"Pomalo" is the term for the Papiamento language, which is native to the Caribbean island of Aruba. It's a term for relaxation, literally the word could be translated as no stress. When someone says this to you, you would think that experiencing this expression is easy, but really?
I had the opportunity to see for myself and in the best place made for it. In Aruba itself, where I participated in a week-long course for teachers called Boosting Teachers' Resilience, Positive Thinking & Problem Solving, which was organised as part of the Erasmus+ project. Why Aruba, almost 9000 km from Europe?
Aruba is one of the Caribbean islands administered by the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is one of the southernmost islands in the Caribbean, just 15 km off the coast of South Africa. But it is still a remote corner of the European Union. A piece of land that mixes several different cultures, it is home to about 120,000 people of different races, nationalities and religions. They all work in incredible coexistence, respecting each other, not judging each other and, what is more, smiling the vast majority of the time. The first sign at the airport that you see upon landing is: Aruba, welcome to happiness. So where else to learn to experience and most importantly to learn to live "slowly".
The philosophy of Erasmus+ is to get to know new countries, new people and new cultures in a way that enriches life, broadens awareness and teaches respect for different cultures and customs abroad. Aruba is the ideal place for all this, completely different from the Europe we know well, yet part of it. The whole course, which was attended by 65 teachers from different European countries and 9 local teachers, reflected all the above mentioned subjects. Under the guidance of the Croatian lecturer Darius Čaljkušić, who studied psychology in the United States and lectures all over the world, we comprehensively learned one important thing about being a 21st century teacher in all the sessions. I myself was able to realize how education, teachers' attitudes, and teaching itself has fallen behind the rest of the development of civilization in the last century and how much this is not good.
Over the course of the week, in individual sessions that were entirely project-based learning, I learned how to confront this problem. How not to always be focused and mindful of the past, how to keep our feet firmly planted in the present, and how to approach the future with caution. To learn not to judge others around us, but instead to be able to accept them with all the same and different. In order to pass all this on to our pupils, our colleagues, we must be in tune with it ourselves. This process cannot happen without a deep understanding of ourselves, confidence in ourselves and a critical view of ourselves. Every day was eye-opening and at times I was horrified to realize how some things are done wrong, how I myself do them wrong. The optimism was infused into my veins by the attitudes of other colleagues, with a country where education is already really approaching the 21st century, but also with a former socialist bloc country where, although it is scrubbing up, teachers want to move on, if I can judge with the sample of colleagues I was able to meet on the course.
The main insight I was able to bring back is very close to "slowly". Be patient, don't stress yourself, let alone your environment, colleagues, students. To be able to be receptive, non-judgmental, tolerant and always helpful to others. To be able to enjoy life, to do well and love oneself and to learn to accept everything, including the negative things in life, with a positive outlook. In short, to know how to live "slowly". It is not an easy process, you can't change everything with a snap of a finger, but it can be achieved slowly, slowly and most importantly with the willingness to want change, not to be afraid of change and to keep moving forward.
Of course during my stay I had the opportunity to experience the beauty of the island, the beautiful scenery, the beautiful cities and the local people. They are mostly smiling, greeting strangers on the street and making their days more enjoyable for themselves and others. After all, just a nice smile and greeting can make the day nicer. The whole island plays with bright colours, from the clothes of the people, the streets, the houses to the azure shades of the sea, the white sandy beaches, the lava rocks and the heavenly colourful spectacle of the sunrise and sunset.
The local carnival was a great experience for me and my course colleagues. The week of celebrating independence from the Netherlands began on the very first day of our course with a spectacular light parade at night. (Aruba, although part of the Crown, has its own government, parliament and is economically independent.) Experiencing the carnival parade, hundreds of people in colorful costumes, dozens of allegorical floats ranging from trucks with live musicians to colorfully decorated and lighted trailers was an unforgettable experience. In the parade I saw people dancing to fiery Latin rhythms, of all ages, lean strong, of all races, but with expressions of happiness on their faces. Thousands of spectators lined the streets, enjoying it all, picnicking in the street for hours before the parade itself, greeting, hugging and laughing at each other, including the local police officers who were overseeing the safe conduct of the event. To see police officers smiling, coming to shake hands or hug acquaintances and dealing with everything with calm and ease is a picture that is very hard to find at home.
I am very grateful to the management of the school that made it possible for me to participate in this Erasmus+ course. Once again I opened my eyes, my mind and brought back, besides completely recharged batteries of positivity, a lot of sub-topics to think about how to be a better teacher in the 21st century and, most importantly, how to "teach slowly".
David Lukáš
