It’s Monday evening now. A new student joined our class today, and three were absent. The new student is Alvin, a young man from the Mortlock Islands who has been trying to get here for a few weeks. Apparently the ship he was on was sidelined at one of the islands waiting for a VIP for a few weeks, and Alvin got frustrated. He jumped on a speedboat and chased down another ship that was coming directly to Weno and just came in this morning. He’s missed the first week of class, but I let him in anyway. He’s a smart guy, and I know he tried hard to get here. He’s been someone I’ve had my eye on for this RSA training since I met him about 3 or 4 years ago. I saw a child with very severe CP with Alvin when I first met him and was impressed with his ease in working with the child and the parent. The family was also Mortlockese so they shared language and culture, but he demonstrated superior skill and an intuitive way of working that I appreciated. I haven’t met anyone out here with that kind of ability to pick up on the skills needed. I’m glad he made it for this class.
The three students who are missing were pulled by the Special Education Coordinator to go to Pohnpei for a conference/training. I told her they needed to choose, this RSA training- a three summer adventure with a certification at the end, or the week-long training in Pohnpei. She decided to push me on it and sent them anyway. I told her that I wasn’t sure the students would pass the course if they miss 25% of it and left it at that. I actually really doubt that they will pass. She told me that this was a training that was supposed to be held two weeks ago in Guam and was pulled to Pohnpei at the last minute. She didn’t want her teachers to miss out on it. Well, they’ll miss out somewhere . . . One of the students called me last night just before the plane took off and asked me to e-mail all of the handouts to her so she could do her homework while in Pohnpei. I told her I would, but her classmate didn’t give me her e-mail address today. I’ll have to remember to ask for it tomorrow. I do appreciate her initiative in asking.
This afternoon Abraham came in to class and told me I’d have to move our green car- we named it Piik (Chuukese for Pig- because our little car rolls around in the mud and is pretty lazy). It was parked in front of the sea wall, and the ocean was rough with salt water splashing over the wall onto the car. I moved it. I noticed that all of the small boats left very early tonight. It must have been a very rough and wet crossing for those outer island folks. Meghan and I went out to the Truk Stop dock when we got back to the hotel. The waves were high as was the tide. The dive boats all had side anchors to keep them in place. It was too cloudy for a good sunset though.
Our stomachs are still touchy, but we’re going to brave the restaurant for dinner tonight. Being a vegetarian here is decidedly difficult. Rice anyone?
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