First Dive and Accreditation

11/16/08 I just realized that I haven't ever described our living space. First off, most of the staff lives in one building. We just have various apartments that all face our courtyard. Our apartment is technically 2B, but no one calls it that. They call it "The Girls' Apartment". There are six apartments on the second floor--Emily the Canadian lives at the top of the stairs, and next to her lives Mervin. Next to him lives Ryan and Jhan Dale (they're brothers), and then next to them is four of the guys (Landen, Jordan, Alan, and John Mark). Next to them is us, and then next to us is the empty "married SMs" apartment, which was renovated in September and is used as the guest room. Downstairs we have the gate in the courtyard and Edwin and Jonas live in the apartment next to that. Then there's the salt water well and the very dark weight room that the guys like to use, even when it's really hot. Then there's Pastor and Rose's apartment, where they live with their eight kids. Then there's the gate that we usually use, then Abra and his family's apartment, I do believe. Around the little corner is the fresh water catchment--and then the trash monster's lair, and then back to the front gate. The stairs are in the middle, and so we have to duck underneath our "balcony" to leave the apartment. Jonas is trying to grow tomatoes on the first little landing of the stairs. There are clotheslines crisscrossing the main open part of the courtyard, and they're usually covered with somebody's clothes. (Maybe I can draw a map or something and post it. This description might not have helped you at all.)

My first confined water scuba dive was...well, it was interesting. It took the seven of us about an hour to get all suited up in our gear (our BCDs, our weight belts, etc.,) We got in the water and started working on our skills. I think I forgot to immediately equalize my ears (at least, I don't remember doing that). That led to problems later on. The first thing we practiced and demonstrated was letting our regulator go and then recovering it, clearing it, and breathing through it again. That was easy (for me, anyway). Then we did the skill of clearing a mask halfway filled. To learn how to do it, we had to let water trickle in from the top of our masks, then take a breath from the regulator, look up slightly, hold the bottom of the mask open and breath out through our noses. This was difficult for me. For some reason, it's difficult for me to have something in my mouth and breath out through my nose. (I've been practicing, however.) I'm really good at breathing slowly and deeply in and out through the regulator, but breathing out through my nose? Difficult. I think it's because when I usually have something in my mouth and breath in through my nose, I have to breath out through my mouth. That would be when I'm playing my bass clarinet. However, the skill needed for that skill is the exact opposite of what I'm used to doing. *sigh* It's a learning process. It took me a while to clear it, but I DID! Then, to learn the next skill, we were supposed to go out further, but my ears refused to equalize, and so I didn't get to practice clearing a completely filled mask (I'm sure I will at some point). Our instructor said that it takes time for some people to get their ears to equalize well. (I also think that I forgot to immediately equalize when I got underwater, like I said above.) He also said that I was descending too quickly (which, I think, is from too much weight on my weight belt). We were supposed to have our second dive last Thursday, but the class was canceled when the instructor had to go to Majuro to deal with some emergency.

Our first accreditor arrived last Thursday, and the rest arrived on Friday evening, at the same time as we SMs were holding vespers at the school. One of the accreditors, Kevin Costello, had the sermon on Sabbath morning--he spoke in Marshallese and in English, translating himself as he went along. It was about Naaman and the little slave girl and about forgiveness. We had a large potluck at Ryan's apartment and got to know the accreditation team a little bit. After our AY program, they interviewed the high schoolers that had been picked out by us and then they interviewed the four of us high school teachers. It was nice to find out that the kids' most favorite thing about the school was US! (Granted, that's the only thing they told us, but that's okay.) We spoke to them for about forty-five minutes and then our part was over. They've been working feverishly ever since, writing and writing and talking and writing, etc., etc., et. al. They leave Ebeye on Monday's noon boat, and their plane leaves Monday night at six.

Once I met them, my world instantly shrank and has continued to get smaller as the weekend has progressed. One of the accreditation team members lives two miles or so off of Southern's campus, and was telling Lorraine and I about the new Wellness Center and about other updates that have been done on campus. Another member of the team was part of the accreditation team who visited Indiana Academy on its site visit when I was a junior there (I thought he was vaguely familiar). Two others I met at the SM orientation in Honolulu in August--and then there was the last team member. Kevin Costello (the one who had the sermon on Sabbath) knows people I know from the Indiana Conference, knows people from Georgia who I worked with at Timber Ridge last summer, and was the boss of one of my friends from Southern (hi, Kevin!) He spent at least four years as a missionary in the Marshall Islands, and one of those years was spent as vice-principal of Ebeye Seventh-day Adventist School, back in the school year of 1991-1992. (I chose not to reveal that I had been a preschooler that year.)

Today was Sunday (for me). Emily and I went to the dock, worked on midterm grades (her) and on examples for the World History project (me). We ate at the "American Eatery" and watched some of the news that was on AFN. All I have to say is that the world's falling apart and we have to tell people why it's falling apart. Take that as you will. When we got back, we had to deliver something to the school and then got to play a little basketball (which is not easy in a skirt and a pair of shorts that are falling down because you've lost weight). Then we went to the apartments, and then the accreditation team took us out for dinner at Litaki (the same restaurant that Dr. Penniecook took us to two weeks ago; the only restaurant on the island other than Triple J).

Tomorrow (Monday) is a holiday, and, thus, no school. Yay for Marshallese presidents! It's President's Day, and I'm just excited that we have no school. I think EVERYONE is.

More later.

~Ashlee