Oh, no....a fire!!!!! ...or is it?

Last week two of my boys started to rough house. Of course they were just playing around but I had to make them stop. I usually don't like to do this, but I had both of them find a corner in the classroom to occupy for a few minutes. One of them chose this corner. BIG MISTAKE! Not becuase it is by the fire alarm but because this kid can't stand still and had to move his arms all over the wall so that he could be moving in some way. He placed his hands firmly on the wall and stretched his arms above his head. As he couldn't stretch any further his hands began to creep back down. Of course, on his way down he grabbed the fire alarm and pulled it.

If you are thinking, "Why did you let him go to that corner?" The answer is that the fire alarm he pulled is part of our old system. I didn't even know it still worked. The "real" fire alarm is outside the classroom and you have to lift a plastic covering to pull it. After he pulled the alarm a deafening noise sounded. Oh, and during the time he was in the corner I was mostly faced away from him and I was teaching so I didn't notice where his hands were going. I know...my bad. Anyway, in my class we all knew he pulled it so the kids didn't know whether they were supppose to line up. I told them they needed to because in any case the fire alarm did go off.

As we were walking around the school I noticed that we were the only class to depart from the school. I thought this odd (at this point I thought since the alarm was going off in my room it should have sounded off in the other rooms as well) so we walked to the office where I informed the accountant that the alarm went off in my room. She was confused because I told her the alarm went off. "Shouldn't it already be off?" She asked in confusion. I then had to change my statement to, "The alarm in my classroom is on." ...English is such a complicated language. Anyway, she called the principal so he could shut it off.

We went back to the classroom where Mr. Youngberg came and stuck a piece of paper in the bell so it would stop the sound. While doing this he asked me who pulled the alarm. I told him and he said that person needed to go to the office. With head hung low, my student walked calmly to the office. I then talked to the students about the fire alarm....which they already knew but I had to talk to them again because of the incident. Then the principal came back in and told them the story of the little boy who cried wolf.

At 9:30 AM my little boy and the principal came back to the room where my little boy appologized to the class. Mr. Youngberg informed the class that my little boy would be suspended for the rest of the day. Later on I was informed that he had to write a letter to the fire department saying he was sorry.

In case you are still confused about some things (as was I) Mr. Youngberg told me that the alarm in my classroom, when pulled, goes off in two rooms. Mrs. Youngberg, the kinder teacher, was the other room but she was not in it at the time the alarm went off.

Well, lesson learned. Never stick a kid next to a fire alarm whether you think it is turned off or not! Also, I knew my kid was getting a lecture at home. Why do I know this?? His dad is the fire chief.

Help is on the way

For anyone who has children or for those who want them:
Parent Teacher Conferences are exhausting for the teacher! I didn't have any grouchy parents or anything like that, but today I was at school from 9:30-7:15 PM for PTC. All of my parents are happy and have no complaints...much to my relief. But I cannot imagine what PTC would be like if there were parents who complained and had nothing nice to say. Always remember to talk nicely to the teacher. It doesn't matter what you think happened or what didn't happen, act in a calm manner and hear the teachers side of the story. If you aren't nice to the teacher then your kids probably won't be either.

The Lord has been good to me. I am blessed with parents who are ready and willing to help. Almost all of my parents asked what they could do at home to help their child improve. This made me extremely happy becuase with parent involvement the students success will only rise. Also, a couple of weeks ago in my weekly letter home I asked parents to donate art supplies (I have nothing in my classroom for art except glue and construction paper). Today I had a parent donate a couple of bags of art supplies (pipe cleaners, little colorful balls, eyes, etc). Another parent the other day sent some construction paper in and told me they are going to the store soon to buy some more art supplies. I was WICKED excited about this! I had another parent say they would work on getting a white board for the classroom to replace the chalkboard!

Not only do I have the parents of my students helping me, but I also have home and school. One of the leaders (Patti) invited me and another teacher over for supper one night. She asked me what I would like in my classroom so that maybe home and school could help out. Well, I told her a couple of things, but something that is close to my heart is books. My classroom has around 50 books. She then told me of the previous teacher having around 500 books for the classroom! I told her I had no idea where they were but I would look. After asking around the principal told me that the teacher said she wasn't using them so she wanted them moved out of the classroom!!!!!!!! My mouth dropped and my eyes opened wide. I could not believe that this teacher had so many books but didn't want to use them and so decided to give them to the school library. While I can borrow books from the school library they are still not books for my room alone. Anyway, I told this to Patti and she said she was going to try and give some of AWR's (Adventist World Radio) books to a used books store where they would give her a credit and I could go and buy books for my classroom! I was thrilled to hear her say that. So, slowly but surely I am building the class library back up.

Beautiful.....just beautiful

Last Sunday a few girls and I were invited to a place called ABC. At ABC they have jet skis, paddle boats, a nice beach for swimming, dolphin tours, parasailing, and many more fun water activities. The reason we were invited was because there is a new girl who is working at the SDA Clinic until Christmas. They wanted her to be able to make friends while she is here and have fun, so they called us female teachers up. "They" being the owner of ABC. He told us we could do anything we wanted while we were there and they would provide lunch for us. We estimated that from the things we did we each saved about $100 each.



This is the first boat we got on which took us on a dolphin tour, snorkeling, and fishing.

Here are some of the beautiful fish we swam with. There were others that swam about five inches from the surface called needle fish. I tried to keep my distance from those because from the looks of them it would be very painful to accidentally bump into one of them.

This is the best shot I got of the dolphins. This is as far out of the water as they would come. It was really cool watching them swim around the boat though.

This is a banana boat that the three other girls went on. I rode one later in the day on a different boat.

Kalah is holding a sea cucumber. They certainly don't appeal to the eye and are gross to hold.

