It is strange to think that everyone at home is having their Thanksgiving dinner right about....now. And it is weird to think that I would be in Georgia celebrating and feasting on deliciousness with my family! But although I miss the great food, I have so much to be thankful for here!
Wednesday night we had our own Thanksgiving dinner (since the power was out on Thursday). It was so delicious. We pushed all the tables together in the library and my housemate Alise made a lot of the food. UHHHH it was soo good!!
Yesterday we had our "fun day" or picnic with the kids. 4th-8th grades went to the beach by the airport. I had so much fun playing in the water with all the kids. It's nice to interact with them and NOT be in the classroom. I got burnt on my face but that's ok.
Today we're packing up to go camping on an outer island. Hopefully it doesn't rain! It's going to be nice to get away from campus for awhile. Speaking of which the second group of us is about to leave soon. More about this weekend later! :)
Friday, November 27, 2009
Saturday, November 21, 2009
The Invisible Battle
I forgot to mention in my last blog that I went muu muu shopping! Last Friday me and Alise went to New Hope where they sell muu muus for $6.50. We both got 2 for ourselves. I never thought I'd be so excited about a muu muu! They are actually quite comfortable and very practical for the hot weather here. I'm going to upload pictures soon so I'll try to include some of us rockin the muu muu.
Last Saturday night Dennis (who runs the wellness center) invited us over for a free dinner. It was sooo good! There were different soups and homemade bread and of course the amazing chocolate frozen bananas. He was gonna let us watch a movie but it took awhile to download and get setup so we ended up playing a bunch of goofy games. AND we weighed ourselves....this is the most I've ever weighed in my entire life! Hopefully the most I ever will too....man I'm glad it's volleyball season.
Speaking of which we had our first "practice." But grades 5-12 all met so it was a bit crowded. We just wanted to see who would show up and practice a few drills. I'm pretty excited about my girls. They're pretty good so I don't have to worry about teaching basic skills. I feel a little bit of pressure though because they've won the last 3 or 4 years or something crazy! I'm coaching with Ben though so it's gonna be fun for sure.
This past Tuesday was Presidents' Day here which means NO SCHOOL! Oh it was amazing. We woke up early for breakfast then came back and went to bed. I leisurely finished all my school stuff, and then it was pouring in the afternoon and we went and played in the rain. Too bad we can't have every Tuesday off. They are seriously the hardest day of the week for me...I don't know what it is.
The craziness started on Thursday. Our power went out which meant no electricity for the fan I finally got in my classroom (oh yeah!), or for cooking on the stove at lunch. There was also no water which meant no showers and no flushing the toilet. YIKES! (haha I'm not sure which was worse for us.) Anyway it kind of sucked at first, but then the guys couldn't get on their computers or play video games, so they hung out with us all night! We made a fire and people made food over it. We decided to do pancakes lol. All we had to put on them was jelly though.
After I had gotten into bed I heard people talking excitedly outside. Of course I had to know what was going on. Apparently there was a prison break on the island (there's a prison here?) and 12 guys got out. By this time all but 3 were rounded up. I wasn't too scared because I feel safe here on campus, but HAHAHA Zac was definitely scared. He is so funny. Him and Rob "patrolled" with a baseball bat and fishing spear. Much of it was for our entertainment, but they claimed the next morning that they actually got up every 30 minutes to check. LOL
The next morning we headed to the wellness center for breakfast. That's when we heard the tragic news. Dennis had gotten word that a girl from Southern---Kirsten Wolcott---had been killed on the island of Yap. I honestly am not exactly sure where that is in relation to here, but it hit home because that's still in Micronesia, and she was one of our own. I was completely in shock. I still don't think I've wrapped my mind around it. It's so surreal. I've heard that she was raped and stabbed to death. Why? We can never know. But I just trust that God sees the big picture when we cannot. He would never want something like this to happen. But we live in a sinful world, and the devil is out to get us in any way he can. And he knows all our weaknesses. This is why it is so SO important that we continually strengthen our connection with God through prayer. The invisible battle---the Great Controversy---is as real as ever, and it is so dangerous when we forget about it. We live thinking this world is our home and shove the knowledge of Jesus' soon return in the back of our minds. I know I've been guilty of that. This is why we MUST continue to pray. Pray for ourselves and for each other. And live every day as if Jesus was coming back. Because He is!!
