Hiking, Teaching and everything in Between

Hi Everyone,
It has been a couple weeks since I, Kara, have blogged so I thought I would update you all. 2 weekends ago we went on a hike to Bird Island which is a nature preserve area. I had no idea that you could go on a hike there since it is protected, but a girl that has lived here for awhile showed us the way. We met a couple through the church, Brian and Rachel and then Jen from church came too and we spent the day hiking. The best part about hiking in Saipan is you always end up getting to go swimming. We hiked down to the bottom and there were parts that we held onto a rope while slipping in the mud. At the bottom you can see a beautiful view of bird island which you can not see from where the tourist section is. We went climbing around and then started snorkeling. We ended up seeing a shark in the water, it was a small one and harmless to us, but so neat to see. It was great getting to see some beautiful fish too. We had a lot of fun that day. Then at night we went to a housewarming party for people from the church. They just bought a house and we wanted to get to know more people in the church so we went. It was a fun night of talking and playing with their puppies. The puppies are "booney" puppies which means that they were found and nobody wanted them.
This past week of school has been a lot of parent conferences due to progress reports. You definitely see parents true colors when you meet them for a conference. I had some good ones and bad ones and some in between. It was stressful though knowing I would have to be prepared daily for what they could say. Nevertheless I have learned a lot and it has made me even better with conflict. I do have grace with my 1st graders and I accept late work so that way they can practice what they need to for the test.
This past weekend we went out to dinner at an italian place called Shenanigans. It was pretty good and then we went to the I Love Saipan store and were tourists for the night. It was fun buying souvenirs and talking about presents we should get later on for family and friends. Then since I have netflix now I invited the girl teachers Anna and Amanda over for a movie night, The Back Up Plan which I had already seen, but enjoy it!
Then on saturday grant and i had a date for the day and we went to wing beach where we snorkeled around. You can go right up to the reef and snorkel so it is pretty easy to do. We saw some huge fish and just enjoyed each others company. Then at night we went to Solomon and Jill's house to get to know them better and had fun talking to them. Then Jill said that she was having contractions and needed to go the hospital. I had told her awhile ago that I love to babysit and could sometime. I had no idea it would be right then:) So Grant and said yes to staying with their two boys and their puppies and had no idea how long the night would be. I fell asleep after watching the puppies and then Grant stayed up till 2:30 when Solomon came back. The baby was a healthy one and they named him Niko Takota. So now they have 3 boys. They were really appreciative of us staying and we really did not mind it at all and had some fun while we were there. We wanted to show them what being a Christian is all about and that is helping others when they are in need.
Yesterday was sunday and I chatted with my family in the morning which was so nice. It was a Husker day and so we chatted after the game. It was funny to see myself on the big screen. Having skype is so nice, because you feel as though you can still see your loved ones. Then we went to church and then to Bobby Cadillac's which is a pizza place in town. I invited some new friends of ours and had a great time there. I had not gone out for pizza since I have been here so it was about time. Then we headed to the beach with some friends and just chilled out in the water.
School and teaching has been getting easier and I have a new system of discipline where if a student talks they go stand by the wall. It is working like magic and I am able to get through the material with less interruptions. They still are only 5-6 so it is not perfect, but a lot better. I am so glad to be making new friends and seeing more of the island every week. It is a tiny island and we get to go for free since we have local ids. I also am enjoying going to bible studies here and getting to know more people in the church.This next weekend we are going to Managaha which is an island off of Saipan.So more to come then.

