The Homestead

I've been busy these last few weeks, lots of sakau, a birthday party, helping to carpenter windows for a house, some trips into town which have been really nice as well. Life on the island is good, it's relaxed and enjoyable. We have had a chaotic school school schedule. There are lots of holidays in November which makes for short weeks, which is both a blessing and a curse. It makes it difficult to have solid lessons week to week and day to day, but its nice because of time off and time to just get to know folks and enjoy life.
My teaching is getting better, I have resolved to be more structured and disciplined in my classroom (imagine me saying this), which has helped to improve my classes behaviors. I have a mixed bag of students which makes teaching difficult, should I be focusing on the better students who have more chance(s) of passing the College of Micronesia entrance exam, or trying to be more broad to reach more students...? It is a constant battle of how to teach in this situation. Today, I talked about the U.S. election and gave a brief overview, it's amazing how little many of my students know about the U.S. given the relationship between the FSM and US governments. Many are fairly aware of the "historical significance" of a black man being elected to the U.S. presidency and they have some interesting takes on the whole thing. Many people also have interesting views on race and color as well, it makes for some lively interactions. I am slowly learning to not necessarily hold back or lighten up my opinions of world affairs and the U.S. government as well.
These pictures are of the campus where my house is located. It's an old technical/vocational high school which has been closed for at least a few years, but the grounds are really nice and well kept. It sort of makes up for the lack of any kind of space in our house. On the space note, I rearranged our "kitchen" last week which opened it up a bit and made for some improved feng shui in the place which is good. I still struggle with the lack of space though. I am still attempting to purchase a vehicle as well and have found some possibilities, although once I do it, I'll have to be uber cautious with money here. It a trade off I think I willing to take though.

One of the views from a bench near our house

One of the empty buildings near our house

View from in front of the large building above