Sunday, December 24, 2006
Where's Waldo, I Spy, and Crazy Rummy
Saturday night: As I am writing this time is ticking, but to be sure...I will finish before midnight.. I just had the best time. The guys Jay and Mitch came over again tonight (I know big surprise)…and they made us supper. Which was so fun to watch, Marla and I had to get pictures…many pictures actually…because how often do guys volunteer to make supper? Not too often…although we had to supply them with flour, water, salt and baking soda…but they brought the refried beans and did all the work making tortillas. After we ate Jay and Marla started going through the Where’s Waldo book…I brought out the I Spy book for Mitch to look at. I looked over his shoulder and was constantly like “Found it!” and then I gave him clues as to where they were…and when he found the item first he was like “Yes! Yes…Yes!…Yes! You want a hint?” Being stubborn I would say "no!"...until I couldn’t find it and then I would tell him that I wouldn’t mind a hint…it didn't take long...maybe a little more then an hour to realize that we were sick of that book…we kept trying to give it to Jay and Marla…but they wouldn’t trade books. So Mitch and I played card games until Marla and Jay were ready to play a card game…crazy rummy…Which happens to be a very crazy card game, but a lot of fun…Now I am probably going to explain this all wrong...but we started out with like 7 cards and we had to get two sets, then the next round we got 8 cards and had to get 2 runs, then 9 cards and 1 run and 1 set, then two sets (had to be different suits) and a run (or maybe that was the other way around), then 11 cards and 2 sets and 1 run, with no discard at the end. Very complicated and I lost, but that is alright…I am pretty used to losing card games…It was just a really fun evening...full of card games and laughter...
Christmas Shopping
Friday:
I don’t think that I will ever complain about Christmas shopping ever again. Shopping in the islands is so much different then in the states. First off everything is outside and the shops that you want to go to are so far away from each other. And it is hot outside and you are always walking, so Marla and I went Christmas shopping…we had Joan drop us off and then we started walking everywhere…we went to Kapinga and looked at the shops there…I got something for my mom and sister and a Christmas gift for Tim. Then we met back up with Joan and she dropped us off in the middle of town and we walked down to a little shoe store that is like a mile or so from the drop off point…down a hill towards the road to the airport, but instead of turning left on the road we went right and walked along…we didn’t find anything in the shoe store and kept walking in the hot sun. Then we happened upon two adorable old ladies and their skirt shop. The skirts were beautiful so I picked one out for Felicia and one out for Jenny her housemate. (They are so beautiful) Then we walked past Yoshie’s and headed back up another road towards town…we had to go to a T-shirt shop. We were also getting Mitch and Jay something for Christmas…I got a T-shirt for myself and then I got one for Mitch (same design as mine…only a different color…he wouldn’t look good in pink), Marla got T-shirts for her family, one for herself, and one for Jay (which was the same style as her’s, but a different color). Then we headed to the store next door to look for something for Becky, we got her a big purse (she stuffs so much into the one that she has now…and we decided that she needed a new one) and then we looked around and saw two blue purses that were exactly the same…they were just two cute so we bought each other the same purse for Christmas. Then we headed off to Palm Terrace. We got the boys slippers that say Pohnpei on them, they are also like the best slippers ever…then we headed home. Oddly enough the pastor stopped his car and asked if we wanted a ride…the boys were in the car, but by then we so hot and sweaty and probably smelled just wonderful that we declined and told them that home wasn’t that far away…Once back at the apartment Marla took a shower while I got photo copies made of the grade form, then I took a shower and tackled my grades…they had to be in by sunset. Redoing 18 grade sheets that were actually almost done the day before is such a joy. But after 3 hours of hard work, I turned in my grades with 30 minutes to spare…Marla gave me a back rub and then we got ready for vespers.
I don’t think that I will ever complain about Christmas shopping ever again. Shopping in the islands is so much different then in the states. First off everything is outside and the shops that you want to go to are so far away from each other. And it is hot outside and you are always walking, so Marla and I went Christmas shopping…we had Joan drop us off and then we started walking everywhere…we went to Kapinga and looked at the shops there…I got something for my mom and sister and a Christmas gift for Tim. Then we met back up with Joan and she dropped us off in the middle of town and we walked down to a little shoe store that is like a mile or so from the drop off point…down a hill towards the road to the airport, but instead of turning left on the road we went right and walked along…we didn’t find anything in the shoe store and kept walking in the hot sun. Then we happened upon two adorable old ladies and their skirt shop. The skirts were beautiful so I picked one out for Felicia and one out for Jenny her housemate. (They are so beautiful) Then we walked past Yoshie’s and headed back up another road towards town…we had to go to a T-shirt shop. We were also getting Mitch and Jay something for Christmas…I got a T-shirt for myself and then I got one for Mitch (same design as mine…only a different color…he wouldn’t look good in pink), Marla got T-shirts for her family, one for herself, and one for Jay (which was the same style as her’s, but a different color). Then we headed to the store next door to look for something for Becky, we got her a big purse (she stuffs so much into the one that she has now…and we decided that she needed a new one) and then we looked around and saw two blue purses that were exactly the same…they were just two cute so we bought each other the same purse for Christmas. Then we headed off to Palm Terrace. We got the boys slippers that say Pohnpei on them, they are also like the best slippers ever…then we headed home. Oddly enough the pastor stopped his car and asked if we wanted a ride…the boys were in the car, but by then we so hot and sweaty and probably smelled just wonderful that we declined and told them that home wasn’t that far away…Once back at the apartment Marla took a shower while I got photo copies made of the grade form, then I took a shower and tackled my grades…they had to be in by sunset. Redoing 18 grade sheets that were actually almost done the day before is such a joy. But after 3 hours of hard work, I turned in my grades with 30 minutes to spare…Marla gave me a back rub and then we got ready for vespers.
