Week 33: Hoards of Food (Nov 21-27)

Yikes, a lot of food was consumed by me this week. I think I set a record for the number of Thanksgiving meals I have personally eaten. By the time the week was over I had downed 4 delicious dinners fully of yummy morsels.
Dinner 1: It all began with the Third Grade International Tasting Party on Wednesday. We had 23 dishes from countries around the world that included perogies, cheese curds, and coconut rice balls (my favorite!).
Dinner 2: On Thursday, I was invited to a Thanksgiving Feast fit for a King. It was in the backyard of someones home and even though it was raining it was quite to wonderful traditional Thanksgiving full of turkey, mashed potatoes and more.
Dinner 3: PDR on Friday (Kwaj Thanksgiving Day)- Every year I look forward to Thanksgiving with my Kwaj friends. We all crowd around tables at the chow hall and gorge on some of the best food the dining hall prepares all year long. There is copious amounts of consumption of turkey, crab legs and delicious desserts to tempt the pallet.
Dinner 4: Cafe Roi on Friday - For my second Thanksgiving Day meal, I dined at the chow hall on Roi with Kwaj friends and the boy, FS. I was full and really didn't need anymore food, but once I tasted the yummy sweet potatoes, I couldn't stop. They were AMAZINGLY delicious and I think I may have gone back for 3rds on them.
I think I spent the rest of the weekend eating pretty much nothing since I was stuffed to the brim and sleeping off a food hangover. Good thing Thanksgiving comes around only 1X a year!

Week 32: Hoards of Glass (November 14-20)

Over the past two years I have amassed a collection of beach glass in all colors, shapes and sizes. It has been sitting on the shelf in pretty clear containers just collecting dust and I have always wanted to do something with it, but just wasn't sure what to do. Well, a couple weeks ago there was a Craft Fair here on island and I fell in love with a couple pieces of framed artwork that were created from beach glass and pottery. I inquired about purchasing one, only to find out that it wasn't for sale. Even though I am a little lacking in my creative abilities, I decided that I could make my own version of it. For the last week I have had glass spread out on my coffee table being sorted and manipulated. After several sessions of changing pieces in and out and deciding what looked best, I was happy. Over the weekend I put together 4.5 framed pieces of artwork (one needs some more glass to finish).

In Kwaj style, there are no shadowboxes around so I purchased some inexpensive picture frames at the PX and made my own shadowboxes with duct tape(silver since there is no black to be found!) to hold everything together. I will be sending these to family as Christmas Gifts and I hope that they understand that I have limited resources and did the best I could:)

The first finished piece. It will be going to my parents.

My second piece, it will be going to my brother and sis-in-law. I had fun with this one and FS was great as he helped me find the best pieces with just the right color.

This will be going to my other bro and sis-in-law.

I was just playing with glass (maybe my new favorite evening activity) and this just sort of appeared in the pieces. It will be going to FS this weekend as a Thanksgiving gift.

This is a work in progress. All the rest are 5x7 and this one is 8x10. It needs more glass and will hang on my wall when complete.

My duct tape shadowboxes. Not the prettiest back, but it works!

I am excited to go to Roi this weekend and get my beach glass hunt on! Hopefully there will be lots of glass to be had and great memories with friends.

Tough Stuff

So it has been a rough day for me. At lunch it was starting to rain and I stopped by my BQ to pick up a jacket before I headed back to work and saw my answering machine light flashing. I took a quick listen and it was my dad asking me to call him. I knew instantly that something was wrong and that I needed to talk to him sooner rather than later. I called him when I got to work and found out the news we had all been waiting on; the biopsy he had about 2 weeks ago confirmed prostate cancer. It was caught early, which is good, but I am still just numb from it all and can't seem to stop crying. Needless to say it has been a rough day and I am looking forward to talking to my parents again tomorrow. Being out here is so hard because I want to be there with them and hug them and know that everything is going to be okay, but instead I am thousands of miles away praying for them and waiting for news as it comes.

Week 31: Horrible looking deliciousness (Nov. 7-13)

I am not much for scary movies, in fact I flinch at previews of scary movies, but I was willing to give one a go to spend time with friends. A friend recently received his copy of The Human Centipede and we decided to have a themed party. The movie is quite graphic and I actually don't recommend it at all! But in an effort to make it a themed party a couple of us came across a recipe that looks intestine like, but modified it to make it healthier and gluten-free. We think ours turned out very realistic looking and I just couldn't get over how horrible it looked. Every guest that walked it was "wowed" but its disgusting appearance! We ended up coming up with our own filling (chicken, a bunch of veggies, sweet chili sauce and more) then overlapped spring roll wrappers and stuffed our intestine. I attempted to paint the blood (with food coloring) on the intestines, but realized I am not good at veins and so FS took over with some help from LC and they finished it out. I love the see through look of the spring roll wrappers and it was DELICIOUS!! I can't wait until our next themed party.

Our spring roll intestines. Stretched out it was 8 feet long.

Week 30: Rain, Rain, Go away (Oct. 31-Nov. 5)

This week encompassed Halloween, which was pretty uneventful for me. I had plans to go to Roi and celebrate with FS (formally blogged as "the boy"), but the poor guy was sick. I went up and spent the weekend keeping him company during the few hours he was awake each day and reading at night. We did manage to get out on both Sunday and Monday for a walk around the island. I had a great fairy costume that I had planned to wear out and was ready to leave him in bed and celebrate with friends, but ended up falling asleep pretty early. I woke up at 10-ish and my pajamas sounded more exciting than my costume! I was happy to be were I was and to just spend time with FS in the intermittent moments that he was awake and coherent.

