Survivor weekend

This weekend is a three day weekend. It's Nuclear Day so we get Monday off. We decided it would be a great time to go camping at Callalan. We all packed up and jumped on a boat for Eneko Friday afternoon. We had planned on returning on Monday at 2 pm, but at the last minute some of the girls wanted to come back on Sunday, so we booked two return boats. Once we got to Eneko we had a 6 mile hike between islands to Callalan. The boat dropped us off at 5:40 pm and the tide was dropping, but still a little high. We walked to the end of the island and looked at it. Damien and I thought it was a little high and so we sat down to wait. Mitch and John just started walking. Ben, Nicole, and Alise followed. Everyone else just relaxed on the beach. The water between the first islands, called Three Bag Islands, was about waste high and we were glad we didn't push it. I opened a bunch of coconuts and the girls drank the milk and ate the coconuts. Damien had taken his surfboard, but decided it would be too much work to carry, so he hid it really good on the island. In 30 minutes the tide had dropped to knee high and we set out. I walked on the ocean side on the shelf and the it was easy going. Kara and Katrina got stung by jelly fish and so they moved into the middle where there are piles of rock. This is much harder to walk on, but the water is shallow and they didn't want to be stung. Around dark we got to the first of the Three Bag Islands. We thought about stopping, but everyone wanted to push on. The moon was up so we walked in the moonlight. The tide kept dropping and it got easier to walk. We passed the Three Bag Islands and came to this one after that. It was a small island with a channel between it and the next big island. No one lived on it so we decided to camp for the night even though it was only 7:30 or 8:00. The first people to leave were no where in sight.

We started a fire and cooked over it. Rob we having trouble getting coconuts and he didn't bring water. He wanted to tough it out and so he didn't eat much. I gave him some of my rice and soup. He claimed there weren't any good coconuts, but it turned out the next day he was wrong. He was just bad at looking for them and worse at climbing coconut trees. We stayed up until midnight laying on the beach, talking. It was Rob, Damien, Kara, Charity, Katrina, Shari, the South African couple, and me.

In the middle of the night it started raining. I got up out of my hammock and wrapped my blanket up. There was this little tarp covered shelter. Small pigs were sleeping in it but Rob and I kicked them out and we went and stayed in it. The rain stopped after about 15 minutes. We weren't worried because it always blows over fast. We were to find out this was only the beginning. When we awoke the next day it was overcast. Every one of the girls had blisters. Since they were returning the next day anyway we decided there was no point in them walking all the way to Callalan with those bad blisters. Plus, Callalan had no shelter and we hadn't brought tarps. I brought one on the last camping trip and we didn't use it. No one felt like carrying the extra weight. It rained pretty hard a couple times. We piled into the small shelter. Some of the guys thought it was too small and so they propped up the back and took an old tarp and propped it up in front. The one in front turned out to have many, many holes in it. When the back got propped up the water didn't want to run off it anymore. We tried to reinforce it, but that night we just dropped it back down and huddled close.

During the day we went snorkelling. The channel between the islands was running fast at high tide so we float through and out into the lagoon. Rob and I saw a big sea turtle. It was so beautiful. It looked like it was flying in the water. The reef was really pretty and there were tons of fish. The South Africans took their spear fishing gear and went out to do that. Despite the on and off rain, it was a beautiful Sabbath day. That night we talked about what to do. Everyone wanted to leave on Sunday now because of the bad rain. We still had the five other people ahead of us who didn't know what the plan was. The girls, Rob and Damien wanted to hike back to one of the Three Bag Islands where there is a vacation house and shelter. They figured we could stay in the shelter if someone was at the house. I still wanted to see Callalan so I said I would hike to Callalan on the low tide that night and return with the five people the next morning. Damien and Rob decided to hike out there with me and return on the same tide with no gear. Right was it was getting dark it started raining really hard. We huddled in the shelter until 8 pm. By that time the tide was low and we started off at a fast pace. It took us about an hour to get to Callalan.

