a good day :)

Today was AMAZING. This weekend actually. It is Sunday night and I am officially exhausted. But in the amazing way, like after a full day of wakeboarding at the lake J I am falling in love with an Island called Pohnpei. Sabbath we went through town telling people about a free health fair we were having and it was really cool to see more into the culture here. I have decided that I am never complaining about our apartment again! There is quite a bit of poverty here, we are so lucky in America. Seriously, I feel quite spoiled living at the academy here. Then, at the health fair, I ended up sneaking out and just playing with the kids all evening, it was SO fun. Haha I was soo tired, I need to get in shape! At the health fair I got my blood sugar taken just for fun, so Ryan poked me with a needle to get some blood and I jumped cuz I was really surprised. Haha the kids thought it was SOO funny, so they started calling me Miss Pokey Hand. I was like what? What are you calling me? And then they’d just run from me. It was so funny. This led to numerous games of hide and seek, dance offs, the game Drop, and fits of giggles. After we left, Amy, Joel, Matt, and I had a photo shoot in the rain. Haha we had to drive back in the rain, so we were already soaking. It was quite fun J Joel and Matt, have me pretty convinced that I want to move to Australia (that’s where they’re from), haha at least a visit J

Today we woke up and a group of us went out to this little island to teach some kids how to surf. It was amazing. I really don’t know how to put in words. It was like today wasn’t real. We pretty much spent the entire day in paradise. Got to teach some kids how to surf, ate rice and barbequed chicken (I had a little, trying to live up the culture thing) and then we took out the boards for a little. The board I was on was literally half as small as mine and half as wide, I didn’t think I was going to get up at all, but ended up catching a wave. I didn’t stand up though haha I was too scared of falling into the coral. When I got off my board I was in only like a foot of water, if that. I am realizing that if I’m going to surf here I need booties cuz I was just standing on the coral, and then waves start crashing in. Its slightly intimidating I’m not going to lie! Some of the guys actually got cut up, but I ended up being ok J Oh, and Amy and I learned about Fire Coral the hard way! She decided to grab it thinking it looked pretty, and I accidently kicked some while pushing a little girl on her surfboard. It burns! So now we know to stay away from that J We’ll definitely be going back to that island, it only costs five dollars to get over there, and then ten dollars for a little hut to spend the night (which you can split between five people) so I’m quite excited to say the least. Now I just need to get some sleep before my first full school day tomorrow! I’m sure I’ll have many stories about that, hopefully good ones! 

So the first two days of school are officially over! I’m not going to lie, the first day was exhausting! Everything I had planned was over in like an hour, and then I was like oh dear. What do I do?! Haha but today was much better, and I was well prepared J my kids require every ounce of my attention at every second, but are absolutely adorable. I am really looking forward to getting to know them all better. Today I read Winn Dixie to them for like an hour, and had them draw a picture or a scene from the story I was reading them. And they loved it. I was doing the voices and everything, it was quite fun. I’m definitely going to enjoy that aspect of teaching J We also had math today, and oh dear is there a lot of work to be done there. I am supposed to be teaching them times tables and division and all of that stuff but today as we were reviewing adding and subtracting I realized that they are far from ready to move on to anything else yet. I went over their assignment with them and did like four examples with them. In the end I ended up doing every single problem with them on the board, and sometimes with them individually again as well. It was pretty tiring. I don’t know how I’m supposed to teach them other things, its going to be a  lot of work. I have this one little girl named Zara from Australia who is absolutely adorable! Besides that the other 21 of them are all islanders who insist on saying Miss! Miss! Every second J. Teaching is going to be much more work than I thought to be perfectly honest. But I think it will just be especially difficult at the beginning, I need to get the hang of things, and as Amy and I are discovering already, learn things the hard way J

Much to my delight Amy and I are finally figuring out how to eat here. That was quite discouraging but now we have a rice cooker (I ruined are first batch of rice last night. Worst pohnpeian missionary ever. I swear I followed the little instruction manual!) and have found that we can get carrots, and cucumbers for our vegetable supply (even some frozen veggies occasionally! )And have decided that the pricey apples are worth it for our fruit supply along with a never ending supply of bananas. The locals put bananas in EVERYTHING haha they are quite delicious however.

Last night two of the guys came over and had a lesson plan party with Amy and I. It got kind of late, (ten is late for us now haha so much for a college schedule!) and my silly side kicked in full force! The laughing was great stress relief but I’m pretty sure I traumatized these two innocent guys that barely know me. There were just like oh my goodness whats happening?! Now we’re all about to go find a swimming hole or something cuz its sooo hott! I’m seriously like over heating here. and I’m still waiting to go surfing! Ahhh!!! And maybe snorkeling soon J I hope we get to do something fun like that this weekend! 

