Still doing fine...

Hey everyone.
So last night we decided to go on the roof of Xavier and look at stars. We busted out a big telescope to check out the moon and stuff. We also looked through an old book on stars that was probably made in the 1960s and looked for constelations. Then we had the great idea of sleeping under the stars. So we got out some "mats", which meant we weren't touching the concrete. We "slept" until 4 in the morning, when the rain started. It didn't get any lighter, so we went back into our rooms.
Now about my room, if you were curious. It's by far the smallest room on the campus. It is a small room in this old, rickitty house at the edge of the property with two stories. 4 girls rooms upstairs, 2 downstairs. Mine used to be a kicten, apparently. There is enough room for a bed, a small table...and that's it. The sink doesnt work, there is room to walk to the shared bathroom, and there are two shelves above my bed. You're supposed to keep books up there, which is what I do, but I also keep all of my other belongings, incluing all of my clothing. I think I will tie string to the random nails in the wall so I can hang some clothing. There is a clothes line outside my room which is where the patio is. That's where I hang my dirty clothing for now.
So all around us there are cats, chickens, roosters (the one named Peevus ... Jaclyn name it... wakes us up every morning at 6) geckos, cockroaches, spiders, ants, mangy dogs, huge moths, frogs and I think that's it. The wild kittens are pretty cute. I played with them outside for about 45 minutes.
We just drove into town to pick up some things. Our only vehicle is a blue pick up truck, and the front can fit three people and the rest have to ride in the back, which is fun since it rains all the time an the roads are incledibly bumpy and full of potholes. I decided that I will not ride shotgun for the next two years so I will have to ride the back whenever we drive some where. It's a lot more fun that way, and I can wave to all of the locals all the time.
Quick Chuukese lesson, which I have been having for an hour for the past three days:
Ran annim - good day
nessor annim - good morning
nukion annim - good afternoon
nepwong annim - good evening
kote pwang ekieki - dont worry
ifa assum - how are you
petekum - Fine
Most surprising thing about Chuuk so far...honestly, the smell. They do not do a good job...or any job... with waste management or garbage disposal. They leave everything on the side of the road or even at the edge of the water, so it's really hard to find a good place to swim. That's why we swam at the japanese dock.
Yesteray we hiked to the Japanese light house, the third highest point on the island. We had a MUCH better panoramic view of the island and the lagoon. We could see the coral reef that protects the lagoon. I took many pictures. Hiking there was fun. It got so thick that it seemed like jurassic park or the beginning of Radiers of the lost ark. A local gave us some cocnuts which he just cut down and we all drank them. They're not that sweet, but it was very refreshing in the intense heat. Oh yeah, I took a big knife and cut up a cocnut on the first day. I forgot to mention that.
I met with the director of the school today, a Fijian Jesuit name Father Author. Great guy. This is the first year that we will be revising the Social Studies curriculum, so it will be interesting to teach it this year. He also asked me to help him with his Leadership project for the school. Once a month the entire school will participate in activities that combine traits of the traditional Micronesian Navigators (also the mascot of our school) with the traits of leadership. He actually studied leadership in Stanford, and gave me two leadership books to read from a guy who teaches at the Kennedy school of business. I'm just trying to sound impressive now. But seriously, it seems like interesting stuff, an I'm glad he has asked for my help. Why me, I don't know, but it will be good.
I'm reading the Life of Pi now. I highly recoomend it.
Each class name has it's own name, like the Patriots or Gladiators or something "cool" like that. Father Author wants to get rid of that name because it promotes violence in the long term (studies have proven that if you are assosiated with a violent mascot/idea/name you are more prone to acting out in violent ways in the future). So if you can think of any cool yet non violent class names, send them this way.
Ok, I'm getting pretty tired. Sometime this weekend we're going to travell to another island in the lagoon, which will be awesome because it will be more rugged and the people will be more traditional than those here on Weno. We will also meet our host families, which will be awesome. I love your comments, so keep posting them.
Peace out
AJ