Mitch, Ben, Jon, Nicole and Alise were sitting around the fire when we came up. They were disappointed we hadn't made it that morning. They hadn't brought a machete and our group had four of them. It sucked because they couldn't get any coconuts. I climbed a coconut tree and cut several down for them. I cooked a meal over there fire and then they were getting ready to go to bed. They met this really nice Marshallese guy and he loaned them a tarp. Alise slept on the ground under the tarp and everyone else hung the hammocks up. About 1 am the first shower came. It rained pretty hard for a bit. We huddled under the tarp until it past and went back to our hammocks. A few minutes later it started raining again. This time it was a storm. The wind blew and the waves were crashing onto the beach. The rain was so hard we were all soaked in no time. The rain was going sideways right under our tarp. Ben and I were in the front and soaked first. My once damp blanket was now completely soaked and doing no good. The tarp started leaking all over and no one was dry. It didn't let up for an hour and a half. By that time we were cramped from crouching under the tarp. I sat with my back to Nicole. I think our shared body heat kept me from freezing. I cursed myself for not leaving with Damien and Rob to go back to the house. It was so miserable sitting there soaking wet in a storm. Rain in the day time neve bothered me because you are running around and it's not cold here. I found that rain at night while you are trying to sleep is hell.

The nice Marshallese guy had offered them his shelter and so when the rain let up we voted to go over there. We were worried because it was 3 am by this time, but he was sitting on his front porch watching the down pour. We asked if we could use his shelter and he offered us his house. We all went inside and laid down on the floor. It was the greatest feeling in the world to be dry and warm. I have never been so greatful for shelter in my entire life. We slept for a few hours and then got up at first light. The Marshallese guy told us to come anytime we needed shelter. We think he is the king that owns the island. (There are about 10 kings of the Marshall Island who own most of the land.) He is the nicest guy I've met since I've been here. When were returned to the camp site we found everythere wet and sandy. By the time we loaded our backpacks the tide was low enough and we set out. Not even Ben was arguing with us about going back early. It was the worst camping night of our lives and we were not interested in repeating it.

It only took us two hours to cover the 6 miles back to Eneko. The tide was super low and we were walking on dry land or ankle deep water the whole way. It was 10:30 am when we arrived and we found there was a Tsunami warning for 11:30. We were freaked out at first and drying to get a boat back before then. But we couldn't and nothing happened. I wish I could say we lived out a Tsunami on an outer island, but the truth is I didn't even see the surges they got in New Zealand. It was a super low tide and so if their were surges it didn't make much difference. This weekend is suppose to be the most extreme tides ever recorded in the Marshall Islands. In the end, if there aren't big waves, it doesn't make much difference. It's only about a foot higher than normal. If there are big waves at the same time, then it can flood low places. My students told me it flooded Small Island last year. Extreme tides always come around this time of year.

I got back, ate some good cooked food, and crashed. I slept from 4 in the afternoon until midnight. I'm not sure if I'll be able to sleep more. I hope so.

Two Fights and the Banquet

The last week has been a very eventful one. The drama and craziness that has gone on is ridiculous. Last Saturday night I was bored, as usual, because no one wanted to do anything. I went over to the gym and I sat through three volleyball games and couldn't play. The gym is complete chaos and can have 100 people in it Saturday night. You count and keep score if you want to go next. I was keeping score for me and some of my students. But they wandered out of the gym and didn't come back in time and so I couldn't get on because I was by myself. After I got really frustrated with that I went back to the AV room, which is usually the lamest place to be saturday night. When I came in the guys had put on music really loud and were dancing. That was fun so I got in on that. The music was really loud and the girls watched us for a little while then left to go watch some lame chick flick. Certain girls are very girly when it comes to movies and all they will watch is Miley Cyrus and romance movies. I don't mind one every once in awhile, but they get lame if you do that every saturday night. We were still dancing and having a good time when Rudy came in and told us we should move it to his classroom. We said there were only four of us and there was no point. Then Rob grabbed the ipod off the speakers and walked out the door. We put another ipod on and kept jamming. He came storming back in and started saying stuff about being immature. Tony came back with something. Tony knows just how to say stuff to piss people off big time. Rob walked over and put his hand on Tony's chest and said he had enough of Tony. I'd never seen Rob angry like this. Tony was like, "Get your hands off me!" Ben stepped in and pushed them apart. Rob said, "Get out of the way Ben. I'm mad at you too!" Ben was like, "What's the problem?" and Rob explained that people were next door and below and they were upset with our music. Ben said, "Oh! I didn't even realize it." And he turned the music off and we all went back to our computers. Everyone who was there knew how close Rob and Tony were to a fist fight. Tony has no idea how to calm someone down and he was making Rob madder and madder. It was good than Ben defuse the situation.


