Things are going well here in American Samoa. I have only 3 weeks left teaching - that's 14 school days left, but who's counting? Second semester has flown by. Going home for winter break was wonderful, and then I spent most of January and February coaching track and field for the Tafuna High School team. We had a lot of inexperienced runners and athletes, but we slowly improved enough to win second place overall in the island-wide meet. Quite a feat for us. Here are some photos of the girls.
After track was over, March came around which featured midterm exams and spring break. For spring break, ten of my friends and I went to Western Samoa, which is an island country only about a 30 minute plane ride away. For the trip, we rented a house right outside of the main city of Apia. The trip was a wonderful reprieve from the rigors of school. We went swimming, snorkeling, sliding off waterfalls, exploring caves and experienced our fair share of the Samoan nightlife. One day, some of the boys also went to the local fish market, bought a shark for the equivalent of 2 USD and then made shark soup (with the help of our landlady). Very good vacation.
Since April, I have just been enjoying myself and trying to get the most out of this place as possible. Two of my friends and I played in a tennis tournament at the local tennis club, and that was very fun. Kelly and I actually made it to the women's doubles semi-finals. I've also been doing a lot of hiking and beach faring. There is only so much time left and so many things to do!
As I said before though, there are only 14 days of school left and although it will be bittersweet to leave here, I am excited because I have so many plans for the summer. Here is the schedule for the summer:
June 6th - Leave American Samoa
June 7th - Arrive in Honolulu and spend one day there
June 8th - 12th - Travel to Kauai
June 12th - June 22nd - Back to Honolulu and then maybe to the Big Island
Wooohoo! My mom's coming to visit in Hawaii. It should be an awesome time exploring Honolulu and Oahu - going to Pearl Harbor, hiking, kayaking, art museums - and then traveling out to the Big Island. On the Big Island, we're going to go to Volcanic National Park and see some of the active volcanoes over there. Should be a very exciting/relaxing trip with lots of good food!
June 22nd - July 10th - CHINA!
I got accepted into a quasi teaching program in China for a few weeks over the summer so I'll be traveling over there. We're going to be in Beijing, Hangzhou and then Shanghai (where we'll go to the World Expo). Then I really want to travel to a smaller city outside Shanghai named Suzhou that is renowned for its gardens, landscaping and beautiful temples. And then it's off too...
July 10th - July 21st - Vietnam/Thailand!
Steve and I are going to be doing some traveling after the program and we are planning on visiting northern Vietnam. I'm very eager to go to Halong Bay, which is one of UNESCO protected sites and is very beautiful. We also might travel over to Thailand now that the protests have subsided, but that decision is still in the making.
July 21st - July 25th - Travel back to Shanghai, to Honolulu and then on to Boston!
At long last, I will make it back to Boston by the end of July. I'm looking forward to spending the end of summer on the Cape, catching a Red Sox game, watching Lindsay in the camp show and reacquainting myself with the good old margarita maker.
September 4th - 7th - Head out to Wyoming for the Doyle wedding
I'll be heading back west to meet up with my old NC crew for Jamie Doyle's wedding near Jackson Hole.
And that's really the end of my summer fun... Once I finish all that in September, I'll have to take the MCAT and find a job. Yikes. But I have a good little short term schedule that should work out pretty nicely. I'm very much looking forward to my travels and to sharing them with all of you. I'll email you whenever I add something here, or just feel free to check it whenever. Not that I would ever assume that you have nothing better to do than check my blog...
I hope that all of you are well. I miss home, but I'll get there eventually. See you all soon!
No comments:
Post a Comment