Grades, Ruins, and Broken Toes
It is so hard to start writing when your first few days of break have been packed with a bunch of really fun things…Originally I thought that this Christmas was going to be a totally awful, meaningless...etc…because I am…very far away from both family and friends…and in a completely different country, in the state of Pohnpei (yes Pohnpei is a state, a very beautiful and rainy one actually). But as I am finding out this might actually be one of my favorite Christmases…like something I will really want to remember…hence why I am writing about it.
Thursday was my first day of vacation, and I was ready to be completely and totally free of all teaching and school related things…except for the fact that I had to do grades…I wandered down to the office to see if they had any whiteout…I messed up on my grades the night before and needed to whiteout a bunch of grades, this often happens when you put the reading grade where the language grade is suppose to go…anyway as I came back to my apartment I saw the guys, Mitch and Jay (you might recall that I mentioned them before), they had just arrived from the Pastor’s house and were wandering around campus…in a rather confused manner I might add…I waved and continued on to my apartment…after all I was a teacher on a mission…to complete grades. 15 minutes later I walked back down to the office and found the guys sitting outside the office door…again I said hi, went inside…returned the whiteout and walked out the door and talked to the guys…they were waiting to go on the day trip that Mr. B had planned so that the “friends” as he puts it could see the island…Jay wanted to know if I would go (after all I have been there before...and I wasn't sure that I wanted to go yet again), I had a tough choice to make...I stood next to the yellow truck and thought about it for about 30 seconds. To sit in my apartment all day doing grades or going to the ruins and waterfall...15 minutes later I found myself in the back of the yellow truck bumping down the “main street” of Kolonia and generally wondering what I had just gotten myself into.
The truck ride to the ruins takes forever…and well before you get there your bottom is very sore from sitting on the wooden benches in the back of the truck. Maggie and I kept moving around, complaining about how hard the benches were and how rough the road was. Eric and his girlfriend were standing holding on to the roof of the truck and just chatting away (they by the way are the cutest couple ever…so adorable), Maggie and Seth (her boyfriend) talked together, Jay, Mitch, and Seth’s friend (I can’t remember his name) were all talking together and I just sat and watched the scenery go by. Everyone kept asking Maggie and I if we were getting closer…but every time they asked us we had to remind them that we had never driven to the ruins before…(we went by boat the first time)…soon the guys were shifting and grunting as we hit bumps...it seemed to have dawned on them that their bench wasn't really all that comfortable...it is hard not to find a comfortable possition in the back of those trucks...either way by the end of the trip you will be sore…Too soon we reached the end of paved roads and found ourselves bumping along Pothole Lane and Trench Road...The ride was generally awful and there were small groans that could be heard from those sitting on the benches…Anyway once we got to the ruins I realized that I had forgotten my money…so Maggie paid for me, $4.00 really isn’t that bad of a deal. The trail through the mangrove swamp wasn’t bad, we past a little house that had a sea turtle swimming around in a bucket…poor thing…as we past I thought about Mr. Harshman and turtle soup…it was such a cute little turtle…in a big and awesome way...such a shame that it most likely was going to become supper. Finally we were at the ruins and all we really had to do was wade across the small channel and we would be there…or there was a boat, but hello the water only came a little past my knees and I wanted to get wet…so Jay and I waded in and climbed up the opposite bank and went off exploring. Now there are things that we do here that would never fly in the states…can you even imagine what state park rangers would think if they saw a bunch of people climbing up the walls of very ancient ruins? They would have a cow! But here no one cares…all the people care about is that we pay them $4.00 and come back again with friends. So Jay and I climbed up the walls and wandered looked at the view…then we climbed back down and I went off to find Mitch. He was on top of the wall…he has a really nice camera and well had to take a picture of me (I doubt that it was a very good one)…then asked where the wall went…I told him that it was just a square, so he climbed down…being careful not to fall on me…then we wandered to one of the outer walls…once up there we took as many pictures as we wanted and then just enjoyed the view. Soon Seth’s friend started waving at us and told us to hurry over, well the quickest way to get there was to climb down the wall, which is probably 10ft-15ft tall…Mitch didn’t want to at first, but I threw my flip flops off the edge and started down…telling him that it wasn’t bad, rather easy actually. At the bottom I waited for Mitch and then we headed over to where Seth’s friend was shouting…down in the water was a ray…just cruising around, probably looking for lunch. I took a picture of it, but I know that it isn’t the best picture. And since we were there, we decided to wander on the broken up ruins, the boys found a nice large rock to sit on and I joined them. We talked probably for an hour before it was time to go.
