Thursday, January 17, 2008
Well it’s the end of my first week here in Palau and I survived just fine. I would say I more than survived, I would say I did great. I mean we have this lavish apartment with every accommodation I would have in the states. I got to go ocean fishing and caught 4 big fish. I am playing in the national basketball league for Surangel and Sons. I am an advisor for the Junior Achievement here on the island. I got paid $200 to get me started, Marilyn said she would pay me and Tom both a thousand dollars a month, which will be great to save up so I continue to travel around. I am slowly making some new friends in the office. All in all its been a great week. So the basketball stuff I just mentioned was great. So Eric invited me to play for their sponsored team in the national league. I said I had played some basketball in the past and he loved the idea of having some height on the team, I am 6’3”. So he sent in my name for the roster. We had our first game this past Monday. I only played for a little bit cuz im outta shape. But it was a 40 minute game and I’d say I played about 10 to 15 minutes of it. I was really winded but it was fun to be out there. It was really hard to figure out what was going on and im sure I didn’t look like I knew what was going on. But that’s because I didn’t know their plays I cant understand their language and I have never meet, let alone play with the guys on the team before. So I’d say I did alright for those circumstances. I didn’t make any points but I got a lot of rebounds. I mean the players on the other team were only like 5’10” so I could just jump up and grab the ball. Although I underestimated their ability to shoot 3 pointers. They prolly scored 4 or 5 three pointers cuz I didn’t think they would be able to shoot them, so I left them unguarded. I had a great time meeting the guys and playing a little basketball.
I am one of the advisors for the Palau Junior Achievement. Surangel Jr. asked me and Tom to help out with it. I had heard about it in Mali from Holly so when he told me that their company was sponsoring part of it I jumped at the chance to help. Its going to be a lot of work but I am looking forward to helping the kids with there project. They are going to start their own company, its basically COB 300 but they actually raise real money and make products and sell them. I am also looking forward to helping any of the students with their English if they want it, since I am looking into teach English as a foreign language I would love to get some 1st hand experience. I am currently looking into teaching English in an Asian country. I am prolly going to get my TEFL certificate and then try and teach in either Thailand, Korea, Japan, or possibly Vietnam. I am also thinking of teaching in Italy, Spain or France, although Asia is my first choice right now and there are plenty of jobs for English teachers in Asia right now. The TEFL certificate is a few thousand dollars so I may stay here in Palau for a while trying to save some money and getting my information straight.
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