Happy Holidays!!

12-25-08
(The internet wasn't working at the school and I couldn't get to the internet cafe until today!)

I have not written a blog in such a long time! I figure that since it is Christmas break and I have time, I should write a blog to update everyone. I don’t really get around much to writing. If you want a more updated and in-depth blog about Ebeye go to my roommate’s blog notanoptiontobeconsidered.blogspot.com. She updates her blog pretty regularly.
The major event in November was a Thanksgiving dinner at the principal’s apartment. It was a potluck style dinner with lots of yummy food. We invited another missionary from another school to join our group. It was nice to have a big gathering so we could spend time together and be thankful for all of the blessings God has given us this year (blessings too numerous to count!).
For most of December I had help from 5th grade boys to decorate my classroom. I made many paper chains and had some of the juniors make paper snowflakes to adorn the otherwise boring classroom. We borrowed decorations from the school and I must say my classroom is the best looking in the entire school! Those boys worked pretty hard, especially one named Jeo (jay-oh) who tried skipping classes to decorate my classroom….
Between November and December there was only one week that was a full week of school. It seemed like each week had a holiday or some kind of an activity happening! It was nice to have long weekends to spend with the other teachers, but most of us felt a little frustrated about not being able to cover as much material as we were hoping. It seemed to work out alright, though, and we are now done with final exams and grades are turned in to the office. Yay!
Last week was the Christmas program. I had been trying to practice “O Come, All Ye Faithful” with the juniors so they would be ready. They can sing pretty well when they are motivated to stay on track to practice. The day of the program some of the juniors were missing so I decided to sing with them. I was going to play the piano for them, but I figured I would sing instead. It was pretty fun being able to sing with a group again. I do miss being in choir. Anyway, the program progressed very well until the sound of sirens and loud music came from down the street. It was the annual Christmas parade where taxis and other vehicles are decorated and people throw candy as they drive around the island loop. It was very distracting to have this going on while the program was still happening, but the program continued. Fortunately, the program was very near completion and the Kindergarten’s rendition of “We Wish You A Merry Christmas” was adorable. My roommate, Ashlee, was videotaping the song and small children kept running past to go outside and watch the parade. It was funny to watch the video last night, seeing blurs go across the screen every few seconds.

Last night we had our staff Christmas party. We had a potluck dinner with very amazing food. I made brownies and garlic bread and I stirred the sauce and spaghetti (how difficult!). After the food we had a gift “exchange”. It was more of a stealing event, but it was pretty hilarious. Each of us drew a number to see in what order we would choose a gift. The person could either get a new present or take one from another person. I got number four, so there was plenty of opportunity for people to steal from me. The first gift I got was a Frisbee with a cute frog shower scrubby thing. Megan ended up taking it from me on her turn. I went to get a new present and what did I find inside? A new frog scrubby thing! It was so funny to get the same thing. After we were all finished with the gift game we split up to play various games. I played Uno with 4 other people. It was pretty fun even though I was doing a terrible job! We stayed until after 11 playing games and then decided it was time for bed.
Now it is time to continue my list of things I have learned on Ebeye (holiday season edition).
1. God is so incredibly good!
2. Holidays are best spent with people you care about, even if they aren’t your family.
3. My mom was right about cleaning the kitchen right after you make a mess—it makes you feel a lot better! (And you don’t get a stain on the counter from drink mix….)
4. My mom really is the coolest.
5. There is so much to be thankful for!
6. I am really going to miss the people that are here with me.
7. While cutting out snowflakes is fun, throwing snowballs would be great right about now….
8. Decorating is really fun. I wish I could decorate more often!
9. Even though I wish I could be with my family for Christmas, I am very glad to be here with the amazing people on Ebeye.
10. Playing with the little kids is a lot of fun.
11. It’s really good to have someone to talk to.
12. I need to practice the piano more when I get home!
13. I really like playing the guitar, even if I don’t sound the greatest yet.
14. It is really nice to have such a close bond with the staff here because it is hard at school (college) with everyone so busy with classes and homework and work.
15. Homemade syrup is yummy. Very yummy….
16. Peanut butter and homemade syrup is super yummy.
17. I really like veggie food. When it comes in a box from home, all of Ebeye rejoices. (Well, at least our apartment.)
18. Quality sleep is an essential key to being a good person. (A key I am missing.)
19. Christmas songs are fun, but you can only handle the Chipmunks for so long….
20. Talking to God everyday is so important. He gives your life purpose and direction when you wonder why you came to a little island called Ebeye.
21. I am sure now, more than ever, that Ebeye is where I am supposed to be.
22. It takes a long time for me to write a blog.
23. People think there is no power on the island if you can’t get online to check your email.
24. If it’s colder and rainy outside it feels a lot more like Christmas at home that when it’s hot and sunny.
25. It seems appropriate to have 25 things on this list since it is December 25.

