I've had so much happen and I want to get it down before I forget about it. About three weeks ago, Joan Lafever, the head of Guam Micronesia Missions, came to visit us. She visited out classrooms and offered suggestions. They decided for her to fly out to Jeh and Wotje along with Lenney, the principal, to see those school. They got on Jeh and the plane broke down. The plane was on Ebeye, fortunately, but they were stuck on Jeh. Air Marshall Islands is the most unreliable air service in the world. Everyone knows that if you leave on one of their planes, you may not be back for quite some time. We could communicate with them by ham radio. Every day John Dale would give them updates and try to get them off the island. Chartering a big boat out there was looking like a $6000 proposition. Joan didn't want to ride in a small boat because of the safety issues. Finally, about two or three weeks after they got there, the plane was fixed and it flew them home. In the mean time John Dale was the main dicipline guy and he did a great job. My kids were afraid to be sent to him.
That leads me to my next story. This week we've been doing different stuff because it is Education week. Strange enough less education has been done than any other week. We have had group activities and games. One day we had Bible Trivia games with 7th grade. 7th grade won and the two 7th grade teachers and I were leading out. None of the kids like one of the 7th grade teachers and complain to me all the time. He was a little biased and wanted 7th grade to win. The 8th graders said he was cheating, which I don't think was true. Afterward one of the 8th grade girls went up to him and said "7th grade can go to hell." I was really surprised because I have no problems with her in class. She is one of the sweetest girls in the whole class. I wasn't there to hear it but two teachers were and so they sent her to do detention. She retreated into the 8th grade class and didn't appear to be moving. Cameron told me to go get her down, which I guess was my responsibility since she was an 8th grader. I went up there and told her she couldn't talk to a teacher like that and she'd have to do detention. She kept saying, "I will go. I will go after school." And other stuff. I told her she had to go right then. About 10 8th graders were in there at this point, watching everything. My rules are very relaxed as far as classes go, but I do have control of the class because I enforce the rules and have and everyone knows that. I knew if I lost this battle the next two months would be much harder. I told her she would have to go to detention or go talk to John Dale. I knew she is afraid of him. She still didn't want to move so I started counting. She went at that point but was angry. She didn't say anything rude to me though. I didn't really know what to expect the next day. Evidently she felt bad for being so difficult because in chapel she sat down beside me and talked to me a bunch. This was her way of saying she was sorry for being difficult and getting back into good graces with me.
Friday, March 26, 2010
Time flying
I haven't written a blog in quite a while, but things have been happening so fast. The last time I wrote I mentioned about volleyball. That has ended, but it was an exciting ending. The game after I wrote about we played a school from the other side of the island. I think it is a little like an outer island because they are so far from everything. The farther people are out, the better they are at sports. I think they do less classwork and more volleyball and basketball. (True story: Arno, an outer island that can be seen from here, went to Hawaii and beat the best Hawaiian team in a volleyball match.) We had a fighting chance with this team though, but our girls were playing horrible the first game and lost. We lost so many points to serves that were out and lazy bumping. The next game they came back from an impossible trailing position. When things get intense, they start playing really well. I think the score was 15 to 22 with us down and we won. The last game they played strong, but were trailing by a bit the whole way. We got down to game point and neither team could get more than a two point lead. We were leading by one point most of the time. Everyone was going crazy and I was yelling. I took a video, but it is horrible because I was so excited I was shaking the camera like a person with Parkinsons. The point is we held them off for 4 and 1/2 minutes until they got ahead by two points. The final score was 19 to 21 in a 15 point game. Our girls were so upset. I tried to encourage them because it was a great game and we went down fighting. Plus we were still in the tournament. You have to loose two games to get kicked out of it. Even so Nujin sat down and started crying. I want to put my arm around her, but I knew I would start crying because when I look at a person cry I get that way so and I waited and tried to encourage her later. I didn't want my kids to see me get emotional. She is a very emotional person and she told me she cried at her birthday because she was happy. All the girls were mad and beat themselves up a lot.
