I'd be happy to say that even after all this time, I’m still experiencing new things, except what I experienced today wasn’t all so happy.

Today I saw a kid at school get beaten...with a belt…on his naked backside. This, to me, is one of those times that I canNOT accept things as cultural differences. I pass judgment: I think it’s wrong. Apparently over the weekend, three boys at school were caught smoking weed. Two of them are older, and supposedly on better behavior because they are allowed to go out to school. (and actually my friends Benti and Domi have them in class). So the story went that the boys bought weed and brought it back to school and were smoking with another, younger kid. They were caught by the weekend warden and kept in confinement until today when the teachers and counselors could deal with it. I was in speaking to the director on something else when we heard the walls nearly breaking down with some thud. We went out into the hall to see one of the counselors shoving the boy. The particular counselor is not my favorite. He's one who is party to the patronizing attitude that is common to a lot of former colonies especially those that had slaves. The attitude is sort of, "I'm up here and you're down there, and don’t forget it." That was almost literally the conversation between the two. It was like an interrogation scene from some bad cop movie: "We know what you did, why do you keep lying? Don’t talk to me like that, I'm the staff, you're the ward" Eventually the kid gave in, and the teacher gave him "licks" or "strokes" with a belt folded over. By that point I was back in the director's office. She's carrying on like normal, but I could not listen to what she said. In the hall, the counselor is saying "drop your pants... yes you have to... lean over..." Whether or not the kid was guilty of the allegation--which he probably was--the punishment was out of control and was more for humiliation and the gratification of the ego of the counselor than for punishment. The kid was 17.

I pretty much peeled out of there after my meeting with the director. I was pretty upset.

But on my way home, I did a good deed. I found a dog wandering, with a collar and part of a leash, so I took it back to its home.

Peace Corps-wise, things are starting to wind down. Last week, my term as Volunteer Advisory Council Rep was up. Sara, an excellent candidate, was voted in as my replacement.

I'm also working on finding a replacement for me at swimming. I'm trying to get some of the new Peace Corps involved.

We're also getting ready for our close-of-service conference and party.

Paul and Mary recently got a new puppy. His name is Rambo. He’s very cute. Except the Lucian idea of how to raise an animal is to let it go and have it grow up. It tends towards a steep learning curve and a lot of natural selection. So the dog spent two days barricaded in a room in their house, and now is locked in a 1.5 foot by 1.5 foot doghouse outside. The dog is 4 weeks old. So I took him out and have him barricaded on my porch now. I don’t really feel like raising a puppy, especially now that I have Puss’ undivided attention, but I hate to see it locked up and not trained, just to live life in the yard.

This past weekend was a big cricket tournament here. The Windies were hosting England. The Windies aren’t the strongest team, but they beat England both days! There were many English here for the tournament. Regardless, everyone was pretty happy because the three previous games in Trinidad and Grenada had been rained out. People have been very excited about this cricket series. Brian Lara, the team captain and the one Lucian on the team, recently scored 400 runs in one game, breaking the old world record.

This coming weekend is the start of the Jazz festival. I think this year will be even better than last year. I'm going to the opening concert, Kassav, a zouk band from Martinique. I'm going with Eric, Lauren and Deb, but everyone and their brother who I've talked to is also going. I'm also planning to go to the weekday "Jazz in the Square" series at lunchtime.