Once back at the truck all of us in the back decided to eat a mango. Now I have never eaten a mango like an apple, first you peal off some of the skin, cause you don’t want to eat that. Then you just eat it…and soon my face was sticky, my hands were sticky, and I had mango fiber stuck in my teeth…for some reason Seth’s friend brought floss…which was much appreciated. At the waterfall we all paid and then walked down a little path and then there right in front of us was the waterfall…the widest one in Pohnpei (not the highest though). I pealed off my camelpack and literally fell into the water…it was so refreshing…I just tried not to think about the possibility of eels. Then I saw Mr. B’s oldest son leading those that wanted to up the side of the waterfall…not to be outdone by Maggie I clambered after them…the hike turned into a straight climb up slippery rock. (I’m sure that this is something that every parent wants to hear). It took a lot of effort and patience but soon I was at the top. Mitch was talking to Mr. B’s oldest son and Jay was lying on a rock (he isn’t big into rock climbing), I asked Mitch if Jay was tired or something…he shook his head and informed me that he just broke his little toe (I never found out how) and was feeling rather sick. Poor boy, two days into break and already stuck with a broken toe…also stuck at the top of a waterfall. We sat up there for awhile and then I followed Mitch down (he took the easiest route down) and then decided that I was rather muddy and decided to jump back into the small pool of water under the waterfall to rinse off. Maggie had climbed back down earlier and was now enjoying the water. I joined her and we splashed around for quite some time…and then we climbed out of the water hoping to dry off before having to get back into the truck.
Mitch and I sat on a rock and talked about scuba and life guarding and other things too. Then it was time to go. Maggie was getting sunburned so she and her boyfriend sat inside the truck. Jay and Seth’s friend sat on one bench and Mitch and I sat on the other. Jay told me all about his adventures in Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina and what all they did down there. I told of what I did in Mississippi and about past mission trips when asked about them. Then we joined Mitch’s conversation about school subjects and soon all of us were laughing and talking.
As soon as we got back I got tape for Jay so that we could tape his little toe to another toe, then Jay asked if I had any pain killer…Mitch was like “She’s a lifeguard she has everything.” I told them to come on up and I would see what I had. I filled their water bottles, gave Jay some Tylenol and then invited them over for games later that night…actually they kinda invited themselves over, but that was alright.
That night we played card games and had so much fun…Mitch was really sun burned, but then so was I…since I forgot to put on sunscreen…but sometimes a little sun is a good thing...
Thursday was my first day of vacation, and I was ready to be completely and totally free of all teaching and school related things…except for the fact that I had to do grades…I wandered down to the office to see if they had any whiteout…I messed up on my grades the night before and needed to whiteout a bunch of grades, this often happens when you put the reading grade where the language grade is suppose to go…anyway as I came back to my apartment I saw the guys, Mitch and Jay (you might recall that I mentioned them before), they had just arrived from the Pastor’s house and were wandering around campus…in a rather confused manner I might add…I waved and continued on to my apartment…after all I was a teacher on a mission…to complete grades. 15 minutes later I walked back down to the office and found the guys sitting outside the office door…again I said hi, went inside…returned the whiteout and walked out the door and talked to the guys…they were waiting to go on the day trip that Mr. B had planned so that the “friends” as he puts it could see the island…Jay wanted to know if I would go (after all I have been there before...and I wasn't sure that I wanted to go yet again), I had a tough choice to make...I stood next to the yellow truck and thought about it for about 30 seconds. To sit in my apartment all day doing grades or going to the ruins and waterfall...15 minutes later I found myself in the back of the yellow truck bumping down the “main street” of Kolonia and generally wondering what I had just gotten myself into.
The truck ride to the ruins takes forever…and well before you get there your bottom is very sore from sitting on the wooden benches in the back of the truck. Maggie and I kept moving around, complaining about how hard the benches were and how rough the road was. Eric and his girlfriend were standing holding on to the roof of the truck and just chatting away (they by the way are the cutest couple ever…so adorable), Maggie and Seth (her boyfriend) talked together, Jay, Mitch, and Seth’s friend (I can’t remember his name) were all talking together and I just sat and watched the scenery go by. Everyone kept asking Maggie and I if we were getting closer…but every time they asked us we had to remind them that we had never driven to the ruins before…(we went by boat the first time)…soon the guys were shifting and grunting as we hit bumps...it seemed to have dawned on them that their bench wasn't really all that comfortable...it is hard not to find a comfortable possition in the back of those trucks...either way by the end of the trip you will be sore…Too soon we reached the end of paved roads and found ourselves bumping along Pothole Lane and Trench Road...The ride was generally awful and there were small groans that could be heard from those sitting on the benches…Anyway once we got to the ruins I realized that I had forgotten my money…so Maggie paid for me, $4.00 really isn’t that bad of a deal. The trail through the mangrove swamp wasn’t bad, we past a little house that had a sea turtle swimming around in a bucket…poor thing…as we past I thought about Mr. Harshman and turtle soup…it was such a cute little turtle…in a big and awesome way...such a shame that it most likely was going to become supper. Finally we were at the ruins and all we really had to do was wade across the small channel and we would be there…or there was a boat, but hello the water only came a little past my knees and I wanted to get wet…so Jay and I waded in and climbed up the opposite bank and went off exploring. Now there are things that we do here that would never fly in the states…can you even imagine what state park rangers would think if they saw a bunch of people climbing up the walls of very ancient ruins? They would have a cow! But here no one cares…all the people care about is that we pay them $4.00 and come back again with friends. So Jay and I climbed up the walls and wandered looked at the view…then we climbed back down and I went off to find Mitch. He was on top of the wall…he has a really nice camera and well had to take a picture of me (I doubt that it was a very good one)…then asked where the wall went…I told him that it was just a square, so he climbed down…being careful not to fall on me…then we wandered to one of the outer walls…once up there we took as many pictures as we wanted and then just enjoyed the view. Soon Seth’s friend started waving at us and told us to hurry over, well the quickest way to get there was to climb down the wall, which is probably 10ft-15ft tall…Mitch didn’t want to at first, but I threw my flip flops off the edge and started down…telling him that it wasn’t bad, rather easy actually. At the bottom I waited for Mitch and then we headed over to where Seth’s friend was shouting…down in the water was a ray…just cruising around, probably looking for lunch. I took a picture of it, but I know that it isn’t the best picture. And since we were there, we decided to wander on the broken up ruins, the boys found a nice large rock to sit on and I joined them. We talked probably for an hour before it was time to go.
