{"id":347,"date":"2011-12-01T18:21:06","date_gmt":"2011-12-01T22:21:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/chris-hostetter\/?p=347"},"modified":"2011-12-01T20:33:10","modified_gmt":"2011-12-02T00:33:10","slug":"8th-grade-graduation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/chris-hostetter\/2011\/12\/01\/8th-grade-graduation\/","title":{"rendered":"8th Grade Graduation"},"content":{"rendered":"
1 December, 2011\u00a0 (Maggie)\r\n\r\n
\"This
This was the 'comfortable' way to ride.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\nNote to self: When you live on the equator, babies get sunburned even\r\nin the shade. \r\n\r\nWe went to a graduation ceremony today and poor Bailey\r\ncame back looking like a lobster. We had to drive about 27 Km to get\r\nthere, so it wasn\u2019t far, but the road was so bumpy that it took us\r\nalmost an hour and a half. Chris was driving, and Tom was in the front\r\nseat, so me and Auno and the four kids were all in the back of the\r\nlittle double-cab pickup. Cole was sitting next to the door and he\r\nkept banging his head on the window because of all the bumps, so we\r\nhad to stop and everyone got out and then back in to rearrange the seating\r\norder. We happened to stop in front of a house and the entire family came\r\nout to see us. We shared our chocolate chip cookies with them. When we got\r\nto the village we went to visit Tom\u2019s parents\u2019 place and meet lots of his\r\nrelatives. They don\u2019t get many white people up that way so we caused\r\nquite a commotion wherever we went. For a while it was awkward because\r\nwe were standing on one side and all the PNG people were standing on\r\nthe other, and there wasn\u2019t much interaction between the two sides.\r\nMore like observation and private discussion. But between us and Tom\r\ntrying to keep our kids from falling over the cliff into the river,\r\neating raw peanuts and passion fruit, and nursing the baby inside the\r\nmama\u2019s house, there was enough to take our minds off the awkwardness. They were so hospitable and accepted us as family without a second thought.\r\n\r\nWhen it was time to go to the ceremony we all got back in the truck,\r\nbut in the bed this time. It was much easier to ride that way.\r\nSomething about the threat of smacking your head being gone and the\r\nfreedom to move your elbows. Anyway, it wasn\u2019t far to the school, and\r\nwhen we arrived we sat in the shade and soon drew a crowd of\r\nthousands. Not really, but pretty much everyone who was already there\r\ncame over to have a look at us pale-faces. The kids handled it pretty\r\nwell. Even Micah, who can get really embarrassed, ate his lunch with\r\nan audience and didn\u2019t complain or try to hide under my skirt. Cole\r\nsat under one of the school buildings and had about 50 kids laughing\r\nhysterically at him as he made faces and did just the weirdest little\r\nthings to be funny. And Maisie was fine because everywhere she goes\r\npeople like to give her things. She got two free popsicles today, free pineapple, and a banana or two!\r\n\r\n
\"Cole
Cole playing underneath the school.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\nSo we sat there waiting, listening to Amy Grant and Point of Grace on\r\nthe loudspeaker, and every 15 minutes or so a voice would call out to\r\nthe surrounding area that it was time to gather for the graduation.\r\nWhen it was time to start, we all took our umbrellas and went to\r\nthe viewing area to bake in the sun until golden brown and firm in the\r\ncenter. I had all the kids with me for a while, and it was hard to\r\norganize so many arms and legs under the shadow of one umbrella. Then\r\none of the mamas came to my rescue and took Bailey to go sit under the\r\nshade of a tree and eat her papaya. We gave the boys the Gameboy, so\r\nthat pretty much took care of them for the next several hours, and\r\nChris took Maisie somewhere to go play because she refused to sit\r\nstill and I didn\u2019t want all of her skin to peel off from horrific\r\nsunburn. Like any graduation, lots of people gave speeches \u2013 a teacher,\r\none of the board members, a pastor, and a nurse. Then the teachers gave prizes to the top students of each class in\r\ndifferent subjects. Each winner got a wrapped gift. Many of the\r\nclasses had a first and second prize for personal hygiene, which is\r\nsomething I didn\u2019t expect. And the parents had the opportunity to have\r\ntheir child presented with a special gift from them. It was fun to\r\nwatch. Children are very valued here and education is coveted.\r\n\r\nI still can\u2019t get over how much goodwill we receive everywhere we go\r\njust because we\u2019re white. I heard a few people call me \u201cMissus\u201d today\r\n\u2013 which is a more traditional term for the wife of a European man\r\n(whom they called \u201cMaster\u201d). They recognized our presence at the\r\nceremony as one of the honored guests and had everyone clap for us.\r\nWhen we got home Auno told us how happy everyone was that we came and\r\nthat they consider us family, and that the mother of the young\r\nlady we went to see graduate cried when we had to leave early. She\r\nreally wanted us to spend the night!\r\n\r\n
\"Graduation!\"
Graduation!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\nWe had to leave early because we had to make it back for a meeting this\r\nevening. I was really sorry to have to leave, because Tom and Auno\r\ncame back with us, which meant that they had to leave early too, and\r\nalso that I didn\u2019t get to take pictures of the people that they asked\r\nme to take pictures of for them. I tried to tell them how sorry I was\r\nseveral times. I\u2019m glad that we are comfortable enough with them that\r\nI feel I can be honest about how I\u2019m feeling and know that they will\r\nbe honest with me, too.\r\n
It\u2019s almost Christmas time! We\u2019re going to a Christmas \u201cfestival\u201d on\r\nSaturday and we\u2019re hoping to score some decorations so we can make our\r\nhouse look a little more Christmas-y. I was talking to Chris about how\r\nI\u2019ve been feeling homesick, and it makes me sad that I\u2019m missing\r\nChristmas in MN. I love Christmas, and this year I don\u2019t even feel\r\nlike playing Christmas music. I\u2019m sure that it\u2019s all a part of our\r\nfirst Christmas away from our family and everything else familiar, and\r\nwe\u2019re planning some fun family things to make up for it.<\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
1 December, 2011\u00a0 (Maggie) Note to self: When you live on the equator, babies get sunburned even in the shade. We went to a graduation ceremony today and poor Bailey came back looking like a lobster. We had to drive about 27 Km to get there, so it wasn\u2019t far, but the road was so […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":488,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-347","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/chris-hostetter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/chris-hostetter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/chris-hostetter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/chris-hostetter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/488"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/chris-hostetter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=347"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/chris-hostetter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/chris-hostetter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/chris-hostetter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/chris-hostetter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}