Last Saturday night Dennis (who runs the wellness center) invited us over for a free dinner. It was sooo good! There were different soups and homemade bread and of course the amazing chocolate frozen bananas. He was gonna let us watch a movie but it took awhile to download and get setup so we ended up playing a bunch of goofy games. AND we weighed ourselves....this is the most I've ever weighed in my entire life! Hopefully the most I ever will too....man I'm glad it's volleyball season.
Speaking of which we had our first "practice." But grades 5-12 all met so it was a bit crowded. We just wanted to see who would show up and practice a few drills. I'm pretty excited about my girls. They're pretty good so I don't have to worry about teaching basic skills. I feel a little bit of pressure though because they've won the last 3 or 4 years or something crazy! I'm coaching with Ben though so it's gonna be fun for sure.
This past Tuesday was Presidents' Day here which means NO SCHOOL! Oh it was amazing. We woke up early for breakfast then came back and went to bed. I leisurely finished all my school stuff, and then it was pouring in the afternoon and we went and played in the rain. Too bad we can't have every Tuesday off. They are seriously the hardest day of the week for me...I don't know what it is.
The craziness started on Thursday. Our power went out which meant no electricity for the fan I finally got in my classroom (oh yeah!), or for cooking on the stove at lunch. There was also no water which meant no showers and no flushing the toilet. YIKES! (haha I'm not sure which was worse for us.) Anyway it kind of sucked at first, but then the guys couldn't get on their computers or play video games, so they hung out with us all night! We made a fire and people made food over it. We decided to do pancakes lol. All we had to put on them was jelly though.
After I had gotten into bed I heard people talking excitedly outside. Of course I had to know what was going on. Apparently there was a prison break on the island (there's a prison here?) and 12 guys got out. By this time all but 3 were rounded up. I wasn't too scared because I feel safe here on campus, but HAHAHA Zac was definitely scared. He is so funny. Him and Rob "patrolled" with a baseball bat and fishing spear. Much of it was for our entertainment, but they claimed the next morning that they actually got up every 30 minutes to check. LOL
The next morning we headed to the wellness center for breakfast. That's when we heard the tragic news. Dennis had gotten word that a girl from Southern---Kirsten Wolcott---had been killed on the island of Yap. I honestly am not exactly sure where that is in relation to here, but it hit home because that's still in Micronesia, and she was one of our own. I was completely in shock. I still don't think I've wrapped my mind around it. It's so surreal. I've heard that she was raped and stabbed to death. Why? We can never know. But I just trust that God sees the big picture when we cannot. He would never want something like this to happen. But we live in a sinful world, and the devil is out to get us in any way he can. And he knows all our weaknesses. This is why it is so SO important that we continually strengthen our connection with God through prayer. The invisible battle---the Great Controversy---is as real as ever, and it is so dangerous when we forget about it. We live thinking this world is our home and shove the knowledge of Jesus' soon return in the back of our minds. I know I've been guilty of that. This is why we MUST continue to pray. Pray for ourselves and for each other. And live every day as if Jesus was coming back. Because He is!!
Saturday, November 14, 2009
late night swim
Every Wednesday night a group of us drive to Rita which is about 10 minutes away. We go to Angie's house (a lady who goes to our church) which has AC and is always so nice and clean. Kids come and we sing songs with them and then we always act out a story for them. Me and Rob have become the weekly story tellers. Sometimes I think it's more entertaining for us than the kids! Last week we did Esther, and this week we did Elijah vs. the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel. Of course we put our own little touch on the stories...like Esther won a baking contest to become queen. :)
Last Friday night was pretty exciting. There are some crazy guys here and after vespers we were all out looking at the moon over the water. A couple of them came out in their boxers. We had a good laugh. Then 3 of them climbed down the rocks and went swimming...leaving their underwear on the rocks. HA! A bunch of us went and grabbed them and ran away. HAHAHAHAHAHA Stupid boys....luckily this is a trashy island. They grabbed random bowls, plastic, rocks, etc. to cover themselves as they ran back to their apartment. Who could blame them though. The guys in that apartment had a terrible day the Wednesday before. First they had money stolen out of all of their wallets in their apartment during school. Then they went surfing and screwed up their boards because the waves were so huge...