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you all have a wonderful time with friends and family wherever you are!
Don’t forget to check out Ashlee’s (my roommate) blog: notanoptiontobeconsidered.blogspot.com

Trip to the Hospital #2

On Sunday, the teachers and the week of prayer speaker (Dr. Eustacio Penniecook) took a trip to Nge Nge, an island down the causeway. We went to the dock and hopped in a boat (the same one that I was on for the horrific return from Carlos). It was a beautiful boat ride with sunshine and wind and waves. When we got to the island, we started unloading the boat and taking our stuff to the shore. I was the last person in the boat besides the driver and I was handing things to the people to take to the shore. I was wearing my water shoes because it is hard to walk in flip-flops under water. When I got out of the boat, I took my stuff and started heading for the shore. All of the sudden something hit the side of my big toe on my right foot. It hurt immediately, so I started limping back to shore.
Once I got on the beach I found a place to sit, tossed my stuff and then started crying. I writhed on the ground, as the pain was unbearable. The closest description of the pain is that it felt like my toe was going to explode. The other teachers gathered around me to see if I was ok. They told me I looked terrible (in a nice way) and needed to lie down (I was told later that I was so pale it was scary). I lay there as Ryan held up my foot. I cried and cried as the other teachers tried to comfort me with what my mom jokingly says, “Amputation is always an option” (I was considering…). Lorraine offered her hand for me to squeeze, but I only held onto it because I didn’t want to hurt her and I felt too tired to squeeze. The boat went back to get the second group of teachers to bring them to the island. I would have gone back on that trip, but they were worried I would pass out on the boat since I was still so pale.
When the boat returned with the other teachers, Alan and Ryan carried me out to the boat. Alan asked me if I knew any good jokes and I told him I knew a joke about this girl who hit her foot on something and it really hurt (it wasn’t really a funny joke, but yeah). Ryan and Dr. Penniecook rode back on the boat with me. I sat in one of the chairs on the boat and propped my foot up on a backpack. It was still incredibly painful, but I tried to focus on the wind in my face and repeating part of the chorus of “I’ll Fly Away” (“when I die, Hallelujah by and by, I’ll fly away”…).
When the boat got back to Ebeye, Ryan and the Dr. helped me get up the stairs at the dock. I was trying to hop on one foot so I wouldn’t use my injured foot. They got a taxi and I rode to the hospital. I hopped into the ER where they put me on a bed (the one Megan was on last time). Mama Rose came to see me, saying that the pastor (her husband) told her Ryan was in the hospital. She asked why and he said that I was hurt. I was glad to have her there because it’s always better when “mom” comes. Anyway, the nurses and doctor decided to give me an anesthetic in my arm, saying that it would make me sleepy. It did make me sleepy, but I wondered the point when my foot didn’t feel any better and I couldn’t sleep because my foot was still too painful. I spent a little while in the hospital after the anesthetic because I felt too dizzy to walk anywhere. When I started feeling less dizzy, Mama Rose took me outside to get a taxi back to the apartments (all too familiar from the last trip to the hospital).
That night Dr. Penniecook took us to Litaki’s Restaurant, which is at the other end of the island. I decided to hobble my way there instead of taking a taxi for 75 cents. My foot looked alright when I left the apartment, and it definitely didn’t feel as bad as it did when I was on the other island. When I got to the restaurant, someone looked at my foot and said, “Your foot is huge!” I looked down and sure enough, it was very swollen. I tried propping my foot up on the bench across from me.

(My foot Sunday night.)

Since then, my foot has been gradually getting better. Monday was the Freshman-Junior class picnic, so I didn’t have to stand up and teach which was good. Tuesday we didn’t have class because of parent-teacher conferences in the afternoon. Wednesday I had classes and my foot was still kind of swollen, so I hobbled around the classroom. Students asked me about my foot and so I started on an incredible tale on how I had an encounter with a shark and I narrowly escaped. They didn’t believe me, but we had a good laugh. Currently, my foot looks mostly normal but it is still pretty stiff and somewhat hurts. I am hoping that this will go away so I can have full function of my foot. I am glad that I didn’t have to amputate my toe. : )

Hungry and Thirsty

Several of us have been concerned about the elementary students getting enough to eat. Many of them come to school without eating breakfast and we sometimes wonder if they are getting lunch either. The school already has a little store where they sell soup, cookies (more like cookie shaped bread with four chocolate chips on top since they are expensive), frozen ice things, and sometimes candy. The problem is that some kids cannot afford to pay 25 cents for a cup of soup. Ashlee and Lorraine were talking about getting some kind of food program for the 2nd and 3rd grades so that they could get some kind of food. We were discussing this and thought that the students would behave better if they had something in their stomachs. One student, in particular, comes to mind. He behaves poorly (in attitude and class work) at school, which is a reflection of the neglect (I was told) he gets at home. I know that we would not fix the world if we fed the kids a cup of soup per day, but I think they would feel a lot better and might be more willing to learn. The problem is money. The soup is made with rice, coconut milk, salt, seasoning, and chicken (most people are not vegetarian here), which can really add up when things on Ebeye cost sometimes 2x what they would in the U.S. We are still looking into how much it would cost to do a program like this, but we did tell Mama Rose the suggestion. She seemed to think it was a good idea.

I was thinking about my Bible classes the other day and wondering what I could do with them to help them learn. I have brought up Bibles from the library and dispersed them to the students to use during class time. One question from a junior struck me: “Miss, are these for us to take home?” I told the student that the Bible was from the library and that it needed to stay at school. The question got me thinking, though. Do these students have their own Bibles? I don’t know why it hadn’t occurred to me until recently. It seems like it should have come to me earlier. I think that all of the high school students should have their own Bibles. I know the school would like to give them Bibles, but money (again) becomes a factor. Even getting them Marshallese Bibles would be expensive. I would especially like to give Bibles to my juniors (I’m their sponsor). None of them are Adventists, but I think that giving them their own Bible could help them grow as Christians. I would love to do Bible studies with them in class and have them underline favorite verses in their own Bible. I believe that the students of our school are thirsty for the Word of God. If you know of anyone who would be willing to send Bibles to the school on Ebeye, please let me know! I would love to give out Bibles! :)
My address:
Emily Lorenz
Ebeye SDA School
P.O. Box 5070
Ebeye, MH 96970

