And The Fun Continues....

It is hard to believe that the end of February is here and we have just finished our third week of school. This week was such a week of big up and big downs. After suffering from a case of what Ryan has deemed "the weepies" last week (let's not get into the details :) I was praying this week would be better. Man were my prayers answered.

On Monday, we realized that our backyard has been breached. My guess is that it is one of the only "safe zones" in our neighborhood. A safe zone is a place where people don't pelt rocks at any animal or wild screaming kids don't try to trap them for amusement. Needless to say, every day we came home from work we saw a new addition.  (The horse might be my fault. I keep feeding him in hopes his owner will think he has run away and then I can keep him for my own.)

Ryan was reading a magazine and felt a pair of eyes on him. Then we saw this!

In Ryan's word's: "Of course the horse whisperer need to get up close"

Yes, the wild cat without a tail sleeps in our garbage pit now.

And those shy piglets now have no problem enjoying meals in our yard. Thanks for nothing pig fence!

          
 On Tuesday I came up with the idea to make bean bags and have the class 3/4 kids try to do a bunch of things with them for exercise club. I lost my shit when we tried a move where they had to put the bean bag between their legs, jump up with it, and try to release and catch it. I don't even have the words to describe what that looked like. The kicker? All the class 1 and 2 kids trying to do it too in the door of their classroom minus the beanbags. I literally fell on the ground laughing and all the kids copied me thinking it was the next move. God I love these kids.

Now that's resourceful!

Ryan has been pulling out a group of 5 boys from our class 5/6 class. They are really low and struggle to keep up in the class. So, Ryan decided to teach them in a small group every day to make them more comfortable and help them build basic skills. On Wednesday, one of the boys came up and said, "Epi, look, I read." He then read the book Ryan had chose for the day (pay special attention to the title). He was so proud of himself. He then told me, "Epi, Ryan make Toutai study lot this year. It good." Awesome :)

Ryan: "I go halfway around the world and I still can't escape this lady!"

On Wednesday I accidentally hit a kid in the head with a door. Let me explain. There is this one kid in our 3/4 class named Noela. He is a ittle busybody who always finds a reason to be out of his seat. He goes to the bathroom about 15 times a day.  So, on Wednesday, I went to use the bathroom. When I was finished, I opened the door and hit something. It was Noela. Yep, he was standing that close to the door while I was using it. When I asked him what in the heck he was doing, he replied, "I saw you go to the bathroom, so I got you water." Nice. He heard me use the bathroom, but at least I didn't have to haul my own water to flush!

Thursday was by far my favorite day of the week. It poured buckets, which makes class really hard because of the noise on the tin roof. So, Ryan and I decided to try some drawing activities since we had the supplies. (Thanks for the crayons Nina!!!) In our class 3/4 class, we told them they were going to write and draw a book about their family. When I took out my model to show them, they literally gasped. Ryan and I were a little worried this would be chaos since colors are not something kids ever get to use and drawing is not a practice used here in classrooms. But, the kids were so into their creations, there was hardly a peep. One little boy was trying to get the rest of the kids to be silly with him, but to no avail. Ryan took this boy out and made him sit outside the classroom. He came in five minutes later bawling, begging Ryan to let him come back to class. When Ryan said yes, the rest of the class clapped. Sione sat right down and got to buisness.

In class 5/6, the same thing happened. We took kids in small groups to the library to teach them how to pick books to practice reading in English at home. The rest of the kids were decorating a portfolio cover in the classroom.  When I came back to the classroom after working in the library, I couldn't believe my eyes. The class was silent, like, pin- dropping silent. Every kid was focused and engaged on making their cover. It was one of those magical classroom moments you hope to experience and wish you could make last forever when it does. When I broke the silence to say class was over, the kids decided we should continue after school. I told them we would for sure finish Monday. Every student stopped by the library on the way home to make sure and remind me to keep my promise.