The weather her has been wet, wet, and wet. The first week or so of November has brought 8 inches of rain and many wet clothes hanging in my shower. On the 5th, we had a 1/2 day of school and a bunch of us decided to head out to the beach since the sun was making a feeble attempt at showing itself. We got about a couple hours in before the rain starting dumping and we headed home. When we got back home, 4 of us decided that the rain wasn't going to ruin our party and we sat in gutter and kept the party going. While sitting there in the downpour and remember that I have some fabulous rain boots that I bought before I moved out here, but had never worn. I am pretty sure I looked a little silly in my bathing suit, shorts and striped rain boots. We took a slew of jumping pictures with umbrellas and made quite the spectacle. It was such a blast, I even had a phone message when I came inside from a couple friends watching us out their window and laughing at us jumping in the road. I love that my girls LC and KC are so spontaneous and always ready for a fun experience!!

Week 30: Battle on the Water and Arrgh Matey (October 24-30)

Sunday was all pirate, all day! The day started with a sailboat water balloon battle in the lagoon. The Boy had come down for the weekend and had his first sailing experiences ever and today's sail just might be my favorite sail yet. It involved 5 boats with an arsenal of water balloons trying to take out the other pirates and boats. It was a blast to throw water balloons and the boat I was on was well prepared with a balloon launching sling shot. We were able to take out the other boats pretty quickly and while other boats may deny our win, we are confident that we were the winners of the battle. I did take a direct hit to the face (OUCH!!) but recovered quickly and wasn't left with any lasting marks. (The guy who threw it did go out of his way to apologize the next day when he saw me.)

The evening involved the Swashbuckler's Pirate Ball at the Yacht Club. It was a great party with lots of homebrews and rum punch. The night involved some pirate games, lots of costumes and hanging with some of my favorite people on the globe. I had a great pirate costume from a co-worker that resulted in some wonderful compliments from a variety of friends. It was a great night shared with friends and The Boy.

Week 29: I'm on a Boat, Phosphorescences, and Whale Bone Jenga (October 17-23)

I sailed with 3 friends (LC, TF, and TR) for a weekend to an island about 15 miles away called Mann. It started out great, the sail up was full of great conversation and a beautiful sunset. Just as we reached the pass to go ocean side, I started upchucking. My poor stomach got the best of me and I ended up curled up in a ball with a wet washcloth on my neck for a good chunk of the night. As I my head was hanging over the side of the boat, I was privied the the amazing sight of green phosphorescence. It is a little strange to think that my stomach contents hitting the water were causing this amazing sight, but I was just entranced by the green glow that occurred on the surface of the water. I think I could watch the glow for hours and not get bored of it. This was followed up with a night of sleeping on a rocking boat (I got smart by bed time and pumped myself full of dramamine). The night started on deck with me sleeping in 15-20 minute spurts and watching the movement of the boat in relation to the island and realizing that the winds were starting to shift. Sometime in the night it started raining and we all ended up in the cabin, where I continued to sleep in short spurts as the sound of the anchor pulling was amplified. About 4:30 am we all awoke abruptly to the anchor line be let out at a rapid pace. The line shortening the anchor chain had snapped, resulting in the 300 feet of chain attaching us to the anchor being let out in a short amount of time. No longer in the shadow of the island the boat was bobbing around and the winds were moving us quite a bit. We were able to get the chain pulled in with me holding lights, TF motoring the boat in, TR pulling the chain in little by little and LC sleeping her butt off down below. This was all compounded by the heavy rain going on and the air going from warm to cold. Shortly after day break we awoke to the boat on coral because the winds had shifted even more. We reanchored the boat and rewarded ourselves yummy breakfast burritos. It was decided at breakfast to move to the other side of the island to be in the shadow of the wind. All the while it is still raining and raining and raining (all said there were 5 inches of rain this day).

Once on the other side, we ventured onto the island to play a little game of Whale Bone Jenga. About a year ago a sperm whale was beached and all that is left is a pile of bones and mushy mass of blubber (it felt DISGUSTING!). Whale Bone Jenga consists of stacking the vertebrae one at a time a making a tower until it falls. The last person to touch a bone before it tumbles over loses.

LC, myself and TF with our Whale Bone Jenga Tower.

We ended up calling the trip a day early because of the crummy weather and crazy winds. The sail back was beautiful and the sunset had an amazing orange glow that I couldn't take my eyes off of. Not the ideal situation for my first over night sail, but most definitely one that I will never forget!

Week 28: Timmy the Baby Sea Turtle and Flying to see to a Boy (October 10-16)

When I arrived at school one morning this week, my 3rd grade partner-in-crime shared that there had been a new nest of baby sea turtles that were hatching and headed the wrong way. We decided to head up and see if there were any little turtles that still needed saving. As we got up to the beach, a couple of students were carrying a little guy towards the beach. I asked if I could hold the little guy and was given the go ahead. WOW!! I was as giddy as a little kid holding while holding this little guy (A friend named him Timmy). He kept squirming and was definitely a fighter. The students took him to the edge of the surf and let him go; I was just amazed at the determination and fight that this little guy had as he used all his might to make his way towards the big deep blue. I know that he has statistics and a slew of ocean obstacles in front of him, but I can't help but think that he might be the 1 in 4,000 that will make it to adulthood.

Timmy and I right before he was released into the ocean.

