Happy Holidays from Kosrae

First of all, I hope that everyone back home had a wonderful Christmas holiday and was able to spend it with family. Unfortunately, because I am so far away, this was my first Christmas away from home. It was definitely different, but I got to facetime with everyone back home so I got the best of both worlds: family and the warmth of island life. It was definitely weird for me to be hot on Christmas, but in a way it also made it easier to be away from home since it doesn't feel like Christmas and it doesn't remind me of home at all. I spent the week getting certified to SCUBA dive, so it has been a really fun week for me! We learned a few things then jumped in the water and got to do four dives, two of them on Christmas Eve. I can't complain about that! We saw some pretty awesome stuff! Throughout the four dives, I saw two schools of barracuda, two sea turtles, two eagle rays, got in the middle of a huge school of rainbow runners, and saw tons of other tropical fish and beautiful coral. I can't wait to go again! A huge thank you goes out to my wonderful grandparents who funded my certification. I am so lucky to have great family that is so generous. Even though I wasn't home to celebrate Christmas with them, I have received tons of packages full of my favorite goodies and I still have more coming! My parents even sent me a miniature Christmas tree with real lights that I kept in my classroom, and the students loved it! We listened to Christmas music while we reviewed and I even taught some of the students how to make paper snowflakes. One particular student was especially excited about it and proceeded to make snowflakes for all his teachers and reported to me every day on his progress. He is one of my attention-seeking students who always wants to look like the cool guy, so I loved that he was so into making snowflakes, as it isn't exactly something a manly man would want everyone to see him doing. The rest of the students loved the snowflakes on my door and the paper chains hung around the chalkboard. Their faces all seemed to light up when they walked in my classroom the last week of school. All in all, I had a wonderful holiday and I feel so loved. Though my parents consistently send great packages, I have to give Ray Phelan a shoutout here for the absolute best package to date. It was filled with huge bags of all the best chocolate: ferrero rocher, dove, ghiradelli, and some classic hersheys to round it out. I cannot contain my excitement, and my roommates are happy you sent the giant bags so that I share with them too. Thanks for the wonderful package Ray! And as always, thank you mom and dad for the weekly packages. I don't know how I would survive without your constant supply of goodies from home. To grandma and grandpa Cole, thanks for all your wonderful packages! Your homemade goodies are not only delicious, but I know they've got love baked in and they always make me smile thinking of you. To grandpa Turkey Tom and Joyce, thank you for the great packages! You filled them with so many awesome goodies of every kind that are going to last a long time, so really I owe you a three-month thank you because that's how long it will take me to get through all the goodies! I got all of these packages today, and it was a great Christmas present to receive so much love from home. I can't wait to see what's coming from Eleva! It was so great to talk to everyone Christmas Eve! I miss you all and I wish I could have been there.

I'll wish everyone a Merry Christmas one last time, and say a thank you to everyone who sent packages or just sent their love. I love and miss you all and I hope you have a great start to the New Year!

I'm sending my love from Kosrae!

October and November

I've gotten really bad at updating the blog, so I'll do a quick little bit about the most exciting and funny things that have been happening. I've just been living the normal life of a teacher here in Kosrae and everything is normal to me now, so I haven't felt like anything was worthy of me taking the time to sit down and write a blog about. However, looking back on the past couple months, there have definitely been some blog-worthy moments, so I'll just write a little about everything that has been happening.

First of all, we had a crazy week of power outages in October. The way it was explained to me was there are a few generators for the island (maybe 5 or 6), and over the years most of them have broken down. It is expensive to fix them, so naturally, they just wait until they all break and then they will put in the money to fix them. For the past year or so, the island has been running on one or two, and if those broke down, we would be in serious trouble. We lost power for a while one night, which isn't unusual, except that it never came back on. Usually when the power goes out, it comes back on anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours later. But to have it go out for many hours was unusual. It turns out, one of the generators blew, so we were in big trouble. While they were working on fixing it, we could run on the small generator that generally only powers two of the smaller villages. So for about a week, the generator would run for one village for two hours at a time, then switch to another for two hours, and so on, so we were all sharing power. It was a crazy time to say the least. I'm still unclear on the details, but apparently it's fixed (for now), but I still worry that it won't come back every time it goes off.

After that, the next exciting thing I can think of is Halloween. My wonderful parents sent a ton of candy for me to give out, so at school that day, I gave all my students candy and showed them pictures of my parents and I. They loved it! With my juniors, who I have for chemistry, we did glow sticks and talked about the chemical reaction inside that causes them to glow. It was a fun day. That night, all the asets (white people) got together for a party at Bully's, one of the restaurants here.

The past few weeks, I have been doing a lot of fun things in my free time. Brandi and I have gotten really good at paddle boarding, and we can catch some pretty big waves on our boards. We have even been able to catch waves and then stand up on the boards, so we are basically professional surfers :) A bunch of us played wiffle ball on the beach last weekend and it was so much fun! It was the first time I picked up a bat and a ball and actually played any sort of softball since my last game. It was a really fun day. I can't believe that I'm still doing things like paddle boarding and playing wiffle ball on the beach at the end of November.

I did a feedback survey asking my classes how things are going and what they would like to see happen in the future. Unfortunately, in one of my classes I received some very inappropriate responses. This is not the first time something like this has happened, and it is unfortunate that students feel comfortable saying these things to their teacher just because she is a young female. In general, I have not encountered this often, and I feel like I have handled it well when it has come up, but this was one example of students being blatantly disrespectful. I don't want to simply go off on a rant, but it is definitely something that needs to be addressed, and something that if any future volunteer reads this, they should be aware of. It is something I have not heard of any of the male volunteers encountering. It is not a daily, or even monthly occurrence, but I have had a select few students say or write inappropriate things. The day after this survey, we had a very serious talk about sexual harassment in my classroom. I made it clear that this will not be tolerated and that I deserve to be treated with respect. I can only hope I got through to these students and that it will not come up again. It is something that comes from a culture where it is okay to disrespect women and think of them as the lesser sex. This is a society where domestic violence has only very recently become against the law, and multiple people are still fighting against it, arguing that they have the right to beat their wives (though not in those words, I'm sure). The disrespect of a teacher is only a symptom of the engrained belief that women do not deserve respect, regardless of their role. I realize that Kosrae is far ahead of many other places in the world, and I am thankful to be here instead of somewhere worse, but this island still has a long way to go. I hope to be a guiding force by strongly opposing any disrespect in my classroom. It is a small thing, but a small thing is better than none at all. The respectful students far outnumber the disrespectful ones, and set a great example for their siblings and other students. Hopefully they will pave the way for a brighter future for the women of Kosrae.

I didn't intend to go into a serious discussion of gender roles when I began this post, but I feel like it is something that needed to be said. Back to a more light-hearted recount of my time here.

A couple weeks ago we climbed Mt. Finkol, which we learned afterwards is not only the tallest mountain in Kosrae, but also the tallest in all four states of the FSM. It was a long, difficult hike, and I was struggling a lot by the end, when my legs felt like they were going to collapse with ever step I took. I like to think I kept a good attitude even when I was clearly the one holding everyone back. I just made jokes the whole time and tried to keep everyone laughing. It definitely kept my spirits up and my mind off the multiple hours left when I was already more tired than I could have imagined I would be. At one point when we paused for a break in the stream, I literally laid down completely in the cold water and put my head on a rock as if I was going to fall asleep. I needed to save my energy for the last couple hours of the hike; I couldn't waste it on sitting up. I was quite possibly the sorest I have ever been in my life. That is including the many difficult first heavy squat days in college, which is really saying something. I was sore for about 5 days I would say. For the first two I dreaded getting out of bed because I was in crazy amounts of pain just walking anywhere. My arms were really sore too, because of all the steep parts where you had to pull yourself up, and then crab crawl on those parts on the way down. Many of you know I am not, nor have I ever been, an endurance athlete. I'll run my 60ft to first base and take a break, thank you very much. God forbid it's a foul ball and I have to run that distance twice. I can stay out there all day, running short sprints with breaks, but climb for 7 hours straight? What was I thinking when I agreed to that? My teammates will enjoy imagining me doing this, I'm sure. I'm still mentally recovering from it, and we'll see if I climb any more mountains while I'm here. My guess is I'll get talked into it, but right now, I can't even imagine doing another one. I was barely able to teach on Monday and Tuesday (2 and 3 days after the hike), and my knees gave out on me a few times those days, in front of entire classes of students. Not my best days teaching, to say the least. I do have some incredible pictures of the view that I guess made it all worth it. How many of you reading this can say you climbed the highest mountain in the FSM? Probably nobody, so take that.

