The plane has been removed from its half on half off the runway location and flights are operating on their normal schedules once again, thank you Jesus! Tina, Lacy, and Rachel are flying out today.
School is now officially over, no more grading, no more lesson planning, and no more yelling "SIT DOWN!!!!!" The last few days of school were spent taking tests and practicing for the 3rd grade concert that Maribel (the other third grade teacher) and I have been planning. Yesterday was our class party. We played games and I gave out awards for good behavior, good grades, and whatnot. Then we ate lunch and blew up balloons. They ran around and hit each other with them for a while and a few helped me clean up the classroom.
Later in the evening was our concert. It went so well!! I was really nervous about it because I've never been in charge of a program and had to plan everything. We started the program with a slideshow of our students throughout the year set to music, it was really cute. The kids enjoyed laughing at their classmates and themselves. Next we had the whole "choir" (both classes) sing some worship songs that we have taught them during morning worships. Wow those kids can sing!! In the middle was a skit portion and they did a really great job with that as well. At the end Maribel and I sang "Side By Side" for our kids and that was that! It was a great success and although it was stressful and a lot of work, I'm really glad we planned it. A bunch of the parents thanked us, so I think everyone enjoyed it. Anyways, school is over and I'm still running around feeling like there is something important that I need to be doing. Hey, I guess relaxing is important too!














Things I've Learned in Pohnpei:
1.Mr. B is pretty much a superhero
2. I'm going to freeze when I come home!!!

Crash Boom Bang!

Friday a tuna plane didn't stop in time on the runway and is not stuck hanging part way off the runway. All flights in and out have been cancelled until who knows when. I've heard estimates of a few days to a few weeks. I'm hoping it is the former. This means that a few of the SM's may possible miss their flights home and no mail service either. So much for hearing from Loma Linda this week.... Only 1 1/2 days of school left, then the party and 2 more graduations. I can't believe the end is here, I never thought it would come!!! It still doesn't feel real yet. Nothing much else to report.
Things I've learned in Pohnpei:
1. Traveling is wicked expensive!!!

Final Trip to Ant Atoll

This weekend was our last school fair, which was a good time
of course. Part of the fair included a talent show spread throughout.
The lady SMs did a Tahitian dance together which was super fun.
The guys danced to an N'Sync song, which was hilarious.
Overall we probably didn't make a whole lot of money, but everyone had a good time.



After the fair we packed our camping gear and headed out for Ant Atoll! Along the way we did a bit of trolling (fishing with strong line held over the back of the moving boat). I felt a strong tug and after much struggling to pull in the line Mr. B informed me that I had a large shark on my line. We both tried to pull it in, but it stretched the line and eventually snapped it. A-Whoops!!

Eventually we drove to an island and crashed in a hut for the night. The next morning we drove to another island and set up camp the good old fashioned way, with palm branches under you and a tarp above you! After some nice swimming in the beautiful blue water and playing with hermit crabs the rain came. The rest of the day was spent lazily reading and napping whilst waiting for the rain to subside. Island camping is pretty much the best. The next morning we got up fairly early for scuba-rama! We drove out to a wall near an island called Bird Island. Apparently the entire island is swarming with birds. Anyways, the dive was fun. We swam through a sweet tunnel in the reef too.
The drive back to camp was exciting because a storm was a-brewing and the waves were pretty crazy. I can't explain what one of those boat rides are like. It's a mix between a rollercoaster and hitting severe potholes over and over again while driving at breakneck speeds. It's a good time. So the interesting part was that near the end of the ride the engine suddenly died. Hmm, out of gas. The other boat gave us some more gas, still no go. We had to get towed in by the other boat. The problem was that now we had 20+ people on an outer island and only one boat to get them back. Mr B. ended up making several trips and some brave souls stayed an extra night on the island. The ride back through the open ocean was some adrenaline pumping fun. The waves were HUGE!!! I was sitting on the front of the boat hanging onto a rope for dear life bouncing up and down like a kangaroo on steroids. Mr. B is an excellent driver and thus avoided what could have been some dangerous waves, but we still had quite a ride. My bum is a bit sore. It was such a fun weekend and things like camping on Ant make me really sad to be leaving so soon. I will certainly miss that, even the hermit crabs pinching my toes while I try to sleep (it tickles SOOO bad).

Things I've Learned in Pohnpei:
1. I will miss it when I leave
2. Hula dancing is wicked hard!!!
3. Goodbyes are no fun at all

The rains came down and the floods came up!

