Pep Rally, Fagasa, Miss Productive, and Hot

Friday... pep rally day... knew coming in that the students would be rather hyper, so I didn't plan on getting much done. Decided to use some review games in my Junior classes. Some went better than others, but the day was flying by regardless. Spoke to my seniors about the powerpoints they had sort of been working on the past few days. Lots of problems with them, so guess I need to lay out my expectations better next time and provide them some more guidance and help with the program. Oh well, wasn't going to know until I tried.

One uh... let's say interesting... thing that happened Friday was connected to these crowbar-like pieces of metal I have found students with before, which I always confiscate and dispose of, but I kept wondering where they were coming from. Got my answer. Students break these arms off the desks, and voila there you have it. "Really?" was my first thought. Oye. So this first photo shows one that was broken off in my classroom today. Not one of my good desks to begin with but still not good.

This is what it was like before it was wiggled off, another not so good desk.

No 6th and 7th period as expected, so after lunch and a bit of grading I headed to the gym for our lovely pep rally. Class cheer competitions today. Each class got up on stage, did their thing, and had a teacher mascot with them. Here you see one of our vocational teachers dressed up as a warrior, a traditional warrior. Only 1 hour and 15 minutes on the pep rally today, lots of energy from the students.

In addition to the cheers they had been practicing all week (all of which were creative plays off of some popular songs, by the way), each class made some banners. Here you can see some from the Senior class, and in the middle is one of my students helping hold one up.

The senior clss bringing in their mascot, one of the business teachers.

Then, these super creative boys choreographed a dance again for us. They did a montage of songs last pep rally, and this time the montage took us through some classic songs throughout history including YMCA, Cotton Eye Joe, the Chicken Dance, etc... They're pretty talented, you gott admit.

We left right after the pep rally. Yeah, we left early, and it felt good. Hannah and I stopped for some soft serve ice cream, and then stopped at another store to think about something to make for dinner. Grabbed some Ragu to make some pasta we had back at the house and grabbed a bottle of wine.  I also bought a big case of milk as we weren't horribly far away from the bus stop, but boy was it hot out Friday. The two guys who fix air conditioners - Nick and Eddie - waved and then gave us a ride home. Boy, glad to see them. Sweating up a storm in my Husker puletasi. haha

Hannah and I decided we were gonna do dinner and a movie. Yep, a date with my good friend. I cooked us some pasta with red sauce and melted cheese, with a side of veggies, and a cinnamon roll (found some nice ones at one of the little Korean markets). Lit a candle for our little romantic dinner next to our bottle of Moscato and played some Debussy (classical music) on the piano. Had quite the ambiance going on. hahaha Good times. Gotta love a romantic evening :) Hope you all are keeping up. It was fun but still simple enough. Then, we watched Mulan. Yay for a classic Disney movie. Brings a person back. Had a really good night of sleep after that even with the heavy rain that fell throughout the night.

Woke up Saturday morning and got on the bus at 7:30 just like we planned and headed into Tafuna for breakfast at Mom's Place. Slipped and almost fell on my butt on some water shortly after getting off the bus. That was a doozy and just made me laugh. haha Gonna be a good day. Saw our Florida friends there as they were just finishing up before heading out to work this Saturday. My french toast hit the spot before catching a bus into town to run a few errands including the bank and post office. The trees on the mountain were extra beautiful today. I was all smiles on our way into town and singing along with the music on the bus. Already was having a good day and knew it would just continue to do that despite my slip early on.

My backpack with a waterproof liner my dad sent is here, which will make me feel safer with my laptop all the time in this "fine" rainy season. Met up with Raina, our fellow volunteer and friend who lives in a small village on the northside in Fagasa Bay. Beth, a volunteer and friend who teaches in Utulei, joined us on this little visit out to Fagasa. Got a ride in the back of Raina's landlord's truck, we got to see her house, her classroom, walked the whole bay, and walked up the hill by her house for a great view. This was the first visitors Raina had out in Fagasa, so she was excited.

Here's a photo of the four of us in Raina's cool classroom:

See that red roof, that's where Raina lives. Raina is from Hawaii, originally.

Here's one of the churches in the village:

This is THE view from just up the hill by their house:

This is just looking out toward the ocean:

This is looking back into Fagasa bay from up the hill by the house:

Got a ride back into town around 2pm, stopped at Beth's house to grab some mail for the roommates before grabbing the best ice cream on island and then taking the bus home. Good ole Samu Ice Cream Shop at the gas station. HOMEMADE ice cream. I had Snickers flavor on this beautiful Saturday. Yummm. Nice cool off after the warm early afternoon out in Fagasa.