I also had another new experience this week. I flew to see a boy. It was a little surreal to hop on a plane with the sole purpose of going to see a guy that I am interested in. I am still taking it one day at a time, but so far I think things are going pretty good. I get a smile on my face when I think about him and feel very comfortable and content to just be in his presence. After an 6.5 year dating hiatus, I am still adjusting the idea of dating someone and know that I need to work constantly on communicating effectively.

Week 27: Airplanes in the deep sea (Oct 3 - 9)

What an exciting weekend!! I was able to dive down into the deep blue sea and there at the bottom was a large collection airplanes. I lost count at 6, but would guess that we saw about 10+. It was such a surreal feeling seeing all the planes nestled in the sand and covered with life. One of the wings must have had a large anemone living inside because every little hole had pink anemone peaking out and a couple of Nemo's friend darting in and out. The same wing had a large crown of thorns starfish camped out on it and looking content as could be. I am always in awe of how quietly beautiful it is underwater and how grounded I become when I am focused on what is around me and my steady breathing. Sometimes I think diving is so much work when I have to pull all the gear out of the closet, make sure that it is work, haul it and tanks down at the dock, but the moment I hit the water I know that it was worth it.

This same weekend also involved a Roi Oktoberfest Party and some good fun with friends. I am so thankful that the life I am blessed with allows for such wonderful and exciting experiences. I am excited to see what each new day brings and the challenges and triumph that I will encounter in the years to come!

Week 26: Half Century Dive (Sept 26-Oct 2)

It has taken over two years and I wondered if I would ever make it to dive number 50, but I made it!!! My 50th dive was at a place called Troy's Coral Head in the middle of the Kwaj Lagoon. Troy's is known for having an abundance of sharks in a variety of species. On this particular day the sharks only numbered about 8, but there were gray reef, white tip, and a nurse shark. The white tips were resting in the sand and just chillin' like some villains.

The best part of the dive was a beautiful medium-sized sea turtle just snacking away on some coral. We were able to get just a couple feet away and watched him for about 10 minutes as he kept munching and every so often he would look up and check us out. I was in awe of his beauty and just couldn't take me eyes off him. What a spectacular sight it was!?! I feel so blessed to have been able to witness this creature in his natural habitat.

I have tried not to post too many dive posts, but already know that next week will be another dive related experience. On Sunday, I will be diving on Roi-Namur and seeing my first airplane (hopefully many) ever at the Airplane Graveyard up there. Thrilled can't describe how I feel about my dives this coming weekend.

This past week I also hit 30.5 years of life. I didn't celebrate my half birthday, but had quite an enjoyable night nonetheless. My 30th year of life is proving to be quite an amazing year and I am loving every minute of it. If 30 is this great, I can't wait to see what 31 brings!

Week 25: Cheesecake and New Friends (September 19-25)

Early in the week there was a dinner party to celebrate some dear friends who are moving far, far away to California. I jumped at the chance to make a yummy dessert that would be gluten free and a big hit with all. After looking at bunches of recipes, I settled on a cheesecake with a macadamia nut crust. It was scrumptious and many went back for seconds. I never realized how easy it was to make a cheesecake and can see myself making them for many other dinners and celebrations in the future. I have a couple tweaks to make, but over all would change very little.

This week I also flew to Roi for a W&D Girl's Night with KC, LC, and MJ. We flew up Saturday after work and returned late Sunday afternoon. It is funny how I build expectations and thoughts of how things will go in my head and then it is all thrown out the window and my expectations are exceeded. Us 4 girls, we like to think that we are an entertaining and fun bunch and that was confirmed this weekend. We started playing some card games and before we knew it had 4 new freinds from Roi that joined us for the fun and ended up in mass quantities of booze flowing. I know that you are thinking, wait didn't you and KC decided to go dry for 30 days, well we modified it to only cover Kwaj. We figured that since it was our challenge we could change the terms:) Well the night ended with me hanging out with one of our new friends for 12 hours. It has been a long time since I talked that long to someone that I just met, and it felt good to let the guard down, well not all the way down, but just a little.

Week 24: Coming in Second Place (Sept 12-18)

This week, was my first sailboat race, start to finish. I had tried to race earlier in the year, but the sail tore and we had to drop out. I was very excited to be on the second place boat out of 6 total boats. The sailing was slow and the winds were near dead, but we managed to pull it together and get across the finish line. In addition to just being on the boat, I had an active role in helping to pull and tighten lines and did more than I have ever done before to help out.

I was also given the honor of being at the helm and steering the boat for a little while. It made me realize how sensitive the boat is. The slightest little movement of the helm resulted in big movements of the boat. I can't wait for the next race!

Week 23: Going Overboard (Sept 5-11)

I have been back on Kwaj for about a month and am looking back realizing how much I have overindulged since returning. I normally pride myself of maintaining a sense of composure and control, but with the ups and downs of the last month I have allowed myself to imbibe more than I would normally allow and even drinking on school nights. Well Saturday of this week there was a band at the Vet's Hall, one of two bars on island, and I ended up there with a crowd of friends. Throughout the evening they slowly trickled away, but I stayed on and hung out with the parents of several students. We danced, we drank, I even got a proposal from a Coast Guard fella just passing through. I was ready to go and then someone suggested that we head to the Snake Pit (the other bar on island). The night ended with me and 5 elementary school parents with a round of drinks and shots in front of us. I could only hang with them until about 2am and then ended up leaving them all still at the bar drinking away.

