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......

1st Semester Final Exam Week

For my midterm, I made my test too short and my students finished before the period was over. And I like to make my students work for every minute that they are in my classroom. :)

So when I found out that our first semester exams would be 90 minutes long as opposed to our usual 60 minute period, I set out to make my final exam longer and harder.



Well Day 2 of exam week is over and it seems that my exam for my proficient classes is a tad bit too long. A number of my students have not had enough time to finish the whole exam. And now that I am in the midst of grading these exams, I am definitely realizing how long they are. OY.

Lesson learned.

Can't wait for second semester to begin. Oh and a little thing like my birthday this weekend!

(more pics from NZ)

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.