At BYC
Milky way
My kids lining up for flag raising.
Recess time!
Rychelle came to visit from Yap!
The cool ring around the sun!Sunday, April 15, 2012
Friday, March 23, 2012
Thursday, March 22, 2012
The rest of what you missed
So a few more things to catch up on...
1.Eulla's birthday and the baby christening. When we got back from break, Jeanine told me that we had been invited to the christening of one of her kid's baby sister. Confusing, I know. So we got all dressed up on Sunday and walked to the Catholic Church. The service wasn't over yet, so we sat in and heard what the priest had to say. Then we went into the back room for the christening. It was cool that we were invited, because it was just us and the closest family. It was interesting to see because I'd never been to a christening before. After that, we were invited to the club that their family owns to celebrate Eulla's (the older sister) birthday. It was so fun! They even had a roasted pig and some intense Palauan food. We got to talk to Eulla and all her friends and played with the kids too. It was nice to get to hang out with people out of school settings.
2. We celebrated Victor, Jeanine, and my birthday over the last few months. For Victor's birthday we went to Little Italy and ate some amazing food. It was delicious! Then we came back to SDA and watched a movie. For Jeanine's birthday we went to Kramers and got sea food. They had a live band randomly that night so we got to hear them and they were actually pretty good! For my 20th birthday we went back to Kramers and had a Foosball tournament. We all got to play and it was super fun. Then we came back and watched a movie and ran around in the dark. I also got some pretty cool packages from home, as well as other people. I'm not sure if I mentioned this, but thank you SO MUCH to everyone who sent me Christmas packages. I got around 25, and they were all SO amazing!
3. One Sunday our host families took us to the waterfalls in Nechasar! We took a huge bus with all the faculty and our families, but when we got there the hill was so steep that we had to park in the middle of the road! Then we hiked up a hill, down a path, up some rocks, down a ravine, and a whole bunch of other ways to get to the waterfall. When we got there it was worth it though! The waterfall was beautiful! It poured down into pools which ran down the rocks into other smaller waterfalls. The water was freezing too! We took so many pictures, and I even jumped off the side. It was a cool experience to bond with new people and get to hang out with our host families.
4. One Saturday Joy (one of the teachers here) asked me if we wanted to come to Nechasar church and help with the program. It was a long ride to get there, but her husband came and picked us up. On the way we discovered that he is the pastor! The church only had about 10 members, but they were all friendly and welcoming. We had Sabbath School outside and church we were barefoot in an open room! After church he took us on a driving tour of the state of Nechasar and then back to the waterfalls! This time it was with the church on Saturday, so we weren't really supposed to swim. We did, however, wade in the water and lay in the shallow part. Then we sang songs and talked about nature and heaven and a lot of other things. It was peaceful and it was fun to meet all the church members from another church.
5. Since Rebecca and Daniel came in December we've been preparing for BYC (Balau Youth Conference). We had several meetings a week trying to plan the whole weekend. I was in charge of registration and photography, but there were about 30 people involved all in all. Finally it was the weekend of BYC. I'm sure a lot of people were stressed because this is what we had been planning for and no one really knew what to expect. The new pastor (who came in a few weeks before) we going to speak and we had a lot planned. People came and stayed at PMA for the weekend for seminars and workshops and other things like that. Friday went great and I got everyone registered. We had an evening meeting and it POURED rain. It's funny because our theme was "Pray for rain" and it rained every day. Saturday we had church and it rained again. The President of Palau came and translated for church though, which was really cool! Saturday night we played capture the flag in the dark after the evening meeting. Sunday was workshops all day until the evening, but then we had a meeting. Six people got baptized! It was so amazing! Even Carl spontaneously decided to get baptized too. I know it really impacted people and it was a great event, with more than 200 people showing up. It's something that we started this year, in hopes that it will become and annual event.
