A Birthday on the Beach

Birthday crew with the Tinkerbell cake

Happy Birthday, Sienna Johnston! Today, Sienna turned 3 years old. Her awesome cake (made by her mom and mom's friend) was Tinkerbell - a Barbie bedecked in fondant and pipecleaner wings. The cake looked awesome, tasted delicious, and was pawned off on strangers at the beach so nothing had to be taken home! The only downside to the cake, other than the kids who licked off the frosting and put back the cake, was the fact that the fondant melted very easily in the Antiguan temps. Oh well.

The festivities were held at Hawksbill Beach. A lovely place. You may see far in the background of the picture above a rock in the sea. This rock is said to be in the shape of a hawksbill turtle, the national sea creature of Antigua. Another fun fact: I had purchased a picture for my wall back in October. Hawksbill beach, resort, and rock are the subjects for my painting. Now I've seen the real thing. Cool.

A view of the beach from Hawksbill Resort;
looks like it could be in a brochure!

Ok, so Grady wasn't the birthday boy, but he's so cute!
Who could resist?

A Funeral

Though funerals are not the most cheerful of topics, Christians always find hope in the risen Savior. Here at St. John's Lutheran, the father and husband of some of our members fell asleep in Christ the day before Easter. The funeral was this past Monday. What a cultural experience!

The funerals in Antigua are rather unique. Because Antigua is such a small island with so many churches, many denominations come together at many times. In order to avoid fellowship issues, many churches have a time for tributes. The tributes for this funeral started at 2 (well, 2:20.... island time, you know). The church was packed, though the funeral did not start til 3. Friends, family, and coworkers came forward and sang songs, told stories, recounted inspiring events. Then at 3:10, the family came in the the casket. The service was full of songs, readings, a sermon, and a eulogy. The staff of the school sang a song, and the church choir sang as well. The service ran over an hour and a half. Perhaps the most striking difference happened right when we walked in the church. Each person who entered was given a pin to wear. The pin had a ribbon on it with the gentleman's name and the dates of his life.

What was the same? The sweet comfort of the gospel. No matter the language, no matter the customs, the message of the resurrection rings loud and strong to comfort all Christians.

What Does It Matter?

Sounds like a hopeless title. It's not because we have the certain hope of a place in heaven! We have that promise from our risen Savior and there is certainly no doubt about our future with Him!

As for the scientific definition of matter, Miss Rosenbaum's Gr. 2 class should be able to tell you that matter is something that "TAKES UP SPACE!!!" We have spent one week learning about the different states of matter. This next week we will review... But! The academic highlights from this scintillating subject include oobleck and song.

Oobleck - originally a character from a Dr. Suess book, now a common primary school science experiment. What is oobleck? you ask. I'll tell you! 2 parts cornstarch, 1 part water (food coloring if you dare)... mix it all together and what do you get?! A substance that can flow like a liquid but when poked or acted on by a force, acts like a solid. Which is it? Neither! It is a non-newtonian fluid. Not that you cared, but now you know. Very easy to make and quick to clean up. It is also very amusing to play with.

Song - below you will find the song our class has learned to help us remember details about the 3 states of matter. It is to the tune, "She'll Be Coming Around the Mountain When She Comes". I will admit some of the lines are a little awkward, but hopefully in the years to come, my students will recall this song with fondness and a growing understanding about that weird subject Miss Rosenbaum kept going on about...

There are three states of matter, yes there are! (clap, clap, clap)

There are three states of matter, yes there are! (clap, clap, clap)

Solid, liquid, and gas, you don’t even need to ask,

There are three states of matter, yes there are! (clap, clap, clap)

First a solid never changes in its shape (clap, clap, clap)

They stay firm, never flow, they’re really great (clap, clap, clap)

You can see them all around you, and I’m sure they will astound you

Solid matter can be found in any place (clap, clap, clap)

Next the liquids flow into the space they find (clap, clap, clap)

They don’t keep their shape, but we don’t really mind (clap, clap, clap)

Some are wet and some are slimy, now there’s no need to be whiny

Liquid matter is a very slippery kind (clap, clap, clap)

Last, not least, we have the gases, and you know (clap, clap, clap)

It’s impossible to hold them, even so (clap, clap, clap)

You can smell them, sometimes see them, and can definitely breathe them,

Gaseous matter can be felt when wild winds blow (clap, clap, clap)

There are three states of matter, yes there are! (clap, clap, clap)

There are three states of matter, yes there are! (clap, clap, clap)

Solid, liquid, and gas, you don’t even need to ask,

There are three states of matter, yes there are! (clap, clap, clap)

The liquid and gas begin to mix more and more as the humidity rises here on the island. I am grateful school is drawing to a close for the simple fact that soon it will be very uncomfortable to stay in a classroom all day. But it will be a bittersweet ending...