Sooooo in about eight hours I will no longer be Courtney but Miss Breann J I can’t believe school is starting tomorrow!! My classroom is as tidy and clean as it’s going to get. Well. Besides the little bathroom I have in my classroom. But lets not talk about that. I’ll have to get some pictures up of my room and kids soon. Friday I think I’m going to have all my kids put their hand print in paint up on some poster board that I got and then we can put them up on my bare walls J Oh, Amy and I recently discovered that we have a few new roommates. One being a mouse that decided her computer chord was absolutely delicious and worthy of chewing, a gecko the size of a woolly mammoth (and company), and wandering ants that find my bed as comfortable as I do. I was the lucky one to first site the mouse haha it was so funny. I had just put a delicious chocolate cake in the oven for Shaun’s birthday and was sitting down when I see something (literally) crawling out of our stove. I was like WHAT is happening?!?! And then I saw that it was the little wire eating culprit. We unfortunately didn’t catch him, but I was perfectly fine with that cuz he didn’t eat my chocolate cake. Otherwise the wrath of Miss Breann would have rained down upon him. The girls are rather terrified about our new little oven dwelling roommate but I think he’d look rather cute if he was wearing a bowtie…anyway, oh my I’m so excited about tomorrow! I can’t really sleep, which is exactly why I’m writing on my blog right now J decided to use up the good old internet card. Oh dear, that can get a little expensive. So tonight Mr. B (the principal had everyone over to celebrate Shaun’s birthday. It was so amazing. They cooked an incredible meal for us (my favorite meal since I’ve been here) they even made three birthday cakes and had ice cream! But that wasn’t even the best part, there was fruit and a, wait for it…drum roll….salad!!! Amy and I were SO excited. We’ve been going crazy, it’s so hard to get fruit and veggies over here. but tonight we had cantaloupe and the best pineapple ever and watermelon and rice and these deep fried banana things, and fish (it was actually really good) and grill cheese sandwiches (definitely a treat, considering we can’t afford cheese). So that was really cool. Oh, and Mr. B has a piano! I’m not going to lie, that is something I’ve really been missing. There is just something about sitting down at a piano and singing that makes me feel whole. When we went to church on Sabbath there was a piano and I was soo excited until they started playing it at church. I’m pretty sure I have NEVER heard a piano that out of tune. Haha it was actually pretty funny. Definitely couldn’t sing to that one J well…I probably should get some sleep so I have some energy tomorrow. Oh boy. Now the real adventure begins. Oh and by the way I have twenty students and no teacher’s aid! One of the third grade classrooms only has eleven kids and an aid. I was like huh… haha so this will be fun! J

So I have decided! Its official, I am definitely going to be able to get used living here! J it is soo beautiful and the people are so sincere and welcoming. They threw us a welcoming party last night. there was literally tables of food! and the woman did a pohnpeian dance for us, so fun :) On Sabbath almost all of the SM’s came over to our apartment and we made spagetti. It was awesome. We have such a great group of random missionaries! Much to my delight, we have two Australian boys J I love their accents, but I have quickly learned that I am supposed to never relate them to New Zealanders, haha so our potluck was fun. We seriously had like twelve of us in our little kitchen. I think that will be a tradition that we start, and I’m looking forward to it. Then we went to these twin waterfalls way out in the jungle Sabbath afternoon. Haha if my Father saw the way we get around here, he’d probably have a heart attack J its awesome, we all climb in the back of these like old truck things, one of them kind of looks like a little fire truck and we all just stand and hang on while we are like off roading through the jungle. Oh and the waterfalls..AMAZING. Oh my goodness! I’m trying to put pictures up as soon as I have enough internet! It was sooo beautiful! We climbed all over them and jumped off and swam in the pools. I was most definitely in my happy place! Then it started pouring rain and everyone found shelter under this little metal sheet thing, but not me! I was loving the rain! Its so warm, needless to say I was drenched and smiling ear to ear J Oh my, may I please deviate from the topic of hand and inform you that I am currently sitting on my bed typing this attempting to eat a bowl of granola without breathing through my nose because it smells like pig! Its rather difficult…anyway Sunday morning wasn’t quite as enjoyable as sabbath I must admit. I went to see my classroom and let me tell you, there is SO much work to be done! My classroom is ridiculously dirty and stuff is kind of just all over the place. It was slightly overwhelming cuz I wasn’t sure where to start. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many spiders in one setting, good thing I’m not terrified of them. It just made me realize how amazing we have it in the states, even like our “ghetto” Adventist schools. Wow. All of the desks are rusted badly, the floor is uneven cement that is almost black, I don’t think I have enough books for some subjects etc. oh, and the books are all wet from the humidity and gross. I wish I had better materials to give to my kids..It will take much cleaning and organizing before I can start decorating my classroom or doing anything fun. And on top of that I have to start my lesson plans! School starts Thursday, so I’m excited but a little nervous cuz there is so much to be done. And I am still waiting to go surfing, we haven’t been able to go to a beach or anything, however we did go to this like lagoon yesterday and a few of us jumped off this roof of this like abandoned house thing into ocean that was fun. The boys are hilarious, they all have nick names for themselves, and I’m pretty sure they just decided that Amy and I are worthy of being nick named as well. Apparently they have decided that I’m seaweed haha I’m definitely going to enjoy getting to know everyone better. I can tell, we have an awesome year ahead of us. The beginning is just a little stressful! Anyway, thanks for your prayers, I really appreciate them and need them! 

i'm here!