PICTURES

Here we are again; it is time for our 9th real blog since being on the island. Kara told you the basics of what happened Labor Day weekend but here are some new pictures to look at and some new random information. One picture is of a large toad that likes to hop up to the first landing on the stairs leading to our apartment, we have so named him “Fred.”
Here at SCS we have to put up with two driers that do not dry very well and so I had to become creative for my wife’s sanity. I went to ACE and decided to follow Red Green’s motto of, “If they don’t find you handsome they should at least find you handy.” I found some screws with closed circle ends and screwed them by hand into the wall. I then tied white marine thread to the circle ends and the other end around the closet beam in our spare bedroom. I created 5 of these lines and proceeded to hang all the clothes for my wife who was about to break down after trying to dry them twice. Needless to say I felt much accomplished and handy. The only thing lacking was duct tape.
Another picture is of a sign at the market that in my opinion symbolizes why English teachers are needed on this particular island and indeed the world at large. I hope you enjoy finding the grammatical error.
While my parents enjoyed going to the Minnesota State Fair this Labor Day Weekend, I felt I needed to experience something “state fair (ish)” but Saipan style. So, while at the market, I decided to try “Squid on a Stick.” I have had squid before while I was on a Fifield family trip to New York’s, China Town, but Squid on a stick is a little different than what I experienced in China Town. Needless to say it was salty, but there was a strange sweet/sour taste about this salty sea creature on a stick. If you every go to Saipan I recommend trying it at least once.
The final picture of this blog post is of counselors from another school that we met while attending church. We plan on hanging out and getting to know them all more this Saturday and possibly throughout the school year. The public schools are just now starting up on Saipan so many of them are returning to the island or like these counselors are new. Some of the teachers have lived in other Asian countries like China and Taiwan etc…and are very cultured and interesting to talk to. In Saipan, you only need a bachelor’s degree to become a counselor in the public school system and the bachelor’s degree does not have to be in psychology! So, if you have a bachelor’s degree and would like to counsel kids check out some of the public and private schools in Saipan. They also need many public high school teachers. The pay is good at about $30,000 a year or more depending on years of experience and future plans. Renting an apartment on the island only costs $300-500 depending on how ritzy you want to go, sometimes you can rent a house for that much.
I hope you enjoy the pictures and more information about Saipan! Have a good night, or rather good morning! Sincerely, Grant

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

Dragon Fruit

Mid terms for the first 4 weeks are nearly here for teachers at Saipan Community School and things are not looking good for many of the junior high students as many of them are failing. I am not worried about this because the students need a wakeup call and at SCS parents and students come in to talk about mid terms with the teacher if they are failing. I look forward to talking with parents and letting them know how their children are doing. Students are failing in both Science & Math and Language Arts it is a problem across the board. Then again, failing at SCS is not like failing at the public schools on the island because the grading scale is 94-96% is an A-. It is a way to distinguish the school from others in the area. So, failing at SCS may be like getting a D or C for some students on the mainland. I will keep you posted as to what I have to do for this mid-term in order to help my students. I will be working over the weekend to finish getting everything graded and percentages figured, double figured, maybe even triple figured (I am an English teacher, not a math major).
As I write this blog Kara is watching the movie “The Proposal” with two other female teachers and having a good bonding time as often happens on the weekends. We just got back from eating at “Shirley’s Coffee House” (the diner is the one I mentioned in a previous blog as being like an oriental Perkins restaurant) it was a good way to relax on our Friday evening. Since I am writing about eating I should share my experience with having eaten “Dragon Fruit.” It was presented to us one morning during a teacher’s meeting and I knew I would have to try because it looked so exotic. It has a strange exterior with ridges that look like scales on a dragon. The inside is purple with little black seeds that resemble those inside a kiwi. In all honesty, the fruit tastes very similar to a kiwi. This particular dragon fruit was a little bland, but it was still tasty. If the fruit were a little less ripe it may have tasted better.
Another thing relating to food is our plan for Monday. The principal invited all the teachers to his house for a Labor Day grilled chicken barbecue. We are not sure how we are going to get there yet as the repairs on the car we are buying have not been completed. I’m sure it will be fun, but like all business related lunch outings I feel somewhat apprehensive about going as one feels obligated to go and perhaps nervous too. It will be nice to have another day to grade and finish midterm reports as we have to do all of them by hand because the school does not have a DDN campus like many public schools on the mainland. In a way it is good for me because I feel more like a teacher keeping a hard copy and figuring out percentages.
I guess that is all I have to say for now; I hope the reading was good and entertaining.
Grant Out