The sun has returned

For the last week we have had sun, sun, and sun. I really like it. Before that all we had was rain. Now I can do my laundry without worrying too much about it staying wet and growing mold. Also when it rains here it gets extremely muddy which also isn't too fun. But now it's sunny!

We are now entering the week of exams. In Vanuatu in 8th grade students have to take a National Exam and the results of that exam say whether or not they can proceed to secondary school or not. It also tells what secondary school they'll go to. Vanuatu ranks the secondary schools so in order to get into the good ones you have to score high on the test. The students will take exams in English, Math, Basic Science, and Social Science. There are also exams for 10th graders (but we don't have any 10th graders at my school). This exam will tell if they can go on to 11th grade. It's quite stressful if you ask me. Also even in many of the primary grades (elementary) the students have to take end of year exams. I think it's a little absurd to ask an 8 year old to take a test about everything they've learned the whole school year. The school year here goes from January- December. Our school officially closes November 27th so after that is school break until it starts up again at the end of January.

Nothing too much is new here. I ran my first workshop for the teachers at the school last Friday on helping slow learners and I'm running another one this coming Friday on teaching spelling. I have been eating lots and lots of fish lately. However I'm quite inept at it. I seem to frequently choke on the bones, especially in the small fish. Oh and I ate a snail the other day too. It was interesting, rather chewy and slimy. They call it local chewing gum here. This coming Saturday we will be having a staff picnic so we will all go to the beach and cook things over the fire to eat (like fish, crab, coconut, banana, etc) and then we will go swimming. It should be fun.

Also interesting to note that I thought it would take so long for me to hear the results of the election, but I actually spent that whole day on the internet and the people here heard Obama's speech on Radio Australia. I think it's interesting how Obama made the comment in his speech about people in far away corners of the world huddled around radios. It just made me think of my life here.

Alright well that's all for now. Send me an email if you want!