Manuia Le Kerisimasi Ma Le Tausaga Fou

Merry Christmas and Happy New Years from American Samoa.

I'm off to New Zealand tomorrow and will not be back until Jan 1. I will, however, get to experience New Years Eve twice due to the international dateline being smack in the middle between New Zealand and Samoa. I'm sure debauchery will be in order.

See you in 2011!

End of First Semester

Well, the first semester has ended. Kind of. When we get back from our "Winter" Break, we have a week of review and then final exam week. Officially second semester starts after MLK Day. What an accomplishment, I think? The past 5ish months have been filled with excitement, frustration, rewards, education, personal enjoyment and learning life long skills.



And there have been bumpy roads. At one point in October, I broke into tears when I received a box of Cheez Its from a dear friend. We're talking Cheez Its people. Not Gold. But through it all, I've learned that not every day will be easy. Some days my students will learn something I've taught them and some days they won't hear a word I say.



I sometimes forget that I was once a high school student and tried to get away with anything I could. My students also forget that I was a student once and don't think I have heard every excuse in the book. But I keep going. I keep trying to find new ways to make them learn. I keep trying to figure out what is the most important thing to teach them. Is it really important that they know who wrote "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," when they still have difficulty crafting a proper sentence with a subject and predicate.



Of course there are some days where I didn't want to teach. But then there were other days that I couldn't wait to get into the classroom and teach them whatever I could. Those are the days that I will remember as I prepare for second semester and the conclusion of this exhilarating experience.

Relax?

Hey Mr. Drew, we going to relax today?!?

I am asked this question everyday by multiple students of mine. Typically its one of the first things they say when they walk into my classroom. Basically it means that they just want to hang out in class and not do work.

NO! When do we ever relax in my class?

Since I am a mean teacher, there aren't many days where I allow my students to relax. And they like to tell me that.

How come we never relax in your class Mr. Drew?!

Because you don't come to school to hang out. School is for learning. And gosh darn it, they are going to learn something in my class.

High School students.

World AIDS Day

Yesterday, I spent each period talking about World AIDS Day with my students. I knew it was going to be a challenge because they are young people who do not have a lot of information from outside their island. For the most part my students had at least heard of the disease but that was generally it.

They did not know how the virus is contracted. They did not know the millions of people are infected with the virus. They did not know how many individuals have died because of the virus.

It was quite an eye opening experience for them and me. To be able to tell most of my students that you can't "catch" the virus from shaking someones hands who has the virus was awesome. To tell my students that there are people all over the world who are infected with the virus opened their eyes to the whole world. To be able to have a dialogue with my students about the social stigmas that are associated with AIDS was an experience that I will never forget.

Of course, some of them were very silly about it and thought it was a joking matter. A couple students assumed I have AIDS since I was doing a lesson on the virus. Some of them still believe that students who have HIV should not be allowed to attend schools with students who don't.

I did my best under the circumstances. And I think I succeeded in educating quite a few young minds about HIV/AIDS.

Thanksgiving in (Western) Samoa

I don't think we're in Kansas anymore......



Instead of sitting in my "apartment" in American Samoa over the thanksgiving holiday, my friend Veronica and I decided we needed a little vacation. Since (Western) Samoa is only 70 KM from Pago Pago, we decided it would be a great place to go for a couple of days of relaxation.

Samoa is an independent country that used to be a territory of Germany and then New Zealand. It gained it's independence in 1962, though it shares many things in common with American Samoa including the culture and the language. Since it is independent Samoa has to provide for itself like any small independent country would, except for some military projection from New Zealand, which American Samoa does not have to do since it has the complete backing of the United States Federal Government. Most American Samoans refer to it as "Western" Samoa though but according to the UN and the rest of the World the country is just called Samoa.

Samoa contains the 2 main islands Of Upolu and Savai'i which are much larger than the island of Tutuila, which I live on. It has mountains, valleys, farms, waterfalls, white sandy beaches and crystal clear blue water. It was paradise.

We spent two days in Apia, which is the capital of Samoa. Experiencing a "city" life after living on a small island for 5 months was really awesome. In fact, I saw a street light for the first time since I left L.A. in July. As I've said before, the Samoan people are very friendly, well they were even more so in Samoa. They took hospitality to a whole new level.



