Guess whose back? Back again? Yeah, I’ve been really
slacking on posting anything the past few months. I also have to be mind--- er
conscious not to type anything that is a letter next to G on the keyboard. The
humidity has taken my computer as a casualty, but it hasn’t taken me. Sure, my
AC is broken and I am merely kept cool by two fans oscillating at different
speeds.
A bigger casualty was my classroom. I can’t use it. You see,
a Japanese Sports Complex is being built (although they haven’t actually done
any of the construction yet) and has forced my school, Life Skills Academy to occupy the Middle School from the late afternoon to early night—I
jokingly said it was Twilight, and sure enough, my principal uses the word in
an assembly as if I were being serious. The whole transition has been hectic to
say the least. I was very adamant about not teaching during the night. My
original schedule had me teaching until 7:30 but was thankfully as my field
director, Erin, was able to work her magic and move me to earlier classes in
the day. The drawback, however, is that I am teaching under a tent. Not too
many people are ever able to say that!
Tent-life, in addition, to dorm life was going smoothly.
Sure, students got distracted by cars and other passersby, but that was to be
expected. Sure wind kept blowing my teaching materials in every which way, but
that was to be expected. I was going to make the most of it, no matter what.
And I did, at least for a while. I’ve been trying to be more engaging with
students by doing more activities. I developed (in my opinion) a pretty cool
card game that taught students how to use conjunctions and make compound
sentences. I compared independent clauses and dependent clauses to the
relationship of Homer and Marge. Ofcourse, none of the students knew The
Simpsons, so I did my best to make myself animated by doing my best “MMMMM,
donut impression”. I also sang the directions to my students in a very
impromptu manner when I heard one of my students humming in the background.
Then one day, the fucking tent fell down. I couldn’t believe
it. This was my life now. I was in a situation where the place I needed to have
an immersive classroom environment could go blowing away any minute. The tent
reassembly took over a period to do, and I was very chagrined that many of the
LSA students were playing volleyball instead of giving a hand. That’s when I
channeled my inner Frankie Muniz and unleashed the most volatile vitriolic rant
I have ever done in my life. I don’t think I could have watched enough episodes
of Malcolm in the Middle or Arrested Development to prepare me for the sheer
helplessness of being the most levelheaded person that has to pick up the
pieces for everyone else.
But maybe that’s my problem? I’m just basing everything off
my own standard of living in America rather than taking the time to slow down
and figure out everything. That’s what I need to do and maybe take a minute to
learn a thing or two here rather than just harkening back to what I know. The
reason there are volunteers is undoubtedly to improve upon a system. But that
doesn’t mean you can’t learn a thing or two to add to your repertoire. I’m
almost halfway done and I think it’s time to stop indulging on the proverbial “adjustment
period” and instead take advantage of more things. Meet new people. Learn more
Marshallese. Go snorkeling. I’ve been running more, and I feel that’s steadily
improved other areas since being here. As Dori from finding Nemo said, “Just
keep swimming, Just keep swimming”.
