1st time Spear fishing

It has been a few days and it is time to blog again in my spare time. Here is an update as to how school is going. School has been going fairly well as the kids are very respectful, even when they do not understand a concept in English. The only outburst I have had from the 6-8th grade is an 8th grader who wanted to be funny by turning his book upside down while we were going around the class reading. Having grown a thick skin, from teaching high school English, I knew what to do and required the student to read the whole chapter while standing in front of his peers in the front of the classroom. Since he didn’t finish he had to do it the next day. I believe this taught the class how to show proper respect. That really has been the extent of any trouble in the classroom. I think my favorite grade to teach at the moment is 6th grade because they are so funny and also enthusiastic about anything and everything. I feel as though this year will go by fairly fast (as it always does) and that we will have to decide whether we want to stay another year or not. As for other news, on Saturday of this weekend, I and three other teachers went spear fishing.
One of the teachers (Jake) has lived on the island for at least 3 years now and is fairly adept at spear fishing and was generous enough to take us on an outing. I am not sure yet whether or not I enjoy spear fishing. I need to have more practice reloading a large 2 band, Risse, spear gun in the water and get more practice diving before I can really feel comfortable doing it. I was thankful that Jake was willing to take us out on his Saturday off and help teach us about the sport. Some things that made spear fishing un-enjoyable for me were factors I couldn’t change such as: fins Jake let me use that were too small for me (since I didn’t have my own) and caused an open blister on my right big toe, not knowing how to reload and dive well, and getting a cramp in my left calf muscle (while in the water). One of the 4 of us was successful in shooting a dinky little black fish, but hey, at least we got some good experience. I believe that if I had the right equipment and more practice perhaps it could be a lot of fun. If I had the right equipment such as proper flippers, better goggles/snorkel, and easy reload spear gun, it could be a ton of fun. For the easy reloading spear guns Jake had made pads for his chest out of old sandals. He poked holes through them and tied plastic fishing line loops through the holes. This allowed the divers to put the butt of the gun against their chest while they pulled the rubber bands back to their lock position in order to fire. Without the pads it is easy to bruise as I have a small dot on my chest from one such attempt. In order to keep our goggles from fogging we rubbed a speck of gel toothpaste on the inside of our goggles (it just works, said Jake). I may invest in a JBL spear gun and new flippers etc… if Kara and I stay for another year and give it another go.
I guess that is all I have to say for now, but I will keep you posted as usual. Goodnight. Grant.