The next Monday the girls kept saying we had a game and it was anounced on the radio. Jon said it wasn't on the schedule and that we weren't suppose to have a game. Right after school he went down to the ECC and they said we didn't have a game. At 10 minutes till five Rubina knocked on the door of the AV room and said we were suppose to be there at 4:30. Her dad was down there talking to the Baptist school who was waiting on us. We gathered 7 of the 12 girls up in a hurry and took them to the gym. The other coach was a super cool guy and didn't mind waiting or having a rematch. Islander's laid back attitude cuts both ways and so despite them not telling you that you have a match, they are pretty chill about you showing up late. The ref made us play anyway because they had annouced it on the radio and I guess we are suppose to listen to it.
The game started and our girls were playing awful again. That school wasn't very organized, but they beat us anyway. We won the second game; I don't remember the score. The tie breaker we lost 8 to 15. Our girls can play much better than them, but it can be very hit and miss. The good news was that the two teams we lost too were the only ones left in the tournament, so we came in third. I told the girls that was really good, but they wanted the championship so bad. They all stormed out and sat and pouted by payless. There is another tournament in April. I really hope we win, because these girls are good enough to beat both of the teams that went to championship, but they've gotta play good every game and quite being careless in the first game.
I went to a high school basketball game this Thursday and it was a lot like our games. The team we were playing wasn't that good and five minutes in the score was 8 to 4 and we were down. Everyone was playing so lazy. We were down a bit at halftime and suddenly they started playing. It was a completely different team. Coach yelled at them the whole first half and encouraged them when they did sometime good, but I don't know if they respond. I don't why they just turn on and start playing all of a sudden. We won 33 to 38 or something. One more game and we'll be in the championship.
I've been here 8 months and I'm finally learning how to talk to island people. Last meeting I had with the parents I stood up and lead it like a normal American meeting. In America people argue back and forth until a topic is decided. The islanders are very nonconfrontational and they are very laid back about how they answer. I started 30 minutes late, went 30 minutes and closed. I asked if anyone had anything so say and they didn't say anything so I had prayer and closed the meeting. The next day my kids told me the meeting was just starting when I left. I do remember that some people were just getting there when I left. An hour late seems crazy to me and I figured the other parents would fill them in.
This meeting I approached completely differently. I sat down and told the parents what we were talking about and let them lead the conversation. It went very well and we got some stuff accomplished. It went a little longer, 8:15, but I felt like everyone was on board. Rubino, Rubina's dad, led a lot of it and spoke in Marshallese. This included many of the people who don't speak good English. There were a lot less parents because I called the meeting at the last minute. Maybe some people were so late we didn't see them at all. I felt like it was a success and people were more on board this time. My kids didn't complain, so that was good.
The next Monday the girls kept saying we had a game and it was anounced on the radio. Jon said it wasn't on the schedule and that we weren't suppose to have a game. Right after school he went down to the ECC and they said we didn't have a game. At 10 minutes till five Rubina knocked on the door of the AV room and said we were suppose to be there at 4:30. Her dad was down there talking to the Baptist school who was waiting on us. We gathered 7 of the 12 girls up in a hurry and took them to the gym. The other coach was a super cool guy and didn't mind waiting or having a rematch. Islander's laid back attitude cuts both ways and so despite them not telling you that you have a match, they are pretty chill about you showing up late. The ref made us play anyway because they had annouced it on the radio and I guess we are suppose to listen to it.
The game started and our girls were playing awful again. That school wasn't very organized, but they beat us anyway. We won the second game; I don't remember the score. The tie breaker we lost 8 to 15. Our girls can play much better than them, but it can be very hit and miss. The good news was that the two teams we lost too were the only ones left in the tournament, so we came in third. I told the girls that was really good, but they wanted the championship so bad. They all stormed out and sat and pouted by payless. There is another tournament in April. I really hope we win, because these girls are good enough to beat both of the teams that went to championship, but they've gotta play good every game and quite being careless in the first game.
I went to a high school basketball game this Thursday and it was a lot like our games. The team we were playing wasn't that good and five minutes in the score was 8 to 4 and we were down. Everyone was playing so lazy. We were down a bit at halftime and suddenly they started playing. It was a completely different team. Coach yelled at them the whole first half and encouraged them when they did sometime good, but I don't know if they respond. I don't why they just turn on and start playing all of a sudden. We won 33 to 38 or something. One more game and we'll be in the championship.
