Top Of the World!

            Last week, three volunteers left the island for good. It is weird to think about the fact that they are gone but I can certainly understand why they left. Being so far away from friends and family, trying to teach kids that, more often than not, don’t act like they want to learn and dealing with daily struggle of living on less than minimum wage can really wear you down. It is a struggle and, to be honest, I can’t blame them for coming to the conclusion that there are more important things that they need to be doing with their time. My only hope is that we don’t lose any more volunteers. Over the past 4 months (to the day), I believe that our group has really bonded and I would hate to see anyone else miss out on the amazing experiences that I am sure are still to come.

the group at the start of the trail

Anyways, before Kate and David, the couple from the UK, left, they wanted to hike the Mount ‘Alava Trail which is the second most difficult hike on the island (second to the Mount ‘Alava Adventure Trail…same destination, a lot more actual climbing). So a group of us got together on Saturday to rise to the challenge.

The peak of Mount ‘Alava is 1610 ft above sea level. Luckily, the trail starts at about 500 ft and we managed to hitch a ride all the way to that point. Since the trail runs through the National Park, it is rather wide and not too steep in order to accommodate National Park Service vehicles. What makes the trail so difficult is that it runs about 3 miles along the mountain ridge and, being situated in a rainforest, is extremely muddy. While the hike is supposed to take 2 hours, we clocked our ascent at 1 hr 45 mins. Ok, maybe a lot of people round but I think that is pretty impressive.

Unfortunately, I can’t really describe what I saw on the hike up because, to be honest, I wasn’t really paying attention. It is true that I’ve been here long enough to no longer be fazed by being surrounded by jungle but the reality is that I rarely had a chance to look up. With all of the mud and wet rocks, one false step could’ve landed me face down with a broken wrist or a twisted ankle (I only fell backwards once but caught myself rather quickly). The only choice was to stay focused on my feet. It was rather painful on the neck.

View of Pago from 2/3 of the way up

Of course, I did stop and look up occasionally. Being on the ridge, we were able to see both the North and South side of the island along with miles of open ocean. On our way back down, it was so clear that we could see the ~53 miles to Western Samoa (since they are on the other side of the International Dateline, it was like looking into the future. We could wave to Sunday!)  

Stairs to the Top

The most spectacular part of the hike was, undoubtedly, the peak. After walking for what seemed like hours, surrounded by forest on all sides, the canopy opened to a view of the radio (I think they are radio) towers that rest at the top of the mountain.  Only about 100 yards away, I hastened my walk to catch up with the rest of the group that was already climbing the stairs to the towers.

Tower in the Clouds

When we reached the top, we were a bit disappointed. Clouds had rolled in below us and blocked our view of the villages 1650 feet below. Knowing that clouds move (a commonly understood phenomenon), we sat ourselves on top of the rusted old machine that use to run the cable car that crossed the harbor, ate our lunches (I had a bag of peanuts), and waited…and waited…and waited.

This machine use to pull the cable car

Since our patience didn’t seem to be yielding any positive results, a part of the group decided to explore the top a bit more. What they discovered was that we hadn’t actually completed the trail and that, on the other side of the tower was a fale (traditional Samoan house) with a sign-in book. We all signed our names and wrote “World Teach 2012”. We also discovered that the view had finally cleared and, so, picture taking ensued. After taking a group picture, we made our descent.

View when the clouds cleared

The descent wasn’t all that bad. Only took us about an hour and fifteen minutes but I was famished. Having only eaten a handful of peanuts in 5 hours, I had to get some food in me before I passed out. Unfortunately, despite eating a huge plate of Hawaiian BBQ, when I got home, I still needed to take a nap. I was so drained that I slept for the next 3 hours. Even though it took a lot out of me, I really enjoyed the hike. Spending so much time cooped up in my classroom and my house, it felt great to get out and really accomplish one of the many goals I set for myself at the beginning of the year. While the Adventure Trail is also on that list, I don’t think I’ll be doing that one any time soon. EVENTUALLY!

the group sitting under the fale at the top

As for my classroom, I think I finally reached “real classroom” status last Tuesday (Luckily, I didn’t have my formal WorldTeach evaluation until Wednesday). Nope, I’m still teaching in a room that was built as a chemical storage room. BUT, about a month ago, they fixed the air conditioning. Oh, what a joyous day that was. I was the only one still in the building when they fixed it and I immediately called one of my co-workers to have her spread the news. It made all of our days. Then, on Tuesday, I finally got tables and chairs. As my college roommates know, I love arranging furniture so, after school that day, I got right to it (I had to restrain myself from starting at lunch time). A couple of my students came after school to help me and, within a half hour, my room was transformed into a classroom. Yes, I know that a classroom isn’t defined by four walls, AC, desks and chairs but, hey, those things don’t hurt!

My classes have definitely been getting better. My students are really starting to get a hang of my expectations for them and I am slowly getting better at tailoring my lessons and expectations to their needs. For instance, a lot of my students have an attendance problem which means that they miss a lot of work. Last quarter, I would occasionally remember to remind students that they were missing work but, if they weren’t there that day, they would find out what they were missing. So, I put up a “missing work” board. I update it weekly (at least) and it lets the students know how much work they are missing. If they want to know the precise work, they need to come see me at lunch or after school.  So far, it is working a little bit better but, with everything, there is a learning curve. Slow and steady, right?

As the Thanksgiving weekend approaches, I will be headed to Manu’a (the smaller group of islands that make up American Samoa). I won’t be in contact from Wednesday to Sunday (at the earliest…the plane is a bit iffy with its schedule). So, I would just like to wish everyone reading this a Happy Thanksgiving. I am thankful for all of you! (except for you…you know who you are.)

Before I conclude, I would like to leave you with my favorite student quote thus far. This one comes from one of my Reading students when she discovered that our topic of discussion for the day was “how to conjugate the verb ‘To Have’”

“But, Mr. Feak, we teached verbs in English class!” :) Oh, my students!