Makin Friends....

I've quickly discovered that it's not only the church members, but EVERYBODY in Saipan is really friendly. The people at the laundromat, the people at the market, the workers at the resorts.....everyone is so happy and willing to serve. At the place where we do our laundry, we just drop off a load and they will wash, dry and fold clothes for only 3 dollars! It cost me that much to do laundry in college AND I had to do it myself. And you can totally trust them with your belongings, which is AWESOME! I love it! 

Then tonight Cyndi and I were jogging and decided to make a quick stop at the market(because gas is expensive here, so we figured we'd save a trip). And the man there (I have a feeling he's the manager, but I'm not sure) came up to us and was very friendly (not in a creepy way) and offered to pre-cut our meat if we call ahead so it would be ready for us right as we arrive. I don't even eat meat, but everyone here does, so I thought it was very kind of him to have that genuine willingness for service. 

Now how amazing is that, when non SDA's can set an awesome example like that? And if we have God helping us, think of all the good and all the differences we could make in peoples lives. I love Saipan for showing me that there is still so much good in people, even when I have my doubts. I just think its awesome and so I wanted to share that. 

Now I need to head off to bed because I have another long school day ahead of me tomorrow. I'm up to 11 students now, who are all about 6 or 7 years old. It's really good for building up patience, but very exhausting. So Goodnight all!

Adventures in the Rain

Yesterday after church it was pouring down rain and so most of the roommates decided to just stay in and relax all day. But not me and alex! We asked to borrow "Rusty"( this beat-up old rusty little pickup truck) and the two of us ventured out into the pouring rain to drive out to the Grotto. The Grotto is this cool little underground cave/swimming hole area, and you have to hike down some pretty steep stairs to get there. The church people took Cyndi, Sharla, Holly and I out there our first weekend, but Alex was sick and so she missed out. So yesterday I took her there for her first time. We had so much fun because after that we found this other really cool cave(not in the water) but we didn't hike in because it went down about a hundred feet and we were alone and we didn't have flashlights. But we did use Alex's camera flash to see how deep it went. So instead we climbed up the jungles and rocks around it. There were so many bugs and worms and we were soaked and muddy, but we had such a great time! Then we came home and took hot showers (which our tap water is half salt water) and then we got in bed and watched a movie, Fireproof, which is a really good movie actually. At first you will think its dumb because it has HORRIBLE acting, but it has really good messages. So that pretty much sums up our weekend, today we're going out again to go snorkeling with the Piersons in the rain! Miss you all back home!

this is a saipan-da! Basically a panda with a big yellow rhino horn/nose thing

Late for the First Day of School

I know what you're thinking. You're thinking that I was late to the first day of school. I was sick, but I was on time. I am late posting about the first day of school, hence the title. Thursday last week was our first day of school. Thursday and Friday were only half days and were really more of an orientation, introducing them to the new school year, what lies ahead of them, classroom procedures, etc. Those two days the kids were perfectly behaved and I thought that this year was going to be a breeze! (If you have ever taught before you are probably chuckling because you know what a huge wrong assumption i made). Starting Monday my kids are already feeling comfortable in the classroom(which is good, but only to an extent). Kids constantly out of their seats. kids all trying to talk at the same time after I tell them to quietly work on their assignments. My room is full of what we call "helpless handraisers"! These are the kids who don't want to figure out anything for themselves and so they want you to hold their hands through it. 

As of monday I am now also the 9th and 10th grade geometry teacher. I love the little kids, but it's nice to have a chance to teach a class that is a little more independent. I have 6 boys and 1 girl in that class. All smart kids, but I struggle with two of the boys because one doesn't really know english(really hard to explain geometry with a language barrier) and then there's this other boy that I sat beside him and tried to help him through a problem, but he would never respond to anything I asked him. So I couldn't tell if he doesn't understand it, or just doesn't want to do it. I kind of think that it's just the latter, because after I spent quite a bit of time with him on one problem, breaking it down, he did three more all by himself just fine. So I'm still trying to read my students. This is only my second day in geometry, so I have plenty to learn about them. And my 1st and 2nd graders are all sweet kids, and so it makes it hard to discipline them when they misbehave. But I am confident that repetition and consistency will train them well. It feels like I'm putting in a lot of time and energy right now, and it's exhausting, so I hope that it'll be a lot easier in the next couple months. 

Roach Rampage!

This afternoon I was doing some more cleaning and organizing in my classroom and I found and killed about 7 cockroaches in a two hour period! Not my favorite experience. I'd be going through my desk drawers and on would run across my foot and I would have to chase it down to kill it, and those things are fast and not easy to kill, and their guts can be smushed out with their legs still moving! Yuck! But at least hopefully that means that there will be less to kill once I have all my little kids in the room. 

We did eat at this AMAZING Thai food restaurant for lunch! The school treated us for that, so that was really nice. I don't even know what all I ate but it was all delicious! I may never leave Saipan, because the food here is so good. I even tried dried seaweed with my rice yesterday and loved it. You should all come visit and taste the food!

After we left school we decided that us roommates should have our first trip to the beach this evening. The places that we were going to go to looked pretty rundown so we went to one of the hotels and the beach there still wasn't that nice! There were like a million sea cucumbers all over the place and my roommates wanted to cook them! GrrrrOOOsss! But they didn't. Alex is like on the edge of having pneumonia or something, so please pray for her and pray that none of the rest of us catch it, especially right before school starts. Four of the school teacher's live in one house, so imagine how awful it would be to have almost half the staff sick! Well, I'm off to bed! Hope all of you are well!

Safe in Saipan!

Well, I'm here! Actually I've already been here for a few days, but it seems like since we've arrived it's been on the go all the time! So much preparation to do! We landed Thursday night, and Friday morning we were taken to get new driver's licenses, groceries and health clearance. The clinic was an interesting experience. The doctor was an American middle aged guy, with a mullet and an earring and he was wearing a flannel shirt and jeans. I don't think Uncle Keith has EVER gone to the office looking like that! 

Anyways, they've been taking really good care of us while we've been here. Lot's of pasta and rice! This is definitely the island for me! Saturday we went to sabbath school and I had to give a personal testimony, last minute. Yikes! Cute small church, probably can't hold more than fifty people. After church we had a yummy potluck and then came home to change for the "island tour". It's tradition to make the "newbies" ride in the back of this beat up old truck for the tour. It was raining on us most of the time we rode back there, but it was warm rain, so it wasn't too bad. My favorite stop was this place called the "Grotto" or something like that. It's like this underground place to go swimming in the ocean. So beautiful, the water is an awesome color of blue! I was scared to see if there were any fish though (fish scare me). There were also these high rocks down there that we could climb and jump off of, and I did! A few of the church members tagged along on our excursion and were laughing at us and taking pictures. good times! Mike Stafford and his family were with us as well. He has the cutest kids ever! (For those of you who don't know, Mike and his parents and stuff were in Africa when he was in highschool and I was just a little girl)(right mom and dad?) Anyways, had so much fun! 

Today was a lot of work at the school moving stuff and rearranging all of the classrooms! I'm teaching 1st and 2nd grade and so I did a lot of work in my new classroom today. A lot of the church members helped and so did their kids. Ps. I think Asian kids are the cutest kids in the world! So excited to get to be their teacher! Start school this thursday, and have a lot of work to do before then, but I will try to keep you updated! Love to all and thanks for all of your support!