Christmas and Pisar and New Years Resolutions

Merry Christmas everyone, and Happy New Year. I thought it would be hard since it would be my first Christmas away, but there was a lot going on, and I really have been grateful for this break away from teaching. Here is what has been going on this vacation:

Christmas Eve Eve and Christmas Eve
It's a tradition at Xavier for the students who are left here for the break (the ones that don't go home because they can't afford the plane ticket) bake cookies with the staff. These students are also allowed in the faculty lounge and porch, which they really loved. The freshman were amazed they can even join us for meals this break. It was really great because the whole student/teacher boundary dissolved just a bit, so we were all able to relax around each other and get to know them better.
We cooked in the student kitchen and made three types of batter. However there was a bit of lice in the flour. We tried picking it out, but we all had the mentality of "well, more protein. They'll be cooked." So it actually didn't phase us, so we cooked away. And of course, the food fights started by throwing dough and flour on each other. An egg flew here or there. Afterwards the students were rapping to the key board (which they're really talented on) in all of their native languages. It was awesome, and I joined in, which I think gained me a lot of street cred with them.

On the actual Eve, the JVs (oh, the day before Eve Eve two JVs from Pohnpei, Tom and Ashley, came to spend the week with us. Really nice guys.) went down shopping for the students. Fr. Author gave us some money to buy small gifts for the 30 or so students on campus. We bought little things like sun glasses, water guns, hats, and also cans of spam and other lunch meat. When we got back to Xavier we spent a long time wrapping all of the gifts, listening to Christmas music and watching A Wonderful Life.
The Christmas mass was really wonderful. The students and Jesuits set up a really beautiful altar on the roof of Xavier. The Sapuk community was invited as well. The altar was surrounded by white christmas lights on the floor, some palm leaves on either side, a nativity scene and other colorful drapes covering it. There are some pictures of it in my blog. The mass was very beautiful, and I even saw my friends that I met on CSP. I gave all of the kids chocolate after mass.
It is also the tradition to give out the presents to the students after mass. So after sharing some snacks on the roof, Chris Dwyer dressed up as Santa, which was really funny, and we gave out the presents to each student. It took a while, but we were all having a real fun time. Afterwards we all watched Toy Story in the faculty lounge, which the students at first didn't want to watch because they thought it was for little kids, but they ended up loving it. Late that night a few of us picked up Joe's parents from the airport.

Christmas
Christmas morning we all - staff and students - went down to the hospital and the local jail to sing Christmas carols. It was a really nice time. The students sang beautifully, and I didn't do to badly myself. The staff and some of the patients at the hospital were very grateful, which was very heartwarming. The local jail was not that big of a deal. The "prisoners" we sang to were just in there for petty crimes, nothing big, but they were also very appreciative, even though they didn't speak English, unlike the hospital patients.
The rest of the day we just relaxed with Joes parents, then we had a fabulous Christmas dinner the Jesuits cooked, delicious ham. Afterwards we watched Toy Story 2 with the students, which they really got into.

