Going to the Small(er) Island

This weekend, I got to go on a camping trip with my mama, baba, and two other ripelles to what everyone calls the "small island". This term encompasses a whole group of smaller islands that are uninhabited but in the same atoll as Wotje. It took an hour canoe ride but we made it just before it got dark outside. And yes, I rode in a handmade, traditional Marshallese canoe. Pictures to follow, whenever I get a chance to upload.

On the island, we ate freshly caught fish, slept in hammocks under the stars, ate coconut pancakes and made our handicrafts. The guys went out fishing, but my baba says he will teach me to sail the canoe and fish with the long net, so I wasn't too jealous. All in good time. I got to spend some quality time with my mama and practice my Marshallese skills such as starting a fire with a coconut, using a machete to cut me some coconut juice, and eat a ridiculous amount of pandanus.

All in all it was a good trip. Here are some pictures from earlier, sorry about the delay in the blog update.

PS to Kathleen's mama: I heard her on the radio on Wednesday, so maybe someone fixed her radio? She's doing good, although I haven't seen her in a bit. I think there was a party on Wodmej this weekend so she didn't come over. My baba has told me that she will come fishing with us sometime so that's good. Hope everything's good with you guys and thanks for the emails!

Back to my Island

So this morning, I get on a flight back to Wotje. Of course this is conditional on whether the plane actually flies. There is a funeral on another island so the planeis chartered for the morning. There may not even be a flight. But just in case, I wanted to say thank you to everyone for sending me letters or packages. It is extremely appreciated since communication here is so unreliable, the one thing that does show up on a more consistent basis are letters.

My time in majuro has been spent running around trying to find supplies for the next 5 months and also applying for jobs. I was able to piece together several resumes and cover letters but the bulk of mysearch will have to be done when I get back. There is only so much I can accomplish in 2 days with borrowed internet. Nevertheless, I enjoyed my time in Majuro, I got to spend time with the other amazing volunteers, learn some new guitar songs (thank you for putting up with me Matt) and eat a ridiculous amount of cheese. All in all it was an awesome trip but I'm glad to be going back to Wotje.

This may very well be the last blog post for the next 5 months because the internet on Wotje is off again, on again. Most recently, off again. So if you don't see an update for awhile, that's the reason. I hope you all have an amazing New Year and I'll see a lot of you in June!!!

Iokwe!

MIR and the various characters

After spending 3
days and nights at MIR, I can say that it is one of my favorite places in the
RMI. We would do our mid-service modules
and then at night head down to the bar and mingle with who ever was there. The first night, we met the Minister of
Finance who hung out with us and bought the World Teach a round of beers and
then introduced us to the Marshall Islands wrestling Olympian, Waylon?. He told us all about his wrestling history
and where he's going in the next couple of months.

The next night, we
met a guy from the Kwajalein base who actually knew Anna and was dating the
previous WorldTeach on Santo. He was an
interesting character and gave us all sorts of information about Kwajalein and
what it's like to live there.

Finally, the last
night we were there, we met Yvonne, who has an amazing karaoke voice and is
super friendly. We figured out after talking to her that she actually lived
very closet o Liz, another volunteer in Chicago. Small World.
All in all, we met some amazing people in the MIR
lobby/restaurant/bar. Made some awesome
connections and had some interesting convesations. Go MIR!

Shopping Extravaganza

My time in the
Majuro during mid service has been fun and definitely needed. When we first got into Majuro, it was a bit
of a culture shock. Coming from a small
island of 600 people into Majuro with 15,000 people. Crazy.
The cars and the taxis and the CHOICES.
Going into the Payless here to buy groceries took me more than an hour.
I ended up only buying yogurt, milk, cheese and cereal. Oh and pop tarts. Why did it take me so long? Well, I frequently stopped in the middle of
the aisle and just stared at all the different things. I had to peruse EVERY aisle and look at all
the stuff just in case. It was more of
an entertainment outing than an actual errand.
In Payless there are about 20 different types of cereal. That was too much for me, I can't even
remember seeing so much diversity since my time here. Can you imagine how I'll react when I go to
Safeway in the States? I'll need a whole day to pick up a dozen items.

