Photos, Hammock, Surprises, and Rain

Sunday was a productive and relaxing day. I went to church in the morning. Van was full in the morning as it was raining a bit. I do love the van experience. The little sisters were on again, and they're always fun. After church, I was one of the last ones to be dropped off and Richard bought me and some of the boys ice cream again. He asked what I was having for lunch, and I told him I don't really think about it ahead of time. He said I should start because people will ask here in Samoa. haha He's the only one that keeps asking me that so far. Made it back home about 1pm and worked on some stuff for school.

After taking football photos on Saturday, I found myself wanting to get my Nikon D70 out some more. Taking a break and taking some photos was my reward for getting lesson plans for the week done. Took some photos of the foliage that is right around where I live. I'm pretty happy with some of them.

Some of the roommates were in town today and they picked up our packages. That means my hammock is here from home! The hammock I purchased in the Amazon Rainforest of Ecuador has found its way back to the rainforest. Good feeling. One of my most vivid memories includes sitting in one of these at our rainforest cabins.

I finished some more school work before letting myself sit in for a while.

Then, I watched the bats for a while. I continue to be amazed by these flying foxes. I filmed them a bit, so you can attempt to get a feel for how many of them just start flying about as dusks begins to fall where I am currently living.

Still in a photographing mood and decided I'd try my luck with some shots at night again. They really aren't my forte, but I'm enjoying playing around with them. Didn't bring a tripod along for nothing.

I headed up the hill from where I live. There were more red tones than I imagined when I left the shutter open with my lens more level with the ground. I think the red was coming from some surrounding street lights, but I liked it. These first two have an eerie feel about them. The first one I did tweak a bit just for fun.

There's something about this one that I really like...

The moon was really bright, and you'll notice a hazy surrounding. It was rather cloudy, but they kept moving.

First thing Monday morning I have some football players in my room wanting to look through the photos I took at the game. It was fun to watch them go through them and light up when they say themselves and their friends.

Another thing that came in my package from home was this little teddy bear with a Husker t-shirt. He has found his new home on my desk at school. You'll also notice I have a new flower on my desk - one with red. A senior brought it in and was just going to throw it out, but I asked to put it on my desk. I used to buy flowers every now and then in my apartment at Morningside to have on the table and my desk.

My ula still smelled nice on Monday morning, which is why I decided to leave it on my desk over the weekend. The flowers were starting to dry up, though. I ended up throwing it out Tuesday.

Surprise on Monday... The vice principal comes into my room telling me to send two boys to his office next period. What on earth could they be bringing back? More desks? Books?... They come back with this huge narrow box. What is that? "A white board," they say. "A white board? Well that's exciting." It's been receiving some compliments from the students. haha

I also received some brand new dictionaries on Tuesday morning. 3 to be exact. They are really nice and will come in handy from time to time.

Went to the mens' volleyball games on campus, but I decided to go home before the end of the JV game. I had some things I needed to work on for school. It was already getting late for a bus, but I planned on trying to catch a ride anyway. This nice family picked me up - Noah, his wife, and their two little girls They lived in the opposite direction of where I was heading, and I would have been more than happy with just a ride to the main road, but then he said "I'm going to take you all the way home." Above and beyond. We had a nice little chat, and I hope I see him again. As we pulled in to Pava'ia'i, we actually came in on a little back road, which was cool. I didn't explain well the first time where exactly I lived in the village. haha Then, Noah insisted I take some McDonald's home with me. Too nice.

I spent some time making some rulers on Monday night. Yes, I did just say "making some rulers". I wasn't sure how many students had them, and I wanted to do an activity using rulers on Tuesday. I wasn't going to go buy any for a couple of reasons, and I had this perfect piece of cardboard. Made 10 rulers that worked just fine for our classwork. Some of the kids laughed at them, and others understood exactly why I just made them. No complaints. Glad I made them.

Rain, rain, rain, and some more rain on Tuesday. First, as I was in photo mood lately I decided I should wake up and try to take some sunrise shots from the top of the hill. Of course the first morning I try from up here, it's way too cloudy. haha Many mornings when we were living down at Vo Tech High School, I would take photos of the sunrise, as it was different every day. But hey there's always tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow. I've got months to get some sunrise shots ove the bay :) On my walk back down the hill, I did get some cool shots of the clouds. They were clearing up a bit in this direction.

Got a ride this morning with some ladies that live up the road from where we do. They said they see us standing waiting often in the morning, so might be picking us up more if they see us. So, the days the guys go into work at a different time, we may have another option. I don't really mind the bus, but these other rides get us to school earlier, which it's nice to get a little ahead sometimes. Plus, it's much easier to chat with people in vehicles than on the bus. Both great forms of transportation.

It rained throughout the day. Just a rainy day. Walked down the Tafuna road in some rain. Yes, I could have gotten on the bus, but I figured it would be good for me, and I like walking. Made it just fine. My skirt was a bit wet, but no biggie. Picked up some groceris, came home, started to do some exercise and it began raining again. It's actually raining still right now as I write this post at 9pm my time. Rainy day. I sat in my hammock for a while as it rained, which brings me back to Ecuador.  One of my vivid memories is of sitting in one of the hammocks there in the rainforest as it peacefully poured. The epitome of the rainforest experience I dreamed. Every time I sit in my hammock, I find myself thinking about that experience. Here I am truly reliving it now in a different rainforest. The rainforest hammock back in the rainforest. "Back in its natural habitat!" commented my advisor on Facebook :-)

I've really been into this HDR photo I took of one of the flower pot islands (either Fatu or Futi). I received some compliments on Facebook, I have it as my current desktop background, and I figured I might as well post it here, as well. You'll notice the highlights are stronger (that's the HDR). One thing I really liked about this one was how I tilted the angle. Usually get in trouble for not having straight horizons, but this was intentional and artistic. Photography is the extent of my artistic ability. haha. On a photography kick. One of my hobbies and relaxing activities.