Torrential tropical rain. Last night. On my bed....
So before I get to my story let me tell you about my week. Overall it went pretty well. Tuesday we went to the gym to practice gymnastics with the kids only to find that they're having basketball competitions or something for a few weeks, so we ended up practicing in the grass behind our house. Wednesday was a pretty rough day at school. I was just really worn out for some reason...but we got wireless that day which was AMAZING! Unfortunately you have to pay $5 for a 50 minute card which goes WAAAYY too fast if you're trying to skype people. So that's only convenient for uploading pics, emailing, etc.
Wednesday nights we always hop in the truck (or van...our 2 school vehicles) and drive out to Rita to Angie's house where we sing songs with the kids and then have a story. It's a lot of fun and this week me and Rob tag-teamed a story about Joseph....yeah I thought it was brilliant to tell about the coat of many colors, but the story of Joseph doesn't really have a good stopping point so we had to finish it. There was only a slight problem when Potiphar's wife came on the scene....luckily she just got angry because Joseph didn't clean the floors well :)
Friday at recess I got to talking to 2 of Tony's 5th grade boys - AJ and Hilario. They started talking about demons and asking me all these questions. Apparently AJ's dad has a demon that has blond hair and wears a white shirt. He's seen it too. Hilario was asking if demons were real and who is Lucifer and how did he fall from heaven. And he also asked if Satan was red with a pitchfork and about the tree of knowledge of good and evil. It was a very intense conversation and I definitely prayed right there that God would give me the right words to say to these young boys. If anyone that reads this would please pray for these 2 right now I would really appreciate it!
Fridays are so nice because they're half days. My class did chapel which is always a little rowdy since it's the last event of the day (and week for that matter), but it was fine. After that I went to MIR for 5 hours and skyped friends and family. I didn't even eat supper I was so excited to talk to people!
Saturday night Alise had to go to the hospital because she was pretty sick, and when she got back we watched A Walk to Remember. Then me and Kara went over to Lenny's to see what everyonew as up to and that's when it started POURING rain. We had our rain jackets on because it had been sprinkling a little and that's when I realized OH CRAP I left the windows open!! So I rushed downstairs, threw open the door, screamed and immediately closed it. It was raining and blowing SO hard. Then I opened the door and ran as fast as I could but the wind and rain were so intense my contacts blew back in my eyes and I couldn't see. The 40 feet to our house completely soaked me. I slammed our windows shut but unfortunately our beds were soaked. Me and Kara went and ran around in the rain because we were already wet and it felt SO good to be cool and not hot and sweaty! We splashed around in puddles. Then we went back, I stripped our beds and blow dried for about an hour. Then I finally went to bed at 2am. That'll teach us to close the windows!! Whew....
This morning we went for our first scuba experience!! We snorkled around for a little bit then we all got to practice wearing the tank and using the regulator. I am SO excited about SCUBA! Ok well I gotta go do lesson plans here pretty soon. Thank goodness we get Friday off. I love these 4 day weeks. Miss you all! <3
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Sunday, September 13, 2009
What better place to be sick....
Thankfully I'm not sick anymore, and it wasn't anything too serious. But I was feeling pretty bad Sunday-Tuesday. I just had a headache, congestion, phlegmmy cough, continuous bouts of sneezing...etc. It makes it a lot harder to muster up the energy to face 23 6th graders! But I made it through the week.
Wow I love Sabbath. More than ever before I think. I am less busy than at Southern but it's a lot more high stress, so the Sabbath is a welcome necessity. It's so nice to relax on Friday afternoon and take a good long cold shower. Plus I try to look slightly nicer for vespers. Sometimes I wear my hair down and put on a little eyeliner. It's the only way I feel dressed up because I always have to wear skirts! And I always wear my hair up at school because it's way to hot otherwise. I was just thinking how ridiculous I'm going to look trying to walk in heels when I get back! hahaha
Teaching is going well. I gave my first social studies, Bible and science tests! I have to make them myself so I feel quite accomplished afterwards...except when some kids are failing. hahaha My students are pretty well-behaved overall. My classroom is as hot as it's ever been, but I'm used to the continual sweat flow. I love love LOVE it when it rains! (except when I'm wearing a white shirt) I don't even care that I'm getting soaked because it feels so amazing. I mean it's either soaked with rain or soaked with sweat right!?
