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.