Pisar
So on Dec 26th we set off for a small island called Pisar that is a 40 minute boat ride from this island of Weno (remember, pronounced Weda). We loaded up the truck with a bunch of food and headed down to the Xavier dock, which is actually just a 10 minute walk. We waited for 3 boats, and us 5 JVs, the Pohnpei JVs, Kieran and Luthi, Makoto (Japanese volunteer, awesome guy) and Joe's parents headed out in the lagoon. Riding on the motor boat in the lagoon is always an amazing experience. It was a beautiful day, and just sitting on the edge of the boat, having water splashed in your face, riding those hard bumps against the waves, and enjoying the spectacular view around us is unforgettable. As the main island got smaller behind us, more islands appeared in the distance. Some were the size of an acre, others much smaller. So after 40 minutes, we arrived to Pisar, which is right on the edge of the atoll.
This small island, the size of a football field, is taken care of by a family that owns it, and whenever guests arrive, they leave. It's a beautiful island but obviously doctored up to be a resort. There are a few houses, a great grill, some bathrooms, a big hut to chill in, and the sand is clean and everything is perfect. I wish I could have stayed there all week. Check out the pictures. You will be jealous. Sometimes I wonder if I'm really volunteering or just got amazingly lucky with my surroundings.
So we basically chilled, swam, snorkled, and explored the other two desserted island adjacent to us for the next three days. Needless to say, it was very beautiful, incedibly relaxing and a lot of fun. Here are the highlights, and they are glorious:
-Spear fishing: I finally did it! One of the true Micronesian experiences I was really wanting to do is now done. We don't use a gun, but a completely make-shift spear. You take about a foot of surgical tubing so it can stretch, but a small wire in both ends to connect it, use string or guitar wire to tie the wire tight to the tubing. You put the small wire end into the small groove at the end of the spear (the non-pointy end) and stretch the tubing far infront of you, and then all you have to do is let go and the spear goes flying in the water. That was a bit confusing, but rest assured, it was awesome. We went snorkling and practiced for a bit in the shallow. We only had two spears, and it was mostly Joe, Dwyer and I that did all of the spearing. I didn't catch anything the first day. Joe and Dwyer did. It's real hard, since you have to get the spear real close to the fish.
On the second day I was determined to catch something, so I went out by myself to the right side of the island (the front was facing the lagoon, where most of the coral was, the back was facing the Pacific Ocean and another small island that we were able to swim to, and the left side faced the third small, desserted island. It was very shallow surrounding Pisar. You had to swim out about 100 yards until it got significantly deeper, about 10-15 meters). Anyway, I went to a small strip of coral between Pisar and a small sand bar. It got to be about 5-8 feet deep, and I floated around, waiting to catch something. It was absolutely beautiful (one day we'll get an underwater camera) and there were small fish everywhere, but the small spearable fish were about half a foot long, nothing impressive, but the bigger ones were much farther. I just wanted to catch one. As I was swimming around, something big caught my eye. I saw this foot long blue and silver fish swimming about 10 feet away from me. I slowly crept forward and the fish suddenly changed shape, became rigid, touched the coral is was floating above and turned color to brown, black and yellow. It was a small octopus! I slowly pulled the tubing back, aimed, and fired. I wasn't as close as I should have been because there was shallow coral between me and the octopus, so I just skimmed it or the spear went through it. However, the octopus squirted out lots of black ink and jetted out of there. The big black cloud of ink freaked me out, but it was pretty awesome. I did, however, spear my first fish, only a few inches big, a few minutes later. I was very proud.
The next day I speared two more fish, still small, in the shallow coral. So I headed out to the drop off where it get a lot deeper. As I made my way to the drop off, I was overwhelmed by all of the bigger fish that were waiting for me to spear them. I looked a few feet down and saw a decently sized fish chillin near the bottom of the coral. I swam down few feet under the surface, aimed, and got it! However, it was a blowfish, and the second I impailed it it puffed up twice the size of what it originally was. It struggled on the floor for a bit, and after it stopped I swam down, picked up the spear, and swam back to shore with the blowfish and spear out of the water. I didn't want the fish to struggle more under the water. It was an awesome catch. However, we couldn't cook it (like we did with the others) because it's poisonous. Still, it was amazing, and I can't wait to do it again.
-Night Spear Fishing: Yup. Take all of those experiences I just talked about with spear fishing, except it's pitch black out except for that underwater flashlight we each had that luminated a small beam in front of you. I should have been more scared to be in pitch black water, not being able to see 15 feet in front of you, or anything to your left or right, for that matter, but it was too exciting. Joe, Dwyer and I set out after dinner, the mighty hunters that we were, and made our way out to the drop off. Someone set up a latern on shore so we would know where the island was. It was hard to navigate through the shallow coral because we couldn't make out the paths between them. After scraping our hands and knees for a while, we made it to the deep. It was eerily majestic under the water. It reminded me of those under water National Geographic specials where all you can see if the diver in front of you and his little beam of light. What was also weird was that all the fish were sleeping, so there was not much life out in the water. The smaller fish were sleeping within the cracks in the coral, and the bigger fish were closer to the bottom near the drop off, which is where we spent most of our time. Joe and Christ caught a few small fish, a little less than a foot long (interesting note: here in Chuuk, when you want to measure things with your hands, you do not hold your hands apart. Instead, you hold out your arm and indicate with the other hand on your arm the length. Because if you use both hands to measure, that indicates you are describing the lenght of, well, something else on the male body. So be careful with that!) . My light went out, which is my excuse for not catching anything. But it was an amazing time, really adventurous and thrilling.

So that was basically it. When we walked to the edge of the atoll, we watched the huge waves of the Pacific crash down on the coral. We tried getting close, but the waves were too powerful. Looking on the map of Chuuk back at Xavier, we noticed that it starts off 10 meters deep where the waves are, and only a few dozen yards away, the depth drops to 200 meters! Imagine that.

