Animals & Other Things I Have Loved

CHAPTER 10: HONDURAS The last chapter ended with us accepting jobs at the International School of Louisiana (ISL), the job where we were working when Hurricane Katrina hit New Oreleans. This chapter mingles experiences at ISL and our transition back to full time teaching in Honduras.  The first two years at ISL  we seemed to be go from achievement to achievement. We grew by eighty students a year. Carolyn went to France to recruit teachers. I was getting more and more involved with things like lobbying and fundraising. When Katrina changed everything, we were a month away from launching a year long capital campaign to build a middle school on property the school had bought the year before. Mayor Nagin awarded us a grant that allowed us to demolish the existing deserted building on the property. The wrecking equipment was on the lot when Katrina hit. Katrina did no damage to the decades old, asbestos infected, warehouse the school was about to demolish.  For three ye...

CHAPTER 9: MANAGUA TO ASHGABAT On Sept. 11, 2001, we were with my mother in Henleyfield, Mississippi, while she recovered from hip surgery. We were having breakfast and watching the morning news shows when the first plane went into one of the Twin Towers. An expert was trying to explain how this could happen accidentally when he quickly disappeared to never be heard from again when the next plane hit. We were scheduled to return to London in October for a gifted and talented program Gary had set up for us to run for the borough of Southwark. Carolyn was going to do substitute teaching. It looked like we might be crossing the Atlantic and borders often. It would be easier if we were married. As my mother recovered, we looked for the best option for getting married quickly with little planning.  On September 30th we were married by Elvis in Vegas. A week later we were back in London. Gary and I were running a gifted and talented program for primary science students, and Carolyn e...