November has flown by. It has mostly just been a lot of school. I've had to change up my lessons a little bit, and the students seem to be doing better with it. As with any job, you have good days and bad days, but lately it seems like a lot of bad days because the students are getting crazier and less willing to work the closer it gets to Christmas. With Thanksgiving, we only had Thanksgiving Day off and had to go back on Friday. It was a tough day for everyone, and a lot of the teachers were grumpy and still feeling full from the day before. The students clearly didn't want to be in school, and were just a bunch of crazies not wanting to do any work.

Thanksgiving Day was awesome though! Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays, only second to Christmas because of all the family I get to see then. Thanksgiving at home is so relaxed; I always enjoy cooking with my mom and watching football with dad. Although I missed out on those this year, getting together with everyone at Bully's was great. We had a potluck with a turkey and everything. I took the initiative for the WorldTeach crew and made all my favorite dishes from home: scalloped corn, green bean casserole, homemade noodles, and Grandma Julie's butterscotch pie (the most delicious old family recipe), and even added a couple new things, like chocolate pie and pumpkin bars. Everything was a hit, and I was so happy to have the comforts of home cooking, even though it wasn't quite as good without mom's love baked in. However, no holiday comes without it's share of challenges. Here in Kosrae, our challenge was the lack of power. Yes, again. And yes, on Thanksgiving. We were laughing about how big of a deal it would be in the US. Here we just went with the flow, tried to wait it out, and when it didn't come back on, we all gathered at Sandy's to cook because she was the only one who had power. I think it was a blessing in disguise, because we spent the day just like a family should, cooking together and enjoying each other's company. After all, we are our own little sort of family of teachers away from home. I love cooking, so I was more than happy to spend the day preparing my favorites and then getting to share them with everyone at Bully's. The worst part was knowing we had to go back to school the next day.

The latest excitement has been the threat of black magic. Yes, you read that correctly. It is possible that my classroom has been infested with black magic. I don't want to go into details because of the privacy of the student, but one student has been having some medical issues, and seems to be having a stress response, but when it happens at school, it is always in my classroom. The explanation for this is black magic, so we were brainstorming solutions and my students think we should get air conditioning (yes, please!), or take a field trip every day to get out of the doomed classroom. The principal even said in a staff meeting that anyone who wants to change rooms for greater comfort should just let him know (obviously in reference to my tainted room because by now everyone on the island has heard about it).

I'll end with a few funny things that my students have said or written the past few weeks:

-One student offered to set me up with a local boyfriend, saying he was "just trying to help me out"
-The same student told me that he was Snoop Dogg and to start calling him D-O-double G
-In response to a question asking, "Is there anything outside of school affecting your grades?" a different student wrote that "yes there is something outside affecting my grades, it's the wind."

Life Lately

It feels like it’s been forever since I last posted, and things are starting to get crazy around here. It’s the end of first quarter, which is totally unreasonable given that we have only had 3 full 5-day weeks of school. The school gives us a grading scheme that we have to use, which includes three tests and a final exam for each quarter. How they expect us to get through enough material to give three tests is beyond me. I barely got through my introductory unit by the end of the quarter. And then to have finals every quarter? That’s just ridiculous. For a place that is so relaxed about everything and cancels school randomly all the time, it’s very strange that they have a system for how we have to grade. Then to top it all off, we found out on Thursday that the governor was cancelling school on Friday as a reward for doing so well academically over the past year. There are two giant problems with this: 1. It totally sends the wrong message about the purpose and importance of education by making it a reward to not have school, and 2. We didn’t even do that well academically. Kosrae is doing a little better than the other islands, but that doesn’t mean we are doing well. A lot of the grade levels have below 50% performing at the level they are supposed to be at. All of the Worldteach teachers have commented on how crazy this is, but it’s a perfect example of how backwards education is here. So basically it’s been a little crazy since first quarter ends next week. In a different way of thinking about the end of the quarter, it means the school year is a quarter of the way done, which is crazy to think about. Christmas break adds some time to it, but aside from that, I’m almost a quarter of the way through this adventure. Time is flying! Once I got settled into being a teacher here, things have felt like they are moving crazy fast.

This week has definitely been the toughest one yet for me. I’ve come down with a little bit of a cold and a really painful ear infection that has made going to work every day a little harder, and then got some difficult news from back home. I can’t bring myself to write very much about it here, but I’ll just say it has been difficult to be so far away from home this week. My heart is definitely back home with Harvard Softball and the Ricciardone family. I’ve been doing my best to channel the strength and spirit of Lisa and teach for her this week. Laura, I’m sending as much love as I possibly can your way.

Even with the tough week, I am lucky to have a wonderful job and be working with some amazing students. One of my classes really made my day, and they probably didn’t even realize it. It wasn’t a huge deal for them, but I was so happy for a minute because of them. They were just being the normal selves, but I had a moment towards the end of class where I just took it all in because they were having so much fun learning and were so excited to be learning. It was one of those times where you realize how important your job is and you actually understand why people say that their students teach them more than they taught them. It was amazing to see them so happy and having fun in class, but that’s how learning should be. When you are a teacher trying to shove all this information into your kid’s heads, it is really special to see them actually want to be there and be enjoying it. So even though none of you will probably ever read this, to all the students in my 4^th period, thank you for being the bright spot in my difficult week.

I’ll end with something totally hilarious that happened to me in class on Monday as a result of the language barrier. I was teaching mixtures and pure substances to my chemistry classes, and one of the types of mixtures is heterogenous. When I first said that, my entire class erupted in laughter. I figured out pretty quickly that it meant something in the local language that must have been funny, but I couldn’t get anyone to say what it meant loud enough for me to hear, so I just moved on with the lesson and talked about how this will probably happen again, but we need to be able to move forward and use this new vocab term throughout the class so we need to get over it. My kids got over it pretty well, but then I was worried about my next two classes. I was debating whether to warn my second chemistry class, but decided not to and I got the same reaction, but it lasted a little longer. They thought it was absolutely hilarious every time I said “heterogenous,” and they would whisper it to each other and laugh hysterically. Again, they wouldn’t tell me what it meant, so I went on with the class and again used it as a teaching moment about maturity and being aware of the language differences. After this class, I had lunch, so when I saw a couple of my students walk by, I went and asked them that I needed to know what it meant. They kind of stared at me for a second, and then one of them said “penis” pretty quietly. No wonder they were all laughing! I was basically standing up there saying “penis, penis, penis” in their language. After that I went into my final chemistry class at the end of the day totally prepared, and I warned them ahead of time that they were going to hear something inappropriate in their language, and that it was okay to laugh, but we would need to be mature about it after, and they were still surprised when they heard it. They took a second longer to react, and I think they were just surprised to hear that come out of their teacher’s mouth in class. Then after a second of processing, they all died laughing. I got a few good laughs out of this, and am still laughing thinking about it. This is a hilarious teaching story that I’ll remember forever. This takes “you learn something new every day” to a whole new level.