On the third day the students came to the island, since it was there turn to relax on Pisar. All of us left back for Xavier, leaving behind that wonderful island. I hope to go back there soon. It was very relaxing.

The next couple of days were spent relaxing at Xavier, dropping off the Pohnpei volunteers at the airport (I can drive stick now, by the way. It was very hard learning on these rough dirt roads with all of the pot holes and in the old, blue pickup). We spent the last few days just taking it easy, playing some board games, watching movies, doing some work and reading. I really feel relaxed. We were supposed to have three weeks instead of one week vacation. I guess I would have gotten bored after a while.

Thoughts on Teaching

The students come back today. It will be actually nice to see them again. I think I got enough time away from them. I, along with the other teachers here, needed to get away from them. I definitely feel a lot closer to the ones that stayed here over break, and I think they are also a little more relaxed around me.
Some things I will have to work on this semester (I guess my New Years resolutions for this whole experience) are to not be too hard on myself when it comes to the frustrations of teaching, and not to be too hard on the students. Ashley, the Pohnpei volunteer who is also a second year, gave me that good advice which I plan to follow. I do need to be more patient with the students and remember that they are not originally English speakers, they are away from home, high school is tough for them, and they are normal teenage punks, like all teenage punks around the world. I do, however, have to remember not to be too easy on them because Xavier is one of the, if not the, most prostigious schools in Micronesia, and we are training future leaders of this country, which is hard to imagine. All of the teachers here are underqualified, most staying for at most 2 years, so teachers are always changing. But we are all willing and passsionate, which is amazing to think how the best school of this country operates on that. Anyway, I need to enforce some rules that I was a bit lenient on last semester. For instance, we are supposed to report any student who is caught speaking in their native language. We do this because they are supposed to speak English to improve their skills, and speaking in their own language isolates them from others. But it is hard for an American to come in and tell them to not speak their own language. But I need to be more strict with that rule, for their own good, I guess.
Overall, I'm looking forawrd to this semester. I'll be spending the entire third quarter on writing research papers with the Juniors. For the Sophomores I will be teaching the middle ages, mostly the crusades, black death, and then expansionism and world exporers. I'm not too familiar with that time period, and honestly, it doesn't seem as exciting as the Greeks and Romans. Oh well, I'll learn a lot.

So that's what I've been doing, and it's really been great. School will start on Tuesday (today is Saturday, New Year's Eve) and I completely feel well-rested, which is great. I need a new boost in energy. Today Joe's parents and aunt and uncle are taking us out to Blue Lagoon for New Years. We will have to watch out for the drunks (well, more than usual), but it should be a fun day. Then I'll spend Sunday and Monday grading and lesson planning. Anyway, thank you for all of your Christmas greetings. Love you all.

Finals, School Picnic, Freshman CSP and getting ready for XMAS

What's up everyone! It's been a real long time since I updated this. I've been really busy with finals and relaxing. Finals week was very busy, then we had a small break, then two more weeks of classes before the week long winter break. Right now it's Saturday, one more week of classes, then break time. Here is what's been going on:

Finals Week

For my English Skills final, there was a Vocab Exam with 50 questions, but ALSO an essay due. The essay was actually based off the Manresa Talks format: they had to choose a life aspect (all that were used as topics for the Manresa retreat) like community, commitment, family, friends, obstacles, suffering and so on. Their essays were actually very good. They were upset because I wouldn't accept any rough drafts, which they usually depend on, but I told them they needed to write something on their own and do their own revisions and checks. THey all turned out to be very good, which pleased me. The sophomores, however, not so well on their HIstory Exam. They were doing much better in the quarter, but they still do not know how to study for tests. I'll work on that this quarter, obviously. Grading is always tough during Finals time, I was told, and it was true. But I made it my goal to grade as soon as the tests were over. I got most of them done on that very day, too, which was good. I didn't want grading to drag out. The first exam was on a monday, and the last one on a Thursday. Thursday was the school picnic...