I've been here 8 months and I'm finally learning how to talk to island people. Last meeting I had with the parents I stood up and lead it like a normal American meeting. In America people argue back and forth until a topic is decided. The islanders are very nonconfrontational and they are very laid back about how they answer. I started 30 minutes late, went 30 minutes and closed. I asked if anyone had anything so say and they didn't say anything so I had prayer and closed the meeting. The next day my kids told me the meeting was just starting when I left. I do remember that some people were just getting there when I left. An hour late seems crazy to me and I figured the other parents would fill them in.
This meeting I approached completely differently. I sat down and told the parents what we were talking about and let them lead the conversation. It went very well and we got some stuff accomplished. It went a little longer, 8:15, but I felt like everyone was on board. Rubino, Rubina's dad, led a lot of it and spoke in Marshallese. This included many of the people who don't speak good English. There were a lot less parents because I called the meeting at the last minute. Maybe some people were so late we didn't see them at all. I felt like it was a success and people were more on board this time. My kids didn't complain, so that was good.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Love and Hate
The Marshall Islands is a crazy place. I have experiences here I would never have in the US. Today was crazy. It all started yesterday when Katrina saw this kid Ari. He's a 7th Grader and speaks almost no English. He does nothing in class and is learning nothing. That is beside the point of the story. A lot of the guys like to give Katrina high fives. Ari came walking by with his hand out and she didn't give him a high five for whatever reason. He left his hand out there and grabbed her breast. She yelled and him and kept going. That afternoon she told us guys and we were all really mad. I think I've written about he inappropriate behavior that has happened in my class. A lot of the guys here have no respect for girls but this is a whole new low for them.
Today Coach Zac decided to punish Ari for what he did. He called him up at PE and told him he was going to be punished for his inappropriate behavior toward Katrina. Despite his bad English, Zac made sure he understood. Then he proceeded to make the kid do lots of pushups, situps and running laps. I came in and the period was more than half over. Ari had been exercising for awhile. Coach told him to run more laps. When he came around Coach gave him a rock about twice as big as a football and told him to carry it. I laughed because I thought it was awesome the kid was getting what he deserved. The next time he circled around Zac shouted at him to carry the rock over his head. I laughed at that too. Ari walked a few steps and then threw the rock on the ground. He walked over and grabbed his backpack and started back. He started screaming something and I could see tears were running down his face. No longer sporting his characteristic stupid grin, his face was twisted in rage. He ran at Zac and acted like he was going to fight him. Jon jumped up and herded him out the door of the gym. He disappeared for an instant and then popped back with a rock which he threw at Zac's feet. Jon pushed him back around the corner. Ari just broke down and cried. Then he went home.
I instantly felt bad for laughing when he broke down like that. On the one hand, Zac was pretty harsh and I didn't make it any better, but I don't think the punishment was excessive. I wonder what emotional problems this kid has that prompted a complete and total loss of control. I definitely didn't want to reduce the kid to tears. On the other hand, guys here are inappropriate with girls in public and it is shameful and degrading and they don't care. They have no concept of the feelings of the girls when they feel up in front of all their friends. I may have shared this story but I'll share it here for effect. This one kid in my class went up to a girl. She was sitting on a table in front of the class. He acted like he was going to give her a high five and then "missed" and slapped her chest lightly. All his friends who were watching laughed. Hopefully this incedent will remind the guys who are thinking about feeling teachers up of what will happen if they try it.
This afternoon I went down to the ECC where they have volleyball and basketball games because my students said they would be down there watching games. I had nothing else to do and I was bored. I ended up having a great time hanging with my students. I walked back with them and had a great conversation. I realized today that they stuggle dealing with our culture. Their culture is a shock to us and we are immersed in it. We never really think about what effect we have on them. We are arrogant and assume we are here helping them and they are suppose to be learning from us. To them our culture is harsh and abrasive. They don't get our humor and it sounds mean to them. What we think of as a motivational talk to them is yelling. I think both of us miss a lot in the translation.