After spending a couple of days in the city, we spent our last two days on the southeastern coast of Upolu at a place called Lalomanu Beach. Our accommodation was a Beach Fale. A fale is a traditional Samoan house of an oval shape with wooden posts holding up a domed roof with has no walls. We slept on thin mattresses on the floor with a mosquito net covering us. What makes it all worth it is the fact that our Fale was about 5 steps away from the water. It was breathtaking.



At Taufua Beach Fales we met people from all over the world who were passing through Samoa on their travels. We met people from France, Sweden, England, Austria, Australia and Canada. It was quite fascinating to talk with people from all over the world and to find out what brought them to this tiny little country in the middle of the South Pacific.



After spending 4 days in Samoa, my friend and I did not want to return to the rigors of teaching and dealing with our students. However, I think that the break will carry us through the remainder of the year and put us in a great frame of mind to better understand the challenges and hardships in teaching our Samoan students.

Hey Y'all

I thought I would take a break from writing about specific things that happen here in American Samoa to generally talk about the experience so far.

Thanksgiving break is almost upon us. I cannot believe it. We are just a few three short weeks away from our Christmas break. At that point, we will be at our midway point of our time here in American Samoa.



I think I've learned so much about myself and what I want to do next but sometimes it is hard to put into words. I can say for sure that I want to work in the field of Education. But I don't want to be a regular teacher. I want to be different. Partly because I think I am different. I would really love to continue teaching in foreign places to help educate those who don't have access to education and to be able to offer them whatever I can.

But part of me doesn't think that I would be okay with that lifestyle. I like to establish roots. I like to build a community. And frankly, I want to be in love. All of those things would be hard to have, if I kept moving from place to place teaching the children of the world.



So what does that mean? Am I done traveling? Probably not, my latest vision has me going to a country in South America and teaching Spanish speakers the English language. Something about that excites me. The idea of teaching someone a language that they want to learn. Teaching a class where the students want to be there seems like a foreign concept but I know it exists.

That was one of my favorite things from my volunteer experience in New Jersey before I left. These adults from all over the world who now reside in Jersey City, New Jersey came to this ESL class because they WANTED to learn the language to improve their lives in the States.



Going off on a little tangent here, but I was recently asked if I miss the theatre. Of course I do. Theatre will always be in my blood. But I will continue to say that it doesn't mean that I have to work in the industry. I recently started working with my students on our version of a Theatre Festival. Last Friday, I was working with a girl on a monologue from Fences. (You should see/hear this Samoan girl give it her all on an August Wilson piece. It's kinda awesome.) It felt really good to work with her on the monologue but as I was working with her, I realized that that was the part of theatre that I missed the most. And honestly when you break it down, it was because I was teaching her.

I like teaching. I like standing in front of 25 students. Who would have thought?

JROTC

JROTC, otherwise known as Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps, is the bain of my existence.

That might be over doing it but it is definitely something that I struggle with on a daily basis.

JROTC is offered as a class for high school students in American Samoa and the mainland, so I've been told, I just never had any experience with it until now. From my limited understanding, it is basically a class to prepare young people for the world of the Armed Forces.

Joining the Armed Forces is one of a few options for young people here in American Samoa to earn money for their family, to get off island and to allow themselves the possibility to receive higher education. That means that a lot of my students are enrolled in the JROTC program at my school.



For example, one day a couple of weeks ago the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) Test was being administered to the 11th graders. During my fourth period class which normally has 25 students, only 8 came to my class because the rest were taking the test.

Now, I will digress. I don't hate the Army or the Armed Forces, I just hate war and everything that comes with it. Fighting, guns, battle and killing other people are things that I do not understand and would never want to be a part of. So I have a hard time wrapping my head around the idea that kids 14-18 years of age are enrolled in a class that will one day lead them down the path of joining a division of the Armed Forces.



The reason I write this post is because on a daily basis I hear excuses from my students on why they must miss my class, be excused early from my class, why they must take my test/quiz early, why they have to do one of the previously mentioned things or else they will be demoted due to their JROTC CLASS!!!!!

