My church sent some packages of food and calculators and other stuff. We were really excited to get those. Calculator are hard to come by here and I shared with some of the high school teachers. Previously we had 1 calculator for the whole class. A few people have phones and so I let them use them as calculators. Now we will have enough for everyone.
Awhile back we received some money from the church for the students. A lot of them are having trouble paying their school bill. I told them that if they worked hard and got As and Bs then I would give them the money. A few of the kids worked really hard. After the quarter grades were in I talked with the principal about who deserved the money. I was looking at giving it to two or three kids. Then about that time we got another check. With that I was able to divide it among five kids and they each got a sizable sum. A couple of them didn't have perfect grades, but I felt they were good kids. The principal called them into his office and they were wondering what it was about. They came back so excited. One girl ran up and hugged me. They thanked me a bunch of times. One of the parents came up and thanked me personally. It was a pleasant surprise for the parents. They couldn't believe someone had helped them.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Friday, April 23, 2010
Busy times
Since Spring Break I've been both super busy and bored. School has kept me busier than ever, but I'm starting to get bored of most everything on this island. I guess I'm finally getting island fever.
Graduation is coming up so we've been having meetings with the parents about it. They have very high expectations for this event. On Saturday there will be a consecration service. They have to provide food for it and the kids want matching outfits. This is ontop of the graduation gowns they will be using in the ceremony. We asked the kids to choose what they wanted their dresses and shirts to look like. They went shopping and looked at stuff, but the day before the meeting we had nothing substantial. I told them I would go down to the store with them and we would figure everything out. I told them I would help them out with a taxi fair, but they said one of the girls was getting her car. I thought her mom or dad would be along to drive it but she showed up driving it. She told me I could drive. I was happy about that because I don't get to drive much here. I've only driven twice the whole time I've been here. We all piled in and went down to the store. They looked at fabric and dress styles forever. Finally they chose what they wanted and we got prices.
The parents were slow to show up to the meeting. Finally, we got started and they began planning the ceremony and banquet afterwards. The place they want to rent is $350 and then they wanted everyone to bring four large trays of food. I let them make the decisions. There were a couple small dissenting voices, but for the most part they were ignored. The next day I got a letter from some of the parents and then two others talked to me. The amount of food was outrageous and the financial burden is huge on them. I'm going to call another meeting on Monday and attempt to scale back their desire for an over-the-top graduation. They are being impractical and some of the families can't afford it. Some families aren't paying their school bills and so can't be expected to go all out. I think if it is outrageous they will just not go to the banquet and it will be a bust.
This week I am going to try to raise some money from businesses. It is going to be a ton of work, but I hope it works. I want that money to pay for the food at the banquet so that it's not such a burden on the parents. This is already turning into the pain in the butt I thought it would be. The parents want one thing, the kids want another, the principal wants something else, and somehow I have to reconcile it all. I've discovered that I like to make people happy, but I will have to disappoint some people. I don't have a problem doing that as long as everything comes out nice. One of my students told me, "You shouldn't ask the parents, you should tell them what they need to do." I told her, "I've never been to a graduation on this island, I've never planned a graduation anywhere. I don't know what to tell them to do." I want to give the kids a worthy graduation, even if it isn't as costly as they would like.
Graduation is coming up so we've been having meetings with the parents about it. They have very high expectations for this event. On Saturday there will be a consecration service. They have to provide food for it and the kids want matching outfits. This is ontop of the graduation gowns they will be using in the ceremony. We asked the kids to choose what they wanted their dresses and shirts to look like. They went shopping and looked at stuff, but the day before the meeting we had nothing substantial. I told them I would go down to the store with them and we would figure everything out. I told them I would help them out with a taxi fair, but they said one of the girls was getting her car. I thought her mom or dad would be along to drive it but she showed up driving it. She told me I could drive. I was happy about that because I don't get to drive much here. I've only driven twice the whole time I've been here. We all piled in and went down to the store. They looked at fabric and dress styles forever. Finally they chose what they wanted and we got prices.
The parents were slow to show up to the meeting. Finally, we got started and they began planning the ceremony and banquet afterwards. The place they want to rent is $350 and then they wanted everyone to bring four large trays of food. I let them make the decisions. There were a couple small dissenting voices, but for the most part they were ignored. The next day I got a letter from some of the parents and then two others talked to me. The amount of food was outrageous and the financial burden is huge on them. I'm going to call another meeting on Monday and attempt to scale back their desire for an over-the-top graduation. They are being impractical and some of the families can't afford it. Some families aren't paying their school bills and so can't be expected to go all out. I think if it is outrageous they will just not go to the banquet and it will be a bust.