School Picnic

Every year the entire school (except for the students on the Drug List, meaning they were caught or suspected of using drugs) go to a nearby island for a day-long picnic. We left early in the morning, packed on top of this flatbed, and arrived at the docks where a pretty big boat loaded us on (check pictures). After an hour boat ride we arrived to a very small island, about the size of a football field or two, and anchored about 300 yards from the island while small boats started picking up the students and staff to ferry them to the island. Chris Dwyer, Joe and I, however, didn't want to wait, so we were the cool ones and jumped in the water and swam to shore. It was longer than I thought, andwe barely made it. I jumped in and thought to myself "man these waves are choppier than we thought." Then I swallowed a lot of salt water, and struggled to be the cool teacher and swim to shore. But I was fine.
So on this small island, we basically swam around in the beautiful and warm water the entire day and played in the sand. We had a short mass at the cetner of the island, and had a good, relaxing time until sunset. Also, there were many sand fights, which were a bit intense at first, seeing that we were getting sand in our eyes and mouth and ears, and I was hit at least twice point blank range with huge sand ball in the head, but sand fights are pretty awesome. I told the kids that they would never go over in the US. Anyway, it was a real fun time. Going to the small islands in the lagoon is not that much of a big deal any more. They're all beautiful, amazing coral, great swiming water. I appreicate it every time, but it's like "going to the beach" back home. There is more of that special feel and extra prepaaration needed.

Freshman CSP

So after being thoroughly exhausted from being in the sun all day and swimming all day and having many sand fights, Friday, the real first day off, was supposed to be very relaxing, finishing up grading and just taking it easy and enjoying the fact that finals were over. However, one of the other American volunteers, not a JV, got sick, and he was supposed to be one of the faculty that was going on the Freshman Community Service Project (CSP) that day. So Joe, the frehsmna class moderator who was also going, asked me to come along. I havent gone on a CSP yet because I am supposed to go next year. I definitely said yes, for a few reasons. One, I really wanted to help out with a CSP. Second, I wan't to get to know the Freshman class a lot more. I dont have them for class, only a few as advisees, and maybe play sports with a few. But I wanted to get to know them better so I can be friends with them and be ready for them next year. Finally, I wanted to experience life outside of Xavier campus, and this CSP was going to be done in Sapuk, the neighborhood that Xavier is located next to. As you have seen from the pictures, it's a completely different world. I have been accustomed to passing by these houses and neighborhoods on my walks and driving by, but this was the first time that I would be staying, eating and sleeping with some local Chuukese for 3 days and 2 nights.
So after a meeting and mass, all of the freshman, the faculty moderators and I walked about 20 minutes down the road to the place we were staying. It was this big meeting house where mass is sometimes held, people eat, and people sleep. It's just a big room with screen windows surround it with a kind of soft floor for sleeping. People actually sleep there, not just guests. Traditional Micronesians usually sleep on mats on the floor. That night I just used my backback as a pillow and I slept on a sheet. It wasn't that bad, actually.
So that friday night we were just chillin around this meeting house, which is also next to a few other houses in the community. There wasn't much to do that night, and because there was a death in one of the family's houses a few months ago, the mourning period was still going on, so we had to be very respectful and quiet. It was hard for the freshman to be hushed all of the time, but they managed. After the girls left to go sleep with some sponsor families, the boys went to a shower/bath ... um, hole, about 20 minutes away. Joe, Kieran (the Australian volunteer) and I stayed back to write letters. However, there were many little kids around, and as of now they are my new best friends. Earlier that afternoon I was entertaining them with card tricks. But that night, while sitting under a light, the kids slowly started to congregate around me and Joe. We eventually started trading the paper and pen back and forth, drawing pictures and trying to talk to each other. They knew very little english, and I know less Chuukese. But they were absolutely adorable and really cute. They were about 10 years old, both boys and girls. I have many pictures of them. Man, they were awesome. I entertained them with the thumb trick, where it looks like I'm pulling my thumb apart. They loved that, and they were "chopping" my thumb in half for the next two days. They never got tired of it. I also taught them that rope dance that I do. Basically, I could have been there all night entertaining them, but we both had to go to sleep.
The next day, Saturday, we got up early, met up with the girls, and took two flatbeds to a church in the neighborhood, near the Japanese dock that we swim at. We worked on it all day by cutting grass with machettes, pulling weeds, sweeping the inside, and painting the inside and outside. There are a lot of pictures. For the mst part the freshman did a great job doing a lot of work, even though I heard that the other classes liked to slack off on the other CSPs. It was a hot day but we all managed to get through. We had the staple meal for lunch: chicken, rice and tapioca. That's basically all they eat. Chuukese food is a bit bland, which I'm not too pleased with, but it's good. There is also fish sometimes, which I sometimes eat. I actually love raw fish now, sashimi.
Anyway, after a hard day's work, we all went to the Japanese dock to cool off, then we walked back to the meeting house were staying at. On the way a student was trying to be funny and accidently knocked my glasses off. They were already snapped, for those of you who dont know that, and they resnapped. So I had to cheat the CSP and walk back to Xavier to re-tape and glue them (I'm such a nerd). I also cheated by taking a nice shower. (PS, I havent taken a hot shower since July. I'm not really complaining, because it's hot here most of the tmie, so cold showers are welcome, but there are rainy days and cold nights and cool mornings where I could use a hot shower. But, again, it's one of these things I'm accustomed to now, and it's just funny to think that I used to take hot showers and couldnt stand cold showers.)
That night, after the boys showered and the girls showered at their sponser's houses, we had a toned-down entertianment, in respect for the community and the mourning they were still observing. It was beautiful, actually. Each island nation (the Marshalls, Kosrea, Yap, Pohnpei, Palau and Chuuk) got in their groups and sung some traditional songs. I will have to record them sometime and get them home for all of you. It seems as if everyone's voices in Micronesia are trained for singing. Lucky.
The American group, along with Kieran, sang a funny version of Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer. We messed up and acted a bit goofy, which everyone got a huge kick from. Joe later explained to me that it was actually really good that we messed up, because everyone usually has this impression that Americans are always with it and perfect, so whenever we act goofy or mess up, the Micronesians, especially the more traditional ones, get a huge kick from it. It is humbling, Joe said, and it was a very interesting perspective. After entertainment I continued to hang out with the kids again. I think there were 15 kids all toghether, ranging from 4 years old to 13. They are so cute and fun. Again, I could have been playing with them all night.
The next day we had a mass all in Chuukese at the meeting house, followed by lunch. It was acutlaly sad when were started to go, but I had a chuukese student translate for me to the kids, telling them that i had a great time, I would promise to visit, and for them to come up with Xavier if they wanted to visit. I remember most of their names (Lucia, two Rosaleens, Lue...and some I can kind of pronounce) and I really do intend on visiting them again. They're just 20 minutes down the road, and if I ever need to get away from Xavier and the students, I will walk down, bring them some chocolate, maybe a gift for the parents, and just chill with them all day, and really immerse myself more into authentic life here. Anyway, the CSP was a hit, I got to know the freshman a lot more, I made some good rfiends outside of school. I can't wait to visit those kids again.

