The Final Chapter

My time in American Samoa is long over, and I am within hours of embarking on the final leg of my journey to Guatemala. I've wanted to write an update and final chapter to the American Samoa experience since I arrived back in the States, but the summer has gotten away from me. I didn't get the chance to visit with anywhere close to the number of people I wished to see, either!

As the school year ended in American Samoa, my class helped me organize our collection of over 2,000 books into grade-level boxes. There was great concern as to what would happen to the books, from teachers, the principal, my students, and WorldTeach. Since we were unable to find a teacher willing to take over the after-school program, I decided to create classroom libraries for the Kindergarten-8th grade classrooms. Hence the organizing into grade-level boxes. As school starts in American Samoa next week, students should find a wonderful selection of books at their fingertips, and teachers should establish a borrowing system similar to what we had with Vatia Reads. I announced the donation of classroom libraries to the student population and to parent at end-of-the-year ceremonies, so I know many people are looking forward to the start of the year! Thank you, one final time, for your support and donations. The classroom libraries will be a reminder of the world of people who are dedicated to supporting education!

Where Is Time Going?

Seriously... Where? Each week and weekend passes without time for me to think and compose my thoughts into a blog post or an email! I have learned that I need quiet time... space... and the chance to rest my mind in order to get the simplest tasks done, and especially to have the focus to write a poignant blog posting. A good friend of mine and fellow volunteer is preparing to embark on a new volunteer year with WorldTeach, and she needs some assistance. Her dedication gave me the motivation to get online and write a quick posting for her.

Gretchen graduated college last year with a degree in Math. She's been teaching high school math on one of the remote outer islands here in American Samoa. She has a tenacious personality and a desire to do some good in the world. Gretchen plans to head to Tanzania next year with WorldTeach, and she needs support. I realize that there are a lot of readers of this blog that might have the means and desire to continue to help education in developing countries, so I told Gretchen that I'd post a link to her blog here. If you're one of those people, or if you're just interested in reading another perspective of teaching and life in American Samoa, please link to her blog: http://gretchenmelvin.blogspot.com/.

I hope you are all doing well. You are all in my thoughts every day, even if I do not always take/make the time to keep in touch. I beg your forgiveness! The end of the year is coming up soon (June 3rd), and I'm leaving this island home on June 16th. I do promise to write some updates here, especially about what will happen to all of your incredible donations. I'm sorting out the last details of that now. As for my plans, I'm headed to Panajachel, Guatemala to teach a combined 3rd/4th grade class in the fall. The school seems amazing, and you can read more about it at: www.lifeschoolweb.com.

I AM alive and still in American Samoa...

I cannot believe so much time has passed since I last posted an update. Weeks are flying by, and weekends are gone in the blink of an eye. I've been extremely busy recently due to working with the after-school program - I don't get home before 5:30 most days (and I start my day at school before 7). Saturdays have been consumed with kirikiti games (Samoan-style cricket), and Sundays have been filled with lesson planning and just collapsing from sheer exhaustion.

The past few months have seen a tsunami (small, but present), a trip to Samoa (a different country... 30 minute plane ride means a world of difference!), incredible donations of books (without the time to properly thank everyone - it's coming, I promise), test preparation (4th graders take 2 batteries of tests... one down, one to go), job-searching (trying to figure out my next move... have a few ideas, but nothing is solid yet), and much more... I will try my best to get a real blog post out during one of the upcoming 3-day weekends!

Cyclone Wilma

Hurricanes in the South Pacific are not called typhoons, they're called cyclones. Cyclone Wilma, a category 1 storm, hit American Samoa last weekend. Here are some photos from Vatia. I lost my lens cap in the process of getting these photos, so it will be a while before i get any new pictures taken :(

The view from the front door of my house. Usually, you can see the mountains clearly.

CJ running to miss the waves crashing over the bridge. Stay tuned to see what happened to the bridge.

How do the children of Vatia prepare for a hurricane? By playing tetherball, of course.

Somewhere around 4 or 5 am in the middle of the hurricane. Still can't see those mountains.

Around 9 or 10 am - Everyone came outside during the eye of the storm, which passed directly over my island. It was hot and muggy, and it lasted about 2 hours or so (the eye). The whole village was out walking the streets and checking out the ocean, whose waves turned scary.

Ocean view

When the ocean becomes one with the road

Had to get a scary picture of myself to prove I was there

The debris in the road during the eye. This got WORSE over the next 24 hours, after which I got to help clean up by throwing rocks (big and heavy ones) back into the ocean. I wish I had photos of THAT.

Cathy (my host-sister), Leslie, and I walked through the disgusting water to check on the school. Most rooms were ok (some were minorly flodded), but one classroom had left its windows open. Hello wetness.

Remember the picture with the Santa Hats? This is taken from the same place.

More shots of the debris.

A broken (and flooded) bridge. No way out of the village. Luckily the president of the senate lives in my village, so they came to repair this rather quickly. They piled up boulders and filled in the cracks with sand. It will do for now, I guess.

Waiting for a Hurricane

As I wait for a hurricane (aren't they supposed to be called typhoons in the Pacific?), I wanted to check in and say that my internet access is once again extremely limited.  I haven't been online, except for a quick minute, in the past 2 weeks! Trying to catch up with communication, then I'll resume posting! :)