6. One Saturday we decided to go camping in Baubledop. We drove the van out to the beach and brought our hammocks and everything. It was really fun, we made a campfire and ate on the beach. We set our hammocks up under a little hut and everything was perfect. Unfortunately, the weather had other plans. It POURED rain all night. My hammock is full of holes, so I didn't have much protection. I ended up sleeping in the van, but forgot to close the window so it rained on me all night. I didn't get much sleep, but it was still fun to get to be in nature and hang out.
7.Last Thursday was Youth Day here in Palau and so we got the day off of school! All the SM's plus Myrrah (a teacher at PCC) went to PPR. It's the nicest resort in Palau and it really expensive to get in. Once you're inside, it looks like you are in Hawaii or somewhere other than Palau. It has white beaches, clear blue water, tons of lawn chairs set up, a nice pool, and hammocks to lay in. We got to swim in the ocean out to these cool floating docks to sun tan. We also went in the pool and lounged around on the beach. Jeanine and I hiked out to the end of the island and the view was beautiful. At sunset we swam back out to the floating pier and watched the sun set. Then we ate dinner at the restaurant and some other people from PCC joined us. It was such a great relaxing day!
8. I know it sounds like all we do is have fun, but that isn't true at all. We're always involved in something, weather it be BYC, church events, or school events. Just yesterday we had our school creativity fair. My kids and I have been trying to get ready for that for the past month, and it finally all came together. They made dioramas of under the sea to display at our booth, and we also put together a gymnastics routine. I worked with Joy's class, 3B to get them ready. They did cute little flips and pyramids and other things to "Eye of the Tiger". I was kind of worried about it because we didn't have much time to practice, but last night it went perfectly! They were all ready to go. The rest of the fair was great, except the kids kept putting me in jail a million times. There were lots of other booths and I got to socialize with a lot of people I normally don't get to see. The best part of the talent show was when a cute little girl, Alexa, sang L.O.V.E. with her dad playing the guitar. She was just amazing!
9. We just got finished with our last PTC (Parent-Teacher Conference). It was great! I heard that people are usually worried about that, but mine always go so well. The parents always have great things to say about me, and I always have great things to tell them about their kids. It's nice to have that communication to let them know how their kids are doing.
10. A few nights ago all the teacher were invited to go to Airai View Hotel for the birthday of the Ambassador of Taiwan's son. He's new to PMA and let us all come for free. Even though just a few of us ended up going, it was so much fun! I'd never been there before and there are two water slides for the guests to use and they were awesome! Even though now I'm covered with bruises, it was fun getting to know all the Chinese dorm students better. We got into a water fight and in the end we shoved them down the slide like 50 times. Bonding...
11. I found out that my roof leaks. Every time that it rains here in Palau, there is a giant puddle of water on my floor. I nearly slipped to my death a few days ago because apparently there's a hole now! I have buckets full of water that I get to dump out. It's an experience at least I suppose
12. Something new that happened was that last week I couldn't breathe. I was sitting out at recess and suddenly I just couldn't breathe. I couldn't see straight, it was hot, and I kept hyperventilating. They rushed me to the ER and I got diagnosed with dehydration. They put me on an IV drip which took forever and then I could go back to school. It was kind of scary, but at least I'm drinking more water now.
So now you're caught up with what's been going on. We have one week left and then we have spring break! We're planning to go camping, diving, and then Jesse and Rychelle come from Yap! It's sad that we're so close to the end of our time here. I feel like now things are going to go by so fast because we want them to go slow. There are still so many things that I want to do here, but I don't know if I can accomplish them all. I already miss my kids, but I'm still teaching them! I just love them so much-more every day. They really are the sweetest kids ever. They are all so helpful and loving and adorable. I know I'm going to miss them a lot.
1.Eulla's birthday and the baby christening. When we got back from break, Jeanine told me that we had been invited to the christening of one of her kid's baby sister. Confusing, I know. So we got all dressed up on Sunday and walked to the Catholic Church. The service wasn't over yet, so we sat in and heard what the priest had to say. Then we went into the back room for the christening. It was cool that we were invited, because it was just us and the closest family. It was interesting to see because I'd never been to a christening before. After that, we were invited to the club that their family owns to celebrate Eulla's (the older sister) birthday. It was so fun! They even had a roasted pig and some intense Palauan food. We got to talk to Eulla and all her friends and played with the kids too. It was nice to get to hang out with people out of school settings.