It is my understanding that anyone who wants to join the Armed Forces must receive their High School diploma or GED equivalent to enroll. It is also my understanding that they must pass my 11th grade English class to receive their high school diploma. So why does their JROTC cadet meeting or flag raising ceremony practice become more important than their English class in which they are learning a language that is not their primary language which also happens to be the primary language that is used in the Armed Forces.

Call me confused. But I do not like JROTC one bit.

Some of these pictures are students dressed in their JROTC uniforms which they typically wear on Wednesday or Thursday of every week. I can't tell you why though.

School Uniforms

As promised, this blog will be about the school uniform for students.

Unlike in the States where typically only private schools have uniforms, every school in American Samoa has a uniform. Each high school has their own school colors. Leone's colors are Green and Gold. Every student wears a green ie faitaga with the Leone High School emblem on it accompanied by a white top.

For girls they must wear a white puletasi top which is a traditional Samoan article of clothing. The puletasi must go over the top of their ie. As you will notice a girl must wear her ie to her ankles.



Guys are a bit more lucky as they can wear a white polo shirt or button down and their ie should be worn just below their knees. Only in Samoa would a mens skirt be shorter than a girls. Their top should be tucked into their ie.



There are mixed opinions from the students regarding the uniform. Some seem to enjoy the fact that it makes everyone look the same and gives them a feeling of school pride and unity. Others hate it because it can be hot to wear and feels too traditional.



What's interesting is that everyone wears a pair of shorts under their ie faitaga. Most wear sport shorts so that when school is over they can take off their ie and have something comfortable on to wear. But it certainly must add to the heat factor which under the Samoan sun can be quite brutal.

Luckily teachers do not have to wear this uniform. But that's for another post.

My Address

So technically when you send me mail, my address is PO Box 5411, Pago Pago, AS 96799.

Yes it's in the US postal system so it costs the same to mail things from Florida to Indiana as it does from Georgia to American Samoa..hint hint. Just kidding.

But that is not actually where I live. See we only have one post office here, so everyone has a PO Box and must go into "town" to pick up their mail and packages.

Now, my actual address if you were telling a cab or anyone else where I live you would say...

"The first white house on the road going up the hill after the community college before the Mormon church."

To which someone will say, "right beside the graveyard?"

As Michelle Tanner would you, "You got it dude!"

And somehow that person will find it.

It doesn't help that American Samoa does not use street names or numbered houses, so you just have to describe what village, what big landmark, or convenience store you live near. Its all about the description.

Spirit Week

Last week was spirit week at Leone High School. It pretty much felt like your standard spirit week in an American high school. Each day had a theme. There were games during lunch that classes competed in and then Friday was a big assembly with skits and so much more.

Here's a breakdown of the themed days:

Monday - Bob Marley Day. (Yes, this gave kids an excuse to wear marijuana paraphernalia.)



Tuesday - Elementary School Day (I should preface this by saying, all schools have school uniforms here. I shall write a post about that one day. So this day was all about reliving your childhood and wearing your [or your cousins] elementary school uniform.)



Wednesday - International Day (Each class was assigned an island in the South Pacific to dress up in traditional outfits.)

Thursday - Support your Troops Day (A lot of American Samoans join the military to help subsidize their education, provide a stable income for their families and to get off this island, so naturally a day to show their support was in order.)

Friday - Black or White Day a la Michael Jackson (Self Explanatory)

I apologize for not having any pictures for the rest of the week. I "lost" my camera so I wasn't able to take any.

Needless to say. It was hard to get a lot of instructional time in last week because of the energy throughout the whole school.

So, Friday we had an assembly. All the classes prepared Halloween skits. The teachers had to prepare skits to Michael Jackson's Thriller. Naturally, my fellow teachers chose me to portray Michael Jackson. But there were no rehearsals. So I had no idea what I was supposed to do. Friday comes along and another teacher and I speak briefly about a plan. And then we hit the stage.

Basically, my dramatic self took over. My nerves dropped and I just strutted around the stage trying to dance like Michael Jackson. The kids cheered, laughed and enjoyed the fact that I was making a fool of myself. I'm glad I did it, except the kids are STILL calling me Michael Jackson in class and in the hallways. Oy vey.