Monday this week my computer arrived! I was so happy. It took exactly 2 weeks from the day I sent it till the day it returned. Now I'm super paranoid about it. haha This week was week of prayer. On Tuesday morning when we went to the chapel it was sunny. Then it got cloudy. Then it started raining. But my class had the closing song so I didn't want to run out. As we're singing it starts POURING! I wasn't worried about my apartment because we closed the windows. But all 4 windows in my classroom were wide open and the rain was coming down at the perfect slant. Lenney held the school in the chapel while it continued to downpour, but I knew the longer I waited the wetter my classroom was getting. I ran outside and my contacts blew back in my head from the wind. My shoes flew off but I left them behind and kept running. I was SOAKED! I stormed into my classroom and it looked like someone was spraying a hose in the window. There were puddles on the desks, benches and the floor. And the textbooks were completely drenched. Luckily the library was free so we could have class in there. I didn't even consider changing. It felt so good to not be sweaty for once.
We've started a Friday morning tradition where we walk to the wellness center before morning worship to eat breakfast. It is so good and so healthy! It's only $4 too. Mmm they have oatmeal with bananas and pancakes. I've gotten so used to eating my pancakes with honey. Then after chapel we walk there again to buy frozen bananas (covered in chocolate and peanut butter and nuts on a stick).
We played volleyball a couple more times this week. I love it! It feels so good to be playing something. I feel more confident about coaching the girls now. Me and Ben are going to start tryouts next week. It's going to be interesting.
Pray for us and our principal! He is not really a good principal lol. He is so frustrating. It's ok though I love the group of SMs that are here.
Last Friday night was pretty exciting. There are some crazy guys here and after vespers we were all out looking at the moon over the water. A couple of them came out in their boxers. We had a good laugh. Then 3 of them climbed down the rocks and went swimming...leaving their underwear on the rocks. HA! A bunch of us went and grabbed them and ran away. HAHAHAHAHAHA Stupid boys....luckily this is a trashy island. They grabbed random bowls, plastic, rocks, etc. to cover themselves as they ran back to their apartment. Who could blame them though. The guys in that apartment had a terrible day the Wednesday before. First they had money stolen out of all of their wallets in their apartment during school. Then they went surfing and screwed up their boards because the waves were so huge...
Monday this week my computer arrived! I was so happy. It took exactly 2 weeks from the day I sent it till the day it returned. Now I'm super paranoid about it. haha This week was week of prayer. On Tuesday morning when we went to the chapel it was sunny. Then it got cloudy. Then it started raining. But my class had the closing song so I didn't want to run out. As we're singing it starts POURING! I wasn't worried about my apartment because we closed the windows. But all 4 windows in my classroom were wide open and the rain was coming down at the perfect slant. Lenney held the school in the chapel while it continued to downpour, but I knew the longer I waited the wetter my classroom was getting. I ran outside and my contacts blew back in my head from the wind. My shoes flew off but I left them behind and kept running. I was SOAKED! I stormed into my classroom and it looked like someone was spraying a hose in the window. There were puddles on the desks, benches and the floor. And the textbooks were completely drenched. Luckily the library was free so we could have class in there. I didn't even consider changing. It felt so good to not be sweaty for once.
We've started a Friday morning tradition where we walk to the wellness center before morning worship to eat breakfast. It is so good and so healthy! It's only $4 too. Mmm they have oatmeal with bananas and pancakes. I've gotten so used to eating my pancakes with honey. Then after chapel we walk there again to buy frozen bananas (covered in chocolate and peanut butter and nuts on a stick).
We played volleyball a couple more times this week. I love it! It feels so good to be playing something. I feel more confident about coaching the girls now. Me and Ben are going to start tryouts next week. It's going to be interesting.
