Ok, so apparently I'm really bad at writing on this thing because clearly I haven't written in over 3 weeks. Moving on...THANKSGIVING!!! My all time favorite holiday! Honestly I had been dreading Thanksgiving for the sole reason of I would be away from my family and clearly this is the holiday that everyone gets together, eats turkey, and watches the Lions game. EVERY YEAR. Without fail. I was pretty upset that I would miss it but thankfully God knew just what I needed to take my mind off of being away from my loved ones. After all was said and done I had 3 full Thanksgiving meals, all wonderfully prepared by people of the community (not all on the same day btw) and a much better attitude about the Thanksgiving holiday. :-D
Well, it started out with my adoptive Palaun mother (all of the SM's have adoptive parents and they do things for us and make us feel at home etc.) Her name is Sarah and we hadn't really done much of anything together for the past few months with the excpetion of saying hello at church. Well this past weekend, she set me and Ale (a fellow SM, my roommate, and my Palauan cousin because her adoptive mom is my adoptive moms sister) up at a local resort that she works at for the weekend. The resorts name is Palau Pacific Resort (PPR). We had heard a lot about it but hadn't ever been there. Well since my mother works there she gets rooms and stuff for free so she sent us there and we got to stay in a room with a t.v. and eat and swim and do all kinds of stuff....FOR FREE!! It was so amazing! It was like being in the states...only on a much nicer beach! We had T.V. in our room and we certainly utlized that via the disney channel and ESPN and all of the other priveleges.
One funny story was I went to the bathroom in our room and it had butt rinsers and dryers! Of course I had to try it out. Weird experience I'm not gonna lie. AND!! Our shower had hot water!! In our apartment we don't get hot showers...ever. You best believe I took multiple showers within that less than 24 hour period. It was amazing.
Point of the story is...I'm really thankful that my Palauan mother was so gracious as to set us up at the resort because not only did it make me feel loved but it also made me feel as though I really wasn't that far away from home after all.
In the end, I had an amazing Thanksgiving, and though I missed the Lions playing and my precious family, I know there will be other times and that God has good plans for me.
Hope this finds everyone well.
Mucho Amor until next time :-D
Monday, December 1, 2008
Friday, November 14, 2008
Redeeming Love
I am finally over my cold!! I was so bummed on Sunday when I couldn't go diving due to my head cold. Every diver knows that going diving when sick is like a death sentence...so I stayed home and graded. I got a lot done...as far as diving....maybe next time which will hopefully be next weekend.
This week was a really great week. I finally came to the realization that God needs to be the ultimate center of everything in my life. I have found that no matter how many times people may tell me to make him the center of my life and how much I try to tell myself that He needs to be...I just needed to figure it out on my own. And this week, I'm not sure how, but I did! I already feel much better about a lot of the situations in my life such as with my students, their parents, roommates, my family, and being away from home. God has sent peace to my heart and as I write this I have tears in my eyes for the joy and surrender that I am experiencing. I always get so irritated with people telling me how to "find God" and how to give up control...and though I will probably still get irritated when people tell me how it is, I now FEEL His peace. This peace God has given me is just overwhelming and though it will not be easy to maintain this feeling, I have true faith, for the first time in my life, that God will carry me through and that He is in COMPLETE and TOTAL control. What a great feeling!
All of these feelings made my week so much better and caused me to have great fun with my kids. Yesterday was International Day and as a school function we had a food fair type thing with all of the students countries represented. Anyways, my class went to the fair at our specified time and we had a blast! We tried all kinds of food and played with origami and what not from all these other countries. The countries represented were the Phillipines, Palau, Sri Lanka, Japan, Korea, and Indonesia. It was so cool to see my kids dressed up in their native wear and to have them run to me, grad my hand, and take me to a booth saying "Teacher teacher come try this food...it's so good, we eat it all the time at home." What a great time we had! I tried all kinds of random foods, some really tasty, some not so much, but the bonding between me and my students was priceless.