Then, I was Miss Productive back at the apartment for a while. I organized the shelves in my bedroom, scrubbed the bathroom and kitchen (all while jamming out to some tunes), worked out, and destroyed a yellow wasp nest. I had put together that these yellow wasps must have an est under one of the chairs on our porch, and I was correct. Took care of that problem for now. Hopefully they don't come back, I tried my best to scare them off and confuse them. Show them they really are not welcome right there. I like sitting in that chair in the morning and do not appreciate being stung on my ankles. haha

Productive, right? :) I also did a little reading, uploaded some photos, wrote some stuff for the blog, did some stumbling on the Internet, and finally just sat and relaxed for a while. Put on some music and then just sat in my hammock for a while singing along before calling it a night. Another Saturday adventure for the books :)

My little camera finally bit the dust. I've had it for about three-four years, so it was bound to happen. It's been through a lot with me , so I found a new and hope to have it within a few weeks. Reasonable price, too. So, I may be lacking in the photos these next couple of weeks as I don't lug around my big Nikon all of the time.

Not much to talk about from Sunday. I did not really sleep much Saturday night; my brain just wouldn't shut off, and I couldn't get to sleep for a while and then woke up several times. Felt a nap coming on some time on Sunday. Then, I was just hot beyond belief in addition to a headache (kin of want to blame the headache on all the cleaning yesterday ha). I quite honestly felt feverish and laid in my bed sweating. ugh. It was definitely stuffy in our house, and I just wanted a nap. Not fun to sort of doze off and then just wake up with beads of sweat. Too much detail? haha Just giving you the reality. Not all pockets of sunshine, but life is good.

Got my lesson plan forms filled out for the week, watched some Gilmore Girls, and dozed off and on and think I even got a good 2 hours in at one point. Felt better after that. As it began to pour pretty well outside, I went and sat in my hammock. Nice way to cool off after feeling so hot all day without even doing anything. Finishing my night by continuing the Gilmore Girls marathon and then hitting the hay early tonight, hopefully. Haven't been letting my brain think much today, and now as finish writing this at 7:20pm, it is raining again. Hope you all have a good week.

Fan, Bananas, and a Rollercoaster

Tuesday morning a smaller Tafuna bus came by -not quite the Polly Pocket bus, yet still not one of the regular sized ones. We’ve been lucking out lately saving us some time in the morning. I’m also highly appreciative of rides all the way in the morning in any shape or form as it is getting hotter and more humid down here. Rainy season is here. It’s weird to think that “Spring” is beginning here, whereas back home it is starting to cool off for Fall. Changing hemispheres will do that to a person. Haha. Broke down and brought one of my little fans to school. Hadn't plugged one in yet, but I do get tired of having sweat above my lip at school, so any moment I'm sitting at my desk I get an extra breeze now. Many students said, "nice fan," today. ha

Went over an intro lesson to mixtures and solutions in Earth and Space Science. I had them answer the question describe what makes chocolate milk different from water to get their minds thinking about the topic without even knowing it. Then, we did a note taking session which included questions as we went before going over some examples. I presented a chocolate chip cookie and a peanut butter cookie. For a chocolate chip cookie, you can physically see the different ingredients and can point them out, right? That makes it a heterogeneous mixture (a.k.a. mixture). Whereas, a peanut butter cookie looks the same all the way through making it a homogenous mixture (a.k.a. solution). I then gave a list of items, asking the students to individually place them in the category they believed they belonged. Some did a really good job, a few only missed a few of the tricky ones.

I felt the lesson went well. My VP that covers science thought so, as well. She came in during 2^nd period for an observation. These happen semi-frequently it seems. I never know she’s coming. She quietly walks in, sits in the back, observes for a  while, then simply leaves. She makes comments to me every now and then in the office about my lessons.

Mighty fine day at school before the bell rang earlier than anticipated for a Professional Development faculty workshop. We had a guest from the American Samoa Community College presenting on utilizing game shows in the classroom. Went to Zumba right after the meeting, and then I found myself jogging down the Tafuna road. Hannah asked if I was okay when I told her I did that. Haha. I’ve said before how running really isn’t my thing, but it was already 5:20 when Zumba finished, didn’t have a ride home from there, wasn’t looking too attractive or welcoming (all sweaty, rosy cheeked, and all. Haha), and figured I’d give it a try. I had originally thought this is what I would be doing after Zumba in order to catch a bus home in time, and it wasn’t too bad. Was dripping some sweat when I climbed onto a bus. Definitely looked like a crazy pulagi today jogging down the road with a backpack on. Made it home and was getting ready for my fale workout (double workout Tuesdays and Thursdays). Then, I was told there might be some Insanity going on up the hill. Woot! Hadn’t done that one in over a week, so jogged right on up that hill for it. Might say I did 2.5 workouts today. Remember the whole jogging up the Tafuna road thing :-)