Pray for us and our principal! He is not really a good principal lol. He is so frustrating. It's ok though I love the group of SMs that are here.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Parent-Teacher Conferences....ooh boy
To my plethora of faithful readers --- my apologies for being so inconsistent with my posts! I would like to attribute the unfaithfulness of this past week to my unfortunate state of computerlessness. Yes as you know I cracked my lovely computer screen, so I mailed it home on the 25th. I found out from my mom that it is fixed and on its way back now! I can NOT wait for our reunion!
So I love fast card games, which makes me sad that I have waited over 20 years to discover Dutch Blitz! Now I want to play all the time. Lucky for me there are other people here who love it too. (Note to my family: Can you believe there's a GUY here who is really good?? hahaha) This note has nothing to do with island life really...it's just something fun I've been doing recently.
I am now certified to scuba dive! I passed the written test last week, and just yesterday me and my totally AWESOME scuba buddy, Katrina, went out on our own with Rob and Jon. It was not the best for visibility, but it was one of the funnest dives I've gone on. It was definitely scary at first being out on our own, but it was so exciting too! We went down into a ship...it was scary at first but really cool.
Wow...parent teacher conferences. A new experience for a student turned teacher without any training! Our principal said maybe only 5 or 6 parents would show. Yeah right! I went 17 for 22! At least I wasn't bored though. We had a half day so we got out at 12pm. Then we were in our classrooms from 4-7pm. I felt a little intimidated because I didn't know how the parents would react to grades (or to me). Some just wanted to pick up the report card, others had some advice on how I should teach. But overall it went well! I was excited because I felt like I would be able to understand my kids more once I met their parents. If that isn't the truth!
So...I really can't believe it's November already. It's been almost 3 months. It feels like I've been here much longer than that and known these people a lifetime. The church choir has grown in number due to increasing SM participation. (Not me of course! Come on guys...) But almost ALL the SMs are in it now. They sound much better I'll admit! lol
This last Sabbath I started reading Redeeming Love. Oh it's such a good book! I used to read all the time and this is the first book I've really read for enjoyment in years I think. I can hardly put it down. It's a novel about the story of Hosea. So incredible.
Saturday night was Halloween and also Katrina's birthday. I do have pictures but I'll have to wait till my computer comes back to post on facebook. We had a bonfire/costume party. It was pretty rad. We had a cat pinata (get it?) and ended up in a frosting fight so we all got in the water and swam some. Then we sat around outside telling scary stories, some real some not.
This week our principal has been gone to the outer islands. Party! No but seriously our morning meetings have been so much more concise and to the point. It's amazing!
I've gotten more exercise this week! I feel so inactive here. Monday it was rainy and after school we went to the bridge. We played off the pier in a whirlpool. It was crazy! Then we jumped off the bridge several times. Last night a bunch of us played volleyball! You get REALLY sweaty here...but I loved every second of it. We played like 7 games and if it had eaten supper I would have played ALL night!
Anyway things are going great! :) Thanks for all your prayers everyone.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Thoughts on being Miss Ley
Well hello friends and family. I apologize for my lack of consistency in keeping you posted on my island life in these past few weeks. I am trying to be better, but lately my work has been taking up a lot of my time! Teaching is quite the challenge. But if you're reading this you probably know I enjoy challenges so it suits me well.
This was quite the work week! 1st quarter grades were due Thursday night at 10:00pm. Being the procrastinator I am I got mine done at 10:05pm. It wasn't a huge deadline though so no worries. I spent many long hours (especially Wed. and Thurs. afternoon) finalizing grades and writing rough drafts of comments on my students' progress. Then of course there was the grueling task of writing names, grades, comments, etc. on each of 22 report cards (one of my students transferred a week or so ago). I never realized how hard it is to write with enough force to make the letters go through each of the 5 pages. Teachers do so much thankless work! Wow...my fingers, hand and even elbow were sore. I had to trace everything at least twice. But it felt so good to finally be done. Then we had a half-day Friday (what would we do without them!) and after school I finished ALL my lesson plans and grading for next week. Incredible! This is the first time that has happened. I'll be completely free on Sunday. We're going for another dive and to the bridge to jump off it and play around.