The next day I spent a fair amount of time pondering this scenario and how it would likely never happen anywhere else the world. I think back and can't picture myself in a Fort Collins bar with parents and drinks abounding. I think that is one of the reasons I LOVE life out here; it all overlaps and I have some of the strongest teacher-parent relationships because I am also friends with them.

I will say that the weekend led to a decision to go dry for 30 days. My friend KC and I have challenged each other to not drink for 30 days. I will keep you posted on my progress!

Week 22 (the encore): Ripped at the Seams (Aug 29 - Sept 4)

This week was a lot of justing getting back into the swing of school. It was the first full week back (last week was only 3 days with students) and it exhausted me!! I have spent endless amounts of time planning meaningful, useful computer lessons and I keep hoping that my students will find them exciting and useful. This is life at its current state, but has nothing to due with my new expereince for the week.

One night this week a friend showed up with stitches that he was suppose to go to the hospital to get out, but he forgot. He asked if anyone could remove them and I willingly volunteered. He had about 8 stitchs on his calf and using a pocketknife and tweezers carefully cut the knots of the end and unthreaded it. I was quite impressed by how easy it was and in the future would consider removing my own stitches if I ever need them. The procedure was pretty minor, other than when the patient screamed(jokingly) as I pulled up the first knot to cut it. I think I had a look of terror on my face and so he didn't do that again, although if he had I might have stabbed him and given him reason for a few more stitches.

Week 22: Jobwa Stick Dancing and Giant Clams (August 29-Sept 4)

Giant Clams!! I am officially part of a weekly dive group and excited that I can rely on them to take me to places that I have never dove before. I am closing in on 50 dives. One would think I should have more after 2 years out here:(, but it isn't always easy to get into a regular dive group. I am glad that I have my 3 buddies and this week they took me to a coral head near Victor Buoy, it is a location known for its giant clams. We saw several that were 4+ feet across. They are just amazing creatures and I can never get enough of the brilliant colors they display as they are resting open waiting for a chance snack. (Just so you know, I can't pass up going by any size clam with out trying to make it snap shut, the same goes for getting Christmas Tree Worms to suck in to their holes!)

The island was blessed this week with the performance of the Marshallese Jobwa Stick Dance. The Jobwa Stick Dance can only be performed with the permission of the high chief. The local king, Imata(?) Kabua, gave permission for the performance to happen here on Kwaj. It was an amazing site to see these young men performing and young women chanting, while sticks were flying up on stage.

Here is some background info from Yokwe Online
As told by Iroij (Chief) Michael Kabua to Jan Waddell, Hourglass Reporter

Jobwa Stick Dance started in Ujae Atoll and it is a very old story. A man went to sleep and slept for a very long time. He had no food or water.

As he slept, he started to dream, and a group of nonieap, which are spirits you can’t see but can hear, came to the man and showed him the Jobwa Stick Dance.

The man woke, and when the people asked why he had slept so long, he told them about his dream and taught them the dance the nonieaps had shown him.

When the men were performing the dance, a Dri ikjiet, which is a good spirit that lives under the ground, came up from a well.

He was a very handsome man.

The women, whose job it was to beat the drums for the Jobwa and chant, stopped paying attention to their drums and chants and started to pay attention to the Dri ikjiet.

When the women started to pay attention to the Dri ikjiet, their drumming and chanting became very bad, or dubwebie, which means their beat was wrong.

The Iroij became very angry that the women were paying attention to the Dri ikjiet and not to their drumming and chanting.

The Dri ikjiet was also paying a lot of attention to the women, which also made the Iroij angry.

The Iroij wanted to get rid of the Dri ikjiet, so he spoke with the Jobwa dancers and told them at the end of the dance, instead of holding their sticks to the sky to hold their sticks to the ground.

When the Dri ikjiet was dancing with the Jobwa stick dancers, he held his stick to the sky when all the other men held their sticks to the ground.

This gave the Iroij a reason to kill the Dri ikjiet.

Week 21: Changes, Changes (August 22-28)

I like change, I like change a lot. I like time to process change, I like LOTS of time to process change.

This week was a tough week for my school, 5 days before school began 5 teachers (about 20% of the staff) were laid off due to islandwide budget cuts. My heart breaks for the loss of these teachers and the impact this is having on thier lives. If I were in the shoes, I would be at a loss for what my next step would be. The 5 teachers that were impacted have had thier worlds turned upside down and are slowly beginning to put the pieces of thier lives back together.


This has left the rest of the staff reeling and at the same jumping into action to get ready for the school year. My school admin in light of the need to cut $$ moved people to new jobs, myself being one of them. After 8 years of teaching third grade, I am now a halftime computer teacher and halftime third grade teacher. While I have a wide personal knowledge of computers and technology (see last week's post), I have NEVER taught computers before. The learning curve is proving to be big and time consuming. Planning for computers is eating up huge amounts of time before, during, and after school, with a side of evenings. I know that it will get easier, but I am still processing that I am not a full time third grade teacher with a class of my own and at the same time working out how I am going to manage this new role. I know that I will be successful and it will be a good year, but it takes me time to accept things.

My new experience for the week is teaching computers to grades K-6.

Week 20: A Master at One Thing or Another (August 15-21)

In 2005 I completed my first Master's degree in Educational Technology. It was a natural fit for me and I often found myself a little bored in my classes because I would have a similar or even a couple times, deeper knowledge of computers than my instructors. I remember in my very first Master's class in 2003, every student had to pick a feature in Word and "teach" it to the class. I remember classmates doing stupid simple things like bullets and how to save a template, well I taught the class how to use the track feature to show changes. The professor had never seen this before and was amazed, he asked for my notes so that he could add teaching this tool to his future classes. I should have known at that point that I would have to push to challenge myself. I am not trying to be up on my high and mighty horse, but trying to make a point that the last time I went to school, it was a breeze.

