Peace, Grace, & SHARKS

The past semester has flown by, and my adorable seniors will be graduating in about a week! Though time is flying by and I will miss the people who are leaving, I am excited and ready for what this next year is going to bring. New students, new faces on staff, and I am continuing to grow into a new me.

The past couple of weeks have been very busy! The week of Holy Week we went on Re-Orientation and Dis-Orientation. We went to the beautiful island of Pisar, a small island on the edge of the reef. It is possibly the most It is the closest thing I will come close to as a Paradise or “Private Island.”

This was one of the best retreats that I have ever been on, and though that only leaves a few to compare it to, I still feel completely spiritually and mentally satisfied and fulfilled. My cup and it was running empty and I needed something to fill it back up, and that is what the retreat gave me, an even greater supply of “living water.” I found myself reflecting on not only the passage or prompts given but also on my life here at Xavier and in Chuuk, who I am and who I want to became. In that, what I need to get myself free of, what I need to let go of, and continue to get negative or painful things out of my life. Though I thought I was living an extreme Christian lifestyle in Chuuk by following the JVC values of living simply, living in a community, sharing my faith life, and learning to do justice by just being, this retreat reminded me that though I was living in these ways, that I still was not role modeling a Christian lifestyle, or at least the Christian lifestyle that I hoped to truly live out here.

Since the retreat I have found an inner drive to be there and do all that I can, while continue to take more breaks and lazy days then I ever thought I would do at Xavier. I have found a confidence that I did not know I possessed and an inner strength that I also thought would take years to achieve. I remember someone saying that through the experience at Xavier and in Chuuk, we would not only grow 2 years older, but 10 years through the struggles we overcome and memories that we make here. One goal I have given myself is to wake up everyday and say to myself, “I am a JV, I am here to serve my students and the people of Chuuk. I only have 1 year left, so make everyday count.” So doing that, I can remember how this experience, as frustrating as it can be at times, will not last forever and therefore I need to live it up everyday. Sometimes working as much as we do and having so many obligations I forget that I will not be here forever and these little frustrations are only making this experience less beautiful. I hope this will continue to make my experience here even more special and life-alternating.

The week we returned was a complete “catch up” week as we returned back to classes, grading, and lesson planning. That weekend we had Worker Appreciation Day where we celebrated our local workers with Mass, a cookout, and all sorts of fun and games! It was such a great day! It’s a really wonderful experience to feel a personal connection to the people here…when they do funny things or dance silly, its feels good to know that you have a connection and a love for that person. For my first 6 or 7 months, I did not feel that connection at all. It took 6 months to find a host family and I was still transitioning into the culture even then. But for one of the first times I felt such a connection to local people. That same weekend our soccer girls played in the Championship Game and WON!! All of our girl’s sports teams placed in the top 2 this year which has been very exciting! About a week ago I throw a “GIRLS PARTY” for them and we ate cake, ice cream, and pizza! It was a lot of fun and I think the girls were really excited! 

This past week was our last teaching week of school and we start finals tomorrow! The seniors have finals for two days then go on senior retreat and I was lucky enough to get asked to on retreat with them. The rest of the school will be taking finals Wednesday-Friday whil we are on retreat, back on the island of PISAR!

And then there was today…Alex organized a trip for us and the Saram JVs to Jeep Island, one of the resort islands so we could snorkel all day! It was the best snorkeling I have ever seen and I cant believe how many fish we saw! We even got to swim with SHARKS!! They were little, not as big as us, but they were SO COOL!! It was definitely a once in a lifetime experience!!

So as exciting as my life has been, it has been super busy and doesn’t seem like it is going to settle down before graduation! I hope everyone is doing well and I cant wait to get some updates (through email J) on everyone!!

