Back to school

I have spent the last week getting to know the school staff, decorating my room, and planning my classes. I have 3 classes: 8, 9, and 19 students (Spanish 1, mostly 11-12 graders). I also have a homeroom class of nine 9th graders. In homeroom we take them outside to do 30 minutes of exercise every morning at 9:30am, part of the health and wellness program. Our school is trying to lower the levels of obesity of youth on the island, and so is doing this mandatory exercising and also restricts the students to drinking just water while on campus. School starts on Tuesday, September 8th. I've set up my class website: http://sites.google.com/site/profesoramartin

Other than that, Noe and I got bikes last Sunday and have been riding around. We took a long ride counter-clockwise around the island, only making it to the point and back before it got dark. It was pretty - passed by beautiful cliff views of the beach and bay, by the Japanese cannon and caves from WWII, and through a green corridor of tropical plants, all the way to a beautiful fruit farm where supposedly there's a waterfall if you hike farther (which we didn't).

Noe is trying to start a soccer group - most likely start the second week of school. He's found a couple friends and is going to go fishing today with them. When I'm at school, he mostly sleeps in, does sudoku puzzles, rides his bike, and calls his friends on Skype. He is looking for a job, but like other things on Rota, it's going slow.

I went to Saipan last week, but didn't take pictures becuase I forgot my camera. I went for a new-hire training and met other new teahers from Saipan and the USA. In Saipan, there are many Japanese and Asian tourists, and most of the store names are in Japanese or Korean, and also with a little English.