Review week for 1st Quarter exams

This week was review week for the 1st quarter exams. I had a test for my music class on Monday, and then the rest of the week was review for my classes. As I was reviewing with the Algebra classes this week, I came to the realization (though I had noticed before) that most of them are still counting on their fingers. How can they be freshman and juniors and still be counting on their fingers? I don’t really know, but I think that is one reason why the freshman were having such a hard time with positive and negative numbers, even though I taught them how to use a number line.
I came up with a suggestion this past weekend about getting the high school students to help the elementary students with their reading. We have quite a few struggling students in all grades in the area of reading comprehension. I was thinking that getting the high school students involved with the younger students would help both groups with their reading skills and also bring the school together. Some of the seniors already tutored struggling students, but now other high school students are helping. This week the elementary classes were divided up into reading levels so that they could have tutors come from the high school for help. Each grade has their own reading class in the morning and in the afternoon they have the divided reading classes. I hope that this program will help our struggling students to improve their English and reading abilities.
Wednesday night we had our regular prayer meeting at the school. Afterwards we had a Yokwe party for people leaving Ebeye. There was a potluck and people talked about those that were leaving. A Filipino family and our school’s accountant are leaving in the next couple weeks for the Philippines. Our accountant is going to finish her training to be a CPA. As part of the Yokwe party, Mr. Batlock played the guitar and sang a Marshallese song while all of us walked around the room in a circle. I must say it was kind of weird to be walking in circles and not knowing the song they were singing. After the song finished, we each placed a dollar in the bowl in front of the people leaving. It is a farewell offering to them.
The Pastor was supposed to fly to the Philippines on Thursday to attend the meetings for the Southern Asia Pacific Division and Guam Micronesian Mission, but Continental had mechanical problems and delayed his flight 24 hours. On Friday, he went back to the airport on Kwajalein to get his flight. They rerouted him to Honolulu (about a 6 hour flight) to take a direct flight to Guam (about a 12 hour flight), and then on to the Philippines. I cannot imagine spending that much time on a plane!
After school and chapel on Friday, I went back to the apartment to finish making quarter exams. Some of Megan’s 7th grade students came and invited us to a birthday party. We followed the students as they led us to the house. As we walked past the school the students were saying something about girls from the public school fighting behind the store across the street (right by the ocean). They left Megan and I to go watch the fighting, so we waited a few minutes for them. When we got to the house the birthday boy told us to sit down at the picnic table. Agnes, a teacher’s aid at the school, gave Megan and me bottles of water. They served homemade pizza (it was amazing and greasy), ice cream, cake from Kwajalein (expensive cake), and Barbeque Lay’s chips. After we finished eating they brought out a piñata and a little boy was hitting it, which was really cute to watch. When they finally broke it open, candy and toothbrushes (yes, toothbrushes) spilled out onto the ground and the kids were scrambling to pick them up. It was interesting to be somewhat of an observer at the birthday party (and the tallest one there). Megan pointed out some of the students who didn’t eat their food but covered it to take home, saying that they most likely ate very little at home. It was interesting to see the contrast between the well-off family and the kids that were at the party. The great part is that those who have more money are usually willing to share what they have. I think that is something we could all do well to practice.

