A year in review

As the year is coming to an end its hard to believe that we have already been here for four months. Since this will be my last blog for a while (I don’t know if I will be able to blog in New Zealand.)  I decided I would do a recap on my time on the island. This morning while I was riding on the bus I was thinking about experience. Experience is when you step outside your comfort zone and try something new. I crave new experiences and adventures. I love being uncomfortable in new situations and seeing how much I grow from the particular experience. Living on this island has not always been easy. When looking at the pictures you see the beauty of this island but that’s just scratching the surface of what my life has been like.

Have you ever heard the saying, “ The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.” I remember for the longest time that I had always wanted to live near the ocean. I had always wanted to live in a tropical climate where I would never have to deal with the snow and the bitter cold winters. As I am face timing with my family I start to become jealous because I see them wearing winter clothes all bundled up because of how cold it is. They often tell me how cold it is outside and I find it hard to believe. When chatting with them I tell them about the heat. I have never lived in heat like this for so long. I feel like I am constantly wiping sweat off of my face. I feel like I can never really cool off. The thought of even putting a sweatshirt makes me sweat a little more. I noticed that I was starting to complain about the things that really is not that important.

Experience. I have experienced so many crazy things over the past four months. I killed off rats that decided they wanted to live in our house. Virginia and I had a rat run between our legs and now we just laugh about how much it scared us. Now when I see cockroaches it doesn’t even phase me. I have gotten to play my favorite sport everyday after school with the locals. We are slowly learning the language and embracing the fact that everyone is going to laugh at us when we try and pronounce the word. We have gained a new appreciation for the convenience of everything in the states. Lastly, our students have pushed us to the limits but we still love them and can’t imagine the fact that will have to be leaving them in the upcoming months.

I want to wish everyone back home a Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year! I miss you all can’t wait to see everyone when I come back in June! J

Preparing for Christmas

Getting ready for Christmas is a little different on a tropical island than it would be in the states. Back home the temperatures would be dropping and the snow would be falling outside. Here the temperature is rising and not a snowflake is in sight. I am used to driving around at home and seeing houses covered in Christmas lights. I have seen two houses on the island that have Christmas lights and it has made us so happy. Christmas trees are also rare to find around the island. I have seen a few inside people’s houses. It’s so weird because in our house around Christmas I can find Christmas trees scattered all around our house.  The island has started getting into the Christmas spirit by playing Christmas music at the volleyball games. I have also started playing some Christmas music in the classroom to help get students excited for the Christmas season. I had also given my students a Christmas spelling list week. It was interesting hearing them talk about all of the different words because most of the time my students had no idea what I was talking about and I ended up going on Google and searching the images to show my students. For instance my students had no idea what an icicle was or a toboggan. I had a few students tell me that they were going to come visit me in Minnesota next and I had to take them for a ride on my toboggan.

At school we have also been getting into the Christmas spirit. We are currently preparing for our Christmas program, which will take place this Thursday. Unfortunately our flight for New Zealand leaves early Thursday so we will be missing the program. My class has been preparing a special dance with Level 4 &5 for the concert. They also will be singing a song. Everyday for the last couple of weeks we having been preparing for the concert. I have had the songs stuck in my head all the time and I wont miss hearing the songs on repeat all the time.

Lately, I have been catching myself going to the beach more and more. I always told myself that if I ever lived on the ocean I would be at the beach all the time. Well with everything that goes on throughout the day I sometimes forget to go to the beach and enjoy the natural beauty of it. One of my favorite things about going to the beaches here and is that I have yet to see a person on the beach with me. Sometimes one of my kids will spot me sitting on the beach and come chill for a little bit and make sure everything is okay. I love just sitting in the sand and letting the waves crash against my legs.

I can’t believe how close that Christmas is getting for us! It is still weird to think that back home is in colder temperatures. Whenever I talk to my parents they also talk about how much it is cooling off. Meanwhile they also comment about the fact that they can see sweat dripping off my face while face timing them. 

Last week I was awarded the MVT at the school. It pretty much means that I got teacher of the month. Upon receiving that I also got two cases of tuna and some soda. So if anyone has some recipes on how to make tuna I would more than love some new ideas! J

With love,

Abby

Not a typical December

When I have traveled in the past to tropical islands I had always wondered why island people used to move at a slower pace than what I was used to. In the states we live a fast paced life. It feels like we are always in a hurry to get someplace and we are constantly on the go. On tropical islands it is quite the opposite they move at a slower pace in no rush to get anywhere. After this past week on the island I completely understand why they move at slower pace than people in the states. I remember reading in blogs before coming here that the winter months are a little hot. In my mind I was thinking, “ Ehhhh it can’t get that hot outside.” Jokes on me.

            I would like to say in the past week I think I have sweated more than I do in a whole year in the states. For instance this past week I was not feeling very well and after school everyday we all three had taken like two-hour naps. We would all be trying to stay awake but it was so hot that it would just put us right to sleep. We then would all wake up just dripping in sweat. Making supper is also one of the hotter tasks we have to do here. Its usually a win in our book if we don’t sweat while preparing or eating our food. I remember at one point this week I had looked over at Virginia while we were eating our meal and could just see beads of sweat dripping down her face. I soon had gotten up only to see that I was equally as sweaty from eating my meal.

            After these few incidences we came to the realization that the hot months in the Pacific are upon us. As I am chatting with people from back home they are talking about how cold it is outside and I can’t even remember the last time that I was actually cold. I have feeling when we go to New Zealand that might change a little. I can’t believe in a little over two weeks we will be heading to New Zealand for our Christmas break. I am a little sad that we will be missing out on whatever the island does for Christmas but I can’t wait to explore another island.

            This week we have finally seen what a Samoan firework looks like. We have heard from multiple people that around the holidays they have fireworks that go off. These fireworks are a little different from what we have in the states. They take the large cans of fruit and stack them all together somehow. I haven’t really looked at the firework to closely due to the fact that our students were the ones walking around with them. All I know is that it makes a very loud boom when they set the fuse and goes off. All I know is that we saw our students carrying around this homemade firework and we decided it was in our best interest to keep a safe distance from them for the time being.

            This week was pretty laid back otherwise! Hope everyone back home is having fun preparing for the Christmas holiday! It sure doesn’t feel like Christmas because we don’t have any snow here!