EJ Playing at Recess!

Progress!

Once again, I haven’t written in my blog for a while. The week days are much too busy! But now it’s the weekend and I have time to relax for a little bit. Wednesday was pretty un eventful. I had no voice again which made it very difficult to talk in class. Early warnings were due on Thursday, so everyone was grading, entering in grades, and getting yellow slips filled out. Early warning slips are for kids who have C’s or below in a class. Well, it’s not like Kindergarten can get those and everyone had A’s in computer class, so I helped grade papers and enter some in for people. I actually do enjoy grading older kids! Kindergarten is pretty much just effort so on goes a smiley face and I’m done! There are SO many kids who got early warnings in different subjects. It’s really mostly because a lot of kids choose not to turn in assignments. Then the teachers get blamed by parents because their child is not doing well in class. A lot of the SMs got talked badly to by parents.

Thursday was a pretty good day. I got most of my voice back by that point! Everyone was busy since they were handing out grades. It was the second to last day of Week of Prayer. The kids absolutely love singing. They do more shouting than singing to be honest, but they love it! I love that the kids are super happy when singing songs! At recess today, EJ, the kids who never speaks or plays at recess, or rarely laughs, played at recess!! He was having so much fun! Laughing and running everywhere! Since he is not used to running around, he fell asleep in chapel! He was so tired! 

Friday is definitely the best day of the school week!!!  It’s a half day, and we all get a break! On Fridays I quiz the kids on the memory verse of the week. I call each child up to my desk by pulling their name out of the popsicle stick jar. When they come up, they recite the memory verse, and get a sticker next to their name on the memory verse chart. Once they get 4 stickers, they get to pick a prize. This week’s memory verse was “Trust in the Lord, with all your heart.” Proverbs 3:5. Almost all the kids knew it by heart!! (If they don’t know it, they do their best and I help them.)  EJ, has never spoken a word to me and since he won’t, I have him write out the memory verse twice on a piece of paper. Well he had to do it again on Friday, but out at recess, HE SAID HIS WHOLE MEMORY VERSE TO ME!!! I was SO excited!!! He was actually talking to me!!! When I called him up to test his numbers later that day, he actually spoke them to me! Now the only bad thing that happened on Friday, was one of my kids, JT, threw up at my desk. Poor little guy. L His mom had to take him home.

Sabbaths, oh how I love Sabbaths! The Paliker and Kitti churches were joined today so Jen, Amanda, Riley, Danny, Roy and I were the SMs there. Jonathan was supposed to come with us but I guess he forgot and went to Kolonia. Our church is nice and cool because we actually have windows and it keeps the cool air from the fans inside. But, when we were just starting church, the power went out. And it was HOT today. Thankfully it started raining so it cooled things down just a bit. Poor Danny was feeling awful and felt really sick in his stomach. So while we all had potluck, he laid down in the bus. Sabbath afternoon was really chill. I tried to take a nap, but it didn’t work very well. Some of us watched some Veggie Tales and then when the sun went down, we all had worship. After worship, some of us went out to eat at a place called Arnolds. Oh man. The food was very delicious!! I had a perfect size vegetarian pizza, and a piece of cheesecake! I am very full and happy right now! After getting back, Kim and I changed into gym clothes and went to gym night. It’s always crazy in there and tonight was no exception! They were playing a type of King of the Court for volleyball and my team was always all girls vs. all boys. We were terrible! Haha! The boys play really well and hit REALLY HARD! But it was still fun! J

Well goodnight/good day everyone! Sorry I haven’t really written in a while!

One of my adorable students, Haylee

The Busy Days of a Teacher

Wow! I have gotten pretty bad at blogging. I never have time! Things have gotten super busy! Sunday was a nice day. I got to sleep in until 7:30! Woohoo! I worked on planning out some class activities and assignments and then at 1:30, most of us went swimming at a place with a rope swing. Super fun! And the river had higher rocks so it was slightly dammed up so it was nice to just sit and get a sort of massage from the rushing water. J The evangelistic meetings started on Sunday night. Franky told us to meet at 6:45 downstairs so we can leave for the Kolonia church. Yeah we left around 7:45. I am really not fond of this whole island time nonsense. Not ok! When we finally got to the church, they had not even started! And for some reason, they decided that they wouldn’t start the actual meetings that night, so they had a little meeting about the meetings that were coming up.

