Thanksgiving and more...

FYI:: I wrote this on Saturday, but I was not able to get on the internet until today (Wednesday)

Wow so much has happened in the last two weeks! Let me update you…

School Stuff…

Right after my last post, I was informed that one of the other social studies teachers had quit to take another job outside of education. Yes, she quit half way through the first semester. Yes, this happens often here. So since there is a teacher shortage, it’s not really possible to get a “long-term-sub” like you would do back in the states, and highly unlikely that you’ll be able to hire another teacher to take their place. So I knew that when I got to school Monday morning, I’d likely have new classes.

After some shuffling of the schedules…(at one point they had me teaching American Samoan history! Ah!)…I now have 7 new students in my 5^th period world history, making it my largest class. I also have an additional U.S. history class 2^nd period. However, since the administration wanted us to all still have a prep period, one of my classes was given to another teacher. It just so happened to be my rowdy 6^th period that I mentioned in my last post. Some of the students were pretty upset that they had to have a new teacher, and I was too. Even though they drove me crazy, I still really enjoyed teaching them. But the nice thing about Voc-Tech is that it’s a smaller school and I still see those students every day. A couple have even come in to ask me for help on their homework.

The other change is that I now have a new classroom. Yes, they moved me again! But I actually like the new room better. It is smaller and easier to keep clean (teachers clean the classrooms, not janitors). The ceiling fans actually work too. It still gets hot in there, especially with my big 5^th period class, but it’s not too bad. I’m becoming used to the heat. The only problem is that I now have a giant world map that I cannot figure out how to stick to the wall! I have tried 4 different times, using sticky tack, special tape, ect…and it will NOT stay up. I’m running out of ideas….any suggestions?

Thanksgiving weekend!!

It was definitely weird not being with my parents and sisters on Thanksgiving. But on Wednesday, while they were flying off to Iowa to visit my family there, I was participating in the school activities we were doing. The kids played musical chairs, tug of war, and volleyball….as a freshman class advisor, I played volleyball with the girls, and we won! It was a half-day, so after lunch we were free to go. I headed to the store to grab a couple things, then back home to pack up my stuff. Julie and I had a room at Sadie’s by the Sea booked for the weekend. We were so looking forward to just laying around, watching tv, using the internet, and relaxing in an air conditioned room. I was even more excited because earlier in the week the weather had been bad and Julie wasn’t sure if she’d be able to get on a boat to cross over to Tutuila. But Wednesday was nice and sunny and we arrived at the hotel within 5 minutes of each other. After a bit of hassle, we got our internet passes and spent the rest of the day watching college basketball and movies on Starz. Neither one of us have a tv in our houses here, so this was a HUGE luxury.

On Thanksgiving day we woke up early so that Julie (a Wisconsin native) could watch the Packers game. Later we skyped with family and friends, then went to the café here to eat…they had a pretty good Thanksgiving buffet!! After that we planned on going to lay by the pool, but ended up taking really long naps instead.

Friday was the day of my school’s playoff game. At 8 am! So I got up early and went to the stadium. My cheerleaders met me there and the game started in yet another downpour. We were playing the number 1 team, and sadly, we lost. But the fact that we even made it to playoffs was amazing…first time in school history!! Afterwards I met up with Julie, Rosa, and Amber at pizza hut and later in the day Julie and I went and saw the new Twilight movie.  (So Cheesy!)

Almost December Already?

And that brings me here, the internet is not wanting to work right now, so I am just typing this before going to lay in the sun and will post it later. I can’t believe Thanksgiving is over. We spent the last 6 weeks looking forward to our mini-vacation, and now it’s done. But that means our next vacation (Christmas break!!) is right around the corner… it’s so strange to think of how fast time goes when you are busy just going about your day-to-day life. I only have 2 weeks of regular school, then finals week, then we are done with the semester. After finals we spend 2 days at our WorldTeach mid-service conference before heading off on our vacations. So in one month I will actually be able to SEE my family in person, and be able to hug them. I can’t wait. The month of November has flown by, and I imagine that the next few weeks will too.

I do miss my family and my friends back home, and I imagine how my life will be when I return to Washington. However there are days (and lately, more and more of these days) when I honestly ask myself HOW am I going to leave this place? HOW am I going to say goodbye to my students? It breaks my heart even now, just thinking about it. I know it will be a hundred times worse in June. I got here in July, and have been teaching for 4 months. In that short amount of time, this place and these kids have changed me. I went into education thinking that I knew just what to expect, since my mom was a teacher. I had seen the good, the bad, and the ugly sides of a career in education. I thought that I was well prepared for it. But I was not prepared for the connection and bond formed with a bunch of crazy Samoan teenagers. And I will never be prepared to say goodbye to them.