Wednesday morning started out in quite a “fun” moreso gross way. I found bugs climbing around the trash, so I grabbed it to take it out to find maggots. Ugh. Some fell to the ground, so I picked them up with my hands. Then, I dumped the whole trash box out before spraying it down and putting a new bag in. That reminds me, I don’t know if I’ve really mentioned the cockroaches much. Have killed a few cockroaches (in the bathroom mainly), and they are big cockroaches, but more keep coming back. Andrea has killed some, too. I’m sort of getting used to them being around, quite honestly. It’s a bit gross, but I haven’t quite figured out where they’re coming in yet. I was also stung by a yellow wasp the other day. A few of them live on our porch or the neighbors porch. That was fun (sarcastic fun haha)… only stung for a little while. There’s also a little gecko that has been living in my bedroom lately. He doesn’t really bother me, just sits up there on the wall and scurries about a bit. Anyways, that’s life in the rainforest – little creatures in the house. I remember throwing out bugs on a daily basis from our cabin room in the Amazon Rainforest three years ago, as my roommate was rather afraid of all of them. If they start crawling on my face in the middle of the night, then we might have a problem. Haha Let’s hope that day doesn’t come, but the maggots this morning were rather gross. We’ll be more careful of keeping the trash closed from now on to say the least.

Got a ride to school with the ladies in the blue truck. I honestly didn't feel like doing a lecture or activity type lesson today, so I decided it would be a good day to see how my Junior students take notes on their own. Shortened periods Monday-Thursday for pep rally practice, so seemed like a good time. I gave them a little writing prompt non-science related to get them going before assigning 4 pages out of the text book to look through and take notes on. As I had already anticipated, many students aren't quite sure where to start with taking notes. Some were on the right track and started by writing down vocabulary and definitions, but a majority of students just copied some full sentences from the textbook. Gonna have to work on that one. 

Watched some students being escorted to the office and then off campus by the police as it looked like there had been another big fight. Seems like almost an every day thing here. Those rumors were definitely true. Ended up with some fresh avocado from one of the counselors. One day when she had given me ar ide home from Zumba she mentioned her avocado trees, and I said I loved avocados.

Went to the store after school with Hannah before getting a bus ride home, where I did my buns and legs workout before showering and deciding to do my laundry. So a few days ago I got a call from one of the friends in town saying I had a package. Package? I wasn't expecting any package. Who could have sent one. Well, I come home from the laundromat to find that someone had been to town and brought back the mail. Here's my surprise package. The sender? One of my best friends - Karena, who is currently living in Lincoln.

I'm beyond excited to open it up, since I had no idea what was inside. In addition to emails and Skyping, Karena and I have been writing some letters back and forth. Having pen pals is fun, but apackage... I open it up to find all sorts of monkey and banana things. I start smiling, find a little handmade card that says "I'm going bananas without you." Super cute. I read her letter, and I smile even more. Her idea was a success. I loved it, and it made me smile. Made my day actually. She's so creative, and I told her I loved the package almost as much as I love her. Have I mentioned how blessed I am to have made the best friends I did while in college - my 2nd family. Thanks, Karena!

Thursday morning got a ride with Wes, who works for the Department of Wildlife, to the Tafuna intersection. He was really talkative, and we had some good chats about the politics and campaigning here on island. Then, we walked down the Tafuna road. Felt good to walk, albeit it made me sweat a bit. haha

Rollercoaster day - that's what I'm calling this Thursday. 3rd period went fantastically, my students all paid attention as we discussed their notes from yesterday and went over an intro to acids and bases. I had my prep period and pep rally practice time to do a little grading and sweep my floor. 6th period comes in and talks WAY too much. Ugh. I always feel bad for those who continue to work quietly when the others are disrespectful and interrupt our class. I also had a few bad attitudes complaining they were too tired. Too tired, you say? How do you have so much energy to talk when all I am asking you to do is take some notes that I am helping with today? Finally got some of them to pay attention again. Lunch was up next before 4th period. Oh lovely 4th period. My seemingly chaotic period thanks to it being one of the lunch shifts, plus some of my seniors think they can just do whatever they want. A few of my students were followed in by security as they were both late. "What on earth were you doing?" I ask. "I don't appreciate security following you in here." From what I gathered, I don't really think the two boys were doing anything major, but I shut my door after that, had a nice chat with all of them, and then they all sat down, became rather quiet, and got to work. Miss Boschen was getting a bit tired at this point. At the time it was rather frustrating, but then my day got better. I continue to say, "every day is a good day," no matter what bad moments may occur.