Monday started off bright and early as usual.  Morning has been coming way too early lately! In college I would always stay up till around 12 or so and wake up at 6:30 am, but now going to bed and waking up at the same time is just TERRIBLE! Ever since I made the desks in my classroom into a circle, it’s been easier to get around to everyone to see how they are doing and help them. Every time a kids finishes their assignment or wants to show me their progress, they yell “Teacher teacher!!” Oh goodness it drives me up the wall! A kid does one problem or one letter and wants to show me. I’m working on them raising their hands for questions WITHOUT having them yell for teacher. Needless to say, it’s a work in progress. So my kids EJ, who has never spoken a word to me, has finally started to nod his head! It’s very exciting!! But every time I catch him laughing or smiling and he sees looking at him, he immediately pinches his lips together and gets all serious. It’s kind of sad because he never really plays with other kids in general since he is so shy. I really want him to like me and talk to me. I’m hoping by the end of this week to get a single word out of him! We started week of prayer this week and it is pre k-6^th grade. The meeting went on SO long! It went 20 minutes over! My poor kids were so antsy and it was way past their snack time. I felt really bad for them! I started to lose my voice on Monday, and talking constantly to the children really wears and tears on my voice! We had to finish our blue books by that afternoon and while looking through the final, official roster that I had just gotten, I noticed that two of my kids have been spelling their names wrong this whole time!! Now that has to be fixed….

Tuesday morning, I could barely talk. I was hoping that my assistant would be there first thing in the morning so she could do the singing and worship, but she was helping pre school for a few minutes until the teacher arrived. Singing and trying to quiet down 13 kindergarteners did not work very well. By the end of the day, my voice was absolutely killing me. They sort of assumed that since their teacher could not talk very loud and tell them to be quiet, they could be louder than usual. Yeah it was a rough day. Chapel AGAIN went over at least 20 minutes and again, my kids were getting really antsy. 60 minutes was a long time for the kids to be in one place! Poor Haylee was just so tired she came and sat on my lap for most of the service. As soon as we got back into the classroom, the kids ran to wash their hands and quickly grabbed their snacks. They could hardly wait for me to pray for the food! I didn’t talk very much the rest of the day because my voice hurt so much so I didn’t even try to help with boy’s P.E. Instead, I scrubbed the apartment shower with bleach and a wirey brush. It looks SO much better!! Since my grading only took about an hour, I helped 2nd and 6th grade out with some grading. I have to say, I like grading that kind of work better than We had another meeting that night which of course, we were late for. It’s never our fault though! We were ready to go at 6:45, didn’t leave till about 7:15. Anyway my voice in completely gone today! Pray for me!!

Have a fantastic day!!

Delicious Ramen and Guava Juice!

Power Outages and Weekend Bliss

Well I haven’t been able to blog for a couple of days! Sorry about that. Things got crazy and the electricity doesn’t seem to like to stay on. Teaching, is one of the most difficult things I have ever done in my life. Instructing children in the simplest things can be so hard because they don’t know very much English! I explain things over and over and over and they still don’t understand!

Thursday was a crazy day. Lesson plans are due and every Friday, all the elementary teachers give each student in their class a folder with the work they had done through out the week for the parents, all graded and recorded. My grading as a Kindergarten and Computer teacher is really not that hard. I don’t have to record anything and my grading consists of checking if they did the worksheets right, and putting a smiley face or sticker on the paper. So since I have time after finishing my lesson plans and grading, I help other teachers grade if need be. On Thursday night though, the power was out for about 2 ½ hours so grading was just about impossible without light and so was cooking our dinners. So we just hung out and talked until the power came back on. When it finally did, we were able to eat dinner and finish our grading. I helped Riley grade a huge stack of papers in his classroom. And half way through, the power went out AGAIN. So until it came back on, we played with a big bouncy ball that lights up. My mom sent me about 10 of those and we had a lot of fun with them! We didn’t get to bed until around 11:30 because almost everyone was grading until then. I also didn’t go to the boys P.E. class I help Roy with on Thursday because I had a really big headache. My Kindergarteners were just CRAZY that day. I don’t know why but it was definitely a long day. So the boys asked where I was since I was not at class. Roy told them “You guys give her a headache so she’s laying down for a while.” They answered with “awhh.. Should we get her flowers?” Haha! Oh being a teacher can be entertaining. I also had a 2^nd grader come to me and say “Ms., you are very beautiful.” That made me feel so happy inside!

Friday! Oh how I love Fridays! Fridays are half days and then we have the weekend!! My kids did pretty well on Friday. We went to chapel for the Pre K-3^rd grade and my kids were very well behaved! (As well behaved as they can be anyway.) I was impressed! I even gave back their minutes of recess that they had lost. On Fridays, at 10:20 I go teach my two computer classes. Every time I go, the kids always ask Ms. C! Where are you going?? I tell them that I am going to go teach my computer class and they always ask when I am going to back. When I did get back, they were at recess. I immediately got hugged by a few kids and then got asked to push them on swings, help them on the monkey bars, to “look teacher look! Watch me!” After school, some of us went to the airport to go pick up the new SM. We waited for a while and then there was an announcement that the plane was delayed in Chuuk for 6 hours. So we went back and chilled, made some food, and then some of us went to go pick up Jonathan (the new SM) while the others headed to vespers. But, heading to the airport, Franky got a call saying the plane was delayed until 8. So we went to vespers. And then during vespers, Franky got a call saying the plane was delayed until 8:50. Man! He could not catch a break! By the time we actually got Jonathan, it was about 10:15. Goodness everyone, but especially Jonathan were really tired! Pretty much everyone went to my apartment afterwards to eat (mostly for Jonathan) and I went to the guys apartment to get some of my stuff. I ended up staying to talk to people and eating some pasta. But while we were talking after we ate, we heard a noise in the kitchen… and we looked up to find… a HUGE RAT! Oh my word I was scared for a minute! It ran through a hole in the wall under the sink. Gah I’m so glad I don’t sleep in that apartment!

