A Long Week....

The past week has seemed so long! The elementary school on the military base started a 4H/citizenship club, and invited students of the Ebeye elementary school to join. I found out right before the 2nd meeting that I was supposed to be a leader for this; so Monday after school, myself and another teacher brought 15 students on the boat over to Kwajalein, the military base. The school there had organized a Valentine’s Day party for our students (who obviously didn’t know much about valentine’s day). Everyone there was really nice. Fortunately, I think all my kids had a good time, so all’s well that ends well.

When I got off the boat back in ebeye at 7:30 or so, I was nervous because I assumed my van hadn’t waited for me to bring me back to Gugeegue (I was right), and I hate being in Ebeye after dark, especially alone (I’m sure it’s safe, I’m just intimidated by it). Fortunately, as I walked to the school I found my neighbor, Svoki, in Ebeye. Apparently she had come in for the closing ceremonies of Liberation week (liberation week had ended 2 weeks prior…. Island time). Though I was glad to have a ride and be amongst people I knew. The closing ceremony started an hour and a half late and didn’t end until 10:30 (with a ½ hour ride home), which made for a long day. I’ve quickly realized here that if you don’t get the necessary 8 hours of sleep, or don’t eat right (I was trying to eat school lunches for a while, but all I can eat of them and not get sick is the rice), you can immediately start to feel the sickness creeping in. With a long day to start the week and not having much time/choices in eating, I of course got strept for the second time since I’ve been here.

The rest of the week went on with the normal daily routines. Outside of school we have our weekly Gugeegue viewings of LOST on the channel. I’d always sworn against Harry Potter, but my need for reading has led me to book 5. The week had the normal school activities, lots of grading and preparing lessons, lots of yelling at my mischievous students. Wednesday, they were so bad and I was too sick to yell at them all day that I just had to send them home so I could spend the afternoon talking to the principal. However, when I told them to go home, they wouldn’t because they said their parents would beat them for skipping school- so I had to write notes saying I cancelled class and no one was in trouble (even though they were). Even then, some kids wouldn’t leave. One of my boys got in a fight, punching one girl in the stomach, and kicking another girl’s head into the wall. I’d love to tell you how my teaching is going, but I haven’t been able to do much of it with all the discipline problems. It got to the point where my class literally asked me to hit them so they will listen- I don’t think I’d ever been so confused. But it makes sense, if they get hit at home and hit at school, no other form of discipline I use will make any sense to them. After seeking advice, my current method is strike 1) name on board as a warning. Strike 2) Stay in for recess and after school detention. Strike 3) Go home with a letter to their parents to get signed. And of course it’s not that simple, because even dragging a student out of the class, they still won’t go home, so when they refuse, I have to now give their name to the police reporting them as a “disorderly student”. We’ll see how this method works….

Being here truly is lots of highs and lows, and while the discipline problems can be huge lows sometimes, the students also come with a lot of highs. While I don’t condone their distractions, I do find some highly entertaining and creative. Some students found Christmas ornaments that they unwrapped and realized were ping pong balls underneath. They put books on a table as a net, and use square pieces of wood as paddles and play ping pong.

All my students love to draw; I have a few wonderful artists and I wish somewhere here had resources for them to explore their talents. They are always drawing me pictures. One boy is so musically gifted. He’s always slapping himself with rhythms, or finding something to use as drums… I’ll have to get it on camera. They feel more than free to participate in class, unlike other classes who are maybe to scared or intimidated to. A lot of my students are really very smart. They are always checking their grades and retaking tests they missed, while others in the class couldn’t care less. The class has so many levels it’s hard to challenge everyone without leaving some behind. So while my class has constant discipline problems which cause me much grief, the highs of the classroom make it worth it.

The power went out on Friday, as it has done many times before, but Friday happened to be unbearably hot so with no AC, school got out early. I got back to Gugeegue and took our neighbors son (Sebastian) swimming, which made for a great start to the weekend. We spent most of Saturday and Andrea’s, who made us wonderful food (pasta sallad, waldorf salad, and homemade focachia bread….mmmm….). I went to church with Marci in Ebeye on Sunday to hear her speak (on the 5 mile walk home is when we found out about the tsunami warnings). Monday was a holiday (Nuclear Day- at least we got a holiday out of the US bombings!), so no school and some neighbors taught us how to make rice/pumpkin/coconut milk soup. While at home it will require some canned coconut milk, here it requires our neighbors husband climbing trees for coconuts.

Today was back to school! This weekend we are visiting another volunteer on an island in our atoll near another military base, so hopefully that goes well.

Hope all is well at home! Some days I wish I could trade my heat for snow… though not very many!