SRIKE! - No School Today

Expecting the unexpected is a good motto for daily living here. Today we were waiting for the bus to go to school when a cook at the school stopped by to explain that due to a strike by transportation workers, the roads in the area were all blocked. Turns out this meant a number of things.
1. Taxi and bus drivers in a nearby community of Shell are not happy that Puyo companies can run buses into Shell, but the reverse is not allowed. The best way to gain equity here is to close the roads and strike.
2. The minister of education closed all schools for the day.
3. Bus drivers and all taxis in Puyo honor the strike. Because a low percentage of people own cars here, this means not much happens in down town Puyo. We walked down town this afternoon and were amazed at how empty the streets are when all buses and taxis are off the road. People were walking like a line of ants to and from the down town.
4. We do not know when this strike will be over, but most people assume that things will be back to normal tomorrow.

Transportation is working like the electricity lately. While normally very reliable, Sunday the power was off for about 10 hours. Last night the power was off for about two hours. No word on the "why" of all of this.

We spent most of today analyzing the student grades for the first grading period. As I assumed, Santa Clause is alive and well. The system is a number system of 20 to 1 with 20 being high. 50% of all grades given are either a 20, 19, or 18. My co-teacher was over for lunch today. Even he was shocked. Since his grading tends to resemble more of a bell-shaped curve, he was not happy as he is now the "bad guy" (the anti-Santa Clause). More on this topic later after we have had a chance to discuss it in staff meetings.