2. We celebrated Victor, Jeanine, and my birthday over the last few months. For Victor's birthday we went to Little Italy and ate some amazing food. It was delicious! Then we came back to SDA and watched a movie. For Jeanine's birthday we went to Kramers and got sea food. They had a live band randomly that night so we got to hear them and they were actually pretty good! For my 20th birthday we went back to Kramers and had a Foosball tournament. We all got to play and it was super fun. Then we came back and watched a movie and ran around in the dark. I also got some pretty cool packages from home, as well as other people. I'm not sure if I mentioned this, but thank you SO MUCH to everyone who sent me Christmas packages. I got around 25, and they were all SO amazing!
3. One Sunday our host families took us to the waterfalls in Nechasar! We took a huge bus with all the faculty and our families, but when we got there the hill was so steep that we had to park in the middle of the road! Then we hiked up a hill, down a path, up some rocks, down a ravine, and a whole bunch of other ways to get to the waterfall. When we got there it was worth it though! The waterfall was beautiful! It poured down into pools which ran down the rocks into other smaller waterfalls. The water was freezing too! We took so many pictures, and I even jumped off the side. It was a cool experience to bond with new people and get to hang out with our host families.
4. One Saturday Joy (one of the teachers here) asked me if we wanted to come to Nechasar church and help with the program. It was a long ride to get there, but her husband came and picked us up. On the way we discovered that he is the pastor! The church only had about 10 members, but they were all friendly and welcoming. We had Sabbath School outside and church we were barefoot in an open room! After church he took us on a driving tour of the state of Nechasar and then back to the waterfalls! This time it was with the church on Saturday, so we weren't really supposed to swim. We did, however, wade in the water and lay in the shallow part. Then we sang songs and talked about nature and heaven and a lot of other things. It was peaceful and it was fun to meet all the church members from another church.
5. Since Rebecca and Daniel came in December we've been preparing for BYC (Balau Youth Conference). We had several meetings a week trying to plan the whole weekend. I was in charge of registration and photography, but there were about 30 people involved all in all. Finally it was the weekend of BYC. I'm sure a lot of people were stressed because this is what we had been planning for and no one really knew what to expect. The new pastor (who came in a few weeks before) we going to speak and we had a lot planned. People came and stayed at PMA for the weekend for seminars and workshops and other things like that. Friday went great and I got everyone registered. We had an evening meeting and it POURED rain. It's funny because our theme was "Pray for rain" and it rained every day. Saturday we had church and it rained again. The President of Palau came and translated for church though, which was really cool! Saturday night we played capture the flag in the dark after the evening meeting. Sunday was workshops all day until the evening, but then we had a meeting. Six people got baptized! It was so amazing! Even Carl spontaneously decided to get baptized too. I know it really impacted people and it was a great event, with more than 200 people showing up. It's something that we started this year, in hopes that it will become and annual event.
6. One Saturday we decided to go camping in Baubledop. We drove the van out to the beach and brought our hammocks and everything. It was really fun, we made a campfire and ate on the beach. We set our hammocks up under a little hut and everything was perfect. Unfortunately, the weather had other plans. It POURED rain all night. My hammock is full of holes, so I didn't have much protection. I ended up sleeping in the van, but forgot to close the window so it rained on me all night. I didn't get much sleep, but it was still fun to get to be in nature and hang out.
7.Last Thursday was Youth Day here in Palau and so we got the day off of school! All the SM's plus Myrrah (a teacher at PCC) went to PPR. It's the nicest resort in Palau and it really expensive to get in. Once you're inside, it looks like you are in Hawaii or somewhere other than Palau. It has white beaches, clear blue water, tons of lawn chairs set up, a nice pool, and hammocks to lay in. We got to swim in the ocean out to these cool floating docks to sun tan. We also went in the pool and lounged around on the beach. Jeanine and I hiked out to the end of the island and the view was beautiful. At sunset we swam back out to the floating pier and watched the sun set. Then we ate dinner at the restaurant and some other people from PCC joined us. It was such a great relaxing day!