2nd period did a rather fine job today, I may have mentioned that I had done enough yelling today. Followed by a decent 1st period, before the final bell rang. Worked on some grading before heading to Zumba class. I was SO ready for Zumba, let me tell you. Zumba'ed it up, enjoyed myself, and burned off some calories. Got a ride with one of my fellow teachers (also the sister to one of my students), who gave me a ride one other time. This time was just a ride to the main road as she and her husband were on their way to visit a family member at the hospital. Waiting at the bus stop around 5:30, patiently waiting, when I'm offered a ride by this guy Junior who lives in Pava'ia'i. Nice guy, and I was thankful for the ride. Did my buns and legs workout (yep, double workout Tuesdays and Thursdays as already mentioned), and then finished up by working on my blog before I relax for a while. I'm sure you may see the little bit of a rollercoaster I had the... uh... pleasure... of riding today. haha. May have been going bananas myself at times today. :P 

Here's to it being Friday tomorrow, where we shall have an interesting pep rally ahead of us. Remember, they've been practicing every day this week. Have a feeling we won't have 6th and 7th period to allow for the (at least) 1.5 hour long pep rally. Hope you all have a great weekend! Saturday is adventure day for me. Currently thinking brunch at Mom's Place in Tafuna before heading to Fagasa Bay on the Northside to hang out and visit a few of the volunteers out there.

Office, Chill Weekend, and Quick Monday

Friday morning got a ride in with Christine again, the lady who works in the office with the Coral Reef Association. Was having a great day with my students. My juniors took their quizes (which, I'm honestly onto a lot of them for cheating, mind you), and then we had a little Samoan-Spanish lesson. They taught me some Samoan, and I reciprocated by teaching them Spanish. I learned the Samoan word for respect has too many a's. haha. fa'aaloaloa. 

Lunch time before I knew it, and Josh (one of my fellow volunteers at our school) asked how my day was. I said great, but I still had 6th period to go - my troublemakers this week. Low and behold, I ended up sending having the VP com and take two of the boys from my class. My first students sent to the office. About that time I suppose after being in school for 6 weeks. I was frustrated at first, but then let it go and proceeded with our language lesson and had a good time with the students that were left. They struggled a bit with the double r in "perro" meaning dog. Gotta roll that tongue.

Got to chat with my parents a bit before heading home (and I may have vented to my mom a bit about 6th period). haha Walked to the main road before getting a bus, and then kept telling myself I didn't need to exercise today. Sat down and started working on my computer, but then I realized I still had all night so I better just workout. No reason not to, so I did it. Yep, I can be motivated. Didn't really do much else. I watched a movie and fell asleep rather early for a Friday night, any night actually. haha. Woke up, did my laundry, and then headed to Nu'uuli with Hannah. We had some breakfast at the Koko Bean. I had a delightful iced hazelnut chai latte, and we shared a plate of delicious fruit!

Got myself a new sweat towel - pretty proud of my new Looney Tunes towel. Yeah :) I had been using a tank top at school for this purpose up until now.

Then, we took the bus to Leone where we walked around a while, just admiring a different village. At first we thought about heading farther West, but then it had been rainy so decided not to venture too far.

Took a bus back, got off, and grabbed some lunch at this food stand that sells some barbeque that we see cooking every morning. Whole lot of food for $5, and we just split one meal. More than enough for the two of us, we couldn't finish it all. It was a bunch of rice with a hot dog, a turkey tail, and a piece of chicken. Meat out the wazoo. haha. Didn't wear my watch again this Saturday (done that a few times before, and it's a bit liberating to not think about what time it is.

Crossed the street and picked up some little yellow bananas. $1, and we were rather excited about this purchase. We walked into Tafuna from there to stop at Cost U Less for a bottle of wine (had a little girl night planned), walked for a while, and then got a ride back to the main road. Grabbed some ice cream, and then caught a bus back home.

So, I decided we should dress up a bit for our sophisticated evening with wine and discussion. I had done this a few times with my friends back at school. It's fun to dress up :) This is Hannah, Melanie, and me. I made us some Easy Mac for dinner as we shared our wine and had some good chats. Then, we ended up going dancing with the group. We kept it pretty simple today, the first Saturday in a while where we didn't go on some seemingly big adventure.

Woke up Sunday morning and headed to church, to find one of the air conditioners - the one up where I sit - not working. I was sweating, and all of a sudden someone from behind offered me their little hand fan. One you wave. It was a nice gesture from Miss Flo. Must have seen me wiping my brow. haha It is starting to get warmer here. All my friends and family back home have officially began fall, and it's doing the opposite here. Weird to think that it's not going to get cold. Also, funny story. The guy who usually drives the van - Richard - we oddly had similar outfits on today. He noticed it first, "Jess, we sort of match today." haha Both had a black skirt and a purple shirt on. Different purples, but it was still funny. What are the odds? haha. Miss Heidi, who plays the piano, asked me before she left if I sing. Well, yeah I sing. Not necessarily the greatest, but yes I like singing. She wondered if I would want to do a special song some time, maybe with Richard. At this church, you have the youth, you have us few people in our 20s, then you have your parents. That's about it. Guess we'll see if this singing thing materializes. I've done that sort of thing before, so I'm open to it. Richard joked later that we could wear our purple and black outfits. Most definitely. haha Interesting start to my day and worth mentioning these random little things.

