Friday, November 26, 2010

A Tropical Thanksgiving






Grant and I are so blessed that we had 2 Thanksgiving dinners this week. One for our bible study that we go to weekly and we were invited to our friend Laura's parents house for Thanksgiving. It was a great week of food and friends. I made my mom's meatball recipe since we needed to bring something that reminded us of home and meatballs are it. They were a hit with none left over and I have had requests for me to make them again. At Thanksgiving we had to mention what we were thankful for and I said that I am thankful for my husband Grant since he is the one who encouraged me to go to Saipan which has been a wonderful experience. Grant is thankful for how good God is.
We spent Thanksgiving talking with friends, eating lots of food, walking around their garden, watching a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving and playing games. Grant and I miss our families back home a lot, but are so thankful that we have good friends here to celebrate the holiday with!
Kara

November Update








This month has been a busy hiking month for us and we have gone on quite a few hikes. Today we ended up on 2 hikes in one day. It is a good time of exploring and seeing new sides of the island.
We have had many fun times with friends and often go to each others houses for dinner and to hang out.
This month I got the opportunity to go Stamping again and enjoyed making Christmas
Cards. I also went to a baby shower for my friend Sarah who is expecting a boy in January.
We feel more at home here all the time and are so glad for so many people in our lives.

Grant's 26th Birthday!




So much has been going on this month and we continually thank God for all the blessings he has shown us. First of all November 11th was Grant's birthday! We had a great day at Managaha (which is an island off of Saipan). We spent the day snorkeling with friends and then at night I took him to Tony Roma's where he got to order ribs and the restaurant sang to him and gave him free dessert. For his birthday I ordered him a head lamp and Iron Man 2. We watched Iron Man 2 that night. It was a great day of celebrating! Love you Grant!
-Kara-

Saipan Update & Dark Man Movie Review

Hi family and friends. So, in the last update I promised I would write a mini-review of the movie “Dark Man” (an early Liam Neeson film). The film was made in 1990 and by made, I mean cheaply. The opening scene in the movie is of two rival gangs meeting in warehouse. One gang has more members than the other and should be the obvious victor, but it turns into a blood bath as machine guns are brought out. This scene is hilarious because cars start appearing out of large crates in the warehouse, a man pulls off a fake leg to reveal a hidden machine gun in a move reminiscent of Quentin Terentino, and the infamous cigar cutter intimidation is brought out as the other gang’s boss loses his fingers. That was just the opening scene! The looks each actor gave during the confrontation were, to put it frankly, on par with a poorly done spaghetti western film. The next thing that happens is Liam Neeson’s character, who is a scientist trying to develop artificial skin, has an attempt on his life made by the crime boss and his hooligans. The attempt on his life reminds me of three movies: Ninja Turtles, Batman, and Phantom of the Opera. It reminds me of Ninja turtles and Batman because Liam Neeson’s character gets blown up and his face/body is deformed both by the experiment he was working on and the explosion in his lab similar to the disfigurement that the Joker and Shredder received. The funny part about this attempt on his life is that the “supposed” corpse is thrown from his lab by the explosion but in the movie it looks like a flying dummy in flames as it hits the harbor water nearby; the special effects could not be any cornier. The tie to the Phantom of the Opera is that the main character has a girl friend who after finding out that her love is still alive, wants him to understand that she would be there for him and would have understood. I will let you watch the movie to figure out how the romance ends. Oh, and the reason the movie is called “Dark Man” is because Liam Neeson’s character uses his formula for artificial skin to make masks that allow him to look like anybody, but the skin breaks down after a certain period of time and can only be formed in a lab that is in the dark due to the compounds used. The superhuman power the character Dark Man has is that because of his burns he can display super human strength when angered. The movie was made to be serious but due to the acting involved, the film’s budget, and the special effects it will do nothing but make you laugh.
Now about Saipan… Well I don’t have a whole lot to mention, however, I can tell you of a funny game I overhear my students playing in study hall that reminds me of their maturity level. The game is one based on “repeat after me.” In the game the student 1 will say something and their peer (student 2) must say whatever phrase student 1 told them to say. One I overheard the other day was as follows:
Student 1: Ok, you must say whatever I say regardless of what I say. The phrase you must say whenever I am done speaking is “I’m a man.”
Student 2: ok (giggle)
Student 1: You were invited to a party the other night.
Student 2: I’m a man.
Student 1: You went to play Halo with the guys because…
Student 2: I’m a man.
Student 1: You saw a beautiful woman there who you began to hit on because…
Student 2: I’m a man.
Student 1: Until she came up behind you and whispered in your ear…
Student 2: I’m a man.
Student 1 and 2: laughter, laughter, laughter