Rain Day?

We are in the middle of Spirit Week at Leone High School. Today's fun activity was class football games. During lunch break classes played each other to find out who had the toughest flag football playing kids. The juniors were knocked out by the freshmen in the first round so I can't say for sure who won.

Anyway, it started to POUR at the end of lunch. Since a lot of kids were out on the grass playing or watching football many of the kids were getting soaked. But of course they didn't move. Then the power went out. Which isn't too abnormal as it goes out enough for it not to be a big deal here. But then there was talk of canceling the rest of the day and letting kids go home.

Nope. The end of lunch bell rang and we were all set back to class. Well, then 5-7 minutes later the bell rang again, so ALL the kids and most of the teachers assumed that school was canceled and everyone could go home. Really. School gets canceled because of rain!?! Is this American Samoa's version of a Snow or Hurricane day?!!?

Of course, I could not be so lucky, as 5 minutes later all the kids returned to my class saying that the second bell was just a tardy bell and that classes were continuing.

So, I decided to give my kids a vocab quiz. I know, I'm so mean.

In the end, school was let out 15 minutes early. Why? Because it was raining again.

Mid Terms

Very important news coming in from Leone High School in American Samoa.

Midterms that were previously scheduled for this week were postponed until the first week of November. How come they weren't moved to next week you ask? Well next week is "Spirit" week at school and there is just no way that midterms could be held during all of that mayhem.

WHY were they postponed to begin with you ask?? Well our ONE AND ONLY xerox machine is out of TONER and our school does not have the money to replace it. Sad but true.

Yes you read that right, our midterms were postponed because we do not have any toner to print our tests.

Mind you, this is after I worked all weekend on creating my tests, coming up with multiple versions so my students wouldn't be able to cheat. After planning the first part of my week around review sessions. All of that went out the window at 745am this morning when I learned of the news. Good thing I had some back up lesson plans ready to go today.

Another truly Samoan experience.

Church (the Samoan Way)

Some of you may be surprised to read this, some of you may be happy to read this but I wanted to let you know that I have gone to church the past two Sundays here in American Samoa. The primary reason is that one of my students asked Brenden (my friend and fellow WorldTeach volunteer) and I to come to his church. He thought we might enjoy it because his pastor is a Palagi, therefore, the service is in English. What my student neglected to tell me, not that it really would have made a difference, is that he goes to a Baptist church.

Two weeks ago, after a night of fun, I was awoken by my student knocking at my door telling me that he and his pastor had arrived to take us to church. Since he had woken we up, I stumbled out of bed and threw on some clothes. I'm sure I didn't look too hot. Once we got to church, everyone was excited and pleased as punch that we were there. People introduced themselves, asked where we're from and told us that they we so happy that we joined them. Considering what I've heard about most Samoan services here, this was a pretty short service clocking in around just a hair over an hour. I was happy to have went and happy to see one of my students in a different light.

WELL, then last weekend happened and it was a whole other story. Last Sunday was White Sunday. White Sunday is a holiday in Samoa dedicated to kids. It's sorta like a version of Mother's Day for kids here. See in everyday life here in Samoa, kids do a lot of the work around the house, most of the cooking and cleaning and usually eat last. Their needs tend to be thought of after everyone else in their family. Well not on this day. On White Sunday, kids are served by their parents, they are given lavish gifts and are treated like kings and queens. And what starts it all off is the children leading the service that day including songs and prayers.

So again, Brenden and I are picked up by our student and his pastor and taken to church. Mind you this time our student arrives in a completely white outfit with a festive necklace and a traditional Tongan skirt to go with it. He looked awesome to say the least. Arriving at church for the second week in a row people were thrilled to see us back, I'm hoping they don't think I'm going to make it a regular habit though. Anyhoo, the service was lead by our student and his fellow youth. It was adorable. The little ones were so precious as they recited bible verses and the older ones were so sweet looking as they pledged themselves to God.

I'm glad I went. I'm glad I experienced the day that is White Sunday. I'm glad to have gone to a church in Samoa so I can understand a little bit more how religion has played such a large role in their lives. But I was still not converted. I believe in myself. I have faith in myself. I am not scared easily and I will not be made to believe that I am a constant sinner. What is the point? As long as I am happy with the way I lead my life, then there isn't anything anyone can do about it.