Hospital Visit

It all started Monday morning. I wasn’t feeling very hungry so I just ate a little Wheat Chex cereal. I had some leftover, so I took it for lunch with my PB&J sandwich. At staff worship I was feeling kind of blah, but it didn’t seem too odd. As my morning classes went on, though, I felt worse and worse. I finally made it to lunch and went home so that I could try to take a nap. After being unsuccessful, I went back to the school. I still had about 40 minutes left because I have a free period after lunch. I just sat in the teachers’ workroom and stared at the wall. I ate the rest of my cereal, even though I wasn’t hungry at all. I went to my last two afternoon classes and felt really exhausted. I did some teaching in Algebra 1 and I was trying to walk around the classroom to help students, but I was getting so tired. For music class I was going to play some examples on the electric keyboard, but the plug-ins weren’t working and when I finally tried one that worked, I was too frustrated to play anymore and so I had the students copy the information on the board. After the class was over I went down to the library to talk to Mama Rose about not feeling well. She told me to just go home and sleep. I got my things and went home, took a shower, and tried to sleep. I kept tossing and turning but I think I fell asleep. Around 5 pm Megan made supper for the other girls. They offered me some, but I still did not feel like eating. I tried to keep sleeping and drinking some water. I was feeling very warm in my bed and the thought finally occurred to me (after seeing Megan bundled up in jacket and pants from cold sweats) that I might have had a fever all day. The girls turned off the AC so Megan wouldn’t be cold, but I was burning up. I took some ibuprofen and that seemed to help break the fever, but I still felt really warm. I got up for a while and sat in the “living/dining room”. I was mostly staring at the cabinet island in the middle of the room. I finally went back to bed.
Around midnight, the vomiting began. Midnight, 1 AM, and close to 6 AM I got up to go to the bathroom. I had pretty much nothing in my stomach except for activated charcoal (disgusting coming up…). They had told Megan and I that if we didn’t feel good in the morning, they would find someone to take over our classes. Obviously, we weren’t going to school. Mama Rose came to our apartment and told us that she was taking us to the hospital. We weren’t too excited, but we packed up some things and got ready to go. Megan went out to the taxi first, but I started to feel like vomiting again. Fortunately, that was the last time I vomited. When we got to the hospital around 9 AM, Mama Rose took us to the ER where they put us on beds and started IV drips and took blood samples (Yay for letting IRR majors at Union practice their sticks on me!). Then they asked for a stool sample. First of all, Megan and I both had diarrhea (which is disgusting…). Second of all, the bathroom was disgusting. It looked like someone had taken a stool sample and wiped their fingers on the wall, and someone else had spurted blood on the wall (yeah, pretty gross). Anyways, they took our “stool” to get tested for things and we stayed in bed. Mama Rose stayed with us for a while and then Ryan came. While he was there we got some Gatorade, which was nice. Lunch came when he was there too. I took one look at the food and wanted to vomit, so I told Ryan he should eat it. After a while a nurse came and told me that if I didn’t eat something, I couldn’t go home. I understood, but I was not about to eat something that made me feel sick to look at (it might not have looked bad ordinarily, but I wasn’t hungry in the first place). When Ryan left, Lisa (the school secretary) came. After six hours of observations, they decided to admit us, so at 3 PM they took us in wheel chairs to a different room, which we shared with three Marshallese women. I took the bed by the wall and Megan took the bed next to me. They set up our IV stands and we were set to go. They told us they needed urine samples, so we got those (much better bathroom). The Marshallese women laughed at me because my IV stand wouldn’t roll very well so I had to carry it. I had to laugh too, because I thought it was pretty funny. Laying in my bed I looked at the walls and ceiling and saw many cockroach nymphs crawling. I was afraid of sleeping at the hospital. At supper, I ate corn and two scoops of rice and that was it. Megan and I tried to sleep, but the nurses kept coming and asking us when the last time was that we had a bowel movement or urinated (Nurses: just let your patients sleep!!! They’d get better faster…). Just when I was actually sleeping on my very springy and poking mattress, they would come back. Now, if my mom was the nurse, I probably wouldn’t be so annoyed, but some of the Filipino (most of the workers at the hospital are Filipino because they are educated) nurses weren’t as nice.
As with Tuesday, we had rotations of people to watch us on Wednesday. By far the best person on the rotation was Mama Rose because she is like a mom, which is really nice. We spent our day getting IV drips and going to the bathroom. They refilled my IV and then Megan’s ran out and she got her IV out. I was sad that they refilled mine, but Megan got her IV out. Mama Rose said that when she was in the hospital for having her kids that she had turned up her IV when the nurses weren’t in the room. I turned up my IV a little, and it made me happy when I finally got my “ball and chain” disconnected (although when Megan had her IV taken off, I got her stand which actually rolled). They let us go home around 3:30 PM with some meds, and we were very glad to leave. It was raining when the taxi pulled up to the house so we tried to hurry.
We still didn’t feel very well on Thursday, so we stayed home. I felt light-headed/headache most of the day so it was good I didn’t try to teach. By the end of Thursday Megan and I were feeling well enough to try going to school on Friday. We were feeling alright for the first bit, but then we were feeling nauseous and light-headed. We both went home at lunch time and took naps. A bit later we decided to make chocolate chip cookies to eat with our pills so we wouldn’t feel so nauseous taking them. They were yummy. We felt a little better after having naps, so we went to vespers.
Currently, I still do not feel hungry. I haven’t felt hungry since Sunday. I am hoping that when I finish the medicine I will start to feel hungry again when I need to eat. I have just been eating because I need to.


---I want to say a HUGE thank you to all of you who were praying for me and thinking of me. God definitely answers prayers!---

Weekend Trip

Since Friday was a holiday, the staff were going to Carlos Island (30 minutes boat ride from Ebeye) for a retreat. On Friday morning, Mama Rose came to tell us that there wouldn’t be a boat going in the afternoon, so I quickly took a shower and started tossing things in my bright blue bag (towel, clothes, flashlights, bedding) and my backpack. We went to the dock and loaded the boat and set off for Carlos Island. When we arrived at the dock, we unloaded the boats and started bringing our things inland (it was an inhabited island with radar globes for the Army). After looking at the stuff, I concluded that my bright blue bag was not there. I was pretty frustrated because it was at the dock, but it didn’t make it to Carlos. I was wearing my swimsuit to the island, so I did not have any clothes. At night, Mama Rose let me wear one of her muumuus (moo-moo, which is a dress) so that I could have something to wear. Fortunately, I had underwear in my backpack and enough jackets and things to wad up into a pillow to sleep in the tent.
On Sabbath, I took a lot of walks on the beach and collected shells. I took pictures of the island and hung out with the other staff. Sabbath afternoon a boat came with my bright blue bag. I was so glad to have it! I had been praying about it. Somehow it was left at the dock so the taxi driver took it back to the apartment. Sabbath afternoon I went swimming with Lorraine and then we went walking to the end of the island with Emily F. and John Mark. We saw a white sandy beach and figured out a way to get through the jungle to get to it. It was gorgeous! When we finally got back from our shell-finding adventure, it was time for worship. We all shared our favorite Bible verses and sang a few songs. After that, someone said there was a boat going home (it was starting to get dark) with Megan, Landen, and the auditor. I made a split-second decision to go and I grabbed my things and headed to the dock. We could see a storm coming, so we tried to hurry. The boat was going pretty fast since there wasn’t much equipment or people on the boat. It was getting pretty dark as we went along and it started raining. I still had my towel around my neck, so I spread it among Megan, Landen and I so that we could shield our faces from the pelting of the rain. The towel was quickly soaked, as were our things. We were riding for quite a while when the boat slowed to a stop. We looked up and saw an island with only a couple lights on it, which was obviously not Ebeye. The boat driver asked if anyone had a flashlight (hinting that we were lost). I had my flashlight in my bright blue bag so they could find where we were. We started for Ebeye again and it was pouring. We picked up the towel again which was soaked, using it as a shield. After a while, the rain stopped and we looked up to see Ebeye coming up. We were so glad to get to the dock. We were soaking wet and cold standing at the dock waiting for a taxi. I had never been so glad to be on Ebeye before. When we got back to the apartment, we were going to do laundry, but about 30 minutes later the power went out so we went to bed.

