Faculty Retreat (Spear Fishing Adventure #1)

So the first quarter is officially over. Friday night we had a meeting in the chapel to begin our 24 hour retreat. It was not a silent retreat, but we had to do some exercises to look over the past few days and weeks. That night we just bummed around, chillin on the porch. When the power went out at 10:30, we just went to the roof and it was pretty bright since the moon was almost full. And that's when I ate turtle for the first time. The two Chuukese teachers, Joel and T.R., brought some turtle and had it with soy sauce, hot sauce and lime. It's pretty good. It basically tastes like salty, soft pork. So I ate turtle. It was pretty awesome.
Saturday we got up early to leave campus around 7:30. The entire faculty left the campus (I'm still not really sure who was in charge of the kids.) Anyway, we all piled into this flatbed truck that we have, loaded a bunch of food and water, and made our way downtown to someone's house who lives on the water. We loaded up a big boat and took a 15 minute boat ride to another island in the lagoon. The water was so clear it was amazing. It was a beautiful day, too. I posted up new pictures so you can see. When we got to the island, we couldn't just go directly to the beach, but we had to go all the way around because there is only one enterance to the beach. We stop the motors when we get to the coral, and there was a narrow canal that the boat can fit through where the coral was blown up to allow boats to pass through. Some of us had to get out and push the boat through the shallow water.
The island is pretty big (probably half a mile wide) but people lived on it, so we only could stay on one section of the beach. Still, it was beautiful, and they had some shady areas for us to sit in and there was plenty of shade frmo the trees. CHeck out the pictures. So basically we had a group prayer, time to reflect, a one-on-one with other faculty to share thoughts, lunch, and more quiet time. In the afternoon I went snorkling (I made sure no storms were coming this time) however this time I brought the spear! Usually when you go spear fishing you have this big rubber band that you attatch to it to make it shoot out, because you can't really throw it underwater, which is what I was doing. So I really didn't go spear fishing, but I had a spear with me and I went snorkling, trying to poke at little fish whenever I could. Also, when you go real spear fishing, you do it at night, with a flashlight underwater, when the fish are sleeping. I'll do that one day. So when you see the picture of me with the spear in my hand, I'm just practicing spearing leaves next to the shore, nothing that cool. But snorkling, as usual, was a lot of fun. Many beautiful tropical fish. It's scary when you get to the point where the floor drops 50 feet, but that's where all the fish are. Adrienne said she saw a shark, so Chris and I started looking for some, but unfortunately we didn't find any. Next time.
Then we had mass outside, and the family that owns the island came with dinner. Two of their daughters go to Xavier, and I actually teach both of them. So we had a very delicious meal, ate under the moon light, then headed home. It was actually pretty hard to get out of the island since we had to navigate through the coral using flashlights. If we hit any, well, we could have punctured the boat. It was a great time overall.
Today I'll be doing some major grading. I have to grade the tests, plus do profile grades. Profile grades are when the teachers rate the student's Compasion, Integrity, Responsibilty, and Initiative and hand them in as grades. So that will take a while to do. Tomorrow, monday, we have off to do some more grading. I expect to be done today, but tomorrow I really need to plan far ahead for my lessons and get ready for an awesome 2nd quarter.
As I was writing this, I was on sports illustrated.com, reading the updates of the ND USC game. They just lost. I'm really upset about that. 61 yard pass with a minute and a half left?! ND, the game was yours! Ah! Any good movies coming out? Am I missing anything important in the world?
Keep in touch. Peace
AJ