This week was the closest thing to winter that I’ve experienced all year. It rained and rained and rained all week long. Tuesday we had to put sandbags in front of the office to keep it from flooding. We waded through inches of water on our way to recess in the gym and all my students busted out their jackets. As a result of the rain, the temperature was wonderful, barely any sweating all week!! It was probably 78 or so most of time, which was a wonderful change, I thoroughly enjoyed it. This week was a big one for us, we had the evaluators here checking the school, it was midterm week, and I had to give chapel on Friday. The week was slow, but everything turned out well and now it’s Sabbath!! Yay for weekends! Three weeks of school left and it doesn’t seem real that at the end of this month I’ll be back in Cali to see my family and friends again!!! I’m very excited, although sad to say goodbye to the 19 crazy little kids that I will miss very dearly. The year is wrapping up and it will be incredibly busy up until the very end with graduations, concerts, school fair, camping trips, and parties to plan! The myth that 4^th quarter goes the fastest is definitely false, however, the busyness gives a wonderful façade of time moving quickly.

Last weekend we hiked up “Mr. B’s Mountain”. The mountain doesn’t actually belong to him, but the land at the base belongs to his family, so we still refer to it as his. “Hike” is maybe the wrong word for this excursion. There is no trail, it is more like clambering straight up a muddy slope of 2000 + ft, grasping at any living vegetation to prevent slipping back down the few feet that you just gained. It was a muddy, slipperly, sweaty good time! The view from the top was breathtaking though!! It is the 2^nd highest point on the island, so we had a great view of most of the island. The wind was blowing up in our faces off the edge of the cliff and at one point it rained UP on us. Getting back down the mountain was even more interesting than climbing up. There were many America’s Funniest Home Video moments as everyone present probably spent a good share of the way down on their butts or in that not quite stable position , arms flailing and legs kicking to stay under you. It was the craziest hike I’ve ever been on and I loved it.

We just finished our last SM Sabbath at the Kolonia church. It went really well although it was a long one! We had a nice potluck afterward and are now enjoying relaxing. I’ve got to recharge this weekend to get ready for the coming onslaught of planning and parties that come with the end of the year.

Things I’ve learned in Pohnpei:

1. when the ship doesn’t bring fruit, it’s a sad day
2. 78 degrees can feel cold, temperature is all relative
3. It’s impossible not to overeat at potluck, yum!

The end is near

So the idea was to post a blog a day during Spring Break, but we were much too busy doing all kinds of adventures, so this short summation will have to suffice. Break was awesome and for the most part relaxing. We went camping, scuba diving, waterfall hiking, more hiking in the rain, exploring Nan Madol, and a little bit of just kicking back too. It was great to see my mom and it made me very anxious to come home. We are now in the 4th and last quarter of the school year. It seems like time has flown by and yet gone extremely slow at times as well. Only 7 more weeks of teaching left and although I love my students dearly and will miss them, I am looking forward to the end of school.
Last weekend was a nice long one because of report card/parent teacher conference day and Cultural Day on Monday. We had to have conferences on Friday morning and then we were free for the rest of the weekend. On Sabbath we drove to a waterfall near Kitti (not sure of the name) and after a nice 45 min hike or so we swam for a while. The scary part is that in order to get in the water you have to plummet 35 ft off the edge of a cliff into the water. Believe me, 35 ft is a long ways when you are suspended in midair, screaming for all your worth. I jumped and screamed and screamed and screamed until I was out of breath and realized I was still only about halfway down. It was certainly the highest I have ever jumped from, but it was thrilling and fun. On Sunday we hiked up Sokehs Rock to spend the night. It was a very fun trip, although hauling all your gear, food, and water up that climb was not the most enjoyable thing ever. We cooked hot dogs and watched the plane land at night. It was very windy at the top and quite cool. It was nice to have to bundle up to keep warm. I'm used to sweating all night. Monday it was back to work to get ready for school the next day.
The past two weeks of school have been interesting. The students were still in vacation mode for about a week so it was quite hard to get them motivated to learn. I'm sure it'll get better now that we are back into a routine.