8. I know it sounds like all we do is have fun, but that isn't true at all. We're always involved in something, weather it be BYC, church events, or school events. Just yesterday we had our school creativity fair. My kids and I have been trying to get ready for that for the past month, and it finally all came together. They made dioramas of under the sea to display at our booth, and we also put together a gymnastics routine. I worked with Joy's class, 3B to get them ready. They did cute little flips and pyramids and other things to "Eye of the Tiger". I was kind of worried about it because we didn't have much time to practice, but last night it went perfectly! They were all ready to go. The rest of the fair was great, except the kids kept putting me in jail a million times. There were lots of other booths and I got to socialize with a lot of people I normally don't get to see. The best part of the talent show was when a cute little girl, Alexa, sang L.O.V.E. with her dad playing the guitar. She was just amazing!
9. We just got finished with our last PTC (Parent-Teacher Conference). It was great! I heard that people are usually worried about that, but mine always go so well. The parents always have great things to say about me, and I always have great things to tell them about their kids. It's nice to have that communication to let them know how their kids are doing.
10. A few nights ago all the teacher were invited to go to Airai View Hotel for the birthday of the Ambassador of Taiwan's son. He's new to PMA and let us all come for free. Even though just a few of us ended up going, it was so much fun! I'd never been there before and there are two water slides for the guests to use and they were awesome! Even though now I'm covered with bruises, it was fun getting to know all the Chinese dorm students better. We got into a water fight and in the end we shoved them down the slide like 50 times. Bonding...
11. I found out that my roof leaks. Every time that it rains here in Palau, there is a giant puddle of water on my floor. I nearly slipped to my death a few days ago because apparently there's a hole now! I have buckets full of water that I get to dump out. It's an experience at least I suppose
12. Something new that happened was that last week I couldn't breathe. I was sitting out at recess and suddenly I just couldn't breathe. I couldn't see straight, it was hot, and I kept hyperventilating. They rushed me to the ER and I got diagnosed with dehydration. They put me on an IV drip which took forever and then I could go back to school. It was kind of scary, but at least I'm drinking more water now.
So now you're caught up with what's been going on. We have one week left and then we have spring break! We're planning to go camping, diving, and then Jesse and Rychelle come from Yap! It's sad that we're so close to the end of our time here. I feel like now things are going to go by so fast because we want them to go slow. There are still so many things that I want to do here, but I don't know if I can accomplish them all. I already miss my kids, but I'm still teaching them! I just love them so much-more every day. They really are the sweetest kids ever. They are all so helpful and loving and adorable. I know I'm going to miss them a lot.
I'm back (Manila)
It's been forever. It's not that I don't want to write, it's that I'm so busy! At first I just had so much to do, then it was because I was so far behind that I didn't even think that I could catch up. But there are 56 days left until summer, so I might as well try to catch you all up. I am so happy here. It's been a transforming experience. So many things about me have changed and so many things here in Palau have changed. Yesterday a girl contacted me and asked about Palau, since she's coming here as an SM next year, and I realized how far I've come. I remember being her, not knowing what was waiting for me here in Palau. I remember getting on Facebook and trying to talk to the SM's here to figure out what was waiting for me. And now I'm that person. I'm the one that has the experience and can explain what it's like. It's hard to grasp even, what a long year this has been. Even though now it's flying by, it feels like I've lived here for years. This is my place. The people know me, the kids love me, I know where everything is, and I'm comfortable here. I wish that I had the words to explain the difference in me, but I can't. So here are something that I should catch you up on.