Once back at the truck all of us in the back decided to eat a mango. Now I have never eaten a mango like an apple, first you peal off some of the skin, cause you don’t want to eat that. Then you just eat it…and soon my face was sticky, my hands were sticky, and I had mango fiber stuck in my teeth…for some reason Seth’s friend brought floss…which was much appreciated. At the waterfall we all paid and then walked down a little path and then there right in front of us was the waterfall…the widest one in Pohnpei (not the highest though). I pealed off my camelpack and literally fell into the water…it was so refreshing…I just tried not to think about the possibility of eels. Then I saw Mr. B’s oldest son leading those that wanted to up the side of the waterfall…not to be outdone by Maggie I clambered after them…the hike turned into a straight climb up slippery rock. (I’m sure that this is something that every parent wants to hear). It took a lot of effort and patience but soon I was at the top. Mitch was talking to Mr. B’s oldest son and Jay was lying on a rock (he isn’t big into rock climbing), I asked Mitch if Jay was tired or something…he shook his head and informed me that he just broke his little toe (I never found out how) and was feeling rather sick. Poor boy, two days into break and already stuck with a broken toe…also stuck at the top of a waterfall. We sat up there for awhile and then I followed Mitch down (he took the easiest route down) and then decided that I was rather muddy and decided to jump back into the small pool of water under the waterfall to rinse off. Maggie had climbed back down earlier and was now enjoying the water. I joined her and we splashed around for quite some time…and then we climbed out of the water hoping to dry off before having to get back into the truck.
Mitch and I sat on a rock and talked about scuba and life guarding and other things too. Then it was time to go. Maggie was getting sunburned so she and her boyfriend sat inside the truck. Jay and Seth’s friend sat on one bench and Mitch and I sat on the other. Jay told me all about his adventures in Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina and what all they did down there. I told of what I did in Mississippi and about past mission trips when asked about them. Then we joined Mitch’s conversation about school subjects and soon all of us were laughing and talking.
As soon as we got back I got tape for Jay so that we could tape his little toe to another toe, then Jay asked if I had any pain killer…Mitch was like “She’s a lifeguard she has everything.” I told them to come on up and I would see what I had. I filled their water bottles, gave Jay some Tylenol and then invited them over for games later that night…actually they kinda invited themselves over, but that was alright.
That night we played card games and had so much fun…Mitch was really sun burned, but then so was I…since I forgot to put on sunscreen…but sometimes a little sun is a good thing...
Christmas concert and other things...
Christmas vacation has officially started. It is Thursday morning and I am sitting in my apartment…totally enjoying the fact that I don’t have to teach for a full 10 days. The last 2 ½ weeks were beyond hectic...and I now have time to write.
I believe I spoke to soon…it is now Saturday, my writings were interrupted by the invitation to go to the ruins (again) and a waterfall (which I have been to before)…but I got to spend my entire afternoon with two very awesome guys. So I am definitely not complaining. I suppose before I tell about Thursday I should mention about the last 2 days of school and of how these guys came to vacation on our island.
Tuesday night was our Christmas concert. And I’m not sure if any teacher was really looking forward to it…I just couldn’t wait for it to be over. We had been practicing for such a long time…I was so tired of singing We Three Kings with my kids and I was tired of practicing with my kids during every morning recess. Tuesday morning dawned and there was my little class in our class room all lined up in order singing We Three Kings at the top of their lungs as I made them practice the timing of the song over and over again, since their practice in the gym Monday morning was less then wonderful…I was making up for that, since we only had one more practice before the performance. I told all 17 of my students (one was absent) that I wasn’t going to let them sit down until they got the song perfect…so 45 minutes later I let my kids sit down for 5 minutes while I got ready to take them down to the gym for their final rehearsal. I am not going to mention all that went on in the gym, because it was a long process and rather boring. But my kids knew their song and that was all that mattered to me.
