Crazy weather this morning in Pohnpei. Extremely windy and rainy (the latter being not so unusual). But the wind is howling and whistling and crying out for attention, like a baby with a wet diaper. I am not impressed. Allois called this "winter weather." Two days ago, I bragged (via Facebook status) that I was "laying in a hammock, reading a book, wearing a sundress, on November 1st." Now look what has happened!! But I'm sure this is only temporary and it will be sunny and warm tomorrow--when I have to go back to school. Today is a holiday (I can't remember why), so of course it's blustery and pissing it down. Of course. I was hoping to visit the Nan Madol ruins today, on the jet ski, but it looks like that trip will be postponed.
I really wish there were new movies at the theatre! Today would be the perfect day to sit in a dark auditorium and munch popcorn. And on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, movies are only $2.50 (regularly $5)! There are always three playing. Right now we have Last Exorcism of Emily Rose, Devil, and Wall Street. I've already seen Devil (it was okay--for an hour-long movie that takes place in an elevator), I have no desire to see Last Exorcism, and Wall Street just looks...dismal. But, I might surprise myself; I've seen a lot of movies here just for the joy of sitting in the air conditioned theatre for a couple of hours (and the popcorn is actually really, really good). I think I've seen at least 6 movies in the last 4 months, which is probably more than I saw the entire time I lived in New York.
FOUR MONTHS?! Woah. It's hard to believe that I've been on this tiny island for 4 months already. The semester is more than half-way over. I gave my midterm a couple of weeks ago and reported my mid-semester grades. The averages in my classes were not too bad: 91%, 78%, and 76%. I only had to fail 2 students (one of whom has only shown up to my class a half-dozen times all semester).
I'm nervous about getting through all of the material we need to cover before the end of the semester (working on systems of equations right now), but I'm also glad that it's almost over. I'm looking forward to next semester, because it will give me a chance to start fresh. I'll have a little bit of teaching experience under my belt, so hopefully I won't make the same mistakes the second time around. I need to be stricter (HA) and I want to give more homework! Classroom management is the hardest part of the job for me, so next semester I want to hit the ground running and show these kids that I am not going to let them walk all over me. It's not like they do that now, but I don't really dole out a lot of punishment. They're good kids, but every so often I'll look up from my lecture and a third of the class is missing--where is everyone?! In the bathroom, standing outside, spitting betelnut in the trashcan, etc. I should just glue them to their chairs.
About three and a half weeks ago, I fell off a bike--came around a corner into oncoming traffic, swerved to avoid a car, hit the front brake, and BAM hit the pavement, over the handlebars. Actually, I know it was exactly three and a half weeks ago, because this is how long my arm has been hurting. I went to the doctor a couple of days after the accident and he told me I had a sprained bicep tendon. He gave me some muscle relaxants and antibiotics for my many scrapes (going to have some gnarly scars on my knees). However, my arm still hurts and I don't have full range of motion. Uh oh. It's probably time to go back to the doctor. I'm mildly handicapped without full use of my right arm, and I don't like it one bit. Writing on the chalkboard is still a bitch. My students got to make fun of my kindergarten-style left-handed handwriting for a couple of days.
I'm heading to the Village for brunch, but I will try my best to update my blog again before December!
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