Manit Day Program

The staff was supposed to be at the school for normal worship at 7:30 AM. The students were supposed to be at the school by 8 AM (normal school time) so that there could be a run-through for the program. I was planning to have the juniors clean the classroom when they got to school, so I borrowed a broom and dustpan from the 8th grade classroom (my classroom doesn’t have either). As time passed and it was almost 9 AM, I got frustrated enough to clean the classroom myself and organized the classroom for the potluck after the program. While I was cleaning, one junior, Quinton, popped his head in the classroom to ask if any other juniors were there. When I said no, he left. After I was finished cleaning the classroom, Conny and Hemilson (junior and senior) came in carrying some food. I asked them to help me take the chairs down to the “auditorium” (three classrooms with the dividers taken down). After we finished I sent the guys to buy plates and utensils because no one was bringing them. One by one the juniors started showing up at the school. I was in the teachers’ workroom checking my email and waiting for something to happen. I walked around outside and then went up to my classroom. Some students were playing around on the guitar and ukulele. I walked around outside some more and then the prince got out of a taxi and came through the gate. It was now time to start the program, over an hour later than planned (it was supposed to start at 10:30, but the prince had to be at several other programs first). The program began with the pre-K class and went all the way through to the seniors. Grades pre-K to 5th did songs. Grades 6th through 12th did songs, dances, or plays, in different combinations. The 6th grade did a lot of dancing to the rhythm of an electric keyboard (which they had been practicing next door to my classroom for a week… my students were easily distracted). The juniors did a song and a play. I guess the play was about the bad effects of chewing betel (pronounced beetle) nut. Two guys, Danny and Quinton, wore dresses and acted like girls. I don’t really know what was happening because it was in Marshallese. (the picture is of the juniors)

The program lasted for more that two hours. By the time the program was done, everyone was really hungry. I went with the juniors to the classroom, blessed the food, and started the potluck. Even though I had told the students to bring only chicken, beef or tuna if they were going to bring meat, they brought octopus, crab salad, and other random fish. I must say that the octopus looked really ugly (I forgot to take a picture). Needless to say, I did not eat a whole lot at the potluck. Slowly the students finished eating and the guys left, also leaving a mess. I talked with a couple of the girls for a while as they gathered up the sparse leftovers. After the girls left I surveyed the mess in my classroom. The students had apologized for not cleaning last night, but they still didn’t help clean up after potluck. I set about picking up trash and straightening the classroom. I asked a couple guys to help me carry the chairs back up to my classroom. After all the chairs and tables were neat and the trash taken out, I closed my classroom door and started crying. Part of it had to do with getting 3 hours of sleep the night before when the power came back on, and from being stressed and frustrated. I honestly wanted nothing more than to just go home. Anyway, I sat in my classroom for a little bit and then locked it to go check my email. I got an email from my mom saying that she was sending me some packages. That made me feel better. I packed up my stuff and headed to the post office to mail a letter and then went back to the apartment. I was feeling “blah” and did not feel like doing my lesson plans, so I asked Lorraine if she wanted to go to Triple J with me and get things for the weekend camping trip. After Triple J (and getting macadamia nut ice cream), we went to the school so Lorraine could get her water bottle. We saw a storm getting closer so we hurried back to the apartment. Fortunately, it didn’t rain until a while after we got back. I worked on lesson plans a little bit and got ready for bed. I was planning to go on the afternoon boat tomorrow so that I could get more things done in the morning and pack.

Almost the Manit Day Program

--In Algebra 1 I offered the students to help them after school in my classroom.
--Last period music class with the sophomores, the juniors cam and said they wanted to practice for the Manit Day program in my classroom (I am their sponsor and it is technically their home room). I told them to find another room because I was having class. One of them said to kick out the sophomores so they could practice. I said no and they started arguing with me, so I closed the door on them and went back to teaching.
--After music class, the juniors came back to the classroom to practice. I decided to move my help session to the library and told the juniors to be done by 4 PM and clean the classroom. It turned out to be a good thing that I moved the help session to the library because there was staff meeting and I forgot about it.
--After staff meeting I went to check on the juniors, but they were gone. I was slightly irritated that they did not clean the classroom, but it was to be expected.

After School Practice

I just finished watching an after-school practice for the Marshallese Culture (Manit) Day program. The Juniors kept asking me for time during class to prepare for the event, but they never had anything planned to practice. I told them that they needed to have a song picked by the end of first period today, and they did. I made copies of the song that someone had written out, so the whole class could have the words. They said that they would meet in my classroom after school (at 3 pm) to practice. After helping Lorraine with the 3rd graders in the library, I went up to my classroom to meet with the Juniors. They were sitting on tables and chairs talking in Marshallese when I got up to my room (which is on the 3rd floor). They talked in Marshallese for a little bit and then one of the guys started moving the desks and chairs to the sides of the room. I had no clue what was going on, and I asked a student sitting next to me and he had no clue either (he probably wasn't paying much attention). One girl, Wanita, started directing everyone on where to go. They were going to practice a play. Since they were talking in Marshallese and I had absolutely no clue what they were saying, I decided to toss in my own English interpretation, which the students laughed at. :)
After quite a while of practicing the play (which didn't look like anything cultural to me...at least it was in Marshallese), they started practicing the song they chose. It sounded nice, but I couldn't tell you what it meant. :) The students really do sound good when they sing. Some of the guys were harmonizing, which is amazing compared to the guys in the U.S. which you have to twist their arms to sing (unless they are in choir).
Anyway, the practice finally finished at 5 pm. I was definitely glad because I had been really tired. Monday night I got about 3 hours of sleep, and that was after the power came on at 3 am. Yes, the power unpredictability is annoying, but oh well.

