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.