Feeling good, Ryan and I walked a bunch of our little kids home in the rain. This meant holding the umbrella over the gaggle of them while we took a brutal soaking from the run-off.  We decided to warm up with afternoon Starbucks coffee and actual pillsbury snickerdoodle cookies sent in a care package from home.  All in all, one of my favorite weeks here.

Highlights: Week 2

Well, Ryan and I have made it through our second week of partner teaching.  The Top 10 list for the week follows.

10. Sorry to tell you Cass, but the beautiful new white Dream Chaser t-shirt you sent Ryan has now become "the official spaghetti shirt". Think red polka dots all over. 

9. Why would we need to designate a spaghetti shirt? Because by the grace of God we found a jar of Ragu at the American store here in Vava'u! You see, when food items expire in America, they ship them to places like Tonga. And after they sit in a boiling hot storage container for a month, they are finally shipped to Vava'u. Here, the palangis fight over these expired goods and shell out pa'anga with no regard to how ridiculously priced or expired the item may be. It was so worth it.

8. Seeing the most amazing double rainbow ever right outside our back door. It would give the one on the Lucky Charms cereal box a serious run for it's money. Wish we could have gotten a better pic.... these really don't do them justice.

7. Getting a box of cinnamon toast crunch in the mail (thanks Regan! we love you!) and us eating the whole damn thing in one day. Sugar+cinnamon+not stale = too good to stop. 

6. Ryan started both of his after school exercise programs this week. Younger kids on Tuesday, older kids on Thursday. Let me just set the stage for his Tuesday night program. Visualize 20 kids ages 6-10 just going nuts to be able to stay after school and play. Zoom in on my husband... face momentarily frozen in panic. Then, he just sprints off running and screaming around the school. All the kids quickly follow suit. It was the funniest thing I ever saw. Kids just blindly having the time of their life squealing like idiots (my husband included) running until they couldn't breathe. After that they were like butter in Ryan's hands. I never would have thought to try that as a behavior management technique. Then, the kids stopping suddenly to scream "fakapopouli" (dark cloud) and running under the veranda. Seconds later, the heavens opened and my husband was drenched in a matter of seconds. The kids thought this was hilarious (as did I) and ran out to join him and play red rover. Guess someone should study Tongan a little more.

5. Ryan's club on Thursday was one of the coolest things I have seen since starting work here. On Thursday, Ryan works with the class 5/6 kids. It was amazing. The entire school stayed to participate in one form or another. The principal came out in full exercise gear to exercise right alongside the kids. They were so jazzed and awed by this. Our principal is a pretty amazing man.  The class 3/4 teacher came out to help me run a soccer drill after depositing her whole class as a cheerleading section. They laughed uproariously while we worked through plyometrics and had a wicked dance party while we ran soccer drills. Put this together with Ryan using our rape whistle from our medical kit as a way to intermittently signal a team run around the school that everyone participated in and it was a heck of a way to close out the week. It was such a school team effort and I was so proud of Ryan for getting this program off to such a great start.

4. Abby getting sick and Ryan stepping in to teach all the classes solo. What a champ. He even came back with detailed notes that impressed the hell out of me. It made me so thankful to be here with such an amazing partner. Mom.... cancel the request for a baby monitor so I can keep tabs on the classes should this ever happen again.

3. Writing a jazz chant called "We Will, We Will, Read the Book" sung to the Queen's classic We Will, We Will, Rock You. This getting so energized that the principal started to sing and clap with the students. They thought that was awesome :)

2. Ryan finding one last Ho-Ho hidden in the back of the fridge (thanks for nothing dad!) and eating the melted mess while I looked on with anger and disgust.

Below is a picture of the library which is Ryan and I's home bas at school. We bring the kids in to participate in story time and work in small groups. I use the big box we found as my desk.

This week, we made talking puppets with our class 3/4 kids so they can have a way to practice speaking in English without feeling embarrassed or intimidated. Thank God we finally found a use for all those toilet paper rolls we went through during the whole e. coli thing. Here is Ryan and my puppet. We use them to model for the kids. Ryan might deserve husband of the year award after this experience.

