We are having a few half days due to parent-teacher conferences, so the schedule is all tweaked to accommodate. This conversation resulted:
Jude- Mister are we having PE today?
Me- Yep
Jude- YESSSS!
Day is made.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Apple cider
Wednesday I was the referee for a volleyball championship game. I've never had so many middle aged/ borderline-still attractive women mad at me at once. It was crazy times man, crazy times. They were full of useless advice which flowed in a nearly uninterrupted stream from the benches and sidelines for the entire hour or so of game. In addition, as 'head ref' I was perched on a platform that couldn't have been more than 1.5' square about 6' off the ground which had no railing or supports of any kind. It was really a different kind of experience. What made it worthwhile though was at the end, a few of the soc-uh, volleyball moms came up to say sorry for all the yelling, thanks for sticking it out, and one of the coaches even admitted that she consulted the rules and I was right about a call that had resulted in a great outburst. So take that, middle aged borderline-still attractive lady!
Apparently theres a typhoon in or around the Philippines, we've had a lot of rain lately. Yep.
The other afternoon when I got home, due to the storming the power was out. So I did the sensible thing, which was light a candle, eat (tuna/vegalink/ketchup/tabasco sauce sandwich), and take a nap. When I woke up, I realized that the wick in the candle had been positioned near the side causing a hole to form in the wall and all the wax to suddenly become free of its constraints. What resulted was a cascade down the front of my counter, onto a chair with a shirt (one of my favorites) hanging on it, which transformed the shirt into a giant wax stalagmite. Yep. Also, I later found out that one of my students had visited, walked in, had some chuckles at my form sprawled out probably gape mouthed on the couch snoring. That sandwich musta really knocked me out.
I rearranged the furniture in my apartment. It used to always irk me when mom would do this at home, but now I am mostly irked by the growing number of things that no longer irk me. I feel like I'm goin' soft, man!
The kids have a school 'store' after school in the lunch room, and sometimes they leave the cash box unattended. The teachers have advised them that this sort of thing is foolhardy, but yesterday it was alone again and one of the teachers took it. It's been rather amusing to see how easily friendships are thrown asunder in hopes of proving ones own innocence. Quick, someone call Harlow Doyle!
The leaves of a certain island tree are falling in the occasional gust of wind associated with having a nearby typhoon. I feel the twinge of homesickness at the thought of missing my favorite time of year, autumn. I need someone to send a flat rate box with the following contents:
hayrides
colored leaves
hoodie that smells like a campfire
frost
apple cider
pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks
Thanks.
The other day while waiting for someone to get off work, I struck up a casual conversation with a taxi driver from Bangladesh. He was a colorful fellow, and the highlight of the conversation (which covered many topics) was when he told me about the American sailors that come ashore from the ever present ships in the larbor:
"Yea man they always say "Maaan I been on that f* ship for too f* long, man I need some f* p*!!"" LOL I'll let you use your imagination to fill in the blanks..
The school enrollment is down right now, as well as that of the CDC (daycare). The enrollment fluctuates all the time due to the number of ESL students that come through, but it is especially low right now. Please continue to pray for us all out here and if possible, feel free to make a donation to the school! If you are interested in how to do this, email me at floridavenue@gmail.com.
Shout out to Liesse for reminding me to stay on task with this thing haha
Apparently theres a typhoon in or around the Philippines, we've had a lot of rain lately. Yep.
The other afternoon when I got home, due to the storming the power was out. So I did the sensible thing, which was light a candle, eat (tuna/vegalink/ketchup/tabasco sauce sandwich), and take a nap. When I woke up, I realized that the wick in the candle had been positioned near the side causing a hole to form in the wall and all the wax to suddenly become free of its constraints. What resulted was a cascade down the front of my counter, onto a chair with a shirt (one of my favorites) hanging on it, which transformed the shirt into a giant wax stalagmite. Yep. Also, I later found out that one of my students had visited, walked in, had some chuckles at my form sprawled out probably gape mouthed on the couch snoring. That sandwich musta really knocked me out.
I rearranged the furniture in my apartment. It used to always irk me when mom would do this at home, but now I am mostly irked by the growing number of things that no longer irk me. I feel like I'm goin' soft, man!
