Scratching the surface of the iceberg

Alisha, MaKayla, our principal Mr. Alamo, and I

Our incredible Walla Walla University GMM group

These last few days have been a crazy blur of faces, teaching information, and beaches.
Yesterday I sat in our Hawaiian host’s living room and enjoyed the breeze coming through the windows as Makayla played her ukulele and Alisha watched some of Tom Hanks’ spoofs and other random YouTube videos (Janice, I have fallen!). We were able to go the beach and enjoy the waves, and get sand everywhere and return to find ourselves plenty burnt. Since the plane only lands in Kosrae on Mondays and Fridays, we are still in Hawaii, and with the weather forecast, we aren’t sure how long we will be staying.

It’s old news, but there are three hurricanes headed our way. The weather announcers could tell you more than I could about them, but right now we are still planning to head to the airport at 4:30 a.m. to catch our flight to Kosrae (finally!). The weather today was interesting: for one hour the clouds would be dark and heavy, settling around the nearby mountains like a foreboding cloak of rain; but then the next hour the sky would clear up, the sun would shine through the humidity, and the clouds would be just a light dusting of white on the mountains.

I’m not too worried about the storms, but I just am hoping and praying that the airport will give our plane their blessing to leave. I can’t wait to get to Kosrae! I have said in the past how cool it would be to live on an island for a year, but I never really imagined that I would get the chance. So now, I’m just anxious to get to my island home…

The teacher’s orientation was busy and quite informative. We went to multiple meetings, listened to tons of last-minute advice, ate good food, and even had time to explore the island. We have had so much information thrown at us, but one of the teachers mentioned that what she was telling us was just scratching the tip of the surface of the iceberg. On Monday night, after eating supper at the Spaghetti Factory with the Walla Walla crew, a group of us went over to the beach to walk in the warm water and dig our toes into the sand. There was a small park with a couple banyan trees in it, which have thin aerial roots that seem to help the trunk hold up its massive tangle of leaves up top. Some of the branches hang down and we were able to pull out our Tarzan-moves and even climb a little ways up the trunk. I’m sorry climbing walls, but nature will always trump any of your hand-holds. There was so much that happened this last week, but I should keep these posts short and I still need to pack again for tomorrow. 

Thanks for your prayers, and here’s to good weather in the morning!

  

First time on a Hawaiian shore!

The National Memorial Cemetery

At Nu'uanu Pali Lookout: the windiest place in O'ahu