My Friday night ritual is go put shorts and a t-shirt on, and take my hammock out by the rocks. It's right by the ocean so I get 3 of my favorite things: listening to the ocean, watching the stars and laying in my hammock! It's so relaxing. Usually Alise and Damien and/or Tony come join me and we just chill and talk. We decided to wait and watch the moon rise over the water. So by the time we were ready to go to bed it was around midnight. We walked back to our apartment and the door was locked and neither of our roommates were there! Neither of us had our keys so we had no idea what to do. Long story short we didn't get into our room till 2am and didn't get to bed till after 2:30am. Damien had to bang really loudly on a lot of people's doors! We found out Lauren was spending the night in the hospital because she was sick and Kara had decided to sleep in the AC in the library, but she didn't have her keys. We debated whether or not to wake up the principal, but none of us wanted to and it didn't sound like a very good idea anyway. We ended up waking up the accountant who is sort of the vice-principal now and he was cool about it. I think we scared him though! hahaha Ohhh....so now I'm super tired from Friday night.
So I napped Sabbath afternoon and watched one of the most amazing sunsets ever. The clouds are just so incredible here. Then we watched Up at the principal's house. I swear the kid or "small mailman" in that movie looks EXACTLY like one of my students! (Of course my student is darker) but they look the same in the face.
This morning we went and talked with a guy on the island who does SCUBA certs. I've heard he's the best in the islands and I'm SUPER excited about diving!! Oh I can't wait. And I think I'm starting to get the courage up to try surfing again...we'll see!
It's really just amazing what God is doing here at the school and for all of us SMs. I usually wake up right before the sun is rising to pray and read a little bit, and as I was flipping to where I'm reading in Psalms I came across a verse that I had underlined. Psalm 46:5,10 - "God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved; God shall help her, just at the break of dawn. Be still, and know that I am God." The first verse just really reassured me that God was going to be with me. I can't teach these kids by myself! Without God working through me they are not going to learn anything and I would lose my patience with them for sure. The second verse reminded me to listen for God's voice. So often I just pray asking for this and that or thanking God for everything, but I don't bother to listen to what He has to say. Thank goodness God understands our simple human nature.
Wow I love Sabbath. More than ever before I think. I am less busy than at Southern but it's a lot more high stress, so the Sabbath is a welcome necessity. It's so nice to relax on Friday afternoon and take a good long cold shower. Plus I try to look slightly nicer for vespers. Sometimes I wear my hair down and put on a little eyeliner. It's the only way I feel dressed up because I always have to wear skirts! And I always wear my hair up at school because it's way to hot otherwise. I was just thinking how ridiculous I'm going to look trying to walk in heels when I get back! hahaha
Teaching is going well. I gave my first social studies, Bible and science tests! I have to make them myself so I feel quite accomplished afterwards...except when some kids are failing. hahaha My students are pretty well-behaved overall. My classroom is as hot as it's ever been, but I'm used to the continual sweat flow. I love love LOVE it when it rains! (except when I'm wearing a white shirt) I don't even care that I'm getting soaked because it feels so amazing. I mean it's either soaked with rain or soaked with sweat right!?
My Friday night ritual is go put shorts and a t-shirt on, and take my hammock out by the rocks. It's right by the ocean so I get 3 of my favorite things: listening to the ocean, watching the stars and laying in my hammock! It's so relaxing. Usually Alise and Damien and/or Tony come join me and we just chill and talk. We decided to wait and watch the moon rise over the water. So by the time we were ready to go to bed it was around midnight. We walked back to our apartment and the door was locked and neither of our roommates were there! Neither of us had our keys so we had no idea what to do. Long story short we didn't get into our room till 2am and didn't get to bed till after 2:30am. Damien had to bang really loudly on a lot of people's doors! We found out Lauren was spending the night in the hospital because she was sick and Kara had decided to sleep in the AC in the library, but she didn't have her keys. We debated whether or not to wake up the principal, but none of us wanted to and it didn't sound like a very good idea anyway. We ended up waking up the accountant who is sort of the vice-principal now and he was cool about it. I think we scared him though! hahaha Ohhh....so now I'm super tired from Friday night.
So I napped Sabbath afternoon and watched one of the most amazing sunsets ever. The clouds are just so incredible here. Then we watched Up at the principal's house. I swear the kid or "small mailman" in that movie looks EXACTLY like one of my students! (Of course my student is darker) but they look the same in the face.
This morning we went and talked with a guy on the island who does SCUBA certs. I've heard he's the best in the islands and I'm SUPER excited about diving!! Oh I can't wait. And I think I'm starting to get the courage up to try surfing again...we'll see!
It's really just amazing what God is doing here at the school and for all of us SMs. I usually wake up right before the sun is rising to pray and read a little bit, and as I was flipping to where I'm reading in Psalms I came across a verse that I had underlined. Psalm 46:5,10 - "God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved; God shall help her, just at the break of dawn. Be still, and know that I am God." The first verse just really reassured me that God was going to be with me. I can't teach these kids by myself! Without God working through me they are not going to learn anything and I would lose my patience with them for sure. The second verse reminded me to listen for God's voice. So often I just pray asking for this and that or thanking God for everything, but I don't bother to listen to what He has to say. Thank goodness God understands our simple human nature.
Friday, September 4, 2009
I miss Southern!!
