Just a Few Things

So... I kept going back and forth all afternoon whether or not I was going to work on a post today or not. At first, I couldn't really think of a creative way to write about anything in particular this time. There were a few things worthy of mentioning, though. Plus, I know I have some regular readers that know I generally have a post up Friday morning. haha.

Here goes... I really wanted to show some sort of video to my students dealing with nature and conservation. I didn't want it to just be a documentary. Don't get me wrong, documentaries are interesting, but I wanted to find a little something more. As I was searching for what I could download for free on iTunes, I stumbled upon an episode of The Discovery Channel series Dual Survival. "Ah, this may be my ticket."

I had watched this show a handful of times with my mom back home and started thinking, "yeah, this could work." Give them a different way of looking at the concept of living off the land. Our ancestors all used to live off the land without things like cars, electricity, phones, etc. Turns out the episode I could get even included a little story about the home of the main guy in the show. His home is super environmentally friendly. He collects lots of rain water, has solar panels, rocks that naturally radiate heat on the floor, and collects wind. He doesn't pay a single utility bill on his house. I explained that he had to pay for all the foundation and the panels themselves, but they start to pay themselves off. Thinking about the way we currently do things affects the environment. Not too shabby. Some were also intrigued by the show. Others, indifferent, and some... ungrateful. Yeah, I found myself thinking that word more than once this week. "Ungrateful little punks." Oh well, focus my energy on the kids that care. :-) I shared this episode with three of my classes. 

I took the class I subbed for and one of my of my own to my colleague's room where a presenter I'm having come next week to a few classes was speaking - Tina from the Tula Observatory. I talked about my tour with her and trip out to the Cape a few weeks ago. Her presentation was great, as it included personal stories, photos, and introduced the kids to several different science careers. Not just one, but a handful. My fellow Earth Science teacher had invited me to bring any classes if I would like. Also, Ranger Pa'i came back to my room to talk with one of my classes again. She talked a little more about the marine part of the National Park and shared some videos from the reefs out in Manu'a (the outer islands).

Zumba was fantastic after school on Thursday. I was a little sluggish halfway through on Wednesday, and it felt great to be able to keep my energy level up throughout the workout on Thursday. Then, Peteru led us with an ab workout to finish our session. I learned some new ab moves I've never tried before. Nice little things I can mix in this month as I'm focusing on my core and abs.

I enjoyed a little cup of ice cream while I was watching some How I Met Your Mother. Okay, so ice cream is pretty much one of my favorite desserts of all time. Good ole plain vanilla ice cream. It's also the less unhealthy options when it comes to desserts. hahaha Well, I've been thinking about throwing in these little photos and decided today was the day. 

If I buy a tub of ice cream from the store, you know it looks like what you see here. Pretty typical, and delicious in this form of course. Yet...

I like to swirl it with my spoon unti lit softens up even more - looking more like homemade ice cream or soft serve. My brother and I used to do this all the time, as I'm sure many kids did growing up. Yep, this is probably one of my favorite ways to enjoy a tub of ice cream :-) Even better....

Smooth, creamy, and not destroyed with chocolate (as my roommate likes to eat it). ;-) Vanilla ice cream will forever be my favorite.

Finally, I have a video I took one day I was riding home in the back of a truck. I've been wanting to video the mountains as we go to try to give you all a little better idea of how much dimension there is to this mountainous island. I try to describe it, but I struggle. My pictures don't show you at all what I'm talking about. This video helps a bit more. It's just so hard to grasp without seeing it for yourself. I can't get over it no matter how many times I ride down the road.

I hope you all have a great weekend! Until next time...