My Apartment

Here are a few pictures of my apartment. You may notice that the walls are rather bare, but that is because they are concrete and next to impossible to hang anything on. Since these pictures I have been able to use command strips to plaster a couple pictures to the walls. Hopefully they will stay. I also hope to get curtains, but I am finding it is not a big priority. At first I was always aware of how bare it looked, but I guess I have gotten used to it. This little place has really become my home away from home.

Life in Saipan

This Jake and Steve attempting to stay warm by the "fire" at Christmas dinner!

The children dancing are doing a traditional Filipino stick dance. I tried it too, thinking it looks easy...it's not. Note: rhythm required.

This is Amanda and I at Saipan Community Church's annual Christmas Feast!

This is me with Lani at our Christmas party for MHS. She has become a good friend and she is great to work with!

Wow, it's been a while

Well it has been quite some time since I last posted--sorry everyone. I have been doing really well here in my slice of paradise. Since Thanksgiving I have finished student teaching, I have finished my Jan Term class and I will be officially graduated on February first. Then I have six months of relaxation until the real work begins...paying back my student loans:(

This week I am finishing out the semester with my students and look forward to the next. The way things are set up at my school, students take a Language Arts class all year long and don't change at the semester, so I will continue with most of my students. There will be a little bit of moving around where I will lose a few students and gain a few different ones, but in a way it is nice to keep these same ones.

I have really enjoyed this semester for the most part. It has brought a lot of challenges, but also a sense of accomplishment. I was expecting to student teach, and found myself as the main classroom teacher instead. I have certainly gone through a baptism by fire in that way, and I have had moments where I never want to see some of my students again. But the last month and a half has been so good that I am glad I made the choice to be a teacher.

Sometimes teaching is a profession where you give and give and see very little reward, and other times the rewards come so unexpected and in abundance. Today I had a student make me feel like I had done something right. This young man is a part of the special education program here and he has a very low reading level. In the past he has been very disorganized and will not turn any assignments in. I have done my best to modify and help with organizational skills and I think it is starting to pay off. This last month we have been working on a huge project and he completed it on time, got all of the components finished, and did not plagiarize anything. I am so proud of him. He can definately be successful and I think he is finally starting to believe it too.

Besides teaching, life on island has been great! I had a wonderful and blessed Christmas, and I was not alone! It is great in a way that I am among other people with like professions that are also far from family for the holidays. You become family together and make a point to make the holidays special for each other.

It has been very rainy and windy here again. Typhoon season quit some time ago and for a couple of months we had little rain and lots of sun. At the end of December, however, we hit our second rainy season and it has been cloudy and cold. By cold I mean 75 degrees. I know that sounds perfect to you all, but I have actually gotten quite chilled. Because it is humid and rainy and windy, it is easy to get cold even when it is technically 75. In a way it is nice to sleep all night with the covers on and hot coffee in the morning is wonderful.

Because it has been rainy, however, the chances for spending much time at the beach have been slim. The snorkeling has been difficult with the chilly water, but soon the dry season will be upon us and beach hopping will be great again!

I will try to post a few pictures here, but my internet at my apartment is so slow that it can take up to an hour to post 3-4 pictures. I will do what I can though. I hope you're all doing well. Drop me a line sometime to let me know.

Thanksgiving

This has been a wonderful Thanksgiving. I have so much to be thankful for. My family far away, the church family here in Saipan, and my Lord and savior, just to name the most important ones. I spent this Thanksgiving at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Winkfield, and they were gracious hosts. I didn't count exactly, but there were probably between 30 and 40 people at their home for Thanksgiving dinner. There was so much food, games, fun, and more food. Here are a few pictures of our time together as well as a picture of my church, Saipan Community Church.

Another gorgeous sunset

Totally "Solid"

I just want to show a few pictures of some of my students, my classroom, and my school. The lady at the top is my cooperating teacher, Leilani Iramk. She is wonderful to work with. She grew up on the island and graduated from MHS herself. She attended a university in Hawaii and came back to Saipan to teach. She taught at a junior high for two years, and then moved to MHS. She has been teaching here for 3 years.

Also on top is a picture of my school. It is a very large school and this is just one section of building D.

These students are in my 4th period class and this is a day they are presenting the creative writing books they have been working on for the last 4 weeks. I really love this group of kids. In a class of 19 students, I only have 4 girls. They have a lot of fun, and as they would say, "Miss, we're solid." And it's true--they are.

Halloween

Above is a group picture of those of us who went cave style. From left to right is Kristie Mhyrum, Isaac Mhyrum, myself, Jackie Van Dam, Amanda Allen, and Jake Van Dam. This picture to the above right was one of the most beautiful I'd ever seen. The sail boat has a sail of the American Flag and against the sunset it was breathtaking.

To the left is Amanda Allen and Jake Van Dam

This is the view of the resort just outside of our room at about midnight.

To the left is Amanda and I on our balcony overlooking the ocean

Hallween this year was really fun. Normally I'm not into the dressing up and going out, but generally that was because it was always freezing. But here it was actually fun because the weather was great. A group of us dressed up as cave people and went on a sunset cruise. It was part of a package deal that came with a night at the Palms Resort, the cruise, dinner on the cruise, and breakfast the next morning. I had a roommate so it was only $44 a person!!

The cruise was a couple hours long and there was music, dancing, and dinner. It was right at sunset, and because it hadn't been a cloudy or rainy day, the water was crystal clear and the sunset was gorgeous. There were a lot of people I knew or recognized on the boat. It was advertised in the newspaper, yet most of the people that came were "mainlanders" who are teachers or lawyers or work at the resorts. I had a steak, and was quite surprised at how good it was since this is obviously not cattle country.

We spent the evening at Godfathers and then retired to our hotel. Although the rooms were nice, they were a bit outdated. When I opened the door I felt like I was going into an old James Bond movie set from the 60's or 70's. We had a balcony overlooking the pool and the ocean that was breathtaking. The only thing bad about the stay was the beds. I have probably never slept in a more uncomfortable bed. Even the most shabby motel on the mainland would have softer beds, but since I got a good price for it, I didn't mind. My theory is that they make the beds so hard that their guests will wake up with only the thought of scheduling a message at the day spa.

It was a very fun time with friends and was probably the first time I ever truly enjoyed Halloween.