I'll have to post a blog about the program on Thursday. Should be interesting! Some of the younger grades are doing dances and action songs. They have been working really hard.

Frustrations... Grr...

WARNING: This blog contains complaints and frustrations of a crazed student missionary.
ADVISO: (translate the above into Spanish)
(Marshallese word): (translate the above into Marshallese)

So this week has been pretty frustrating. It seems like most everything was trying to keep me from getting work accomplished, which I must do for school. Let me see here...
Monday was alright, being that it was a Monday. I got some tests made and was productive. Tuesday is usually pretty good because there isn't anything happening at night after school. I didn't have time during lunch to do anything because it is my day to watch the kids outside during lunch time, which isn't too bad. The only problem was that the power went off at the apartments so there was nothing to do after school. I needed to make tests on my computer, but without power, I could not do that since my battery doesn't last very long. I was hoping to have time during lunch on Wednesday to get things done. But what do you know, the power goes out. Fortunately, the power was on at the apartment that night so I could get work done before the prayer meeting and after. I was hoping to have power on Thursday at lunch to make midterms for my classes and finish grading, but the power went off again at the school. I decided to go home at lunch to use the power there. I decided to leave my computer at the apartment because I figured that I wouldn't need it at school if the power was off. I came back to school for class and then went home after school for a little bit to work on tests for Friday. I went back to the school for the Yokwe (welcome) Party that was supposed to start at 5:30 pm. I left my computer at the apartment because I didn't think there would be power at the school and that there wouldn't be time to work. But I was wrong, on both things. There was power and the program started on Marshallese time, meaning it started at 7 pm. All of us teachers were pretty frustrated because we had midterms and other tests and things to make, but we had spent 1.5 hours waiting for the students to come! After the party we went back to the apartment. I was trying to finish the Junior Bible test for Friday. I was almost done when the power went out. Fortunately, I could finish the test with the power I had on my battery (also for the Juniors, it was a shorter test!). Since the power was out, we opened the windows to get a breeze going through the apartment. The people right outside the window by my head decided to talk at 2 am. Since the walls aren't very thick, all four of us girls could hear them talking outside.
Needless to say, all of us were grumpy this morning. We didn't want to talk, just wanted to eat breakfast, get school done with, and have the weekend. It was pretty pathetic, now that I think about it. But yeah.

Bright spot: The sophomores asked me to speak for chapel this week, which is on Friday. I had a slide show of pictures on PowerPoint and talked about "Running the Race". It was pretty good. I liked being able to show people pictures from home. I got to brag about my brother too. :) I'd explain more about what I said, but it would be easier to show the slideshow. I don't really know how to put that on there though.

Anyways, that was my week in a complaining nutshell. I just wanted to get it all out. So there you go!

Short School Week!!!

So far this week has been good. On Sunday we went to NTA (National Telecommunications Authority) to get reliable internet. I uploaded pictures to MySpace and Facebook. (I need to post the link to my Facebook pictures in my blog.) After NTA, we went swimming off the “coast”. If you look at the picture I have of Ebeye in my blog, we went swimming at the far left side in the picture. After swimming we had a birthday party for Ashlee. She turned 21. We had white cake with pears (that Megan made), and a big chocolate cake made from scratch that Ryan made. The white cake was amazing! From the box, but the pears and glaze were a great touch. Yum! After the party we finished our grading and lesson plans for the short school week.
Monday we had regular classes. It wasn’t much out of the ordinary, other than the power going out. Someone said that the generator blew. Most of us were thinking that the power would be out for several days. We didn’t care too much because that happened a couple weeks ago and we just dealt with it. The power came on that night, so we were definitely glad!
Tuesday was not much out of the ordinary either, but the power was consistent. The eighth graders had been very disruptive on Monday so I made them write down all of my class rules three times. I helped out with the third grade classroom during math time. They are just about the rowdiest children ever! I was trying to help them with adding numbers with four digits by using thousands, hundreds, tens, and ones columns, and some of them just didn’t want to sit down. I wrote a couple problems on the board for them to do and some of them got done rather quickly. Some were poking things into other students, others were wandering around the classroom, and still others were throwing things. What a mess! But they did start to settle down more when I was teaching. Lorraine has a full plate when she teaches those kids. Last week I gave the students a stern lecture about paying attention to “Miss Lorraine.” I think maybe the kids are a little scared of me. Maybe not such a bad thing! I did get another picture from one of the students, Joeylynn, so that was nice.
Yesterday, Wednesday, was the last day before break. It was nice to have such a short day. The kids were very antsy because they were ready to be on break (as were the teachers!). We got out of school and then the power was out so there was no reason to stay at the school. We ate supper at home and then went back to the school for prayer meeting. After prayer meeting we got ice cream from JJJ. I had cookie dough ice cream that was amazing! I might say it is the best I have had, but I don’t know if that is because there is not much of it over here.
Today, we had to be at the school to work on accreditation. We had to do a self-study of the school. As we were going through the questions, we had to laugh at some of them because of how bad the students acted. It was sad and funny at the same time. Ryan brought us cookies with cream inside and soda to help us pass the time. It didn’t take us too long to finish, which was nice. After we finished, I stayed at the school to start an outline for the Yearbook. I am the yearbook editor-in-chief for this year. I wrote down page numbers to get an estimate and guide of how it will go. We have our first school activity, the Yokwe (welcome) Party next Thursday so we need to get a yearbook staff together to take pictures and get organized. I can’t wait to do stuff for yearbook! After I went home, we hung around for a while. I finished reading The Memory Keeper’s Daughter, which was a really good book. We had a late supper potluck at Ryan’s apartment. A guy from Guam, Matt Dodd, came for stewardship seminars this weekend.
That’s the week so far!

