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!