Things I've learned in Pohnpei:
1. Good communication makes EVERYTHING easier
2. 2 months is a very short time
3. 2 months is a very long time
4. The hardest times of your life aren't necessarily the worst times

Easter Break volume 1

My mom arrived safely Saturday afternoon. We relaxed and got caught up all evening and packed for Ant. Sunday afternoon we drove to Ant atoll and snorkeled for a bit in the channel. We camped the night on an island with no huts or anything. We slept under a tarp amidst a thunder storm. This morning we got up and went diving. Our dive went smoothly and we saw a shark and a really cool eel. Mom was a bit nervous about diving without an instructor or anything but she was a good sport and did just fine. After the dive we packed up and headed back to the main land. I tried trolling on the way back but I didn't catch anything. We just got back from walking to the store. We got caught in the rain pretty bad, but now we are nice and dry, so all is well. I'll try to keep you posted about the rest of our adventures later!!

Manta Madness!

Dragging myself out of bed Sunday morning to get ready for diving
was not the easiest thing in the world. I almost decided to skip it a sleep in instead, figuring that the dive wouldn’t be that great and trying to convince myself that I should save my money for diving over Easter Break. I eventually got up though, luckily. We ended up going diving at a place called Manta Road. It is a small channel in between 2 sections of the reef. Aptly named, it was swarming with manta rays. I probably saw 10 or 12 during my dive. It was by far my favorite dive. The bottom was only about 55 feet so we stayed down for a long time. I only had 2 small rocks in my BC for weight so I had quite a time getting down. After Tim handed me a few of his weights I got down alright though. For once I wasn’t using the leaky regulator, so I actually had air to spare after my buddy ran out. I snorkeled around for a while longer using my air because I wanted to watch the mantas some more. All of a sudden I was in the midst of a huge school of fish. Seriously, all I could see were fish, well, and then down about 10 feet under us were 4 small reef sharks hunting the fish. Suddenly, 2 mantas were there to join the party as well. CJ and I were watching this whole spectacle in awe when lo and behold 3 more mantas decided to play chicken with us. They swam straight at us until they were about 2 feet away and then dove down right under us. I probably would have kicked one if my legs had been extended. They are beautiful creatures, wow!! I envy their graceful gliding through the water. And to think I almost didn’t go on the dive! It was a good time. As is tradition, we got caught in the rain for a while but then it cleared and I secured those funky tan lines at mid shoulder and knee that I know you are all envying (I also have a killer flip flop tan, really, it's quite impressive). We were back to the school by 1 which was good because that meant I could still get a decent amount done for school. This is the last week before Easter Break. Mom is flying in 5 days from now and I am very excited. I’ll admit it doesn’t seem real yet, but I can’t wait to see her.

Last week’s adventure was noteworthy as well, but I never got around to blogging about it. It consisted of an impromptu boat drive out to Ant atoll to snorkel for about 30 min (the boat drive is about an hour, maybe longer). On the way we got caught in a storm, it was pretty cool, huge waves, pouring rain. It was a little cold, but a lot of fun too. We bounced around on the front of the boat in the waves, luckily we were sitting on lifejackets to cushion our landings. I would liken the feeling to that of a rollercoaster. After snorkeling we went trolling for a while and Mr. B caught a fish or two. It was fun to get out on the boat and just chill for a while. Last week I was also blessed with 3 packages in the mail. I know, I really am spoiled. I enjoyed it though. Hopefully this week goes smoothly and we can actually get some legitimate work done in the classroom some of the time. Around vacation time it always gets a little crazy. I don’t mind it some of the time though, I enjoy when my students are excited, especially when they have been working so hard all quarter.

Things I’ve learned in Pohnpei:

1. Manta Rays are stupendous
2. Contrary to popular belief, roosters do not crow only at dawn. They crow all day, all night, and especially all morning, wherever and whenever they please. This includes but is not limited to directly outside my window.
3. “Midday Sweat” is my new fragrance. Not to be confused with fragrance of choice, of course.

School Picnic

Last Friday was our last elementary school picnic for the year. I have mixed feelings about the picnics. While I am there I thoroughly enjoy myself because my kids are infinitely more fun outside the classroom than in. I can play with them and enjoy them. However, planning the picnics is a lot of work. Finding parents to drive and supervise, sending out notes, collecting money, and the like. The day of the picnic dawned with pouring rain, and I mean POURING. I was a bit nervous about it, but low and behold, an hour later it was sunny and beautiful. My drivers all showed up and we transported the kids to Nihco Marine Park. The kids swam and eventually dragged me in after them. We played chicken fights and launched kids off our knees into the water for a while and then ate lunch. Right when we packed up and got in the cars it started pouring rain again. Good timing! It was a fun day.
I got another package from the Lawrences (you guys are the best!) and my students have been enjoying the new books, puzzles, and Bingo game. Last week they were kind of crazy and it was a rough week, so it was nice to end with the picnic. On Sunday a group of us hiked through the fields and jungle to a waterfall that we normally drive to. It was a few miles away and we didn't really have directions, but we found it without too much trouble. The water felt so good after the hike. I have become accustomed to the weather and the river water feels cold now though!!
Spring Break in 2 weeks and only 15 days until Mom comes!! Oh, the SDA church women's ministry group is doing a prayer vigil next weekend, if you have anything you would like me to add to my prayer list for my hour, let me know!