Today Coach Zac decided to punish Ari for what he did. He called him up at PE and told him he was going to be punished for his inappropriate behavior toward Katrina. Despite his bad English, Zac made sure he understood. Then he proceeded to make the kid do lots of pushups, situps and running laps. I came in and the period was more than half over. Ari had been exercising for awhile. Coach told him to run more laps. When he came around Coach gave him a rock about twice as big as a football and told him to carry it. I laughed because I thought it was awesome the kid was getting what he deserved. The next time he circled around Zac shouted at him to carry the rock over his head. I laughed at that too. Ari walked a few steps and then threw the rock on the ground. He walked over and grabbed his backpack and started back. He started screaming something and I could see tears were running down his face. No longer sporting his characteristic stupid grin, his face was twisted in rage. He ran at Zac and acted like he was going to fight him. Jon jumped up and herded him out the door of the gym. He disappeared for an instant and then popped back with a rock which he threw at Zac's feet. Jon pushed him back around the corner. Ari just broke down and cried. Then he went home.
I instantly felt bad for laughing when he broke down like that. On the one hand, Zac was pretty harsh and I didn't make it any better, but I don't think the punishment was excessive. I wonder what emotional problems this kid has that prompted a complete and total loss of control. I definitely didn't want to reduce the kid to tears. On the other hand, guys here are inappropriate with girls in public and it is shameful and degrading and they don't care. They have no concept of the feelings of the girls when they feel up in front of all their friends. I may have shared this story but I'll share it here for effect. This one kid in my class went up to a girl. She was sitting on a table in front of the class. He acted like he was going to give her a high five and then "missed" and slapped her chest lightly. All his friends who were watching laughed. Hopefully this incedent will remind the guys who are thinking about feeling teachers up of what will happen if they try it.
This afternoon I went down to the ECC where they have volleyball and basketball games because my students said they would be down there watching games. I had nothing else to do and I was bored. I ended up having a great time hanging with my students. I walked back with them and had a great conversation. I realized today that they stuggle dealing with our culture. Their culture is a shock to us and we are immersed in it. We never really think about what effect we have on them. We are arrogant and assume we are here helping them and they are suppose to be learning from us. To them our culture is harsh and abrasive. They don't get our humor and it sounds mean to them. What we think of as a motivational talk to them is yelling. I think both of us miss a lot in the translation.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Volleyball Season
Volleyball season started last week. It has been really fun. The first game I went to and took a camera. I took a bunch of pictures and cheered for them. They won both games with ease. They were in the zone and playing really hard.
The next game wasn't quite so smooth. The game started at 4:30 and we told them to be there at 4:00. They showed up at 4:24. They onlly got five minutes to warm up and when they got on the court they were still super nervous. They weren't playing as good as they could in the first part of the game. We lost about 5 points to serves that were off. We were still chasing them though and the score was 17 to 21. Then Sancha got up to serve and kept serving consistant, fast, serves. The ones they were able to pick up, the other girls bumped, set and spiked back. We won with a score of 25 to 21. The next game we lost by a few points. They were playing good, but so was the other team. Sancha evened it up at one point with her serves, but it wasn't enough. We had a tie breaker game to 15. We got ahead in the beginning and stayed ahead to victory. The girls were so excited. One ran up to me and jumped up and hugged me she was so excited. Volleyball is really important to them. I had about three different girls come up and ask me to go see their game. It made me happy that they wanted me to be there.
This weekend the pathfinders are camping out. For some reason they chose to camp right in front of our doors. It's kinda a pain to have kids on your front steps all the time. Oh well. They seem to be having fun. Maybe they will sleep better tonight. The kids were so excited last night that they didn't hardly sleep. The guys woke up at 1 am and thought it was 5 am. They were ready to get the day started. Then the girls were playing a card game after that. I was safely in my apartment and didn't have to deal with all that. The girl teachers are heading that up.
