this is very cool

its only 11 something but all three room mates have turned out the lights and it feels later than it is. i took cough medicine and benedryl a bit ago and was sitting here waiting for it to kick in when i thought to myself. i thought, theres a lot that has happened here. theres a lot i wont remember and a lot ill wish i had written down and told people. for example, my 5th graders make me laugh till my sides hurt on a regular basis, and ive started writing some of the moments and conversations down, on those little sticky yellow notes, and then i lose those, bcuz my drawer is full of them. ones about make up work, ones about calling parents back, about new ideas for how to make reading class interesting, or notes to remind me to have the kids pick up trash they've thrown off our classes porch for physical education class. one by one, they float away, and i lose the moments and then cant quite remember how it went. so i want to do this blog thing, and be able to tell everyone who has the chance and wants to know about these amazing kidos who you probably will never be lucky as i to ever meet,the chance to know it all. :) but for now im just gonna set up the premise of the situation i have been in these last, oh...4 months now no way. four months. im in Pohnpei , not to be confused with Pompeii, the city which sunk, or got buried. yes thats the one that got burried. atlantis is the one that sunk. this is neither of those. its an island in the south pacific and its part of a string of islands a few hundred miles apart called the Federates states of Micronesia, or FSM. its about 14 mi by 14 mi, which sounded small when i was at home but its rather roomier than i had pictured. its got hills and trees and the craziest clouds of which ive taken innumerable photos:). im living at the SDA school here and teaching the 5th grade class. that alone is ridiculous! can you imagine! i mean, im the girl who still says dumb stuff like i have a bug in my bonnet, when i mean bee. or i sing songs wrong, and i sometimes think i know what im talking about but have learned not to say much till i know im not around someone who actually knows a lot about the topic because man i just, im not that cool with words! its a bit scary to be the one being asked a millions times a day on every side with out ceasing the answer to questions that matter, questions that have never been asked before and questions that will be answered by me, and in turn will forever effect if not entirely shape the childs view on the topic. 5th grade aint so tough really, but still! i gotta do it right! so thats a story of its own...more to come on that i do have things i could mention. but yeah these kids, when they look up at you with those huge brown eyes waiting for you to show approval, or joy, or just react at all, its the most, humbling thing. like how is it im this lucky, to be part of who they grow up to be. to have the chance to make them feel great about themselves, and the scary power to ruin happiness. let me tell you! there are times! ....times when somehow, though its hard for me to explain how it ever gets to this point, someone is punching someone else in the middle of math class, or screaming and jumping on desks, and you wanna just ask them, in all seriousness, are you for real? are you....are you stupid? who does that in the middle of class? but no, you have to be sweet always. yeah of course lay down the law, but you cant shame them when they do stupid stuff. its a thing of ba'lance, every day, balance. what battles are worth picking up. ive gotten to where i will bring the two with the problem together, sit them down and make them have it all out, and ill sit near by and do what i was doing before, usually grading papers. they really can do it on there own, they just mostly wanna share it with someone so they run to you with it as they do with everything, and they wanna know you care. they babysit the situation and in a few its all over with-whalah:)

well the other bit of my adventure here is living with three girls i barely knew before i got here, learning to drive large beat up broken down stickshift trucks from Japan with the steering wheel on the "wrong" side of the cab, learning to cook meals, learning to swim in open ocean water without having panic attacks, learning to fix a fan no matter how bad a condition it is in for it is by there function that we survive the day and night, learning to live with spiders, learning to lean on God because here there are more reasons than anywhere ive been to need someone to lean on, and there are maaaaaaaany other things ive been/will/am learning. i really miss friends and fam in the states. love you guys, and ill get this out and try to share the coolest parts of my life here on a semi regular basis-im a flake i will not lie. but ill try. lotsa love-amy