May Days

The past few weeks have been fairly busy.  Here’s a little update about things that have been going on…

 I’ve officially subbed every grade in the school now, Kindergarten to 8^th grade, and the only classes I haven’t subbed for are Computer and Palauan (it wouldn’t do much good if I tried that last one, since I only know about 5 words…). 

I’ve been trying to figure out my flight home—from changing seats to sit next to my roommate, to wondering what Jen and I should do with our extended layover in Hawaii.  (I have about 26 hours there, and she has about 12, so we’re looking at activities like the Polynesian Cultural Center and the Dole Plantation tour…we’ll see.)  

I was sick for a while, and was afraid the cough might get nasty like it did before, but thankfully I was able to rest and get better and not go on antibiotics and IVs like a lot of people do here.  Some of the students were saying, “The first time I had an IV was when…”  And these are just 6-year-olds.  I guess that’s the go-to remedy around here.

Some 3^rd-grade girls hooked up the TV in the library, so they can now watch videos like Veggie Tales and Bible stories that are on the shelf.  I’m letting them do it most days after school since it keeps them quiet and they didn’t get to use the TV all year.

Meanwhile, I’m trying to figure out how to use coconut flour.  It’s cheap here, so why not?  I’ve already made peanut-butter banana cookies with it…interesting texture.

The SAU U-Quest mission trip team arrived—about 25 students from Southern or academies, some of which were teachers here in Palau last year.  We greeted them at the airport with leis and coconuts and signs.  The kids were delighted to see their old teachers, and the teachers were thrilled to be back on the island.  They’re going to be doing some random construction jobs and they’re hoping to do VBS and/or summer camp too.  We’ll see what they end up doing.  They almost weren’t able to come, but in the end…here they are.  I’m praying God will lead them to do some great things here in the two or three weeks they have.

Several girls from the elementary school were baptized on Sabbath.  They’re from Adventist families, and they’ve now made the decision to give their lives to God.  It was a really beautiful ceremony, even though it was raining (rain can’t hurt you when you’re being baptized…).  There were tears and leis and a drone hovering to capture footage.  I’ve seen more drones in Palau than anywhere else…

In 3^rd grade a lightbulb fell and shattered on a girl’s desk, spreading glass everywhere.  But—get this—the girl who normally sat at the desk was out sick.  If she had been there, she could have been hurt by the flying glass.  It’s neat how God works in little ways…

At the resort

We had a staff dinner at a fancy resort on Saturday night.  The principals thanked the staff—from the poultry farm workers to the teachers and office staff—for their hard work.  There were lots of good things to eat, from Cuban bread to jicama, from salad to watermelon, from baked potatoes to chicken.  It was impressive…I’m not used to fancy places like that.  There was even a singer who played an electric piano.  Half-way through the dinner he said, “We have a special guest here tonight…a student from SDA school here who wants to dedicate this next song to her teachers…” and he proceeded to sing, “Pass it on,” from the “He is Our Song” hymnal.  The girl was sitting nearby, a student from 5^th grade, and we all clapped at the end.  It was really sweet.  Then we walked on the beach in the dark, and saw some fish through a glass floor in a gazebo, and some sort of heron (I'm assuming a night heron).

It’s finals week here, so everyone is doing tests, and teachers are trying to get all the grading and folders and paperwork done.  I don’t have nearly so much to do, but I help out.  We’ll be having our final goodbye parties on Friday, and then it will be the end of the school year…I won’t say it has flown by, because I feel like we’ve had school for a long time.  But probably it will seem shorter once I’m packing up and leaving.  

One of the students came into the library before I left this week.  She’s one of the older girls, and we talked for a bit.  She’s going to visit her family in the U.S. over the summer.  “Are you coming back next year?” she asked, and I said no…I need to finish school…and it’s so far, and lots of money…  “But,” I said, “you never know.  Other teachers have come back for a visit.”  “Yeah,” she said, maybe a bit hopefully.  She told me that it’s really hard to say goodbye to the teachers.  “It hits us hard when they leave,” she said matter-of-factly.  “It hits the students every year when we have to say goodbye again.”  I thought about it.  We only have to say goodbye once, but they have to say goodbye almost every year.  That can’t be easy.  I felt kind of bad, but at least nowadays it’s easier to keep in touch with the internet, and travel is easier too.  Who knows…

Anyway, that’s the news around here.  Not much time left for us here, but we’re trying to make the most of it.  Pray that we can make a good impact on the kids and their families in the last few days and weeks.

A night heron fishing in the dark