*I'm sorry if I offended anyone with this post. I understand that religion plays an important role in many lives. I do not mean undermine one's faith. I just know what works for me and what doesn't. LOVE TO ALL*

Aunu'u

Friday night I left the comforts of Tutuila to go visit my friend Veronica who lives on the small island of Aunu'u. Aunu'u is just off the coast of Tutuila and is accessible by a little boat that takes probably 10 minutes and costs $1. It is a small but beautiful island. You could probably walk the perimeter in under 2 hours, however, those 2 hours would be filled with gorgeous locales and stunning views of the ocean.



Going to Aunu'u was great to get away from the hubbub of the main island. Veronica and I spent the night talking, sitting on the sea wall and catching up. A very relaxing atmosphere. The whole island has a big village feel to it. There is one "road" (with only 5 vehicles on island) that goes around the whole island with lots of mini trails that cut through it which means you end up walking through someones property. But everyone knows everyone out there and no one seems to mind.



The bright spot of my visit was when Veronica took us to a place called Siena and Tigilau. I'll let the pictures show you why it was so amazing. It was a place that I could have sat at for hours, contemplating life and enjoying the natural beauty of the places that surround me. A place to go visit again.

What three things would YOU take with you to a deserted island?

So I had my most difficult class write a little essay about what three things they would take with them to a deserted island. A lot of my kids wrote that they would take, water, food and some sort of shelter. All relatively normal answers.

Only in Samoan would a kid give this answer.....

I would take water, why because if you work all day you will be thirsty. and the second one is food because your body need energy to work. the last thing it is litter, why? because if you need to cook food, you will NEED THE LITTER TO BURN TO MAKE A FIRE."

ONLY IN AMERICAN SAMOA!

Yes, people are burning their trash here all the time. Trash, leaves, grass. Dead people. Ha. just kidding. But who knows cause the smell is god awful.

Parent Teacher Conference

Last Thursday, we gave our student progress report cards in preparation for Parent Teacher Conference that was held that evening. Each class period came for 30 minutes so teachers could fill out a letter grade and write a couple of comments. It was a stressful day from the very beginning.

The night before I had calculated all of my students grades. I was surprised with how well most of them were doing. Also a little disappointed with how some students were progressing. And then came my really bad class. I have 22 students in this class and I gave 15 of them a failing grade. Most were not shocked at all. Some kids tried to get me to change their grades but after showing them their breakdown and their scores they realized that they deserved the grade they got. I think it was a wake up call for most. No one is going to skate by in my class and get an A for it. Not in Mr. Drew's class. No sir.

After a 2 hour break in which we were supposed to be "preparing" for the PTC the parents started to arrive. I don't think its done like this in the states, but the PTC was held in our "gym." Each department was placed around the gym sitting at tables. Parents picked up their kids progress reports from the counselors and then walked around and talked to any of their kids teachers. The parents asked why their child got the grade they did and some asked if there is anything their kid can improve on. I had heard that some parents would complain to the teacher and try to get their grade changed but that was not the case with me. For the most part, all of the parents were kind, civil and happy to meet me. I met about 25 parents out of the 121 students that I have.

Culture Shock

In the two and a half months that I have been in American Samoa, I think I have been handling myself very well. Yes the food situation sucks but I feel as though I have adjusted well to the culture, made some new friends and learned a lot about myself. People always talk about culture shock as something that is hard to articulate or define in a concrete way but one certainly knows the feeling when it creeps up on you.

This past weekend I dealt with my first real sense of culture shock here in American Samoa. I was at a BBQ on the beach surrounded by 20 people or so, but I felt like I was the only person around. The other 19 or so people were Samoans who didn't really open up to me. For the majority of the 4 hours that I was there, Samoan was the only language that was spoken. How can I contribute to a conversation when I don't know what is being said? How can we learn from each other and share ideas if you they include me in their conversations?

I hate to say this but the only thing I wanted was to be with my palagi (white) friends. And I certainly didn't come here to meet more palagi's. I came here to learn about a different culture, grow and learn as a person and experience something new. But on saturday all I wanted to do was to curl up in a palagi ball.

