I am missing everyone today. I received several emails from some of the volunteers I served with in Uganda. Some of them are doing well, but many are still searching for work and all. I'm probably the one with the most stable job. I never realized how much these people meant to me in my life. Reading their emails has flooded me with emotions, and I'm quite sad to be so far away from all of them. There's no meeting in Bulgolobi on Friday night for pizza or catching a movie at Cineplex when we are passing through town.

I put up walls to keep people at a distance, to keep me from getting attached and protect my heart from getting ripped apart. Occasionally, someone gets over the wall. I found the best friends I ever had over the past three years, and it was only a fairytale that endend when I woke up and boarded that plane on 11th May 2005.

Getting on with life and figuring out where I'm going now is what my new challenge is. It's not so bad, but I'm looking for that niche that I once found where I fit for once.

I'm a student again! I began a course yesterday with the University of Hawaii on curriculum development . GO ME!!! I hope that before the summer I will have my teacing certificate. I really need this course. The obvious reason is to get certified and learn how to be a better teacher, blah, blah, blah. . . Another very important reason is that it gives me a chance to meet new people. I need to expand my circle of friends here. It is so important for me to find more like-minded individuals, people with personalities that are fun to me, and, most importantly, people who get me and will support me when I need it. I also wanted to meet more Samoans. Like I said before, I respect other cultures, and being friends with people who are Samoan gives me an invalualbe opportunity to learn and understand.

I'm in the middle of a four-day weekend. Not only do I get Labor day off, but the school's director cancelled our in-service meeting set for Tuesday and gave us that day off as well. It is a well needed break. School's only been in for a month, but I'm exhausted. Teaching is a lot of work.

On Friday, the mother of two of my students came to observe my class. She's been on me since the first week of school to set up a day when she could observe my class. I still am not sure what she wanted to see. Friday was the day set up for her to visit. She bought her boys to school and stayed for the first two subjects and was then ready to leave. I tried to make her as welcome and comfortable as possible during her visit. I offered he a seat, but she refused it. All in all, I think the visit was ok. I think that she just wanted to check out the new teacher. He boys are also new at this school. She had a couple of questions about curriculum and outside time for the children. Then she asked me if I made lesson plans. What was that supposed to mean? Anyone who has ever talked with me knows that I have a tendency to ramble, but I don't think my lessons went that far off course that morning. The little devil sitting on my shoulder tempted me to tell her, "No, I just pull everything out of my butt as I go along," but the angel sitting on my other shoulder had me respond with a kinder truth. Did I have lesson plans? Timothy Hatcher always has a plan.

Disaster struck on Saturday. I dropped my phone in the water! I was climbing the side of a cliff to get a better shot of some waves with my camera, and my phone fell from my swim suit into the bay. As quickly as I could, I climbed back down and jumped into the water to retrieve it. It was only under the water for a few seconds, but that seems to be enough to ruin it. I immediately took the battery off and set it out to dry, hoping that it would work later. My friend Charles dropped his phone in water while washing dishes. It stopped working, but after letting it dry, it was fine. I hoped that was the case.

When we go home, I took Cristy's blow dryer and tried to dry the phone even more. I put the battery back on and tried to switch the phone on. The lights came on, and it began to vibrate. I think I must've shorted it out because nothing comes on anymore. Nicole works with the mobile phone company. She is going to take it to work with her on Tuesday. She assures me that the technicians will be able to repair it. I hope so. It made me so sick to see it under the water. Everything is overpriced here on the island, especially electronics. I paid about $350 for this phone, and I don't know when I'll have enough money to buy another one.

This evening, Sunday, Cristy and I were stuck for hours at the laundry mat. We got there, and there were several washers available. We were happy because we thougth that this would be an in and out deal. We each only had two loads to wash. What I failed to realized when we arrived was that these two guys ahead of us had about 10 loads to dry and were waiting for dryers to be available. We ended up waiting about two hours for these two to finish so we could get access to a dryer. The silver lining to this cloud is that it gave me time to finish reading the book my class is reading, The Captive, by Joyce Hansen. I now have all the questions I need for class and to make worksheets, and I have the vocabulary words for the next three weeks!

What joy will the next two days of holiday bring?