Birthdays and reflection

I just got home from an exciting night with my host family. I had a few different experiences all in one night, at one birthday party. First of all, the food was amazing! I was expecting that, because Kosraeans know how to host a good party. There was a ton of food, and it was all extremely delicious. I'm sitting in my bed right now feeling like I'm going to explode. I couldn't stop eating, and my host mom, Almitta, is a terrible influence because every time I finish one thing she keeps telling me to go get more. Especially now that I'm not actually living with them, I'm really missing the local food, so I wanted to stuff in as much as I possibly could while it was all available. I had tons of crab, chicken, rice, breadfruit (with a sweet coconut milk sauce which was super yummy), sushi, usr (banana) tempura (basically just fried banana, AKA the greatest thing you've ever tasted), and they even roasted a whole pig! It was a family birthday party to celebrate a couple different people who have birthdays in September. I'll consider it a celebration for my dad back home too, since his is coming up this week. Happy early birthday daddy! They also had cake and fahfah, which is a local dish and I really have no idea what's in it but it's sort of a sweet glaze over these chewy little balls of deliciousness. I'll have to ask how they make it, but I think it's pretty involved, which is why they only make it for special occasions. It was really good to see all the family, including meeting new people that I haven't seen before because this family is so big.

One of the new guys I met, Willie, my host uncle, is a softball player and even played in the Micro games a couple months ago. He wants to get some girls together after school and have me come teach them softball. I was really excited to hear this, and obviously told him I would love to. He starting talking to all the guys in the family right away and said they're going to clean up the field this week so we can start. Apparently he's even going to call the governor to make sure it gets cleaned up. His words were something like "Kosraeans are lazy so we're going to call the governor". I'm not really sure what the governor is going to do, but I think he wanted to show me how excited he is about this and that he's serious about it. I'm not sure when this will all actually get going, but I'm going to tell all my students too so hopefully we can get a lot of girls to come out and play. They don't have any female coaches, so it would be awesome to provide these girls with a female role model and someone to show them they can grow up to be strong women. The culture here kind of puts women second; they don't get much of a say in anything as adults, and they aren't encouraged to speak their mind or be leaders, so hopefully I can not only show them softball, but how to be yourself and have a voice. I was lucky enough to be raised by wonderful parents and an amazing family all around who pushed me to do things even I wasn't sure I could do and always supported me in anything, encouraging me to find a way to be a leader in everything that I did. I would love to be able to share some of that with the girls here.

A perfect example to show the culture and opportunities here is the conversation I had tonight with one of the little girls in the family, Sasha. She's in second grade here, and has pretty good English skills for her age. I was tossing a softball with her tonight and we were just chatting, and I asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up. She told me she wants to be a store girl. She wants to work at Ace, the local grocery store (albeit with a limited range of items). I was half surprised to hear this and half not. Part of me was surprised because when you ask little kids in the US, you always get answers like doctor, lawyer, firefighter, policeman, teacher, etc. We have an engrained hierarchy of career path, and even as kids, we pick the jobs that are highest on the list. You never really hear kids say they want to work at a grocery store. This island is so small that there are limited types of jobs, regardless of your education or skill level. The kids here grow up differently than I did, and I have been here long enough that I already knew that, so her answer also didn't really surprise me that much. It was a moment where I paused and put it into the context of her culture instead of seeing it through my American perspective. It isn't a bad goal by any means, and she has seen so many family members work at Ace and live very happy and fulfilling lives with big families, so I can definitely understand why that seems like the ultimate goal to her, but there are also so many other opportunities out there in the world that kids here just don't even know exist because they don't exist in Kosrae. I don't want this to sound like I am putting her down or dismissing the workers here, because that is not what I'm trying to say. I don't see myself as better than anyone here; I just understand that we have differences and I want the girls here to understand that there are other things out there. I had a moment where I was forced to see the cultural differences, and it made me want to help my students and these young girls see that they can do more than work at a grocery store when they grow up. If they really want to work at a grocery store, that is awesome and they should do it, but I want to help them see that they can do a lot of other things too. There are some students in my classes who are extremely bright, and I really want to help them find their path to bigger things that just aren't available to them here. I love Kosrae, but the opportunities for the kids here are limited, and I am realizing the roles I can play, not just as a teacher, but as an educated, strong woman.

Overall, I had a great time at the birthday party, and I left thinking a little bit more about the reasons that I am here and the ways that I can make a difference outside the classroom. I have said this many times over the past year or so, but I figured out at some point during college that what makes me happy is to help people directly. I need to be face to face and build relationships with people. It gives me so much joy to see exactly the difference I am making, and I am starting to figure out how I can do that here, and I can't wait to get started. Even if I just help one girl have a little more confidence in herself, I will be very happy.

Liberation day and marine life (SHARKS)!

I haven't been keeping up with this blog very well recently, so I'll give a much overdue update of the past couple weeks.

Last Monday was Liberation Day! It was a lot of fun and I'm really glad we got to be part of the celebration. Each village has their own celebration, and we live in Lelu so we went to the Lelu celebration. Within Lelu, there are different areas and each area wears a different color, sort of like representing different teams. We were part of the "Sea Siders" team and wore green. We headed over around 9 in the morning and watched all the different areas walk in. It was held at the Lelu Elementary School, which is really close to our house. Each section sits together and there are a bunch of different games and activities. It is sort of a big field day, but pretty random and unorganized, and they give out very different prizes. Everything is a very friendly competition, all about having fun! At the very beginning of the day, when each group walked in, different middle aged ladies were all trying to pull each other's skirts off and running around like crazy people. It was hilarious! I knew right then that I was going to love Liberation Day. There are a series of different competitions, but they all kind of start haphazardly and everyone who participates gets a prize. The prizes were bags of sugar and bags of laundry detergent. Everyone could participate in every competition, and every person who participated got a prize for every competition. This resulted in Jesse, Aidan, and I collectively getting about 10 bags of sugar total and about 3 or 4 bags of laundry detergent each. The first race just started with a bunch of people running diagonal across the field in front of the school. There was no measured distance, no timing, just if you ran across the field you got a bag of sugar. It was awesome! There were a bunch of different things, like a water balloon toss, a tire rolling race, dizzy bat, and three-legged race. They even lined up all the kids in a big circle and did a race around the kids. Keep in mind everyone participates in all of these. Everyone as in all the adults and even the old ladies, which was hilarious to watch. They were so excited and into it! Some of the women even sat on little kids bikes and the kids were pushing them around on them really fast. It was actually pretty dangerous, but people here don't really worry about that kind of stuff; they just like to have a good time. It lasted until early afternoon, and there was a bunch of food for lunch too, which was awesome. There were a bunch of coconuts too. Have I mentioned my love for coconuts? Fresh coconuts are the greatest thing ever. The coconut water is so good, especially in certain coconuts it is a little fizzy, almost like it's carbonated. Then you can crack it open and eat all the meat out, which is equally as delicious. We eat a lot of coconuts at our house. We also cut up the meat and put it in our oatmeal for breakfast, and it is a delicious addition (especially with bananas too)! Basically the fruit here is amazing. I eat tons of bananas and coconuts and they are delicious. They also have these green tangerines here which are really easy to peel and they taste delicious! Island fruit is the way to go. Back to Liberation Day: it was a really fun day, but we were exhausted by the end. We tried to apply a lot of sunscreen and stay in the shade when we could, but we all still got at least a little burnt. The tops of my feet got absolutely roasted and are now peeling :( oh well, it was worth it.