Speaking of diving! We went on a really sweet dive last Sunday. But first let me tell you about Saturday night. There is a lady here named Sylvia whose kids go to our school. She is so hospitable to us girls. She invited us over to make Marshallese plates! It was pouring rain so we got soaked on the way over there, but luckily her house is right outside the school gate. We all sat on the floor and she already had the palm branches ready. You split them down the middle and cut till there's only 5 fronds on each of 2 parts. Then you weave them in and out of each other and tie off the ends. It's pretty neat! I have pictures I'll post on facebook later.
Anyway Sunday we went for another dive and practiced buddy breathing and trading equipment underwater. I'm definitely starting to feel more comfortable with it now, and my ear didn't give me hardly any trouble. We saw tons of jellyfish again, and this time we got to go swim in and around 2 ships! It was so cool. It's such a different world down there.
Anyway it's been a pretty great weekend. We had fairly cool weather (so I'd say it was in the 80s?) so I straightened my hair! I felt sort of nice for once. Haha It's kind of sad I know. I probably already mentioned the time all of us girls put jeans on. It felt so strange...like I actually had legs. I'm so used to wearing skirts now. I thought I'd never say that!
Teaching is going well. I pray every day that my students see Jesus in me...and that maybe they can learn something haha. Really though I feel so unequipped to teach them, plus the fact that we have such limited resources here. We had a copier the first half of the quarter and the last few weeks it's been broken. One is supposed to be in the mail but....you know how it goes. I think God knew exactly what he was doing when he gave me 6th grade. They are such a great class! Definitely rowdy sometimes though. The reason I say that is because all the 7th grade boys are in love with me. One day they threw a rose in my classroom. And the junior boys apparently were chanting my name in the high school halls?? It makes me feel very awkward! haha I must say though I'm getting used to being Miss Ley. It almost seems strange to hear someone call me Nicole! And it's weird if I ever write my name. Just think how many times a college student writes their name in one day....and here I am never writing my name! Instead I've memorized the first and last names of 22 kids.
In closing I just want to say that I've made some really incredible friends here. They make this whole experience that much better. And I'm still loving every last minute of it!
This was quite the work week! 1st quarter grades were due Thursday night at 10:00pm. Being the procrastinator I am I got mine done at 10:05pm. It wasn't a huge deadline though so no worries. I spent many long hours (especially Wed. and Thurs. afternoon) finalizing grades and writing rough drafts of comments on my students' progress. Then of course there was the grueling task of writing names, grades, comments, etc. on each of 22 report cards (one of my students transferred a week or so ago). I never realized how hard it is to write with enough force to make the letters go through each of the 5 pages. Teachers do so much thankless work! Wow...my fingers, hand and even elbow were sore. I had to trace everything at least twice. But it felt so good to finally be done. Then we had a half-day Friday (what would we do without them!) and after school I finished ALL my lesson plans and grading for next week. Incredible! This is the first time that has happened. I'll be completely free on Sunday. We're going for another dive and to the bridge to jump off it and play around.
Speaking of diving! We went on a really sweet dive last Sunday. But first let me tell you about Saturday night. There is a lady here named Sylvia whose kids go to our school. She is so hospitable to us girls. She invited us over to make Marshallese plates! It was pouring rain so we got soaked on the way over there, but luckily her house is right outside the school gate. We all sat on the floor and she already had the palm branches ready. You split them down the middle and cut till there's only 5 fronds on each of 2 parts. Then you weave them in and out of each other and tie off the ends. It's pretty neat! I have pictures I'll post on facebook later.
Anyway Sunday we went for another dive and practiced buddy breathing and trading equipment underwater. I'm definitely starting to feel more comfortable with it now, and my ear didn't give me hardly any trouble. We saw tons of jellyfish again, and this time we got to go swim in and around 2 ships! It was so cool. It's such a different world down there.