Before this, my last post was right before I went to Manila. That was one of the best trips I've ever been on! We got there at midnight and said goodbye to Kofi, a guy who traveled on the plane with Austin and I. Then we walk outside and are instantly surrounded by a million sounds, colors, and lights. Compared to Palau, it was like night and day. I nearly had a heart attack as we tried to fight through the crowd to get outside. It was intense reverse culture-shock. The daughter of the principal here was waiting to pick us up and take us to our hotel in downtown Manila. I'm not going to lie, even though the hotel was pretty nice, we were in a sketchy downtown sort of area, sorry mom! Even though by then it was 2 am, we had to figure out how to exchange money because we needed to pay to get into the hotel. We walked around and asked people, and we finally found a hotel that would do it for 44 pesos a dollar. When we finally got that all figured out around 4 am, we got to sleep! The reason it took so long is because they didn't have enough money in the hotel and had to call in an armed guard to open the vault. So anyway, the next morning we had to wake up early and take a taxi to the airport to catch our flight to Legaspi. When we finally got to Legaspi, we had to take a 2 hour taxi ride to Donsol, which is the little town that has the whale sharks. I was so tired after the plane ride and taxi ride that all I wanted to do was eat dinner and sit on the beach, so that is what we did. The next morning was Christmas! We slept in and then ate lunch at the resort. Then we decided to go into the town of Donsol and explore. We look into the little shops and walk around the food vendors, but then Austin finds this game. All of the locals are around this metal board. It is divided in little squares and they are colored red and white, every other one. The point of the game is to throw two ping pong balls into a funnel and then the balls land in these squares. People bet on red or white, and pay as much as they want. If they win, they get double their bet back. If they lose, they get nothing. Even though women aren't aloud to play, all the Filipino men said I could sit at the table and be good luck (haha). So they made me kiss the ping pong balls before they threw them (ew! I probably got some sort of disease). Anyway, it was SO FUN! Apparently I'm a lucky charm, because Austin won a ton of money, like 3000 pesos! It was cool to hang out with the people, and I even got to take a picture with a super old lady. When that was over we went to the visitors center and registered for whale sharking and something called a firefly tour. We got to talking to some people there and they brought us food. It was some good soup, until the guys told me that it was made of cow bone marrow...mmm...Then we took a trike back. A trike is like a teeny carriage that is pulled by a guy peddling a bike. It was sure a new experience, and a cool way to see Donsol. The next day we had to get up SUPER early to go whale sharking! They told us that we get to be out for four hours and if we don't see a whale shark then we still have to go back in. Apparently it was off season and they hadn't seen one in a while, so I didn't get my hopes up. So we drive around for two hours and just enjoy the breeze and the water. The boat is really small, but a super cool sail boat. Just as were thinking of heading back, the guide sees one in the water. Now, I thought we'd just stop to get into the water, but no. He screams at us to hurry and jump off the boat right now! We yank on our fins and hop off the speeding boat into the freezing water. I thought I would get hypothermia! I literally landed on top of the whale shark when I jump. They only surface for a few minutes at a time, so we had to be fast. It was AMAZING! The whale shark was about 8 meters long...so like 25 feet. I landed right by its eye which was as big as my fist! They swim super fast, so I could barely keep up. I got to see its giant fin and spots, and its tail even almost hit me! It was as big as a bus! We got back out and a few seconds later there was another one! So we got right back in the water. It was just phenomenal to be that close. Then we headed back to shore. We found out later on that day that we were the only people to see whale sharks all day! What a blessing. After that we walked back to our resort so we got to see the rice fields and other cool parts of Donsol. When it got dark, a tiny boat that looked like a canoe came and picked us up for the firefly tour. They took us down this canal that was lined by trees. Those trees were filled with fireflies. The sky was totally bright and lit up by the fireflies! They were beautiful to see, except a lady kept taking pictures which kind of ruined the beauty. It was still suck a cool experience. After that we went back and the hotel staff gave everyone staying there free food for Christmas! It was fun to meet the other people staying there. There was a couple from Germany, a guy from Italy working in Africa, and a couple from the Czech Republic. Apparently Austin speaks German, so it was fun getting to know them. The next day we took a van with the Czech people and Italian guy to the airport. We were heading back to Manila, the Italian guy was going to Cebu, and the Czech people were going to Thailand. So as we're getting ready to fly back to Manila, we find out our flight is cancelled! In fact, all