"Dear Lord, for Thy goodness we thank Thee..."

Here’s my week in review:

This week has been pretty good overall, besides the disruptive students.
Sunday we drove down the Ebeye causeway to get to Shell Island. It was really pretty! It was nice to get away from all of the buildings on Ebeye. We mostly did snorkeling and it was cool to see the fish and coral. We also got to try out the SCUBA equipment. Most of the SMs want to get certified, so it was fun to try it out. I definitely need more practice...
I went with Megan and Landon on Tuesday to see if there were any fruits or vegetables left at the stand on Kwajalein. There wasn’t much to choose from when we got there, but we did get an onion and a couple tomatoes. I must say we were disappointed to have taken 1 ½ hours just to come back with an onion and two tomatoes. It was nice to get off the island for a little bit, though (and go to another island… go figure!).
I got to talk to my mom on the phone this week! I was very excited. I was chatting with her on Skype, and then she called the school so I talked to her for a few minutes. It was nice to hear a voice from home. I was pretty homesick last week, but this week has been a lot better.
On Wednesday, we went home after school and staff meeting and fixed some supper. Lorraine came back to the apartment late, bearing… fruit!!!!! We asked wear she got the full bag of fruits. She said the school had received a delivery of overstock fruits from Kwajalein. The rest of us got ready quickly and headed to the school (also to be there for prayer meeting at 6:30). We went into the school office and there were boxes and boxes of fruit to choose from. Each of us took a bag and filled it with wonderful pears, apples, and grapefruit (if one was so inclined…). We grabbed an extra piece of fruit to eat before the prayer meeting. I was definitely a happy person! (Fresh fruit on Ebeye is expensive and usually not very good quality unless a new shipment has come recently.)
Yesterday, Megan made apple crisp in a Bundt pan (all we had!)!!!! It was SOOOOO amazing! We contributed some of our apples from the school to the creation. It was a wonderful treat! We also had rice and lentils for supper. We will probably be eating rice and lentils more often since they are cheaper and fill you up. Also, it is easier to cook for a group (4 girls + Landon). Splitting a $4-5 meal? That’s pretty good, I’d say!
We got the second half of our monthly stipend yesterday. They pay us twice a month, which is nice so we can’t spend it all! (What we would spend it on, I am not sure…) We get a little more money for our stipend here because everything is so expensive. Yes, cereal is expensive in the U.S., but it’s not $7. But that is mostly the sugary cereals. We have been pretty happy with Cheerios, Raisin Bran, Chex, and vanilla soymilk. (They don’t sell much milk here because the power can be inconsistent. Sour milk == yuck!)
Today, Sabbath, we had church potluck. WOW!! There was a TON of food for the potluck. You grab a Styrofoam plate, serve up rice from one of the big containers, and move on down the line. There were 7 or 8 dishes with chicken in various forms, salad (yay veggies!), corn on the cob, tofu rice topping, pancit (Filipino dish with rice noodles, some veggies, and whatever else you want), and amazing desserts. They even had cinnamon rolls! To drink they had water and Cola for the adults and some Capri Suns for the kids. I ate waaaay too much! Good stuff, though.
Another blessing this week was the electricity. We had pretty consistent power to run the air conditioner at the apartment, flush toilets, cook on the stove, keep the fridge cold, use the rice cooker, use the internet, and take showers. I definitely took electricity for granted at home. Here, if the power is out, it’s more of an inconvenience than anything. Sure it get’s hot, but if you can open the windows and get a breeze blowing through, it is not too bad.
I was thinking about the water situation here, too. We collect the rain water to use for showers and sometimes cooking. To help conserve the fresh water, we don’t leave the showers on when we are lathering. I didn’t think about it when I was at home because there is seemingly endless water. The more I think about it here, though, the more I realize we could save a lot of money on water bills if people would only have the water on when they rinsed off! (I’m thinking more for the colleges, where there are so many people taking showers in the dorms.) Maybe it’s not just water we waste. I think we get so used to abundance in every facet of our lives that we squander our resources. Time, electricity, books, food—the list goes on and on. I really hope I will remember to appreciate what I have when I go home.
So that’s my week in review (and other randomness). Hope you had a good week too!
Please keep me in your prayers. God bless!

Students...

I think a lot of the teachers (including me) are frustrated with at least a few students in every class. They just don’t want to listen! It is pretty discouraging to watch students putting their heads on the desks and setting their feet on desks and other chairs. Constantly telling them to sit up and move their feet gets really annoying! They don’t understand that if they will only do well in high school, they could go to college and do something better with their lives. As teachers, we can only tell them about what it is like to go to college and have jobs. They have no concept of the work world or anything outside of this little island other than what they see on the internet or hear from us.
There are some bright spots in the classes, though. Some students talk about going to college after they graduate. I know of several seniors that would like to go, but I don’t think they know where yet. One senior, Peterson, wants to go to Southern next year. There are two SM’s here that go to Southern (one of them teaches high school English) that he can talk to about registration and such. It is so encouraging to see that students want to continue their education!

I have also been thinking about the age of the students I am teaching. They really aren’t much younger than I am! My brother, Nathan, is only 2 ½ years younger than me and will be graduating from high school in May. I am teaching students that are my brother’s age!! That might be one of my problems. Sure, I am older and have college experience, but I am not that much older. At least I am taller than a lot of the students here. Maybe I should start wearing my glasses in class too. That might make me look more teacher-ish. (You know, the pose with the glasses on the end of the nose, looking down at a disruptive student.) Maybe not. :)

Things I have learned so far...

