Flying In

This is the mostly true story of 4 strangers, picked to live in an apartment, to work together and have their lives blogged, to find out what happens when people stop being polite and start being real.  The Real World: Eleuthera.

Welcome all to the blog of my experience at The Island School (IS) and in South Eleuthera as a whole.  If you want to figure out where in the world this place is, type in Eleuthera Island, Freetown, The Bahamas, and work your way back towards Florida.  Look for the symbol that says "Powell Point" and an Airplane.  Even though there is no working airport in the area, this is a good homing beacon towards the IS campus.

There are four Teaching Fellows in this apartment.  Jason Harris, from Needham, Mass and teaching in the Histories; Vanessa Emery, of Nantucket, Mass and a Human Ecology fellow; Ellie Moore, originally from Menlo Park, CA and working in the Literature department.  Then there is me, Dave Burnham, from Wilton, CT and a Math Fellow.

Flying from Nassau to Rock Sound was definitely an interesting experience.  First off, the plane was nowhere near on time for departure.  This clearly was the definition of "island time".  Things will get done when they are done, and there is no use in getting stressed by the delay.  Once on the plane, it felt like sitting inside a sauna.  No air flow, no ventilation, and a grumpy and distressed French-Canadian couple sitting directly behind me.  Additionally, we had an incident where a passenger went into diabetic shock and we had to return to the terminal so that they could receive medical attention.

Finally, nearly an hour late on arrival, the plane landed in Rock Sound.  Rock Sound is the closest working airport and also has the best market for groceries and supplies.  There is a branch of ScotiaBank on the corner of the plaza, with a hardware store, liquor store, and auto repair center occupying the other locations.  Rock Sound to IS takes approximately 30 minutes by car.  Pulling into campus at 6 gave me enough time to at least put my luggage into the apartment, fill up the water bottle and head over to dinner.

All of the meals on campus, except Sunday and Wednesday mornings, are prepared by a wonderful dining staff, headed up by Tiff.  She manages the food resources and looks to buy locally whenever she can in order to promote sustainability and to help the local economy.

In subsequent posts I will detail chronologically some of the highlights of new faculty orientation week.  Going forward, I hope that the blog can be updated weekly, but there are no guarantees so check back frequently for news and information on the intrepid four.