Sabbath started off really rainy, but soon cleared up, as it always does. All of us SMs ate breakfast together in the boy’s upper apartment because the power was out at the girls’. We then all went to the Kolonia church where Mr. Quaile was doing the sermon. The Quailes are the in charge of the education department of Guam and Micronesia so they are visiting each school for a week. Mr. Quaile used to be the principal here in Pohnpei! The SMs had special music (which we were not very prepared for at all) and Mr. Quaile had the sermon. During the sermon service, the power went out TWICE and once after church! It’s been going out a lot more lately I’m not sure why. And that’s another reason I have not been able to blog lately. Too many power outages! The potluck after church was AMAZING. I love the local food here! Lots of fish, but I can always find vegetarian food. J

Sabbath afternoon, we just relaxed, talked with friends. We definitely all needed it because of the long crazy week. We never really have time to just sit for an hour anymore. After sundown, Karyn, Kim, Brooke, Caleb, Roy, Riley, Danny and I went out to eat at the Joy hotel and restaurant. I got a huge ramen bowl! I was expecting just a little bowl, but it was huge and pretty delicious! After getting back, some of us went on the roof of the school and star gazed. The skies here are SO beautiful. There’s not as much pollution, and not really any city lights and the skies were clear! Such a beautiful place!! J

Sorry about the super long post but I haven’t written in a few days!

Hasta Luego mis amigos!

Almost Done with Week 2!!

Well today was definitely better than yesterday! I laid down some more rules in the classroom and the kids are getting the hang of it I think. For instance instead of yelling "Teacher! Teacher!" whenever they want something, I told them to raise their hands. And if they didn't raise their hands, I told them I would not answer their question until they did. I also made a bright pink sign and put in on the loft and told them that if the pink sign was up, they were not allowed to play there at ANY time. We'll see how this goes tomorrow. I was proud of them walking in line to the gym and back though! They were actually being more quiet than usual and for the most part, walked right behind me. The kids are doing a lot better on their shapes and listening to directions! It's really hard sometimes because some of the kids barely speak any english, so when I start giving directions, they start staring off into space.

My voice is definitely starting to go away. Constantly talking, shouting, and singing is really wearing down my throat! But, so far it's held up pretty well! I did a craft today where the kids colored and cut out fish and I also added some glitter glue to the craft that my mom had sent me. Oh the kids were fascinated! I don't think they had ever seen glitter glue before! My computer classes were going pretty good today! Until the power went out again... And it went out just as I was going to start taking down scores from the lessons the students had just done! Now they have to start that lesson over again which totally sucks! Boys PE, I definitely need a whistle! Roy and I can't shout anymore at these boys!

This afternoon, Jen and I went and watched the soccer game and did lesson plans and then we all came back and had week of worship. I then graded all my papers and put them in their folders, and now all I have left to do is finish my lesson plans. :)

Things are looking up! Happy Wednesday everyone!

Oh P.S. I would love to get letters and packages from you guys! ;)

If Any of You Lack Wisdom...

Today, was a hard day for me. The teaching part of my day was really frustrating because the children would not listen to me. Every time I told them not to do something, they would do it anyway. Every time I told them to do something, they didn't do it. I know they are just kindergartners, but I still feel like I am being a good enough teacher. I try to make things fun, but they still get tired of doing things and don't want to listen to my instructions anymore. I prayed so often for help and wisdom. I read in the Bible today in my devotions James 1:5, which says: "If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you."
I definitely asked God for a lot of wisdom today! I'm hoping tomorrow goes better.

The kids are finally starting to learn their shapes better. They still have a hard time listening to instructions but it's slowly getting better I think. :) Today it was raining hard core! In PE, Roy and I were yelling really loud so all the boys could hear us, and it STILL wasn't loud enough! For some reason or another, when ever I am around Roy, I start talking in a slight southern accent like him. So I told the boys to get on the white line and I apparently said it in the accent because all the boys started to say it the way I did, making fun of me! Haha! It was humorous needless to say!