I hope you enjoyed the blog and that it made you laugh.
That is all for now, good night! Grant

Monday, November 15, 2010

Saipan Update






It has been a while since I have blogged and sadly I have misplaced the list I had made of things I wanted to blog about, so you will have to put up with my scattered thoughts and the tid bits I remember. First, about a month ago our S.C.S. Volleyball Team won the junior high championship, which is a feat they had not achieved in some time. Fortunately, all the new teachers were able to attend the championship game and enjoy the sweetness that comes from a win. This is old news, but alas I have not shared it anyway.
Second, the pictures I have attached for this blog entry are of my students and their mini-marsh mellow creations that they made during their Merit Party. At our school students are rewarded with a merit party each quarter, if they have less than 2 tardies, no missing assignments, no behavior slips, and no detentions. The most coveted of merit parties is the third quarter, which has not happened yet as we are currently in the 6th week of the second quarter. I suggested the marsh mellow creations as part of their fun. I would have used “Dots” candy, but I didn’t find any the night before and they would have been more expensive. My fellow homeroom teacher, Ms. Nierras , ran most of the afternoon, but we shared our ideas and had a great time with the students, while those who didn’t earn merit party were outside in the hot sun cleaning up the campus of litter and twigs.
Third, I finished the book Born Again by: Charles W. Colson. For those of you who have not read the book, Chuck Colson was President Nixon’s right hand man during the Watergate scandal even though as the book explains, he was not the main person responsible for the break in. The book is the personal testimony of Chuck Colson and his coming to a “personal” relationship with Christ. If you ever want to know more about it you can ask me by e-mail or Facebook message. The first thing I took away from the book was that pride can be at the heart of so many evils in the world and can creep into a person so slyly that it remains unnoticed until the poop hits the fan and the world a person thinks they know decays around them. Secondly, I learned how important it is to rely on the wisdom of those in the faith you have surrounded yourself with, even if those people had once been your political enemy in Christ Jesus they can become your brother. I was encouraged by Colson’s willingness to take advice from his new found Christian brothers in government when he was in the heat of persecution. The story was truly amazing and I would recommend it to anyone who likes Christian non-fiction and doesn’t mind large words and a little political rhetoric mixed in.
Lastly, some random things I discovered were the fact that mixing Kraft Mexican style Cheese (the kind with taco seasoning, not jalapeƱo flavor), you know, the blue 8oz bags you can find at the grocery store? Well, if you mix that in tomato soup it kind of begins to taste like pizza if you crunch up some crackers and put that type of cheese in the soup. It tasted pretty good. The next book I am about to start is the classic American novel The Deerslayer. I will let you know what I think of it when I finish a month or two from now haha. I was going to give a humorous movie review of the early Liam Neeson film “Dark Man” but I am afraid that will have to wait as I have already written too much, perhaps I will blog about that tomorrow or on the weekend. Needless to say the movie was hilarious and cheaply made. I hope you enjoy our blog! Sincerely, Grant

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Halloween Party!






Hi Everyone~
I have felt the need to blog more so that way I can keep you all updated and for me it is a good time of reflection.
This past weekend we had 2 parties at our house, the first was Rachel's birthday and the second was our Halloween Party. I find it funny that we had a Halloween party this year, because we had one last year and I just did not think we would have a group of friends this fast. God has definitely blessed us with friends which most of them are couples which has been a new exciting dynamic to have.
My friend suggested that we have a party so we did. It was a hit. We had people dressing up, we ate a dinner of sloppy joes, and watched a scary movie. I have to admit that scary movies make me nervous so I had to sit by Grant and hold his hand:0
Enjoy the pics!
Last saturday I went to lao lao bay resort pool again with the Stone Family, Amanda and Anna, and the Slaugbaughs. It was a relaxing afternoon by the pool, cant go wrong there.
This week was a fast week and it was a hard one for a lot of people in our school since lots of sickness has been going around. Grant has had a fever and has not been 100% this week so we are hoping he can rest more this weekend. I have felt as though I am becoming a better teacher each week and feel more comfortable teaching everyday. I am tougher on my kids and they know it. I always tell them if you work hard it means we can have some fun later which I stick too.
I have been enjoying bible study, tennis, and dance class as my usual weekly routine. This dance class week we reviewed the steps from the previous weeks and I felt as though I knew a lot of the moves and had a ton of fun.
I am excited about the weekend to rest, go out to eat, and spend time with Grant.
Miss you all!
Kara