Speaking of Liberation, like I said earlier, each village has their own celebration, and a couple villages had them on Friday of last week, so we had no school that day. Our principal also randomly decided that we wouldn't have school Thursday either, so we ended up only having a two-day school week last week (and two 4-day weekends in a row), which was sort of awesome, but also sort of sucked from a teaching standpoint. We're now only 2 weeks away from the end of the quarter, and we have only had 2 full weeks of school Monday through Friday. That's island life for ya... constantly adjusting and adapting. It made this week pretty difficult because we had to teach a full five days! Well sort of... we get out at 1:30 on Fridays because we have a short schedule. I guess I shouldn't complain since my workday here is nothing compared to the average one back home.

I have really gotten into the swing of things teaching. I have flushed out a few problems and made the system work better, so I'm feeling more organized and on top of things now. If you know me well, you know that I am much happier and relaxed when I am organized and have everything in order how I want it :) I also know almost all of my student's names, so that makes things a lot easier. I'm giving my first real exam next week, so hopefully my kids do well on it! I am excited about it because after that, I get to start teaching real science! My first unit has been all review and math stuff that you need to know for the rest of the class, so I am anxious to get into the real science that I like. The last couple days have been enjoyable for me though, so that is good. It makes the day go by so much faster when I enjoy the lesson that I'm teaching. I've been doing problem solving the past few days, and I really like that, so I have enjoyed teaching it. Since I have everything organized, I worry less about the actual teaching and can have fun with it. I'm starting to really like it. There is a lot of planning and grading and management behind the scenes, but the actual standing in front of a class and teaching kids science is really fun for me! I'm starting to get to know them and their personalities, so it makes class a little more fun because I can keep them interested a little bit more. And now that I know them better and know what to expect, I know when I can relax and make jokes and not worry that they're going to get off task.

Last week, I hung out with my host family a little bit more, and it was really nice to see them and spend time with them again. It's nice to get away from the teaching and just relax with the locals. They really have become a second family, so it's almost like going home when I go over there. I swam with some of the kids and someone else was there having a birthday party and had leftover pizza, so they gave some to us. We didn't know them at all, but that's just how everyone is here in Kosrae. It's such a community, so it doesn't matter if you know them or not, you can stop any stranger on the street and say hi, ask for help, or share your extra pizza. It's nice to be in a place where everyone is so generous, even though they might not have a lot to give. I talked with the dad of that family for a little bit, and he actually spent a while in the US in the military, so he knew a lot about it and we had a lot to talk about. It was really cool, but the coolest part is how often that kind of thing happens here. It's a pretty awesome place to be. I was a little worried before coming that it would be hard to break into the community, and there are definitely times that I feel like an outsider, but for the most part everyone is always welcoming and excited to talk to you about anything. They don't care that you aren't from here, they just want to say hi and share what they can. Back to my story about my host family; I went back to the house with the kids after swimming, and my host mom was waiting to give me dinner. She is selling hamburgers, so she gave me one and a pop and sent me home. I wasn't expecting anything from them, but she wanted to make sure I got something to eat. It was great! I am actually supposed to hang out with them tomorrow again, and I am excited! They are doing a birthday celebration for everyone in the family who has birthdays this month, so it should be really fun! I'm guessing there will be tons of food, which I am excited about because I have been missing out on the local dishes since I moved out of my host family's house.

Today was exciting too! After school, Jesse and I went snorkeling at a new place that I hadn't been before. Jesse wanted to try out the spear gun he is borrowing from someone who is off-island for the next few months. He didn't catch anything, but the snorkeling was awesome! I saw my first shark and an eagle ray! I've seen an eagle ray before, but this time it was really close to me! I got a video of it swimming, and it is really cool! I can't post it because the internet is too slow, but maybe I'll try to leave it for a while so it can post because it's pretty awesome. It swam right towards me and I followed it for a little while to get the picture. Eagle rays are pretty curious, which is great for tourists like me who like to see them. It was no more than 10 ft away from me, so I was really excited. The shark I was also really excited about, but it was kind of far from me. I got a picture of it, but you can barely see it because it's so far away. The only sharks around here are reef sharks, which apparently are not dangerous, and they don't get very big (usually 4-5ft). I don't know anything about sharks, but this is what I'm getting from what everyone has told me. According to Jesse, there was another shark really close to me, but I didn't see it. He saw it and was so surprised that he made a noise and the shark got scared and swam away really fast. When I heard him, I turned to look, but I turned the other way and by the time I looked, the shark had swam away. So basically what happened is I almost got attacked by a shark, but I fought it off. That's what I'm telling everyone anyway... In reality I'm really mad that I didn't see it since it was so close to me!

That's about it for now; hopefully I'll have some more cool stuff to post soon! Shoutout to my parents for sending me all kinds of awesome things that I can't get here. Best parents ever! I'll follow that up with a shameless plug for care packages full of chocolate and processed American snack food, which is actually pretty hard to come by here :)

Oma!

This has proved to be one of my most active weeks so far. I haven't done something every day, but I have done two big things this week now. Today we climbed our first mountain! After the Rockhopper race on Monday, I was exhausted for most of the week, but once I finally recovered, I set myself up for another few days of soreness. This is already a very exciting week for Kosrae because it is Liberation Week starting on Monday. The festivities began yesterday, and different villages have their celebrations on different days, which basically means we get a lot of days off school. We had yesterday off, and next week we also get Monday and Friday, so only three actual days of school! It's a pretty awesome deal. We decided to add to the fun and go for a mountain hike today too. Oma is the easiest hike of the mountains here, but I wouldn't exactly call it easy. It was about 2 hours to the top and would have been probably just under 2 hours down, but we took some breaks and made sure the whole group was getting down okay, so we spent a long day on the mountain overall. We decided to go all the way to the top, and there was an amazing view at the top. It was really cool because we could see Lelu Island, where we live, and it was so tiny compared to the rest of Kosrae. We know it's small, but to see it from that view was just crazy! It was a really fun day, and we definitely got our workout in for the week. My legs are going to be insanely sore tomorrow. We went with a couple of the Peace Corps volunteers, and it was great to finally get to spend some time with them. They are all spread out across the island, so it's hard to get everyone together. It's very different from us with WorldTeach because we are all at the high school and have classrooms right next to each other. Not to mention most of us live together too. The Peace Corps has a volunteer at each elementary school, so there is one in each village. There are also some students from University of Washington here for a few weeks doing a sort of mini-study abroad program, and some of them came too, so we had a good sized group. Last time we went on a hike, I got really frustrated with my shoes, so this time I just went barefoot. Jess and Jesse also did it barefoot, and I think it's the best way to go. There aren't really any dangerous bugs or lizards that hang out on the ground or even poisonous plants, so it's not too bad going barefoot. The bottoms of my feet are definitely sore and tired, but overall I think it was a good choice. Last time I got frustrated because I would get mud stuck between my foot and my sandals and little rocks and it just got really uncomfortable. When you get rocks on your feet, they don't get stuck like they can with shoes on, and you can feel everything you're walking on, so I feel like I was more stable that way. A lot of people here just don't wear shoes, and even the people who do always wear flip flops. You never see anyone in real shoes of any kind. I am exhausted after a full day of hiking, so I am excited that tomorrow is Sunday. Since you can't do anything on Sundays anyways, I'm happy to just spend the day watching movies in bed. I need to recover from today so I'll be all ready to go on Monday. Monday is Lelu's Liberation Day, which is apparently really exciting and fun, so I can't wait! There are races and games and all kinds of stuff that everyone gets really excited about, so it will be fun to watch. It is the first real celebration since we've been in Kosrae, so it will be cool to hang out with all the locals and see what it is like to celebrate Liberation Day. That's about it for my update today, but I'm sure I'll have some exciting news after Monday's festivities!

