Hey, it's Pete.
So, lately I've been in a scuba open water certification course. It's AWESOME. The "confined dives" which are normally done in a swimming pool are done on the beautiful coral reef. I'm really enjoying it so far, although the parts of me that don't get covered up end up looking like they've been in the deep-fryer for a while because we're out under the tropical sun from 10 - 3 pm.
Let's see... first quarter's over, and I know you'll all hate me for saying it but I really do miss the cold. I have these flashes of physical memory of the cold and it's really nostalgic. No worries, because mango season is coming and soon everything will be just right.
Every day I learn more about why a western, imposed school system is impossible with this culture, even if the intentions are good. School has absolutely no place in this culture (except perhaps in that it tingles the self-preservation reflex which we all have). There's a lot of tragedy inherent to becoming a part of this island. It is and especially has been imbued with incomprehensible beauty, but the rate at which that beauty (both culturally and physically) is being laid waste is alarming. I guess it's the same story all over the globe.
All that said, I really like the students and have developed some bonds with them. Making friends has proven to be extremely difficult and frustrating because in this culture, we are viewed as children (everyone is until they're around 35), but if we are to receive even a fraction of the respect necessitated by our station as teachers, we can't really make friends with the students. Also, the students feel a barrier due to our status.
Anyway, I've been working with all of my spare time on chess and composing. I am working on a large scale, themed collection of piano suites based loosely around the Lorax. It is exciting and I've really been putting a lot of mental energy into both its creation and my improvement as a composer. I hope to gather a contingent of pianist friends when I get home who are willing to help bring it to life.
Ok, that's about it for now. Lot's of thoughts, lot's of jumble, and there's so much more that's been left unwritten. Until next time...
Pete
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Thursday, October 8, 2009
T.G.I.F.
So we're in between classes on a Friday, so I thought I'd write some word-vomit on this site since, I guess, that's what blogs are for. This past weekend was a lesson in living like vagrants, and it was awesome. Pete and I wanted to finally get back into Kolonia Friday night, so we could do a little shopping, but mostly just hang out with the other WT volunteers. When we got back from school, which wasn't really school, it was just a Welcome Party, we happened to mention to the family that we're living with that we wanted to go into town. Caropei informed us that they happened to be heading into town in approximately ten minutes. So Pete and I ran inside to hurriedly pack up a single backpack for the weekend. We jumped into the van without having told any of the vols in town that we were coming and without having planned for a ride home. It was awesome.
We got into town just as school should have been ending, and we decided to check out the movie theater (the only one on the island, I might add) and wait for our friends to get home. We saw Inglorious Basterds on a whim, and just the experience alone of sitting in an air conditioned movie theater, eating nachos (albeit stale nachos), and being deafened by the movie was amazing. The movie ended up being hilarious and amazing, I don't care if anyone else liked it, maybe it was our deprived condition, but we absolutely loved it.
Then we caught a cab over to our friends' apartment and one of the ladies in the cab happened to be our host mother's sister-in-law, so we chatted on the way over. I love all of these coincidental meetings here. We got to their apartment and, alas, no one was home. So we headed over to the hotel/restaurant near the expat bar, the Rusty Anchor, and happened to run into all of the other volunteers. We hit up the bar and crashed at the apartment. The next morning we got up early and walked all over town getting our shopping done. Even though cabs are only $1 per person in town, we felt much more comfortable walking around, although I did get a nasty burn from it (all between the hours of 9 and 11!).
We really wanted to get back to Madolenihmw for a variety show in the Pingelapese community in Mand nearby, so we went over to Ace Commercial to see if we could bribe someone to take us back, if they happened to be driving to Madolenihmw. We were in the planning stages of making a huge sign, "Kokohla Madolenihmw? Mie Krakah!" (Going to Madolenihmw? We have candy!) when I happened to run into one of my students. I asked him if he was going back home, and he said no, but then on second thought, he told us he would drive us the hour drive back for free, and he wouldn't take no for an answer. So Pete and Junior rode a wind-whipped ride in the back of the truck, while I got to know Junior's father and family a little bit in the cab. We even stopped by their house on the way home so they could show us the river behind their house, which they boasted was the deepest and widest in Madolenihmw, and it was. It was a really beautiful experience.
On the way out to the variety show later, we randomly decided to walk out instead of catching a ride with our neighbors, and on our walk we were invited by some of our other neighbors to come drink sakau with them. This family lives across the road from us, and we've really really been wanting to get to know them better, because every time we walk past the house they're always just so happy and the house seems so full of life. So we hung out a little and drank sakau on the rock with them, it was great. Then the variety show, starring a bunch of mine and Pete's students, was awesome, if somewhat deafening. It seems that Pacific Islanders don't have the same pain threshold as we measly Americans do for listening to loud music... or blaring orders to a crowd of children through a megaphone in a tiny room with crazy acoustics.