Things I've learned in Pohnpei:
1. warm showers are nice even when it's 80 degrees
2. don't take cereal for granted
3. fans are amazing inventions

V-day Banquet and Spirit Week

The last two weeks have been jam packed with activities and a lot of work too! Last week was Spirit Week, which made things interesting to say the least. I enjoyed seeing the kid's costumes everyday, but finding something to wear for each day was rather challenging given our limited wardrobe. Nonetheless, I never pass up an opportunity to wear a fabulous costume, so I managed to dress up most of the days. Pajama day found me wearing comfy pants and my spiderman pj shirt. Tuesday was career day. Since I didn't have scrubs or a dental hygiene mask I decided to dress up as a pro b-ball player. Hey, at least I got to wear pants for a day! Wednesday was weird day. My outfit was pretty exciting and my kids all laughed at me. Thursday was cultural day and Friday was class colors day. My kids voted to wear red so the playground was a blur of red during recess that day. To end off the exciting week was the much anticipated Valentine's Banquet put on by the Junior class. The banquet was held at Club Cupid on a hill above the school that offers a stunning view. It was gorgeous. The best part was getting all dressed up! We had fun taking pictures and getting ready together. The entertainment for the banquet consisted of students singing, break dancing, and a few numbers by some of the teachers as well. It was a fun relaxing evening.
This week has been kind of hectic for me. I have fallen rather ill in the past few days which makes teaching less than pleasant. A head cold can seem a thousand times worse when you have 20 little kids screaming in your ears and grabbing onto you all day long. This Friday is our school picnic and we will be going to the same swimming spot as last time. It's so much work to plan these things!!! I think it will be fun if I can get enough sleep and hopefully feel better by then. Another stress this week was sending out midterms. This means getting all caught up on grading and recording whilst trying to prod the lazy kids to turn in their work! It's practically the weekend though, or at least I keep telling myself that. Only 4 more weeks until Spring Break! I can't wait for mom to visit, we'll have a rockin good time!

Things I've learned in Pohnpei:
1. with enough hairspray my hair can stay curled, even in the humidity
2. Nyquil is my best friend, Vitamin C is a close 2nd
3. cereal and dried fruit = the value of gold

thus far in 2008

It's midterm time yet again. 3rd quarter is half over next week. The weeks have passed rather uneventfully this quarter, which is certainly not a bad thing. Let's see- Last weekend we hiked down to Sahwertik & Sahwerlap again. It's a fun hike especially with good company. A few weekends ago we hiked up Chicken Poop mountain. There was a crazy drunk guy yelling at us when we came down. The B's called the police and they came and took care of it. About 3 weeks ago I decided to brave the waves and go bodyboarding with the crazy surfer SMs. These waves are on steroids, I kid you not. They are HUGE. So it turns out I'm not terribly good at duck diving waves with a body board (where you dive through them as they are about to crash on top of you). I ended up being spun 3 times in a row in monster waves. I now know what my clothes feel like in the spin cycle. It's not a pleasant feeling, well, that and you can't breathe while being tossed about. It was an experience, that's for sure. I'm alive to tell the story and I amazingly didn't get cut on any coral either. I was lucky. Now I can check bodyboarding off my list of things to do....and not repeat.
We finally poisoned one of our resident rats. It chose to die right in front of our microwave on our counter. It was a gruesome death too. Gross. One down, who knows how many to go!
Only 5 weeks until Mom comes out to visit. I'm super lucky to have so many people come visit me. I can't wait to see you mom! Thanks to all of you that have sent me packages/cards in the mail, I appreciate it!

Things I've learned in Pohnpei:
1. Karaoke makes me happy
2. It is possible for time to go both fast and slow simultaneously

Vacation Chronicles!!!!