1. Power is a privilege, NOT a right.
2. Fresh water (and drinking water) is a luxury.
3. You can kill big roaches with flip-flops.
4. When it rains it pours, literally.
5. Little geckos on the wall are “cute”.
6. JJJ (Triple J) isn’t Burger King, but it’s still pretty good.
7. Teachers talk about their students with other teachers. (Who knew?)
8. It’s hard to teach students who don’t really care if they pass high school, much less go to college.
9. Fresh fruits and vegetables are like gold!
10. Food costs twice as much here.
11. Rain can come through the ceiling during a rainstorm, even if there is a floor above you.
12. Rain makes everyone antsy.
13. “I want to go back to Union again…” (I miss it SOOO much!)
14. Most students at the school can sing and harmonize very well—they sound amazing!!
15. Sending emails and MySpace messages between people just isn’t the same as seeing them. L
16. Air Conditioning is a HUGE blessing, but so is a good ocean breeze on a really hot day.
17. To have a textbook for a class: good. To have a teacher’s manual: great. To have enough textbooks for students: amazing. To have a teacher’s manual and enough books for students: priceless. (Appreciate what you have!)
18. The taxis (small trucks) that drive around the island only go clockwise.
19. Kids that live a few blocks away from school will take a taxi to school. (Now that’s lazy.)
20. Cold showers are somewhat refreshing.
21. I REALLY miss my family and friends at home.

Food and funerals

The high school teachers are invited to funerals their students have in their families. The funeral I went to was to support a junior student of mine, Quinton, whose cousin had committed suicide. I went with Ashlee, Jordan, Allan, Ryan (the principal), and Jhan Dale. Several students from the school came too. We waited across the street from the house for Quinton to take us inside. We took off our flip-flops in front of the open door. In the middle of the living room was an open casket. The opening was facing away from the door, so I never looked in the casket. We sat on woven mats and waited for someone to talk. Ryan spoke for a short time and then we sang “Meet me in Heaven”. Ryan said a prayer and then each of us got up and put a dollar on top of the casket to help pay for food (It’s customary for families to serve food to the funeral guests and the guests give money). When we walked outside, a woman handed us a doughnut and Navy crackers wrapped in napkins. She also gave us a Styrofoam cup with rice, coconut milk, chicken soup, and some chicken meat. I talked to Jhan Dale and Ryan about the funerals on Ebeye and they said that some people go to funerals just to get food. Isn’t that terrible?
That was the shortest funeral I have ever been to. It was interesting to see how the Marshallese do funerals. I was told that there would be more funerals during the year, so I guess this is the account of my first, and not last, Marshallese funeral.

I'm in Ebeye!

Hello everyone! I wanted to tell you all that I made it! Today is Sunday, and it's almost 4 pm here.
I am at the school using the internet. We are having a school work day and I spent almost 2 hours scraping the walls so they could paint in the 4th grade room. I am pretty dirty, with old paint dust all over me.I can't really explain what it's like here. I don't know if I really have time to do that in this email. I will send pictures sometime. Right now I am on one of the school's computers, trying to get out a few emails.
I won't have my own classroom specifically here, but I will be the Junior class sponsor. I was talking to Ryan Ybanez's (ee-BAHN-yez) (the principal) brother, Jhan Dale (John Dale), and he said that he would let me teach a couple math classes and take a couple of my Bible classes. I will most likely be teaching Algebra 1. I think that would be kinda fun.
I really want to send you pictures! I have pictures on facebook right now of Hawaii. I don't know the address though. I will find it.Yesterday we had church and then went back to the apartments for lunch, had a little nap, two more SMs from Canada came (Megan and Landon), went to the hospital to sing for the patients, went to AY (Adventist Youth), and then went to a store with fast food. I had a chicken sandwich, lemon lime soda, and curly fries. They really like chicken over here. lol
We started a Roach Count on our fridge this week. It was a suggestion of Jhan Dale. It's attached to the fridge with a smiley face magnet. How ironic. :) Right now we have 3 kills. One is hiding in the drawers under the sink somewhere. We can't add it to our Count until it's dead. That's what we decided. :)
Well, I better go. I hope you are all having a wonderful day! Sunday will be a good day for you. Believe me, I'm there. :)

Almost time to go

I've been packing today and I went to get some information about Bible curriculum. It's hard to believe that I am leaving so soon!

Here's the address of the school I'm going to, in case you want to send me a letter:

P.O. Box 5070
Ebeye, MH 96970

I'm having a family get-together tonight, church and seeing a few people tomorrow, and then fly to Hawaii Sunday at 7:00 am. Bright and early! If you want to call me, I should have phone service in Hawaii for three days and then I fly to Ebeye.

That's all for now.

Less than one week!

If you didn't already know, I am going to Ebeye, Marshall Islands as a student missionary. I will be teaching high school Bible at the SDA school there. It's hard to believe that in less than one week, I will be in Hawaii for training! I fly out from Colorado early Sunday morning to Houston and then on to Hawaii. I'll be there for training three days and then I will fly on to Kwajalein, a U.S. millitary base in the Marshall Islands. I think from there I will take a boat to Ebeye, the most populated island in the Marshall Islands. I'm really excited! I'll try to keep everyone updated on what I'm doing over there. I won't be online much, but I'll send out an email and post on this blog. I'm taking my laptop so that I can type up my blogs and emails on my own time so that I don't spend my internet time typing. Copy and paste is amazing!

Well, I better get back to packing and getting ready. So much to do and time is going fast!