Almost XMAS

So we try to do our advent prayers every night around our make shift advent wreath, made out of cardboard and magazine cut outs. Dwyer and I climbed up side of the school to put up our only christmas lights hanging out of our offices. We've been playing XMAS music constantly. It's insane how it is still 80 degrees and humid, yet the middle of December. Now it's really starting to feel weird to be away from home. Not really too homesick, but I definitely miss everyone at home. But I have been very happy here. Always busy, always satisfied. Um, I guess there really ins't more to say about getting ready for Christmas. Just one more week of classes. We are having a holiday party on Thursday, then on Friday some JVs from Pohnpei are coming, so that should be a lot of fun.
By the way, I learned how to drive stick today! We first went around the school driveway, then down the road for a while. I stalled only once. I'll be a pro in no time. All of that video game playing fine tuned my hand-eye coordination. OK, this was long, but I havent written in a while. Enjoy the pictures. Send XMAS packages, you know the drill. Take care, and enjoy the cold weather. Peace out.

Xavier Day

Hello everyone. I know my postings are getting less and less frequent, but that is because things have been getting busier around here, and not many new things have been happening lately. There was one big event yesterday, however, but before I get into that, here's what has been going on these past few weeks:
-Thanksgiving was actually very good. The American Jesuit preists spent all day cooking, the day before the JVIs cooked pumpkin carrot cake, which turned out well, and there was a lot of appetizers before hand, some really good cheese and wine. The turkey was really good, so was the stuffing and gravy. No cranberry sauce though, and the food was very simple. But it was still very delicious. Usually we hold office hours from 7:30-9 every night, but not that night, cause we were stuffed and couldnt move.
-We went camping two weeks ago, to the same mountain (or really big hill) that we went to for our JVI retreat. This time we brought along the australian volunteer, the Japanese volunteer, and the other American volutneer. It was basically the same as last time, except this time we didn't have a guide and we left later after school. That means we got lost and it got dark when we were only half way up the hill. That means we were stuck on a steep wet hill engulfed in the thick of the jungle in total darkness. Not that safe, but it was exciting. We literally hacked ourselves a new path up the hill, climbing up rocks and hanging onto vines and trying not to slip on the mud and leaves. We knew (or had a general idea) where our destination was, so we just kept on pushing up until, an hour and a half later than we should have arrived, covered in mud and sweat and cuts, we arrived on the top of the hill, and enjoyed the view of one half of the island and the cool breeze. We ate spagettios and I slept outside on a nice patch of grass, using my blanket and some cardboard as a matress. It was a great time. We came back exhausted, but camping is always amazing. The locals really don't get the idea of camping, because why would anyone hike away from theeir home to sleep outside for one night?
- I need to get a picture of it, but we made our very own Advent Wreath (spelling?) We cut two wide circles out of one of our cardboard boxes and decorated it with green cutouts from magazines. We then poked four holes in it to stick the candles in. We meet at 10:00 every night to say the readings of the day and have a little reflection following it. Sometimes students have joined us. Think of this wreath as the tree in Merry Christmas Charlie Brown, but more pathetic, but with more spirit.

