Flat Stanley's Adventures in Guam

Today "Flat Stanley" arrived for a visit from Pennsylvania. He has arrived to visit Guam so he can tell his friend, Bethany Pierce, all about it. It is part of a school project that Bethany is doing. Today I introduced him to some of my friends at the bible college. Then I took him to the biggest Kmart in the world. Of course it doesn't look much bigger, but I explained to Stanley that it has a basement the same size as the store above so they can store plenty of merchandise since everything has to be shipped in from the states.

Special Chapel

This past week on Wednesday was the beginning of the board meeting which ended today. To start of the meeting there was a "special" chapel. The Men and The Women each did a special number. The Board members were welcome. And Peter preached. Then all the faculty, staff, and the board enjoyed a nice lunch of Hot Dog Goulosh. A very interesting choice. But it wasn't actually as bad as it sounds.

It was especially very good to see my friend and old boss George Hege. I even volunteered to pick him up at 1am.

Spring Break

Less than a week to Spring break!!!! Wahoo!!!!!

Afterward only 5 weeks left in the semester..... Can you believe it?

Me either. Lots to do before the end, but I am looking forward to the break and the opportunity to catch up on my work for class.

Board Meeting

This week is the last week before Spring break. It is also the PIBC Board Meeting. Board Members from around the world will meet to talk about the future and direction of the school. I am looking forward to it.... Not just because we are having a special chapel and Peter is preaching (which I have heard he is good but I have not heard him preach before) And we will have a nice lunch with the board members. But I am excited to see one of my friends, George Hege who is a friend and the previous director of Liebenzell USA global missions who will perform his last official act from his prior role which he resigned in August 2006. The only thing that would make it better would be if his wife Linda were coming along for the ride.... but I will be excited to see someone from "home". So excited in fact that I promised to pick him up from the Airport at 1am.

Class Update

Midterms did not go as well as I would liked but I realized as I was making the test that I had covered much more material than I realized. Of course this being the first time I taught I am learning many things in hindsite. So in the end I had to curve the scores so that the range of grades were more reasonable.

This week the students are presenting on their temperament type as per the Keirsey Temperament Sorter. A personality test based on the Myers Briggs Indicator test. It groups the 16 personality types into 4 Temperament. Very similar to the DISC personality inventory and a few others that I have taken.

Unfortunately there are no students who ended up in the "Rational" -Very Intellectual/ Logical and Non-Emotional personality type. This does not surprise me too much since Micronesians are very relational and the those with a Rational personality type tend to be more of a loner. Of course I am sure there are probably some of that type that exist but not in the 24 students in my class.

However what this does mean is that I am not off the teaching hook for this week completely. I will have to present on the last temperament type. Although hopefully this week I will spend my time preparing at the pool. :o)

South Pacific

Last Saturday I went to see the Musical South Pacific. It was put on by the high school GATE program. This is an Arts program which brings together the Youth from all the high schools on Guam. Over all the musical was entertaining. In general South Pacific is not my favorite musical but it was well done for High school. Some parts - like the part of Bloody Mary was just well done period. However it was a bit weird to see Asian, and Islanders play the parts of the American Soldiers and the French man. There were a few Howlies (The local word for White people :o) in the play but most were in minor roles or the chorus.

Since there is not much in the way of the Arts here on Island - even High School productions draw a pretty decent crowd.

Oh Yes.... Some of you may remember me talking about Betelnut.... for those of you who also remember South Pacific - there is a Song about "Bloody Mary is the girl I love".....there is another line in the song that states that Bloody Mary chews Betelnut.

Vog

Today I learned a new word. And you guessed it! It is Vog. This is when Volcanic emissions combine with Fog. I have never had a use for this word before but this is the second time in less than 2 weeks that we have had Voggy conditions on the Island due to a volcano on some island near Saipan. It smells somewhat like rotten eggs. I am told there is also smoke due to some fires some place in Asia. Either way it just stank around here today and people were advised to stay indoors.

Leaping Lizards

This week as a group of guys were trying to eliminate a "Burn pit" outside of my apartment since it is now illegal to burn - they found this monitor lizard. He was pretty neat looking but I was not so anxious for him to stay were he was.

Friday Afternoon Shopping

Starting at about 1pm on Friday afternoon until about 7pm. I start shuttling students around shopping. From 1pm to almost 4pm, we go grocery shopping for weekend food for the students in the dorms. At 4:30pm we head to one of the two main shopping centers. This week we went to Guam Premiere Outlets. Here are some of the students who went with me.

Weekend Hangout

This little video store is about 4 miles from the school. On weekend nights often a van full of students will go with Peter to rent and return movies. I will also go on occassion, although this semester preparing for class often keeps me too busy to rent too much. Plus I get free rentals from Blockbuster when I drink Diet Coke. :o) The mystery is what will happen in the Fall when Peter goes back to Holland. Will the students still be able to get there and rent videos? Will U.A. go out of business without Peter? Hmmm.... I suppose only time will tell.