Thoughts on Teaching and Running

Right before I decided to write this blog post, I was sitting on my computer looking at facebook. Even with this crappy internet, I am finding a way to procrastinate. But then I realized I am procrastinating grading. This is the first time that has happened, and I guess I’m not in college anymore? Old habits die hard I guess. But being about a week and a half into real lessons with my students, I’m starting to realize how much goes on behind the scenes of a classroom. Even more than that, I’m realizing how much it would take to have everything perfectly organized and to remember everything. I always thought my teachers were so put together in high school and remembered everything about me, but I have been gradually realizing that there is just absolutely no way that was the case. How am I supposed to keep track of 150 students every day. It’s hard enough to just plan something to teach every day, make a handout or worksheet of some sort, and make enough copies in time for class. Keep in mind that at Kosrae High School, our students often share backpacks, don’t really have folders or binders to keep things organized, and don’t really know how to take notes besides copy down exactly what is on the board. I have had a lot more success with them understanding and remembering material when I have guided notes for them to fill in as I go along. Oh and nobody is allowed to use the new expensive copy machine besides a couple people because the principal is afraid the teachers would break it, so you have to write how many copies you need and turn them in and hope they get done in time. So I’m expected to keep track of 150 new people, learn all their names, plan two different lessons (one for Chemistry and one for Physics), have copies and a handout for all of them, make sure they show up on time to class (5 minutes after the bell rings; there is only a bell to let out class), keep them in class for the full time (which varies depending on when the bells ring, since they are manual), have make-up work for the students who are absent, make sure they turn in their homework, and grade all of it? That’s just insane. Not to mention that in Kosrae, a lot of students like to cut class or show up late, so it’s always a battle. I can’t even remember everyone’s names yet, let alone remember who was absent and make sure they get their work. I’ve created a lot of systems and organization (which shouldn’t surprise anyone who knows me) to make things easier on myself, which have helped a ton, but I still can’t keep track of that many people or what I’ve told to whom. I am constantly forgetting who is who and what I said to which class. I forget to make announcements to certain classes, and then I have to try to make sure kids turn in their homework on different days depending on which classes finished it in class and which didn’t. Even when I write down notes to myself! This life is just crazy! I have made all these realizations this week about how ridiculous it is to keep track of 150 kids and their grades. I’m definitely learning a lot every day and constantly trying to figure out ways to make it easier on myself, but the moral of the story is that I want to go back and give major props to all my teachers over the years. I knew teaching was going to be a challenge like I had never faced before, but even so, there are so many things I didn’t think about. I worried about learning 150 names, not keeping track of 150 grades. And that’s just their overall grade, you could have tons indidvidual assignment grades for each person by the end of the year. So I guess this overall post is a quick glimpse into the life of a teacher and a thank you note to all the teachers I’ve had over the years for managing to keep track of me back when I thought it was so simple and expected so much.

In other news, I ran a 5.7 mile race yesterday morning before school. I’m really hoping my teammates are proud of this feat (Send me some juv over here, I miss you guys!) I have never liked running. I started going on river runs in Cambridge after my senior season ended, but until that point, I can’t remember a single time that I enjoyed running. I have grown to like it in the past few months since I became an ex-athlete, but I was 100% not prepared for this race. I have gone on 3 runs total since I have been in Kosrae. None of them lasted longer than 30 minutes, and I have no idea how far they were because I can’t use my fancy iPhone running app here to track it, though I’m guessing they hovered around 3 miles each. So let’s summarize that: I ran 3 times over a period of 6 weeks, and I got up one day and ran 5.7 miles on a school day and then taught all day. I’m pretty sure something is wrong with me, but I’m feeling awesome that I actually completed it. I finished in just under an hour, which was very impressive for my long distance running ability, or lack thereof. Anyway, I don’t want this to be a braggy post (okay, I sorta do… but can you blame me?) but I want everyone to fully understand how difficult this was for me. My quads feel like the first squat day of summer lifts after a season of no lifting. My HSBers can commiserate on how miserable that is. Yesterday I just felt like jello, and at one point my leg actually started cramping as I was standing writing on the board. I finished writing really fast and sat down. In case anyone was wondering, it’s pretty awkward to get a leg cramp when 25 people are staring at you trying to learn. After the race, I only had a few minutes to hang out and refuel before I had to hop on my bike and go shower and get to school. Even once I got to school and had showered, I was profusely sweating for my entire first class. I have never wanted air conditioning so bad in my life. My cheeks also get really red when I’m hot and tired, so I think it was pretty clear that I was overheated for the first half of the day. It’s not exactly what you want to look like in front of a classroom of kids, but I ran a race before school and still made it to class all day and stood up and taught, so I’ll just go ahead and consider this whole week a win.

The teaching life

It has been a while since I last posted, mostly because I have gotten really busy with school. It shouldn't be an excuse, but I'm going to go ahead and use it as one. Let's just say I would rather spend my time swimming and exploring than writing about doing those things.

School officially started a week from yesterday, on Tuesday. We had Thursday off, and Fridays end at 1:40, so we really only had two and a half days last week. I actually liked that because I could do all the boring stuff like rules and procedures and I didn't have to spread it out over an entire week. I started real material this week, which is exciting! It is only Wednesday and I am absolutely exhausted from teaching all day every day so far this week. I'm on my feet for a long time, and I never really thought about that aspect of it. Teaching is overall going well so far. I've had a couple behavior issues, more with certain classes than others, but for the most part the students are good. I am trying my best to learn names, especially since I consider that one of my weak points usually. I have a couple classes down, but the students are also all in alphabetical order, so I'm afraid that once they move I won't remember them anymore. I can't wait to get into more material because right now I'm still on the boring basic science things that we have to get through in order to learn the cool stuff. The students here are a little behind normal high school students in the US in every area, but especially their English, so I'm having to do more review and spend more time on the basics than I normally would. The short school day also makes things difficult. I have each class for 45 minutes a day (theoretically...), and only 35 minutes on Fridays. The automatic bell system doesn't work, so a person literally has to ring the bell every time. This means that class could end anywhere from 10 minutes early to 10 minutes late, so class time varies a whole lot. Usually it stays within 5 minutes, but it's always kind of a guessing game.  The worst is my class right after lunch, because that bell almost always rings late and my students don't really like to show up on time. You would think they would because I have a short graded assignment at the beginning of every class, but I'm still getting a few strolling in late every day. They can go anywhere during lunch, and the school is outside, so they can roam wherever, which means they often don't make it back in time. I'm definitely learning to be extremely flexible with my lesson plans. Another thing that makes things interesting is that all we have to work with is a chalkboard and chalk. As a science teacher, this is really bizarre to me. What could be considered a lab space is just a bunch of wooden tables. I have a bunsen burner (singular), but nowhere to get gas from, and zero safety equipment. I really don't want this to be a list of complaints, but for those of you that a curious about what high school in Kosrae is like, this is what it is like. In a way, it's kind of nice, like you're going back to basics and you have to figure out how to make it interesting without anything to work with. It's definitely difficult, but I'm learning so much and I'm really getting challenged to be creative, so I think it is a good thing.

When I haven't been teaching, I've been doing all sorts of fun things! We went back to Yekela waterfall, which was amazing again. There wasn't as much water running, so I'm glad I got good pictures last time. The tree climb was more fun this time because it was a little less scary the second time. We sat at the top for a while and just hung out on the rocks in the running water a little higher up at the top of the waterfall. I haven't gotten over the fact that we can just head to a waterfall after school. It's such a normal activity here, but I hope I never get over how awesome it is that that is what our Friday afternoons consist of. Another day, we biked to a sandier beach area and just went swimming and hung out for a while. I really wanted to lay out, but I'm rocking my rash guard and board shorts because of the modest culture here and getting a really attractive farmers tan :) Last night we went night fishing, and it was really fun! Jess's host parents took us all out with them. You basically just walk around in the shallows with a flashlight and either a spear or a machete and lift up rocks and then stab the fish you find. We mostly caught small ones, but it was really fun and I was so proud of myself for catching a few! Another thing about being outside at night here: the stars are unbelievable. Being on a tiny island in the Pacific is absolutely crazy. You can see so well! I've sat outside a bunch of times to look at the stars, and I kept looking up last night when we were fishing because they are so cool.