Now it is 2010 and I have taken some classes over the past years, but decided that I should take credits and have them count towards another degree. This week I completed the first class in my second Master's degree. I am pursuing a degree in Teacher Leadership in the hopes that it will help me to get a job as a district professional development coordinator in the future. I have always had a passion for helping teachers make positive changes that will positively impact students and look forward to doing this full time someday.

Oh yeah, I did well in the class, A's on all but one assignment!

Week 19: Hot Red Convertible and a Cool Green Flash (August 8-14)

I am only a month delinquent in trying to update. My goal is to catch up on the last month of blogging in the next few days:)

In early August, as I was flying back to Kwaj after 8 weeks in the states I made a 2 day stop on Oahu with my dear friend K. I made the executive decision to rent a fun convertible for us to drive around the island. We spent a day exploring the Halona Blowhole, hiking the Makapu'u Lighthouse and lounging on the beach on the North Shore. I only managed to get us lost a few times and loved the feeling of the sun on my head, the wind in my hair and the music blaring as we cruised our way around the island.

We had a fun red Mustang Convertible, sadly the only picture I managed to take was when we turned the car in at the airport and I wanted to document the lack of damage on it.

I arrived back on Kwaj on Saturday the 14th and promptly headed to dinner at a friends boat shack to catch up and enjoy friends. I was blessed with the amazing sight of my first green flash. It is quite spectacular and took my breath away!!

Week 17: Petroglyphs (August 1-7)

It has been the of National Parks and Monuments. It's funny how I lived in New Mexico for over 4 years and Colorado for 6 years and never took advantage of things that were in my backyard.

This week I went to Petroglyph National Monument with my dad. I was just in awe of the pictures that were carved into the surface of the black rock up to a thousand years ago. Some of the intricacy of the pictographs just amazed me.

Here are just a sampling of the 20,000+ illustrations in the large park. I love how space alien/robot-ish people are depicted.

Week 16: Heart for Haiti (July 25-July 31)

This week I attended a fundraiser for Son of God Orphanage in Haiti. My home Timberline Church in Colorado has adopted them and committed to help them over the next 10 years. The fundraiser brought in over $5000, which is significant considering it costs $96 to feed the 124 children three meals a day. I have such a heart for children around the globe and this just spoke to me. Next summer there is talk of a mission trip to Haiti and I am praying about what role God may have for me on the trip.

Some of the girls at Son of God

Smiling Faces

Week 15: A Fourteener (July 18-24)

On Friday, the 23rd, I met some family to ride the Pikes Peak Cog Railway up to 14,115 feet. It was a wonderful afternoon of silliness with my nephew of the train and spectacular views from the summit. It is a little pricey, $33 for adults, but was a wonderful experience I recommend to all.

The tracks going up. At the steepest spot the tracks are at a 26 degree angle.

Another Train Coming Down

The Train Behind Ours

View from the top. On a clear day you can see 150+ miles away

My Nephew, E, running his gummy bear sugar high off at the top

Summit Sign

A new friend named "Pike"

Week 14: Money, Money, Money (July 11 - 17)

Coins to be exact. I have been trying for two summers to tour the Denver Mint and was finally successful. Last summer I had reservations, but ended up having something come up and missed them. So this summer I was all over it. I made reservations 2 months ago when July 15 came available to reserve and booked 6 tickets, so that I could bring any and all with me. I get there with ample time and end up waiting for a friend to arrive. We were 1 minute late checking in and our tickets we already gone:(. I thought I was going to cry when the lady said she had given our tickets to someone else and that we could come back in an hour to try and get standby spots.

So we come back and wait and wait as the tour guide lets in all the people with tickets, then the people with standyby tickets, followed by people that were in line in front of us. As we are waiting I must have looked pretty pitiful as I pleaded with him to let us in. Just as he told people around us that the tour was full, and my hopes were dashed, he told us to hurry up and get in line. WOO HOO!!!!

We made the tour through the mint and watched coins being made and I was fascinated by the process and the commentary of the tour guide. I highly recommend this tour for anyone.

A second experience for this week:
I realize that I should probably master hill biking before attempting mountain biking again. For the first time in my life I went mountain biking and it about killed me. I couldn't figure out how to shift when going uphill and just couldn't get enough momentum to make it to the top. Thus I kept having to get off the bike and walk, making everyone have to wait on me. I did enjoy the downhill ride back to the house we were staying at, but overall it was not a fun experience for me.

Week 13: Rocky Mountian High Colorado (July 4 - July 10)

This week was all about hanging out with my brother and nephew (my SIL was out of town for a memorial service).

Take me off the road...
On Thursday, my brother took my dad and I off roading on the mountain across the valley from Beaver Creek Resort. I had never been off-raoding and had a smashing time. We made it up to the treeline of aspens and there were a few patches of snow, even though it is the middle of July. I only needed to use the "ohh poop" handle a few times when we were coming done some rocks that were more than a little steep.