As nearly a month has pasted since my last post I have a plethora of adventures to recount for your reading pleasure. The first few weeks of December pasted in a blurred frenzy of attempting to wrap up the quarter, practice for the Christmas program, and plan/attend Christmas parties. It was a lot of fun and very very busy!! The Christmas program went well, my kids sang “Angels we have heard on high” and looked adorable dressed in white. The class Christmas party and secret santa gift exchange went off without a hitch and I think everyone enjoyed themselves. Immediately following the party we drove to the airport to pick up Ross. It was so great to finally see him again! Riki flew in from Saipan a few days later. It was great to see you Rik!!! We all had a really fun time touring the island. During vacation we camped at Black Coral and went diving twice. We also visited the ancient ruins at Nan Madol, which was fun. We went on the 6 waterfalls hike. Yes, you really see six waterfalls along the way. It’s a great hike, swimming around in the waterfall basins, hiking in the river and through the jungle. We even found a few ginger water balloon flowers (no idea what they are actually called) to throw at each other. One of the waterfalls had a sweet cave behind it too! We visited Twin Falls and also climbed Sokehs Rock. One day we drove around the whole island and also climbed Chicken Poop mountain (yes, it’s really called that). On Christmas day we attended a local party. New Year’s Eve we went to a concert at the Kitti Church and spent a good share of time driving around Kolonia throwing candy to kids and yelling “Happy New Year” to everyone who was out and about. We got soaked with hoses and water balloons too! It was a great vacation and went slow enough to be enjoyed too. I missed being with my family over Christmas, but it was great to be with some of my best friends and be able to show them around this beautiful island. During break there was also the high school b-ball tournament. Since I’m the assistant coach for girl’s varsity I went to some games which was super fun too. We even had a coaches vs. officials game during the last day, which was a lot of fun.

I can’t say it ever really felt like Christmas much to me, but that’s ok, the vacation was very welcome. Thanks to all of you who sent me Christmas presents and cards, I appreciate it! Well, school is starting back up again and it’s back to work! The school year is half over, I can’t believe it! Happy New Year!

Things I’ve Learned:

1. I have amazing friends and family (ok, so I already knew that)

2. Playing should always follow hard work

3. I can bake bread, but still not slice it evenly

Sokehs and Weekend Newsy News

Yesterday we climbed Sokehs rock again. The view from the top is phenomenal. We went to church in Kitti instead of Kolonia because we were supposed to have SM Sabbath there the past 2 weeks but we were doing SM Sabbaths at Kolonia both those weeks. This past week went fairly well. My kids brought in decorations and we decked out the classroom with lights, ceiling hangings and tinsel. It looks really cute. During handwriting and math time we've been listening to Christmas music. I like the music and as an added bonus it keeps the kids quieter. It was a hot week and Mr. B was in Guam. The school really felt his absence. We were glad to have him back on Friday. His birthday was last week while he was gone so we had a surprise party for him last night instead. It was a lot of fun. I like the times when everyone can just hang out and not worry about all the things we have to do for the next week. Tomorrow begins the last full week before Christmas break. The Christmas program is a week from Wednesday and I think it'll be really good. My kids are singing "Angels We Have Heard on High". It's hard to believe that the school year is nearly half over. I still feel like I have no idea what I'm doing as a teacher to be honest. I have learned a lot though, especially about kids.
Well I wish all of you a wonderful Christmas season. Those of you in school, good luck with those finals!
Things I've learned in Pohnpei:
1. getting mail is in the top ten most exciting things in the world
2. riding INSIDE a car with a seatbelt is overrated

Thanksgiving and other Randomness

So maybe this is a bit late for Thanksgiving, but hey, life is busy. Last Thursday night we had a big huge feast with all the SMs, the Benjamins, and some of the locals as well. I’ve never seen so much food in all my life. It was delicious and a lot of fun too! We sat around and chatted after the preliminary stuffing of ourselves. I missed having Thanksgiving with the family, but I had a good time here too. Last Sat. we had SM Sabbath and it went really well. We had a big potluck after church and then just lazed around the rest of the day because it was raining too hard to go hiking. The big excitement for the week was that we decorated our apartment for Christmas and consequently busted out the Christmas tunes! Nothing like a little bit of Kenny G and Jackson 5 Christmas to bring the spirit of the holidays. It’s hard to believe that Christmas is so soon! I’m looking forward to seeing Riki and Ross and having some time to play and relax! School really saps you of all energy. Just keeping up with my 3^rd graders is a full time job, and then I have to try to teach them something on top of that! We made snowman, candy cane, and Christmas tree nametags on Friday. They were asking me what sledding was like and how you could ice skate on a pond without falling through the ice. I realized that I have experienced so much in my young life. Although being here I admit makes me feel ancient. I am over twice as old as the people I spend the majority of my time with, trust me, it can make you feel old in a hurry. Well I hope your Thanksgivings were delicious and enjoyable!