This post was kind of a random jumble of my thoughts and experiences over the past week. It's getting pretty late here and I have an early morning yet again tomorrow, so I'm going to call it a day and try to post again soon!

Surfing/Baking Round 2

I haven't updated for a week, so I think now is a good time to post an update. This past week actually hasn't been too exciting, aside from a couple fun things. It was a pretty relaxed week because we still haven't started school. On Tuesday, Jess, Jesse, and I went to a beach down by Brandi and Miguel's house in the late afternoon. It was pretty cool because it was so last minute. A couple of us were swimming at the swimming hole off the causeway when Jess came by and said Brandi and Miguel were going out and wanted to know if we wanted to go, so we all hopped on our bikes and headed over. I got to try surfing for the first time! That beach is a lot calmer and has smaller waves, so it is a better place for beginners. It still wasn't a very pretty sight. Maybe I shouldn't say I tried surfing, because a more accurate description would be that I tried to balance on a surf board and paddle with just my arms (which is WAY harder than it looks), and I got ridiculously tired before we even got halfway out to the waves. Everyone had been saying it's really hard on your arms and it's a tough shoulder workout, but I obviously thought I could handle it because I've been playing softball for the past 16 or so years of my life. Maybe I was better off, but I did not feel like my shoulder strength was anything close to what it needs to be for me to be able to surf. How are you supposed to paddle to catch a wave if you are too tired to even get out to where the waves break? All in all, it was much less successful than I was hoping, and I'm not sure if I'll ever get the hang of it. I think I need to just practice paddling on a surfboard for the next month, and then maybe I could try again. After all that, we just kind of hung out in the shallows and watched the sun set. Brandi and Miguel brought out their paddle boards too, so we each tried that, and I got to paddle off into the sunset, which was pretty cool. I have been coming down with a cold the past week or so, and I think I finally tired myself out so much from surfing and swimming that on Wednesday I really started to get sick. It wasn't a terrible cold, but I definitely needed to rest for a couple days to let my body heal, so the last few days I've been kind of laying low and trying to get better. I'm still not quite there, but I'm a lot better than I was on Wednesday, so that's good! Yesterday we went over to Brandi and Miguel's in the afternoon and had a little expat party. It was really fun to just hang out with everyone and relax. Today was pretty lazy like Sundays usually are. I got packages a couple days ago with all kinds of baking and cooking goodies, so I was excited to try them out! Thanks Mom and Dad for outfitting our kitchen! I have been patiently waiting to make banana oatmeal cookies because the bananas here are so good, so I finally tried them out today! They turned out great, and overall I had a much better experience than last time because I had everything I needed from the boxes. I also made some chocolate chip cookie dough and froze it in balls so it is ready to bake whenever! (or just eat straight from the freezer) Baking always relaxes me and it reminds me of home, so I really enjoyed spending the day in the kitchen. The chocolate chip cookie dough turned out just like Mom's, so overall it was a successful day for me. We are actually starting school tomorrow, for real this time. I am excited to get going and get into a schedule. The time off has been really nice, but I am starting to get bored, so I'm ready to get started in the classroom.

So many cool things!

I'll start off with a quick rundown of all the people that I've been mentioning/will probably continue to mention a lot because I know it's confusing and there are a lot of different names. Smith and Almitta are my host family, their daughter is Kokok, and she usually hangs out with Falan. Falan is Smith and Almitta's neice; Falan's mother is Ruth, and Ruth is married to Smith's brother. There are a ton of other people in the family, but those are the ones that I see the most. Jess, Jesse, Aidan, Sandy, and Brandi are the other teachers in WorldTeach with me; Paige is the field director. Paige's boyfriend Kevin is sort of a personal teacher for one of the kids at Nautilus, a resort on the island. I live with Jesse and Aidan in a house right next to Sandy. Jess is living with a host family, and Brandi has been here for a couple years now and lives in a house with her husband Miguel, who is teaching at the college right next to the high school.

Now for the last couple days of fun! Yesterday and today were awesome! I started out with a pretty lazy day yesterday morning, just woke up and hung out around the house for a while, did some yoga, and then Miguel was going surfing, so a bunch of us tagged along. Jesse has been out a few times and is learning, but Jess and I wanted to try it. Brandi, Miguel, Jesse, Jess, Aidan, and I all went out and while Miguel and Jesse were out, the rest of us hung around in the shallows and just watched. Jess paddled out with them at the beginning, but it was her first time, and the water was really choppy and not exactly suited for beginners, so she came in after a while. I was going to go out, but when she came back in I decided I would try another time because it just seemed really tiring and not an easy place to start. We just hung out in the water for a while and watched Miguel and Scotty surf. Scotty is one of the sons of the owner's of Nautilus. Apparently it wasn't a great day to surf, so they didn't catch very many waves, but I was still very impressed that they got any at all. After that, we went to yekela waterfall and climbed the banyan tree to the top of it. It was one of the coolest things I have ever done. I have some amazing pictures, but I can't upload them because the internet is so slow. It was unbelievable. The tree climb was pretty difficult, but it was really fun! You should google image banyan tree; they have a lot of contact points with the ground, and the one we climbed was really tall and right next to the waterfall. They are pretty cool trees, and perfect to climb because they have a lot of places to put your hands and feet. We got to the top, then came down the other side, where there is a rope and you kind of repel down the rocks. It's angled down, so it's not totally like repelling, but we used the rope to get down. Once we came back down the other side of the waterfall, we hung out under it for a little while and swam in the pool beneath it. The water was really cool and refreshing, which was weird because all the ocean water is really warm. Right under the waterfall it comes down really hard and it was fun to just let it hit your back because it felt like a massage. It was a very cool experience.

This morning we went out snorkeling with Doug, the owner of Nautilus. We went out on the boat into the open water, which was very cool. We saw a lot of fish and even a couple eagle rays. One eagle ray came very close to us, which was super cool! Since we were out in the open water, the water was cooler and we could wear real bathing suits since nobody would see us. After a few weeks of swimming in sorts and a rash guard, I was very excited to actually let my skin see the sun. I'm hoping I got at least a little bit of color from today. After we snorkeled, we drove around on the boat for a little bit looking for dolphins, but didn't see any. Hopefully next time we can see some! There are usually some out by where we were, so I'm sure we will see some at some point over the year. It has been a very exciting and fun past 24 hours, and we might even go spearfishing tonight! The past two days have been awesome, and I just can't believe all of this is real. I can't believe that I'm here in this amazing place doing all sorts of amazing things for the next 10 months. I look around and just can't believe it's all real. Seriously, who gets to surf, climb a tree, see a waterfall, go snorkeling, and spearfish all in a matter of 48 hours? Man, life here is hard...