One of my favorite
Majuro pastimes is to go into each and every store and look at all the
stuff. I've been to dozens of stores now
and I've bought hardly anything. I just
like to look at the things. I feel very
much like a country bumpkin. There are
some things in the RMI that cost a ridiculous amount though. For instance, toilet paper is on average
12-15 dollars for a 12 pack. I might be
wrong but I think that's excessive.
Candy here is outrageous. For
those little miniature snickers bags, it's 7-8 dollars. What?
Sorry, about that, it was a bit of a boring rant but I thought you
should know…

Ripelles are Party Animals

This weekend I was
invited to 3 different parties. The
first was a an opening party for my new school. The senators from 3 different atolls came and gave speeches including
the assistant to the Ambassador. There
was lots of food and quite a few people there. Let me say that those senators and guests left with some awesome swag. They got a bouquet of Wotje wots, a lei, a
crown of Wotje wots, a little model canoe and a HUGE basket of food. It was nuts. The next party was for Women's
Day and it happened at the Protestant church. There were a lot of decorations and singing from various groups. The women served some more amazing
Marshallese food in the trademark coconut leaf plates. More singing and dancing. The last party was the wild one. One of the teachers, Connie, had a birthday
party and Kathleen, john, Gabe and I went. They served some more excellent food and then Glenn, Connie's uncle
coerced us to get up and give a "program" which means dance and
sing. Kathleen had taught me the
birthday song from TGI Fridays just in case so we were prepared. We sang our song and before we could retreat,
they had turned on the stereo and were dancing with us. I got thrown around like a rag doll. Marshallese women are shy and mild until
there's music . Then they turn into
professional wrestlers. Connie ran
inside to get clothes which she roughly pulled over my head and then she
smeared lotion on my leg and face. Kathleen
had the same done to her. We didn't know
what to do so we continued to dance. It
was a very bizaare thing. To my
astonishment, John and Gabe were not exempt. They were pulled on to the dance floor and Connie dressed them in
dresses and smeared lotion on their faces too. Then I'm not sure what happened, but Gabe was running and the ladies
were chasing him. They ended up tackling
him onto the floor where they proceeded to spank him and wipe more lotion on
him. At this point, Kathleen and I were
standing there trying not to die from laughter. We went back to our table with our pilfered clothes and hair accessories
and watched as Gabe was attacked. It was
pretty hilarious. After that excitement,
we all decided to go home, but not before they gave us more food to take home
and big piece of chocolate cake. I guess
it was their way of making reparations for the near slaughter of Wotje's
ripelle population. All in all it was a
great weekend and on Monday, Connie came up to me and invited me to the
Christmas party in December. I have
plenty of time to study up on my self defense moves before then.

Why Ripelles are like Pet Monkeys

As I've worked and lived with these amazing Marshallese people, I've come to realize that although
I am a reasonable intelligent, independent and hardworking person, here I am treated more like a pet monkey. I mean this is the most flattering way of course. It's more of a fact that I am an oddity and this brings out the same
tendencies and mannerisms a person might have towards a capuchin in a fez.

-I am asked if not
forced to dance at any and every special occasion

-I am rewarded with
either a pat on the head or food

-They always laugh
and indulgently smile when I try to speak Marshallese

-I often get dragged
places without knowing why or where we're going

-People come by the
house just to watch me do things like read or write

-People call out my
name everywhere I go

-Everyone just says
"come" or "go", simple commands

-I'm asked to give
speeches at events and everyone laughs even when I'm not being funny

-People talk about
me even when I'm sitting next to them

The first picture is me and the Senator. He's also the King of the Island of the Irooj. It was the opening ceremony of my new school. Notice I'm all decked out in my island finery?

Second picture is a Halloween picture with my 8th grade. Can you spot the Ripelle?

Third picture is me and one of my 3rd graders, Rana, at the Field Day. They play lots of games and have foot races. Plenty of fun for the whole family!

The Fall of the Internet

As you've probably
figured out, there is no internet on Wotje anymore. Something happened and it hasn't been fixed
yet so I'm sending these blogs out from Majuro since I'm here for mid service. I wrote them throughout the internet dry
spell so I could update everyone on what's been going on. The likelihood that the internet will be
fixed anytime soon is slim so if you'd like to send me letters, I would
probably kiss your feet with gratitude.
After January 6th, I'll be alone on an isolated island in the Pacific
without internet so any and all communication with me will have to be done by
snail mail. BUT the good news is, you
can definitely count on a reply because
writing letters a new hobby of mine. :)

For the last month,
there have been no planes an d no boats so, in effect, I have been completely
isolated on Wotje. It's a weird
sensation to be so totally cut off from everything. Thank God for the WorldTeach radio check
ins. Because of the lack of news here,
I'm going to have to apologize now for ignorance when I return. My friends and family will have to fill me in
on all the news. It's a novel sensation
to be almost entirely out of the loop.
Yet another reason for my friends and family to send me letters to
update me on life outside the RMI.