Almost

Just a week and a half more of school, a week of SAT Prep class, sitting for the Praxis Exam, a couple flights and then I get to spend a whole week in Australia with MY MOM!!!!!

Spring Break 2011 here I come!!!!!!! Can't wait to spend a week with Beachbum in the land down under.

To Stay or To Go

That is the question.



Reasons to stay:

To continue the experience of a lifetime.
To gain additional job experience in the field for the future.
I've made some lifelong great friends.
To continue learning about myself as an individual person.
Summer all year round!
To strengthen the impact that I'm already having on the students of American Samoa.
Relative easy in which I'm able to go with the flow.
To be able to assist another group of volunteers with their experience.
To learn more about helping the educational process of a developing country (or territory).
Being able to visit stunning beaches and waterfalls with relative ease.
I think I'm finally starting to tan!



Reasons to go:

I miss my family and friends terribly!!!!!!!!
The lack of vegetarian food options is frustrating.
Another year away from my family!!!!!!!!!!
Sometimes it is just too hot.
Difficulty in learning the language.
Difficulty in adapting to the Samoan way of life.
Feeling unappreciated.
Living with all the ants and termites and insects that come with a tropical island.
The time difference between here and the East Coast can be annoying.
Need to make more money.
Can I really handle missing another year of birthdays and holidays?



And I'm sure there are more....

My House

Thanks to Gregs visit, I was able to take some pictures of my house and village so you all can see where I live.

I live in the village of Mesepa.

This is the outside of my apartment. Doesn't it look glamorous?

This is the church across the street which is in session every evening. EVERY evening. And they like to sing. LOUDLY. But I like it now.

This is the view behind my apartment. Not too shabby, eh?

A visit from Greggles!

Having a visitor was great. My dearest friend Greg came to visit me from DC last weekend. Not only was it so special to see someone that I miss a lot but to be able to share part of this crazy experience with someone else meant a lot to me.



I'm not sure Greg understands why this place appeals to me so much but I was able to show him a couple of reasons why this place is so beautiful. Going to the Nu'uuli Waterfalls, Tisa's beach and Fagatele Bay was a great introduction to life in American Samoa. If only it hadnt rained so much we would have been able to see so much more. But it is rainy season, so what else can you expect.



if anyone else wants to come and play with me here in Samoa, I'd be more than happy to show you around. As Greg can attest, it is hot and humid, things move very slowly here, the food could be better but there is enough generosity to fill a thousand hearts.



Thanks Greg! Hope to see you in Samoa again soon!

We All Have Our Doubts

I began writing this post last Friday after finishing the worst week of my whole experience so far. So much happened at school that I was not able to handle everything that I was feeling. Students were being disrespectful, unappreciative, lazy and just plain rude. I started to doubt my abilities as a teacher and educator. I came here for a specific reason to provide education to a place in this world that needs it, but what if the students don't want it? What can you do then?

And so I struggled. A lot. I mean, it's not everyday that stones/rocks are thrown at you by your students. It's not everyday that a student laughs in your face when you try to reprimand them. It's not everyday that students say "F*ck you!" But maybe it is....

Perhaps, my high school experience was too privileged for me to understand that there are a lot of schools stateside that do experience these problems. Damn UHS and DSOA! They didn't prepare me for the reality of a real "American" high school. How was I supposed to know that students usually talk back to their teachers..? Don't get me wrong, I am grateful for my high school experience, but it solidifies my feeling that I would not want to teach at a school like the ones I attended. That would be too easy.

But don't get me wrong, I wanted to run for the hills on Friday. I had had it. But thanks to the wonderful support of family and friends and my fellow volunteers, I pulled my chin up and decided to try and wipe the slate clean. I was going to write awesome lesson plans for this week and take my students by storm. And so I am. I will teach these students for the remainder of the year, whether they like it or not. And deep down, I know that a lot of kids actually like it. They really really like. And that feels good.

The End of January

Tomorrow is the end of January. This month has been pretty crazy and long. It started off with two new years eves and ends with another day at school. In between, I had my birthday, which didn't feel like the usual big affair that I typically do with my birthday but I guess it was another Samoan experience. I also had some tough days with some of my classes which has challenged me in ways I didn't think it would.

For my last birthday in my 20's, I wanted to go all out. It fell on a Friday which was great and it happened to be a long weekend. What more could I ask for. My friend Veronica arranged to rent an Aiga bus for the night so it could take us wherever we wanted to go. It was basically supposed to be our very own private party bus. And it was EXCEPT, I came down with some sort of food poisoning/stomach bug the morning of my birthday that made it very hard to have a good time. But i tried to rally, so I went out with all my friends. We blasted music on our bus (everyone singing along to Toto's "Africa" was the highlight) as we went to various bars but I just couldn't muster the energy to have a good time. I ended up going home early and calling it a night. I tried, perhaps better luck next year. My friends had fun though and that's all the matters, right? RIGHT!



As second semester began, I made a decision to be a more strict in my classroom. I felt that I was being taken advantage of by some students because I am a palagi and since I've told them that I am not going to hit them. It's also a daily challenge to deal with the fact that they can say stuff to each other in Samoan and I have no idea what they are saying. Well some of my classes started to push back. Hard. They didn't like the new Mr. Drew they would tell me. The new Mr. Drew was trying to be more serious about his punishments. The new Mr. Drew was trying to instill a better work ethic with his students. The new Mr. Drew was trying out "fun" activities to break things up in the classroom. Much to my dismay, most of it hasn't work. Perhaps I'm pushing too hard. Perhaps I should continue to push and see if eventually they give in. Perhaps I need to meet them in the middle. Who knows. But as a first year teacher, I'm trying things out and seeing what works. It's all I can do, right?



This is a picture of some kids who are pushing. I love them but not when they push.



This is a picture of two boys who are so smart and kind but enjoy putting up an "I'm too cool for school" attitude to impress their friends. I will get to them if it's the last thing I do here.

Thanks for reading. Some more posts coming soon.

Cyclone Wilma

I've alive, I'm alive, I'm so alive.....

After much anticipation, Cyclone Wilma came and went. We first heard of this storm on Wednesday this past week. At that point, it was supposed to arrive Thursday evening. Thursday came and went. It was then supposed to arrive Friday and so forth and so forth until finally it came last night while we were sleeping. On Thursday it was called tropical depression 06F, yet it arrived in American Samoa as Cyclone Wilma.

It brought lots of rain, but it is rainy season here so it doesnt seem that much out of the ordinary. It did bring, however, some pretty big wind gusts which uprooted some trees, blew over our sturdy roadside billboards and it sent palm fronds into the streets. And we did lose our power. Our landlord told us this morning that the power went out around 5:30am and it did not come back on until almost 3:30pm. (But I was at McDonalds watching football, so it really was just like any other weekend.)

But I wasn't scared. As Jessica, Erin, Caitlin, Nancy and Bette Midler can attest, we've been through some pretty exciting hurricanes in Florida......