The kids have a school 'store' after school in the lunch room, and sometimes they leave the cash box unattended. The teachers have advised them that this sort of thing is foolhardy, but yesterday it was alone again and one of the teachers took it. It's been rather amusing to see how easily friendships are thrown asunder in hopes of proving ones own innocence. Quick, someone call Harlow Doyle!
The leaves of a certain island tree are falling in the occasional gust of wind associated with having a nearby typhoon. I feel the twinge of homesickness at the thought of missing my favorite time of year, autumn. I need someone to send a flat rate box with the following contents:
hayrides
colored leaves
hoodie that smells like a campfire
frost
apple cider
pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks
Thanks.
The other day while waiting for someone to get off work, I struck up a casual conversation with a taxi driver from Bangladesh. He was a colorful fellow, and the highlight of the conversation (which covered many topics) was when he told me about the American sailors that come ashore from the ever present ships in the larbor:
"Yea man they always say "Maaan I been on that f* ship for too f* long, man I need some f* p*!!"" LOL I'll let you use your imagination to fill in the blanks..
The school enrollment is down right now, as well as that of the CDC (daycare). The enrollment fluctuates all the time due to the number of ESL students that come through, but it is especially low right now. Please continue to pray for us all out here and if possible, feel free to make a donation to the school! If you are interested in how to do this, email me at floridavenue@gmail.com.
Shout out to Liesse for reminding me to stay on task with this thing haha
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Two sides
It's been a little while since coming out here now, and I've been lately thinking over how life has changed and how it's the same. I've learned some new things, some practical, some abstract. I've had some new experiences, some of my own choosing and some have been thrust upon me. Life is a funny thing, if you let it take its course. Anyway, before I start getting philosophical, here goes...
I'm not a vegetarian. It started on the plane, and then it was just a little fish here and there since it was so plentiful, but now since discovering that I can live a lot more cheaply by eating the extra lunches that kids order then never even touch (apparently eating is uncool.. those crazy kids..) rather than buying groceries, I just eat whatever. And the lunches are most always a meat dish. So yea.
Related to the above item: Living on my own, I eat very unhealthily haha. My fridge contains milk, eggs, mushrooms (at least I think that's what they are), a few water bottles, and a lot of coconut (which I cut and eat fresh every day FTW!!!). About the only reasonable things I consume are the water and coconut. The PSS lunches are not good for you at all. If it weren't for my daily exercise, I would probably be dying of several things right now.
A single roll of toilet paper lasts a LONG time when there is just one single guy using it! Man it's amazing, it's like the stuff just never ends.
I got a tattoo. Don't freak out, it's just a little 42 that I hide under my watchband. I have wanted to get one for a long time, and one of our neighbors here does them, so I did it. Yes it hurt, yes he opened a clean needle so I don't have AIDS, and yes I'll probably get more in the future. No they won't be ghoulish figures which I find to be distasteful and no they won't be anything I can't cover with reasonable ease.
I play the guitar a lot. I mean a lot haha. At my apt there's no tv, no laptop, only guitar.
I feel more confident about myself. Saipan is a place that requires a lot of improvision, a lot of recalculating and then executing on the fly. I've had to do a lot of things that back home or just generally before I wouldn't have volunteered for or really been in a position of doing but here, a lot of the time it's a case of 'If you don't do it, it ain't gonna get done' so I HAVE to do things. And it's been growing me. I've learned that I can do things I didn't really think or know I could do before. I can maintain (reasonable haha) control of 50 or 60 unruly kids. I can fix a lot of broken things around a house with very few available tools (in the classical sense). I can do research, then set off alone in search of a place in the jungle and find it without winding up dead. I can be in charge of planning and then doing a youth vespers program. There's other things, but I don't want to sound like I'm boasting. The point is, I feel better about myself because I'm DOING more.
I read the Bible more here. For a month or so I would read a chapter or two of Psalms every morning after my run. Now I have been scooting around the Gospels and some other random passages. It's the first time in my life that I've more or less regularly "kept the morning watch". I have been a Pathfinder or associated with Pathfinders for years of my life and now at 22 is the first time I've kept that part for an extended period of time. Kinda sad, but better late than never I guess.
