I don't tutor on Mondays, because that is still Sunday in the states, and my students need to have all weekend free from school. On Monday, I started the day out right, spending time with God, then I went walking around 6AM, in the dark, before it got hot. Rob walked with me too, but I must say, it is hard to get him out of bed to enjoy the quiet part of the morning outside. So I am really thankful when he does come.
I spent some time doing housework, sweeping, cleaning the bathroom a bit, and doing some laundry. I have a real wash machine and dryer here.
Then I starting doing what I really wanted to do, drawing and painting some of the fish I saw on Sunday, at Piti Bomb Hole Marine Preserve. The fish and coral are thriving there now because no fishing or boating is allowed in the marine preserve. This was not true in the 1970's. I read that the ocean floor was red clay sediment washed down the river and into this bay from housing development. It is amazing that this area recovered. Protection does make a difference. The places to the right and left of the preserve are not healthy ecosystems.
Monday night I drawing and painting the butterflyfish. I really enjoyed studying what each species looked like. I looked at my photos and at online references to come up with my drawings. As I drew and added color I noticed things that I had not noticed just by looking at the fish or their photographs. Drawing really increases the power of observation. And please don't tell me you can't draw so you might as not try. I spent most of my life without my current skills. My skills do not come by natural talent. I did not have drawing or art classes as a kid. I can draw now because I started taking watercolor classes at the community college when I was in my late 30's. Drawing has not come easy for me. I have these skills as a result of putting in time and effort. If you want to draw, you can. Start putting in time and effort. Your skills will improve over time.
Monday was very pleasant, but Tuesday was a marathon. I tutored my remote students online until noon. Then I drove into town and met my college friend, Tina for lunch at Pieology. That was an interesting place. It has some similarities to Mod Pizza, in that you choose your crust, and then you walk past a display of toppings and you tell them which ones to put on your pizza. They then put your pizza into a pizza oven and cook it for you. There was an endless like of people, mostly Asian tourists coming through. Tina and I were able to grab a table and be able to sit down and eat also. Not everyone could do that. It was very pleasant catching up on life and our kids and such. We hope to meet each other at least once a week and go walking on the beach together.
After we were finished, I went to Glenda's house and traded cars. She gave me her car to use helping Marseni, a chuukese woman, practice driving so she can get her driver's license. She has many grandchildren, but she is still depending on people to take her places, even to work. I'm not sure how I got involved in the, but Marseni needs help, and I've recently survived teaching two teenagers how to drive. Other people are taking terms helping her too. I will meet up with her tomorrow and we are going to drive. I hope that all goes well and that there are no accidents. I hear she has problems changing lanes and getting through intersections.
Next I went to Amy's house and we drove around picking up 8 girls out of Agat village who were going to come to Amy's for swimming, supper and a Bible study. Four of the girls were the ones who were baptised on Sunday. The other ones are girls who decided they want to be baptised too. It was very interesting to see where they lived. I heard that at one house, there were four famlies living there. One family per room. With all the kids involved, that makes 16 to 20 people sleep there any given night. But how else are they going to pay the rent. Guam's current minimum wage is 8.75. Housing expenses are high. Food costs are very high. There is no way to live on that amount of money unless you have a shack in the jungle or something and no rent. But if you have kids, one minimum wage job is not enough to sustain everyone.
Once we got the girls to Amy's house, we walked down the driveway, across Marine Drive (the highway around the island) and out into the water. The ground in the water is slippery red silt. If there are fish there, I didn't see them. Though there was an old man walking around with an old style fishing net. The water was very shallow, but there is a swimming hole out there. They are wondering if it was created by a bomb back in WWII. Who knows. It is deep enough to actually swim there, and there is a rock in the middle you can climb up on if you need to rest. I didn't swim this time, but rather watched, trying to get to know the names. Some of the girls wanted to go back early, so I walked them back to Amy's and they got started on showers. Showers took a long time. I just changed my shorts because I wasn't that wet and didn't want to contribute to the slow transition time.
Amy was making spagheti for supper, and had frozen bananas so the girls could make smoothies. She wanted popcorn too, but discovered she was out. So I ran to the nearest store to get some, only to discover the only popcorn at Kim Chee Market was microwave popcorn, and Amy doesn't have a microwave. By the time I got back the girls had eaten most of the food. I made myself a small smoothie, but it was enough, because I had such a nice big pizza to eat at lunch.
Then it was time for the Bible Study. The four girls who were baptized were really interested and involved. One of them really had memorized the Bible verse from last week and were willing to pray too. But the new girls didn't know what was really going on, and were playing and distracting everyone else.
Amy isn't sure what she is going to do, but eight girls are too many to have over at one time. The four who were just baptised need nurtured, and the other four need Bible studies of the basics. And there are two boys who are interested, but it may not be a good idea to mix the girls and boys. Amy is going to pray about what to do so all have their needs met.
When we were done there, the girls had to be driven back home. That is the other problem. Most of the time she has only her car, so only four can come at a time. When I'm there she can take 8 kids. I was so tired when I was done about 8:30. When I got back to AWR, I couldn't get into the gate. I didn't have the remote. I had left it in my car when I traded for Glenda's car. Rob wouldn't answer phone or texts. The code I had was wrong and didn't work. So eventually I had to call someone else to let me in the gate. I felt bad that they had to drive to the gate to get it open for me. I didn't get to my house until about 9:00 PM. And I was so frustrated.
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