Ak Milruul a kall. (I prepared food)

I’ve gotten the question, “Rob, what do you eat?” so let me go over each meal and tell you what is normally on the menu.

Breakfast: Bread- white bread with peanut butter and jelly. Everyday.
Lunch: Rice with fried fish, crab patties, or fried chicken
Dinner: Rice with a wider selection of main dishes- Fish (raw, fried, grilled, or in soup), Chicken (fried, baked, or on a special occasion grilled), Crab (crab patties, ogaib, or whole coconut crabs), and canned/processed delicacies (SPAM, Hormel Luncheon Loaf, hot dogs, and corned beef).

For the most part my host family cooks for me and when I get to cook it is a little bit of a novelty for me. So, I got a chance to cook last night and my main dish (chili) won the approval of my host mother. I made her take a picture of me cooking so that I could let the people at home know that I’m actually cooking for myself a little bit.

Also, as an update for my garden- the only thing that has turned into anything edible are the green beans. I was able to get enough to go with a meal of some sort. My host mother took them and told me she’d “fix that one”. It was thrown into a pot with a can of corned beef. Not quite what I had in mind, but good nonetheless.

Update... and some pictures

Well- the tests have finished and a new quater is upon us here at Angaur Elementry School. We did alright on the quartly assessments. We are short a teacher so everyone is doing a little more than normal to help bridge the gap. I'm now teaching 6th and 8th grade English; 8th grade math; 6th, 7th, and 8th Health; and 6th, 7th, and 8th grade Career Guidance. I've got a much busier schedule, but like it a lot.

Besides that, there's not much new to report. I now leave it up to you- after being scolded by my parents for not updating my blog, I've decided to do a Q&A format. So ask away. Let me know your questions, if you have any- and I'll write a post to adress it. You can email me at rsteffens@gmail.com or leave your question as a comment.

Also- I'm looking for some pen-pals for my sixth grade class. There are seven student who would love to team up with some kids their ages in America. So if anyone can help with that, I'd be aprreciative. We're in the US postal system, so mail comes very quickly and it doesn't cost any more to send a letter to Palau than it does to send a letter anywhere in America.

Enjoy some pictures:

Just a normal, everyday sunset in Angaur, Palau

My host brother, Cortez, taking a dive off the dock.


My host family's house

A little lizard that I found in my house.

The retired principal of Angaur Elementry- also my host uncle.

Another sunset.

The school kids at Christmas with Santa there to visit.

My host father, Emiliano.

My host brother, Valdez

My host brother, Cortez.

Testing, Testing, 1...2...3... (January 7, 2010)

It’s a cold (relatively) and rainy day in Angaur today. There has been a constant rain for the last six or seven hours. I’m not adverse to the rain, as it brings cool breeze and will inevitably help my garden grow. However, this time it is a bit excessive. There are small ponds where small ponds have not previously existed. Overall it is just the beginning of a gloomy Thursday.

Right now in school we are preparing the students for their quarterly exams. Each quarter, the Ministry of Education tests the students in Science, Math, English, Social, Palauan, and Health. About a week before the tests, we are given a “review sheet” from the MOE to provide us a guideline as what to prepare the students for specifically. Unfortunately for the students, this means an intense review/cram session. Also, since the school is so small, each student’s grade is even more significant.

I have one eight grade student. And we’ve been working this quarter doing some writing, fiction reading, character analysis, grammar rules, etc. I got the review sheet which has a list of ten items that will be covered on the test. Having just the one student, and being her only teacher, I’m starting to feel the pressure for her to succeed. If she fails the test, that means that Angaur Elementary School will have a 0% passing rate for 8th grade English, which needless to say, looks bad on paper.

Needless to say, I’m looking forward to the new quarter to begin.