A Break from School

Julie, Jen, Peter, and me at Sting Ray City

You may or may not be aware that I do not do a very good job of putting things out of mind, especially when it comes to school. I overthink many things, and my weekends are often full of lesson planning, copying worksheets, and other school-related activities. This week was an enormous blessing! We did not have class. Julie's sister and brother-in-law (Jen and Peter) were visiting from Milwaukee. We had tons to do and lots of time to enjoy one another's company. And did I think about school? Nope! =)

The Kite Festival on Easter Monday at Devil's Bridge

Devil's Bridge

On Monday we did Sting Ray City, Devil's Bridge (and their kite festival), and Long Bay beach. Tuesday we did souvenir shopping in town and a church service for the Caribbean Conference. Wednesday I helped watch the children of the called workers visiting for the Caribbean Conference. (Those lovely gentlemen and their families included Pastor Johnston, Pastor Sternhagen, Pastor Richards (Antigua), Pastor Soukup (Grenada), Pastor Spiegelberg, Pastor Ramgolam, Mr. Landwehr (St. Lucia), Pastor Kehl (Wisconsin), and DP Pastor Guse (Georgia). Wednesday night was lots of food and fellowship. Thursday, Julie, Jen, Peter, and I purchased a day pass for the Sandals Resort: all you can eat/drink, use of their pools, beach, watersports, and other assorted activities. More fellowship on Thursday and Friday nights - even a brat grillout!!! Just a lovely, lovely week. It's a little hard and a little sad to be thinking that the week has come to a close and that school starts again on Monday, BUT I have been recharged, I'm excited for the next science unit, and I only have 7 weeks left in my first year of teaching. Am I even old enough to be saying that?!?! I guess I am...

From the front...

A view from the top

 And the most unique highlight from the week? I got my hair plaited! (pronounced platted) Yeah! The girlfriend of a friend's son took over an hour and a half to put braids in my hair. Everyone who sees me says they love my hair and think I look like a local. =) Put that together with my recent tan and I am ready!

Posting a Video

My goodness, our internet is ridiculously slow. At first I had believed that my computer just wasn't up to the task of uploading videos. Come to find out, it's the internet speed. The time it took to upload this lovely shot? It didn't load! So sad. It was going to be a video of our steel pan group from Easter, but I guess it was not meant to be.

Antiguan Eastertime

Sunrise on Easter morning, looking out over St. John's, AU

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Isn't it awesome how that greeting rings 'round the world on Easter morning?! I was up at 4:15 am so I could make it up to church for 5. My pan group played the music for our sunrise service on the lawn in front of church. However, before we could set up all the pans, we needed to carry out the pew benches for the people to sit. As we were in the process of bringing the benches out of the church, it began to rain...

Apparently it never rains on Easter. Ever. Apparently it always rains on Good Friday. But this year there was no precipitation on Good Friday. What follows? Rain on Easter! Fortunately, the rain tapered off about 5:40. We were able to finish moving pews and setting up the pans as people were arriving. We opened the service in true Antiguan style: at 6:15 (instead of 6), playing Iron Band - each person playing a different metal percussion instrument in a certain rhythm. It was pretty cool, not gonna lie. Pan played the 4 hymns and the offering. We thought we might get rained out during the sermon when it began to sprinkle, but thankfully the Lord decided we could finish up our service. One of the coolest parts of the service was the confirmation of 3 adults, proclaiming their trust and commitment to God in front of the congregation.

Afterwards we had breakfast: bakes, saltfish, cassi, okra, pumpkin, salad, bread, hard-boiled eggs, boiled plantains, juice, and fruit. Not exactly a typical American Easter brunch, but all very nice.

     We came home after breakfast, then went back up to
church for the Festival service at 11. The highlight of that service was a baptism. All that was missing from the day was holy communion! It was such a blessing to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord with my brothers and sisters here in Antigua. What an amazing experience! It is certainly one I will take with me wherever I go.

Field Trip!!!

Field trips are always fun! Crazy, though, so I decided I would put all the craziness of a field trip with the craziness of school during Holy Week. Tuesday 26 kids, and 2 teachers piled into a bus and travelled the Liat air hanger. What an experience! After trading my U.S. drivers license for a security badge, we entered the compound and learned about plane maintenance. The first plane we saw was undergoing a "C-check" - the plane was completely gutted, taken apart to check and rebuild everything. Seating, wiring, tires, engines, propellers.... you name it!

Then we went and toured the workshops, seeing everything from propellers to engines completely taken apart and in the process of being checked and rebuilt. One of my students was especially fascinated by all the electrical work. Future engineer?!

We finished off the tour by sitting on an actual plane that was just having general maintenance. We even got to peek in at the cockpit! We had lunch under the trees as we waited for our bus to take us back to school to finish off the week.

Palm Sunday

  Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Today we celebrate our Lord's triumphant entry into Jerusalem, just days before His betrayal, trial, suffering, death, and, best of all, His resurrection. St. John's Lutheran Church truly takes up the spirit of Palm Sunday, placing palms at the ends of pews, tying them to the pulpit and lecturn, and arching branches over the altar.

  Like many other Lutheran churches, Palm Sunday is Confirmation Sunday. In place of the normal Bible Study hour, the 9 confirmands (7th grade age) answered questions in front of congregation members. Some young people shot up their hands with each question; others needed a little more convincing and coaxing to offer and answer. After their rite of confirmation, they were welcomed up to the communion table, declaring their fellowship and faith to all those present. What a joy to see these young Christians as they grow in their walk with the Lord!

Teacher Appreciation Day

This past Friday St. John's Lutheran observed Teacher Appreciation Day. (In conjunction, we also observed Book Character Day, which made the day rather crazy.) I was blessed to receive many "Thank you, Teacher" greetings and doubly blessed to receive a few gifts. One gift was even given to me by a 3rd grade parent, though I am the 2nd grade teacher! Such kindness!

In chapel, the chairman of the school board presented us each with a certificate in "recognition of appreciation." It was a very formal presentation by him, met by raucous cheering from the student body. At lunch, the administration had found parents to come and supervise our children for an hour while the teachers came up to the extra classroom to eat a nice lunch. It was all very lovely, a nice break from routine and a pleasant opportunity for the students to tell their teachers thank you.