Tuesday evening found me sitting in my classroom waiting for my kids to come. I told them to be in the classroom at 5pm, people here on the island generally run late…if you want them to be on time you have to tell them to be there an hour before the program actually starts. In true island fashion most of my class didn’t arrive until 6:15 p.m. and the program started at 6:30p.m. Once I had all but three of my students we headed down to the high school (that was “backstage” and also where we were going to be waiting until it was our turn to go and sing) the first grade classes were in the science room and I spent my time yelling at both classes and telling them to be quiet (ha telling 36 first graders to be quiet is like telling a rock concert to keep it down) Thankfully Jen is also a strict teacher, and even though she was else where at the time it didn’t take long for her kids to listen to me. I got them quiet and then ran outside to find Jen…I was unable to find her…but somehow Alex made it downstairs (apparently he left his class with Eric…poor guy) and was talking to two guys that looked somewhat familiar, except I knew they were not SM’s from our island. Unfortunately I was unable figure out who they were…because Allie (the biology teacher) ran into the science room with a shriek when she saw two of my boys looking at probably the only working microscope there. I rushed inside…apologized to Allie, scolded my boys, then looked up to see the shorter of the two guys looking into the classroom. Flustered I told the first graders to keep it down…and left my aid in charge. Outside the classroom I again searched for Jen and asked her if there was anything that I could do. She sent me upstairs to talk to the teachers up there. I ran upstairs to find out from the 5th and 6th grade classes if they were missing any students. Mark (one of the 6th grade teacher’s) had no idea and told me that maybe 3 were missing. Then I walked into the room where all the 5th graders were…things were insane…the teacher in charge wasn’t doing a very good job of watching the kids, chalk board erasers were flying, kids were decorating their faces and the faces of others with chalk, soda was on the floor and generally everything looked awful and was out of control…he also had no idea and I left him to deal with his class…As I trotted down the stairs I was like “Alex, Alex, Alex it wouldn’t hurt to discipline your kids once in a while.” But I didn’t have time to think about that…we were already running late. …After that Jen and I ran back to her classroom hunting for two missing kids, but they weren’t there…as we past the gym I looked inside to see if I could see those guys…but I didn’t have time to really search. Back to the science room we went and lined up our kids. Once my kids were all in line it was time to go. Jen lead her class and I tried to lead mine…except my kids were not paying attention…Triston appeared to be frozen in place. Thankfully Raz shooed my class through the hallway and soon my little brood was running after me, just like it was practice... As the first row filed onto the stage, I was like…well this is it…please don’t blow it.
I don’t know why I worried, everything went really well. They were all so cute…up there just singing away, twisting back and forth (exactly the thing I told them not to do), looking everywhere but at teacher and generally not paying attention at all…but they didn’t go faster or slower then the piano and when they finished I was beaming just like any parent would. I led my 18 little ducklings off the stage as if I was a proud mother duck (although I would never wish 18 little ducklings on any duck) I was so relieved that it was done with…I went to the back of the gym, told my kids to find their parents and then talked to Becky and watched the rest of the program.
After the program the guys found Marlawat and I. Suddenly it all came back to me. These were the same to guys that were in Hawaii…fellow SM's, who we met while swimming in the ocean...Anyway Marla had to leave and so left me to entertain the guys. I invited the guys to come to our classrooms the next day during our class parties. I knew things were going to be crazy, but I figured that since they were also teachers and use to the noise. Things were pretty much chaos in my classroom and I didn’t have time to talk to the guys, cause my kids were just going nuts…but I think they had fun...really I don’t particually feel like remembering Wednesday…just think of small kids at a birthday party…only that they are all giving and getting gifts...that would have been my classroom...and I was very glad to leave it at 12:30 p.m.
I believe I spoke to soon…it is now Saturday, my writings were interrupted by the invitation to go to the ruins (again) and a waterfall (which I have been to before)…but I got to spend my entire afternoon with two very awesome guys. So I am definitely not complaining. I suppose before I tell about Thursday I should mention about the last 2 days of school and of how these guys came to vacation on our island.
Tuesday night was our Christmas concert. And I’m not sure if any teacher was really looking forward to it…I just couldn’t wait for it to be over. We had been practicing for such a long time…I was so tired of singing We Three Kings with my kids and I was tired of practicing with my kids during every morning recess. Tuesday morning dawned and there was my little class in our class room all lined up in order singing We Three Kings at the top of their lungs as I made them practice the timing of the song over and over again, since their practice in the gym Monday morning was less then wonderful…I was making up for that, since we only had one more practice before the performance. I told all 17 of my students (one was absent) that I wasn’t going to let them sit down until they got the song perfect…so 45 minutes later I let my kids sit down for 5 minutes while I got ready to take them down to the gym for their final rehearsal. I am not going to mention all that went on in the gym, because it was a long process and rather boring. But my kids knew their song and that was all that mattered to me.
