23!

My chalkboard

Last week on Tuesday was my 23rd birthday! It just happened to coincide with teacher appreciation week at school, so I told my students that they had to be double appreciative.

Teacher appreciation week was pretty awesome in itself. Each of the classes--freshman, sophomores, juniors, and seniors--were in charge of one day of the week, so the freshman had Monday, etc. Then on Friday everyone got the day off. In the mornings the students gave teachers ulas made of candy as they entered the office. An ula is the equivalent of a lei. They can be made out of flowers or candy by wrapping the candies in plastic wrap and tying them together with ribbon. Then breakfast was provided for the teachers in the library before classes started. I use the term breakfast lightly because it was really a massive spread of food ranging from donuts to tuna sandwiches to spaghetti. Of course there were always at least 5 different kinds of meat/processed meat product (spam anyone?). The class was also in charge of providing lunch for the teachers. This was not quite as elaborate and consisted of a styrofoam container of meat and rice and maybe some other stuff delivered to your room at the beginning of lunch.

The girl next to me made me a cake!

Since my birthday was on Tuesday, this meant it was the sophomores' day for teacher appreciation week. I teach freshmen, sophomores, and juniors, but I teach the most sophomores and they are probably my favorite class. When we were in the library eating breakfast, they surprised me with a cake with candles that said "happy birthday" and everyone sang happy birthday to me. It was a chocolate cake with chocolate and peanut butter frosting and was delicious! I shared it with my first period because the girl who had made the cake was in that class, and we ate cake while we watched a movie on my laptop because "Miss, we should relax on your birthday!"

So we relaxed all day, and I got various presents of candy ulas, flower ulas, brownies, and cupcakes. We watched movies and played cards. I love playing card games and I've started playing Speed, a game that I've played in the States, and Sweepie, a new game that I've learned here from my students. My favorite part of Sweepie is the way that all Samoans throw down there cards to make a satisfying slapping sound when they hit the table or desk. This is the part I've had to practice the most. I also enjoy how they call the cards "pepas" (papers). I have a Sweepie rivalry with one of the seniors. He's from Tap Town (Taputimu) and, as you can see from the chalk board photo, I rep 2L or Tuala (Vailoa). I have not managed to beat him yet, but I have been practicing for our next rematch.

Also in the morning while I was in the library enjoying breakfast, Amber came to ask me for my classroom key "for no reason." When I got to my classroom after breakfast, I saw that they had decorated the door with construction paper that said "Manuia le aso fanau, Abby!" which means "Happy Birthday" in Samoan. They also taped up some ribbons and some baby decorations of giraffes and zebras (Thanks Quinn!), and there were balloons decorating the room. It was beautiful!

So goodbye 22! It was an excellent year. 23 is looking pretty good, too.