flights are cancelled because of the weather. They don't give us our money back, but instead want to give us a new ticket. The next flight to Manila is two days later, and that is just way too long. So we decided to switch our flight to Manila out of Naga, a city that is about four hours away, to leave the next morning. The problem is that we had to get to Naga and figure out something to do until 7 am the next morning. So we decided to get a van and drive with those people to Naga. On the way we got to see a cool volcano, but the drive ended up taking about 8 hours, instead of 4. When we finally got there we had to look for a hotel, but then we got to go to the mall! It had been such a long time since I'd seen anything even close to a mall, so it was pretty intense. The next morning we had to get up early to catch our flight back to Manila, but when we got to the airport our flight was delayed. We FINALLY got on a plane and got back to Manila. We dropped our stuff off at our same hotel we stayed in before and went to a GIANT outdoor market. It was full of thousands of booths selling everything you could imagine. It was Sunday, so there was also a Catholic Church having mass. There were so many people crowding and pushing to touch a statue of Jesus. There were about 2000 or more people pushing into the cathedral. After shopping we took a taxi to Hard Rock Cafe. It was crazy, because I felt just like I was back in the States. It made me miss home a lot! The next day we went to the Mall of Asia, the biggest mall in Asia (if you couldn't tell). You had to take a tram to get from one building of the mall to the next. There was an Ice Skating rink, bowling alley, and even the biggest IMAX in the world there. The next day was new years eve, so we decided to go back to the outdoor market. I bought some cool stuff for my family and got fresh Lumpia! Then that night we went back to the Hard Rock Cafe, then after back to our hotel. The people there were eating food in the lobby so we got to hang out with them. All day people were setting off fireworks, and the closer it got to midnight, the more and more we heard. At 11:30 we went outside and walked around the streets with hundreds of other people. There were so many fireworks and people screaming. There was even a guy doing motorcycle tricks. Then everyone started counting down 5 minutes, 1 minute, 30 seconds, 10,9,8 and then 3,2,1! It was wild. After that there was a guy with us who cooked us some pansit and we talked to him. It was really a different experience! The next 3 or 4 days we just toured around Manila, looking at cool sights, going to the mall, and relaxing a lot. It was such a fun trip, and just the break I needed from school!
Before this, my last post was right before I went to Manila. That was one of the best trips I've ever been on! We got there at midnight and said goodbye to Kofi, a guy who traveled on the plane with Austin and I. Then we walk outside and are instantly surrounded by a million sounds, colors, and lights. Compared to Palau, it was like night and day. I nearly had a heart attack as we tried to fight through the crowd to get outside. It was intense reverse culture-shock. The daughter of the principal here was waiting to pick us up and take us to our hotel in downtown Manila. I'm not going to lie, even though the hotel was pretty nice, we were in a sketchy downtown sort of area, sorry mom! Even though by then it was 2 am, we had to figure out how to exchange money because we needed to pay to get into the hotel. We walked around and asked people, and we finally found a hotel that would do it for 44 pesos a dollar. When we finally got that all figured out around 4 am, we got to sleep! The reason it took so long is because they didn't have enough money in the hotel and had to call in an armed guard to open the vault. So anyway, the next morning we had to wake up early and take a taxi to the airport to catch our flight to Legaspi. When we finally got to Legaspi, we had to take a 2 hour taxi ride to Donsol, which is the little town that has the whale sharks. I was so tired after the plane ride and taxi ride that all I wanted to do was eat dinner and sit on the beach, so that is what we did. The next morning was Christmas! We slept in and then ate lunch at the resort. Then we decided to go into the town of Donsol and explore. We look into the little shops and walk around the food vendors, but then Austin finds this game. All of the locals are around this metal board. It is divided in little squares and they are colored red and white, every other one. The point of the game is to throw two ping pong balls into a funnel and then the balls land in these squares. People bet on red or white, and pay as much as they want. If they win, they get double their bet back. If they lose, they get nothing. Even though women aren't aloud to play, all the Filipino men said I could sit at the table and be good luck (haha). So they made me kiss the ping pong balls before they threw them (ew! I probably got some sort of disease). Anyway, it was SO FUN! Apparently I'm a lucky charm, because Austin won a ton of money, like 3000 pesos! It was cool to hang out with the people, and I even got to take a picture with a super old lady. When that was over we went to the visitors center and registered for whale sharking and something called a firefly tour. We got to talking to some people there and they brought us food. It