In the end all that's left for me to say is I am so grateful for the peace, relaxation, and fun spiritedness that God has bestowed upon me this week. Thank you for letting me share all of this with you and I pray that you will find your way in your spiritual walk with the help of God's REDEEMING LOVE.
Much love to all until next time....:-D
This week was a really great week. I finally came to the realization that God needs to be the ultimate center of everything in my life. I have found that no matter how many times people may tell me to make him the center of my life and how much I try to tell myself that He needs to be...I just needed to figure it out on my own. And this week, I'm not sure how, but I did! I already feel much better about a lot of the situations in my life such as with my students, their parents, roommates, my family, and being away from home. God has sent peace to my heart and as I write this I have tears in my eyes for the joy and surrender that I am experiencing. I always get so irritated with people telling me how to "find God" and how to give up control...and though I will probably still get irritated when people tell me how it is, I now FEEL His peace. This peace God has given me is just overwhelming and though it will not be easy to maintain this feeling, I have true faith, for the first time in my life, that God will carry me through and that He is in COMPLETE and TOTAL control. What a great feeling!
All of these feelings made my week so much better and caused me to have great fun with my kids. Yesterday was International Day and as a school function we had a food fair type thing with all of the students countries represented. Anyways, my class went to the fair at our specified time and we had a blast! We tried all kinds of food and played with origami and what not from all these other countries. The countries represented were the Phillipines, Palau, Sri Lanka, Japan, Korea, and Indonesia. It was so cool to see my kids dressed up in their native wear and to have them run to me, grad my hand, and take me to a booth saying "Teacher teacher come try this food...it's so good, we eat it all the time at home." What a great time we had! I tried all kinds of random foods, some really tasty, some not so much, but the bonding between me and my students was priceless.
In the end all that's left for me to say is I am so grateful for the peace, relaxation, and fun spiritedness that God has bestowed upon me this week. Thank you for letting me share all of this with you and I pray that you will find your way in your spiritual walk with the help of God's REDEEMING LOVE.
Much love to all until next time....:-D
Monday, November 3, 2008
2 weeks in a nutshell
So it's been WAY too long since I've written and for that I truly apologize. I will try to recap the last couple weeks but for the short version... I've been yelled at by a crazy parent TWICE, fallen out of my hammock (huge bruise to prove it), watched some great basketball, totally rearranged my classroom, and had a surprise day off of school.
Now for the long version...
2 weekends ago (the weekend of parent teacher conferences)was a long weekend. It was the most amazing long weekend because my housemates and I were able to do some real exploring of the town we live in and we found some pretty interesting stores. There are a lot of souvenir shops and a lot of knock off brands of Chanel, Dior and other such expensive brands. There are also a lot of creepy, nasty, unhealthy looking dogs and let's just say I stay far away from them. Since it was around Halloween time there were a lot of costumes out...we had a lot of fun trying them on and taking pictures. The workers were just laughing and probably thinking "those crazy Americans." Oh well, it was fun. :-D Pictures are posted as well. On that long weekend we also went to the championship game of the National Filipino basketball league here in Palau. We had a few friends on the Surangel team so we went and cheered them on. THEY WON!! Good times.
This past weekend was nice and relaxing...to enjoy that relaxation I decided to go outside and lay in my hammock and read a nice book. We set up 3 of our hammocks out on our porch and sometimes we sleep in them and sometimes we just relax out there. Anyways, on this particular night, I went out to read and got in my hammock...sadly I did not realize that the rope on one side was thinning out from being outside so long and from so many people laying in it. Needless to say it snapped and I landed on my bum...huge bruise...hurt a lot...pictures on the link. Enough said.
I also took the opportunity of a new month to redecorate my classroom and to rearrange the students desks. It feels so refreshing to have new decorations and what not. It's all decorated with fun Thanksgiving type stuff. I love Thanksgiving...my favorite holiday.