First attempt at baking

This morning I spent a little time at school getting my classroom prepared and making some copies, but it wasn't too exciting so there isn't much to write about as far as that goes. I came home and ate some lunch, did some yoga (which is basically hot yoga because of the climate here but you don't have to pay for the hot room), and then I had a bit of an adventure baking. So yesterday I had a craving for some chocolate and I have been talking to my parents a lot about sending me some baking items. The thing I am really excited about are banana oatmeal cookies because the bananas here are the best bananas I have ever had in my life and I can imagine that they will make the best banana oatmeal cookies ever. I wanted to make them soon, but the recipe calls for ripe bananas, and we just bought a ton of bananas yesterday, but they aren't even ripe enough to eat yet, so I decided I would settle for any kind of cookie.  I'll definitely make the banana ones soon, but I needed something sweet today. I could go buy something at Ace, but I really wanted to bake. Once I got this idea in my head, I wasn't going to stop until I satisfied my craving. I have a few recipes that my parents sent, and I love my mom's homemade chocolate chip cookies, so I decided that would be the best choice. I wrote down the ingredients I needed and headed to Ace. I don't think I've described Ace in here yet, but there are two stores  across the street from one another. Ace Hardware is a typical Ace Hardware in the US, but there is also an Ace grocery across the street. It is a toned down, smaller version of a grocery store in the states. There are more asian food items since we are so close to Asia, and the fresh food only comes every few weeks. They have most of the basics you need, but you can't always count on them to have everything you need. Knowing this, I headed over there praying they would have all the necessary cookie dough items. First problem: no vanilla extract. There is almond extract, lemon extract, and some other kind that I can't remember, but no vanilla. Well, that is until I looked down on the bottom shelf to find a gallon container of it. Okay, I decide, I'll just use honey. The vanilla is really just for flavor anyway. So they'll taste a little different, I knew that was going to happen anyway because I'm in Kosrae. So I choose not to worry about it too much and move on. Brown sugar, white sugar, no problems. Chocolate chips are here (they even have ghiradelli!). Then flour... No flour. I look up and down every aisle five times. No flour anywhere. Well crap, no cookies today I guess. I decide it's worth asking, and since Almitta works at the store, if there is some anywhere, she will get it for me. She tells me there are only giant bags of it, which I definitely don't need. Her next question is how much I need, and then she proceeds to send someone back to her house to fill up a bag of flour for me to take home for my cookies. Almitta is a wonderful woman. My cookies are saved, I think to myself. I head home, excited to finally eat some of these cookies I have been craving. I get home, look at the recipe again, get everything out, and realize I need baking soda. My mom sent me baking soda in my package, so I go look in the box and realize I left the baking soda in my classroom because I could use it for experiments with my chemistry class. It's late enough at this point that I really don't want to bike all the way back to school just to get the baking soda, so I scour the internet for recipes that don't use baking powder or baking soda. It's pretty difficult, as you can imagine if you're at all a baker. It took me a little searching, but I did come across a recipe for some chocolate chip cookies without baking soda or powder, so I get to work. Next issue: no cookie sheet or pan of any kind that will work for cookies. We have an extremely rusted 9x9 square pan that would probably fit four at a time, so that would just take way too long. Aidan and I had quite an interesting time trying to figure out how to cook cookies on just aluminum foil. The challenge was getting the foil all the way in the oven without any rolling off the foil. The solution ended up being putting a piece of foil in the oven, then reaching into the oven and putting a roll of cookie dough on the foil with a spatula one by one until you fill the foil. It was an interesting tactic, but ended up working pretty well, aside from making my face sweaty from staring into the oven for that long. Because of the leavening agent-less recipe and the lack of a proper cookie sheet, the cookies didn't really spread out much, but they are pretty delicious! While I was putting cookies in the oven, Ruth and Falan came over to use my computer and the internet (they live right next door to us), and brought me dinner! It was delicious like it always is, and I was very excited. I sent them home with some cookies to share with the rest of the family. It was nice to spend some time with them again too. As long and drawn out as that story was, I feel like it is a perfect example of life in Kosrae and how you have to go with the flow and not get frustrated. Sometimes the island lacks staple food items, and they don't have everything you need to make what you want, but that's okay. I have a feeling I'm going to become very good at cooking with substitutions and changes, and I'll learn to make it work with what I have. I do think I'm going to wait until I get the cookie sheets in the mail before I go for the cookies again, but for now, I have satisfied my freshly baked cookie craving.

Post-move update

I haven't posted since we moved into Tradewinds, so I'll give an update on the new living situation. It is very nice by Kosrae standards. However, as anyone who has lived with me can attest to, I am typically a neat freak and I like things to be clean, so it has been a little bit of a challenge for me to adapt to this new living arrangement. The bugs here are pretty much impossible to keep out, not to mention the gecko things that crawl around too. I had all of these at my host family's as well, so I've had some time to get used to it, but it's definitely a change from what I am used to. We've been cooking together for the most part, but the first couple days our meals were typical college students with ramen and hot dogs being our main caloric intake. However, a cold ship came in on Monday (which you totally can't appreciate unless you live on an island that relies on cold ships for produce that only comes in every few weeks), and we were able to get some vegetables! I was extremely excited, because veggies are pretty scarce on the island. There are a ton of cucumbers, which are really delicious by the way, and a lot of fruit, but no vegetables. This appears to be the result of two things: most veggies don't grow here, and people here love their rice and sugar, so they aren't too concerned with vegetables. Anyway, to sum up my tangent, the past 24 hours has been filled with delicious vegetables and I was really excited about it. Although most of the dogs around are mean, our landlord's dogs are actually very sweet, so I have finally been able to get some puppy love that I have been missing out on. It's so hard to see all the dogs and not be able to go pet them. There's one especially mean one on the way to school that I actively avoid. The weekend was nice, especially being in our own place. I loved my host family, but it is nice to have a place of my own where a ton of family isn't constantly coming and going. I am already staying in touch with them and plan to stay very close to them all year. They are a very short bike ride away, and are so sweet and make me feel welcome anytime. They brought me a plate of dinner to my house on Sunday so that I wouldn't have to cook! I went over today and went swimming with Kokok and Falan, and I frequently see the rest of the family because of the trips to Ace Hardware and grocery since all of them work there. I feel so lucky to have gotten put with such a wonderful family and that I am only living a short distance away so I can still see them all the time. I had the time to swim today because we got a last minute week off this week. We were supposed to start school today, but it got postponed until Monday, so now we have the week to do whatever we want. This is the first of many times that the schedule will change at a moment's notice, but that's island life for ya! Everything is relaxed and will get done when it gets done. Since I had everything planned and ready to go for this week, I don't really have any extra work to do and can really enjoy the time off. I'm hoping to go fishing and maybe kayaking this week to make use of the time. I want to post pictures of everything so far, but the internet here is really slow and it takes forever to get even one up, but just so everyone knows, you are really missing out on some beauty.

And it begins

For everyone who I told that I was going to do a blog, I'm sorry it has taken me so long to get it up and running. I have moved into the house I will be in for the rest of the year after a couple weeks with a host family (the most amazing host family by the way). The internet is always a battle here, but we finally got it set up at our house, so I've gotten the blog going. I have been keeping a journal, so I'll backlog all those posts over the next week or so, but for now, I'll just say that Kosrae (pronounced Kohsh-rye for those of you at home who have no idea how to speak Kosraean) is a beautiful place and I am very happy to be here. My host family was wonderful and I am very lucky to have them. I'll just post a picture for now and then try to post the rest of my updates soon. Kuht fa ohsun (see you later)!

New house!

Today was a long day, but it was good. We went to see our new place after school, which was great. It is pretty nice! My host family is wonderful, but I am looking forward to having my own space and not be in someone else's house. I went to Nautilus again with Ruth and Falan to use the wifi after dinner. It was good to talk to some people from home and read emails from my parents. I got my first package today, yay! I didn't bring it home because I didn't have a way to carry it on my bike. I think I am giong to get a basket for it so I can carry packages home. It will also be cooler to ride without a backpack on my back because that adds a lot of heat and sweat, yuck. I have my schedule, room, and class rosters, so I am getting excited and ready to start the school year. Only a week left!