So last Sabbath I was thinking about Southern starting...it's so weird. It's slightly depressing because I like school and I miss my friends a lot. I don't want them to have fun without me! But that's selfish and I know God needs me here. Saturday night a bunch of us went and got ice cream and then learned this hilarious game called "Bunny Bunny." I laughed till it hurt! I love it when that happens. I could barely breathe. :)
Sunday a group of us took a 30 minute boat ride to a little island. Nobody lives there, but people take day trips. It was so beautiful! The water was so many different shades of blue and there was even a beach! That's one thing I miss. We have the ocean in our backyard but no beach. Just rocks. There was a floating dock with a diving board and slide, so we played all day. There was a crashed plane in the water not too far from the beach so we went snorkeling around it and a couple guys even swam through it!! We had lunch there and napped in some hammocks for awhile. Then we went to this really cool tree that grew over and into the water a little bit and went snorkeling some more. Then we threw a football around on the beach for awhile. I am going to miss intramurals so much! Oh and fun times! I love fun times... I feel like I definitely don't get enough exercise here. I got burned a little bit too. Especially on my head! I had my hair in 2 french braids so my part in the middle got burned...hahahaha
The education direector for Guam-Micronesia came to visit our school. She visited all the classrooms and took pictures. She said she had only been to Pohnpei and Majuro, but if she had to choose she'd come to Majuro!! She really liked how we were right on the ocean. It really is beautiful. I think I take it for granted, or else I just forget because I'm so hot. hahahaha
Thursday was an interesting day. It was going well till about 2:45pm when I had the kids start cleaning up for the end of the day. Two of my boys started hitting each other so I had to take them to the principal's office. Then I finally got everyone settled down for prayer. I have a different student have prayer every day even though they all hate it. It was one of the hitting boy's turn to pray, but of course he didn't want to. I said, "Ok we're going to stay here until Doughton prays." So all the kids started telling him to hurry up and he got mad and cussed out the whole class. Then I had to go straight to gymnastics till 5:30pm....boy was that a long day.
But we did go to get internet last night which was nice. I had a big salad. When we got back it was pouring rain so me and Alise decided to go run around in it because it felt so good after a hot sweaty day. But of course by the time we got outside it had stopped. But the breeze was amazing! So we decided to go sit on the rocks and watch the lightning in the distance. It was so incredible. After that we watched Father of the Bride and stayed up waaay too late. But now it's Friday and we got to sleep in this morning because there's no school so I'm really happy!!
Hopefully this afternoon I'll get a nice chunk of grading out of the way. And hopefully on Sunday we'll get to go do something fun again!
Sunday a group of us took a 30 minute boat ride to a little island. Nobody lives there, but people take day trips. It was so beautiful! The water was so many different shades of blue and there was even a beach! That's one thing I miss. We have the ocean in our backyard but no beach. Just rocks. There was a floating dock with a diving board and slide, so we played all day. There was a crashed plane in the water not too far from the beach so we went snorkeling around it and a couple guys even swam through it!! We had lunch there and napped in some hammocks for awhile. Then we went to this really cool tree that grew over and into the water a little bit and went snorkeling some more. Then we threw a football around on the beach for awhile. I am going to miss intramurals so much! Oh and fun times! I love fun times... I feel like I definitely don't get enough exercise here. I got burned a little bit too. Especially on my head! I had my hair in 2 french braids so my part in the middle got burned...hahahaha
The education direector for Guam-Micronesia came to visit our school. She visited all the classrooms and took pictures. She said she had only been to Pohnpei and Majuro, but if she had to choose she'd come to Majuro!! She really liked how we were right on the ocean. It really is beautiful. I think I take it for granted, or else I just forget because I'm so hot. hahahaha
Thursday was an interesting day. It was going well till about 2:45pm when I had the kids start cleaning up for the end of the day. Two of my boys started hitting each other so I had to take them to the principal's office. Then I finally got everyone settled down for prayer. I have a different student have prayer every day even though they all hate it. It was one of the hitting boy's turn to pray, but of course he didn't want to. I said, "Ok we're going to stay here until Doughton prays." So all the kids started telling him to hurry up and he got mad and cussed out the whole class. Then I had to go straight to gymnastics till 5:30pm....boy was that a long day.
But we did go to get internet last night which was nice. I had a big salad. When we got back it was pouring rain so me and Alise decided to go run around in it because it felt so good after a hot sweaty day. But of course by the time we got outside it had stopped. But the breeze was amazing! So we decided to go sit on the rocks and watch the lightning in the distance. It was so incredible. After that we watched Father of the Bride and stayed up waaay too late. But now it's Friday and we got to sleep in this morning because there's no school so I'm really happy!!
Hopefully this afternoon I'll get a nice chunk of grading out of the way. And hopefully on Sunday we'll get to go do something fun again!
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