Love and Peace

em

P.S. I should have pictures up on Facebook SOON! <3

A Fast Last Quarter and Year

My first year here has flown by! In less then a month I will done with my first year of teaching!! Its crazy how fast time has flown by here! Looking back at this past year, I cant believe its already April and in two months I will be saying some goodbyes and Peach and I will be heading over to Ponphei for summer placements with Rach and Molly!
This week is SPIRIT WEEK and we are getting ready for Track and Field tomorrow. Tomorrow and Friday will be the biggest events on the island...ALL of the high schools are competing in the events from all over the island and neighboring islands. Our students are pumped up and ready for the competition but to get them even more ready we have all sorts of craziness happening. Monday was Mute Day in which no one on campus could talk and we had to be "creative" with our lesson plans. Tuesday was Career Day and the students dressed up for their future jobs. Today is Switch Day....students switching genders and teachers switching with students. Mike and I switch so I look manly and he is in one of our MuMus :) The students thought it was pretty funny. Peaches is also dressed up as a student in the uniform. Alex and Rose both switched with students and Greg is wearing a skirt. Lots of craziness and fun! Tomorrow will be a half day of classes and then we will all go down for all the preliminary races and Friday is an all day event under the hot sun! But the Sarem community will be there which always makes it a little more fun!
 This Saturday our home office will also be coming in for our Re-Orientation and Dis-Orientation as well as to observe us in the classroom and as a community. The Ponphei community will also fly over with the office. It will be hectic having to entertain as well as continue working our 15 hour days. Over Easter Break we will also head out to the outer island of Pisar for the actual Re-O/Dis-O. It will be a tough week or so, but once we get back we only have 13 days of classes left! Which is just crazy since I still have SO much to cover :) but it will all work out in the end :)

With the school year coming to a close and the office coming to visit, I have really seen how fast time has gone by here. Time really has been flying by....maybe its the constant summer weather or maybe the 15 hour work days...either way, I feel like it should only be December and its April! I look back to how much I have grown already and learned about myself, my community, my students, and the would and I think of how lucky I really am to have these experiences. God really has blessed me in so many ways and I am so grateful for these experiences. I have gained such great insight into life here and have created so many relationships that will be everlasting. And knowing I still have one more year to grow and develop here makes me SO happy! I am so blessed for this experience and the people that surround me. I am also so blessed that I have such supportive friends and family back home who have been there for me whenever I needed them.

Thats just a quick update, I wanted to be sure to write something prior to the office arriving and Easter on Pisar.

Love from the Islands!
Em

A Hidden Secret

For man did not come from woman, but woman from man; neither was man created for woman, but woman for man..... In the Lord, however, woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. For as woman came from man, so also man is born of woman. But everything comes from God. -1 Corinthians 11:8-9,11-12

From past experience of visiting Nicaragua and Ecuador and hearing stories from volunteers, I knew living in Micronesia or any developing country, would be tough, especially since I am a woman. I knew there would be things I would not be allowed to do anything, I would not be allowed to dress how I normally dress, and I would be restricted the cultural way in which the women behave. And I was ready for the challenge.

Living at a boys boarding school, I have had many experiences with those ideas of not being able to fully be myself. No I cant play the Annual Capture the Flag game because the boys would feel uncomfortable having a girl play, no I cant sleep over on an outer island with the boys when all the male staff are invited, no I cant climb coconut trees, no I cant pound breadfruit, no I cant ride in a local style canoe, and no I cannot help built a native hut. All because of my gender.

No's and Cant's are words heard here often by members of the female faculty here at Xavier High School. Though at times we argue that it is unfair or sexist, but it is a part of the culture that many of us have grown used to and became familiar with. As a "tomboy" I have had some troubles with these realities but realized how much more not participating in these things puts me in solidarity with the women of Micronesia who have to be submissive the majority of their lives.

In February I was invited to attend a funeral with my family. Funerals in Micronesia are a big deal and a huge family affair. My grandma's sister past away and as tradition goes here, the women of the family have to sleep in the room where the funeral was, usually a meeting house or hut for 9 days. I was invited to sleep in the meeting house for one night and was finally able to see something beautiful about the role of women here. I was finally able to see something women Can do, and men Cant.

It was the women not the men who were allowed to sleep in the house together, over 50 lovely ladies singing songs, playing the ukulele, and celebrating life and the love they had all lost. I was able to see how beautiful the bond the women in a family have and how much fun they have with each other. It was all singing, smiling, and giggling the whole night, as the men sat outside and watched the house. It was one of the coolest experiences to this day that I have had here in Micronesia. Prior to this, I was always focused on the Nos and Cants of the women here in Micronesia and that night my eyes were opened to what a beautiful thing the women in Micronesia have going on here. They have this close family connection to each other and are some of the strongest and charismatic people I have ever met. It doesnt stick out or is out in the open, it is something so hidden, but so marvelous at the same time. 

For many areas of the world, it is a reality that men and women will be treated different. As a woman, it continues to be a struggle for me, but when I see something as wonderful as what I experienced that night, it reminds me that women  might not be shown publicly as strong figures, but they really the rulers of the houses and some of the strongest people I have ever had the chance of meeting.