A wonderful weekend

This weekend was awesome! Yesterday I went snorkeling at the blue hole with the other people from WorldTeach. It was amazing and I got some great pictures with my waterproof camera that I will post as soon as my internet allows me to. Then I had a few relaxing hours at home before heading to Nautilus for happy hour with a couple of the other teachers. Since we only see each other at school, it was nice to just relax and get to know each other a little better. Apparently while I was there, I missed a party held by the Phillipinos that my host mom was going to take me to. She was gone when I left for Nautilus so she couldn't tell me to stay, and I was gone when she left for the party, so we missed each other. I'm kind of bummed, but I had a good time at Nautilus. Hopefully there is another one I can go to. This morning, just Kokok and I went to church so Almitta could stay home and cook. Lunch was awesome, as usual. I had fresh crab, which I love, in addition to the usual fresh fish, rice, and other local foods. I got some work done on my lesson plan, and then Kokok and I watched a movie together. Ruth and Falan came over, and then wanted to use my laptop for internet, so we went to Nautilus for dinner and checked facebook and I got to send a couple emails. I had a burger, which was delicious! I needed a little taste of America (but mostly red meat), so it tasted extra delicious to me. Back to school tomorrow for the last week of orientation (yay!). I am getting anxious to start classes and get going on the school year. We start a week from tomorrow, so it is coming up quickly, but I am excited to get going.

Local appreciation

I haven't written for the past couple days, but not a ton has happened. A couple days ago, I went fishing with Kokok and Falan. it was a lot of fun! Fishing in Kosrae consists of wrapping fishing line around an empty water bottle or can. You put the hook and bait on the end, and your all set. I didn't catch any fish, sadly, but Kokok and Falan caught 3! They have gone fishing each day since, but I stayed in because I was really tired yesterday, and today I had a massive headache. I feel kind of guilty for staying inside when I am in such a beautiful place. The good news is I still have almost a year to explore! My bike rides to/from school are absolutely beautiful. Everything is so green here! I don't know if I have mentioned this yet, but the people here are so friendly! My host family has been extremely welcoming, but this goes way beyond that. Everyone I have talked to has been so excited that I am here and genuinely hopes I enjoy my stay. Everyone is thankful to have WorldTeach here and I feel so appreciated and school hasn't even started yet!

Coral!

I am starting to feel a little more settled now. I am learning my way around the island better, so that makes everything feel more manageable and I feel a little more under control. We are getting into a lot of teaching and planning now with Orientation, so I am starting to feel overwhelmed. I know planning will make me feel so much better once school starts, but it feels like a lot right now. I guess I would rather feel overwhelmed now than the first month of school.
I went swimming today and went a little farther out than I had before with my goggles. The coral and fish were amazing! I have never seen coral or so many different kinds of fish. I didn't go very far because I didn't have my snorkel, but I am definitely going to come back and go out again with my snorkel and camera. Can't wait!

Lazy Sunday in Kosrae

I went to church this morning with Almitta and Kokok. We got there late and left early, but time doesn't seem to be a big deal here, so I guess that was normal. When we got back, Smith's brother's wife (I think) and Kokok took me out to eat at Nautilus. I got pizza, which wasn't amazing, but it was nice to have a little slice of home (haha slice, see what I did there?). The rest of the day I mostly just laid around. I read for a little bit, took a nap, and then it was time for dinner. As usual, there was a huge meal prepared, complete with cooked fish, sashimi, rice, corn on the cob (again a reminder of home), and a few other local dishes like taro and breadfruit. I got to wear a muumuu to church today and Almitta braided my hair with a clip so I could really look Kosraean. I got a lot of compliments on my dress. Also, back to lunch with who I believe to be Smith's sister-in-law. This family is huge, and everyone is coming and going all the time so I honestly don't even know who lives here. It also feels like it doesn't matter because everyone is always welcome all the time. There are so many families that I can't keep them straight. I am already bad with names, so this many people with Kosraean names just compounds the problem. Hopefully with time I can learn them all. But then again, I'm sure at that point, someone new will walk in and the problem will start all over.

First Weekend

Today is Saturday, so we didn't have anything to do at school. It was a slow morning, which was nice, and then around 2 (we were supposed to leave at 12, that's island time for you), we went to the laundry facility and cooked and swam all afternoon while laundry was going. It was a fun afternoon, but now I am exhausted after a long day outside. Tomorrow should be fun because I am going to church with the family and Sunday is basically a national holiday for Kosrae. You can't swim, exercise, or work on Sundays so it should be a laid back, nice day.

Rally

I am 100% sure I am going to gain weight here. "Going to" is probably inaccurate because although I have no scale, I am pretty confident I have already put on a few pounds. My family is wonderful and makes copious amounts of delicious food that they continue to tell me to eat more of even after I've said that I am full. I am planning to continue to come back for at least one meal a week to eat with them even after I move out. The food is amazing and they go out of their way to make sure I am happy. Smith went fishing yesterday specifically so I could have fresh fish. I told them I love fish, so they want to make sure I have the very best. By the way, fresh yellowfin sashimi costs just over $1/lb here, which is ridiculously cheap so I plan to gorge myself for the next year. I love sashimi ik mea (ocean fish, basically just means big fish caught off-shore). I am learning Kahs Kosrae (kahs-language) and practicing with the kids, Kokok and Falan. The girls love showing me around and playing with me, and I am enjoying having tour guides and kahs Kosrae teachers so easily accessible and enthusastic, so we make a good team. I am opening up to my host family more and more every day, and they are so welcoming and helpful with my transition into life on Kosrae.

First run

I started my day off with a short run around 6:15 this morning. I ran around part of Lelu island, which is where I live (for those of you google mapping, I'm right next to the Kosrae Ace Hardware). Anywhere you go is beautiful, so I very much enjoyed it, except that I am out of shape and it is hot and humid here, so I got tired really quickly. I did get some great pictures though! I already know that I will greatly miss this place and its beauty when I leave. We learned a little more about teaching and lesson plans so I am feeling better about that day by day. School starts August 4th, which is very early by American standards. I am eager to get started though! At the same time, I am nervous and have a lot of planning to do before it begins. Tomorrow should be a good day because we are doing more lesson planning and revising. I have so many ideas in my head for these classes, it is good to finally get some ideas down on paper and begin to organize my thoughts.

Orientation begins

Smith and Almitta (my host parents) have been extremely welcoming. Almitta had a huge breakfast prepared for me this morning. Kokok, the youngest daughter, was very excited to show me around today. We walked with her cousin Sike around Lelu, which is one of the villages on Kosrae. There is also Lelu Island, where I live, but Lelu Village extends farther than just Lelu island. If you google map it, you'll be able to see the small island of Lelu connected to the larger island. We walked around Lelu island today, to the church, and then across the causeway towards the main island. I cannot get over how beautiful it is here. The pictures don't even begin to show the true beauty of this island. It rained some today, which I enjoyed because it was really refreshing after being hot and humid. For the periods I was outside, I did manage to already get a sunburn. Note to self: put on sunscreen. After a long day of orientation today, I am exhausted and ready for bed at 8pm. I might go for a run in the morning to get some exercise and maybe even see a sunrise!

Day 1

We left Hawaii at about 7:30am today, but got to Kosrae (Kohsh-rye for all my non-Kosraean-speaking friends) at around 1:30pm the next day. The time change is very strange. Crossing the international date line just makes things get weird. First impressions of the island: beautiful, hot, and humid; pretty much exactly as advertised. We had a wonderful barbeque with WorldTeach and then headed to our host families. I had my first back of a pickup experience on the way there. It's the best way to ride around the island as far as I'm concerned. My host fam is wonderful and welcoming and the youngest daughter (who is going to be my unofficial Kosraean language teacher) is already making plans for tomorrow. She wants to show me everything! So far, the food has been wonderful and I've already eaten a ton of different things. My host family said that I "look fit" and therefore need to eat more. Good thing I've been training for this the past four years :) Shoutout to HSB (#RALLY) for keeping me on my eating game, endless juv to you all! That's about it for today; the jet lag is here in full force so I'm going to give in and go to sleep. The adventure begins!