Last but not least...today (Monday) at about noon the school office got a phone call from the president of Palau's office saying that the president was declaring tomorrow (Tuesday) a national holiday due to the elections so we should cancel school for the day. HAHA! Unfortunately, by the time we as the teachers got the news school was already let out for the day. So we each had to call the parents in our class to let them know of the free day tomorrow. So...SURPIRSE! NO SCHOOL TOMORROW!!
Well that's all for now. Next time I will stay on my toes and not wait 2 weeks to write again.
love to all...until next time :-D
Now for the long version...
2 weekends ago (the weekend of parent teacher conferences)was a long weekend. It was the most amazing long weekend because my housemates and I were able to do some real exploring of the town we live in and we found some pretty interesting stores. There are a lot of souvenir shops and a lot of knock off brands of Chanel, Dior and other such expensive brands. There are also a lot of creepy, nasty, unhealthy looking dogs and let's just say I stay far away from them. Since it was around Halloween time there were a lot of costumes out...we had a lot of fun trying them on and taking pictures. The workers were just laughing and probably thinking "those crazy Americans." Oh well, it was fun. :-D Pictures are posted as well. On that long weekend we also went to the championship game of the National Filipino basketball league here in Palau. We had a few friends on the Surangel team so we went and cheered them on. THEY WON!! Good times.
This past weekend was nice and relaxing...to enjoy that relaxation I decided to go outside and lay in my hammock and read a nice book. We set up 3 of our hammocks out on our porch and sometimes we sleep in them and sometimes we just relax out there. Anyways, on this particular night, I went out to read and got in my hammock...sadly I did not realize that the rope on one side was thinning out from being outside so long and from so many people laying in it. Needless to say it snapped and I landed on my bum...huge bruise...hurt a lot...pictures on the link. Enough said.
I also took the opportunity of a new month to redecorate my classroom and to rearrange the students desks. It feels so refreshing to have new decorations and what not. It's all decorated with fun Thanksgiving type stuff. I love Thanksgiving...my favorite holiday.
Last but not least...today (Monday) at about noon the school office got a phone call from the president of Palau's office saying that the president was declaring tomorrow (Tuesday) a national holiday due to the elections so we should cancel school for the day. HAHA! Unfortunately, by the time we as the teachers got the news school was already let out for the day. So we each had to call the parents in our class to let them know of the free day tomorrow. So...SURPIRSE! NO SCHOOL TOMORROW!!
Well that's all for now. Next time I will stay on my toes and not wait 2 weeks to write again.
love to all...until next time :-D
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Parent Teacher Conferences
So parent teacher conferences were today...and boy do I have stories.
The way PTC's work here is that the school assigns a time for the parent to come in for 15 minutes and that is the time we have to discuss how the child is doing and what not. Well my first appointment was at 8:00 with Taldil's parents. Now I knew that her dad was the chief of Koror (The state we live in) but her mom is the one that always comes in to drop her off and pick her up and what not so I just figured she would be the one to come for the conferences. Anyways, long story short...THE CHIEF shows up at my door 2 hours after his appointment with a big long story as to why he's so late and that his daughter didn't tell him anything about the appointment until it was too late and on and on. First of all...THE CHIEF JUST WALKED INTO MY CLASSROOM...do I bow, shake his hand, look him in the eye, what do I do? Anyways, after 15 minutes of him telling me stories about his life and me laughing and us not discussing his daughters grades at all, he gave me 2 contact numbers, said call whenever you need anything, stood up, shook my hand, mentioned his name again (which I think was to solidify any doubts that I may have had that he is indeed the chief) and left. Glad he's a nice guy.
Most of my other appointments for the day went very well. One mom had me cracking up because right when she walked in she said "my son hates to study and all he wants to do is watch television and he's just so emotional all the time and I truly apologize." Cute lady.
Genesis'(my problem child) dad came in and before even looking at the grades said "you know, my son has an attitude problem and I don't mind if when he gets out of line if you just spank him." HAHA! All I could do was chuckle. It still makes me laugh as I am writing this. He then gave me 4 numbers to reach him at. 4!