Things I've learned in Pohnpei:
1. ants will get into your food, nothing can stop them, they have the force.
2. Being willing to do something is more important than being good at it.

Rainy Days and Mondays

Contrary to the song, made popular by the Carpenters, neither the rain nor Monday was depressing to me. Monday was a holiday so there wasn’t any school, and the nearly constant rain this week I rather enjoyed. For one, it’s been very cool outside, and secondly, I enjoy falling asleep to the rain. This week was a good one. We had varsity practice and also went to a meeting to discuss the upcoming b-ball tournament yesterday. I think our team can do well if we practice hard. The tournament is during Christmas break, it should be a lot of fun. My class is doing pretty good, this week they were really into making paper spiders by tracing their fingers. I have to admit they are kind of cute, I have a few hanging in my classroom. I went to Kapinga Village on Wednesday to help with the Band-Aid clinic. I haven’t gone in several weeks and I missed it, so I tried to make some time to go. Hanging out with the kids is fun, they are so energetic and loving. To those of you that I promised bumpy black zories for Christmas, the search continues. Palm Terrace and the few other stores I’ve looked in don’t have them in stock right now, but hopefully they will soon!
Today I am especially thankful for the genius invention of the Sabbath. Nothing compares to the utter relaxation you experience knowing that you don’t need to be doing lesson plans, grading, cleaning the apartment, or various other activities. I love being able to just unwind from the week on Friday evening and look forward to Saturday too. Today after church we went to a waterfall following lunch. Since we’ve had so much rain recently the waterfall was HUGE! We have been to that same one before but last time it was quite a bit smaller, just lightly cascading down the rocks. This time it was pouring over the edge. The current was really strong up next to it. It was so much fun to swim around and hang out.

Things I’ve learned:

1. A hug from a student can melt away a lot of stress
2. There is nothing prettier than an ocean sunset
3. Bananas are a major food group

Insectopia aka Nah

The school fair was on Thursday of this week. Wednesday we spent a good share of the afternoon preparing for it. For the 3rd grade booth Maribel (the other 3rd grade teacher) and I hosted a game where you race ping pong balls down a pvc pipe by squirting them with water. It went well and we made quite a bit of money. The fair was a lot of fun, and also a lot of work. At the end I was so tired!!! Friday morning we packed for camping and headed out around noon. It was a long and fun boat ride and Nah, the island we went to, was beautiful. The sand was so fine and white and the water was clear. It was really awesome....until sundown. We were snorkeling around sunset so I didn't notice right away, but huge swarms of insects started coming out all over the place. Getting out of the water and getting changed meant getting eaten alive. Even standing directly in the smoke of the fire didn't help. These bugs aren't like mosquitoes where you can see them and swat at them, they are like microscopic and EVERYWHERE. After dark the insects went away a bit and I was ready for bed. We were sitting on the beach just chillin when the rain started, just a sprinkle, but I've been here long enough to know what that leads to. We all dove under the tarp before the deluge hit. So much for sleeping in my hammock. I rescued my food and 5 gallon bucket full of clothes/gear and settled in for one of the longest nights of my life. Despite the pouring rain, the relentless biting of the insects, and the palm branches poking me, I wasn't miserable, just not comfortable enough to sleep. I think mostly it was the bugs. I ended up wrapping myself with my sheet into a cocoon of sorts, which was much too hot, but necessary to ward off the insects. After tossing and turning and listening to the rain for most of the night I finally slept for a few hours. At dawn 2 boatloads of itchy, wet, miserable people loaded up and drove off. I wanted to stay until the second load because, hey I'd survived the night, I might as well stay the day and enjoy the beach, so why not? Those of us that stayed walked part way around the rather large island. We saw eels hunting for fish in the low tide, which is really awesome to watch by the way. In the midst of this show another rainstorm hit. We tried to find cover under a tree, but to no avail, we were soaked to the bone in a matter of minutes. Hiking back was fun though, there is nothing like trudging through the jungle in the midst of a downpour. We got back to camp, waited out the storm under the tarp and then packed up and left. We finally arrived back at the school sometime mid afternoon. I slept a good share of the evening to try to make up for last night. It was an experience for sure, not one that I'm eager to repeat, but still fun to have experienced. School is just the same as always, we have our evaluations coming up pretty soon so that is something to be thinking about, but other than that we are just cruising into the middle of second quarter. I think midterms are coming up here in a week or two. Well that's about it for my weekend adventures. From reading my blogs you'd think my life is all about scuba diving and camping, but in reality those are the things I deem most worthy of writing about. I suppose hearing that I eat PB&J everyday for lunch or that I had to kill world's biggest spider in my room one morning, or that the ship brought oats last week is equally exciting though. In conclusion, I'm itchy and I miss you all, but life is good. It's November already which means that Dec will be here soon which means that I get to see Ross and Riki!!! I'm excited, and itchy.

