La La Land

It's Sabbath afternoon. Boy do I LOVE Sabbath! Well here's news about the last week and a half.

Last Thursday we had our "fun day" or picnic for the kids. Grades 4-8 went to the beach by the airport. It was really nice to interact with my students outside the classroom setting. I mean obviously I love them so much already, but this was even MORE FUN! I had girls from all grades hanging on me basically all day. And I got a little sunburnt but it was well worth it. You can't even really understand how much the kids can grow on you until you experience it yourself. It's so incredible!

Friday we took 2 boat trips to Callalan (sp?) which is an outer island owned by Dennis the wellness center guy. I think it's the second to last in the chain. Anyway we didn't get there till late afternoon (of course...island time). And we had to go in this little tiny boat that went so slow. It took about an hour. But we got there and it was so beautiful! Beach....mmm I wish we had beach at the school. But still I can't complain---the ocean is right there lol. To our dismay we discovered 2 high school students somehow came along. So all the teachers went down the beach in this big tree where we all hung our hammocks. It was pretty sweet. The stars were so brilliant and it was so peaceful by the water. Boy am I going to miss that!

We were all a little concerned since Lenney had told us we couldn't swim on Sabbath. But Sabbath morning I woke up to Lenney making a lot of noise and pointing toward the water. What the junk? Hahaha There were sharks in the shallows and he was telling the guys to jump in after them. I guess that solved the swimming issue. (Oh yeah the girls all got to wear tank tops and short shorts. It was AWESOME!) A couple of the guys had built a hut in the woods and they decided they wanted to play capture the flag that night. Well....I was defending our flag when I saw someone in the shadows. (We played by moonlight.) It ended up being Zac and I chased him down the beach. Apparently he didn't see this palm tree that was laying across the beach. He hit it full speed at hip level and flipped over it onto his back. Poor guy! HAHAHAHA It was really hilarious looking but he actually hurt himself pretty bad. He could barely walk and was in so much pain. Then he's been sick all this week with congestion, occasional fever. And early this morning (3AMish) he went to the hospital with a fever over 105! So pray that he kicks this thing.

Sunday morning I heard was the best time to go snorkeling (and supposedly it's better than Jeh). So me and Jon decided to check it out. It was so beautiful and clear! Then we tried to get back and it was extremely shallow and full of color. Quite treacherous! Hahaha Jon was scooting on his butt for the longest time. We broke off so many coral and scratched ourselves. I was so glad to reach the beach. Then later in the day when we were waiting for the boat me and Katrina decided to blow up Dennis's little two-person tube. There was also a kayak so we decided to tie it to the kayak and have Tony pull us. He pulled us quite a ways out and it was a lot of fun. Then we got stuck in between currents and couldn't get back lol. I had put 50 spf on twice but I felt my shoulder burning. It was funny for awhile...then it got annoying. The kayak kept filling up with water LOL so we were all trying to take turns emptying it and paddling back. Poor Katrina got knocked out by a big wave! Finally Alise came to our rescue bringing me my water shoes so we could walk it back together (because it was shallow enough to touch between waves but was covered in sharp coral). I was even more happy to reach shore this time! We felt like such idiots out there HAHAHA.

That night when we got back we all showered, did our hair and went out to eat. I think that's the longest I've gone without showering. 3 days! It was pretty awesome. We went to Tide Table and there was a REAL Christmas tree! We all took pictures by it :)

This week I didn't get a lot of work done. I was tired from the weekend, plus we had Friday off (Gospel Day or something...) so we all just kind of lazed through the week. I think I've kind of checked out for Christmas break already.

Our coordinator from Southern came Monday night and left on Wednesday. It was nice to see a familiar face and have some encouragement from SAU. She took us out to eat Tuesday at MIR and we just talked. It was fun. We continue to remember the Wolcott family here, and also hope that other students aren't discouraged from being future SMs after this whole experience.

It was super nice to have the day off yesterday. We went to the wellness center for breakfast. Then I did a tiny bit of grading. But I was sooo tired. Most people weren't very motivated to do anything. But I did get all my Christmas shopping for my family done! It was a lot of fun actually. :) Tonight we're going to have a swing dancing party in the art/music room. Should be good times! Well I'm off to write some letters. Happy Sabbath everyone.

1 John 4:4