All was well up until one mother came in. It was like a tornado came in behind her because all she could do was complain about the school and the teachers and how I assign homework. She kept telling me to Tell Nelson (the principal) about this this and this and I just kept thinking you go tell him yourself! She was not happy to put it nicely. She saw her son's grades and said "I will not accept these B's until I know that my child is getting the best education possible and that his teachers are trying their hardest." Side note..YOUR CHILD HAS A'S AND B+'S!! THAT IS NOT BAD!! she continued by saying "I would like to have a copy of your lesson plans to verify what he is learning and so that I know what my child is learning. I will be coming in to observe your teaching skills next week." WHAT?! She also had a lot of beef about the math grade and I told her that I don't teach math, that teacher is in the library if you would like to talk with her. To which she said "I'm sick of hearing you all tell me that you don't teach a certain subject. This is a conference. His teachers should all be here at once so I can talk to them." She just kept going on and on like that. Totally outrageous stuff. I didn't really say anything because I didn't feel like I had anything nice to say and my mom and dad always taught me that if I can't say anything nice then don't say anything at all. :-D
After discussing this whole ordeal with Nelson I found out that this is not the first time she has done something like this and that last year was even worse, especially with the math teacher who is the same person as last year. That makes me feel a bit better. :-D
So in the end, I have met the chief, laughed hysterically with parents, been chewed out by a crazy mother, and I'm still alive to tell about it! Monday is coming quickly though so I pray that all will continue to be well. My spirits will not be crushed!
Until next time...love to all! :-D
The way PTC's work here is that the school assigns a time for the parent to come in for 15 minutes and that is the time we have to discuss how the child is doing and what not. Well my first appointment was at 8:00 with Taldil's parents. Now I knew that her dad was the chief of Koror (The state we live in) but her mom is the one that always comes in to drop her off and pick her up and what not so I just figured she would be the one to come for the conferences. Anyways, long story short...THE CHIEF shows up at my door 2 hours after his appointment with a big long story as to why he's so late and that his daughter didn't tell him anything about the appointment until it was too late and on and on. First of all...THE CHIEF JUST WALKED INTO MY CLASSROOM...do I bow, shake his hand, look him in the eye, what do I do? Anyways, after 15 minutes of him telling me stories about his life and me laughing and us not discussing his daughters grades at all, he gave me 2 contact numbers, said call whenever you need anything, stood up, shook my hand, mentioned his name again (which I think was to solidify any doubts that I may have had that he is indeed the chief) and left. Glad he's a nice guy.
Most of my other appointments for the day went very well. One mom had me cracking up because right when she walked in she said "my son hates to study and all he wants to do is watch television and he's just so emotional all the time and I truly apologize." Cute lady.
Genesis'(my problem child) dad came in and before even looking at the grades said "you know, my son has an attitude problem and I don't mind if when he gets out of line if you just spank him." HAHA! All I could do was chuckle. It still makes me laugh as I am writing this. He then gave me 4 numbers to reach him at. 4!
All was well up until one mother came in. It was like a tornado came in behind her because all she could do was complain about the school and the teachers and how I assign homework. She kept telling me to Tell Nelson (the principal) about this this and this and I just kept thinking you go tell him yourself! She was not happy to put it nicely. She saw her son's grades and said "I will not accept these B's until I know that my child is getting the best education possible and that his teachers are trying their hardest." Side note..YOUR CHILD HAS A'S AND B+'S!! THAT IS NOT BAD!! she continued by saying "I would like to have a copy of your lesson plans to verify what he is learning and so that I know what my child is learning. I will be coming in to observe your teaching skills next week." WHAT?! She also had a lot of beef about the math grade and I told her that I don't teach math, that teacher is in the library if you would like to talk with her. To which she said "I'm sick of hearing you all tell me that you don't teach a certain subject. This is a conference. His teachers should all be here at once so I can talk to them." She just kept going on and on like that. Totally outrageous stuff. I didn't really say anything because I didn't feel like I had anything nice to say and my mom and dad always taught me that if I can't say anything nice then don't say anything at all. :-D
After discussing this whole ordeal with Nelson I found out that this is not the first time she has done something like this and that last year was even worse, especially with the math teacher who is the same person as last year. That makes me feel a bit better. :-D
So in the end, I have met the chief, laughed hysterically with parents, been chewed out by a crazy mother, and I'm still alive to tell about it! Monday is coming quickly though so I pray that all will continue to be well. My spirits will not be crushed!
