Ros Island             March 23, 2003

Hey guys,

Well we just got back from our weekend away, and it was a lot of fun. We had our parent/teacher conferences on Friday and were in our classrooms for 5 hours so I got all of my lesson plans and grading caught up with while I waited, and now I'm home free for this afternoon and evening (it's Sunday). I had about 5 parents show up--it's always really disappointing to realize how little the parents here care about their kids' grades and such. The first parents I had were of my best student, Joy--so all I could tell them was that she was doing wonderfully and I was very glad to have her! Everything went well though, and I was glad to see those who did stop by. I had my laptop computer with me so I could listen to music, and while I was working on lesson plans I had a screen saver going that showed all the digital pictures I've taken or gotten from others throughout the year. I sat there watching pictures of my kids, the camping trips, and just all the people and fun things we've done here roll by, and the first ache hit me of how much I'm going to miss this place, especially my students. I have come to love some of them so dearly (though I love all of them, there are some that are just especially sweet), and I don't know what I'm going to do if I can't ever see them again. Eight weeks isn't that much time... It just made me all the more determined to make the most of what's left of this year.

Well we finished up at 1, and everyone headed back to their apartments to pack for the weekend. Several people decided not to go, and I still can't figure out WHY you wouldn't want to go camping on a remote little island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean for a weekend!! We are on this campus 24/7 so whenever I get a chance to leave I take it! We also had a little surprise before we left--Lesia's mom showed up and surprised her (only Mr. B knew about it), and is staying for 13 days. We all stood there watching them hug and then looked at each other thinking exactly what came out of Brad's mouth next--"I want MY mommy!" It was pretty funny, but we were all quite jealous that she got such a nice surprise!

Half of us finally headed out with the two boats to the docks, loaded up, and then struck out for the island that is on the Kitti side of Pohnpei. It was high tide, so we got to take the short route nearest the island and go straight over the reef (it's impossible to make it over during low tide, but high tide it's just barely deep enough), so we made good time and got to the island within about an hour. There were already people there--a large family which we weren't expecting, so Mr. B talked to them and found out they were leaving the next day and we unloaded. Then another boat showed up, on the other end of the island and we weren't as sure that we wanted to stay there if it was going to be crowded. Mr. B said maybe they'd look for another island, maybe not, so we just drug our stuff over to the beach side of the island while he went back for everyone else with Justin, and we waited. Mikey (Mr. B's son) and I walked down to the sandy part of the beach, grabbed a couple pieces of driftwood, and had batting practice with the coral strewn across the beach. It was fun and passed the time. The sun set and we were starting to wonder where everyone was, and were sure that we were probably going to another island, so we drug our stuff back to the side where they'd be coming in, and sat there waiting. The neatest thing happened--there were all these glowing spots in the water near us, and I had no idea what they were so I asked Mikey and he said they were little fish that glow! Pretty neat, they looked like big fireflies swimming in the water. I wish I could have taken a picture or something.

Well the other half of the group finally showed up, which meant we were staying, so we ended up setting up camp in the dark. No big deal, I brought my little lantern (thanks Mom!) and Michelle and I set up our hammocks right next to each other. Justin got his world radio out a little later and we sat there listening to a British radio station (in the middle of the Pacific!) talk about the war in Iraq and what was going on out there. Then we all called it a night and headed for our beds. I hadn't put my tarp up, since everyone had decided it probably wasn't going to rain, but long about 12:30am--it did. Michelle and I frantically tried to put the tarp up while the rain started coming down harder and harder, and we made a muck of it in the dark, so by the time it was up and covering most of our hammocks, we were wet, the hammocks were wet, and we weren't quite sure what we were going to do! A group of the girls were all sitting up huddled under a small tarp, waiting for it to stop, which it finally did, and Brad and David were standing out on the beach by then, waiting for their hammocks to dry out. I attempted to go lay down under the big tarp with everyone else, but I was damp and the ground was REALLY hard, so I got back up to go talk with Brad and David and just wait for my hammock to dry out, because I figured I wasn't going to sleep laying there on the ground anyway, and who cares, I could sleep the next day if necessary! I got sick of waiting though, so I just grabbed my towel and dried my hammock as best I could, grabbed my damp sheet and wrapped it around me, and attempted to go back to sleep. Needless to say I got slightly cold (actually I was freezing) and then it started raining again about 2:30, so I unhooked half my hammock (my tarp didn't quite cover it all) and sat there waiting for it to stop (since I was dry by this time). It didn't last long thankfully, so I set my hammock back up and crawled back in, and it didn't rain again the rest of the night. I woke up about 5:30 and saw the sun start to rise, then fell back asleep for a couple more hours before everyone else started getting up. It wasn't the best night's sleep I've had, but I survived.