Saturday Morning Lights

Hello Football!

In American Samoa, high school football is a big deal. You may or may not have heard this amazing statistic but it has been estimated that a Samoan boy is 40 times more likely to reach the NFL than a boy growing up in the United States.. These kids, parents, schools and coaches take this sport very seriously.

Since there is only one football stadium on the whole island all of the high school football games are played there. As there are 7 high school varsity football teams, typically one game is held on Friday night and the other two are played on Saturday morning with one team getting a bye each week. This past weekend the mighty Leone Lions (my school) were playing against the undefeated Warriors of Tafuna, which is the biggest school on island. From the very beginning, the game had all the makings of a close and fierce battle. Every time the Lions scored a touchdown, the Warriors answered with one of their own. Even with some 40 seconds left in the first half the Warriors marched down the field to tie the game up right before halftime.

In the second half, the touchdowns kept coming at first and then suddenly each teams defense woke up and started to make some great plays. Luckily our defense got the best of the Warriors and we pulled it out with a 25-22 point victory! It was a great game. The students, teachers and parents in the crowd were going crazy. The players on the field were ecstatic. To see the pride and joy on their faces was amazing. It was a wonderful moment to witness.

Another truly American Samoan experience.

Ants

Captain we have a problem.

ANTS!! Everywhere. I mean, this is a tropical island in the middle of nowhere, so we should expect to deal with our fair share of insects but I'm convinced that I sleep and eat and live with a family of ants everyday. Whenever I can, I will spray them with windex, bug spray or whatever else is closest to me to kill them off. Less than 2 minutes later a new group of them will appear. FROM NOWHERE. The live in the walls, on the floor, behind counters and probably under my pillow. It's so gross. I thought I was learning to deal with them since they're the least bothersome of all the insects we see on a daily basis, but today there seems to be an influx in them. I just want to kill them all.

Ants go marching five by five, hurrah hurrah. The ants go marching five by five, hurrah hurrah. The ants go marching five by the five, the little one stops when Drew sees him alive. The all go marching down. To the garbage...across the street at Samoa Tasty!

Pep Rally

So yesterday we had our first "official" pep rally at school. Mind you we had a pep rally like 3 weeks ago, but this was the first real one. It was supposed to start a 1:30pm. We were still going to have all our regular Friday classes however they were to be shortened to 45 minutes each. Well after lunch as 5th period was starting a kid brought around a bulletin stating that 6th period would be canceled and the pep rally would start right after 5th period. WELL.... 5 minutes later the vice principal motioned for everyone to start making their way to the gymnasium right away. BUT I had scheduled a short vocab quiz for the day because I knew the periods would be short. That's the last time I'll do that. SO, I forced my 5th period class to stay and finish their quizzes before I let them go to the pep rally. In the end, the pep rally ended up being 3 HOURS LONG!! 3 HOURS!! Are you kidding me?!?



Since kids had been missing my class all week in preparation for this event, I had to see what it was all about. I mean, it was just a pep rally, right? NOPE. It was a super duper over the top pep rally madness! As you can see below, there was banners, costumes and makeup, cheers, skits and so much more. These kids and staff get so into this event. It was quite the production.

My students, the Junior class, celebrating after being declared the overall winner of the pep rally.



Another truly American Samoan experience.

Labor Day Weekend

Well it was quite the weekend here in American Samoa. With three full days off in a row us volunteers knew we wanted to explore the island as much as possible. We had to take advantage of a relaxing and for the most part good weekend of weather to get a break from the grind of lesson planning.

On Saturday we woke up around 8am so we could take a bus over to Vatia where we would begin a long hike up and over Mt. Alava back into the "city" of Pago Pago. When we began, our group consisted of Mike, Leslie, Kelly, Eric, April, Brenden, Rosa, Jenn, Mark, Ethan, Bret and myself. We took a bus to the wall in Aua in hopes of finding a bus over the mountain to Vatia.



