this past week

So, the last week..Hmm..well as far as class goes, it went much better. I think I’m starting to get the hang of the teaching thing. Well a little bit more at least J I seriously adore my kids already, I can’t imagine how close I’m going to be with them after the year is going to be over. It’s going to be so hard to leave them. Even the ones that I was worried would drive me absolutely crazy are making a way into my heart. I think I am finally understanding about where they are academically so it will be easier for me to deal with when they don’t understand certain basic concepts. I’m more prepared for that, so I don’t think I’ll get as frustrated. Since school has started they’ve had a three tests. The first two (science and math) some did TERRIBLE on so I let them find the right answers and fix it (I mean I just want them to learn the stuff) but for social studies almost all of them aced it! I was proud of them J later in the week we were talking about different cultures, and Irish dancing was mentioned, so I told them that I had a friend who was an Irish dancer and they thought that was pretty cool (I love you Megan!) and then the next day I brought in my laptop and played them some Irish music. Haha but all they wanted to do was see pics on my computer, so I gave in and showed them about four pictures. I have told them about Zac and how he is in Majuro as the coach. One day in prayer requests I prayed for him, and now the kids raise their hands and say “Zac!” I was like who? And they were like, “Your brother!” haha it was really cute. They all want to meet him J and when I showed them a picture of him making a silly face with me they were laughing so hard. It was super cute. So now they ask if he’s coming to visit and I have to keep telling them no L I am also figuring out the whole grading thing. It goes like this, grade ANY free second you have, then I don’t have to do it after class. However, I haven’t recorded ANY of my papers yet, which is now a massive stack. Ha, better get on that! Oh, and my kids finally like to sing! I guess they were just shy at the beginning. I taught them the Milk song and they LOVE it haha it’s so cute. This week had its rough times in the classroom for sure, but over all it went pretty well. And the days that I was struggling I got to open care packages from home (which just make EVERYTHING better) thanks familia and walla walla! J J

            As far as this weekend and last weekend, pretty great. J last weekend we went to this AWESOME waterfall that you had to hike to. OH MY GOODNESS! I was seriously in heaven. Pohnpei has to be the best island hands down. I LOVE the jungle haha anyone who knows me, knows that exploring through a jungle is most definitely my idea of fun J we started the hike and then like we turned straight into like the thick mass of the jungle and kept going there like wasn’t a trail at all, so we were like climbing over and under trees in the mud, jumping across creeks. (I had to pee, quite exhilarating actually…in a rainforest J) and then we got to the waterfall. There was like a forty-foot drop straight down and so of course I immediately jumped off. SO fun! And then we climbed up the side of the waterfall where all these rocks were, I was like oh my goodness this is why I was made! Lol I love exploring soo much! It definitely makes me miss some friends from school though. Wow. Anyway, then you had to quickly cross the river where the waterfall was so you could get to the other side and jump off again. Haha so I saw the current and was like, ah its not that far why don’t I just swim it really quick. Bad idea. Lol I just lunged forward and realized that I didn’t quite make it and suddenly I thought, “oh my goodness if I can’t grab onto a rock or something I’m going to go over the water fall” haha luckily I grabbed onto a rock and was fine. Possibly not my brightest idea ever J all very fun though. Then it started pouring rain, which just made everything better. I decided to run back in the mud and rain, everyone probably thought I was crazy but I was just loving life haha. Then the next day we went out to breakfast at this place and had macadamia banana pancakes, followed by an outing all day. They took us on the big school boat out to these ruins that were so fun to climb and explore! I guess no one knows much about them, it’s like a mystery. But it used to be like a city and civilization. And it’s all made out of rock, so climbing up the walls were really fun! Then, we went to this little island and explored it. There was actually SAND at this island and the water was unbelievably clear. So we just sat like in the water or leaning up against a palm tree eating out packed lunches. Pretty awesome. I still can’t believe how beautiful it is here. Then yesterday after church (oh haha I did Sabbath school and gave like a miniature sermon, it was actually kind of fun. I kind of enjoyed it! Still haven’t sang for church yet, like special music that is, man I’m going crazy I’m really missing singing..) Amy and I and Joel and Barbie (two Australian guys) went on a picnic with the phillipianos to this amazing like little open hut at the end of a dock type of a thing. It was beautiful (of course). It was for Noli’s birthday (he’s the maintenance guy at school and is awesome, we live right next door to him :) we ate AMAZING Pilipino food AND had icecream!! We played bible games with them, it was so funny they are wonderfully happy people lol laughing at everything! It was great. And then we met up with some youth from the church at climbed to this ridge that looks over the whole island to watch the sunset. Man, was it a hike! I’m not sure if I’ve ever hiked up something quite so steep! It was fun though, I was sweating like crazy, I felt so good after haha it was a great workout J and on the way there were like old war bunkers and an old rusted tank, and really cool stuff like that. That was fun to explore. Then when we got to the top there is like a phone tour thing that I climbed up part way to be even higher. Pretty cool J when we got back down it was completely dark and we still had to drive back, so about 25 of us all climbed into the back of our faithful truck and drove through pohnpei. We went through a side of the island I hadn’t seen yet, at it was so cool just soaking in the island and their culture at night time. Really enjoying being here. it is so different at home.

            Which all leads me to right now! Typing and flicking off the annoying ants that have decided to share my bed with me haha. This morning has been a cleaning day for the school. So I got to go clean my classroom, and wait for it….drum roll…my little fourth graders DISGUSTING bathroom. Oh. my. Goodness. There is NO way my dad would have cleaned that thing lol. I kept thinking about that and laughing. Anyway, I’ll spare you the details but lets just say it’s as clean as it’s going to get now! Then there is some party tonight for someone leaving the school or something which means lots of rice and fish and bananas and fruit for free! Actually, I’m rather surprised with myself but, I’m ENJOYING cooking. Like, we have to get fairly creative here but my dad and gramma have sent me quite a bit of cooking stuff and I’m having fun with it. Amy and I make beakfast burritos, French toast, and like fruit parfaits for breakfast. And then for dinner I’ve been cooking like sautéed veggies, and rice, and veggie meat cooked with spices and sauces and baked beans etc. it’s been great. Oh, and apparently soymilk, frozen bananas, honey, ice, and dried apricots make for the greatest smoothies of all time. Haha, so I’ve finally gotten the food thing figured out. I’ve finally been able to exercise too! It is so awesome, this last week I went to the track every day but one. I have been power walking and doing sprints (trying not to kill my knee) regardless its great. You can get away from the school, and there is such a cool atmosphere there. Like all the people from the community come out. It’s awesome. Haha I want to join one of their track teams! I think it would be super cool J and I just realized how long this is getting! Sorry my faithful readers! J I guess I’d just like to conclude this blog once again with prayer requests. Pohnpei SDA school is going through a difficult transition time right now. There is a lot of drama going on, we don’t exactly have a principal, and may not have our sm coordinator now too. I’m not exactly sure. We don’t know everything as sm’s but there are some fairly big problems going on right now. Also we lost one of our SM’s last week. Rian went back home. That was pretty hard for the school too, I think a few of the administrators and island teachers took it personally. I hear that we’re getting two other girl sm’s now, but I don’t think anyone knows exactly whats going on haha. I think that would be great! So I’m praying for that to work out J anyway, thanks to everyone, miss you lots and can’t stress enough how much I appreciate all of your support!