Constellations

There's something supremely satisfying in the combination of a starry Waialua sky and a slice of Chocolate Haupia Pie from Ted's Bakery. Something powerful enough to lift you right out of any slump, stress, or problem in your life. The whip cream, chocolate, and coconut flavor keep your taste buds occupied while you gaze at the constellations and listen to the sounds of the ocean in the distance.

After finally closing the books on our old place, we were left with some excess furniture. The only thing we ended up keeping was this little desk, which I put out on our back lanai (porch). At night I can come out here and do a little work on the computer while taking breaks to look up at the stars. During the day, I can enjoy a fresh breeze and watch the wild chickens scramble around our yard and the neighbor's field. Add a little Jack Johnson in the background and you're truly North Shore living.

I'm really enjoying the new place and all it has to offer. That's not to say that the job's getting any easier. They just simply keep adding new kids into my class. In order for self-contained special education classes to work, you need to keep the numbers down around 8-12 kids. Fifteen max. We're pushing 20 right now. Every single one of these students needs individual attention... but who's going to give it to them when there are 19 other students who also need it? I'm worried that we're not giving these kids any of the things on their IEPs...every week, as the new students trickle in, this class becomes more and more like a general education classroom. In fact, I know that some of the other English teachers who teach gen-ed actually have smaller classes than mine right now.

But if there's on thing I've learned from this experience so far, it's that for situations like this, you have two choices. The first is to complain. We had a kid in our corps who also taught SPED (I'm just going to refer to him as Furious George) and complained about everything. Any sort of adversity was accompanied by a legion of whining. He lasted a month out here as a resource teacher until he actually had to deal with students. Then he was gone. Your second choice is to step up and just do it. That phrase is so cliche, but it really does make sense. I have to find a way to make this work, because a lot of options have already been explored, and it looks like I'm going to be stuck with the "Terrible Twenty" for quite some time.

The best part is that I love these kids. Together, they're incredibly difficult to handle, but I'm so invested in them. I just want them to do well, pure and simple. Plus, we watched a movie today, and every single on of them was engaged and sitting still for over an hour. So it is possible. I'm just going to have to work my tail off to figure out how to make every single one of my lessons as exciting as a movie. But in time, I think I can do it.

Let's throw all the Teach For America stats, figures, acronyms, and theories aside for a second. When it comes down to it, you can either turn away and complain about everything like Furious George, or you can look your problem in the face, be a hero, and live every day like it's Shark Week. I think I'll try the second route.

Surviving the storm

Winter's rainy season in Hawaii has arrived. On Friday, a large fleet of clouds drifted over all of the islands. Weather forecasts warned for flash floods and thunder storms. That night, the clouds opened up as predicted and we were treated to a pretty cool storm. The new house is really open, with vaulted ceilings and the front wall pretty much just a screen. So when it rains, it sounds really cool. The rain poured down all night and I woke up occasionally just to listen to it pounding down on the roof above me.

It finally stopped sometime Saturday afternoon. We went to the Hawaii football game and did some good tailgating thanks to a tent that kept us dry. There weren't as many tailgaters as usual (I don't think Hawaiians like the rain much at all), but the group next to us was really nice. They kept bringing us over plates of their local food such as barbecued squid and Portuguese bean soup. It was all delicious. However, I don't think they were too satisfied when we tried to reciprocate the favor by giving them some traditional mainland tailgating dishes like steaks and bratwursts. After bringing over some sort of tropical corn bread, they asked us not to send any more of our food to them.

The game was pretty good and UH destroyed Idaho. I'm excited to see how next week's game goes against the Cougs. This week should be an easy one with only two and a half days of instruction and then Thursday and Friday off for Thanksgiving. I hope everyone has a great Turkey day and I'll be thinking of you out here.

The Move to Paradise

I'm sitting on a lanai (deck) looking out at my new backyard and listening to the sound of birds chirping and the ocean in the distance. I bet you're wondering how I got here...

Not surprisingly, Tim and Crista, two of my roommates, decided to move down south to Ko'Olina to be closer to their schools. It was definitely a logical choice, but it complicated the living situation. Amanda and I either had to find a new roommate or move somewhere else. Last week, as we were searching for potential roommates and new places, I got an email from 07 corps member and GU alumni Kyle Bond with a link to a posting on Craigslist for a large house in Mokuleia, a rural area a few miles down the road. The plan: Amanda and I would move in with Kyle and his current roommate Greg to this new place.

Kyle and I went and checked it out the next day, and we were impressed to say the least. The landlord was impressed with us (he was tired of renting it out as a vacation home to wild and jobless surfers), and a week later, we were moving in. Everything happened really fast and it's hard to believe all the luck we had.

The peaceful Olohio Road, the street we live on

The house, property, location, and roommate situation are all optimal. Since first seeing this area back in May, I always thought that if I could live on any spot on the island, this would be it. It's tucked away towards the farthest corner of the island, and it's very very country. The houses are spread out and there is very little traffic. It's also very green and lush, and roosters and chickens run around the yards freely. Mount Ka'ala in the backdrop makes for a very postcard scene.

The house is just as amazing as the area. It's very big, with vaulted ceilings and an open living room. It's fully furnished, and there's a dishwasher. I share the master suite with Kyle, and it's gigantic. Kyle moved his bed from his old house, but I kept the bed that was here. It's a king, which is about 3 times bigger than the bed I was sleeping in before. Even with a king and full-sized bed, two desks, two leather chairs, and a bunch of other stuff, there's still a lot of space. There's a very green yard with a wrap-around lanai. Oh yeah, and there's a hot tub.

Yesterday, I was the first to get home and I still didn't have a house key. I was locked out, and at first I didn't know what to do. Then I grabbed my shorts and a towel and walked down to the beach, which is a couple blocks away. On my way back, I took in the peacefulness and beauty of my surroundings. This is the Hawaii that I've always dreamed of.