was saved for later. I used my blue biscuit pan as a dish. It was a long while I had wished that I brought a plate to school. As they were leaving, we were neatening up the hall to the back and packing chairs that remained in rows. A lady came to visit Miss at some point. The fabric brought was called skirting.

    When the lady left, the three of us and the sergeant guard helped us. She went up on the ladder while Miss and I held onto us while she was up there. Only the red fabric was set up. The skirting will have to be sent by the who is renting them. It took us a long while to fix the stage too and then for Sir, Mel and I dragged four palm plants into the hall. They were really heavy. I caught a laugh dragging in one palm plant on my own but it left a hard pain in my chest for a while. Mel was looking for another palm plant but the others in the yard were too dirty.

    We ended up locking up the hall for tomorrow inside the school but the floor was too dirty after it had been mopped that same morning. Children were taken to the hall today because the rain had taken dominance of the compound. The PTSA was holding a fundraiser fun day for the students. The three of us went back into the staffroom. This was minutes after 9 PM.

    Sir did not have another chord he needed for his laptop so he ate after Miss had made sure he did. I had a good laugh about a list we were looking for. He told me that while in this experience, it is good to observe everything so I know better in future and keep the phone numbers for the designers and sound people when I need them.

    Mel's phone was running low so I suggested we put the marks in and then she could put the grade letters and comments in whenever she got the time. All of the Form 1s and 2s were entered. We will have to wait for Jennice on the Form 3s to enter the markbook tomorrow. It was after 11 PM that was the end of the inserts.

    By 11:26 PM miss went to the couch to rest. At first, I rested by my desk and then went to the single couch in the corner. The small table became my footrest. At 5:02 I got up on my own. I called Miss and she agreed to switch. I took the long couch and she went to shower in the female restroom. Afterwards, I went to shower. I told her it felt like the people and this place were trying to make me Georgian. Is possible to be a hybrid? Being Spartan and a Georgian at the same time? I wonder.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(7:46 am – REMAINED THE NIGHT IN SCHOOL)

St. George’s College (Week #90) – Day #415

Date for Entry: (Monday 02 December 2024)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (December 2024)

[T1, W:15 – WD:, (Td:X)*].

Dear Diary,

    This morning I woke up on the couch at 4 AM. I went to bed for two and a half hours. Then I got up to get ready. On my way down to Curepe I left something home. We waited forever for Andrew to get ready before returning to Tunapuna. I went to Vashni to get binders for printing my books this week. I got to school and teachers complained of a smell from the sewer. They tried to get the doors remained open and then Miss Mustapha sprayed something she called a neutraliser. It was nice.

    I stayed fasting for the rest of the day while spending the whole time decorating the hall. Not many of the children stayed around to help out. I most likely did most of the work. Couldnt remain in the staffroom or there would always be students coming to ask for things by the staffroom door. I went to the hall and met Kai and we worked on the hall columns by the car park side. The both of us were tired of the day.

    Jess had brought 3F and 3M music students to have them run through their parts for "Oh Holy Night". "Jenny" ran through the song but she needed the pitch letters. Way before this, during roll call time, "Mr Haynes" came to practice his "Silent Night" solo. He ran through the Panorama tune before coming to play his solo again for feedback from me. The feedback came for his hand positioning, me changing a chord to avoid any annoyance with the sound, and then he had to work on his rolling.

    In the staff room, there was talk about being absent for the whole day and then thinking it was covered for because of bank time. I learned that when the leave days (14SL and 14OL) become unauthorised leave without getting permission. It was also the first time I learned how many sick leave (SL) and Occasional Leave (OL) that teachers were given.

    I went home and did a few paintings that evening, probably not more than three. I took the remainder of the time it flew by quickly to fix the package label for the library. I hope that it works this time. I used Canva for this and also for creating a Borrowing Card's Pocket Label for the books. In case the cost is too much, I will have to switch the idea to using regular adhesive labels.

    I thought that Mel and I would be able to insert marks to the markbook and have it tally the numbers but she wanted to see about the hall first. Maybe tomorrow would provide some time to get some numbers in. We had planned to meet at the first two periods to see about it in the morning.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(8:15 am – 3:23 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #89) – Day #414

Date for Entry: (Sunday 01 December 2024)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Wednesday 04 December 2024)

[T1, W:13 – WD:, (Td:X)*].

Dear Diary,

    This morning I ended up sleeping back. I got to church late and had a short while before the performance. We did not know when we were going to play. The other children to play with us were not called over and then Rev Baldeosingh continued. We had to take back our seats. Toward the end of the service, we were called back to play. Mr Sharma sat down by the piano for the whole service and played there. Zara was put to serve communion so we did a solo. The practice continued as usual.

    Dexter brought some book donations for the library. I took them with me since one Girl wanted to go inside. She borrowed her third book. After setting up the library and then packing the books to take home, the practice continued longer. The song of their choice for next week was "Carol of the Bells". I remember "Isaac" shaking his head no when he saw the arrangement for "Noel" that Mr Sharma did. I was surprised too. I also saw the interesting run for the introduction.

    A lot of them left. I remained in the church with Anthony, Clarence and Mr Samaroo. They were speaking about the first Christian Pan Festival held by the Anglicans and that the Presbyterian Church in the 60s did not like Steelpan being a part of their church. I thank God that it made a way after that time and served a useful purpose.

    As soon as I got home I ate and got ready to head down to George's. Two heavy showers of rain delayed me and Daddy from leaving the home. It was nice that in Curepe the sun came down. I told him that I might just need to use the same umbrella to shelter from the heated sun. We had a good laugh about that. One maxi was on the bus route and as soon as I jumped in we took off. The ride was not long and the walk was medium fast.

    When I got to the school they were running through "Carol of the Bells" with the Section Leaders' band for a while before getting into the Panorama Tune. Noon came quickly. I was using the new PDF that Mr Marcelle sent to me before leaving home. It looked like there were things that needed to be fixed again in it.

    At some point, he had asked the frontliners to go over into the classroom to run the song from the introduction to the chorus. His main concern was the verse that needed checking. We both started to notice that there were a lot of things that were not taught to them. The band did not go to recess until 3 PM or after there. Somehow practice had slowed down to an end. There was a meeting with the band before sending them home. Sir was telling me that he would cut practice short because of the weather that was there.

    We had a long wait for "Vannah" to go with her parent. Mel, Sir and I stayed back chatting in the evening. We ended up calling an Uber to fly us home. It was too expensive from Mel’s front gate to my gate in Tunapuna ($44). That was only a one-time experience for me then. I went home to have some Pelau that the aunties sent me and worked on uploading some journal entries. Only one painting was completed for the night before I fell asleep on the couch.

 

LINK(S):

• Newsday Report on George’s.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(11:10 am – 6:21 pm)