Rain, New Quarter, and Packages

10-23-08 Well, we've had plenty of rain, yes indeedy we have. It has rained every night since Sunday night, the day I wrote the blog about it not raining (hence the note at the bottom). Puddles and humidity abound! However, even when it's been humid, we have had a nice ocean breeze coming into our classrooms, sometimes making the kids cold and sweeping papers to the floor. I have learned that, whether I think it's windy enough or not, I always weight papers down--or suffer having to chase it across the classroom after its decision to take flight. (In fact, it rained so badly Thursday night that water soaked the end of my mattress and even got some of my things that were on the floor wet. Argh.)

Like I said earlier, we just finished up first quarter and have begun the second quarter. We are a quarter of the way done with the school year. I think that's pretty amazing, because we haven't hit the three-month mark yet. The way we administered the tests to the high schoolers was pretty special. We took down the partitions between Jordan's and my rooms, dragged in a few benches, and had the seniors bring down their classroom chairs. Yes, that's right, we had all the kids taking all their tests at the same time in the same room. It made proctoring a lot easier, that's for sure. There was usually at least three of us in the room most of the time, and each test period was an hour and a half long. The kids had to get test permits before being able to take their tests (you know, upholding that rule is just as hard as having to submit to it), and so some of my kids have had to make up tests they missed on Monday. My final grades are all done, except for one boy's, who hasn't taken his final yet. He was supposed to come after school, but he just has not remembered to do so. I'll have to remind him again. One of the juniors has skipped two tests, both of which are for classes that I teach. Consequentially, he is failing both of those classes. I never understood whatever it is that urges students to skip class, especially on test days. I wish they would realize that they are hurting themselves more than anything else. But I guess part of the problem comes from their outlook on life, on the future: they do not see one. So, why should they care about the present when they see no future? Others think, "Hey, I'm going to be a landowner when my parents are gone, and so I'll never need to work," and so they don't care if they pass or fail. Others don't see a need for school because they simply do not care. I understand it, but I don't agree with it. I'm trying to show them why they should care, that they do have futures. We're trying to change a whole societal viewpoint, and it's going to take time for it to change.

We start Week of Prayer on Sabbath, and our speaker arrives on Friday. When I know more about him, I'll let you all know. We'll be having two sessions a day, one for the high school and another for the upper elementary students (4-8 [unless we stick the eighth graders in with the high school]). A lot of our kids aren't Adventist, and probably some of them aren't even Christian. A lot of them are nominally one denomination or the other, and their parents' primary reason for sending them to our school is that we teach everything in English. So, this is definitely an area where souls can be reached, definitely a time when we need prayers. I'm quite sure that Satan will do everything he can to disrupt our Week of Prayer, and so I'm asking all of you to send some Heavenly Support our way. Please?

I have taken my first step towards becoming a certified open water scuba diver (but I haven't gone anywhere near the water yet). I have read the dive class training book, and I am rather excited. Yes, I am also sort of worried, and yes, it does cost a little bit of money--but who knows when I'd have a chance to check out the reef here? My only reasons for not taking the class would be money and fear of the unknown and the possible bad things that could happen--but those are not good enough reasons to not take the class. Therefore, I will be paying it. It's cheaper here than it would be anywhere else (and we get a discount because the instructor's kids went to our school). Besides, why should I live with regrets of adventures not taken? I'm doing it, and I am looking forward to it. Plus, I have been fascinated by coral ever since I was in fourth grade--and I've finally gotten to see some!!

Wow--as I finished typing the above sentence, there was a knock on our door. Emily and I both called, "Come in!" and Ryan came in, his arms laden with mail. Two of his burdens were for ME! I was so happy, because they were a day or so late, by my reckoning. So, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, my dear wonderful loving family! Thanks for the shorts (even though I'm guessing some won't fit anymore, but that's okay) and thanks for the T-shirt. I don't even mind that it's my Andrews T-shirt; I was just happy to see some other T-shirt than the five that I brought with me. And the Thousand Island dressing--oh, thank you, that made me laugh! And yum, Oreos and pasta and sunscreen (I thought you said you couldn't find any at home in the fall?) and everything else. Thanks a lot!

