Sunday
Today was a great day in Saint John. Because it's the weekend, we got to sleep in which was really nice. My cabin strolled into breakfast around 9:30 and then it was straight to the beach. Me, along with a few others, got pretty sun burnt yesterday (yes mom I did wear sunscreen!) so I tried to be more careful today. It was such a nice day though staying indoors was not something I wanted to do. After being at the Cinnamon Bay beach for about 3 hours we went to the other side of the island at a place called Skinny Legs for lunch. It was pretty good actually, and it was nice to be in the shade. After a good lunch the whole crew went to an old plantation ruins and walked around for a little. When we got back the juniors and I with Mrs. O'Connor went to a little beach that was super nice! It was my favorite of all the beaches so far. I can't wait for the rest of the trip but it will also be nice to have a warm shower back home!
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Saturday
Today we had the day off from teaching and spent the whole day in the sun. We started off the day by going on a hike on a trail near town. The hike took about 20 minutes but ended up at a beautiful private and secluded beach. It made the hike all worth it. We stayed there for about an hour and then headed back into town to get some lunch before we got on the boat. The weather could not have been better for today, it was very sunny and warm. The boat picked us up at one, and we had to get a ride in a little life saver boat to get onto the actual boat. Once we were all on board we sailed for about an hour before we got to our snorkeling destination. The views were so pretty and the snorkeling was awesome; we saw all different types of coral and fish of all different sizes and color. Meg even accidentally touched a sea urchin and got something stuck in her finger. (She ended up being okay.) After snorkeling for a while we headed back into shore and headed home. Overall it was a really fun day full of good memories! Saturday
Today was all play! The students had a well-deserved rest day from a pretty intense week. This adventurous group was the first group ever to be intrepid enough walk with me to Solomon beach and Honeymoon beach. I found these tiny gems a few years ago when I got tired of walking around the Cruz Bay tourist shops. The trail takes off right from the USVI National Park Visitor’s Center, and is about a mile away by foot. You can only get to these beaches by foot or water, so it keeps the numbers down. Gorgeous white sands, crystal clear blue water and a nice view facing toward St. Thomas. See the pictures! We also got to hear a pan – steel drum – band, which was quite festive. I love the sound of many drums with different tones all playing together. This one was about 12-15 people large, and they were great. All ages from about 8 to probably 70, men and women, all making great music together. What a treat! Then some lunch and off to meet Captain Jason and First Mate Leslie on Cloud 9. The winds were brisk so we had a great sail to Lovango Island, which is a great snorkel spot. Unfortunately, Meg got poked by a sea urchin and only got a few minutes of snorkeling and Quinn was feeling sea sick, but the rest of us had a beautiful snorkel adventure. Captain Jason always gives me an education about local politics. I love hearing his stories, and today was no exception. Every year, Leslie scolds him for talking too much about politics, but I assure them that I do want to know. It helps me understand the people better and gives me perspective on our work here. We also learned all sorts of other non-political things like why it’s so hazy this trip. Turns out the islands get a lot of dust from the Sahara and there is a dust storm there now, so the Caribbean is getting hazy. They’ve done analyses of the soils on St. John and discovered that the Sahara has been “fertilizing” St. John for millions of years. I thought that was very cool to think about. They also haven’t had any significant rainfall for 8 weeks, which explains the dry leaves and “fall-like” colors on the hillside. Despite their need for rain, we are all grateful for the lack of mosquitoes! Back to Cinnamon Bay after a quick stop at the pharmacy to buy Meg some Epsom salts for her hand. A good dinner, and the night off. This group is quite adventurous, so I’m sure we’ll have some great adventures tomorrow! New beaches, perhaps some paddle board rental, maybe a walk/hike… We’ll see what they choose to do. Saturday
I can’t believe that it is already the weekend! To start off our day, we drove down to the Lind Point Trail to visit Honeymoon and Solomon Beaches. The beaches, as always, were beautiful and the water was clear and cool. After spending a few hours at the beaches, we made our way back up the trail to our cars. From there, we headed out for lunch, and then walked to Cruz Bay’s port to board our sailing boat. Although it drizzled in the morning, the weather cleared up and returned to its normal state (hot and humid) when we boarded the Cloud 9 sailing boat at 1:00 PM. After a quick sail, we arrived at our snorkeling site. The site was great and full of marine life. We saw a variety of salt water fish and coral. A lot of the fish were pretty blues or a mix of vibrant colors. At one point I decided that I would pick a fish and follow it around until I got bored. The fish I picked had scales that created a rainbow effect. Before I could get bored with it, the fish swam under some coral and stayed there. Once everyone was finished with snorkeling, we began to sail back to port. On the way back some sophomores and I laid out on the front of the boat. Overall the snorkeling trip was great, but some people, including myself, had some or a lot of sun burns while others got a little sea sick. Today was definitely well-deserved. A lot of us, including myself, were starting to run out of steam for teaching. I think over this three day weekend, we will be able to relax and start the coming four day week refreshed and energized. Tomorrow some of us will go and enjoy the beach again and maybe go paddle boarding. So far, this trip has been amazing and I am looking forward to the rest of the weekend and to seeing the kids again on Tuesday. Friday