And the #1 Highlight from our second week of teaching is.......... 

1. The birth of my new nephew (and Godson!) Shane Carter Pavelko! 8lbs. 10 oz and 19 3/4 inches long. Congratulations Katie, Eric & Briel, I can’t wait to meet him!!! 

Highlights from School: Week 1

Hey everyone, thanks for the emails about the tsunami. While we lost power for a bit, we are in the clear here! 

This past week was our first week at school with the kids. Like all schools, we were busy cleaning the school, organizing the classrooms and preparing to learn. However, in true Tongan style, things were a bit quirkier than we are accustomed to. But, the kids are amazing and the teachers are excited to have a different atmosphere. We feel welcomed and part of the team at school. Here are the highlights from our first week. Enjoy!

-Abby telling Ryan that "no offense, but you look a bit sickly and pale". Which led to Ryan spending Sunday, the only day with sunshine last week, outside tanning in his chair. Given that this is the South Pacific sun in mid-summer we are talking about, Ryan has spent the entire week of teaching with boils and blisters on his dark red skin, excusing himself from class to wipe away the water when his stomach and chest pop.

-The kids bringing us our welcome gift, a 3 foot long water snake they caught in the ocean during recess. Priceless.

-Abby reading a story called "Party in the Barn" to the 1st and 2nd graders of this school. In this story, the animals of the barn like cows, roosters and kangaroos (this is one eclectic barn!) make noises and the kids have to make the noise and do an action associated with the animal. At one point, the kids were so excited for whatever noise they made next, Ryan had to remove one little girl because "Abby, she was too damn excited for this book. If the next thing was cock-a-doodle-dooing like the rooster, then she was going to pee her pants!"

-The 1st and 2nd graders subsequently following around Abby and chanting "taimi laipeli" (time for library) whenever they see her.

-Ryan setting up the school's technology, which consists of a computer and copy machine from the 1980s...the early 1980s. What's involved in setup? Dismantling the PC, finding the bugs lodged in there, and killing the bugs. The kicker? The damn thing still works better than most computers in America!

-The kids showing Abby "tongan ice cream", which is code for the one outhouse in the school being backed up.

-The kids making a sweet fort with all the desks and chairs in the classroom. Ryan asking Abby if he can go play in the fort. Abby telling Ryan "no, he may not go play in the fort"........Ryan playing in the fort.

-And finally, 45 kids and teachers, 1 bathroom, no running water. You do the math.

Abby, right after school...back to work.

Ryan chose to celebrate the end of the week a bit differently...

Service Update #2

Hi everyone. Ryan here. Abby and I want to apologize for the lack of posts recently. We are smack dab in the middle of rainy season and the weather plays havoc on our ability to get to town and the island’s limited Internet connectivity. For the next couple of months we will be in Cyclone season, where each new Tropical Depression could turn into a Cyclone and ravage Vava’u. Given that cyclones only form in tropical areas, it reinforces how important it is for us to be safe this season and how idiotic the good people of Ames, Iowa were for naming their team the Cyclones.

In terms of our service here in the Kingdom, a couple things have changed. Our boss in Fiji has asked me to change the focus of my service. I will now be working primarily as a Community Health Volunteer. My task is to propose, develop and execute programs that are effective in meeting the health needs of poor, rural Tongans. I will pilot these projects in our village and if they are successful, I will work to replicate them in other rural villages throughout Vava’u.

The other part of my project will be co-teaching with Abby at our village school. While she will be the main teacher in the classroom, I will run activities and push-in as teaching support. Given how psychotically devoted my wife is to teaching, I am a bit apprehensive about this setup. But I promised her I would be on my best behavior and do whatever she tells me in the classroom. Since that is pretty much our agreement for the other aspects of our married life, it shouldn’t be too hard to follow!

School starts on Monday, February 4^th and we are both excited to get to work. We hope everyone is staying warm and dry in America!