Finally November

This week was another short one. Apparently November is full of short weeks. I’m looking forward to it. This week started out rough and continued much the same. I’m glad we had Friday off, I think I might have gone crazy otherwise. On Halloween a bunch of my kids came to the apartment for trick-or-treating. They were cute in their costumes. On my day off I mostly read and sat around, it was relaxing. We also went out to The Village with everyone for breakfast. That was fun to just chill and hang out with all the SMs. I don’t get to see the high school teachers much during the week. Today we played ultimate frisbee for a while and I took a nice long nap. The annoying thing about napping here is that I always feel ants crawling on me so I wake up to slap them all. Last week I got a package from WWU with a bunch of notes from old friends and stuff, it was fun to read those! I’m glad it is finally November. October was one of those months that just seemed to never end. This week is the school fair, similar to the fall festival at home. Our class is hosting some ping pong ball race. It should be a good time even if it is a lot of work. Last week when we had Wednesday off I tried my hand at break making for the first time. I’m quite pleased with the results if I do say so myself. I didn’t have all the right ingredients, but it turned out alright and it is a lot cheaper and healthier than buying pre-made loaves. Well, I’m off to see what fun there is to be had this evening!

I'd like to be, under the sea...

This weekend was a 3 day weekend because Friday was parent teacher conferences instead of school. I didn't have any angry parents or anything, so that was good. After conferences, we loaded up the boat and headed to Black Coral, an island not far from the main island. This one didn't have much sand and it was TINY, but very relaxing to get away from school and everything for a short while. We sat around all day Sabbath and snorkeled a bit in the channel near the island. This morning we went diving right by the island. I got to use my own BC this time which was nice, and I actually had weights too! I saw about 4 reef sharks (one of which was a baby, very cute) and a sea turtle for a fleeting second. It was down pretty deep and was moving fast so I didn't get a good look at it. Our dive was pretty long and fun, also uneventful, which is generally a good thing when talking about scuba diving. I'm not looking forward to school tomorrow because I'm really tired, but hopefully I'll get a good night's sleep and make up for this weekend. I slept on the hard wood floor of our hut the first night we were there because it was so hot that I was burning up in my hammock without any breeze. The 2nd night was much better as it was raining and windy. I hung my hammock from the low rafters of the hut and slept really good, but I'm still pretty tired from everything. Well, back to school tomorrow, we have Wednesday off because of U.N. day, which will be a nice break in the middle of the week. Our leaky shower got fixed this weekend as well, so now we don't have a permanent puddle on our bathroom floor anymore. So much to be thankful for if you really think about it. Sometimes it's hard to look on the positive side though. One quarter down, three to go!

Things I've learned in Pohnpei:
1. Teachers deserve the utmost respect, they work hard
2. Balance is key to happiness
3. Cabbage salad is salad nonetheless

Sahwertik & Sahwerlap

This weekend was a very busy and fun one! I'm very pwang (tired) from all the festivities. On Sabbath we hiked to two waterfalls down in a gorge. It was a steep but beautiful hike. The first one was super tall, maybe like a few hundred ft and gorgeous. It had a nice deep pool at the base and sheer walls surrounding it. We had to hike up the river to get there too, which proves interesting when your shoes have very little traction. Nothing more than a few more bumps, bruises, and scraped knees to add to the collection though. Saturday night we had a b-day party for one of my roommates which turned out to be a lot of fun also. We even did some salsa dancing. On Sunday we loaded up the boat and headed out to Palikir Pass for some scuba-rama. It was only the 2^nd time I’ve been diving here. I had to use someone else’s BC due to a time constraint and various other issues. The BC was several sizes too large for me and I had nothing but 2 small rocks for weights, but somehow everything ended up working fine and the dive went well. It was kind of scary diving without any instructor, just a dive buddy, but all went well and I even saw 3 reef sharks! After a while Tina (my dive buddy) and I met up with Mr. B and Raymond and they took us down pretty deep to see the sharks. I dove to about 85 ft, which is the deepest I’ve ever gone, but that’s where the sharks were, so that was fun to see. That is pretty much the summation of my weekend. It was a lot of fun and I felt ready to tackle yet another Monday. This week has been going fast luckily. We have Friday semi-off. By that I mean that we don’t have school, but we do have parent teacher conferences since report cards come out on Thursday. After school we are supposed to go camping at Black Coral, nothing is for sure yet though. We caught one of our many resident mice a few days ago, one down, 2 more to go! A new quarter has started this week. It is somewhat of a relief to be able to start fresh, but starting over can also be stressful. The ship with the copier ink still hasn’t come, so we are using the small copier still which means that we can only make copies for certain things. It makes grading papers harder because they mostly do work out of the book, but I have 2 high school graders do most of that, so that is nice. Well I hope you are all doing mwau (good) and I’d love to hear from you! Oh, the pictures are of Karen and I at Sahwertik (a waterfall) and on of me and my TA Eileen. She's awesome.

