So there was a Pathfinder campout up at PMA this weekend. We were there for two nights. There was rain and there was sun. We had about 50 kids come and just about a dozen staff were there. It was pretty intense with all the food being cooked over fires.
Be on te lookout for a post with some pictures later this week.
The school staff had a trip to this waterfall. It was super fun. Our dog Daisy really enjoyed climbing around the rocks and swimming in the water. We went on a walk down the stream with Victor and his puppy Neveah.
Enjoy some pictures.
Posted in Life in Palau
Tagged Daisy Pearl, Holidays, Palau, PMA, rocks, school staff, Teaching, Waterfalls
Could this really be the end of the Palau Power Crisis of 2011?!?!?
For the last five nights we have not lost power here in Koror for more than ten minutes. Actually, it may not have even been five minutes. Of course, we have not heard anything official, but we have heard that a temporary-backup generator is currently solving the immediate problem of power in the city. Unfortunately for Hailey this generator cannot provide power for everywhere, so Palau Mission Academy and the rest of Airai state, or at least most of it, will continue to lose power at what currently seems to be random times. In fact, they had no power for most of the morning earlier today. They are pretty used to it. But it is exam week so it was extra hard on everyone, the students especially.
Most importantly for us is that we should now have power when it is time to sleep and time call home.
We got more information today about the utilities situation here.
The office received a few different schedules, that kept getting revised throughout the day, but the times below were taken from the last one that was labeled FINAL. So during the times below we will be without electricity or water…until further notice…
POWER will be turned OFF in areas including our schools:
From 9:00 PM to 12:00 AM (midnight) in some areas of Koror (which include SDA Elementary and Koror SDA church)
From 2:00 PM to 6:00PM at PMA (and the surrounding area of Airai State)
Here are some photos from youth Sabbath School & Koror Pathfinder Induction. Meaning that last Sabbath was the Palau Islanders Pathfinder Club induction at the Koror SDA church and that this Sabbath we have a second induction ceremony at the Airai church. We are doing two inductions because there are kids and staff in the club from both churches and we want both church families to know that this club with almost 70 kids in it is their Pathfinder club.
We were making shoe towers learning about the importance of a solid foundation. The kids that are in these pictures are all PMA students. Most of them are the students that live in the dorm. The ones that don’t live in the dorm are the Chinese, Taiwanese, Koreans that live with their parents here in Palau.
Enjoy!
Posted in Life in Palau
Tagged Church, Koror SDA Church, Palau, Pathfinders, PMA, Sabbath, School, Students
Palau commemorates its independence on October 1 . Here are a few paragraphs (exactly 3 possible boring paragraphs you might want to skip) taken from the Palau Visitors Authority website. (It is actually a pretty good website if you want to know more about Palau. www.visit-palau.com )
Foreign governance of our islands officially began when Pope Leo XIII asserted Spain’s rights over the Caroline Islands in 1885. Two churches were established and maintained by two Capuchin priests and two brothers, resulting in the introduction of the Roman alphabet and the elimination of inter-village wars. In 1899, Spain sold the Carolines to Germany, which established an organized program to exploit the islands’ natural resources.
Following Germany’s defeat in WWI, the islands were formally passed to the Japanese under the 1919 Treaty of Versailles. The Japanese influence on the Palauan culture was immense as it shifted the economy from a level of subsistence to a market economy and property ownership from the clan to individuals. In 1922, Koror became the administrative center for all Japanese possessions in the South Pacific. The town of Koror was a stylish metropolis with factories, shops, public baths, restaurants and pharmacies.
Following Japan’s defeat in WWII, the Carolines, Marianas and Marshall Islands became United Nations Trust Territories under U.S. administration, with Palau being named as one of six island districts. As part of its mandate, the U.S. was to improve Palau’s infrastructure and educational system in order for it to become a self-sufficient nation. This finally came about on October 1, 1994, when Palau gained its independence upon the signing of the Compact of Free Association with the United States.
So interestingly enough, Palau actually celebrates gaining its independence from the United States.
I share all of this because that meant there was just recently the biggest holiday of the year here in Palau. It is a weekend long celebration, starting with a fair-like event here in Koror on Friday, something must have happened on Sabbath (we did not attend), and ending with the best event of the year the BOAT RACES!!! Here are some photos from our time at the bridge helping the SA with their fundraising booth. You will notice there is a dog that appears in Hailey’s arms. At the time this puppy was a stray, but it now has a home. That story will appear here sometime soon.
Posted in Life in Palau
Tagged BBQ, boat racing, food, History, Holidays, Palau, PMA, Students, Traditional Clothing
We went on a trip to Melekeok a couple weeks ago. We were going to go SCUBA diving but the instructor thought I was going to call and confirm. That is not how we had left it two weeks before, but anyways… it meant that we could not dive that day. So, since we had the van and nowhere to be I figured we would take a trip. We ended up going to the State of Melekeok. We live in Koror State, the academy is in Airai State, and Melekeok is one state further north from there. Of the states that we can drive to Koror is the only one that is not on Babeldaob (the big island).
Melekeok is the state in which the new capitol was built a few years ago, it should look pretty familiar. After checking out the architecture we went to the beach close by there in Melekeok.
Here are the pictures.
One of the students at PMA is at the hospital for an operation. As yet, I don’t know exactly what the problem is. Sunny is a freshman girl from Taiwan. Actually I just got another phone call and it is apendicitis. She is one of the dorm students. So she is far an ocean away from home and family and she barely understands English.
Pray that she comes through this fine and that God sends angels to comfort her because she has got to be scared out of her mind.
I wrote this hours ago before lunch, but my internet connection fell apart right when I was attempted to publish the post. Now it is evening, but I have not heard anything about Sunny yet. But, that is not surprising. I doubt I will hear anything even tomorrow until I start asking around.
Jesse
Like a hart thirsts for cool water, our hearts thirst for life. 