The next fight was just crazy. The Valentine's Banquet was Thursday night. When we all went out to eat for Valentine's Day the girls picked names out of a hat and asked us. The deal was that we would do the same and ask them for the banquet. Wednesday night we had done nothing and so we sat down and talked about it. Since we are dudes we didn't just want to leave our dates to chance. We decided to play Counter Strike to decide who would get first pick. The real reason for the whole thing is that at least four guys wanted to take Katrina. They didn't want to leave it to chance and her end up with Mitch or something. We made a complicated multi round system to narrow down the best players. The first round Ben and Zac made it to the next round. The next one Rob and I did. I'm not the best player, but given a good computer I can be competitive. My computer must have a virus using my processor because even Counter Strike had performance issues. Even so, I still made it to the next round. Damien was the last one to make it to Finals. Tony was a sore looser and kepts saying, "I don't give a s***" and so we told him he didn't have to take anyone. I don't think he wanted to and he didn't want to get stuck with last pick. Since we had two more guys that girls he and one other person was going without a date. Since Rudy wasn't there he was given that spot by default.

Tony started the it by being a sore looser and complaining so much. After that everyone that go eliminated complained a bunch. We were in the finals and Damien was leading by a huge margin, Zac was second, Ben third, I was fourth and Rob was last. Damien got a big sniper rifle that you can kill with one shot with. He would camp in a corner and take out the bots like crazy. Ben was arguing that that was cheap and the gun should not be used. Damien said this rule was not made in the beginning and he was not doing anything illegal. Ben got really annoying and kept saying, "I don't give a s***" while holding his nose. I didn't know what that was about but Damien thought he was making fun of his accent. It turn out later he was making fun of Tony. Anyway Ben realized he was pissing Damien off and that made him feel better since he was pissed off Damien was using the sniper rifle and winning the game. Damien walked up to him and said, "Stand up! We'll settle this once and for all." Damien was completely ready to fist fight. Damien has the worst temper of anyone and is the most physical. He would be the last person I would want to fight and I wouldn't have pushed him anywhere near that far because I know these things. Ben wouldn't stand up but he kept running his mouth, which was really stupid. He kept saying, "What is your problem?" I walked over there to try and defuse things and Jon said, "Ben, just be quiet!" and he finally shut up. We stopped Counter Strike.

I was super frustrated now because we were no closer to knowing we would take to the banquet. Now it was such a touchy subject I was afraid to bring it up. I was so pissed off at the immaturity that the guys were showing. We aren't dating any of them and we won't be. It's stupid that they should get so worked up that they almost get into a fist fight over it. I went to Cameron's place and hung out with him for a bit. I had gone with Alise on the Valentine's Day thing and had a good time. If I were to choose someone it would be her.

I went over to where the guys were hanging out and asked them if it was a free for all now. They said it was and anyone could ask anyone. By this time it was getting late and I had something cool in mind. I got an ipod speaker and played "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" with it over my head out in front of the girl's apartments. It was really funny becaue that was in a movie and I found it the cheesiest thing I could think of. The girls found it humorous. I went back inside and everyone said they were going to just ask some random girl. They were talking about it and they realized that that wouldn't work because several guys still wanted to go with Katrina. Also, no one wanted to go with someone who shall remain nameless. They talked about having a fight club to decide, but scrapped that idea. Finally they just all drew names out of a hat, but with a twist. The people who had made it to the final round of Counter Strike could put a name back once and redraw. This guaranteed that none of them would have to go with the one or two people they didn't want to go with. The couples were like this: Rob and Katrina, Damien and Kara, Ben and Shari, Jon and Charity, Zac and Nicole, Mitch and Lauren. Mitch was in bed so he just ended up with the last person in the hat. Of course we told the girls it was completely random and drawn out of a hat. This is a secret to be kept until the end of the year for sure. No one reads this blog.

