Friday, August 27, 2010


Ok so the video of the virtual tour is on facebook, that's the only place I could get it to load. So Mom and Dad get Laura or Joe to pull it up for you.  In the meantime, here is a couple pics of me and Lynn on my birthday. He, Bill, David Willis and I had an engaging 2 1/2 hour dinner at the good ol Koko Bean, where the they make up for the incredibly slow service with really good food. If you notice, I'm rockin the Lebron James beard, so I've got that going for me.



Monday, August 23, 2010


So Im sitting here in class again as my students read and write away and the rain is falling gently outside the window. There is no air conditioning in my class and so the fans are always on and the windows always open and for right now it feels really nice. It will probably rain for a couple hours at most this morning, just enough to cool it off and then the sun will come out and the humidity will rise and things will be back to normal. This place is crazy like that, the mountains seem to trap the clouds and it will start pouring, almost out of nowhere, only to have them dissipate a few minutes later and have the sun shine forth again. This place really does have a special beauty, and the sad part is Im already finding myself getting used to it. I guess that is the same anywhere you live, but it seems especially a shame in a place like this. I find myself having to be reminded how blessed I am to be able to live in an environment such as this and to constantly be pro active in taking in as much as possible.

Anyways, me and Bill made a little video of our humble abode, and I do mean humble. This may not interest anyone other than my parents, and if thats the case well then you don't have to watch it. So without further ado, its Bill on the camera work and me doing the hosting.

Alright bad news. This video does not seem to want to load on here. Im going to keep working on it though, so check back later, it's totally worth it.






Thursday, August 19, 2010

Talofa!



Alright, here comes my first of hopefully many more posts from American Samoa. It is currently second period of the second day of school and my 3 students are writing away about their goals for the long term, mid term, and short term future. This class is going to easily be the best behaved class I have, but also the toughest to draw out of their shells. It is made up of the advanced math students, which means that while the rest of their classmates are in algebra they are stuck with me for writing and grammar. The class is made up of 2 Korean girls and a Japanese American girl. They are all very bright, but also quiet. Coming up with activities that are going to challenge these girls as well as draw them out is going to be tough but I am up for the challenge!
Its only the 2nd day and already Im tireddddd. How do teachers do this everyday? Joe you have my respect, as if you didn't already. I do love that this is a private school because I play Acappella music for them while they work and there's not a thing anyone can do about it! They seem to like it for the most part I think so thats good, and it's uplifting to me as I can only hope it is for them as well.
P.E. yesterday was easily the best period of the day, for me at least. We are very limited on space here as far as a place to play games and such but I was able to come up with a makeshift wiffle ball field and so we played that. It was a blast. Unfortunately for me, we don't have PE every day but I suppose it will make it that much more of a treat when we do!

I'll write more about my experiences and the people I've met here in a later post but for now here are a couple pics that I managed to take with the camera on my computer. Yes, thats right, I have no camera here on this tropical island I'll be living on for the next year. Sorry!