Until next time...love to all! :-D
Friday, October 10, 2008
Pen Pals Unite!
Earlier this year I decided to incorporate pen pals into my daily lessons for my class because I feel it is important to be in contact with people from different cultures and from different parts of the world. I worked it out with the 3rd and 4th grade teacher at OAKS, the school I worked at in Tennessee, as well as with the school I attended as a young girl in Worthington, Ohio. So... each student has 2 pen pals, one in Tennessee and one in Ohio.
So this week we (my class and I) received our first package from our pen pals in Tennessee! I cannot tell you the joy I felt seeing my students read their letters and see the pictures of their new friends in Tennessee. They were so eager to write back telling of all their favorite things and to send pictures of themselves. One of my trouble makers, Rois, came to my desk and was so excited to read me her letter from her new friend named Emily. After she read Emily's letter to me she said to me "Teacher, Emily doesn't like homework and neither do I!...Emily's favorite color is purple and so is mine!" I have never seen her respond to things with such excitement. She was truly shocked that someone so far away was so much like her. She quickly wrote a letter back to Emily and was so happy to turn it in and have it sent. This coming from the girl that NEVER turns anything in! My heart truly filled with awe and joy.
One little boy in TN sent pictures of his electric guitar and his pet gerbils and his Wii. Ozzie, my student, was the recipient and he was so excited to get extra pictures. He came and asked me, "Teacher, what is this animal" because he had never seen a gerbil before and "teacher I have a Wii too. I wonder what his favorite game is?" To which I said why don't you ask him in your letter. He was so excited about the whole thing that the first thing he wanted to do was take his letter and pictures home and show his dad. I told him as long as he brought it back so we could hang it on the wall that it was ok. He came back the next day still talking about it!
I found it pretty funny that when I was proofreading their letters, almost all of them wrote, "I can't wait till you come to Palau so i can take you to the rock islands...see you soon." I just had to chuckle. TOO CUTE!
I truly believe that pen pals is such a great idea and a great way to make new friends. I'm pretty sure this has been the most joyful experience I have had with them thus far. I was just so honored to be a part of their excitement.
Happy Sabbath...Hope this finds everyone well....much love....until next time...:-D
So this week we (my class and I) received our first package from our pen pals in Tennessee! I cannot tell you the joy I felt seeing my students read their letters and see the pictures of their new friends in Tennessee. They were so eager to write back telling of all their favorite things and to send pictures of themselves. One of my trouble makers, Rois, came to my desk and was so excited to read me her letter from her new friend named Emily. After she read Emily's letter to me she said to me "Teacher, Emily doesn't like homework and neither do I!...Emily's favorite color is purple and so is mine!" I have never seen her respond to things with such excitement. She was truly shocked that someone so far away was so much like her. She quickly wrote a letter back to Emily and was so happy to turn it in and have it sent. This coming from the girl that NEVER turns anything in! My heart truly filled with awe and joy.
One little boy in TN sent pictures of his electric guitar and his pet gerbils and his Wii. Ozzie, my student, was the recipient and he was so excited to get extra pictures. He came and asked me, "Teacher, what is this animal" because he had never seen a gerbil before and "teacher I have a Wii too. I wonder what his favorite game is?" To which I said why don't you ask him in your letter. He was so excited about the whole thing that the first thing he wanted to do was take his letter and pictures home and show his dad. I told him as long as he brought it back so we could hang it on the wall that it was ok. He came back the next day still talking about it!