Obviously, you can tell by the above paragraph that I enjoy getting mail. Priority-rate/flat-rate boxes are pretty cheap (relatively) to send, because the Marshall Islands are part of the US Postal Service (even though they will tell you that they can't find the Marshall Islands in their database). Its postal code is MH, and one of my friends asked me why wasn't it MI? Well, because MI stands for Michigan, that's why!! However, it seems to go at different speeds to get here; Megan and Landen were both sent mail from the States before my boxes were sent, and theirs hasn't gotten here yet. That's weird in general and very frustrating for them. Then again, if it was by regular mail, it may take more than three months to get here. Ah, the joys of being far away!

So, thanks for the packages and the love! Komol tata (that's "thank you very much" in Marshallese; "comb-mol ta-ta")!

More later.

~Ashlee

PS: If anyone has any particular questions about the Marshall Islands, Ebeye, or Ebeye Seventh-day Adventist school, e-mail them to me at the address I send updates from. I'd love to try and answer them.

Quarter Final Annoyances and Rain

On Monday and Tuesday we've been having quarter finals. One, I've decided that I prefer the semester system. Two, I am tired of kids who do well trying to cheat so that they can do even better. Three, I wish students would study, but I suppose that's a case of horses and troughs. For example, I am in the middle of grading my juniors' English exam. It was not long, I told them exactly where I got the questions from, and their test covered less chapters than the other classes'. But did they study? I can tell that they didn't, not many of them, anyway. One junior did not even show up for his test. ARGH.

It rained on Sunday night, the day I wrote the last post. I posted it on Monday, but the site still says that I posted it on Sunday. Well, it also rained last night (Monday for me). Rained so much that it left puddles and lots of humidity. Was so windy that it left a puddle on my bed--again. *sigh* And laundry day's not until Friday afternoon...guess I'll have to use Emily's nice-smelling spray to cover up the smell until I can dry out the mattress and wash the sheets.

Okay, well, this was a random after-classes post.

~Ashlee

Weather Prayers Matter, and A Well-Done Piece of Homework

10-19-08 Well, supposedly it's rainy season. However, it has not rained hard in almost two weeks. Our water catchment at school is dry--which means no filtered rainwater to drink, which means going to Kwaj to re-fill our plastic jugs or buying new jugs at Triple J. Our catchment at the house is also dry--which means saltwater showers and a nice layer of salt on the counter from the rinse water that ran off of the dishes. So, basically, we're praying that it rains. Right now, we have clouds that are mocking us because it's not gloomy enough to rain and we need rain. Fresh water is a luxury that I will indulge myself in once I get back to Indiana in May.

Today we re-arranged our house, and in such a way that it makes it look a lot larger than it actually is. We also got Lorraine to get her mound of stuff squared away, which makes the house look neater and makes Lorraine calmer. We vacuumed, and we're currently doing laundry--we're even going to wash our curtains. Curtains do make a big difference in how hot a house feels, even when the AC's on. We like the natural light, but we like the house feeling cool as well. Supposedly our power's now to 24/7, but I'm not making any bets. Jhan Dale says we can tell by the fact that we have streetlights and basketball court lights again, but like I said, I'm not entirely convinced. I'd rather live the possibility of a power outage and be pleasantly surprised forever, than to think that we'll have power always and be disappointed. It's all perspective, right?

The pastor's third-grade son, Sam, has a new puppy. Its name is Kiba (Japanese for 'dog') and he is a very cute puppy. All of us SMs play with it whenever we get a chance. Playing with Kiba is a great stress reliever for me, right up there with reading books and playing with Sam and Vicky (she's seven and also lives downstairs). My language lessons are also a source of amusement and challenge for me. I'm on my third week of words, and I usually have to laugh at myself because of the way I pronounce the words (since Marshallese vowels are said very differently from English vowels). I actually have to go over my list of words that I get quizzed on tonight--I've started making mental images of what the words mean, instead of trying to remember what each word means. (I got the tip from Megan, and it's been pretty useful.)

So--Marshallese word of the day--"elikin ralep." It means "afternoon," literally. You pronounce it this way: L-eh-kin rall-lip. (I think. I mean, I hope I've put it into the blog in such a way that you can possibly say it properly.)

