I’ve got not much new to report and I’m in a slight hurry (at least as hurried as one can be on a remote island in the Pacific) so I’m going to make this brief.
1. I met the President of Palau today. He made the trip from the mainland of Palau to the outer island of Angaur to give a motivational speech to the kids and get to know the school staff. He listened to the students, staff, and a few parents when they let him know what they thought the school needs. I had to explain to my students that it was a big deal that they were meeting the president. They just assumed that the Obama made visits to all the elementary schools in the USA too.
2. We are out of water at my house. Apparently El Nino is back and while it means warm winters in Minnesota- it means droughts in Angaur. Don’t get me wrong, sunny day after sunny day is nice (it’s GREAT, actually). But, I’ll take a few days of rain if it means that I can get a drink of water every now and then. You might be wondering where I’m getting water now. We still have running water that is not suitable for drinking- that keeps me clean and my garden watered. My drinking water is mooched off of others in the community who have a more adequate supply. Sadly, this El Nino is expected to drastically reduce rainfall through June- so I might need to be more creative in my search to quench my thirst.
3. On one of the aforementioned “Sunny Days”, I took a hike with a few of my students on the weekend. My eight grade student said, “It’s F***ing hot”. I gave her a scowl of disapproval and said, “At least say ‘Hucking Fot’ or something else when you’re around adults”. Well, that caught on and now all of the upper-graders in my school are having a blast using curse words without actually using curse words. “Yuck fou”, “aumb dss”, and (my personal favorite) “Sull Bhit”. It’s things like this that really make me feel like I’m making a difference.
Ugh... We are getting a week straight of rain. If I could send some your way I would. I would give anything to have a bright sunny day, the clouds and gloom just get to you after 5 days in a row. The good news is that it's melting all the snow so hopefully spring will be around the corner. Can you receive liquids in the mail? I am sure I could mail you some bottled water if that's something that you can get. Your comments about your kids cursing without really cursing made me laugh.... I love how you are shaping their minds!
ReplyDelete-Alissa
I was wondering if you were affected by the drought. I have read some of your fellow PCV's blogs and they are really struggling with water also. Sorry to hear that. As Alissa said we have had rain - even a thunderstorm this morning. Let us know if we can help at all.
ReplyDeleteHaha...the ad on the side of your page is for culligan and you are mentioning you don't have drinking water. That makes me giggle.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that you are truely making a difference in the lives of others...even if it's only in creating new swear words.
hi Robert,
ReplyDeleteHaving dinner sitting in your seat- good stuff you should be here. Love reading all your blog entries. Haven't gotten to my computer lately but will try. Love Grandma - miss you!
You most certainly are making a difference! Keep up the good work. Love you and miss you! Lisa
ReplyDeleteOh, Rob, how we love you! Laura and I are just making some cabonerra (sp?) in the PC Yap office and reading up on your blog, saying how wonderful you are. We miss you and are happy you're doing well! Can't wait to see you!
ReplyDelete:-) Emily (and Chef Laura)