Anyway it's been a pretty great weekend. We had fairly cool weather (so I'd say it was in the 80s?) so I straightened my hair! I felt sort of nice for once. Haha It's kind of sad I know. I probably already mentioned the time all of us girls put jeans on. It felt so strange...like I actually had legs. I'm so used to wearing skirts now. I thought I'd never say that!
Teaching is going well. I pray every day that my students see Jesus in me...and that maybe they can learn something haha. Really though I feel so unequipped to teach them, plus the fact that we have such limited resources here. We had a copier the first half of the quarter and the last few weeks it's been broken. One is supposed to be in the mail but....you know how it goes. I think God knew exactly what he was doing when he gave me 6th grade. They are such a great class! Definitely rowdy sometimes though. The reason I say that is because all the 7th grade boys are in love with me. One day they threw a rose in my classroom. And the junior boys apparently were chanting my name in the high school halls?? It makes me feel very awkward! haha I must say though I'm getting used to being Miss Ley. It almost seems strange to hear someone call me Nicole! And it's weird if I ever write my name. Just think how many times a college student writes their name in one day....and here I am never writing my name! Instead I've memorized the first and last names of 22 kids.
In closing I just want to say that I've made some really incredible friends here. They make this whole experience that much better. And I'm still loving every last minute of it!
Sunday, October 18, 2009
island life...
October 7 - People say some hilarious stuff around here. We decided to start putting Post-It's with funny quotes on our wall. A couple of the girls also started a warm fuzzy board in the AV room (our staff lounge basically). It's been a big hit actually. People love it. I hope it keeps going.
October 9 - I held my first party for my class. They get graded on how well they behave each day on a scale of 1 to 10. When they reach 200 they get a party. So after lunch we went in the library and watched Monsters vs. Aliens, and all the kids brought the food for the party. The girls made up plates for everyone with pizza, cookies, chips, popcorn, drinks, etc. Afterwards we went outside and I took pictures with the kids. They can be so rambunctious but I love them so much. I hope I can come back and see them graduate from high school!
October 14 - Shari's 21st birthday. We showered, dressed up and went to Tide Table for dinner. I wished that I could wear jeans so bad! Maybe next time I'll wear them under my skirt haha. After dinner we went to the library and watched Surf's Up. The library has AC so I wore jeans in there. It felt so weird...
October 16 - Ben spoke for vespers and did a really good job. In part of his talk he mentioned how God sees us the way we see our students. We don't give them everything they want or make life easy because we don't love them. We do it because we do love them, and yet sometimes they're so hard headed and they don't understand. Afterwards we had another bonfire. (Yeah I know it's hot what are we thinking.) It felt good because there was a strong breeze and we didn't sit too close. Me and Alise made Damien his first ever s'more! The chocolate was sooo expensive but we decided to splurge.
Last night we went to Sylvia's house and she taught us how to make Marshallese plates out of palm branches. It was so neat! I'll try to post some pictures of it soon.
Thank you for your prayers everyone! The island is amazing and I'm loving every second I have here. It's so bloody hot but I don't even care. I'm having the time of my life.
Isaiah 26:3 - "You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You."
October 9 - I held my first party for my class. They get graded on how well they behave each day on a scale of 1 to 10. When they reach 200 they get a party. So after lunch we went in the library and watched Monsters vs. Aliens, and all the kids brought the food for the party. The girls made up plates for everyone with pizza, cookies, chips, popcorn, drinks, etc. Afterwards we went outside and I took pictures with the kids. They can be so rambunctious but I love them so much. I hope I can come back and see them graduate from high school!
October 14 - Shari's 21st birthday. We showered, dressed up and went to Tide Table for dinner. I wished that I could wear jeans so bad! Maybe next time I'll wear them under my skirt haha. After dinner we went to the library and watched Surf's Up. The library has AC so I wore jeans in there. It felt so weird...
October 16 - Ben spoke for vespers and did a really good job. In part of his talk he mentioned how God sees us the way we see our students. We don't give them everything they want or make life easy because we don't love them. We do it because we do love them, and yet sometimes they're so hard headed and they don't understand. Afterwards we had another bonfire. (Yeah I know it's hot what are we thinking.) It felt good because there was a strong breeze and we didn't sit too close. Me and Alise made Damien his first ever s'more! The chocolate was sooo expensive but we decided to splurge.
