Just Stars

Well heloooo there! It's Taylor again, back from a long absence.
Things have been crazy around here for me, as the College Of Micronesia Entrance Test (COMET) approached. The date was originally set for sometime in mid-November, got pushed back to January 29th, and then pushed back again the week of the 29th to... sometime in February. Finally we found out the date, February 5th, which has (thankfully!) come and gone.

This test has somewhat been the bane of my existence, especially recently, when the administration decided the seniors needed intensive English and math classes only for the 2 weeks leading up to the test. This meant that my 4 classes of seniors were collapsed into 2 classes (40 students each) that met for 2 1/2 hours instead of the usual 45 minutes. It was difficult, but we got through a surprising amount of information, so I guess it was all for the better. The test is broken up into 4 sections: math, writing (essay), grammar/vocab, and reading comprehension. Each section is between 40-60 minutes long and is supposed to test the students' aptitude for each of the sections on a college level. There's no real "passing" or "failing," but the students need to get certain scores in each section to be accepted to the COM National Campus- a 4 year university. If they do not get satisfactory grades, they can go to the COM Pohnpei Campus- a community college. Last year, Madolenihmw High School only had 8 students get satisfactory scores while the other two high schools, PICS and NMHS, only had a total of 9 students get unsatisfactory scores. Our school was very upset by this, and determined to change the outcome for this year's students. I've been working extremely hard with the students and pushing them to learn everything I could teach them to help them with the test, in an attempt to help as many pass as possible. Early on, however, there began to be grumblings that we could not have so many people fail again this year, it would be terrible for the numbers you see, and maybe the solution should be to only let the brightest and most-likely-to-pass students even take the test this year. Obviously, I was not a fan of this idea. I am not a numbers gal, I'm all about the people. Ultimately, all the students who wanted to were able to take the test. And now it's over! And now we can all relax a little bit! YES!!!

Now we're revving up for Championship Week, a 3-day tournament for the three public schools, and somewhat of a celebration for finally getting through the COMET. We'll be competing in events such as baseball, volleyball, track and field, and an essay contest. The competition is being held in Madolenihmw, so everyone will be heading out this way to watch the games. This will certainly be an exciting event for Madolenihmw and all of the staff/faculty at our high school, where the games will be held.

Of course, school has not been the only thing we've been up to out here in the Pacific. As Pete has written about, we spent another awesome weekend at Black Coral seeing sharks and fighting with the raging winter currents. We've gone into Kolonia a couple times to eat at real restaurants (oh, the thought of it makes my mouth water!) and see the other WorldTeach and Peace Corps volunteers. Mostly, however, we've simply been enjoying the beauty and quiet of life in Madolenihmw. We've taken a short break from drinking sakau en Pohnpei, although we're itching to get back into it soon! Our friend down the road has opened up a nightly Bingo game at her house, so we've partaken a couple of times. Although let me tell you- Pohnpeians are not messing around when it comes to Bingo! They have very intricate rules and different types of games you can play, all under the heading of Bingo... suffice to say I haven't yet won a game.

Pete and I have also been hosting some of the Peace Corps and WorldTeach volunteers out at our house, giving them a taste of life outside of Kolonia. But most of the time, it's just Pete and myself. Most of the time, we just hang out with the family or take long walks down the road to end up sitting on the sundial at PATS and watching the sun set behind the mountains overlooking Madolenihmw Harbor. Most of the time, life moves slowly and quietly forward.

The other night, we lost power around 5 pm. This isn't a huge deal, we frequently lose power for long stretches of time. This time, however, it stayed out for a long, long time. We cruised through the food we could make without cooking for dinner, and then were confronted with the question of "So... what do we do now?" Pete and I went down to hang out with the family for a while, and then wandered over to the steps outside our family's sometimes-open-store. From there, without any lights or noises, we sat under a blanket of a billion stars and talked about religion, stars, the single-serving pre-packaged insanity of life in the US, the Universe, and what foods we were craving most. I've been reading a lot of National Geographics lately (thanks Grandma!) and in one it talked about light pollution. It said that if you can see only 8 stars in Orion's constellation, you are in an area of heavy light pollution (that is, if you can even see it at all). However, if you are in a clear area, you can see upwards of 50 stars in the constellation. That night, I'd say we could see much closer to 50. Just being without power for those 5 hours made me realize how harmful so much light and noise all the time can be to one's system. Just sitting and looking at the darkness can be an amazingly cleansing experience. I would recommend it.

Well I'm off to go do some laundry and clean up the house in case we have visitors this week. Until next time!
Kaselehlie,

Taylor