Emi's Swim Meet

Emi  swimming her 50 meter breast stroke.







 Emi had her first swim meet on Saturday.  We got up a bit early and drove over Mauna Loa to Pahala.  It's a tiny, dry town that's in the middle of the worst drought in the U.S.  Poor Pahala.  There's just this area right on the other side of Volcano National Park where it gets so brown and dry.  It was odd to drive into it.  And the air is thick with sulfur, so after a couple of hours of swim meet both Emi and I had burning eyes.  The meet was at this tiny little pool, run by a woman named Cassandra.  She and I took our first lifeguard training courses together way back in what Charlie calls "the old days."  It was 15 years ago, so according to the Charlie time line, that is ancient history.  Emi was a bit nervous when we got there and said, "Oh, I think I'm getting a little stage fright", as she watched the hundred or so people streaming towards the pool.  I told her not to worry, all of us are going to be watching our own kids.  She ended up having fun and doing really well, finishing second or third in every one of her heats.  Her age group, 9-10 year old girls, was the largest age group, around 20 girls doing each event.  There were three or four heats, depending on the event, with six girls in each heat.  Her team mates all did well, and I think that all of the kids just had fun.  The nice thing is that all of the kids on the team, ages 6 to 17, are really nice kids.  They are a relatively small team and there are three different sibling groups that are in it.  But it's one of those activities that I like to have Emi involved in just to expose her to a group of good kids.  She's already asking when the next meet will be!  There are three more between now and the end of October, and she's looking forward to them all.

End of August

This is a picture of Charlie, at his Na'ali'i luncheon.  It's essentially a student of the month thing, where the kids get to sit at special, decorated tables and parents serve them lunch, then serve them a buffet of treats, chips, juice, and so on.  Parents can join their children for the lunch, and the whole thing is special in a low-key way.  Charlie was actually sick yesterday, he had a bit of a fever and sore throat, but he worked very hard to make sure he was well enough to be at school today.  Emi was on lunch monitor duty, so I had a good time seeing her as well and taking a couple of photos.  The hair nets cracked me up.  She actually gets an award tonight, a special pin recognizing her for not failing the No Child Left Behind tests.  So we're having a busy but proud day. 

I just thought I'd put up a few of the pictures for everyone to enjoy before I have to load up the car and go pick everyone up.  Emi has swim team after school, and she was sick last week with a cold and missed a couple of days, and then this week she's still been a bit stuffed up.  But today we go to the pool.  It's hot and dry, the trades are a limp bit of breeze that occasionally waft in through the windows, but mostly the air is humid and stagnant.  It's actually a bit of a drought; anytime it doesn't rain for a week, we have a mini-drought.  I actually enjoy the droughts if the trade winds are working, but when they take time off I tend to complain.  And force the kids to all go to the pool or the beach as much as they can stand.  One nice thing:  when it's dry, the grass stops growing!

Kids in School

Both Emi and Charlie started school!  Charlie is in Kindergarten, this will be his second full week.  He seems to like the routine, like the friends he is meeting, and he likes the adventure of sometimes buying a school lunch- ah, the wonder of mystery meat!  I'm finding that I don't actually have much time to do much during the week, being that I've fit in a few appointments and errand days, and somehow by the end of that it's time to pack up the swim stuff and go get the kids.  Emi is doing the novice swim team, so every day after school we head to the pool for an hour.  Charlie started jiu jitsu a bit before he started school, so Aaron and he go off to do that two or three evenings a week.  Basically, we went from a busy summer to a busy school year! 

I love having both kids in school.  Charlie acts like it's all old hat, and he tells me when I can say goodbye to him.  Any kiss or hug has to happen in the parking lot, before entering the school.  And he'll hold my hand while we cross the street, but once across he drops it and walks like he hardly knows me.  I imagine that in the next month he won't even want me to walk him to class.

I'm starting my volunteer/observation work at the Pahoa Intermediate and Highschool next week.  I'll go in for two full days, Tuesday and Wednesday.  I just went in to talk to the vice-principal about parking and getting her recommendation so that I can take the substitute teaching course.  However, I don't think she much likes the looks of me.  I'm also unsure of how often they have student teachers at this school.  They seem at a complete loss as to what I am, what I do, and how to treat me.  The office people all look puzzled when I say I'm going to be student teaching and I start next week.  "Where will I park?"  I asked, and they said the visitor stall.  I told them I'll be there all day, twice a week, and I was met with odd, confused expressions.  They said to talk to the vice principal, and she told me to talk to someone else who has the parking forms but was teaching a class when I poked my head in the window.  Nobody seems to know if I'll be a visitor or an employee.  When I asked the vice principal if she'd send the recommendation for me to take a substitute teaching course, she said "No."  Very abrupt.  This recommendation is usually a formality and most schools are eager to get their student teachers as subs since we're going to be around and it's easy to rope us in to jobs that aren't anyone's favorite.  But apparently she needs to assess me to see if I can fit in to the 'culture' at Pahoa high.