The banquet was great. The kids showed up about an hour late, pretty standard for Marshallese. That was ok though. We ate, had Kareoke and had a good time for awhile. My 8th grade girls came about 30 minutes after that. They were really shy and didn't want to come in. At least three of them had dates from high school, but the guys didn't come over and the girls didn't go sit with the guys. It was really strange. You would never know they were going with anyone. Marshallese culture is strange sometimes. The girls wouldn't come out of the foyer and so I went and talked with them and took pictures for awhile. They finally started to feel more relaxed and we got them a table. They had all went shopping especially for the banquet and gotten new dresses. They looked very beautiful. I don't mind saying they were the prettiest girls at the banquet as a whole. No one high school class had more pretty girls at the banquet. They could have done so much better if they knew how to capitalize on it. They were constantly trying to hide and not be seen. I guess it's natural for 8th graders to be very insecure and shy. Like I said, Marshallese culture is very shy anyway.

Later that night we had a skit with Zac, Rob, Tony, and Rudy in it. The kids loved it. We had a how well do you know your date game. They chose Ben and Shari, Junior and Monolin, and two Chinese kids. It was a great cross section with teachers, Marshallese, and Chinese represented. I don't even know who won, but it wasn't Ben and Shari. Shari has a boyfriend and I'm sure we would do many times better than Ben.

The banquet was a huge success. The seniors said it was the best banquet they had ever been to. We have a group of highly dedicated teachers. From what I hear usually they have a group of teachers who mostly don't care that much. They are always slacking and trying to get out of responsibilities. I think we have done a lot for this school. From the stories we here from Pohnpei, we are doing much better than most teachers out here.

Coasting. . .

Compared to the last couple weeks this one I was coasting. I had the really bad week, then I cracked down the next week, and now they are starting to accept things. It's never easy. Sometimes I think they are on some drug they get so crazy. Sometimes they come back from lunch running around yelling at each other. I think they may eat a lot of sugar at lunch. They are starting to accept my new rules and buckle down and do their work. It is getting better.



I went kiteboarding about three times after school this week. I'm learning a lot and getting much better. Rudy has been helping me. It makes a big difference to have someone to help you launch. On Tuesday we went out and launched the kite. I got on the board and took off. I got several 5 second rides in. My board skills are perfect but I can't keep the kite powered up for very long. Kite flying is a very technical skill, but I'm learning all the time. I got a ways out and the wind died and the kite came down. I relaunched it once and then it came down again. Rudy was out in the water taking pictures and he was suppose to have my surf board but he had left it on the bank. He swam over and was trying to help me get the kite into the air. I asked him what he was doing because he and the kite were going upwind of me. Obviously you need the kite downwind to launch it. I looked back at the bank and realized we were upwind of where we started. Since I can't kite upwind that means we were in a fast current. We couldn't get the kite launched some I wrapped up the lines. By that time we were way past the point. In a matter of minutes we were very far out to sea. I knew that if this current kept up there was no way we were going to make it back because we couldn't swim that fast. We swam across the current around the point. I didn't want to land there because the waves were much bigger. On the other hand I knew I couldn't make it back to where we started, so landing amid crashing waves was better than floating out to sea. Rudy wasn't worried at all at first. After about 20 minutes of swimming and we were still quite a ways from shore, he realized the situation we were in. I think we swam for about 30 minutes to get back. Fortunately the waves were small that day and it wasn't bad coming in. This instance renewed my respect for the ocean. I know more than anyone how powerful it is. Between wind, waves, and currents it can get you in trouble very fast. The good thing is we weren't in immediate danger of drowning. The kite has a lot of air in it and we could float on that for as long as needed. On the other hand, three days in the ocean would not be fun.