I found it pretty funny that when I was proofreading their letters, almost all of them wrote, "I can't wait till you come to Palau so i can take you to the rock islands...see you soon." I just had to chuckle. TOO CUTE!
I truly believe that pen pals is such a great idea and a great way to make new friends. I'm pretty sure this has been the most joyful experience I have had with them thus far. I was just so honored to be a part of their excitement.
Happy Sabbath...Hope this finds everyone well....much love....until next time...:-D
Monday, October 6, 2008
Not just another ordinary day
So today was a pretty good day. Nothing too out of the ordinary happened, however ordinary seems to be a relative term these days because I have to be ready for anything it seems like. I wasn't so thrilled about waking up this morning but once I got to school my students just brightened up my day so much. It wasn't necessarily particular things they did but just being together seemed to be fun. Teaching them was really fun today because they actually seemed interested and we laughed and had a great time teaching and learning together. Tomorrow we are watching Finding Nemo for science class because we are studying amphibians, reptiles, fish, etc. I am also looking into getting a class goldfish so we can further our interest in fish and also because it would be pretty much amazing to have a class fish. I'm going tomorrow to see if I can find one at the store. If not I will just have to truck myself down to the ocean and go fish for one myself. :-D
I must say that what totally transformed my day from just another "ordinary" day to an amazing day was when I went to the office and found that I had a package and a card from my mom. I quickly opened the card and found that not just she, but all of my Worthington, OH friends and family had signed the card too! I was truly, no joke, brought to tears just standing there in the office. It feels so nice to be thought of. So for that...all of you who wrote in that card, I truly from the bottom of my pea-pickin heart thank you. :-D
Tonight, the plans are to play a rousing game of volleyball and to continue the never-ending process of grading.
Hope this finds everyone well. Until next time....:-D
I must say that what totally transformed my day from just another "ordinary" day to an amazing day was when I went to the office and found that I had a package and a card from my mom. I quickly opened the card and found that not just she, but all of my Worthington, OH friends and family had signed the card too! I was truly, no joke, brought to tears just standing there in the office. It feels so nice to be thought of. So for that...all of you who wrote in that card, I truly from the bottom of my pea-pickin heart thank you. :-D
Tonight, the plans are to play a rousing game of volleyball and to continue the never-ending process of grading.
Hope this finds everyone well. Until next time....:-D
Thursday, October 2, 2008
He's got manners!
I got a new student yesterday!! His name is Kyle and he's Filipino and his English cracks me up! I am now proud to report that I have an even 16 students in my class now. When he first walked in to the classroom I asked him his name and he gave me like 4 names then his last name. Then I asked well which one do you want me to call you? And he said Kyle...so Kyle it is!
It's kind of funny because the other kids automatically deem him as not as smart as them because he's new but man did Kyle blow their minds. He answered questions faster than they did and read better than some of them. The other students are quite impressed. Today he raised his hand to answer a question and stood up answered it (kinda like a soldier)...correctly I might add...then sat down and the other kids were in shock asking themselves why is he standing up. Their faces were priceless. THIS KIDS GOT MANNERS! Hopefully the other's will take note. I just had to laugh. The make me laugh so much everyday. Man I just love my students! :-D
Until next time...PEACE
It's kind of funny because the other kids automatically deem him as not as smart as them because he's new but man did Kyle blow their minds. He answered questions faster than they did and read better than some of them. The other students are quite impressed. Today he raised his hand to answer a question and stood up answered it (kinda like a soldier)...correctly I might add...then sat down and the other kids were in shock asking themselves why is he standing up. Their faces were priceless. THIS KIDS GOT MANNERS! Hopefully the other's will take note. I just had to laugh. The make me laugh so much everyday. Man I just love my students! :-D
Until next time...PEACE
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