I’m here! Wow. I don’t even know where to start! So flying in was AMAZING. I was soo excited, I got out my camera and next thing I know we landed and I didn’t take one picture haha I was so in awe that I forgot. It is so beautiful. Also the island is much bigger than I imagined. I still can’t believe that I’m here and am going to be here for ten months, that sounds so crazy to me. I’m trying not to think of it like that because I’m not sure if that excites me or scares me right now. Our apartment is…well…not quite what I expected, but we are doing the best with what we have! We just went on a total cleaning spree today scrubbing the kitchen and floors etc. it still looks kind of dirty but at least we know the truth! oh, and I must mention that we have some interesting/terrifying neighbors. Amy and I were introduced to the pigs that live right outside our window and behind our apartment upon our arrival. I honestly thought there were baby dinosaurs being tortured outside our room. I was completely unaware that anything in the world could make such a horrifying and loud sound. So THAT will be fun. Oh, also we have discovered a few roommates as well. Apparently the lizards here are on steroids and love our kitchen.

 

            Yesterday we were taken to the “grocery store” to get supplies and food. When I walked in I almost cried. Lol I was like there is NO way I can live off of this for a year! It was very small and had limited and very expensive food. For those of you who know me, you will know how important food is to me haha and luckily we took a trip to the store once again today. I almost broke out into song when we walked into this grocery store! I was like thank you Jesus!! It was literally eight times as big and even had soymilk! I was sooo excited! I will be more than fine J they even had Oreos, however they were seven dollars haha the food is really expensive here its crazy. I seriously think I’ll be living off of spaghetti, rice, and apples.

 

So apparently humidity and Courtney to do not mix well. I am pretty sure that I will take eight showers a day. Oh my word. Its crazy! I really hope I get used to it. And worst of all my feet, ankles, and fingers have swollen up like balloons! I’m pretty sure that I know what it’s like being pregnant! Haha my feet are the worst. It sucks because they are so achy! I hope this is an adjusting thing and I get used to it because it kind of hurts! Lets see…oh, and also our apartment flooded last night haha luckily it wasn’t Amy and I’s room. There is something wrong with our pipes or water or something, because like our shower will just randomly turn on, and then the kitchen sink will suddenly be on full blast etc. I think the maintenance guy is going to look at it and try to fix it soon though! We have our fingers crossed..Also the smell of our apartment and just pretty much everywhere is going to take some getting used to. I think its because its so wet it is almost like everything is mildewed. Oh well! There definitely many things to get used to!

 

In general I guess I am kind of in a daze. This place is quite different than what I was expecting, but then at the same time I don’t really know what I was expecting. To be perfectly honest the living here is much more primitive than I anticipated, and also English isn’t as predominant as I thought it would be. People speak in more of broken English and in very thick accents so it’s hard to understand. We were told that our students will have English as their second or third language and I for some reason didn’t realize that. Currently the school is going through some transitioning and we don’t exactly have a principal. It’s a little confusing as to where we’re supposed to be etc and like the SM’s haven’t even all officially met or had a chance to do ice breakers or anything. That is the thing that has bothered me the most, because even if we’re all confused as long as we stick together and are a close group I think it will all be fine. So for anyone who is reading this, if you could keep that in your prayers that would be wonderful.

 

Oh, I think I forgot to mention this, so um…when it rains here…it RAINS! Oh. My. Goodness. I didn’t even bring an umbrella lol I don’t know WHAT I was thinking! I can’t wait to go to the beach or water or something. I guess the water is ten or fifteen minutes away? I hope we still get to go a lot cuz I was hoping to go like every day (of course) oh, and I’d love to go explore I seriously just want to hike through the jungle. We’ve only been at the school and church. And I haven’t gotten a chance to catch up on sleep yet either, we’ve been so busy moving in and cleaning etc. I’m so exhausted! Speaking of which, I’m going to try to get a nap in before we have vespers, but just so everyone knows I’m here safe! Thanks for all your prayers, this is definitely an interesting transition and I’m not exactly sure how I feel about everything yet. But I know God has amazing things planned for me this year, and regardless of how I feel, this is where I am supposed to be at this time in my life, and that God has guided me here. It will just take some time to discover exactly why that is. Thanks for everyone’s support! J