Its been a long time since I've posted! Last week on Friday it was our elementary school picnic. We went to a man made beach called Nihco Marine Park. The kids absolutely loved it. They played in the water and tried their best to coax me into the water with them. I gave in eventually. It was a lot of fun, but planning things like that take so much work! Calling parents for rides to a from the park and getting supervision and collecting money, it was a long process. This week went slowly for me. It was a rough week because our copier is totally out of ink until the next boat comes. It is very hard to teach 3rd grade without worksheets of some type, let me tell you. I did a whole lot of "in class" work and gave points based on participation. This week looks to be another creative lesson planning week as well. I'm getting more used to school, but there is always something to surprise you, like when the kids get hit in the face with a swing and have to go to the hospital to get stitches, or when you have an irate parent yelling at you in front of your students. Always something to deal with. This weekend was a welcome break, only to wake up this morning feeling horrible. I tried to go about my day and just ignore it, but I nearly passed out in my classroom, so I decided to go back to bed. Hopefully by tomorrow I'll be recovered enough to teach. Last weekend was very fun though. We hiked through the jungle to a waterfall and played there for a while. It was not the prettiest one we've been to, but still a lot of fun, and the hike was gorgeous. Sunday a few of us went canoing through the mangrove mazes in a channel. That was soo cool! Some of the passageways wind on for a long ways, it felt like touring the Amazon or something. It's hard to believe that it's nearly October already! The days go painfully slow, but the weeks usually go pretty fast. Well, I've got science tests to write and a huge stack of papers to record so I'd better get to work. I miss you all, thanks for your comments and prayers!

Weekend at Ant

This last weekend we had 4 days off! Monday was Teacher in Service Day and Tuesday was Liberation Day. Because we had such a nice long time off, we decided to go camping at an outer island. We left Friday immediately after school and took an hour long boat ride to the atoll (called Ant). On our way there a huge pod of dolphins swam next to our boat and accompanied us for part of the way. They were so cute!! The ocean was kind of crazy in such a small boat, but it was a fun ride. I was soaked by the time we arrived. I scouted out some good palm trees and set up my hammock. By the way, sleeping in a hammock- fun , yes. Comfortable, NO. Just thought I'd clear that up. We ate mostly pancakes and ramen noodles the whole weekend. It was so nice to be on a sandy beach and be barefoot all weekend! There were crabs everywhere too, you had to be careful where you stepped! Saturday we played on my slack line and snorkeled most of the time. I saw an octopus while snorkeling! It was really cool. I've always wanted to find one. So, it turns out that the tiny strip of exposed skin between my rash guard and board shorts, yeah, that needs sunscreen too. Ouch. I think I was actually one of the least sunburned of the bunch of us, but I hurt a bit on Monday and used aloe very liberally. We went scuba diving Sunday afternoon just before returning to Pohnpei, which was fun. I didn't see anything fabulous, but it was the first time I'd been diving since my checkout dive in February so I had fun. It was such a chill and relaxing weekend. I think it's the first time since I've been here that I've really really enjoyed myself. I wish we always had four days off for every weekend! School is going alright. Some days are dare I say "good", and some are not so much fun. Today would be the latter. I think they put a shot of caffeine in the lunches sometimes because my kids were bouncing off the walls today. If any of you get a hankering to send me a letter, or even a package, be my guest, it would be much appreciated. My address is -
Pohnpei SDA School
PO Box 518
Kolonia, Pohnpei 96941
FSM, Pohnpei
I always appreciate mail, it brightens my day like you wouldn't believe! Thank you for all your support and prayers!