Tuesday evening found me sitting in my classroom waiting for my kids to come. I told them to be in the classroom at 5pm, people here on the island generally run late…if you want them to be on time you have to tell them to be there an hour before the program actually starts. In true island fashion most of my class didn’t arrive until 6:15 p.m. and the program started at 6:30p.m. Once I had all but three of my students we headed down to the high school (that was “backstage” and also where we were going to be waiting until it was our turn to go and sing) the first grade classes were in the science room and I spent my time yelling at both classes and telling them to be quiet (ha telling 36 first graders to be quiet is like telling a rock concert to keep it down) Thankfully Jen is also a strict teacher, and even though she was else where at the time it didn’t take long for her kids to listen to me. I got them quiet and then ran outside to find Jen…I was unable to find her…but somehow Alex made it downstairs (apparently he left his class with Eric…poor guy) and was talking to two guys that looked somewhat familiar, except I knew they were not SM’s from our island. Unfortunately I was unable figure out who they were…because Allie (the biology teacher) ran into the science room with a shriek when she saw two of my boys looking at probably the only working microscope there. I rushed inside…apologized to Allie, scolded my boys, then looked up to see the shorter of the two guys looking into the classroom. Flustered I told the first graders to keep it down…and left my aid in charge. Outside the classroom I again searched for Jen and asked her if there was anything that I could do. She sent me upstairs to talk to the teachers up there. I ran upstairs to find out from the 5th and 6th grade classes if they were missing any students. Mark (one of the 6th grade teacher’s) had no idea and told me that maybe 3 were missing. Then I walked into the room where all the 5th graders were…things were insane…the teacher in charge wasn’t doing a very good job of watching the kids, chalk board erasers were flying, kids were decorating their faces and the faces of others with chalk, soda was on the floor and generally everything looked awful and was out of control…he also had no idea and I left him to deal with his class…As I trotted down the stairs I was like “Alex, Alex, Alex it wouldn’t hurt to discipline your kids once in a while.” But I didn’t have time to think about that…we were already running late. …After that Jen and I ran back to her classroom hunting for two missing kids, but they weren’t there…as we past the gym I looked inside to see if I could see those guys…but I didn’t have time to really search. Back to the science room we went and lined up our kids. Once my kids were all in line it was time to go. Jen lead her class and I tried to lead mine…except my kids were not paying attention…Triston appeared to be frozen in place. Thankfully Raz shooed my class through the hallway and soon my little brood was running after me, just like it was practice... As the first row filed onto the stage, I was like…well this is it…please don’t blow it.
I don’t know why I worried, everything went really well. They were all so cute…up there just singing away, twisting back and forth (exactly the thing I told them not to do), looking everywhere but at teacher and generally not paying attention at all…but they didn’t go faster or slower then the piano and when they finished I was beaming just like any parent would. I led my 18 little ducklings off the stage as if I was a proud mother duck (although I would never wish 18 little ducklings on any duck) I was so relieved that it was done with…I went to the back of the gym, told my kids to find their parents and then talked to Becky and watched the rest of the program.
After the program the guys found Marlawat and I. Suddenly it all came back to me. These were the same to guys that were in Hawaii…fellow SM's, who we met while swimming in the ocean...Anyway Marla had to leave and so left me to entertain the guys. I invited the guys to come to our classrooms the next day during our class parties. I knew things were going to be crazy, but I figured that since they were also teachers and use to the noise. Things were pretty much chaos in my classroom and I didn’t have time to talk to the guys, cause my kids were just going nuts…but I think they had fun...really I don’t particually feel like remembering Wednesday…just think of small kids at a birthday party…only that they are all giving and getting gifts...that would have been my classroom...and I was very glad to leave it at 12:30 p.m.
Monday, December 11, 2006
Part 2: Flying, Climbing, and the Truth
More fun stories from my classroom :)
Flying: It is a quite well known fact, that what goes up must eventually come back down. Now with my kids this is something that is very, very hard to understand…I am sure that none of you ever had the urge growing up to fling yourself off your house roof in the desperate attempt to learn how to fly, feel free to correct me if I am wrong. But today as I was watching the first graders play on the playground I witnessed one of my students, by name of Kota, throw himself off the slide. He hit the ground with a plop and just lay there. I naturally freaked out and ran over to him, expecting to see broken bones or at least a bloody nose. But instead I was greeted by a very stunned Kota who contented himself by pulling the grass at his feet up by the roots and grunting out answers as I dusted off his shirt and pants and told him sternly to never do that stunt again.
Climbing: Boys have to climb; they must climb up anything that is climbable, whether it is the radio tower on Sokeh’s Ridge or the railing in front of my classroom. They must climb it. Now Miss Cramer, my comrade on the second floor, was on duty during lunch recess one day when she suddenly saw Wolfgang standing on the railing as if this was something that was quite normal for anyone to do. Now the only thing below our second story room is concert and a ditch full of mud. Naturally Marla freaked out and rushed to Wolfgang who was very oblivious to his danger. Wolfgang is generally oblivious to just about everything that goes on in the world around him, he is a born wanderer and loves to climb…usually he will climb over the wooden railing and slide down the fire like pole (that probably holds up something really important) to ground level and run around the playground until I notice that he is missing.
Telling the truth: Being truthful appears to be something that is very hard for a 5 or 6 year old to understand or even comprehend. This is especially true when they know that they have done something dreadfully wrong. For example, today after lunch recess two of my boys were playing at the drinking fountain. And I watched them from the top of the stairs as they splashed and dunked their heads under the water and were generally having a good time. Now my kids know that it is a great sin to play in the water and not drink the water…generally when they are playing in the water I will have to go and fetch them…which doesn’t put me in all that good of a mood. So today when I had collected my two lost sheep by name of Marson and T.M. I asked them if they had been playing in the water…
“No teacher!” T.M blurted out…I think I should interjected and tell you that both T.M and Marson had water dripping from their heads, their shirts where wet, they were slipping around the sidewalk on wet slippers…yes they had been playing in the water fountain again. I looked down at them and sternly said.