There's something to be said for the morning. I've never been a morning person, but here (maybe only because the day gets hot at around 7:00AM) I have been getting up before 6 every day, running, doing a few other exercises, and as I mentioned before reading the Bible. I feel so sloppy when I skip my routine now! And it helps with maintaining my own authority over the kids, because I don't meet them on equal ground in the morning. They roll in all sleepy and floppy, and I'm alert and ready because I've been up for over an hour already, run a mile, had a good (ok terrible) breakfast, read scripture, sometimes written a letter, made phone calls, etc etc and man I'm ready for the day sucka! So yea mornings :) Also, the sky is absolutely beautiful here in the early morning.
There's a few more scattered things here and there which I will post as they come to me. Ultimately, I thank God daily for putting me here. Every day is a new adventure :)
I'm not a vegetarian. It started on the plane, and then it was just a little fish here and there since it was so plentiful, but now since discovering that I can live a lot more cheaply by eating the extra lunches that kids order then never even touch (apparently eating is uncool.. those crazy kids..) rather than buying groceries, I just eat whatever. And the lunches are most always a meat dish. So yea.
Related to the above item: Living on my own, I eat very unhealthily haha. My fridge contains milk, eggs, mushrooms (at least I think that's what they are), a few water bottles, and a lot of coconut (which I cut and eat fresh every day FTW!!!). About the only reasonable things I consume are the water and coconut. The PSS lunches are not good for you at all. If it weren't for my daily exercise, I would probably be dying of several things right now.
A single roll of toilet paper lasts a LONG time when there is just one single guy using it! Man it's amazing, it's like the stuff just never ends.
I got a tattoo. Don't freak out, it's just a little 42 that I hide under my watchband. I have wanted to get one for a long time, and one of our neighbors here does them, so I did it. Yes it hurt, yes he opened a clean needle so I don't have AIDS, and yes I'll probably get more in the future. No they won't be ghoulish figures which I find to be distasteful and no they won't be anything I can't cover with reasonable ease.
I play the guitar a lot. I mean a lot haha. At my apt there's no tv, no laptop, only guitar.
I feel more confident about myself. Saipan is a place that requires a lot of improvision, a lot of recalculating and then executing on the fly. I've had to do a lot of things that back home or just generally before I wouldn't have volunteered for or really been in a position of doing but here, a lot of the time it's a case of 'If you don't do it, it ain't gonna get done' so I HAVE to do things. And it's been growing me. I've learned that I can do things I didn't really think or know I could do before. I can maintain (reasonable haha) control of 50 or 60 unruly kids. I can fix a lot of broken things around a house with very few available tools (in the classical sense). I can do research, then set off alone in search of a place in the jungle and find it without winding up dead. I can be in charge of planning and then doing a youth vespers program. There's other things, but I don't want to sound like I'm boasting. The point is, I feel better about myself because I'm DOING more.
I read the Bible more here. For a month or so I would read a chapter or two of Psalms every morning after my run. Now I have been scooting around the Gospels and some other random passages. It's the first time in my life that I've more or less regularly "kept the morning watch". I have been a Pathfinder or associated with Pathfinders for years of my life and now at 22 is the first time I've kept that part for an extended period of time. Kinda sad, but better late than never I guess.
There's something to be said for the morning. I've never been a morning person, but here (maybe only because the day gets hot at around 7:00AM) I have been getting up before 6 every day, running, doing a few other exercises, and as I mentioned before reading the Bible. I feel so sloppy when I skip my routine now! And it helps with maintaining my own authority over the kids, because I don't meet them on equal ground in the morning. They roll in all sleepy and floppy, and I'm alert and ready because I've been up for over an hour already, run a mile, had a good (ok terrible) breakfast, read scripture, sometimes written a letter, made phone calls, etc etc and man I'm ready for the day sucka! So yea mornings :) Also, the sky is absolutely beautiful here in the early morning.
There's a few more scattered things here and there which I will post as they come to me. Ultimately, I thank God daily for putting me here. Every day is a new adventure :)
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