My apologies for not updated this in over a month. Things on Mabuchi Hill have been very busy and today is the first time I have had a chance to sit back and write this. The past month has been full of service projects, retreats, visits to my sponsor family. 
About a month ago the Sophomore students worked side by side with the Sapuk community and helped to fix the road (as much as we could possibly fix). When I signed up for JVC, it talked about being in solidarity with the people which we were serving. I had not really seen much of that until that day when I helped the sophomores work with the Sapukese to build a better road. We had all sorts of tools and worked from 9am, took a lunch brake, and continued on until evening. Unfortunately, I did not stay and help, I left around 3 or 4 to go to my sponsor family. 
I have become really close to my family here. Recently my father won the election and is now one of the State Representatives. He is a really wonderful person and I am very happy for him and my family. That weekend I also found out that my grandmother had won a boat in one of the raffles downtown and we would be going to Pisiwi for a picnic the following weekend! 
The picnic was so much fun and I got to see how to have a picnic 'local style.' We had a delicious BBQ and people were being thrown in the water or buried in the sand.  It was a lot of fun and I was so happy to be apart of this family fun. It was one of the best local experiences I have had in Chuuk and I loved every minute of it.
The following week we took the Junior Class to the island of Tonas for the Junior Emmaus Retreat. It was at this retreat that I began to realize my life in Chuuk gets better and better the more put myself into those experiences. On the retreat so much about our lives and where we see God was shared and I saw my students in a different light. They are whole people, children of God, and though at times I can get so mad at them, I need to remember the wonderful and inspiring individuals that they actually are. They are so impressive and it is my goal that after that experience I try and see all my students in that light and remember how unique and wonderful each and everyone of them are to not only me but to God.
We returned to that island a week later for our JVC retreat. The focus was seeing God in all things and finding Grace in Darkness, something that we have all struggled with here in Chuuk. It was nice to take a weekend away from the hustle and bustle and just have to time to reflect, think, journal, and pray. It brought a lot of clarity to me and reminded me how much I really do enjoy Xavier and Chuuk. It can be overwhelming and frustrating and life here isn't fair sometimes, but it really is just preparing us for life. It is showing us there are injustices that cannot be fixed and things will fall apart and go completely wrong, but that the world keeps going. It has also shown me that I can do anything if I put my mind to it: I mean I am teaching Chemistry....a class I hated in high school and avoided in college, yet I am teaching it and not only am I up there everyday lecturing and talking about it, but the students are actually learning from me. I really have to strength to do anything. 
This past weekend we were all able to kick back and relax...Well almost....Friday was the Tsunami warning and it was a little paniky here for a couple hours but then settled down. Luckily there was no damage to our island or anything inside the lagoon. Thanks for all your prayers though! Please pray for all those that were affected, especially in Japan.
It is the end of the 3rd quarter so grades are due, so everyone is scrambling together to get their grades done. Me and Peach went into town today and got some pizza at Lei Side. It was so yummy, and reminded me of all the great food at home!

Well thats all for now! Hope everyone is doing well. Please remember to pray for all those affected by the natural disaster, especially in Japan.

Lots of Loves,
Em

And We Welcome You To This Special Place

There is a song the students sing for all new visitors. It is a song sung and written by the students, and they have been singing it for years. The talent that many of these students have and their ability to harmonize as well as play many different instruments has really amazed me. But what gives me the biggest chills and goose-bumps is when they just sing. A cappella. Their voices that have this amazing ability to sing together and hit every note is not the only beautiful thing. It is what they are singing that brings tears to my eyes. The chorus of the song is "and we welcome you to this special place, where our hearts share a beat of unity, full of life, full of love, full of colors scent from God above." 
After being here for 6 months, I feel like I have only been here a second, maybe a minute. I have been here for 6 months when many of these students have been here for at least 2 or 3 years, and I have only seen glimpse into their lives. What I have seen though is truly amazing. This school. This family. These students. I have only begun to see the impact that they will have in my life. They bring me joy, spirit, and happiness. Even on my bad days, they bring me up, they teach me how to act with patience, empathy, and respect. On my good days, which happen so much more then my bad days, they teach me things about their culture, their way of life, how to share, and how to be only one part in the Body of Christ. I really am happy where I am and am overjoyed with what they have taught me so far.