“I believe that you are lying to teacher.”
“No! No Teacher we weren’t!” both little boys shook their heads and tried to pull off their most pathetic looking little doggie eyes possible. At this point I looked them from head to toe.
“Your hair is soaking, which in turn is dripping onto your shirt, you legs are wet from the knee down, you have been slipping on the sidewalk because your slippers are soaking…now are you sure that you haven’t been playing in the water?”
“Teacher we haven’t been!” They both squeaked out.
“Is that your final answer?”
“Yes.”
“Well then, you are going to Miss Cramer’s classroom to stand in the corner, I want you to think about your answer that you have just given me.” With that I gently sent my two naughty boys to stand in the corner. Fifteen minutes later I collected my very tired little sheep from the third grade classroom. Once again I asked them if they had been playing in the water at the drinking fountain.
“We weren’t.” choked T.M. He was looking frantically at Marson, who was looking everywhere except at T.M. Finally T.M with head hanging said, “We were.” With that I lead them to the classroom and their language test.
There are times when it is hard to figure out if they are lying or not, but sometimes it is very obvious.
Flying: It is a quite well known fact, that what goes up must eventually come back down. Now with my kids this is something that is very, very hard to understand…I am sure that none of you ever had the urge growing up to fling yourself off your house roof in the desperate attempt to learn how to fly, feel free to correct me if I am wrong. But today as I was watching the first graders play on the playground I witnessed one of my students, by name of Kota, throw himself off the slide. He hit the ground with a plop and just lay there. I naturally freaked out and ran over to him, expecting to see broken bones or at least a bloody nose. But instead I was greeted by a very stunned Kota who contented himself by pulling the grass at his feet up by the roots and grunting out answers as I dusted off his shirt and pants and told him sternly to never do that stunt again.
Climbing: Boys have to climb; they must climb up anything that is climbable, whether it is the radio tower on Sokeh’s Ridge or the railing in front of my classroom. They must climb it. Now Miss Cramer, my comrade on the second floor, was on duty during lunch recess one day when she suddenly saw Wolfgang standing on the railing as if this was something that was quite normal for anyone to do. Now the only thing below our second story room is concert and a ditch full of mud. Naturally Marla freaked out and rushed to Wolfgang who was very oblivious to his danger. Wolfgang is generally oblivious to just about everything that goes on in the world around him, he is a born wanderer and loves to climb…usually he will climb over the wooden railing and slide down the fire like pole (that probably holds up something really important) to ground level and run around the playground until I notice that he is missing.
Telling the truth: Being truthful appears to be something that is very hard for a 5 or 6 year old to understand or even comprehend. This is especially true when they know that they have done something dreadfully wrong. For example, today after lunch recess two of my boys were playing at the drinking fountain. And I watched them from the top of the stairs as they splashed and dunked their heads under the water and were generally having a good time. Now my kids know that it is a great sin to play in the water and not drink the water…generally when they are playing in the water I will have to go and fetch them…which doesn’t put me in all that good of a mood. So today when I had collected my two lost sheep by name of Marson and T.M. I asked them if they had been playing in the water…
“No teacher!” T.M blurted out…I think I should interjected and tell you that both T.M and Marson had water dripping from their heads, their shirts where wet, they were slipping around the sidewalk on wet slippers…yes they had been playing in the water fountain again. I looked down at them and sternly said.
“I believe that you are lying to teacher.”
“No! No Teacher we weren’t!” both little boys shook their heads and tried to pull off their most pathetic looking little doggie eyes possible. At this point I looked them from head to toe.
“Your hair is soaking, which in turn is dripping onto your shirt, you legs are wet from the knee down, you have been slipping on the sidewalk because your slippers are soaking…now are you sure that you haven’t been playing in the water?”
“Teacher we haven’t been!” They both squeaked out.
“Is that your final answer?”
“Yes.”
“Well then, you are going to Miss Cramer’s classroom to stand in the corner, I want you to think about your answer that you have just given me.” With that I gently sent my two naughty boys to stand in the corner. Fifteen minutes later I collected my very tired little sheep from the third grade classroom. Once again I asked them if they had been playing in the water at the drinking fountain.
“We weren’t.” choked T.M. He was looking frantically at Marson, who was looking everywhere except at T.M. Finally T.M with head hanging said, “We were.” With that I lead them to the classroom and their language test.
There are times when it is hard to figure out if they are lying or not, but sometimes it is very obvious.
Sunday, December 03, 2006
Thanksgiving
It occurred to me the other day that I had forgotten to tell about my thanksgiving. Unlike how it is in the states, were everything is shutdown and school is out, we had to teach…and everyone was excited. My students were excited because we weren’t going to have school the next day (Friday), the teachers were excited because we were going to have a feast that night at Mr. B’s house. Pretty much everyone was excited.