was some good soup, until the guys told me that it was made of cow bone marrow...mmm...Then we took a trike back. A trike is like a teeny carriage that is pulled by a guy peddling a bike. It was sure a new experience, and a cool way to see Donsol. The next day we had to get up SUPER early to go whale sharking! They told us that we get to be out for four hours and if we don't see a whale shark then we still have to go back in. Apparently it was off season and they hadn't seen one in a while, so I didn't get my hopes up. So we drive around for two hours and just enjoy the breeze and the water. The boat is really small, but a super cool sail boat. Just as were thinking of heading back, the guide sees one in the water. Now, I thought we'd just stop to get into the water, but no. He screams at us to hurry and jump off the boat right now! We yank on our fins and hop off the speeding boat into the freezing water. I thought I would get hypothermia! I literally landed on top of the whale shark when I jump. They only surface for a few minutes at a time, so we had to be fast. It was AMAZING! The whale shark was about 8 meters long...so like 25 feet. I landed right by its eye which was as big as my fist! They swim super fast, so I could barely keep up. I got to see its giant fin and spots, and its tail even almost hit me! It was as big as a bus! We got back out and a few seconds later there was another one! So we got right back in the water. It was just phenomenal to be that close. Then we headed back to shore. We found out later on that day that we were the only people to see whale sharks all day! What a blessing. After that we walked back to our resort so we got to see the rice fields and other cool parts of Donsol. When it got dark, a tiny boat that looked like a canoe came and picked us up for the firefly tour. They took us down this canal that was lined by trees. Those trees were filled with fireflies. The sky was totally bright and lit up by the fireflies! They were beautiful to see, except a lady kept taking pictures which kind of ruined the beauty. It was still suck a cool experience. After that we went back and the hotel staff gave everyone staying there free food for Christmas! It was fun to meet the other people staying there. There was a couple from Germany, a guy from Italy working in Africa, and a couple from the Czech Republic. Apparently Austin speaks German, so it was fun getting to know them. The next day we took a van with the Czech people and Italian guy to the airport. We were heading back to Manila, the Italian guy was going to Cebu, and the Czech people were going to Thailand. So as we're getting ready to fly back to Manila, we find out our flight is cancelled! In fact, all flights are cancelled because of the weather. They don't give us our money back, but instead want to give us a new ticket. The next flight to Manila is two days later, and that is just way too long. So we decided to switch our flight to Manila out of Naga, a city that is about four hours away, to leave the next morning. The problem is that we had to get to Naga and figure out something to do until 7 am the next morning. So we decided to get a van and drive with those people to Naga. On the way we got to see a cool volcano, but the drive ended up taking about 8 hours, instead of 4. When we finally got there we had to look for a hotel, but then we got to go to the mall! It had been such a long time since I'd seen anything even close to a mall, so it was pretty intense. The next morning we had to get up early to catch our flight back to Manila, but when we got to the airport our flight was delayed. We FINALLY got on a plane and got back to Manila. We dropped our stuff off at our same hotel we stayed in before and went to a GIANT outdoor market. It was full of thousands of booths selling everything you could imagine. It was Sunday, so there was also a Catholic Church having mass. There were so many people crowding and pushing to touch a statue of Jesus. There were about 2000 or more people pushing into the cathedral. After shopping we took a taxi to Hard Rock Cafe. It was crazy, because I felt just like I was back in the States. It made me miss home a lot! The next day we went to the Mall of Asia, the biggest mall in Asia (if you couldn't tell). You had to take a tram to get from one building of the mall to the next. There was an Ice Skating rink, bowling alley, and even the biggest IMAX in the world there. The next day was new years eve, so we decided to go back to the outdoor market. I bought some cool stuff for my family and got fresh Lumpia! Then that night we went back to the Hard Rock Cafe, then after back to our hotel. The people there were eating food in the lobby so we got to hang out with them. All day people were setting off fireworks, and the closer it got to midnight, the more and more we heard. At 11:30 we went outside and walked around the streets with hundreds of other people. There were so many fireworks and people screaming. There was even a guy doing motorcycle tricks. Then everyone started counting down 5 minutes, 1 minute, 30 seconds, 10,9,8 and then 3,2,1! It was wild. After that there was a guy with us who cooked us some pansit and we talked to him. It was really a different experience! The next 3 or 4 days we just toured around Manila, looking at cool sights, going to the mall, and relaxing a lot. It was such a fun trip, and just the break I needed from school!