The next day we decided to look for a new location to kiteboard. We went down to the bridge and found a nice place. Unfortunately I lost my air pump and so we had to blow it up with our mouths. (The day before I think a Marshallese stole it because I have to leave in on the bank when I kiteboard. The pump only cost $4 so I wasn't worried, but the place I bought it doesn't have them anymore. I hope I can find another one.) The kite didn't fly nearly as good without being pumped up. I can fly it in the power zone fine, but it won't go out because the structure isn't rigid and so it flaps and collapses when it is in the low power zone. It went into the power zone and I went racing across the water and never could get my board on. I went for a really long ways moving quite fast. It was very fun and I'm really good at controlling the kite. Finally I just got tired of being drug along so I flew as close to the shore as I dared and then let the kite drop. The problem is I landed at the worst possible place on the whole beach. The shore was covered with old car and engine parts and glass bottles broken everywhere. This I could not tell from the ocean, only when I landed. My kite got washed up on some junk and a huge whole was ripped in the fabric. Day before yesterday I did my best to patch it. I still haven't tested it, but I have my doubts about it holding. I have some other ideas though. I'll do some research. It is fixable. If I were in Florida my gear would be in way better shape. This island has the worst shores of anywhere I have ever been.

This Sunday is Valentine's Day. I had been thinking awhile about doing something for my kids. Friday I sat down at lunch and wrote a bunch of notes to all of the girls. My mom sent me Valentine's cards so I used those. Kids are incredibly curious and the minute I walked into class they want to know what they were and wanted them. I handed them out and the girls loved them. I wrote a personal note on each one and said something positive about each person. They kept coming up to me, "You really like me smile? AWW!" They all gave me big hugs and it was great. The 7th grade girls called me over and told me they had something too tell me. When I got down then all jumped on me and yelled "Happy Valentine's Day!" and hugged me. It was really sweat.

After school on Friday we had a basketball game between the staff and the high school team. The staff were behind the whole way, but fighting hard. I didn't play because I'm really bad at basketball. Coach Zac, coach of the Shrenz, tried to get me to play so that it would help his team. I took a bunch of pictures and hung out with a couple of my students. It got down to the end and the staff would be up by one and then the Shrenz up by one. With 7 seconds left on the clock the staff was 44 to Shrenz 43. They set up a play and pulled it off in 7 seconds to take the win. Everyone went crazy and the team picked up Zac and carried him around the gym yelling. It was such a close good game. Even though I was cheering for the staff, because I'm staff, I was glad the Shrenz won. I think they'll do really well this season. It will be great because they have not been a good team in the past. Our school does really well at Volleyball, but they loose almost every baskestball game. I think that is going to change this year.

Friday Night, Feb. 5th

Wow, this week went by in a blur. So much happened and I've been so busy. The first two days of the week were very hard in class. The guys were just running around like crazy and leaving the class a lot to play in the hall with the high school students who don't go to class. I don't know what the security guard does around here, but he doesn't make people go back to class. I would think that would be his main job. I sent two guys to detention with the guard and they just left. The last time they did that I sent them to the principal's office, but it didn't seem to make a difference because they just did it again. At the end of Tuesday I was very frustrated and I told them that this class was going to change. Up until now I have run it with a very relaxed style. The students who are self motivated work very well under that. The girls don't get into trouble and I think they learn a good amount. A few of the boys are very self motivated and do their work before talking to friends or anything. But I've recently been overrun with these guys that don't care about school at all. This one kid has been in and out since I've been here and been caught drinking and other stuff. He just hangs out in class and does no work at all. I told them that the last couple weeks they have made my life miserable and if they don't straighten up I'm going to make theirs miserable. The next day and came in with a completely different attitude. I wasn't as hard as I probably should have been, but if people were running around or talking loud I got on their case. If they didn't listen, I made them do pushups. If they left class for any reason without asking me, I made them do pushups. I must say, they weren't angels, but it was way less stress on me because I had a recourse if they didn't listen. The principal has told us not to do physical punishments in class and other teachers have gotten into trouble for doing these things. But these 8th grade guys do not respond to anything but physical punishment. If you tell them to write sentences after class, they ditch and don't show up. You have to be immediate and physical. It works too. Like I told them, I took the pressure off me and put it on them.