Last year a photo journalist, Flyod came here and stayed for months to take pictures and live in the life of a Xavier student. He left loving this place and seeing this place as a glimmer of hope for the Micronesian people. From someone only as a long term visitor in Chuuk, I can see the positive and negative aspects. As Flyod has said, among the broken roads, electrical unpredictability, corrupt government, dysfunctional education system, and infrastructure that seems to be receding, there is this one school, that actually works. It produces Presidents, Vice Presidents, Congress man and women, ambassadors, lawyers, teachers, and so forth. So among the wreckage, this is this one thing that works. And I am part of that. Sometimes I wonder why am I hear or what am I do. In this state where education is failing, I teach. I teach the best way I can. But I show up and I teach. I not only teach them Chemistry, English, Literature, Psychology, and Fitness. I teach them how to be a Christian, through my own words and actions. It is then when I open my eyes and see the wonder before me; great kids in a system setting them up to fall through the cracks and a school that breeds success when all other schools only fail. This is where I belong. This is where I have been called, yet I feel as if I am apart of this family, this amazing society hidden from the rest of the world. And I am only beginning to fall in love with this place. 


Peace, 
Em

Things Come Together & Things Fall Apart

School has started up again and we are one week through the rigorous schedule at Xavier High School. I am still teaching Eco/Lit to the seniors, chemistry to the juniors, and have added on psychology as an elective for the seniors. In the senior class I am also taking on the "senior project" as a new edition to my literature class. They are reading "Things Fall Apart"a novel about white foreigners coming in and invading Nigera. Much of the book and the issues and struggles have been faced by my students ancestors, so the project will have them researching their home island and presenting it to the school. They will also have to take the major themes from the book and apply them to what has happened in their home islands and discuss how elements of the book have impacted their lives. It will be a huge project, but I am really excited for it. They have all semester to complete it but I am really hoping that is will be fantastic and I will get to learn more about each island through the passion (hopefully) of my students!

My chemistry class is also going well, still a very new topic to me, so I am learning as I go, but I have found the best methods for me to teach and the best ways they need me, and I feel really positive about this semester. Family has also sent me really cool experiments and fun things to do with them...like make Flubber and watch the movie, that has sparked their interest in science even more! To make things even better I feel very much connected to the class and feel like all the personalities balance mine very well and vis versa.

Psychology is going to be a blast to teach!! I have only been teaching it one week, but I really like how much passion I have when teaching it and how I can give such solid and real world explanations and examples that are hopefully getting them excited to learn more about it. Although the beginning parts right now are history and the basics and not the "fun" stuff I feel really great about how things are going.

The first week was definitely tough getting back into the groove and I think is was for the students as well. Yesterday and today I finally felt like I was back to my style of teaching and the students seemed to be back on their game which helped a lot. They are such wonderful students and young people and I am really happy that I have the joy of getting to teach them. Even when are just hanging out around school not in classes, I am always reminded of how wonderful and caring each and every one of them are.

So things are back to normal here....as we speak it is night study and students are coming in and out, asking for help, asking for passes, and basically being teenage boys. They make me laugh at how goofy they are, and it has become part of my routine to except the chaos that enstews each and every night...I almost miss it on the weekends, but it is good not to have two days off :) This weekend I am headed to my host family from Friday to Sunday. They are really wonderful and I love how each time I go, I grow a little bit closer. I know it will take away to feel apart of the family, but I am really enjoying getting to know them and Chuukese each time.

Lots of Love from Micro!!!
Em

Emily, Happy All The Time

There is a tradition here at Xavier to sing the "Birthday Song" on everyones birthdays! It goes like this:
Emily, happy all the time
Emily, life is summertime
The joy you have in living every day
Emily how I love your simple ways

(followed with)


Happy birthday to you...Emily
Happy birthday to you...Emily 
Happy birthday to Emily
Happy birthday to you.


(then ending with)


Who is your boyfriend.....
Who is your boyfriend.....
Who is your boyfriend......
and so on!


It was a great birthday here at Xavier. Even though the students have the tradition of singing the songs, the staff has an even better tradition....PIZZA and ICE CREAM!! For everyone's birthday Lily buys us all pizza and ice cream. 


And to make the birthday festivities even better, I climbed Wittipong, a mountainish hill that is on the island with Mike, Peaches, and Lin Yaw. It is the second largest "mountain" in Chuuk and we had a fabulous view of the island and of the reef. It was really cool!! The hike up took us about an hour or so, but the view from the top is beautiful!!! It made my 23rd birthday one to remember and one I will never forget! I cant wait to see what Chuuk has in store for my big 24th!!