Sabbath I spent lazing around with everyone, reading, eating, and playing with the little local girls that were camping there as well. They had watched me walk by and waved at me, so I grabbed my shorts and towel and went to go swim with them and see if I couldn't get them to talk to me. At first they didn't, just swam around and giggled and talked with one another, but they did know "what is your name" in English when I asked, so I learned all their names and then set about having them teach me some Pohnpeiian words. They spent an awful lot of time laughing at me and my attempts to figure out what they were saying, but they warmed up to me and when I finally told them "Kettipin, karakar"--the sun is hot, and pointed to my white skin, then at one of the little girls' red underwear (which they nodded at and seemed to understand) they replied with a phrase that I didn't know and kept telling me to say yes. I agreed, since they wanted me too, but headed off to find Mikey for translation so I could understand what they'd actually said. I repeated the phrase and he told me it meant "Are you going to come swim with me?" so I asked him how to say "later" and then went back and repeated their phrase and told them later. They giggled and nodded, then headed off to play some more. I did go back and swim with them again--we went and played in this little group of mangroves that was there, then I took a picture of them, and headed back out of the sun's heat. It was a neat experience though.

A bunch of people headed back Sabbath afternoon, deciding they didn't really want to go through another night of possible rain, so there was only 5 of us girls and 6 of the guys left. The evening was really peaceful, we looked at the stars, ate supper, sat and talked and listened to the little radio again for a few minutes, then went to bed. And thankfully, it didn't rain again (though this time I'd set my tarp up right so I wouldn't get wet even if it did). We didn't spend too much time there on Sunday but packed up early and headed back under an absolutely scorching sun. I'd burned a little bit Sabbath playing with the girls and reading out on the beach, so I put sunscreen on, and then Rich and I put a sheet over us part of the time, but I guess the part I didn't have it on, I got burnt even more. Oops. The sun really is strong here--you can practically feel your skin toasting! We about tipped the boat over on the way back--there were some swells, and we caught one of them sideways trying to turn the boat a little, and it threw us all to the left side as we scrambled for something to grab. Thankfully the boat righted itself, and Justin (who was driving) cautiously headed us in a better direction.

So now it's Sunday evening and I'm thinking I should probably head myself for bed, seeing as how I didn't really get a whole lot of sleep this weekend. Another week is coming... but I'm actually looking forward to it. Eight weeks left... My biggest fear right now is that I will get home, look back on this year, and say "I wish... I wish I'd spent more time with my kids.... I wish I'd put more energy into my work..... I wish I'd complained less and appreciated it more..." So with eight weeks left, I'm determined not to have that happen. Well I hope you all are doing well. I miss everyone, and I'd love to hear from you--even if it's just a sentence or two. Thank you for your prayers. Keep them coming.

Couple of pictures from our weekend on Ros Island. The first is of us girls that stayed the entire weekend--Michelle, Melissa, me, Heidi, and April, and the second is just yours truly.

Love,

Lindsey

p.s. Jacob, my student that broke his arm, came back to school today. He's doing really well and didn't seem to have any problems. We all signed his cast. :O) Thank you for your prayers!

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