out and about on campus

It has now become blatantly obvious that life at PATS can be compared to living in a fish bowl. The surroundings never change . . . same fish, same rocks, same fish food. It's all the same. All the time. Well, on one hand, the scenery is pretty amazing, so I guess saying that "the scenery never changes" isn't really that bad. The ocean, palm trees, amazing night skies, and green as far as the eye can see . . . it's beautiful! But, on the other hand, living in a fish bowl was meant for fish . . . not for people. Some people joke that they practically live at their office. Well I think I'm about as close to that as I ever want to get. My office and all the classrooms are within earshot of my house. I've had people tell me before that while they were on the lower part of campus they could hear me while I was teaching--I was excited about something so I wasn't exactly using my regular "classroom voice." But, still, that's a bit extreme that I people can hear me from their house when I'm teaching.

Because PATS is a boarding school, I often see the students from 8 in the morning until 9:30 or 10 at night. Same thing with the staff. Most of the staff live on campus. There's no escaping! We eat our meals together, some live with other staff in a house. Here, the only people, other than students, to hang out with are the other members of the staff.

So....just think about that.....imagine living where you work with all the people you work with and work for. Imagine that your clients/customers/students, etc. were always around! We can't get away from the students and they can't get away from us. We walk to the same store in the afternoon to get a snack. We play volleyball on the same court. We go to church in the same chapel. This is extreme teaching, if you ask me.

But I don't want to make it sound like a nightmare. It's not some horrible thing...it's a unique experience. That's about the best way I can think to describe it. Despite the times that I've felt the tight grip of this fish bowl I live in, there have been so many more times when I have gotten to do something awesome because of this place. I have the opportunity to get to know and interact with my students in a way that few other teachers ever get.

PATS can feel very small at times. But it's also a great place to be. I get to wake up and look out to the Pacific Ocean every day! How cool is that? When I walk home from work in the afternoon I tilt my head waaaay back to look up at the gigantic palm trees around here. And when I walk home at night after study hall, my jaw drops as I gaze at the most amazing night sky. The stars are so plentiful and bright that I feel like I'm sitting in a planetarium. A few times I've just stopped on my way back, and laid down on the rocks to take a look at the stars. . . . Yup, it'll definitely be difficult to leave this island and go back to being landlocked somewhere in the US.

Once you hike it up the steps to the Admin. building, you are rewarded with views such as this. You look out onto what I call "lower campus." This is where most of the staff housing is. The building in the center is the staff kitchen/dining room. I get served three meals a day on a very set schedule. Breakfast at 7:00, lunch at noon, dinner at 6:30.

My new, most excellent room. Me likey lots!!

Ye old staff dining room. Take notice of all the white, soy-sauce bottles on all of the tables. I can't imagine how many gallons of soy sauce this school goes through in a year.

Ahhhh.....my office. Doesn't it look so inviting? Well, even if you don't think so, the students sure do seem to enjoy coming in and just plopping down at my desk. They come in and ask for tape, markers, scissors, pens, pencils.....and those are the normal requests. There have been many bizarre conversations and questions asked in this office!

A little peeky-poo inside our library.

The back porch off the staff dining room. On Friday evenings we have "porch," which consists of popcorn and soft drinks. It's a nice place to just sit and look out on the lagoon. And the room that you see on the right side is the "tv-room" where we watch movies.

MERIP facilities. Home of the Marine Science Department. MERIP stands for Marine and Enrivonmental Research Institute of Pohnpei.

	An outside shot of the student cafeteria. This is where we have parties and dances with the students.		Taken from the second floor of the back side of the Admin. building. The brown building on the right is the Sophomore & Junior dorm. The white building on the left is the sophomore classroom. Behind it you can barely see the Freshmen & Senior dorm (left) and Construction Office (right).