Kindergarten Graduation and a Trip to Carlos

5-24-09 Wednesday went well. The kids had their final final, then listened to Dr. Kyle talk, and then in the afternoon we had our awards ceremony. I gave five awards out--three for excellent English grades, and two for most improved. All within my tenth grade, of course, but that's okay.

I also went to the Kwaj dock to see Emily off. She left on Wednesday in order to make it home so she could see her brother's high school graduation. We were all supposed to take the 3:15 ferry to Kwaj, but Emily and Lorraine missed it. They came on the 4:30 boat (because there was no water taxis, due to them not having fuel). The highlight of that day was that I had a nice conversation with Jeo, and gave him most of my fries and the drink from the meal I purchased at the dock for dinner. When I got back to the apartments, my room echoed. It was weird. I miss Emily.

Thursday was kindergarten graduation. It was really cute. Their teacher snagged me to be her "official" photographer (and hey! I got ice cream and a brownie out of it!) and so I took pictures for her. They had a little slideshow, Jordan and Alan MC'ed by telling jokes and singing a song, four of the kids recited a little poem about graduating from kindergarten, and then they got awards and such. It was cute.

Friday a group of us went to Carlos. The Kyles went to hold health screenings for the people who live on Carlos, and the rest of us (Landen, Megan, JM, Jordan, Alan, and I) went out to the cement ship. Yes, we were going to jump off it again--and Megan even took pictures of us doing so. I have to get my hands on a copy. It was getting close to high tide, and Megan and Jordan fixed the scaffold ladder. I needed help getting up there again, but it was a lot easier than it was in September. We clambered through the ship and launched off. Very fun. Then we went back to the dock and ate some food, then wandered back to the school where the screenings were taking place. We hung around there for a bit, then came back to the dock, ate some more, and then headed out to the ship again. Now it was high tide, and that meant that the scaffold ladder was closer to the water. Now, either Jordan or I made the suggestion that I should try to get up there without help. So, while Jordan held the thing steady, I went for it. And guess what? I MADE IT UP THERE BY MYSELF! Twice. It was the highlight of my day. (And if you don't remember why, you can go back through my posts and find the Carlos camping trip post, and have fun re-reading. :) ) I also got only slightly burned, and not on my shoulders this time. Just my face. When we came back for vespers, all the kids kept going, "Miss-ah, your face!" And I would be like, "Yes, I know, I'm sun burnt." Much better than two weeks ago when my shoulders got burnt when we went to Bigej.

Yesterday we had the consecration service for the graduating classes. It was basically the church service, but with a lot more people and some extra things added to it. At home, it would be the baccalaureate of graduation weekend. Eighth grade graduation is on Tuesday, and the seniors graduate on Wednesday. My class picnic is on Monday, and I've been invited to come on the seventh grade picnic on Thursday. I haven't decided whether I'll go or not. I do need to pack at some point, since I leave on Friday.

More later.

~Ashlee