We waited. I laid down on the road because I was so tired and sick. And we waited some more. Finally a nice man came up in his pickup truck to tell us that he didn't think the buses were running on Saturday to Vatia but he could send a bus down for us that would take us over the mountain for $2.50 a person. Since it was only $.50 more than we expected to pay, we agreed. A couple minutes later a bus came and took us over to Vatia. Vatia is a beautiful village on the north side of Tutuila that has a gorgeous bay. Jenn and Leslie live there and after we packed some lunches, used the lu we set off on our hike over the mountain. With our group down to 10 palagi's we started the rigorous climb.

It was quite a steep and daunting climb up this side of the mountain. We had to take many breaks for water and deep breaths. We were warned that their would be many ladders while hiking up but I don't think any of us were prepared for the sheer amount of them that we encountered. This is by no means an accurate number but I'm convinced we climbed at least 40 of these ladders at some point. Here is one of them.



The 10 of us finally reached the top a little under 2 hours. We took a group picture and enjoyed a great lunch of PB&J sandwiches and some snacks that Jenn (thanks Jenn!) packed for us. A little after 1pm we began our decent. To be honest it was way more boring but far less treacherous than the climb up because we were going down the front side of the mountain which was basically an old truck route. At the top of the mountain is an old or maybe still working radio tower so trucks or something at one point had to get up there. Anyway, after 2 hours of careful walking we made our way back down and were almost home. It was quite an adventure. One for sure that we will complete again.



Sunday was a nice relaxing day at Tisa's Barefoot beach. Unfortunately only a couple of us made it there due to no buses running on Sunday and a couple rides falling through. But those of us that made it there had a nice couple of hours in the water.

On Monday we again set out early to head to a place called Sliding Rock. It is on the west side of the island near Leone, which is the town that I teach in. I'll let the picture describe it best. We had been warned by many locals that Sliding Rock can be quite scary and treacherous if you are not careful. As we led the group over the rocks to a place that I had previously been to that has amazing tide pools, we stopped and explored the beauty of the waves crashing over the rocks.



A couple of girls were standing on a rock ledge that separated two little pools of water. A minute earlier I was standing with them but had left to find out if anyone had wanted to climb higher to another big rock. Right then a gigantic wave came crashing over the rocks and swept 4 of our friends off their feet, sent them flying in the air and threw them against a rock wall. Luckily everyone was pretty much okay except for some major scrapes and blood. It was quite a scary sight but I am so glad that nothing more serious happened to anyone.



After sending the injured home in a car with our dear friend Jessie, the rest of us continued to swim in a calmer pool and enjoy the beautiful weather. Some of us thought it would be a good idea to try and get to that higher rock that I had wanted to go to before the wave that hurt our friends came a-crash-in. So a few of us ran across the rocks as quickly as we could and made it to the top of this beautiful rock that overlooked the crashing water. On our way back, we again had to navigate the waves that swept our friends away so we could make it back to safety. We made it and started our walk back to catch the bus. A scary trip but beautiful in its own right. I guess when I told the ocean to "bring it" earlier in the day, it did. I will not test it again. But I will certainly visit one of the most beautiful places that I have discovered on this island again.



An exhilarating, exciting, strenuous and fun weekend came to a close. And today we were back to our jobs being the wonderful teachers that we came here to be. ;)

Journals

So everyday at the beginning of class, I have my kids write in their journals. Each Day I pose a question to them. This week we have been talking about their home lives, families, church, etc. Their main complaint seems to be about doing so many chores around the house.

Here are two of my kids journal entries from today. One heartbreaking, the other slightly amazing and amusing but also a little sad. The first comes from a pretty shy guy in class who only speaks when I call on him. The latter is from a pretty outgoing guy who's awesome, smart and has a huge Afro with a comb always stuck in it.

Today's journal question was..."Something I hate doing is.....because....."

"I hate being alone, meaning I hate being alone everyday because I don't have a sister or brother, it's just me and my grandparents. I hate it because it's boring, no one to talk to me, and I don't have someone to play with at home. Everyday I always think of having a brother or sister to play with."

"Something I hate doing is breaking up with girls. Out of all the girls I've been with I was always the one to break up the relationship. I broke a lot of girls hearts. I just wonder what would happen to me when a girl breaks up with me. I think I can handle it because i did it a lot. Now that I'm with this special girl, I'm afraid of her breaking up our relationship. I'm really afraid of getting that broken up feeling like all my ex girlfriends. I don't want to have that feeling cause I'm not use to it. I guess it's true, 'whats goes around, comes around.'"