Last night we went to Sylvia's house and she taught us how to make Marshallese plates out of palm branches. It was so neat! I'll try to post some pictures of it soon.
Thank you for your prayers everyone! The island is amazing and I'm loving every second I have here. It's so bloody hot but I don't even care. I'm having the time of my life.
Isaiah 26:3 - "You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You."
I love it here!
I realize it's been about 4 weeks since I've written. That's probably due to the fact that I'm soaking up every minute here so much I've hardly been on the internet! But here is a brief (yeah right) update on the last month:
September 25 - This Friday we had no school because of Manit Day. (I think it's like a labor day maybe? I don't know I forget things.) Everybody gets together and sells food and people/kids do performances. So our gymnastics team was going to do a show there. It was supposed to start at 1pm, but it was pouring rain so it got delayed some. Then we were supposed to perform 2nd, but 3 other groups went ahead of us...and well you know how island time is. And apparently island performances too. But we finally got to go. And although the rain had let up, the hot, tropical sun beat down mercilessly.The show went good though. The guy coaches tossed me and I did a flare! It made me happy to do something gymnastical.
September 28 - Me and 3 other SMs started a little morning worship group. We go out and watch the sunrise and read our Bibles, pray, etc. If we read something cool we can share it with the group. It's a pretty amazing thing and it helps us keep each other accountable. The sunrise over the water is so incredible each morning. I'm going to miss that so much!
September 29 - At recess I'm massaging Shari's shoulders when I look left in mid-sentence and some lady starts breastfeeding out in the open. hahaha It was so hard to not scream and continue talking normally. LOL
September 30 - TSUNAMI WARNING! Some kids' parents actually came and took them out of school. Apparently we're supposed to go to the second story of the gym if there's a tsunami...hahaha really? If there's a tsunami we're toast. We live on a sandbar you can hardly see on a map. But we practiced our "fire drill"/tsunami drill. (The alarm is hitting the gas tank hahaha). Nothing happened all day. Damien and Zac got on the roof of our apartments with their surfboards waiting for the wave of their life I guess hahaha. After school the swells were huge! I just stood on the rocks with my mouth hanging open. Of course the guys went out having the waves of their life beat them to a pulp. It was pretty amazing.
Sad story - My mom sent me a hard cover for my computer to PROTECT it. I put it on and then realized I hadn't wiped the dust off the inside, so I was trying to pry it off to no avail. I stuck my finger between the cover and the outside and pulled (but not too hard because I didn't want to break anything). Then I opened it up to discover I had cracked the screen by pushing from the outside. That's right I'm an idiot. Now I have to ship my computer home (so I'll be computerless for at least a month) and it's going to cost me. I went outside and cried. It was so terrible. But it is just a thing.
By now we've gone on a couple of dives. Today will be our third. The first time we went down about 40 feet. On the way in we got swarmed by a huge school of fish. One swam (haha I almost said flew) into my hand and I screamed into the regulator. (Can't you just imagine??) It was so cool. This last Thursday we went to a different part of the lagoon and saw heaps of jellyfish. Don't worry they're little blue guys that don't sting. We saw a whitish colored ray too. Unfortunately my right ear wouldn't equalize very well so I was in a bit of pain when we got back...I'm really hoping it'll be ok today! It doesn't help being slightly congested. Hopefully the drugs will help. :)
October 3 - Walking back from Payless we heard a little meow. Damien caught a little kitty and now the guys have adopted her. It was really hilarious when Tony had her on his lap and Alise says, "Uhh...I think she's pooping." In the most calm voice imaginable. In seconds Tony is covered in kitty diarrhea. LOL Ohhh I laughed soooo hard. He was amazingly calm about the whole situation.
October 4 - Trip to Laura! This is about a 45 minute drive from our school. The other end of the island and there's beach! We went for a few hours to just play and have fun. We snorkeled some, but the current was really strong, so we spent most of our time throwing the football.