The next game wasn't quite so smooth. The game started at 4:30 and we told them to be there at 4:00. They showed up at 4:24. They onlly got five minutes to warm up and when they got on the court they were still super nervous. They weren't playing as good as they could in the first part of the game. We lost about 5 points to serves that were off. We were still chasing them though and the score was 17 to 21. Then Sancha got up to serve and kept serving consistant, fast, serves. The ones they were able to pick up, the other girls bumped, set and spiked back. We won with a score of 25 to 21. The next game we lost by a few points. They were playing good, but so was the other team. Sancha evened it up at one point with her serves, but it wasn't enough. We had a tie breaker game to 15. We got ahead in the beginning and stayed ahead to victory. The girls were so excited. One ran up to me and jumped up and hugged me she was so excited. Volleyball is really important to them. I had about three different girls come up and ask me to go see their game. It made me happy that they wanted me to be there.
This weekend the pathfinders are camping out. For some reason they chose to camp right in front of our doors. It's kinda a pain to have kids on your front steps all the time. Oh well. They seem to be having fun. Maybe they will sleep better tonight. The kids were so excited last night that they didn't hardly sleep. The guys woke up at 1 am and thought it was 5 am. They were ready to get the day started. Then the girls were playing a card game after that. I was safely in my apartment and didn't have to deal with all that. The girl teachers are heading that up.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Sailing and Kitesurfing
This sunday was great. Rudy came up to me on Friday and said that the sailing club was going out to Enemanit. I've been wanting to sail with them for awhile, so I said I'd go. We got it cleared with Lenney, which was a big hurdle. Sunday morning I got all my gear together and we headed over to the docks. The "yachties" where all hanging out and talking. They were really cool right off. They all have nice sail boats and most of them live on them full time. Most of them are retired and are traveling around the pacific for fun. This one guy named Mike came up. He had sailed from Hawaii in 25 days by himself. He hadn't seen anything man made for 3 weeks before he got to the Marshall Islands. After talking to him I found out he had a doctorate in Economics. He left San Diego awhile back in is headed for Japan. The next leg of his trip is going to Guam. There are a lot of islands in between, but he isn't going to stop on them.
We all got in little dingies and made the trip out to the boats. We went on Mike's boat and it was just Rudy, this other yachty, Mike and I. I got to pilot the boat for awhile. We just let out the jib and were cruising at about 6-7 knots. If we let the mainsail out we could have cracked 8 knots for sure. We caught up and passed the boat that left before us. I helped put the outboard back on the dingy and we cruised onto shore. Rudy and I laid out my kite and we pumped it up and launched it. He helped me put the board on and I took off. It was my longest ride up to that point and I was really stoked leaving the island with a nice ride. Then I bumbled around for a long time. The wind was strong and I couldn't depower the kite completely. It is really hard to put a board on your feet in the middle of the ocean with a kite dragging you. Finally I got it back on and got some sweet rides in. I would dive the kite to get power and it would lift me out of the water. Then I'd bring it down close to the water for consistant power. Once I was planing there was a lot less resistance and I'd take off. The first few times you do it is the most amazing experience ever. You are flying across the surface of the water. It takes constant focus on the board and the kite. I went faster than I've ever been being pulled behind a boat. Once I started planing I would keep accelerating until I was going so fast I couldn't stay on the board as it bounced across the choppy waves. After a good while I was starting to get worried. Rudy had promised to grab a dingy and come out and get me. The winds were offshore and I was just getting farther from shore. At this point the sailboats were little sticks and the island was white sand and green trees in the distance. I have not idea how far out I was, but Rudy was a welcome sight bouncing across the choppy water. We loaded the kite up and get took me back. It seemed like a good 15 minute ride back. Ofcourse we had to go slow in the chop. I couldn't believe how far I had come.
We hung out with the yachties for awhile. They had some crazy games. One of them involved a guy holding a stick and being blind folded. A girl would hold a toilet paper roll between her knees and direct him to put the stick in. It was pretty funny. What got funnier was Rudy played and for some reason he played the girl part. I even took video for him. There were three cute teachers there from Laura. One of them I'd met before and Rudy had met them all at previous get-togethers. We hung out with them for a bit.