Tourist for a couple hours

On Wednesday, my "off", I decided to go to Tumon, the one area on island really made especially for the tourists. There are a bunch of high end stores including Cartier, Rolex, Fendi, Birkenstock, etc..... We even have a Planet Hollywood and a Hard Rock Cafe. For the most part I just took a stroll. But I did treat myself to a visit to "Underwater World". It is not as big as the Baltimore or Camden aquarium but it is quite delightful. You actually walk through a tunnel built through the aquarium. I also happened to see divers in the tank feeding the sharks and the MantaRays so they did not eat the exhibit. It was fun. I wanted to go for a swim but it was a bit too chilly. The woahs of winter on a tropical island. :o)

Suppose you were taking my midterm

Here are some things you would definately want to know......

When I passed out chocolate in class I was demonstrating or illustrating a behavioral concept from B.F. Skinner...... what was it?

In class I poured water from a full glass glass to another glass which was not full. You might want to know what cognitive (piaget) concept that illustrated.

You also might want to know what 4 factors effect observational learning.

Of course there are other things you will have to know....... but well these might be something you might want to know.

What's Wrong with this Picture?

You are probably wondering what is that big black object in the photo. It is not something magically floating in air. One thing I have learned is that Micronesians love to laugh and so they are always being silly and playing jokes. As I took this picture when we were waiting at the airport - another student told me to count to 3. So on three when I snapped the picture, he threw his "slipper" or flip flop to all you state siders into the picture.

Happy Birthday Sharon!

Today is Sharon's birthday. A number of her friends threw her a party and were nice enough to invite me. It was very nice.

Sharon is the leader of the student discipleship group that I attend. She is very sweet and smart. It is always a joy to spend time with her. She is always very encouraging to me.

So once again sweet Sharon, Happy Birthday! Apparently Ektor (one of our male students also had his birthday today. - Unfortunately I didn't know this until almost curfew and I didn't get to wish him a happy birthday - So Happy Birthday to you too Ektor.

Crystaleen's Vacation

Crystaleen left this week for a two week visit to her home island in Chuuk. I took her to the airport on Sunday. Chrystaleen always makes me laugh and is a huge help to me understanding the different cultures and the students. I miss her already. :o(

PIBC Travelling Ambassadors

Every Sunday there is a small team of students which travel from church to church and really are ambassadors for PIBC. They usually lead most of the service with music, testimonies, skits, and a short lesson. They are really quite gifted students. I am most regularly their driver - although sometimes I just drop them off and go to my church (especially when the service is not in English) and pick them up when they are finished. This last Sunday they went to Tamuning Christian Fellowship. As always they did a great job and were well received.

PIBC Clean Up

During the end of March and the beginning of April there is a big competition on campus to celebrate the founding of the school. Apparently there are sport's competitions, and times of spiritual renewal. There will aslo be food and all kinds of other fun activities planned for that time right before spring break. Or so I am told never having experienced a "PIBC Days" in the past. This year there is also a new competition. The campus has been split into 3 section and each team of students (There are 3 teams) have been assigned an area. They each are supposed to do work on a section of campus and "Beautify it"..... And during PIBC days the different areas will be judged. The students have been taking it very seriously and have been working pretty hard. These pictures are of Team "B"..... I will be part of Team "A". But I have stolen these pictures from Peter's blog. :o) I have no idea what he might have said about them since his blog is in Dutch.

Time for Midterms

Although some classes have already had their midterms, I take my midterm literally and have scheduled it for next Thursday March 15th which I calculated as the exact middle of the semester. Although those of you who are familiar with my math skills realize that it is not necessarily the case.....but regardless March 15th it is.

This week I am trying to prepare a study guide and plan to spend some time in review for the midterm during class.

Pray for my students that they might be diligent in their studies that they might be able to understand what they need to know for the midterm.

Discovery Day

I was listening to the Radio this afternoon while driving the students around and the DJ was talking about a 3 day weekend. I didn't have any idea what he could possibly be talking about. But Lo and Behold there is a Guam Holiday called Discovery Day on Monday.

Discovery Day symbolizes the landing of the Portuguese captain-general Ferdinand Magellan at Umatac bay on March 6, 1521. Sailing for the Spanish crown, Magellan stayed for three days on Guam before resuming his quest to circumnavigate the globe. A re-enactment and mini-carnival is held every year in Umatac around March 6, much to the delight of young and old. This year it is Sunday but the 1st Monday is the official government holiday.

We don't get the day off of school but aparently the DJ gets the day off. I will be curious to find out who else will be closed.

Hazy Daze

The air on Guam is generally some of the cleanest in the world -- thanks to the trade winds. But right now we have a cloud of smog hanging over the island. The Guam Office of Civil Defense has issued an advisory attributing the haze to dust from the Gobi Desert in China.

However, on Saipan, 150 miles north of us in the CNMI, they canceled school today because of haze there. And they're saying that it's coming from the volcano on Anatahan, which has been puffing a bit recently.Anathan is about 200 miles north of Guam and the volcano there suddenly appeared in May of 2003.

IOW, whether the haze is from China or Anathan it's looking a lot like LA in the 1970's.

The above comments are from my friend Brad's blog. He also said that one of the parents of one of our students is a meteorologist and she confirmed it is from the volcano. However the article in the Guam Pacific Daily News does not agree. Whatever the reason there is a haze over Guam for the last 2 days and could be for about another 2 days potentially unless the trade winds pick up. It is causing all kinds of respiratory problems. I for one was having problems before the haze and now am feeling pretty poorly with a sore throat and painful sinuses. :oP