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| PMA dorm |
So I wanted to take you on a little tour of my everyday life
here in Palau. That’s not easy since
things change so often, but let’s pretend it’s a “typical” day…pretend that
you’ve just arrived to Palau and that you’re going to shadow me for a school
day. So welcome to the island! Here we go…
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| Our kitchen |
We have to leave at 6:30am in the morning, so you’ll set your alarm early. Depending on what you want to do before we leave (devotions, breakfast, shower, etc.), you might want to wake up at 5 or 6 or even earlier. (I’m up at 4:30, but everyone thinks I’m crazy.)
Let’s say that you’ve adjusted to the time difference
because you arrived a couple of days ago.
But still it’s not easy to get up.
It’s dark when you get out of bed.
It is not very hot out, but the air conditioning is still going and the
sun will be up soon. You flick a few
ants off your legs, thankful that they don’t bite. If you’re in our girls’ apartment, you’ll
notice the other girls beginning to emerge and take showers and grab breakfast
(the ants are happy when you spill a few crumbs). You’ll see us putting on our uniforms (skirts
and polos with the Palau SDA school logo) and grabbing our backpacks. The bus is waiting outside. Fortunately you get to ride our “new”
borrowed bus which has air conditioning and cushioned seats, both of which the
old bus lacked. We all pile in by 6:35
or so, and somebody prays for a safe and productive day as our driver makes his
way up the road.
You will notice people, stray dogs, palm trees, flying by
out the window. It’s very green and
lush, and there are hibiscus and plumeria flowers blooming (the kind they make
leis out of). We’ll wave at the white
man with the mustache who is always walking his dogs and carries an umbrella. As we go over the KB bridge, you’ll want to
snap a photo of the water and little islands that we see—it’s a beautiful view. Even the ones who see it every day look up
and raise their phones to take a photo, since the sun is reflecting off the
water perfectly today.
Soon we’re in Koror, where there is construction, traffic,
pedestrians, shops, and supermarkets. We
drive by Surangel’s and WCTC, both of which have groceries and department
stores that are the equivalent of Wal-mart here (they aren’t as big but have a
good selection). The town is starting to
get busy. We wave at the guy who always sits
by the road. Soon we pull in to the
school, which is right next to the church, and we climb out of the bus. A few students are there, but hardly any
because it is only 7am. You follow me to
the library, and the few kids sitting on the benches yell, “Who’s that?”
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| Where I spend most of the day |
They trail into the library after us and ask you
questions. Where are you from, why are
you here, etc. Then before 7:30 we usher
them out so that the teachers can have staff worship. You sit and listen to the songs and the
worship thought, and we pray for a couple of students or a teacher (the
schedule has all the names lined up so we pray for everyone throughout the
school year) and then the teachers head out to start the day with the kids
before 8.
Meanwhile, I plan what I’m going to do for my ESL students
and clean up any stray books kids might have left out. You probably don’t want to stay all day in
the library, so you might go visit some of the other classrooms as they have
worship. The kids are singing “We are
Soldiers” or “Seek Ye First” or “Heart of Worship” or “Jesus Loves Me, (clapping
version)”.
When you come back, you see me tutoring one of the ESL kids
for his spelling test. He is trying to
show me a magic trick, and I am trying to get him to write down words like
“mirror” and “worries”. I tell him he
needs to study the words at home, where he has a translator device that
translates English words into Korean, Chinese, or Japanese.
It is hot and sticky out, and you are glad that the library
has air conditioning. A few kids come in
to the library and say, “Ahh, it’s so nice and cold in here. I wish I could stay here.” The AC in the classrooms is not always the
best. But we’re thankful for anything.
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| Middle of Koror, looking up the street from the school office |
At 11:30 it is lunch time.
You can go up to the school office if you want to microwave something,
but most of the teachers are eating in their classrooms. Some kids come in to call their parents and
ask for lunch. You could go and get some
food at a restaurant if you like, or grab some snacks at one of the little
convenience stores that sell little things like crackers, bananas, chips, tama
(like donut holes, but slightly less sweet), soda, and betel nut.
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| Kids acting out the wise man and foolish man parable for chapel |
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| Little restaurant for burgers and smoothies |
By this time you may be bored, so you might want to visit a
gift shop—they’re only a few minutes away.
You can get a key chain, some souvenir taro cookies, some coconut soap,
a sarong that says “Palau,” a mug, or (if you really want to splurge) a carved
storyboard.