Then Sunday, we just laid around all day reading and/or composing. It was glorious. And it definitely was another one of those weekends that makes me feel all the more connected to this place we're living in for another 8 months. Pretty much as long as the experience has nothing to do with school, then it'll be a powerful and enriching one.
Schoolwise, it's been a weird week since I had to go to Kolonia with a few students on Monday for an essay contest and then I gave out a test on Tuesday/Wednesday. I'm really really glad it'll be over in a couple hours, I've just gotta get through two more classes, and then the Writing Workshop with all of the seniors at the end of the day. Also, I just heard from one of my 12A students that most of her classmates like my class, but know that I'll give a bunch of extra credit on the tests and quizzes, so they basically don't study and think they're a joke. So that sucks a lot, but it definitely gives me license to toughen up on them a little bit. For my other three classes, I feel like I'm pushing them at just the right pace, but this A class could definitely be moving faster and I'm just trying to feel it out. Ah, oh well. I'll figure it out eventually. At least I can still see that they're learning things, even if they think they don't have to study it.
Well, this is surely much too long so I'll stop here. But I hope wherever you are while you're reading this, you're enjoying some cool weather and watching the last of the leaves change!
Oh, what I would give for a change in seasons right about now!
Peace,
Taylor
We got into town just as school should have been ending, and we decided to check out the movie theater (the only one on the island, I might add) and wait for our friends to get home. We saw Inglorious Basterds on a whim, and just the experience alone of sitting in an air conditioned movie theater, eating nachos (albeit stale nachos), and being deafened by the movie was amazing. The movie ended up being hilarious and amazing, I don't care if anyone else liked it, maybe it was our deprived condition, but we absolutely loved it.
Then we caught a cab over to our friends' apartment and one of the ladies in the cab happened to be our host mother's sister-in-law, so we chatted on the way over. I love all of these coincidental meetings here. We got to their apartment and, alas, no one was home. So we headed over to the hotel/restaurant near the expat bar, the Rusty Anchor, and happened to run into all of the other volunteers. We hit up the bar and crashed at the apartment. The next morning we got up early and walked all over town getting our shopping done. Even though cabs are only $1 per person in town, we felt much more comfortable walking around, although I did get a nasty burn from it (all between the hours of 9 and 11!).
We really wanted to get back to Madolenihmw for a variety show in the Pingelapese community in Mand nearby, so we went over to Ace Commercial to see if we could bribe someone to take us back, if they happened to be driving to Madolenihmw. We were in the planning stages of making a huge sign, "Kokohla Madolenihmw? Mie Krakah!" (Going to Madolenihmw? We have candy!) when I happened to run into one of my students. I asked him if he was going back home, and he said no, but then on second thought, he told us he would drive us the hour drive back for free, and he wouldn't take no for an answer. So Pete and Junior rode a wind-whipped ride in the back of the truck, while I got to know Junior's father and family a little bit in the cab. We even stopped by their house on the way home so they could show us the river behind their house, which they boasted was the deepest and widest in Madolenihmw, and it was. It was a really beautiful experience.
On the way out to the variety show later, we randomly decided to walk out instead of catching a ride with our neighbors, and on our walk we were invited by some of our other neighbors to come drink sakau with them. This family lives across the road from us, and we've really really been wanting to get to know them better, because every time we walk past the house they're always just so happy and the house seems so full of life. So we hung out a little and drank sakau on the rock with them, it was great. Then the variety show, starring a bunch of mine and Pete's students, was awesome, if somewhat deafening. It seems that Pacific Islanders don't have the same pain threshold as we measly Americans do for listening to loud music... or blaring orders to a crowd of children through a megaphone in a tiny room with crazy acoustics.
Then Sunday, we just laid around all day reading and/or composing. It was glorious. And it definitely was another one of those weekends that makes me feel all the more connected to this place we're living in for another 8 months. Pretty much as long as the experience has nothing to do with school, then it'll be a powerful and enriching one.
Schoolwise, it's been a weird week since I had to go to Kolonia with a few students on Monday for an essay contest and then I gave out a test on Tuesday/Wednesday. I'm really really glad it'll be over in a couple hours, I've just gotta get through two more classes, and then the Writing Workshop with all of the seniors at the end of the day. Also, I just heard from one of my 12A students that most of her classmates like my class, but know that I'll give a bunch of extra credit on the tests and quizzes, so they basically don't study and think they're a joke. So that sucks a lot, but it definitely gives me license to toughen up on them a little bit. For my other three classes, I feel like I'm pushing them at just the right pace, but this A class could definitely be moving faster and I'm just trying to feel it out. Ah, oh well. I'll figure it out eventually. At least I can still see that they're learning things, even if they think they don't have to study it.
Well, this is surely much too long so I'll stop here. But I hope wherever you are while you're reading this, you're enjoying some cool weather and watching the last of the leaves change!
Oh, what I would give for a change in seasons right about now!
Peace,
Taylor
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)