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