October 5 - World Teacher's Day! We went to a convention they were having for the island teachers. They had a few speakers, but more importantly they had prize drawings! I won a free lunch for 2 at ENRA (MIR). So I was pretty excited. They had cash prizes (one was $200), and free tickets to anywhere in the islands. It was cool seeing other teachers.
Ok this is getting long so I'm going to continue in another blog. :)
September 25 - This Friday we had no school because of Manit Day. (I think it's like a labor day maybe? I don't know I forget things.) Everybody gets together and sells food and people/kids do performances. So our gymnastics team was going to do a show there. It was supposed to start at 1pm, but it was pouring rain so it got delayed some. Then we were supposed to perform 2nd, but 3 other groups went ahead of us...and well you know how island time is. And apparently island performances too. But we finally got to go. And although the rain had let up, the hot, tropical sun beat down mercilessly.The show went good though. The guy coaches tossed me and I did a flare! It made me happy to do something gymnastical.
September 28 - Me and 3 other SMs started a little morning worship group. We go out and watch the sunrise and read our Bibles, pray, etc. If we read something cool we can share it with the group. It's a pretty amazing thing and it helps us keep each other accountable. The sunrise over the water is so incredible each morning. I'm going to miss that so much!
September 29 - At recess I'm massaging Shari's shoulders when I look left in mid-sentence and some lady starts breastfeeding out in the open. hahaha It was so hard to not scream and continue talking normally. LOL
September 30 - TSUNAMI WARNING! Some kids' parents actually came and took them out of school. Apparently we're supposed to go to the second story of the gym if there's a tsunami...hahaha really? If there's a tsunami we're toast. We live on a sandbar you can hardly see on a map. But we practiced our "fire drill"/tsunami drill. (The alarm is hitting the gas tank hahaha). Nothing happened all day. Damien and Zac got on the roof of our apartments with their surfboards waiting for the wave of their life I guess hahaha. After school the swells were huge! I just stood on the rocks with my mouth hanging open. Of course the guys went out having the waves of their life beat them to a pulp. It was pretty amazing.
Sad story - My mom sent me a hard cover for my computer to PROTECT it. I put it on and then realized I hadn't wiped the dust off the inside, so I was trying to pry it off to no avail. I stuck my finger between the cover and the outside and pulled (but not too hard because I didn't want to break anything). Then I opened it up to discover I had cracked the screen by pushing from the outside. That's right I'm an idiot. Now I have to ship my computer home (so I'll be computerless for at least a month) and it's going to cost me. I went outside and cried. It was so terrible. But it is just a thing.
By now we've gone on a couple of dives. Today will be our third. The first time we went down about 40 feet. On the way in we got swarmed by a huge school of fish. One swam (haha I almost said flew) into my hand and I screamed into the regulator. (Can't you just imagine??) It was so cool. This last Thursday we went to a different part of the lagoon and saw heaps of jellyfish. Don't worry they're little blue guys that don't sting. We saw a whitish colored ray too. Unfortunately my right ear wouldn't equalize very well so I was in a bit of pain when we got back...I'm really hoping it'll be ok today! It doesn't help being slightly congested. Hopefully the drugs will help. :)
October 3 - Walking back from Payless we heard a little meow. Damien caught a little kitty and now the guys have adopted her. It was really hilarious when Tony had her on his lap and Alise says, "Uhh...I think she's pooping." In the most calm voice imaginable. In seconds Tony is covered in kitty diarrhea. LOL Ohhh I laughed soooo hard. He was amazingly calm about the whole situation.
October 4 - Trip to Laura! This is about a 45 minute drive from our school. The other end of the island and there's beach! We went for a few hours to just play and have fun. We snorkeled some, but the current was really strong, so we spent most of our time throwing the football.
October 5 - World Teacher's Day! We went to a convention they were having for the island teachers. They had a few speakers, but more importantly they had prize drawings! I won a free lunch for 2 at ENRA (MIR). So I was pretty excited. They had cash prizes (one was $200), and free tickets to anywhere in the islands. It was cool seeing other teachers.
Ok this is getting long so I'm going to continue in another blog. :)
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