I got 5 packages in the mail today! 4 from my Mom and 1 from my sister Laura and her family! I was so excited!!! Laura packed me cookie butter. COOKIE butter! Amazing!! And Nutella, and chopsticks, and oriental ramen, chopsticks, and sweet tea mix and other deliciousness! So excited! I love getting packages and letters from people! Laura wrote me a letter when I decided to become an SM and she packed it in my package. It made me cry a little bit. I miss everyone so much but I know I have so much support and love in America. Sometimes, I forget why I'm here, but I know God will show me soon enough.

Our rescue kitten, Lentil, is doing much better! He's eating, drinking, and even playing a little bit!
Love all of you! Keep me in your prayers!

And Another Week Has Begun!

My second week of teaching has begun! Monday morning started off bright and early as usual. I have morning classroom duty which means that at 7:30, when everyone else goes to staff meeting, I go to watch the younger children who got dropped off early by their parents. We have flag raising every Monday in the gym and so I have to keep my Kindergartners lined up really nice and quiet. Usually, this is a major problem. But today, for some reason or another, they were quiet and for the most part, at attention! I was shocked and excited because I was thinking that "This is going to be such a cooperative day!" Well, although they were a little easier to handle than last week, these children can have the hardest time listening!! I know they're young and have a hard time focusing, but some of these children have the attention span of a gnat! I explain something to them, kneeling right in front of them at their desk, and they have no idea what I just asked them to do. Oh the frustration...

My kids are finally learning their shapes better though! The worksheet I gave them seemed to help a lot. At recess today, I got Amanda's jump ropes for my kids to play with. They went crazy with them! But, as expected, a girl, Haylee, fell and hit her head and elbow. So I took her to the office and got her a band aid. She was crying for a while, but it doesn't really take too much to calm down a little girl. :) My high school classes went well. Had a kid come in really late with no excuse so he didn't finish his lesson. Kind of frustrating.... Roy and I had fun making the high school boys exercise a bunch today! It really wasn't that hard, they just like to complain a lot. :) Haha. It feels good to yell at them and take out everything I had built up from teaching my kindergartners.

After school we had a staff meeting and then a PTA meeting. Oh the joy... The first hour of the PTA meeting was some people presenting the most boring presentation I have ever heard on the subject of... wait for it... cervical cancer. Yeah it was fantastic. (I hope you all can tell I'm being very sarcastic right now.) Then we had the actual PTA meeting which lasted about 45 minutes or so. We then went shopping for food and I bought some stuff for baking muffins because I really want some muffins!!

At Palm Terrace, the grocery store, there was a poor mangy kitten that looked like it had gotten thrown out of a car. Jen, Karyn, and Kim took action and bought cat food and baby shampoo and took the kitten in a box back to the apartments. I felt really bad for the kitty, but I didn't really want to bring the kitten in our apartment because we don't know what kind of diseases it might have! But they washed the kitten really good and gave it some food soaked in condensed milk and a bowl of water. The kitten looks much better and he is sleeping in the laundry room outside the apartment tonight. Oh, and his name is Lentil! I hope he turns out alright! Well my grading is done, so goodnight/ good day everyone! Please continue to keep us in your prayers!

Lazy Sundays

I just love lazy Sundays. I get to sleep in until 7:30, and just chill for a while. I didn’t really do anything productive until about 11:30. I hung out with some people in ‘The Fab Shack” aka: the boys’ apartment. I started working on my lesson plans by making my own math worksheets. My kids don’t even know their shapes! So instead of going by the book, I am making my own worksheets to work on shapes. Takes way more time but hopefully these kids will learn now.

Although my lesson planning takes a while, I am very glad that my grading does not. Everyone was grading lots of papers today! I helped Riley out a little bit, grading some spelling for his 6^th grade class. Goodness there was a lot of papers! Jen, Riley, and I watched Tangled for a break. I love that movie!!  It always makes me happy! Roy helped me with some guitar today. I practiced for a bit. I got the D, A, and G chords pretty well now! Hopefully I can play a song or two before the year is over. J

Frozen fruit has definitely become the new thing. There aren’t very many fruits and vegetables on the island so we buy them canned and freeze the fruit so we can eat them when they’re cold. Kind of like icecream! Very delicious and refreshing! Besides, who wants to pay $40 for a tub of icecream?? Avocados should be coming in season soon and I am very excited about that!

Tony has a fever and isn’t feeling very good at all right now. Prayers for him would be appreciated! Teaching when sick is not fun. And please pray for all our health. The children in my class always seem to be coughing and sneezing. One girl in my class used a tissue and then tried to stuff it back in the Kleenex box…. Not quite sure why but I stopped it before it happened.

Tomorrow we start school again. I can’t say I’m very excited about it  but hopefully this next week will go better than the last one! I moved the desks in the classroom into a circle to see it the children will pay more attention to me. It will also be easier for me to go to each desk to help. Anyway goodnight/good day folks!