My students were generally annoying and loud and about as hyper as they could be, needless to say teacher was rather frazzled by the end of the day. I had to continually tell them to stop talking, and to sit down and to listen to teacher. I am surprised by the fact that I can be very strict with my kids and they still love me, if I was a soft teacher they would walk all over me (something that I don’t want to have happen). Anyway when the school day was finally over I went back to the apartment and took a well deserved nap…I had been staying up late that entire week, so I was generally tired.
After my nap and a nice refreshing shower, I went into the kitchen to help Becky with the last minute cooking, which included things like mashing potatoes, stirring gravy, getting the stuffing readying, making sure that the pies were ant free, making apple crisp…just small things like that. As it neared 7:00 we were nearly flying around the kitchen trying to get things done. Finally we were ready (even though we were a little late), the only problem that we had now was to get all of the food to Mr. B’s apartment. Now if we had as many arms as an octopus has…this wouldn’t have been a problem, but since we didn’t…we had to ask for help…Marla went first to ask some of the boys to help out…on her way over she bumped into Eric who was on his way to Mr. B’s, he came to our aid…and Becky and I were very happy to see him.
There were like 30 plus people crammed into Mr. B’s apartment…there was so much food too…there were two turkeys, fish, rice, a salad (a rarity let me tell you), fruit, random noodle dishes, vegetables, mashed potatoes and gravy, deserts (more pumpkin pies then anything else…but our homemade pies were by far the best). There was quite a feast and all of us couldn’t wait to eat it. The SM’s were scattered throughout the room sitting on the floor or on the different types of furniture…everyone was hungry and by the looks of things there was plenty of food to go around…for several servings. The food was really good; I haven’t had a thanksgiving meal like that for quite some time…it totally hit the spot...was very different…but good. Now Cabel decided to teach us this really annoying song…like it was stuck in my head for an entire week…but it was so funny to see him, Rusty and Raz singing it…these are the words:
Gobble, Gobble, Gobble
I’m here for a living
Not for thanksgiving
Gobble, Gobble, Gobble
Fat turkeys are we!
He sang it over and over again…so by the end of the night we all new it very well. When it was time to get desert, Marla and I sampled all of the different pumpkin pies and had some apple crisp. By then we were so full…all we could do was sit on the full and talk. I thought about my Aunt Janet, the girls wanted to take pictures so we took pictures and talked and laughed and had to wait for all the cameras to go through…it was just so fun. The boys got a little bit bored and decided to play this basketball video game, we all just sat there and laughed and watched the game. It was just so funny to see…finally it was time to go…all of us were full and were kinda sleepy (eating a lot tends to do that to you)…it was actually a wonderful Thanksgiving and oddly enough I wasn’t terribly homesick…
My students were generally annoying and loud and about as hyper as they could be, needless to say teacher was rather frazzled by the end of the day. I had to continually tell them to stop talking, and to sit down and to listen to teacher. I am surprised by the fact that I can be very strict with my kids and they still love me, if I was a soft teacher they would walk all over me (something that I don’t want to have happen). Anyway when the school day was finally over I went back to the apartment and took a well deserved nap…I had been staying up late that entire week, so I was generally tired.
After my nap and a nice refreshing shower, I went into the kitchen to help Becky with the last minute cooking, which included things like mashing potatoes, stirring gravy, getting the stuffing readying, making sure that the pies were ant free, making apple crisp…just small things like that. As it neared 7:00 we were nearly flying around the kitchen trying to get things done. Finally we were ready (even though we were a little late), the only problem that we had now was to get all of the food to Mr. B’s apartment. Now if we had as many arms as an octopus has…this wouldn’t have been a problem, but since we didn’t…we had to ask for help…Marla went first to ask some of the boys to help out…on her way over she bumped into Eric who was on his way to Mr. B’s, he came to our aid…and Becky and I were very happy to see him.
There were like 30 plus people crammed into Mr. B’s apartment…there was so much food too…there were two turkeys, fish, rice, a salad (a rarity let me tell you), fruit, random noodle dishes, vegetables, mashed potatoes and gravy, deserts (more pumpkin pies then anything else…but our homemade pies were by far the best). There was quite a feast and all of us couldn’t wait to eat it. The SM’s were scattered throughout the room sitting on the floor or on the different types of furniture…everyone was hungry and by the looks of things there was plenty of food to go around…for several servings. The food was really good; I haven’t had a thanksgiving meal like that for quite some time…it totally hit the spot...was very different…but good. Now Cabel decided to teach us this really annoying song…like it was stuck in my head for an entire week…but it was so funny to see him, Rusty and Raz singing it…these are the words:
Gobble, Gobble, Gobble
I’m here for a living
Not for thanksgiving
Gobble, Gobble, Gobble
Fat turkeys are we!
He sang it over and over again…so by the end of the night we all new it very well. When it was time to get desert, Marla and I sampled all of the different pumpkin pies and had some apple crisp. By then we were so full…all we could do was sit on the full and talk. I thought about my Aunt Janet, the girls wanted to take pictures so we took pictures and talked and laughed and had to wait for all the cameras to go through…it was just so fun. The boys got a little bit bored and decided to play this basketball video game, we all just sat there and laughed and watched the game. It was just so funny to see…finally it was time to go…all of us were full and were kinda sleepy (eating a lot tends to do that to you)…it was actually a wonderful Thanksgiving and oddly enough I wasn’t terribly homesick…
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