Need I say more?!!?

I LOVE THESE KIDS!

First Week/Nu'uuli Falls

Well, I made it through my first week of school unharmed. It actually turned out to be quite a great week. I would say overall there are 3 classes that I absolutely love. The kids are great. Sure they're rowdy but they're still fun and for the most part listen to me when I speak. I think by the end of the week they really started to become comfortable with me and I with them. We played some really fun games in class that they enjoyed, though I think they assume that we're always going to play games since I'm a drama major. But I will be saving them for special occasions.

I still have one trouble class that I cant seem to get on the same page with. No matter what I do they don't want to listen. I did have one of the local teachers from the Science department who students are a little scared of come into my class on Friday to give them a little pep talk. I didn't want to have to resort to another teacher coming in but I think because these kids have such a low level understanding of English, it helped to have someone come in and speak in Samoan to them about their behavior.



All in all it was a good week. I'm spending the majority of this week assessing their levels on reading, writing and speaking so that I can better tailor my semester syllabus for them. We're working on small autobiographies that they will hopefully present to the class at the end of the week. Unless of course our Friday gets shortened by the possible "Welcome Back to School Dance" I heard about rumbling around the school today.

Over the weekend we visited an awesome waterfall in Nu'uuli. It was so cool. We had to ask permission to go because it is on someones private land. All the land here is privately and communally owned so you always have to ask someone before you do anything. However, they rarely say No.



Posted amongst the blog are some pictures from the Falls. It was really cool. Fresh water falling off the mountain. Cold water that after a while made you want to get out and warm up from the hot air. It just seemed like it was one of those secret treasures on the island that most locals haven't been to, though there are a lot of kids in these pictures, people that I talked to have not been before. It is definitely a place that we will return to because it was such a nice and relaxing scene.

The First Day of School

Monday was the first official day of school here in American Samoa for the public schools. And what a day it was. The day started with an hour long assembly to welcome all the students back to school. The other volunteers and I sat with the other teachers as Viper, one of your VP's greeted the students and got them to do some Leone cheers. It was quite intense. After welcoming the freshmen to the school and giving them the "you're not the big fish in the small pond anymore" speech, we were tasked with handing out the students schedules. As we the palagi teachers didnt know any of the students we just stood back and watched.

I should preface this next part by saying, that for those of you that don't know, I am teaching 5 classes of 11th grade English. 4 (that number was 3 until today when they changed it unbeknownst to me) are proficient level which is like Advanced in the states. I also teach 1 class of mainstream level which is like General in the states.

Because it was the first day of school we were going to see each period for 35 minutes. Periods 1 and 2 are my proficient classes and they were generally pretty good. Samoan kids are loud. Samoan kids like to speak in Samoan in front of a palagi teacher because we have no idea what they're saying. Samoan kids like to laugh and tease each other, but "it's all in good fun." Samoan kids don't want to be asked to work to hard. Samoan kinds truly have hearts of gold underneath all of those exteriors.



After having my first prep period, periods 4 and 5 were my not so easy classes. The kids were more talkative, less attentive and less willing to listen to what I had to say. I realized that with one of my classes, it is going to be a battle for the remainder of the year. In fact today, on the third day of school, I had to hold back 2 students at the end of class because they broke some of my cardinal rules that we had just spoken about only a couple minutes ago. But don't all teachers experience a class like this. I mean, that's what I've been told at least.

Finishing off with period 6 was not so good either but only because it was the last class of the first day of school and the kids were in no mood to be in school anymore. But I know now after three days that these kids are good and fun and we are going to have a great year.

All in all its been a good couple of days teaching. Hard but good. I tip my hat to all those teachers out there because it is much harder than people give them credit for. I will have to constantly think outside the box to come up with lessons that are creative and engaging for my kids. But I am up for the challenge.



Anyone out there who has any fabulous advice on classroom management for rowdy high schoolers should shoot me an email.

Included are some random pictures to make this a less boring post. MWAH!