After lunch a group of us headed for Airport Beach. Nice little walk to it along some giant lava rocks, where water is just crashing up against it, under it, and shooting out like geysers. Pretty cool. I'll have to go back with my camera. I was very minimalist in what I took with me on this little outing. A bunch were looking forward to some snorkeling, but snorkeling isn't really my thing. I tried for a while, but then just decided to sit on the beach, enjoy the view, and just ponder. I stood with my feet in the water for a while, and I find this little rock that was washed in with the tide. How cool is that? Made me smile. Someone sent me some love from who knows where. This is about the size of a ring you would wear on your finger, and this is not paint. It's seriously a red heart shape on this rock. Was nice to just sit there and get lost in thought for a while. Like I said pretty chill weekend (as in relaxing).

We came back home around 5:30, showered up, worked on some lesson plans, and then we headed up to the guys' house where Melanie was making a homemade Chicago-style deep dish pizza. She's from Chicago, so authentic right there. It took a while, but it was worth the wait. I sat out on their porch for a while just thinking again while the pizza was in the oven. Smelled so good. Melanie is quite the chef and enjoys cooking some gourmet stuff. She made these with black olives, spinach, and mushrooms inside! Oh and one had bacon, and the other had bacon and pepperoni. My favorite part was the veggies... and the sauce... and the crust... and the cheese. Yum yum. These little family dinners are always fun. The Pava'ia'i ladies and the Kenko Hill guys, and sometimes a few other friends.

I was rather ready for bed though immediately after eating. I was about ready to fall asleep as I was sitting in the chair on their porch and then again on the floor in their living room before we ate. Ate my slice of pizza, walked down the hill, crawled into bed, and I was out.

Monday morning we got a ride in with Junior and his dad. Tried something new in my Junior classes today. After our little writing project for the day (part of my routine), we looked at photos from the Astronomy Picture of the Day website I've been checking every day, discussed what we saw, and read the captions understanding what was going on. Some students attentively joined in discussion, asked questions, and made comments. I'd say about half my students in three of my classes zoned out, looked like they were falling asleep, or downright just weren't paying attention anymore. Probably can't utilize this tactic for more than 15-20 minutes on any given day, but I do enjoy doing it. I was so excited when a few students started asking questions based on what they saw. This is what I hope to instill in them - be curious about the world around you. Make your brains think. Thinking and learning are two wonderful things that I partake in every single day.

Started a unit on Mollusks today in Marine Science. The plan is to have the students put together group presentations on the different mollusks. Wish me luck. Not sure how it's going to pan out but going to give it a shot. I had to sub during my prep period today. There really is no such thing as a substitute teacher here like we are used to. Someone's gone, that means the rest of the teachers in that department lose their prep periods to basically "babysit" the class. Not the most exciting thing to find out during my lunch period that I have to sub a few periods from now. Oh well, gotta do it. I usually give them a little activity to do, and then they have time to work on other homework. Also had shortened class periods, as there was pep rally practice after 2nd period. Yeah, pep rally practice. Big pep rally coming up this Friday. All the classes met separately (freshmen, sophomore...) I could hear them practicing their chants from my classroom. Oh boy, should be interesting on Friday. This practice business for the entire school is new for me. Cultural difference but intriguing.

Got to Skype with some of my best friends back in Nebraska - Sarah, Cassie, Kyle, and Jessie for a bit. It was Cassie's birthday today (Monday). Nice to see them all, then my brother catches me on Skype and we chat for a bit, too. Nice way to end a good day at school that went by rather quickly before heading home and exercising. As I was waiting at the bus stop, two full buses went by, and then after waiting maybe 20 minutes, one of my neighbors came by (also related to the landlords), and picked me up. He and his wife had also given Hannah and I a ride to Nu'uuli on Saturday. Finally, a few of us girls even watched the new episode of How I Met Your Mother tonight.

That bad 6th period experience on Friday seems like a long time ago now, and I knew it would all be okay. I forgot to mention that one of the boys came back to my room after school on Friday and apologized. All like family. They were both really good today, too. Roll with the punches. I'm usually pretty good at it, just had my moment on Friday. Was bound to happen eventually. Time to stretch and go to bed. Hope you all have a great week. I'm trying to keep up with posting twice a week now. Manuia le aso. (Have a good day.)

Lessons, Fale Workout, and Little Things

I thought I posted this Thursday night, but just realized today it never went! Sorry everyone! I'll do another one later that catches up through the weekend.