Pitch a tent and roast some s'mores...
A few days later, on Saturday, I went camping with the boys up past an area called Berry Creek in Edwards, CO. My nephew LOVES camping and well I LOVE my nephew so even though I detest camping, along I went. We had gorgeous views of the valley and endured a rain storm that forced us inside the truck for our dinner of hot dogs and corn on the cob. I slept less than well, but did manage to stay warm under TWO sleeping bags. Right before a bedtime story of Walter the Farting Dog we indulged in s'mores over the camp stove.

Week 12: Sunrise on the Arches (June 27-July 3)

On Thursday (July 1) my dad and I ventured to Arches National Park in Moab, Utah bright and early to hike and take in the sunrise. It was a beautiful day with 2 short hikes and 1 that challenged us. I was absolutely in awe at the size and stature of the arches and mesmerized by the colors of the jagged rocks.

Week 11: Black Bean Brownies(June 20-26)

Nothing like writing a little late (like 2 weeks late). I have been on the road going from NM to UT to now CO, where I will spend the next month. It is funny how before I left my little island, I thought 8 weeks, no big deal, but now that I am here: I miss my bed, I miss my friends, I miss my simple island life. 5.5 weeks left to visit and take in the states before I head back.

Week 11- I found a recipe in a recent Consumer Reports and thought hmmm... I should try that. They were interesting. I ended up adding a THICK layer of chocolate frosting that made them ohh so yummy!!

Black Bean Brownies

1 box brownie mix
1 can (15 oz) black beans

Open the can of black beans, rinse well. With beans back in the can, add enough water to cover beans. Put in blender or food processor and puree. Add puree to brownie mix, and then bake according to package directions.

You DO NOT add the eggs or oil that the recipe calls for, JUST the black bean puree!

One note, I baked for 50 minutes and they just never quite finished. I figured since there were no eggs, it didn't hurt to take them out even though the middle wasn't quite done. A night in the fridge helped to harden them up and make them very fudgy.

Week 10: Sun up/Sun Down and Dodging the Bullet (June 13-19)

Lucky me, I have 2 new experiences for this week:

1) On Sunday the 13th, I was staying on Roi for the weekend, woke up early(I do that when I am in strange beds) and decided to go for a run and watch the sunrise. A truth about me: I can never get enough of the sun on the horizon and the colors that it paints across the sky. Everytime I see the sunrise, I can't help but feel blessed by the newness of the day and joy that is to come. The same evening, I hadn't planned to watch the sunset, but I saw a friend after dinner and he enouraged myself (and K) to watch the sunset because the night before there had been dolphins. Well there were no dolphins, but I was witness to another amazing spectacle and the sun rays turned the sky from blue to orange to purple-pink. I am DEFINITELY a sucker for sunrises and sunsets; I feel as though I am hypnotized by the orange ball in the distance and can't avert my gaze(not that I would want to anyways).

2) I have always wondered what it would be like to shoot a gun, thought I had never shot one before in my life (short of water guns and nerf dart guns). So when the opportunity arose to go to the ABQ shooting range I jumped on it. I went with a family friend and he brought along quite the aresnal for me inaguaral shooting experience: rifles, semiautomatic assualt rifles, and pistols. I think I flinched more in the couple hours we were there then I have in a long time. I got ok at shooting one of the rifles and the pistols scared me to death; I am pretty sure I closed my eyes everytime I shot one. I don't think I will ever need to own a gun, but I am glad that I had the experience of shooting and getting over the initial fears about it. On thought I couldn't shake as I was pulling the trigger is the projectile coming out the barrel could take a life and I hope that I am never confronted with a situation that I would need to use a gun or point one at a person(or have one pointed at me!).

Week 9: Sing for the Crowd (June 6-12)

Can you say Karaoke? I have always (and will likely continue to) shy away from Karaoke. But on the 11th, it was the last day of school, I was celebrating with friends and some how was convinced that Karaoke was the thing to do. I got up and sang at the bar, not just once, but twice. Song #1 was a personal favorite "Don't Stop Believin'" and song #2 was vacation inspired "Summer Lovin'". We had hoped for "School's Out for Summer" but sadly the local karaoke guy didn't have it in his repretoire.

Week 8: A Flirty Skirt (May 30-June 5)

A few weeks back I saw an adorable tutorial for a reversible wrap around skirt (wish I remembered where...). I read through it quickly and thought, "I can totally do that".

Enter a 3 day weekend...I spent a coupld days laying in the sun and relaxing on the beach, but Monday afternoon I was a little peeved over a personal situation and my neighbor and I thought it would be brilliant to get the party started inside. So between the Malibu and Monsters I was mixing up for us, I managed to sew a reversible wrap around skirt in some beautiful fabric I picked up last year in Tokyo. (pics to come soon) In retrospect I should have read the directions for sizing; mine ended up a little too big and despite sizing it down 2 times, the end result is still too big! Since I am in the midst of losing some weight, I figure I will wait until I get back from summer to resize it to a better fit. It turned out very dressy and I am excited to find a white lace tanktop to wear with it this fall.

Week 7: My tour was just a little longer than Gilligan's (May 23-29)

I got my check for the week done early on and now I can relax and think about the 3 day weekend ahead. On Sunday, I flew 45 miles(20 min) to an island at the other end of the atoll, Roi. Sunday was spent hanging out in the water at the beach, yummy sunset dinner, and great conversation that kept me up most of the night. Monday, tired and weary, I climbed on deck "Down East Trader" and sailed 7.5 hours from Roi back home to Kwaj across the largest atoll in the world. It was a great day, I was able to take a little nap, managed to not get sunburned despite the sun bearing down at full force and a little bought of queasiness brought on towards the end. I was hesitant to go, having never sailed for more than a couple hours at a time, but knew that I may never have the chance again if I said no. I am so thankful that I went and had the chance to interact with new friends and just be in the moment, not feeling the need to stress about life or work since there was nothing I could do about it. I must say, I live in a specatularly beautiful part of the world and when I leave here to move on, I will have a very hard time saying goodbe. Sun, drinking, staying up way too late, and exhaustion got the better of me, I was in bed at 8:15 last night and slept straight through (quite a feat for me) until 6:15 this morning. I am hoping tonight will be just as restful.

