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.