We were picked up Tuesday morning by a really nice lady Teri, who is married to a pulagi, works with a non-profit, and helps organize the Miss American Samoa competition. Really chatty lady and super involved. One thing I'm used to in terms of a small community- being really involved. She gave us both her cell and office number in case we ever need anything. She was just going to drop us off at the intersection as she passed the Tafuna road, but then it was beginning to rain. She decided to take us all the way to school. That was unnecessary, but we were thankful.

Spent some time working on the overall charge of an ion in Earth and Space Science. I presented this concept using (+) and (-) on the board, circling ones that cancel, and counting what is left. I am surprising myself by how well I'm simplifying things. My students have even commented before that I make things clear and understandable. Good feeling, especially when I was a student who didn't struggle much with this type of information -came to me rather quickly. After working with it in visual form, we defined some terms to put it all together and relate to our lesson from the previous day.

In Marine Science we spent some time reviewing the information we had covered on the marine microorganisms - bacteria, diatoms, and dinoflagellates. We made a chart comparing the three groups. Then, I had the students do a little comic strip activity to show some of what they had learned. This was my example - "Diatom meets Dinoflagellate". I had some really good and creative ones turned in. 

Kiwis were part of breakfast, I grabbed two, and saved both for later. I ended up cutting one open after school for a snack using my handy dandy pocket knife. Mmmmm. Kiwis are some of those fruits I really had never eaten but am really enjoying.

Went to Zumba, got a ride home with a few of the counselors, and then went out for another workout- my "Tight Buns and Killer Legs" video. The previous day, some of the girls below me heard me working out in my room, and a friend had suggested working out in the fale. I had thought of this before and figured I'd give it a shot. So, here is where I did my second workout on Tuesday.

Seems a bit weird to have a video playing with this background, but it worked well. I ended up doing this again on Wednesday. You will also notice my makeshift weights - two containers of milk. haha

Missed a phone call from my Florida friend while I was exercising saying he he had a package for me and a letter. Oooh mail is always exciting! Said he would get it to me next time he saw me. After my workout, I made myself a half PB&JJ sandwich, sliced an apple I had saved from yesterday, and sliced the other kiwi I had saved from breakfast. All with a hearty glass of milk. Quite the dinner/supper if I do say so myself. Simple, delicious, and good for me.

Woke up Wednesday, was ready to go, and just doing a few things on the computer when I hear a man's voice outside. Turns out it was Frank, the Florida friend, dropping off our mail. He and Josh have been working nights lately, and he felt like being Santa at 6:45am. haha

Had my box from my parents including some supplies I had requested. Super excited about this pile of red pens that all work fantastically! The few I bought on island didn't last me long and were poor at showing up. I also received a card from a college friend who is currently in Pittsburgh, PA attending grad school in Food Studies. Pretty cool. A few little things that made me smile right away in the morning - a package and a car both hand delivered mail.

We saw a Tafuna bus coming down the road, a rather small one, but hopped in. "Welcome to Polly Pocket's bus". Hannah came up with this clever name. Check out the single seats, and the pastel colors. haha Quite the ride to school. Then as we were getting off all three of us hit our heads. You really had to duck as you were walking down the aisle. Whoops. Even Hannah, who is 5'2" hit her head. No hope for those of us who are 5'8" hahaha. Little thing that made me smile :)

6th period consisted of some chatterboxes big time on Tuesday, and I simply let one know by leaving a post it on his desk as I continued my lesson how this was disrespectful. I think they all took the hint, as they were improved on Wednesday. Another little thing that made me smile Wednesday was one of my students asking me if I had a wife. Wife? No, no wife. haha. Good stuff.

Had a PTA meeting we were asked to come to Wednesday at 5pm for introduction of staff. Most of the intro was in Samoan, and then we were able to leave after our introductions. One of the other teachers gave Hannah and I a ride to the main road so we could catch a bus, which usually stop running around 6pm. Made it home and did my exercise video under the fale again. Also, still keeping up with my stretching ever morning and night. I've also been doing some push-ups (well, I should say getting better at doing push-ups) and some ab exercises at those times, as well.

Watched the end of Finding Nemo - took me three nights, watched an episode of How I Met Your Mother, and then fell asleep to the rain about 10pm. Woke up at 10:30 to find the power was out, got up looked outside (nothing out of the ordinary), but then heard Mel and Steph coming up from downstairs. Their power was out, too. Usually it comes back, you know where the alarm clock is flashing 12:00 again. Well, we reset the breaker switches. Yes, I did take note of where it was when we moved in. :-) Simple fix, and we were back in business.

Thursday morning got a ride to the Tafuna road with a girl who works with the Coral Reef Authority office. Real easy to to talk to, and she's been here since January. She was house sitting up on CanCo hill but lives closer to the seawall.  Then, as we walked a bit down the road, a school bus picked us up.

