It's About Time

So I guess I should inform people on what I'm doing in Fiji. Haha. Worst blog writer ever? Well, I'm not saying I'm the worst blog writer ever, I'm just saying that no one has ever seen me and the worst blog writer ever in the same room together.

I came to Fiji volunteering for a program called Help International. I signed up way back in January...or February...I think. At first I thought it was no big deal. And then a couple of weeks beforehand I started thinking that 2 months in Fiji was kind of a big deal. And then a week before I started looking up crime rates in Fiji and having nightmares, so I came to the conclusion that living and volunteering in Fiji for 2 months is a big deal.

Here I am, in the middle of the Pacific, sitting on my zebra patterned sheets, writing about my life as a volunteer. I've already had countless experiences where I sort of do a double take at myself and laugh, because just over a month ago Allyssa was very different than the Allyssa who just tonight hailed down what seems like her thousandth taxi.

I'm a teacher. I teach. Teaching is what I do here in Fiji. I walk a lot too, but I also teach. So far I'm teaching music everyday at a school called the Early Intervention Center. It's a school for young disabled children. These children have mental and physical disabilities. My project is helping the school make their music program more substantial and then leaving the teachers with a music curriculum that they can continue and expand on. It's been a pleasure working with the teachers, and an absolute joy working with the students. As I walk down the path to their school, the students run up and hug me. I've been teaching them Do Re Mi with the hand signals, and I wasn't sure if they were catching on but they have! Last Monday many of them were able to show me that they can almost do all of it with the hand signals. They are even singing louder too! I'm excited to leave the curriculum with the teachers because I think their teachers will be able to get even more out of them than I can. The teachers also know which songs the children already know. I've almost learned one of them, which is my favorite, that I'll share with you:

Isn't the love of God so very wonderful?

Isn't the love of God so very wonderful?

[something something something]

So high you can't get over it.

So low you can't get under it. 

So wide you can't get around it.

[something, something, something, something]

I'm also a P.E. teacher at the Hilton Special School. Older children attend this school, and their disabilities are more physical. I'm proud to announce that I'm learning the children's names like a pro. Meeting with the teacher at this school, she explained to me that the idea that people besides athletes need to exercise is fairly new. She wanted a volunteer to introduce a new P.E. curriculum. It's been great. The kids have responded really well to the program. One girl came up to me my second day and told me that "exercise" is her new favorite class and that she exercised on her own at home. She has a prosthetic leg and I'm betting someday she'll be a pro athlete.

I also volunteer with a program called FENC. It's an organization that travels to a poor village and we tutor children their. Once again, the people we work with and the children are awesome. I can't put it to words. Hm. The younger children sit on our laps and we read to them or sing with them (it's heart melting the way they sort of claim you as their white person and they just fit perfectly on your lap). We help the older children with their homework. At the end of the day, the children are awarded stickers by us if we thought they were good students, and if they get enough stickers, they get to go to McDonald's. First they'll make sure we know their name, and if we don't say their name, it's funny the way they'll switch loyalties and go from holding your hand to holding another volunteer's hand.

What else? I played volleyball with some students and teachers at another school the other day. It killed my arms and killed a little more of my pride. Eventually, the other team realized that they needed to hit the ball towards me, and then my team realized they needed a teammate playing practically right in front of me to fill in the hole that I was creating. They tried not to let me notice, but I noticed. I KNOW WHEN I'VE BEEN INSULTED! Charlie Brown guys.

So there you go. That's the real stuff I've been up to. It's been grand. This was more of a "I just need to write and say what I'm doing so people don't think I'm doing nothing" post more than a "this is gorgeously written" post. In case you didn't notice.

A Look Back at High School

So this morning I woke up and walked into the kitchen to find people discussing education around the world. The U.S.A. has the best colleges and unlike a lot of other countries allows for innovation and creativity. Which I think is true. Then they started discussing high school and how it taught them absolutely nothing and did nothing to prepare them for real life and for college. It got me thinking, and when things get me thinking, I write. And then I type it. And then I need someone to see it and read it. And then I remembered that I have a blog! 

Yes, the transition from high school to college was the worst I have ever done in school. But looking back, I don't feel comfortable blaming high school. My teachers told me that college wasn't going to go easy on me like they were. Time and time again. I thought I was smarter though and ignored them. And then college beat me up. Here's what I learned in high school and what I originally thought I didn't learn:

1. Language. What I thought I didn't learn was French, but thought I may not be fluent in French, I understand the basics of language and I am able to read through French phrases in classic literature and even in history. I can pronounce French places and names a lot better than other people can (chumps who say Champs a lee say). 

2. History. I gained an appreciation for history and the United States Government. I do not have the constitution memorized, but I understand it, who wrote it, and where and when it came from. In American Heritage in college (which was one of my best grades) and everywhere else in life, I know historical names and facts and shock myself when I'm able to mention them and explain them. I can put my two bits in different conversations because I know my history. 

3. English. I liked writing in junior high better because it was creative writing. In high school, they had me analyze poems and old books, then they covered my paper in red ink, and told me to do better next time. There was one time, after analyzing some sort of poem, where my teacher handed me back my paper and told me, "Normally I would give this paper a 6, but I felt bad for you and gave you a 7 instead." She did not say this to comfort me, she said this and laughed because she wanted me to know that this paper was not worth a 7. I have always remembered that when I write papers for my college classes and my teachers only subtract half a point or they send it back with comments such as "This essay is gorgeous." I think my English teachers in high school must have taught me something, or my college professors are wimps. Either way, it still makes me laugh when people say, "High school did nothing to prepare me for college."

4. Theater. I became a stellar actress. I know how to analyze theater and I know how to work with kids of all ages and make a production that leaves the audience wanting more or giving you an award at the end of the year. It wasn't in college that I received the opportunity to work with a Broadway actor, it was in high school. It wasn't in college that I had the chance to act in various productions and even star in a musical, it was in high school. I know it was because the high school population is so much smaller than college, but that's my point. There's no reason we shouldn't have learned anything in high school because there was so much opportunity to be noticed and learn from experience. 

5. Music. One day in AP Music Theory, the drama director came in and told the students about an opportunity to compose underscore for the school play "The Diary of Anne Frank." Though I was scared as heck at first, I thought I would try it. I had never composed anything before, but there I was volunteering to compose music for the school play. And I did. And it was great. I also became the soprano section leader for my school choir because my choir teacher asked me to (we're lucky if our college professors even know our names) and p.s. I was not a soprano. Finally I was the music sterling scholar that didn't get past regionals. I was ashamed of this at first, and now (literally right this moment, after this whole discussion) I'm realizing that prepared me for college too. It prepared me for disappointment. It prepared me to know that people outside of my teachers in high school weren't ready to worship my talents. I needed work even harder to prove to them that I have talent. 

6. Special Needs. I peer tutored in high school. Before I had done this, I was nervous around kids with special needs. But now I am completely comfortable around them. This is important, because now I teach 5 special needs classes where kids pull my skirts practically off, jump on my back when I'm kneeling down, or hit me. High school taught me to keep my calm in these situations. High school. 

High school. 
There's a lot more, but I don't want to waste time. All I want to say is that I did learn a lot of things in high school. I would also like to say, in response to all those who say that high school did nothing to prepare you for real life, in the words of my wise high school teacher, "There are those who say that real life starts after high school, or after you graduate college, or once you get married. But that is not true. Real life is now." Those who say that real life isn't now, have let part of real life fall through their fingers. I'm not stuck in high school, but I learned a lot in high school. If you're one of those people that say high school did nothing for you, here's my question: Where were you?