The four of us went on a paddle boat and this is the view of ABC from where we were in the ocean.

We didn't go on this, but it definately looked like it would be interesting to try out.

This is the bus we took to the boat where we went parasailing.

This is the boat we went on for parasailing. Also, this is the boat where I went on the banana boat. Sorry I don't have a picture of me parasailing. Another girl has it on her camera.

This past Sabbath I went hiking with a few people from the Church I am beginning to attend. We all had to duck to go under this part. Actually I scraped my shoulder a little on one part. It wasn't bad though.

Part of a hideout or something from WWII. I forgot what they said it was used for.

After climing a very steep hill which I almost slid down more than once, this is part of the view from the top. We weren't very high up, but it was cool to look down on everything. At the end of the bridge you see is what we call Fish Eye. No idea why it is called that, but it is where quite a few people go snorkel. Muscle man Zach is standing on the base where a gun was located during WWII.

This is the place the base for the gun is located. It's bigger than this but I couldn't get a decent shot.

These are a few of the people I went hiking with. The dad of the kids is taking the picture.

And that concludes my little adventures for the past couple of weeks. Hope you all enjoyed the show :)

The beauty of Guam at night

These are some pictures I took at the beach last night. The first two pictures are of the eclipse...it was so gorgeous. This was about 6:30-6:45pm but the moon didn't get really red until around 8pm. By then I was back at my house (mosquitoes were biting). This beach is only a few miles from my apartment and it's wonderful to walk on. If any of you are jealous then feel free to buy a ticket to Guam :)

Mrs. Luke!

GAA (Guam Adventist Academy) has decided to visit all of the churches on Guam and be a part of the service to show we support all of the churches. We are also trying to get more students so we are asking for their support as well. Anyway, two weeks ago we went to the church across the street from my apartment. I wasn't to do anything for this service, however, all of the teachers were introduced to the church. When our name was called we stood up and gave a little wave. Well, there was someone in the congregation who recognized me. No, it wasn't the woman in the picture...it was her daughter. Immediately when this girl saw me she turned to her mother and said, "Mom, isn't that the teacher you worked with?" Her mother then looked at me and said, "Oh, yes it is!" So the end of the service comes and I look around at the people walking out of church when I spot the lady who I worked with in Chuuk! She was my translator in the classroom. I walked over to her and she gave me a big hug. We talked a little bit and come to find out she had been in Guam for the past 4 months, but unfortunately was leaving the next day. I honestly never thought I would see her again so it was really exciting that we just happened to be at the same church (there are seven in Guam). God gives us many blessings everyday, and for me seeing Mrs. Luke was the blessing given to me that day.


The principal and his wife took a couple of us around half of the island last Sabbath and these are some pictures from that little adventure :)

This is actually part of some beautiful scenery that I see everyday on the way to and from work. Rain or shine it never fails to make me smile!

This is a Carabou

From WWII

1 day down, 181 to go

(Ignore the messy desk) ;)

Today was the first day of school. I thought I was only having 9 students but ended up with 14, although one of my students is only staying for two weeks. Three of my students didn't show up today and one slept through the last two hours of the school day. Other than that everything seems to be going well. Enrollment is still down but the students are slowly coming in.

I really thank God for the way He has blessed me. I was listening to the radio today and they had My Story Hour on and the story was about two people becoming missionaries. At first they weren't sure that they were being called but decided to follow the path anyway. Later on they knew that it was the way God wanted them to go. I feel the same way. At first, I wasn't sure that this was the path God was leading me to...now I am sure of it. I just had to take that "little" leap of faith first.

Guam Adventist Academy!

Well folks, this is the place in which I am going to be spending many, many, many, many, many hours. I'll show pictures of the lobby and hallways later. The reason I want to show you them is because I have not seen another school with structure like this one. Maybe some of you have and you can share some experiences...but that is for another time. :)

So far everyone has been really nice and helpful. The principal's wife is the pre-k/kinder teacher and her classroom is right next to mine. She is really the only person I talk to right now although yesterday I visited another teacher who lives next to me. She was feeling sick so I thought I would ask if there was anything she needed and we ended up talking for awhile which was very nice. I had never been in her apartment before so I was shocked when I saw that it is probably more than 3 times bigger than mine, and she is living alone as well! I am actually glad that I don't have that big place because that means more cleaning :)

Today one of the staff members, Jesse sent a high school student to my classroom to help me set up. Then after that person left Jesse told me he had someone else lined up for tomorrow to come and help!! I am truly thankful becuase I have a lot to do! I know that God is looking out for me and He is putting people in my way to help with those "little things".

Home Sweet Home...for now

Well, this is the outside of my apartment in Agana Heights, Guam. The door and two lower windows are mine. I arrived from Hawaii on Thursday (Wednesday for you--just remember that I am 15 hours ahead of you).

Everything has gone well so far. The principal of Guam Adventist Academy, where I will be teaching 1st and 2nd grade, took myself and another missionary out to get a few things we needed for our apartments. I have this apartment by myself which I really don't mind. Until school starts I am going to be a bit lonely (like right now) but I know as soon as school starts I am going to be too busy to think about it. The island hasn't been very hot over the past few days. I think it has been in the 80s so far but I know better than to think that is how it will always be. I have AC in my place but I don't run it very often because I have to pay part of the electric bill and I want to get more used to the heat so I will be able to stand it more. I know what you are thinking, "Kim, you are crazy." My answer to that is simple, "Did you expect anything less??"

I know that people are praying for me and I am truly thankful for that. If it weren't for God I most certainly wouldn't be out here, so I know He will never abandon me. Right now I do feel a bit lonely...you all know I am a social butterfly....but I think that God is trying to tell me that it is ok to be "alone" right now. This is my time to connect more to Him.