I can hardly believe it- today marks the end of our first week of teaching at the Julius E. Sprauve School. I am torn by my feelings at this juncture. On the one hand, I am thrilled that we are halfway through our adventure, thus landing us closer to reuniting with our loved ones back home. On the other hand, I have grown fond of and will miss our students in each of our classes and the bond that the girls have formed with the students is something to behold. Of course, our daily after school excursions to nearby beaches makes it hard to imagine going back to Buckeye country. Interestingly enough, Christine had mentioned to the girls that this halfway mark was generally a turning point in the trip. That certainly has proven to be the case this year. Dinner time up until this halfway point has been quiet. Not much chatter from either group of sophomores or juniors ever occurred, and what little bit of conversation would be isolated to each table separately. Dinner last night however was something else entirely- both groups were animated and talked as one. Their excitement over their best teaching day thus far seemed to help bridge the gap between the two groups, and laughter and easy conversation flowed throughout dinner and into dessert. I may have even overheard the planning of a dance party.... It's a wonderful feeling to experience such uninhibited joys of being. Friday
Today marked a point in the trip where we have been here almost a week and have about a week left. With that being said, it can be hard to imagine no air conditioning for another week, no wifi in our beds, and no shower that stays on without pulling a chain. However, now is the time that our bonds with the kids are becoming far more than just a teaching relationship. I worked with two kids today that have changed my whole perspective on teaching. That sounds very dramatic, but these experiences are truly life changing. The first kid I worked with is named Henry. He is in the first fourth grade class we have. Unfortunately, Henry speaks only a little bit of broken French. As you can imagine, teaching coding has been difficult, but today we started working on the fourth graders plant projects. Henry has a different project than a lot of the other students because he doesn't have all the knowledge on plants they do. Today when Henry started working he was discovering things on his own and when he was doing his drawing for his projects his eyes lit up. He drew with immense detail and he didn't want to be stopped. Throughout the week working with Henry has been hard, but today made it so worth it. The language barrier we have isn't stopping me from lighting a spark in his eyes- and that is an experience I would take over air conditioning any day. Another boy I worked with today was Melvin, a boy in fifth grade. I worked with Melvin last year, and he was a trouble maker. He got his computer taken away because of his bad behavior last year! This year, the first few days he was still being tough. I know a lot about Melvin because he opened up about the tough situations he faces at home, at the end of the trip last year. This made me work even harder not to give up on Melvin. Today I went to talk to him at the beginning of class and he was upset because we had to reprimand him several times the first couple days. I apologized to him and the look on his face was completely priceless. One apology and he was now working with extreme focus. He got frustrated when his project wasn't working and he was desperately wanting to answer questions in class. When the bell rang, at the end of class, he didn't want to leave. He was working on a program and it wasn't working right so he had to fix it before he left. All the other girls teaching were commenting and celebrating at how much Melvin interacted in class. At the end of class I looked at him and told him I was proud of all the work he did. His smile could have brightened even the worst mood. In one day I experienced looks of pure happiness and joy that I don't really see. Of course, we all are happy and excited for new things, but not like these kids. They have the opportunity to be creative and for some it is an extreme challenge- but for others it is the opportunity to express themselves. They get attention from us that leaves huge impressions on their lives. I've been struggling with the guilt of coming back and every kid remembers my name, but I don't remember all of theirs. That is the impression we have. These kids don't forget a single girl that comes on this program. They ask about everyone from last year, and they want to hug you any time they see you. Without much effort we leave an everlasting impact on these kids. For some, coming back on this trip is too much. That is completely understandable because the conditions are no walk in the park. Tonight I looked over from my pillow and there was a giant bug on the wall. I have bug bites up and down my arms and legs that itch so badly in the middle of the night I have trouble sleeping. However, when I walk in to the school every aspect is worth it, and I am so thankful I got to come back. In my mind a couple bug bites has broken Melvin's tough facade. Most of all, he now knows that people truly care. For Henry, his teacher can't take the time to teach him. With a class of close to twenty students, slowing for one is nearly impossible. However, the size of our group has allowed me to break off and invest time in Henry. All this week I wished I spoke French because I thought I wasn't doing enough for Henry, but today I saw that I was making a difference, even if it wasn't with words. This next week is going to go by too fast and I know I'm not going to be ready for the end. But the greatest thing about this trip is for a lot of the kids our impact doesn't end at the end of the two weeks. We are teachers first, but we ultimately are so much more for them. Thank you, Ryan O'Hara Friday