Week 6: Quiet week and Invented Recipe (May 16-22)

This week was just a typical week, not much out of the ordinary. Work, Work and More Work. I did a School Improvement Progress report to the school board, but I talk in front of others all the time, so don't really feel like it counts towards a new experience. I have a few quiet evenings; that fed my need for quiet time and relaxing after the stress of some long days.

My item that I am counting for the week was inventing a new recipe. I am known for making a delicious variety of yummy brownie desserts (peanut butter and cookies & cream are my 2 favorites). I had offered to bring dessert to a BBQ on Sunday night and planned to make a few kinds of brownies and thought not everyone likes chocolate, why not try a blondie. So I found a simple recipe for a blondie and jazzed it up by adding white chocolate chips, chunks of semi-sweet chocolate and 4 mashed bananas. They were AMAZING, I am calling them "funky monkey blondies" and will definitely be making them again in the future. I had a couple issues, like a pan that was too small and having to put foil underneath it part way through baking to catch the bake over. In the end, I had 5 different desserts to take (I WAY overdo things sometimes). We ate brownies all weekend long and I had leftovers to send home with friends last night. I may need to start reading up on other brownie/blondie recipe variations on the interweb before a work potluck next week.

Week 5: Spell this and a sail in the dark (May 9-15)

This is a little late due to lack of motivation on my part, I spent the ENTIRE weekend lazing around and enjoying friends. I did manage to go on a late night sail in the dark(we left at 10pm and arrived back at the dock around 2am). It is quite surreal to be out on the water in the dark and know that if I fall in chances are no one will be able to find me. We were always able to see the lights on the chain of islands on the east side of the lagoon, but I kept imagining what it is like for people that are out sailing the big blue ocean for months at a time with no land in sight. It was very comforting for me to be able to see the lights of the atoll and know that at least I could attempt to swim to them if I ended up in the water. The rest of me weekend included breakfast on the water and taking a nap while listening to waves lapping next to me; I do live quite the life of luxury!!

My other new experience from the last week was I helped judge the school Spelling Bee. I myself was not successful at this as a 6th grader and clearly remember mispelling "galcier" and getting out in an early round. I have come to realize over the last year or so that I have become a pretty poor speller due to my reliance on technology to assist me. I also find myself second guessing myself even when I know the correct spelling. Enough about me, back the Bee. I enjoyed silently cheering the students on and giving them big smiles of encouragement. There were some challenging words "sencer" was the only one that I had not heard before.

I am already a few days into this week and ready for the weekend to be here!! This weekend I think I am flying an island about 45 miles away and sailing back all day Monday with friends. It will be my longest sail to date and nice to get away for a night. If only I could take Saturday off and sail up there with them...maybe next time.

Thursday and struggling

I am having a hard time with a new experience for this week. I have no weekend time left and only a few full days and nights. I will have to come up with something for this; I can't go from 3 new experiences last week to none for this week. What a let down that would be!?!?

I keep thinking back and I have done a lot this week, but nothing new. On Sunday I sailed to Bigej(been there-YES) on a catamaran (sailed before-YES, on a catamaran-YES). While there we snorkeled (YES) and relaxed in the sun (ALL the time). That night I went and listened to a band (I've heard the Insane Gecko Posse many times before) and danced the night away with friends. Monday, I helped at the Rusty Family Triathlon (I helped last year) and cooked out dinner with friends (yet again, not a new experience). Hmm...I will just have to keep thinking.

Week 4: 2 more for a total of 3 new things

So I wasn't sure what I was going to do this week for my new experience. It wasn't even until I was in the tap class Wednesday night that I realized that tap would be my experience for the week. It is funny how things fall into our laps; 3 days ago I had nothing and now I have 3 for the week.

#1 Tap class (BTW the second tap class was one of the most FRUSTRATING hours in a long time, why can'y everything come naturally to me!!)

#2 BINGO - I have never played grown up bingo before. When I was young I played with an at home set I got from Santa one year and have played academic versions with my students, but to play with a bunch of competitive adults was something totally new for me. I loved that I had to use a dotter and each game had a different configuration to try and win. The only thing that would have made the experience even better would have been if I could have yelled "BINGO" and taken home some dough.

#3 Pandanus Fruit - I don't get to try new foods very often on my little island, but I was able to try an indeginous fruit called pandanus. It is eaten much like sugar cane, where one just chews on it letting the juice seep out and the fiberous pulp gets spit out. It wasn't quite as sweet as sugar cane, but has just the right amount of sweetness as it goes down.

Week 4: Step, Stomp, Stamp, Buffalo (May 2-8)

Tap lessons--->YIKES!! Last night was my first tap class EVER! I grew up dancing and have taken classes as an adult. Give me a jazz, lyrical, modern and even hip hop class and I can do most things; granted I will never look AMAZING doing them, but nonetheless I know what my body should be doing. Tap is a whole new game. I have taken a few classes from my instructor Mrs. K before and am familiar with her teaching style. Thank goodness she is patient and doesn't mind my incessant "can we do that again?" Although my feet are a little sore today, I am feeling pretty good and nervous/excited for my second class tomorrow.