I am very excited. I assigned all of my English students to read Frank Stockton's "The Lady or the Tiger?", and set the assignment that I had been given as an academy freshman (thanks, Mr. Rector!), which was to write the ending of the story. I also let them have an extra credit opportunity by telling them to find at least ten words they did not know inside the story and find the definitions. Well, the freshmen and sophomores blatantly plagiarized out of the story and succeeded in making endings that made absolutely no sense. I made them re-do the assignment after a reminder about my rules about copying the story and each other. None of them found definitions. The juniors did a little bit better (they didn't plagiarize), but most of them didn't understand the "make it like a story" part, and only a few of them did definitions.The seniors, however, have made me smile. Of the ones who turned it in (because not everyone did), they were all original and pretty well thought out. Most turned in definitions. However, one of the students entirely made my day with his response. It was the longest response, it was fairly well written, and it answered the question posed by the author and delineated the responses of the various characters inside of the story. He even used one of the words he had looked up for the definitions correctly! (And his definitions were most definitely more than ten, but he could only get ten points. More power to him, anyway.) But my favorite line inside his response was this: "If she hadn't been to her father's many barbaric killings and had she been in a good environment and maybe gone to church she wouldn't be this cold hearted, jealous princess" (if you've read the story, you will probably think this very funny, like I did). I gave him extra credit on the assignment, it was that much first-rate over everyone else's. It was awesome, and I was so incredibly happy, I was bouncing up and down inside our apartment. I think I'm going to photocopy it and keep it, just because I'm so proud of him.

More later.

~Ashlee

NOTE: Last night it poured. Happy day, thank God for the rain!



Picture of a rainbow from the first day of school

A Bit of Routine--and Return of the List!

10-16-08 On Sunday, we went to Kwaj. Well, only to the dock--we're still not allowed to go past the security checkpoint. However, they are looking for sponsors for us now, and all of us are eagerly anticipating being able to go inside, even to just go to the stores inside where the prices are slightly cheaper than on Ebeye. It was nice to sit in an air conditioned place and eat a sandwich that had very, very nice vegetables on it. I mean, the lettuce was actually CRISP! I have a new found appreciation and love of vegetables, even those that at home I have usually shunned in the past.

It's nice to break up our routine a bit, since there's not much to do on Ebeye. We pretty much have a nice little circuit here, of home to school, school to home, and trips to Triple J on the side. Occasionally (on Sundays) we go swimming at Beach Park or get online at NTA. Other than that, we read books (I have read over thirty books in the last two and a half months), work on grading and grades, work on lesson plans, write blogs, talk with each other, and go to bed at very decent time (unlike most other people at our age *coughcollegestudentscough*). However, it can still get pretty boring, so we're all really excited when people such as yourselves send anyone of us things to read, especially if they're newspaper comics. My mom has been wonderful enough to even send along a Reader's Digest, which are hard for her to part with. One of the things I'm wishing to read is Southern's alumni magazine. I'm not an alumnus yet, but it's still awesome to read stuff about my school. Plus, I could possibly use it to recruit from the seniors.

It has been rather difficult to figure out what to write, because a lot of what we do has become more routine--and, yes, I know that it's still new to you all, since you don't live here, but it's still hard to find something to write. However, I have decided to add to my list of "Things I have Learned as an SM."

35. Two water jugs in one hand is equal to stiff fingers.
36. Water jugs overflow more quickly when one is not watching.
37. Mice are just as scary to me in the Marshalls as they are at home. {Stop laughing, Mom!}
38. School newspapers are fun to read even when one isn't on campus.
39. Thirty books is only the beginning. (Maybe ya'll will send me more?)
40. I cannot wait to eat off of a salad bar at camp or at Southern.
41. I have discovered that I like being a vegetarian, and that right now, I miss being a vegetarian. {Even though I still really do not eat a lot of meat here. Our apartment is vegetarian.}
42. We definitely feel as if we're on the front lines of the Great Controversy.

Well, that's all--wait! I almost forgot. Some nice school in the States shipped us some world history textbooks, and they're updated versions of the ones I was using. Next week, we start using them. Each student gets a book, and--wonder of wonders!--I get a teacher's edition!!!!!! I am so excited. Also, I'm starting a "Create a Nation" quarter-long project with the World History class, and I hope it goes well. The students are capable of the work, but they're lazy (they say it of themselves) and so I wonder how much and how well they will actually do. So, pray for us! Pray for us as we teach and us as we are out of school. I know we need it. And if you choose to let us know, let us know. We can pray for you in return.

Language Lessons, etc.,

10-7-08 So, I have been here exactly two months. Yippee. That makes for eight months left. Not that I want to leave or anything, don't misunderstand me--but two months feels like some sort of accomplishment. A little accomplishment, perhaps, but an accomplishment nonetheless. Today was a wet and windy day; sometimes the rain came down so hard that I couldn't see the corrugated metal roof of the building outside of my classroom. (By that point water was coming in the windows and so the windows had to be closed, or else all of us and our books, etc., would be drenched.) Each week has sort of a "camp" feel to it; each day in the week sometimes seems almost unendurably long, but Sunday rolls around, and it's like, "What? We're at the start of another week AGAIN?" and so we dive right back in.