We’re now over halfway through our days of teaching here, and I think everyone is really getting used to teaching the kids. To start our day, we showed up to school to find that the classroom was locked. None of the three teachers, the maintenance woman, nor the front office could find the key to open the classroom door. Finally, we got into the classroom, albeit twenty minutes late, and had a successful class. After another delicious smoothie from Thomas at Our Market Smoothies, we went back to school and finished off the day. For the most part, everyone’s classes went well, so we ended the week on a high note. Even so, I think everyone is relieved that the school week was over. In the afternoon, we visited Trunk Bay, where we saw fish, a sting ray, and yet another wedding. We bonded over burgers and fries at the end of the night. It was probably one of the smoothest running days we have had yet on this trip. Thursday
Today was our fourth day teaching and I think as a group we are really getting a hang of it. Today we taught two classes of fourth graders how to make a maze in scratch and a fifth grade class different activities and skills in scratch. I taught for the for the first time on Tuesday for our two forth grade classes and was very nervous for how it would go. The first class I wasn't really sure how to word things or how the kids would react to me. The teaching during the second class was much smoother. I knew what I could say to make the kids understand and had a better idea of how to manage my time. Today was the first day the kids really responded to us and approached us in the hallway with hugs and we're calling out our names. Seeing the kids really understand and enjoy what we are trying to teach them is so rewarding. I've had such an amazing time in just 4 days and can't wait to see what the rest of the trip will hold. Thursday
It's our 4th day of teaching here in St. John, and I'd say that we are all settling into our roles as both teachers and tourists pretty well! Today I was up in the front of the room at school teaching the 4th grade classes how to finish their maze projects, which was fun but chaotic. They were all in different places with their projects, so I had to balance letting the slower ones catch up with keeping up the pace for the quicker ones. Many of them have trouble being creative independently, but they are inquisitive and fun to work with. After school, we came back to the Cinnamon Bay beach to do a bit of snorkeling. We saw coral and schools of fish and also became bystanders at a very cute beach wedding! We have become adjusted to our surroundings well, but the second week of teaching ahead seems a little overwhelming. The relaxation time we have is quite beneficial to balance out the enjoyable but draining teaching hours. I'm looking forward to the activities that we have planned for the long weekend, such as sailing and snorkeling, but I am even more excited to start working with the 4th, 7th and 8th graders on their final projects! It will be interesting and rewarding to see what they come up with as they learn. Teaching the kids often seems like an arduous process, but they seem to get a lot out of us being there to teach them, and it’s great to get to expose them to my own interest in computer science. Thursday
Every time I do this trip, and this is now six years running, the last days of the first week are by far the hardest of the entire trip. The initial excitement has worn off. The reality of how hard this can be sets in. And everyone, including me, starts to wonder “how am I ever going to make it through another week of this?” Time for a pep talk! We had a great meeting tonight after a difficult day. At the meeting, we debriefed our day, trying to put it into perspective. Our fourth graders were scattered all across the spectrum from “never-saved-yesterday’s-project-and-had-to-start-over-again” to “finished-it-yesterday-and-need-an-extra-challenge.” To the girls, it felt like chaos, but when I walked around and saw the students work, they were all getting the project done, even if it was at vastly varying speeds. The fifth grade was no better, but here Ryan stepped in and reassured the team that these same students were orders of magnitude more difficult last year. She has the perspective of progress and was able to share that with them. The seventh and eighth grade students were only willing to do what we specifically asked them to do, which worked if their CSG “mentor” was really on top of them, coaxing them to continue their work. Not everyone was comfortable in that role, so progress was scattered. Part of what the girls are experiencing is facing a completely different culture around education. The students here, for the most part, come from families that are very different from their own. The kids are really good at following instructions when they are given step-by-step directions, but have a difficult time when they are asked to be creative, work on their own, or explore something to see what they can figure out by themselves. In contrast, when we taught CSG’s 4th and 5th graders, the students happily experimented with Scratch to discover new things about the program. Many of the kids here also crave attention, so their independence when it comes to learning is lacking. This makes for a challenging teaching situation. In our meeting we discussed all this, came up with solutions and plans, worked on examples to share and generally strategized on how to make it better. I am confident that tomorrow will go better, that our three-day weekend will renew everyone’s energy, and we will see great successes next week. Despite the stress, there was also some fun to be had. The sun was shining, the beach was gorgeous, and we all got a great life lesson from Thomas at Our Market Smoothies. I stayed up late (past all the wifi traffic) to upload a video of today’s life lesson to YouTube! http://youtu.be/EZa92lJiu2U It’s worth the six minutes. |