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| Palauan storyboard |
Later you might want to watch the kids at recess. Throwing basketballs in the gym, playing
ukuleles, swinging on the playground, talking and laughing. They run up and say hi to you, maybe hugging
you as if you’ve been their friend for weeks.
A kid runs up and hands me a library book. “Ms. Hillary, I forgot to give it to you
yesterday!”
At 2:30 I am tutoring a Chinese student, trying to explain
the meaning of some English words to her (fortunately she has an
English-Chinese dictionary). I have her
write some sentences, and we have a stunted conversation while the little kids
from 1st-2nd grade come in now that school is out for
them, and complain when I tell them they can only use the phone or quietly do
their homework until I’m done tutoring.
More kids come in as the other classes get out at 3 and 3:30. Some read, some want to check out books, some
do homework or draw, some want to just sit in the air conditioning, and some
try to horse around until I tell them not to.
After school completely lets out, you might want to take a
trip to the store to pick up a few things.
We walk up to Surangel’s (about 5 minutes away) and see if they have any
produce. Sometimes there’s fresh fruit
and veggies, and sometimes things are a little sparse as we wait for the new
shipment of the week. You can get a
variety of things, from apples to papayas, coconuts to sweet potatoes, sugar
cane to bean sprouts, bananas (always) to lettuce. Just be aware that not everything may be
available every time you go, and some produce may be a little worse for the
wear after being shipped in from afar.
You can also get all sorts of canned and packaged and frozen foods—most
of them are just going to be more pricey than you’re used to. Triscuits and Lays chips might be around $4,
and Honey Bunches cereal is around $5.
Notice the variety of Korean and Chinese snacks available, and some
Filippino brands. As we walk around the
store, we bump into some kids from school shopping with their parents. Usually they say hi, although sometimes they
look perturbed at seeing their teachers outside of school.
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| Shopping center |
We walk back to school with our bags and wait for the bus,
which usually arrives around 4:40. On
the way back you’ll notice even more stray dogs, and we’ll probably have to
stop for construction. You see a bunch
of tourists walking up and down the streets—some are from America, Australia,
or Europe, but a good share are from Korea and China. You’ll see big hats and sunglasses, short
shorts and flowery sundresses, Hawaiian shirts and striped polos (but those
people in striped polos are usually Bangladesh workers, not tourists). The Asian tourists make sure to wear big
hats, sunglasses, and to carry umbrellas to keep from getting tanned.
When we get back to the academy in Airai, everyone is tired
and hungry, and the kitchen bustles as several people make dinner. Some people go to work out in the PMA gym,
while others write lesson plans, nap, listen to music, watch movies/shows on
laptops, read, shower, prepare things for tomorrow, etc. Often we have a little Bible study or reading
group together around 7:30, so you might want to join. We’re in 1 Peter now, or reading the book, Captivating. If not, the sun has already
gone down, so you might want to take a look at the stars. If it’s clear out, you will see Orion,
Cassiopaeia, and other constellations.
It is not as hot now, and the bats are fluttering around the streetlights
on campus. There might also be toads,
large snails, chirping insects, millipedes, rats, a stray dog, or a crab
peeking out of its den. The campus dog,
Buddy, will look at you suspiciously and snuff before going to sleep on a bench. You’ll see the other families (the cooks,
maintenance people, and teachers who live there) cooking or watching TV. Some of the dorm kids at the academy will be
getting wifi on their phones or hanging around talking (they’re mostly Chinese
and Korean, though a couple are from the Palauan island of Peleliu). It’s fairly busy even at night.
Finally I’ll be going to bed around 8:30. Others might stay up later, so you can go to
bed when you like. Tomorrow will be
almost the same, but you never know when there might be a heavy downpour of rain
(more likely than not), some student drama (skinned knee, a tearstorm, finding
a lizard in the classroom), a visitor from afar in the area (like a
professional photographer or martial arts star), or a visit to a store or
restaurant. No matter what happens, it
will be an adventure. That’s becoming my
motto.
Hope you enjoyed your visit.
If you stay for the weekend, Principal Sanchez might want to spend time
with you (he loves visitors—and people in general), and we might all go out to
eat or visit a waterfall or—if you’re lucky—take a snorkeling trip to the Rock
Islands. Be sure to charge your camera,
because you won’t want to miss a moment.
Sleep tight.
Oh and that weird chirping noise that you just heard? I think it’s a gecko. Just ignore it.
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| Baby gecko! |
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| Palau islands on a rainy day |
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