Teaching, Swimming, and Loving....

Hey Everyone,

It has been a long time since I have blogged so I thought this would be a good time to catch you all up on what is going on in Saipan. Well this being the 4th week has been the best week of teaching for me so far. The kids are learning more each day and are starting to understand following directions. I am also becoming more comfortable in the classroom. I actually really enjoy teaching math more than I thought I would. One of the main reasons is math is universal across cultures and it is easy to teach my students who do not know English very well. This upcoming week is progress reports so it will be a good time to let the parents know how the students are doing. My biggest problem with some of the students is they do not turn in work so I need to let their parents know that this is a problem. It makes me sad that some 1st graders already do not care about school. I asked a student to finish his worksheet and he said he did not care and I said I would take off points and still nothing from him. Since I only had a week to prepare for the school year my classroom is still not as organized as I would have liked so I spent time on Friday cleaning out the junk from previous years to make room for my new stuff. It was refreshing to have everything the way I like it and I have some ideas to make the room more space efficient. Once we get cubbies for the kids it will help with the organization.
One of my students’ last days was on Friday due to financial reasons. As I was saying goodbye to her I realized how sad I was and how much I would miss having her in my class. I am starting to realize how much I love these children and how hard it will be at the end of the year to say goodbye. So right now I have 22 students.
This week it rained a lot so I spent a lot of time grading which has been good. It has been good to grade with Grant to be able to share in it together. I finally understand him after all of these years when he was a teacher. I had no idea the time it takes to grade until I have started. 1st grade is not hard to grade it is just a lot of busywork and making sure they understand concepts. My mom sent me a package in the mail with stickers and the kids love stickers and will do anything for a sticker so I use them for rewards.
This week Grant and I went swimming a few times when the weather was nice. We found a new beach that is nicer than the one by our house so we go there now. One day that we went he found a fish in his shorts and when he tried to take it out he killed it by accident. It was crazy to see the school of fish swarm around us and they were bumping into us right and left.
This week I also went to bible study on Wednesday which I have been going to since the beginning of the year. I enjoy bible study a lot. It is a woman’s bible study at a woman’s house from the church. It is a good time of sharing in fellowship with other woman and learning more about how Jesus made woman especially for His plans. Last week I volunteered to lead and it went well. The conversations were deep and everyone shared. I was glad to have been able to step outside of my comfort zone and lead. So yes I did not think I would enjoy woman’s bible study since I had never been to a woman’s bible study before, but it has been a great way to get to know new people.
This weekend being Labor Day weekend has been exciting. On Friday I went grocery shopping with girls that I work with and then we went to Shirley’s diner for dinner, which is becoming a favorite place for us to go. Then we had a girl night where we watched the Proposal. Saturday Grant and I went to Oleai’s which is our favorite restaurant and they have 1 dollar tacos on Saturday. we were informed that they are now 1.50 tacos, we were surprised, but they are still cheap. From there we found out that our car was done in the shop and so we went to go pick it up. We bought our car from a lady from the church. after that we took a drive around and went to the store. It is so much easier going to the store with a car than having to carry everything.  Having a car will be so nice on the island, because we will not have to walk everywhere and are now able to see more of the island without having to wait for other people.
I made Mexican rollups for the potluck dinner at a couple from church’s house for Saturday night. They were a big hit. It was fun getting to hang out with the other teachers and get to know people from the church. There was a baby there and I had to hold him, I miss being around babies. So cute. The couple are missionaries who run a radio station called Far East Broadcasting and they broadcast Christian music all over the world so it was neat getting to see the radio station and to learn more about their mission. We spent the rest of the night playing ping-pong so fun.
I am sad to be missing the opening game of the Huskers but know that my family will keep me well-informed of the season.
On the ride home last night us teachers talked about how much we gave up to come here and how it just feels like a dream sometime. It was good to have someone understand what we went through. It was interesting to hear them talk though because they only had a month to get ready where Grant and I had 6 months. I have and will miss weddings that I was supposed to be in. That is hard for me, because I love to be there for people and these are very good friends of mine. I told them in enough time, but it still makes me sad that I am missing their big day. It was also hard to leave Sioux Falls since I felt as though I had a good community there and had met a lot of new people who had become close right before I left. It was also hard to leave my family knowing that I would miss out on family events and holidays. So what I am trying to say is that we gave up a lot to come here but we know that God has us here for a reason. I love my job which I have not loved any job this much yet. I love looking out to those kids and just seeing how diverse they are and how I am changing and molding them for the future. I also love the new experiences that Grant and I are having together. It is so nice to be able to share this with my best friend. I also love meeting new people and having new experiences with them.
I do miss Target, Perkins, malls, Juice Stop, road trips, big grocery stores, and just the convenience of the states, but it I am learning to be more patient and to go with the flow. My life here is way simpler and I am glad for it. So, yes, I have been homesick recently, but have been getting through it by putting myself more and more into the community here in Saipan and just taking everything in. I have also thought I would have a lot more friends than I do right now, but I know it takes time and people here come and go constantly so it will take awhile to get to know more people.
I have also been thinking about traveling and how I am excited to travel sometime during one of our breaks. I never thought that I would be over on this side of the world again and am excited to see more of it. I do laugh though because Grant and I looked to see what was close to us and we laughed because besides Guam we are in the middle of nowhere. I have a list started of places to see sometime which include Bali, Singapore, Japan, Fiji, and I would love to take Grant to Australia. We shall see.
Miss you all, and hope you all are doing well.

Love,

Kara