I am sitting on a bed inside a condominium on the Cayman Islands. Right now I am listening to the gusts of Hurricane Gustav blow belligerently against my shuttered window.  It’s night already, so even if I were to draw back the metal shutters, there would be little to see.  Still, I’m tempted to step outside to take some dramatic pictures.  The lights in the condo are flickering; I expect we’ll lose power shortly.

Another quick geography lesson may be in order. The Cayman Islands are situated 240 km south of Cuba, northwest of Jamaica.  The islands are best known for their two major industries: offshore banking, and tourism.  The sand is white, the ocean is clear, the SCUBA diving might be the best in the world.

But this is no vacation.  I’m here only five weeks after leaving Vietnam to start a new job.  Not in the financial sector, alas (those jobs tend to be lucrative), but in education.  I will be working for two private elementary schools – one Baptist, one Montessori – teaching information and communication technology (though I most often just say “computers”).

The relaxing “downtime” I had planned for August never came. I first heard about this job from a relative the same day I arrived back in Canada .  Three days later I was considering a job offer.  Three and a half weeks after that I had my work permit and was on a plane to George Town, Grand Cayman.  In between I made a trip to cottage country in Ontario for an extended family reunion, and a trip to Manitoba to sort out and dispose of the things I had left there before going to Vietnam. Doctor’s appointments, chest x-rays and blood tests somehow all managed to fit in around my travels, in time to file my work permit application with the Cayman government.

School starts in four days (it should be three, but school will stay closed Monday as we assess the damage from this hurricane), and I will be ready.  I expect teaching 16 classes a week to students from kindergarten to grade eight will be a breeze.

A breeze not unlike the one outside my window right now.