Huge fight took place this morning on campus while I was eating breakfast. I'm talking with your fists kind of fights. You know there's a fight on campus when a bunch of students go running to watch. Oye. Later learned that there were about 15 students involved. Tafuna does not have the best reputation when it comes to having fights on campus. There are students who come from many different villages and they all have a lot of pride in their village. This was something we had been warned of, but I hadn't really seen it affecting my classroom yet.

Right away this morning, though, it seemed a few of my boys were having an argument in the back corner after the first bell rang. They were all speaking Samoan, and a few other students were trying to separate them. "No, we are not having this in my class" I thought. I simply walked back there, told them all to sit down, they didn't right away, so then I demanded that someone tell me what is going on in English. They all finally took their seats, the boys seemed a bit standoffish, but not too long after they both did a bro hug, and seemed good. I asked them both if they were good before I began.

I decided today would be a good day to incorporate a discussion about this "pride" business, what I see with these fights, student suspensions, and my expectations and understanding. Was a great discussion in my first class, and I figured it would be good to incorporate in the rest of my classes for the day. Address it before a fight would break out in my classroom. I know this can happen here, but I never felt close to any of that happening except slightly this morning. Not scary. I was confident, stopped it before it started, and was later told by the secretary that I probably gained even more respect by settling it the way I did. That's good to hear :) I know some of my students have been suspended for a few days for fighting, which I don't usually find out until they return. One told me the day she was leaving. I explained I do not want to see my students gone for that reason, and that I'm here to help them. Interesting day, not quite what I had planned, but went smoothly, and I feel like it was useful.

Didn't really have much grading as we had reviewed for a quiz in my Junior classes after our big discussion. Went to Zumba class, and then headed for the 2nd half of our football game. Yep, Thursday night this week. Played a much smaller school. They have an enrollment of 200, and Tafuna is 1300. Since there are only so many schools on this island, they play all the teams. Back home, we always played teams that came schools that were about the same size as us. I could tell there was a big difference just looking at the size of the teams. The final score was 60-0. Yeah, not horribly exciting, but my boys were hoping I would come, and I knew I could get a ride home after the game. Might as well. Saw a few of the youth from the church I've been going to at the game, which was cool. Teve goes to Fagatua High School and Reese to Samoana (her mom teaches at Tafuna. I mentioned Teve a few posts ago as we chatted a bunch after service on Wednesday of last week. Nice kid. Got a ride home with the principal. She told me that I'm doing a great job. My VP came in and observed for a while on Wednesday, so it was nice to hear that she felt the students were enjoying my lesson. Really great to hear.

Came home and had a hankering for a chocolate milk. Can't say I've had one of those since I was really little. Went to the store and bought some. Weird little thing that made me laugh and smile at the end of an interesting day before responding to emails and updating my blog. Toodles.

Sunrise, Success, Anu'u, and Fruit

Woke up Friday morning, started my stretches, and noticed that the clouds looked interesting from what I could see where I was. I decided to grab my camera quick and walk up the hill for a few "slightly after sunrise" photos. I like them.

On the left side of this photo you can see the small island of Anu'u, our planned adventure for Saturday.

I took this one on my way back down the hill and like the 60s feel of the photo. I did not edit it all. I took it like this by changing the aperture a bit.

Had a clever idea Thursday night for my classes on Friday to talk about the issue of littering in my classroom. Littering is just something that happens here, and I don't think the students fully grasp that they are doing something disrespectful in my classroom when they leave trash in the bookshelves or on the floor. Here's what I came up with:

I posted a writing prompt on the board saying, "Think about the floor, the bookshelf, and the trashcan. What do they have in common? What makes them different? How do they relate to this class?" I asked the students to write half a page on this topic. After I gave them time to write, I explained that although at first these three things may have sounded ridiculous they do actually relate to environmental science. We discussed the niche/role of something in an environment before I asked, "are you sure these three things are not the same?" They all looked at me quizzically probably thinking "is Miss Boschen asking us a trick question?". Nope, the answer is "they are not they same thing and you guys just proved that to me you know that despite the fact that you leave trash on the floor and in the bookshelves." A few of my seniors had quite the looks on their faces when they understood the significance of our writing project and how I went about the issue. I dub this clever idea a success :-) Especially since Monday, there was minimal trash on the floor and I made sure it was picked up by the students before they left. May have learned their lesson for a while.

Headed to the store before the football game for a few school supplies. Yes, Friday night football for once! Both the JV and Varsity teams from my school won against the Samoana Sharks. Had  quite a few really cool plays and blew the Sharks out. Got a ride home with one of the counselors who proceeded to buy Andrea, Stephanie, her nephews, and me some ice cream on our way. Ice cream is so customary here. Ice cream is my favorite dessert.

These next two photos are actually from last weekend. The first is from hanging by the fale in Utulei on Friday night, and the second at one of our stops along the road on the East side. I thought they were nice ones of me, so I figured I better share them.