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Friday, December 16, 2011
Ants and sillybandz...
I hate ants. I think they are now one of my biggest fears. Last night, I stupidly left cookies out on the table in Tami and my room. Between the window and the cookies, sat my laptop. Of course, the ants coming from the window COULD have gone around, but no. They marched straight through my computer and to the cookies and back. Almost 24 hours later, there are thousands of ants still inhabiting my computer. I set it in a box for 20 minutes, and when I came back it was full of ants. I am covered by ant bites and can't believe how many thousands are in my computer. Hopefully I get them out before they do any damage...but how much damage can ants do..right? On the plus side, it's 9 pm and we still have power! That's a nice change from the power being off 8-12 every night for the past two months.
I know I should write more, but it's really just the same thing every day. Though I still like being here, its becoming tedious and repetitive. Its funny because today I was reading my journal (that I kept for like a month when I first got here) and I used to think everything was new and exciting. I guess its because it was. I remember thinking that lesson plans would be so hard and teaching would be hard too, but that's the easiest part of being here in Palau. The thing they don't warn you about is boredom. They don't tell you that a small thing like ants and destroy your day or not being home for Christmas will make such a big impact. I just wish I could be at home sometimes, but I know that wouldn't make me happy. Being here makes me happy. It just takes a little reminding. The kids make it all worth it. Whether its kindergartners swarming me at recess, first grade asking for piggy back rides, hugs from third graders, boy talk with sixth graders, or just my own kids telling me they love me, I love them all!
Today I was in such a bad mood, and just kept trying to get the ants out of my computer while the kids were doing their work. Shayne kept asking the same question over and over and over after I answered every time she asked. Right when I was about to snap, I went back to my desk and sat down. A second later I feel a tap on my shoulder and Daichi is standing there holding a sillyband in the shape of a heart. He just puts it in my hand and walks away. It was funny how something so insignificant could make my day so much better.
I know I should write more, but it's really just the same thing every day. Though I still like being here, its becoming tedious and repetitive. Its funny because today I was reading my journal (that I kept for like a month when I first got here) and I used to think everything was new and exciting. I guess its because it was. I remember thinking that lesson plans would be so hard and teaching would be hard too, but that's the easiest part of being here in Palau. The thing they don't warn you about is boredom. They don't tell you that a small thing like ants and destroy your day or not being home for Christmas will make such a big impact. I just wish I could be at home sometimes, but I know that wouldn't make me happy. Being here makes me happy. It just takes a little reminding. The kids make it all worth it. Whether its kindergartners swarming me at recess, first grade asking for piggy back rides, hugs from third graders, boy talk with sixth graders, or just my own kids telling me they love me, I love them all!
Today I was in such a bad mood, and just kept trying to get the ants out of my computer while the kids were doing their work. Shayne kept asking the same question over and over and over after I answered every time she asked. Right when I was about to snap, I went back to my desk and sat down. A second later I feel a tap on my shoulder and Daichi is standing there holding a sillyband in the shape of a heart. He just puts it in my hand and walks away. It was funny how something so insignificant could make my day so much better.
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