This week I am going to try to raise some money from businesses. It is going to be a ton of work, but I hope it works. I want that money to pay for the food at the banquet so that it's not such a burden on the parents. This is already turning into the pain in the butt I thought it would be. The parents want one thing, the kids want another, the principal wants something else, and somehow I have to reconcile it all. I've discovered that I like to make people happy, but I will have to disappoint some people. I don't have a problem doing that as long as everything comes out nice. One of my students told me, "You shouldn't ask the parents, you should tell them what they need to do." I told her, "I've never been to a graduation on this island, I've never planned a graduation anywhere. I don't know what to tell them to do." I want to give the kids a worthy graduation, even if it isn't as costly as they would like.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Spring Break 2010!
Leading up to spring break we had a rough couple of weeks. We had education week where we had to plan something every afternoon. It ended up being way more work than just doing school. At the end of that we were all ready for a break, but it still didn't come. The next week they finished up education week. Friday was suppose to be a field day, but it got rained out. They changed it to Monday. Our principal told us we were not going, we would have regular school. Halfway through the day he changed his mind and marched the whole school over there. It turned into chaos really fast and we lost about two thirds of our students. The teachers over the young kids just took theirs straight back to school after realizing how disorganized everything was. The high school kids just walked away and went home. The middle school kids participated in tug-o-war battles. The guys didn't win any, but our girls went all the way and beat everyone. We have some Fijian girls and they are really big and strong people. That helped quite a bit.
I put together a movie night to raise money for graduation. It started about an hour later than we planned, but it went ok. Everyone argued a bunch over the movie. Orginially we had chosen Alvin and the Chipmunks 2, but the kids wanted something newer. They got A Christmas Carol and we put that on. Part way through the teachers came up and were complaining because there were ghosts in it and it was scary. So mid movie I changed it to Alvin and the Chipmunks. I didn't watch either, I was busy getting the food moving and stuff. We were able to raise $260 for their graduation. Along with the money we already have, they should be able to do what they want to.
That was the first weekend of spring break. Friday we went out surfing for a long while. Sunday we went sailing. The yacht club races once a month. This month three boats came out. I got on Deviant and the rest of the SMs divided between Hawkeye and Seattle Seal. Deviant ended up being the slowest and we messed up the start to boot. We thought the line was farther back from what it was so we were messing around and crossed early. We had to circle around and start again which put us behind. It was my second time on a sailboat out here, but I learned a lot. We kept tacking back and forth and I had to move ropes around every time we tacked. Hawkeye ended up being the fastest and despite starting way behind us, blew right past and took first. We gained on the Seal on the downwind leg because we used out sails better, but upwind we lost a lot of ground. Even so we would have been right together if we hadn't messed up the start.
The next couple days I kitesurfed. It wasn't a good couple days. The first day I started strong and then a short rip turned into a long rip and I had to take it back and fix it after only 10 minutes in the water. The next day I didn't put enough air in it and so I struggled to fly it. The struts no longer hold air at all and so when I would crash it it was so hard to get back up. When it was in the air the lack of air in the leading edge caused it to flap and provide very inconsistant power. It is also very sluggish without air and so I can't keep it powered up. Even so I was able to stand up for short runs and I feel like I was learning. If only my kite was in good working condition the whole time I would already be good at this sport. I've spent way more time flying a flat or damaged kite than flying one that works correctly.
Tuesday night we had a basketball game. It was the championship for high school. We lost the championship, but we came in second on the island, so it was all good. The kids got really depressed afterwards, but none of us felt like they gave it their all. The last two minutes they gave up and the score was 50 to 44. That is three shots, max. I saw them throw that many away with sloppy shooting. We could have won if they hadn't have given up. After the game I ran into the girls in my class. We went back to the school and I opened the gym. We played volleyball for a couple hours and that was really nice. I'm glad I got to hang out with them.
Saturday night I talked with one of the elders a long time. His daughter is in my class and he was helping out with the movie night fund raiser. I had a great talk with him about what is going on here and it's the first time I've felt welcomed by a Marshallese church member. He told me he regretted the distance between the SMs and church members. Anyway, he told me we should go out to Rongrong, an island that has good camping. He got a boat for us and we left on Wednesday. The boat right over was really fun. The waves in the lagoon were a decent size and the boat was flying along bounces up and down. It was a Boston Whaler style boat with an outboard motor and there was nowhere to sit but the edges of the boat. After the first couple minutes the other SMs sat on the deck and complained that their butts were slammed on the deck. I grabbed ahold of a rope and rode in the bow. It was really fun and kinda like riding a bucking horse with water splashing in your face.
