Today is both a happy occasion and a sad one at the same time. It was a happy day simply because it was another 'holiday' from school – only this time the students were around. Wednesday was ANZAC Day (which is like Memorial Day in the states) so that was a nice break from the school daze and today we celebrated the Feast of Peter Chanel, the patron saint of the school. The day didn't get off to a great start because when I went to my computer lab to turn on the server computer (the most important computer in all 4 labs because it controls everything), it turned on but the monitor didn't come on. After a bit of tinkering around, I eliminated the possibility of the monitor being dead and figured it was the video card on the computer that was the problem. So I took the video card out, dusted it off (dust accumulates fast here for some reason) and after a few tries I finally got the monitor to come up again. Thankfully Kevin (my principal) moved the Feast day to today instead of tomorrow (Friday) because if he hadn't I would have had to figure this problem out during a school day which just adds to the amount of unnecessary stress.
So the Feast began with a mass at around 9am. They went through all the traditional Catholic mass stuff and during Kevin's sermon he spoke about the different Marist priests that have gone out to preach the word and died for that cause. It's a time to remember all those who have died willingly and under not so great circumstances for the faith. The official mass went on for about an hour and a half and after that was a special farewell ceremony for my counterpart, Adam Pennings, who will be leaving Chanel after tomorrow. Oh – before I forget – one thing that the students reminded Kevin about was that this is the 45 th anniversary of the school and the kids had a birthday cake made for the celebration. Now how does this coincide with Adam's leaving – he was here for the 35th anniversary of Chanel College, meaning he has been working here for 10 years now! Kevin has only been here for 5 (his first year was the 40 th anniversary). So Adam has definitely seen the school grow and change over the past 10 years from a place that was almost going bankrupt to a place that's almost going bankrupt but has 4 computer labs and over 60 computers! During the farewell, Kevin spoke of how hard it's going to be to find someone who can fit as many positions as Adam could (he was the main Physics teacher and my counterpart for Computer Studies) and he wasn't lying. Finding someone for Physics may be a bit easy, but finding someone qualified to teach Year 12 and 13 Computer Studies at the halfway mark of the school year may be a bit rough. And while I can teach the new person a bit on the fly, in this job you kind of have to be willing to learn on your own and ask questions based on what you are trying. So we'll see what happens, but it's going to be mighty hard to replace him.
The most anticlimactic part of the whole deal is that – today's NOT his final day. Tomorrow is; so everyone is saying their goodbyes and farewells when he will be back tomorrow to help administer one of the CATs for the Year 12 students. That's when I will say my goodbyes – not before. But as is Samoan tradition, after any important activity there was a feast fit for a king to be had. So I went and had some lunch before heading down to watch the kids play Netball and Rugby (it was house competition time, a prelude to the culture day next Friday).
As I was taking pictures of the rugby players, Charles showed up with a bus full of kids from St. Joseph. Since it was house competition day I was wondering why he was here but apparently after our house games, some of our players (who were already tired from playing for their houses) were going to play AGAIN against a fresh St. Joe's team – not exactly a recipe for success on the part of Chanel College. But oh well – tomorrow is another day, but unfortunately after tomorrow we not only lose a good man and teacher but also the only person qualified to handle my position when I leave. Good thing my motto of 'No Surrender, No Retreat' applies so well here. Only 7 months to go!
But only 5 days till the eagle lands…get excited!
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