But that day is still months away! And right now it looks like it may rain..again..so instead of laying in the sun I’m going to catch more shows on Bravo while I have tv!

Until next time….

“RAIN and Other South Sea Stories”

The title of this blog is a book written by W. Somerset Maugham, who began traveling to the Pacific Islands in 1917. And it is very applicable today, since it has been raining since I ate breakfast this morning and hasn’t stopped for almost 4 hours. Usually when it rains here, it’ll pour for a good 5-10 minutes, then just rain less heavily a little bit longer, then stop for awhile before beginning again. But it seems rare that it rains this much for this long, at least as far as I have observed. So for those of you who think that I am laying on sunny beaches every day and getting super tan, you are wrong. On the week days I walk to school (where I work on my farmer’s tan), stay inside all day, then go home. On the weekends, I play hostess to my friend Julie who visits from the island of Anu’u, get errands done, relax a bit, maybe catch a movie, and procrastinate on grading until Sunday evening. When it wasn’t so rainy I’d go kayaking or to the beach with friends, but the last couple weeks that has not been possible. Welcome to the rainy season in American Samoa! If it wasn’t so warm and there weren’t so many tropical trees, I’d think I was back in the Northwest….

“Frontier Weddings”

Last week, my U.S. history classes were given the task of giving  a presentation on Settling the West. One of the topics (taken from a little side story in the textbook) was Frontier Weddings. My 6^th period class is filled with 12 rowdy junior boys, 3 of whom play football, and one girl. They were split into groups to do the presentation and given about a week, with some class time to work on it. Of course most of them procrastinated and did not get anything done. Come Friday, the Frontier Weddings group did not have their poster ready but did not want to lose 25% by waiting until Monday to present. However, they had to have some sort of visual. So they decided to throw together a little skit and after giving the information, acted out a “Frontier Wedding”. Since it was Friday, and the last class of the day, I let them run with it.

The Groom was a football player who refers to himself as HBK (Heart Break Kid). The bride was also a football player, and easily one of my largest students. Their third group member was helping to narrate the story. The pastor was yet another football player who often leads the prayer in the mornings during my first period class. (Yes, first period. His own 6^th period class had been having a sub all week and weren’t doing anything. So I let him come in to help them with their skit). Now, all of these boys have already found themselves a very special place in my heart. However, they still drive me nuts on a daily basis. The “wedding” that ensued was by far the funniest thing I have seen in the classroom since I’ve arrived here. The bride had tied his football jersey over his head and was letting out high-pitched girlish giggles throughout the ceremony. And although this was a “frontier” wedding, set in the American West, much of it was conducted in Samoan. After the happy couple was pronounced man and wife, they hugged and the rest of the class cheered. Then the “pastor” made a comment in Samoan and the only word I caught was “virginity”. All the students turned to look at me, to see what my reaction would be, and I had to put my clipboard in front of my face because I was laughing. All in all, a very entertaining class.

“Friday Night Lights”

Speaking of my football playing students, the Nu’uuli Voc-Tech Wildcats have surpassed the odds and made it to the playoffs! Last night we beat Samoana High School 24-0. We still have one game left next week, which is also our senior night, and playoffs are Thanksgiving weekend. My cheerleaders are still doing well, and learning 2 new cheers each week to add to their repertoire. Since we won, and have senior night coming up, there will undoubtedly be an assembly or pep rally of some kind this coming week. Of course, since this is Samoa, we likely will not know anything about it until the day of. If we’re lucky, the day before. But that’s just how it goes here. The last couple games have been a bit surreal. There I was sitting at a football game at 7:00 on a Friday night in November. And it was still warm enough to wear just a t-shirt, jeans, and flip-flops (or slippers, as they are called here). It was a bit strange since I usually associate football games with cold temperatures, mittens and two pairs of socks.

I know I have been a bit horrible about keeping this updated. The week days are always filled with work to do, and the weekends are never long enough. Also, my internet situation is not the most reliable at the moment. We currently do not have internet at our house, but can access it at school (though not facebook). Some days (like today) I am able to go to McDonald’s and use the free wireless. It’s inconvenient, and frustrating at times, but it also forces me to focus on other things, instead of just wasting the day away mindlessly surfing the web.

Speaking of Surfing…..Christmas in Hawaii will be here soon!! I can’t wait!!!

That’s all for now folks……stay tuned! And keep in touch! Leave a comment or write to me. My email is miss.mills.amanda@gmail .com

Manuia le aso!