I took one more short kitesurfing run. This time I stood up and took off. The wind was a little lighter and we were close to shore. It was almost glassy and I stayed up for a really long time. I went between the two islands and then got in the wind shadow of the second island. At that point my kite went down because there was no wind. Everyone on shore was really stoked for me and enjoyed watching even though I'm still not very good. That was my longest ride to date. I thing I might have gone about 300 yards or so. I feel like a couple more days of practice like that and I'll be competent at the sport. It's so hard to stay in the water for a long time here. I either get taken out to sea to far or blown onto shore or toward a shipping yard. I may see about renting a dingy for a couple hours next weekend or something.
We loaded back up in the sailboat and sailed back to Shoreline. The wind wasn't as strong coming back and it was slower going. But the three cute teachers were on our boat on the way back and so conversation was nice. Mike, the guy who had been out to sea for so long, was really glad to see females again. I don't think he'd had females on his boat for awhile. Today I'm sore as anything from all that kitesurfing. It's all good though. I need some more long sessions to get good. Previously my longest session has been about 10-15 minutes. The more board time I get the better I'll become and the longer I'll be able to ride. Hopefully conditions will continue to cooperate.
We all got in little dingies and made the trip out to the boats. We went on Mike's boat and it was just Rudy, this other yachty, Mike and I. I got to pilot the boat for awhile. We just let out the jib and were cruising at about 6-7 knots. If we let the mainsail out we could have cracked 8 knots for sure. We caught up and passed the boat that left before us. I helped put the outboard back on the dingy and we cruised onto shore. Rudy and I laid out my kite and we pumped it up and launched it. He helped me put the board on and I took off. It was my longest ride up to that point and I was really stoked leaving the island with a nice ride. Then I bumbled around for a long time. The wind was strong and I couldn't depower the kite completely. It is really hard to put a board on your feet in the middle of the ocean with a kite dragging you. Finally I got it back on and got some sweet rides in. I would dive the kite to get power and it would lift me out of the water. Then I'd bring it down close to the water for consistant power. Once I was planing there was a lot less resistance and I'd take off. The first few times you do it is the most amazing experience ever. You are flying across the surface of the water. It takes constant focus on the board and the kite. I went faster than I've ever been being pulled behind a boat. Once I started planing I would keep accelerating until I was going so fast I couldn't stay on the board as it bounced across the choppy waves. After a good while I was starting to get worried. Rudy had promised to grab a dingy and come out and get me. The winds were offshore and I was just getting farther from shore. At this point the sailboats were little sticks and the island was white sand and green trees in the distance. I have not idea how far out I was, but Rudy was a welcome sight bouncing across the choppy water. We loaded the kite up and get took me back. It seemed like a good 15 minute ride back. Ofcourse we had to go slow in the chop. I couldn't believe how far I had come.
We hung out with the yachties for awhile. They had some crazy games. One of them involved a guy holding a stick and being blind folded. A girl would hold a toilet paper roll between her knees and direct him to put the stick in. It was pretty funny. What got funnier was Rudy played and for some reason he played the girl part. I even took video for him. There were three cute teachers there from Laura. One of them I'd met before and Rudy had met them all at previous get-togethers. We hung out with them for a bit.
I took one more short kitesurfing run. This time I stood up and took off. The wind was a little lighter and we were close to shore. It was almost glassy and I stayed up for a really long time. I went between the two islands and then got in the wind shadow of the second island. At that point my kite went down because there was no wind. Everyone on shore was really stoked for me and enjoyed watching even though I'm still not very good. That was my longest ride to date. I thing I might have gone about 300 yards or so. I feel like a couple more days of practice like that and I'll be competent at the sport. It's so hard to stay in the water for a long time here. I either get taken out to sea to far or blown onto shore or toward a shipping yard. I may see about renting a dingy for a couple hours next weekend or something.
We loaded back up in the sailboat and sailed back to Shoreline. The wind wasn't as strong coming back and it was slower going. But the three cute teachers were on our boat on the way back and so conversation was nice. Mike, the guy who had been out to sea for so long, was really glad to see females again. I don't think he'd had females on his boat for awhile. Today I'm sore as anything from all that kitesurfing. It's all good though. I need some more long sessions to get good. Previously my longest session has been about 10-15 minutes. The more board time I get the better I'll become and the longer I'll be able to ride. Hopefully conditions will continue to cooperate.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)