Language lessons. I mentioned that I would talk about them a little more in length in another post. Well, I am taking weekly lessons with Mama Rose, our pastor's wife who is quite motherly. The lessons consist of her writing down a list of words, teaching me how to pronounce them, and then making me memorize them. I am on my second week of words--and what's cool is that I don't have to learn the language. I don't, but I still am--because I want to. It's sort of difficult; I have my age and my nationality against me, but I do have tenacity and willingness to laugh at myself or to be laughed at when I flub once again at pronouncing a word whose vowels are pronounced in a completely different way than in English. Megan's also taking lessons, and since she's practically tri- or quad-lingual, it's a lot easier for her. Me, I just have the high school Spanish I took three years ago--and this language is completely different. Still, I want to learn, and that's key to it. Also, it makes telling kids what to do just a tiny bit easier. Some of them don't understand English, and some of them pretend to not understand English--and so it really shocks them when I whip out a word or a phrase of Marshallese. For example, one of the seniors (yes, the seniors) was pushing the boundaries of the rules and was standing up when he wasn't supposed to. I told him to sit down a few times in English, but he persisted in not doing it. (Yeah, yeah, probably should have sent him to the office.) Anyway, I got tired of it, and said, "Jijet, Peterson!" and he looked at me, shocked, and did. The class applauded. (It was actually pretty funny.) Yesterday I had to say, "Jijet kia" and that worked, too. ("Jijet" means "sit down"; it's pronounced "shee-shet"; "kia" means "now" and it's pronounced like we would say it in English, "key-ah".) SO, that's your phrase for today.

Whenever I log onto Facebook or MySpace or whatever, all I see are status updates that include the words "cold" and/or "snow". We don't get that here. We're way too close to the equator for that. We have two seasons: the rainy season and the dry season. Right now we're in the rainy season (hence the rain at the beginning of the post), and I've been told that dry season starts in about February. The kids were asking if we were going to cancel the afternoon portion of school because of the rain--and of course I said no. The kids treat rain like kids in Indiana treat snow--they wake up, hear rain (or see snow) and wonder if there's going to be school. I asked them if rain has to be shoved out of the way so that people can walk or ride the taxis, and they said, "No, of course not." And so I replied, "Then you can come back from your home after lunch and go to school." And since it was the seniors, I went into telling them about REAL weather that can shut down a school. (Of course, our resident Albertans would have been like, "Pfft! Your winters in the States are nothin'!")

It has been rather awesome to read my fellow SMs' blogs--and not just Emily's blog from her time here on Ebeye. I mean, I really enjoy reading the blogs of my friends who are in rather far-flung parts of the world right now, friends are reaching similar two month marks. If you have time, I recommend reading the blogs that I've listed down the side of this page--you'll find an assistant dean in Kenya; an English teacher/everything and anything in Tanzania; teachers in Majuro, Marshall Islands; a third grade teacher on Palau; people living in the jungles or on the rivers in Peru--and if I've forgotten anyone, I'm sorry. I'm typing up this blog at home. It's nice to see that, even though our experiences are vastly different, they're more similar than we'd probably guess. God bless you all!!!

Oh--just got my air mail from Southern today. Thanks Andrea, Krystin (I hope I spelled that right) and Nate for the lovely little notes--and double thanks for the copy of the Accent. Totally made me happy and wishing to be at school at the same time. Thanks!!!!!

Love,

Ashlee

PS. This blog was written on the seventh, and posted today because we've had wacky power recently. First time in weeks!

In Between Classes Again

Well, the thought just struck me. Sure, it's still Monday at home, and so this will post under that date, but for me, it's the 7th of October, two months since I arrived on Ebeye, jet-lagged yet excited.

Everything has settled into a routine--but nothing's routine. (I hope you know what I mean when I say that.) My kids are settling down (most of the time), and I'm beginning to pick up some Marshallese, something that's sort of difficult to do when we have to enforce a "No Marshallese in class" rule, since they're supposed to be learning English. Actually, I'm taking lessons from Mama Rose and it's really awesome. I'll expand on it in some other post.

Well, I have to go to Advanced Reading. Talk with you all later.

Love,

Ashlee