el huracán Irene

Finally I am connected to the world again.  I’m sure you’ve all seen the news to know that Hurricane Irene did indeed hit our small island.

The power went out Sunday night, and the winds picked up.  I had to close most of my windows, but I put up with some rain coming through the slats in exchange for a breeze. 

On Monday morning, it was still raining and windy, but by later in the day, the winds calmed.  Then it was cleanup time.  We were fortunate not to have too much damage, although people told us that our road was the worst they had seen in the area.  We had some trees down on the property, but no damage to our buildings.  God was our fortress and kept us safe.

 

This river is normally not visible from the road.

 

Thank goodness we found the generator.  Chris and Betsy took turns babysitting the finicky choke lever.

I raked...a lot.

Look closely to find Chris and a chainsaw.

By the middle of the week I was finally feeling better, and I knew it because I started to get stir crazy.  All the work was done, but we still had no power and no school.  We did have some pretty lightening shows though!  

Evening activities by candlelight

Despite how it seems, this photo was not taken in the daytime.

 

We finally started school on Thursday…we had one student…not one of mine.  This is when I actually started to go crazy.

When I was on the brink of boredom, we started telling stories to practice our ASL.

That night, as I was heading upstairs after learning how to play Othello (which is my new favorite game), I prepared myself for yet another night of sporadic sleep and constant sweating.  Before I turned the corner to go up my stairs, I saw yellow flashing lights.  Upon closer inspection, I could see that these were the lights that could bring us relief from boredom and heavy, still air.  The electric company had arrived!!!

We encouraged the men with candlelight and cheers.  They told us they hoped to get the power on that night.  They pulled out a long stick and began poking up at the electric pole by the light of a flashlight.  On their first attempt, they hit something that let off a large blue spark.  On the second attempt, they missed the pole completely.  On their third attempt…they did it!  We had power again.  After more cheers and excitement, they drove away to bring relief to others in our town. 

Even though our storm is over, we are keeping the east coast in our prayers as they weather Irene, too.

¿una tormenta?

This week in six words…

Eager students must bear unwell teacher.  (Sounds a bit like a boring news headline, doesn’t it?)

Monday morning was the beginning of serious school this year.  I was pleasantly surprised by the positive attitudes of my teenage boys.  Kevin is ready and excited to learn a lot this year.  He has a goal of graduating in two years.  Kristian is happy to be in the high school class for the first time.  So far, his behavior is helping him to earn his stay here.  Pray that these attitudes last for longer than a week!

Unfortunately I’ve been battling a headache all week.  Thankfully my students and fellow teachers have graciously put up with my lack of energy and lackluster attitude.  Hope this discomfort will soon subside. 

On a brighter note, we’re expecting a storm today!  It’s not yet a hurricane, but who knows what Irene will be by the time she reaches Luquillo.  In light of this impending weather, we had an abbreviated church service so that people could get home to batten down the hatches. 

This could be my first big storm here.  We’ve got plenty of candles, matches, and cans of soup.  I’m getting all my computer work and copying done today in case we have no power for a while.  Last time we had this much hype for a storm was Hurricane Earl last year.  But I didn’t even have to close my windows for that one!