We had a volleyball game with Coop, the school next door. My girls showed up really late and so they were about to sub in Coop students in our team because we only had three or four players. So I walked over to the girls' house where I knew they would be hanging out and roused them over there. The first game was really bad. I don't know what happened. Our girls just weren't into it at all. But then after that we just owned them. Our students are much better volleyball players than Coop students. It might be because our PE teacher doesn't actually teach them anything. He just lets them have a bunch of free days and they play volleyball the whole time. But they were really good when they got here, so that doesn't explain everything.

About two weeks ago one of my students' grandmother died. She was upset about it for a few days and told me she hadn't been eating. Her relatives were flying in from Hawaii and all over and so they embalmed the body and kept it in a freezer for a couple weeks until everyone could get there. Today they had the funeral. She told me she wanted the class to come so I asked her what time. She said any time. I thought that was kind of strange so I asked if we could go at 1 pm when school gets out. She said that would be fine. One of the girls got her father to come with his pickup truck. Most of the 8th graders piled in and we all drove down there. They wanted me to ride in the front, but I told them I'd rather ride in the back. All my students were back there and we had a great time driving over. (It's about a 30 minute drive to Long Island not to mention the many stops we made along the way to pick up people.) When I had announced that we could go all the students acted really excited and started making a bunch of noise. It's very interesting around here because they treat funerals as mild entertainment time. They always have a bunch of food. I guess the family of the deceased is expected to provide it. On the way over I brought out my camera and instantly everyone wanted to be in the pictures and look at the pictures. They asked who was going to speak for us. I didn't really know what that meant. They asked me if I would and I said I could, but I didn't know what to say. They told me to say we were sorry about her and stuff. We got there and we went in to the church. The flowers were out and the casket was sitting there. We sat down and the kids told me this was the time to speak. There were a few family members there and some of them were taking video of the whole thing. Other than that the place was empty. I went up there and talked into the microphone. I told them who we were and how much Pearlynn (my student) means to me and all of us. I told them I was sorry I was never able to meet her grandmother and we would be praying for them. Then I sat down and one of the family members got up and made a similar speech thanking us for coming over and at the end he offered us food. We walked by the casket and left a dollar or so each by it. That is their custom here. They do that at birthdays too. The casket had a glass covering so you could see in but it wouldn't stink up the place. I've never seen one of those before. We went out and they served us rice, chicken, koolaid, and crackers. The kids sank the crackers into the koolaid until they were all soggy. I thought it was gross. As we were leaving Pearlynn told me she really liked my speech and she really appreciated me mentioned her in it. The other kids told me it was really good too. I felt awkward because I hadn't been to a funeral like that before and I didn't now what people normally said. Plus I had never met the deceased. On the trip back the kids were in a great mood and having tons of fun. They were whistling, waving, and blowing kisses and every stranger they saw along the rode. It was hugely entertaining. I'm really glad I went and it was a great experience.

I also had a parent/teacher meeting this week which I was really stressed over, but it went well. Maybe I'll write a blog about that when I have more time. I've already spent more time than I have on this blog. Better get busy with other stuff.

End of another Month

Time if flying by on Majuro. I stay so busy and have so many experiences all the time. It's strange because sometimes it seems like there is nothing going on, but I always have plenty to do.

