Spring 2009 WorldTeach Journal Contest
We'd like to thank everyone who participated in our Spring 2009 Journal Contest with the interesting, and at times disturbing theme of "Mealtime." The entries we received were educational, entertaining, and emotional. They have provided a peak into the widely varied roles of food and family during mealtimes in WorldTeach program countries throughout the world. The winning entries were truly fun to read, thank you again to all participants!
1st PLACE:
Rice and Beans, by Radford Lathan (Costa Rica)
They told me that I was going to eat a lot of rice and beans when I got to Costa Rica. I just didn’t understand what that meant. It amazes me now that two such simple ingredients could be the center of life.
2nd PLACE:
Chopsticks and Candlelight, by Quincy Carroll (China)
Tonight is a night much alike all the rest. Michael and I sit beneath the sweeping eaves of a courtyard pavilion surrounded by walls of osmanthus and student. Winter’s only mark today the early-attenuate light.
3rd PLACE:
Eating (Like) a Pig, by Dan Jordan (Ecuador)
I´ve eaten grubs in the Peruvian Amazon, crocodile in Australia , blood sausage in Ireland . I´ve shared meals with Adivasi farmers in India and eaten in a bedouin tent in the Israeli desert. And yet none of this prepared me for fritada in Guaranda, Ecuador.
HONORABLE MENTION:
Palolo Rising, by Ming Ming Liu (American Samoa)
Spectators line the rocky shore watching a single flicker of light pacing above the shallow reef in the dark moonless night. Suddenly, a patch of the water lights up and a group of five or six people rushes into the salty water with buckets and homemade nets of mosquito netting. Soon, there’s a frenzy of activities and the shallow shore is dotted with flashlights bobbling with the waves like fireflies. I too join the frenzy, ending my two day wait for the palolo rising.
HONORABLE MENTION:
Micronesian Napoleon Dynamite, by Kate Wheeler (Micronesia)
One of the great things about living on a high volcani c island like Kosrae is that the interior of the island is uninhabited, mountainous rain forest. So if we somehow get tired of playing around in the warm, crystal clear ocean, there are all sorts of wonderful hikes to be done, tramping through the jungle to hidden waterfalls and breathtaking vistas. One of the infuriating things about living on Kosrae is that these hikes are nigh on impossible to organize.
Winter 2008 WorldTeach Journal Contest
Thank you to everyone who participated in this winter’s Journal Contest. The entries for our Photo Contest went above and beyond our expectations. It is always a pleasure for those in the home office to live vicariously through our volunteers. We sincerely enjoy delving into a portion of your lives as you find your way living and teaching in a foreign country. When describing our programs to potential volunteers, we always try to convey not only the teaching aspect, but also how they too will learn something about the lives and experiences of others during their time as a WorldTeach volunteer. The winning entries of the Journal Contest embody this truth with grace, courage, and humor. Thank you for your wonderful submissions.
"Expecting the unexpected becomes second nature here in Ecuador. Volcanoes spurting ash, parades marching down the streets, eating guinea pig for lunch—these exemplify just a few of the many daily surprises that Ecuador gives her volunteers. Though with all the unbelievable moments that I have experienced already, the one thing that continually surprises me and touches me to the core is the generosity of my students."
"As I walk down the street, a man looks at me, gasps, and stops in his tracks. To my left, a girl tugs on her boyfriend’s arm, points in my direction, and whispers urgently into his ear. I smile politely at their startled faces. Finally, a man with a two-year-old boy stops and tentatively holds his child out to me while reaching his other hand into his pocket. I know what’s coming."
"As I stared dejectedly at the greasy severed limb that was my dinner, reminiscing about Christmas pudding and brandy sauce, a portly man leaned over and asked me, “So what is Christmas like in England? Do all your family get together?” “Actually, no,” I said. “Normally it’s just my parents, my sister and me.” I was surprised by the collective moan of sympathy that rose from the table. I had been so wrapped up in the luxuries missing from this Ecuadorian Christmas that it had never occurred to me that my family’s version, with its pitifully small gathering, could seem so sad and unpleasant here."
HONORABLE MENTION:
"Seated uncomfortably close between two professionally-dressed school administrators in the front seat of a bakkie, with the gear shift digging painfully into my thigh, I nervously watched Elias, my friend and fellow volunteer. He disappeared on the dusty road behind me as the rickety bakkie jolted forward onto the unpaved trail bound for Nkurenkuru. As the bakkie approached a cluster of buildings in the distance, I realized that this empty nothingness—these few school buildings surrounded by mud and grass huts dotting the fields—would be my home for the next few months."
"My director adamantly began to insist that I buy a raffle ticket. I handed him 500 colones and haphazardly shoved the ticket in my pocket. I hadn’t given the situation a second thought until later when the raffle began. I looked everywhere for my ticket but couldn’t find it. When they called out the number and nobody claimed it, I cursed myself for losing a potentially fantastic award. The teacher then called for the prize and a cowboy paraded in, hand raised high in the air, holding a pig’s head."
