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.