Ok, this weekend was Xavier Day (I put up some pictures). Xavier Day is the big spirit day of the year and everyone gets really into it. It really starts on Friday after classes with some events, such as the basketball games, vollyball and marathon. Saturday starts with a mass dedicated to St. Xavier, followed by a day full of games and events. Actually, the students have been practicing and training for the games for over a month now. The Seniors and Freshman make one team, and the Sophomores and Juniors make the other. For the first time in Xavier history, I think, there was a third team that the faculty and staff made up. We have some pretty athletic people on our staff this year, unlike the previous years (don't worry, I'm not talking about myself), and we actually did pretty well. We won the marathon, basketball, tug of war ... and I think that is it. I played in the basketball game, obstacle race, the dizzy race (where we have to spin around a bat 10 times and run...very funny, all the students loved to watch that one) and the icecream eating contest. I was doing very well, and it was pretty gross, but I would have one if I wasn't going up against Coreleon (pronounced the same way you say the Godfather's last name) who is definiteily over 200 lbs and is a freshman. He's an awesome kid, but he devoured the icecream. But it was a lot of fun.
There were many other events, like arm wrestling, 60 and 100 meters, relays, 5 laps, fat race (yes, that is where the teams get their fattest kids to race against one another. In this culture, being fat is not even close to having the same connotation as it does at home. Being fat or being called fat is not really an insult. Sometimes it is a sign of wealth. So the fact that there was a fat race was not even degrading at all.)
Also, as you'll notice from my pictures, there was this one event called Basket Weaving. Yeah. It was really awesome though. The students cut down some palm leaves and handed them out to the girl participants, and they had to make a basket as quickly as possible. I have never seen hands fly so quickly before. It looked as if the girls were just mashing up these leaves as quickly as possible in one jumbled mess, but patterns were actually created from them and in about 2 minutes they made a sturdy, hand woven basket ready to use. It was pretty amazing. The students noticed the look of amazement on our faces and said "only in Micronesia." Which is probably true. Chris Dwyer and I thought of an event that only Americans can do really really quickly. The only thing we came up with was microwaving pasta. We can do that pretty quickly. That and make PBand Js. But it does not compare to basket weaving.
To backtrack a bit... after mass the teams paraded to the back field where there were many guests from Chuuk and Alumni sitting and watching. Each team had their own opening music. Of course, the students didn'treally tell us that we needed an opening song (in fact, they didn't really tell of any of the events until a week before) so I ran up to my CD collection and gave the students who were manning the stereo system to play one of the songs we picked. The faculty opened up the trophy case of the school so we could each carry a trophy (we didnt have a banner) and we walked out onto the field while John Williams' Superman Theme was playing. The students loved it and though it was hysterical.

Following that, some students sung the national anthems of the three represented nations: Republic of Palau, Republic of the Marshalls, and the Federated States of Micronesia. During each anthem, a student carried the flag on a big bamboo stick on top of the school (check out the picture). It was a very beautiful and moving.
At night, we moved some of the tents to the other side of teh school, where the huts are, and we had amazing barbeque food provided by the alumns. Lots of food! It was a great day in general.
So today we're all a little sore from running and tired from the heat, but we have to do some grading and make our final exams. Finals are this week followed by a short break. There will be a lot of grading to do, but this week shouldn't be that stressful. I do need a break from these kids, however. I love em, but I'm getting a little tired of their antics lately. But other than that, things are going really fine, and I actually miss the cold weather at home. But don't worry, I am very appreciative of the hot weather here, even though it is very weird that it is Dec. 4th and it's 80 outside and I am very tan.
Good luck to everyone who has finals. Keep sending me some lovin. Peace out.
AJ