The island is beautiful with a sheltered lagoon that was as still as a lake. The beach is sandy and drops off quickly to 30 feet deep. Around the edges are corral walls with tons of beautiful fish and corral everywhere. It is the most beautiful snorkelling I've seen since I've been here. On the ocean side a ship had run aground. Locals told us it had been there 10 years. We climbed aboard and explored the decks and hold. Then we jumped off the side into the water. It was an amazing two days and two nights in paradise. I didn't want to come back when the boat came for us.
We've got one more weekend of Spring Break. I don't know what we will do, but it's been good so far.
I put together a movie night to raise money for graduation. It started about an hour later than we planned, but it went ok. Everyone argued a bunch over the movie. Orginially we had chosen Alvin and the Chipmunks 2, but the kids wanted something newer. They got A Christmas Carol and we put that on. Part way through the teachers came up and were complaining because there were ghosts in it and it was scary. So mid movie I changed it to Alvin and the Chipmunks. I didn't watch either, I was busy getting the food moving and stuff. We were able to raise $260 for their graduation. Along with the money we already have, they should be able to do what they want to.
That was the first weekend of spring break. Friday we went out surfing for a long while. Sunday we went sailing. The yacht club races once a month. This month three boats came out. I got on Deviant and the rest of the SMs divided between Hawkeye and Seattle Seal. Deviant ended up being the slowest and we messed up the start to boot. We thought the line was farther back from what it was so we were messing around and crossed early. We had to circle around and start again which put us behind. It was my second time on a sailboat out here, but I learned a lot. We kept tacking back and forth and I had to move ropes around every time we tacked. Hawkeye ended up being the fastest and despite starting way behind us, blew right past and took first. We gained on the Seal on the downwind leg because we used out sails better, but upwind we lost a lot of ground. Even so we would have been right together if we hadn't messed up the start.
The next couple days I kitesurfed. It wasn't a good couple days. The first day I started strong and then a short rip turned into a long rip and I had to take it back and fix it after only 10 minutes in the water. The next day I didn't put enough air in it and so I struggled to fly it. The struts no longer hold air at all and so when I would crash it it was so hard to get back up. When it was in the air the lack of air in the leading edge caused it to flap and provide very inconsistant power. It is also very sluggish without air and so I can't keep it powered up. Even so I was able to stand up for short runs and I feel like I was learning. If only my kite was in good working condition the whole time I would already be good at this sport. I've spent way more time flying a flat or damaged kite than flying one that works correctly.
Tuesday night we had a basketball game. It was the championship for high school. We lost the championship, but we came in second on the island, so it was all good. The kids got really depressed afterwards, but none of us felt like they gave it their all. The last two minutes they gave up and the score was 50 to 44. That is three shots, max. I saw them throw that many away with sloppy shooting. We could have won if they hadn't have given up. After the game I ran into the girls in my class. We went back to the school and I opened the gym. We played volleyball for a couple hours and that was really nice. I'm glad I got to hang out with them.
Saturday night I talked with one of the elders a long time. His daughter is in my class and he was helping out with the movie night fund raiser. I had a great talk with him about what is going on here and it's the first time I've felt welcomed by a Marshallese church member. He told me he regretted the distance between the SMs and church members. Anyway, he told me we should go out to Rongrong, an island that has good camping. He got a boat for us and we left on Wednesday. The boat right over was really fun. The waves in the lagoon were a decent size and the boat was flying along bounces up and down. It was a Boston Whaler style boat with an outboard motor and there was nowhere to sit but the edges of the boat. After the first couple minutes the other SMs sat on the deck and complained that their butts were slammed on the deck. I grabbed ahold of a rope and rode in the bow. It was really fun and kinda like riding a bucking horse with water splashing in your face.
The island is beautiful with a sheltered lagoon that was as still as a lake. The beach is sandy and drops off quickly to 30 feet deep. Around the edges are corral walls with tons of beautiful fish and corral everywhere. It is the most beautiful snorkelling I've seen since I've been here. On the ocean side a ship had run aground. Locals told us it had been there 10 years. We climbed aboard and explored the decks and hold. Then we jumped off the side into the water. It was an amazing two days and two nights in paradise. I didn't want to come back when the boat came for us.
We've got one more weekend of Spring Break. I don't know what we will do, but it's been good so far.
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