Why tap? Well, I signed myself up for a dance class in the fall that hip hop/tap and performs in the spring recital here on island. I thought I should get an intro to tap before I start the performance class in September.

Week 3: Repair a sailboat sail or two (April 25-May 1)

I was told that all I needed to do was be able to sew a straight line, HA!! A few weeks ago a friend (T) was mentioning that he needed a sewing machine to fix a sail and I said I had one. Well, earlier this week I got an email asking if I could help him do some repairs. I made it VERY clear that I had never and was not expereinced in the repair of sails and couldn't guarantee my work. The first sail was pretty thick and T had already patched it, I just needed to sew around the edges and make sure it was all secured down. Definitely a workout for my sewing machine, I may need to reward it with a few simple layers of fabric this weekend!! I was very UNIMPRESSED with my work on the first sail, it was probably some of the ugliest sewing I have ever done!! T said that it would work just fine and used a flame to seal some of the lose edges. The second sail went MUCH better; the fabric was a little thinner and other than having to rethread every few minutes because of the nature of the thick waxed thread, it was almost enjoyable. It looked much better, in fact someone who had stopped by (and is an avid sailor) said that he had to do a double take to figure out where the patch was becuase it match the rest of the sail so well. My big fear is that it will rip while T is out on a sail. I hope that my repairs hold up and put off the need to drop $3000+ on a new set of sails for a while. I wouldn't want to make sail repair and career, but it wasn't too bad, in fact I would even be willing to do it again sometime in the future.

Would I have done this out of the kindness of my heard, MOST DEFINITELY, but it was great that T was willing to trade some services. While I worked on his sail he worked on my bike. He put on a new chain and cut 6 inches off the fender where it was rubbing. My bike is SO happy now!! It is Saturday and I am definitely glad that in about 7 hours the weekend will finally be here!! BEACH here I come!

Tribulations of a small island

So I am already 5 days into week 3 and not much on the front for a new experience. Isolation on my little island means that I have to get creative, hopefully there aren't too many weeks when I will need to dig into my creativity file and come up with something. I hope experiences just present themselves naturally for me:).

One possibility on the horizon is tomorrow I will hopefully get to repair a hole in sail. I have sewn a lot of things, but never something that is designed to serve as the propulsion mechanism for a large wooden and fiberglass boat. I hope that is goes well and that my sewing is up to par.

Week 2: 2 New States and Speak at a National Education Conference (April 18-24)

This week I am on a TDY trip to the states to present at the Advanc-ED conference. Advanc-ED is my schools accreditation organization and there are usually abut 10,000 people in attendance. I presented one of the breakout sessions with a co-worker on the process of developing a vision statement and helping all stakeholders embrace the vision of the school. It was nerve-racking and overwhelming and I am glad that it is over. It was also a great experience and I enjoyed presenting, as well as attending other sessions and learning all about continuous improvement.

A byproduct of my attending this conference is I was able to cross 2 states off my list of places to visit in this life. GEORGIA and SOUTH CAROLINA. The conference was held in Atlanta and I was able to stay extend my trip for a few days and drive up to Columbia, SC to visit a friend I have known for 15 years, since high school. There is such a satisfaction in crossing off a state and knowing that I have been someplace new.

Week 1: Crazy Path Running and Spinnaker Flying (April 11-17)

Well week one is only 2 days in and I have already had a highlight of my year. Sunday began with my inaugural Crazy Path Run. Invented by some friends here on Kwaj, it entails running around creating challenges and motions as a group runs in a follow the leader type game. It was one of the toughest runs I have had in a while and pushed me in good ways. We ran circles around trees, under signs, over tables, and got some pretty strange looks; I loved every minute of it!! We only had three of us, but I would love to see us try with a group of 5 or more. It made the run go quickly and I racked up 4 miles before I knew it.

The afternoon began with a sailboat race, but we sadly had to dropout after the genoa started to rip. The sailboat race should have been my new experience, but I guess it will have to wait for another month. We instead did a leisure sail and relaxed as the wind slowly took us along. As we headed back to Kwaj, the captain Trace mentioned Spinnaker Flying. I had seen pictures on Facebook of people flying through the air attached to the bottom of a free floating spinnaker sail from when he did it last week and knew it was something I wanted to try. I was all over the idea and nervous with excitement. It is exhilarating to be lifted up by the sail and float over the water. I had a BLAST!!! Sunday was so much fun that the spinnaker was pulled out again on Monday and I was able to take 2 more trips.

The Challenge

I have been 30 for 18 days and feel pretty much the same way that I did for my 29th year; I find it funny how some people fear the changing of the tens digit in their age, I was excited for a new chapter to begin and see what my 30's have in store for me!! I have always been an adventuresome person, but sometimes allow myself to be sucked into the doldrums of life and live day to day with the same cyclical pattern of work, home, exercise, eat, sleep, repeat. I need times when I have lulls in life and down time, but I also thrive on fun and adventure. That is where the next year of my life comes into play, I am going to challenge myself to try new things and expose myself to experiences that may push me out of my comfort zone.

My goal for the next 52 weeks is to try one new thing each week. I am not sure what each week will be, I will just have to wait and see what comes my way and seek out opportunities for new things. My main obstacle will be my locale; living in the middle of the ocean on a rinky-dink island means I have done most everything here so creativity will be key.