Saturday's planned adventure (as mentioned previously) was to the little island of Anu'u. You can see it on the right hand side of this map next to the main island of Tutulia. Frank and Josh (our Florida friends) had planned this little outting, so 11 of us all loaded up mid Saturday morning and drove all the way to the wharf, which was about an hour long drive. This is actually where my Field Director was placed when she was a volunteer like me a few years ago.

We arrive at the wharf, load on to a little aluminum boat, for the 15-20 minute boat ride across to Anu'u. Probably closer to the 20 minutes this time with the rough waves. I rode up front with a few of the guys, which was a fun experience. Look at that blue blue ocean leading to the island of Anu'u. We each paid the driver $2 for taking us across.

Then began our afternoon on the little island. I love these little excursions where we just go and hardly think about work or school. It's always there when we come back, plus we have to adventure as much as possible before the rainy season really starts, which will put a damper on some hiking with all the slick rocks.

Started walking along the road (yes, there are a few vehicles on this small island), but the road more so became a trail after we walked out of the civilized portion. We were walking literally all the way around the island.

At one point Josh led us off the trail as he was sure the ocean was right there. Yep, thar she be. It was really fun to see everyone step up and over and just say "woah" or "wooo" as they took in the change of scenery. Great spot.

Then, we went back down and followed the road some more leading us to this spot with some tide pools.

I saw some more red-footed boobies and frigate birds. The one in the center of this photo is a red-footed booby. Just take my word for it.

Here's a close up photo of one I found online so you can see what I'm talking about. Check out those red feet... pretty cool.

Continued our hike around the island and felt like we were walking through Vietnam at times. Just something about it...

I think we spent around 4 hours on the island with the walk around, all our stops, swimming, and such. Then, we sat and waited for a boat to take us back. They don't really have a schedule other than come and go when they have passengers.

Back on Tutuila we stopped at a burger place in the village of Alofau on our way home. Big plate of food for $5 and good stuff. You order up at the window...

.... then head across to the ocean and eat at picnic tables. Nice little spot. Decently tired by the time we made it home, and then it was 10:00 before I knew it.

Sunday spent some time on lesson plans, laundry, and things like that. I decided to do my "Tight buns and killer legs" workout video, although I was told we would likely do Insanity. Just as I finished, I got the message we would start Insanity soon. Perfect timing. Got them both in, ate a little, showered quick, and decided to go to evening service at church - the topic was contemporary Christian music, which I enjoy, but this came from a different perspective; my studies in religion mentioned me on this topic and the way information was presented. This Christian church I have been going to is rather conservative and holds value on memorizing and reciting scripture. We did some singing, which I always enjoy, and then I was just intrigued and thinking the rest of the night. One of the longest van rides home ever as we stopped for gas, dropped a few off who don't normally ride, got some chocolate dipped ice cream cones, and then I made it home around 8:20pm. Worked a little on the computer before stretching and calling it a night.

Back it on Monday. Got a ride with Junior and his dad to school, and we got to meet his mom today. Then, I found myself rather excited when there were apples at breakfast. I always love the days where we have some real fruit, not just canned stuff (although I'm mighty happy with that too). Still not a single complaint from me on school lunches yet. I mean #1 they are free, and #2 they cover some basic food groups. Fruit! Fruit! Fruit! One of the other teachers insisted I take a second one. I was already full on my waffles and eggs, so I took the two apples back with me. One I ended up eating as my after school snack and the other is in the fridge now for Tuesday. Then, at lunch apparently there were oranges with the pizza. Before I headed over, one of my students showed up and set an orange on my desk next to my apples. I saved it, took it home, and had it with my supper of mac and cheese today. I never used to like eating oranges just like this, but looks like I grew out of that one finally down here. Fruit! Fruit! Fruit! :-)

Had my junior class do a fun writing or drawing project (their choice) on their favorite person, place, or thing to get us started on Monday. Went pretty well, and then we discussed some element percentages in the universe, earth, and human body. I had my seniors work on some questions out of the textbook on their own today to see how they handled that. Although, it's no my favorite work it's good practice for them, as college is a lot about independence and not being hand held or guided through everything by your instructor.

I went to Cost U Less after school, got a ride home with Max (he gave me a ride once when I was still living at Vo Tech for orientation. He saw me and thought I looked like I was tired of walking already. Gotta admit, I did have a ways to go still before I'd make it to the main road to catch the Leone bus, so I was thankful. Also fun to chat with him. He said I should call him anytime I'm out there like this for a ride home. He had given myself and one other volunteer his number already in case we ever needed help. He said he went through a time where others were always helping him and he likes helping others out.

Ended my Monday by exercising, eating my orange and mac and cheese, and updating my blog. Think I might watch Finding Nemo before heading to bed tonight. Hope you all have a great week!