Last week was much better than the week before. The problems guys were gone a lot, which made my class flow much smoother. Monday morning three of the guys came to school late and didn't bother going in PE. The coach came out and took them to the office. Since it was the second time in as many days that they were in there, the principal suspended them for a couple days. Until Thursday it went very smooth. Johnny and Stevenson were still in my class, but if it is just them, I can control them even though they are the most trouble. On Thursday all the guys came back and it was crazy again. I easily have six kids who are constant trouble. It is so hard to deal with that. I was giving a lecture and I looked over and they are sitting on their desks just having a party talking really loud. I am used to talking loud in class and I couldn't even be heard over them. I told them to listen up and be quiet and no one even acknowledged that I said anything. I got so angry that I gave them three laps the next day. Then I slammed the door of this cabinet and told them I was sick and tired of them not paying attention. All their eyes were huge and they were completely silent. They had never seen me angry before. I feel kinda bad because I don't like loosing control, but sometimes they just push you until you are mean to them. The teachers that have been here a long time are very firm and raise their voice often. The kids don't really like them that much either. If I were teaching here again, I would probably be like that. To maintain control here you have to be so strong. The kids are used to running over everyone by 8th grade. They've had a bunch of pushover teachers in the past.

After that I was having a hard day. At recess we went to the gym and were playing some volleyball. Before I came here I had never played volleyball before and I'm pretty bad at it still, although I am mostly competent. I can usually make the ball go where I want. We had several low fast serves that came in right over my head. They are super hard to pick up especially with an overhand hit. I kept trying to do it but it kept shooting off all over place. The girl behind me could have picked up at least one or two with regular hit and I should have let her take it but I didn't think about it. They got frustrated with me and then I felt bad. Then I served into the net and I was even more frustrated with myself. I didn't really say anything but we just went back to class and I prayed and tried to pick myself up. I guess it was just everything together that was getting me down. One of the girls came up and told me she was sorry. But I didn't really think to much of it after that. The next morning we had free day at PE and I usually just sit and watch but the girls told me they wanted me to come play volleyball with them. Then again at recess they went out of their way to make me feel welcome to play with them. It surprises and touches me how in touch they are with other people's feelings and how they go out of their way to reach out to me. They can be so wild sometimes you don't think they would be so sensitive. The fact that they care about the way I feel makes it worth all the crap I go through sometimes.

Saturday night we had a birthday party for Zac and Tony. It was legen -wait for it- dairy! That is not other word to describe it. We played music out of this giant speaker and just rocked the place. A bunch of the guys drank a bunch of coffee. I remember Damien running down the hall, literally running down the walls. He came to the door and just kicked it straight open without even stopping. I guess it wasn't latched because he was super lucky not to have broken it. None of the guys could sit still all night, it was crazy. We messed around and danced a bunch. It was great because everyone knows that we are all friends and so there is no pressure with the girls. We just danced and didn't care if we looked stupid. The majority of the people there had never been to a dance club before so most everyone were noobs and looked stupid out there. At the end they brought out the cake, after everyone got a piece Katrina plastered the birthday boys with cake in their face. It was really funny and we got some sweet pictures.

Today is Monday, Feb 1st and I started the month off great. I took my kite out and Lauren helped me launch it. I went to put the board on my feet and after I got one foot in my kite powered up with a gust of wind. So I just stood on the board and it pulled me along pretty nice for a bit then I got jerked straight about and I was in the air. I didn't go very far that time but my board went off the one foot I had in it. I didn't worry because I had a leash on it. I steered the kite over to the edge but it was pulling me out fast. When I went to bring it up to the middle, so that I could try and get on my board again, it lifted me straight up and I got serious air that time. I could have kept going up but I was depowering the kite. The farther I got out the more powerful the wind was getting. I went down wind a ways and finally the wind died down. I went to bring my board up and realized I had lost it somewhere along the way. The handle that my leash was attached to had come off and the board was nowhere around. It took me awhile to swim back in to shore and get everything packed up. I went back along the shore and some kids told me they found my board. Sure enough, some Marshallese grabbed it when it washed up. I was so stoked and it was actually an answered prayer because I was praying the whole swim in that it would wash ashore and not off into the ocean someplace. I lost the handle so I've gotta figure out how to get another one or another way to attach the leash. But I'm super stoked because I stood on the board briefly and got big air. Lauren says my feet were about 5 feet up. That feels about right, maybe a little higher.