Christmas in Kiwi-land....and New Year's Everywhere in between

Happy New Year everyone! Wishing everyone a great and happy 2011. What a wild ride this has been the past 6 months, I am sure looking forward to the next year to see what else is in store.

So I started our writing this blog by giving a detailed summary of what I did over my Christmas vacation but it started to get to long so I will just highlight the best parts. I spent about 9 days in New Zealand with 4 other WorldTeach volunteers.



We spent 2 nights in Auckland, 2 night in Wellington, 2 nights in Turangi, 1 night in Rotorua, New Years Eve Part 1 in Wellington and then New Years Eve Part 2 back in Apia, Samoa.

It was a great trip. Auckland was not my favorite for a couple reasons. One the city is too big. You may ask how a former New Yorker could say that but I guess being away from such a big city for 6 months as made me less inclined to enjoy a sprawling city. We were also there for Christmas and unfortunately most of the city was shut down so we didn't get to see as much as we would have liked. Auckland highlight: Going to the top of the SkyTower (the highest building in the Southern Hemisphere) at sunset and seeing the whole city from a Birdseye view.



Wellington was a much smaller and in my opinion better city. It had the charm of an artistic community and the nightlife of a college town. However, they don't call in Windy Wellington for nothing. Highlight in Wellington: staying in my first ever hostel and slightly enjoying it, even if it was invested with 18-20 year olds.

Turangi was great. Small town. Awesome cozy hostel. We climbed the Tongariro Alpine Cross. It took 7 hours in the blazing sun. As a very white palagi, I got burned. No fried.





In Rotorua, I went bungy jumping. I was petrified. Like omg, did I scream like a little school girl. But it was absolutely worth it. I even got to jump down into an awesome looking river. What a great experience!?






After spending New Years Eve part 1 in Auckland, due to some tricky time traveling and the international dateline, we were able to celebrate New Years Eve part 2 in Apia. It was a wonderful 24 (or more) hours. When will I ever get to experience that again?





It was overall a great vacation. So nice to get away. So nice to see different people. So nice to see a beautiful country. But it felt nice to come back "home" to American Samoa. As strange as it is to say, I've created a home here and I kinda like it.

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?