At Long Last!

After a delay of 6 weeks, my school has finally started! And I should qualify the statement that we've started by saying that only Kindergarten, 1st, 3rd, and 8th grades have started. The new classrooms are still lacking in chairs, tables, desks, and school supplies of any kind. Apparently these materials are on the ship, due to arrive Thursday. We still have 3 teachers and our principal on the ship and the rest are using this time to clean up the yard and empty classrooms which are still full of building materials. We will start registering students on Monday and then Tuesday classes will start. The teachers are still unsure of how the school will make up those 6 weeks we lost at the beginning of the year. Some are saying school will go until July and others think we may be having Saturday school for awhile as well as foregoing any holidays except Christmas.

My teaching schedule is as follows:

• 8:00-8:45 Kindergarten
• 9:00-10:00 1st Grade
• 10:00-11:00 3rd Grade
• 11:00-12:00 8th Grade Science
• 12:00-1:00 Lunch
• 1:00-2:00 8th Grade

I am teaching all English except for the one period of science. This schedule is also temporary and may change when the principal gets here. On Monday I will be talking to the teachers about their class and then hopefully I'll have a better idea of what exactly I'm teaching in each grade. Right now, I only have the 8th grade books so I'm trying to design a plan around those. I'm excited to finally have a job and to contribute instead of sitting around playing cards or hanging out with my Marline, my host sister. I'm really excited but also incredibly nervous. I want to do a great job, but there are so many factors working against me...

Wish me luck!

Bugs

So since, school has
yet to start, I decided I would tell you a little about the magnificent insect
population of the Marshall Islands.

First there are the mosquitoes. They are everywhere and they are the most
determined of all the RMI insects. I have been fortunate enough to be chosen as a delicacy to these winged bloodsuckers. Even my host family has commented on how the "nam" like my ripelle skin. Breakfast, lunch and dinner as well as all the time in between in peppered with my exclamations of "Enana nam!" (bad mosquito!) My host parents tried to
control them using mosquito coils but it was made clear by the swarm at my
ankles that they would not be deterred.
Needless to say that I've become an excellent mosquito hunter (that's
for you Shig). Lightning fast hands and
a big loud clap and the nam are no more.
This is an epic battle that will last about 8 1/2 more months.

Next in the line up we have the
cockroaches. They aren't as big as their
cousins in Thailand, but they are speedier.
My first night in Wotje, I caught two crawling into bed with me and
after a minor scuffle, which included many squeals, a near melt down and arm
flapping, they were nothing but a gooey clump on my floor. I would like to thank Ernest Hemingway for
writing the hefty yet easy to wield Farewell to Arms which was integral in my
cockroach massacre. I haven't seen
another roach dare to enter my bedroom.
I talked to my baba and he said that they tend to stay in the
grass. Smart move cucaracha.

Unfortunately, my island must be the
mating grounds for the "yay" or poisonous centipedes. They are everywhere and they use their
hundreds of legs well because they are really fast. Another volunteer, John, claims that it takes
two machete hacks to kill them. They can
be up to a foot long or as small as an inch.
They've been described by a previous volunteer as having escaped from
hell. There is another theory that they
are the spawn of Satan. I think you get
the idea that they are ugly and creepy and their pincer bites hurt really
really really bad. My baba says that if
one bites you on the foot, you won't be able to walk the next day because of
the pain. I've already been bit by a
baby centipede about an inch long and it hurt like a bee sting so I can't even
fathom the pain of an adult centipede's bite.
Ugh.

The small but mighty ant is next. I have no problem with this little guy, he's
actually amazing and I welcome them.
They clean up all the dead insect bodies littering my floor in about 5
minutes. They start with the scout, then
the trail, and then a huge herd of ants and they carry away the body to their
mysterious and invisible hill somewhere in my wall. Unless they are foolish enough to crawl on me
and bite, I leave them alone. But they
are everywhere and they are ingenious.
They've figured out how to get inside the peanut butter even when the
lid is completely closed. You've got to
hand it to them. Perseverance.

There are lots of other bugs here
including but not limited to: millipedes, flies, grasshoppers, fleas, lice,
little black beetles, big black beetles, and of course spiders. I've not had a significant encounter with
these guys but as long as they can't get past the mosquito net and they don't
bite me, I don't kill TOO many.

Here's my weekly
update:

Life in the islands has been
amazing. I'm getting better on my guitar
although I still can't recognize the song I'm playing. Occasionally there will be a snatch of a
melody and I get so excited but then it's gone, lost in the cacophony that is
my practice sessions. But I'm plugging
away on it with the help of my host mom, who is amazing and will be teaching me
Marshallese songs soon. Other than that,
I've been reading a lot, collecting shells on the beach, swimming, and trying
to plan my lessons for the first week even though I don't quite know what
grades I'm teaching. When I'm not doing
one of things, I'm practicing my Marshallese which is getting better aolep
iien. (always)

One funny thing that happened last night
was my conversation with my host mom about Mark Zuckerberg. By the way, my host mom loves facebook. She goes on to chat with her friends and her
daughter in America and I'm helping her post some pictures this year. She talked about how Mark Z must be a genius
to create facebook and when she asked how old he was, she was shocked. She couldn't believe that someone so young
was a billionaire. Then I told her about
the movie about him, The Social Network, and she got really excited. If someone can copy that movie to a
flashdrive or disc and send it to me, I think that would be a good Christmas
present.

On Friday, I went on
a jambo (walk/trip) to Wodmej, which is another island in my atoll and also
where Kathleen, my fellow volunteer is stationed. Wodmej is beautiful with white sandy beaches,
lots of fish and awesome people. I met
Kathleen's host family and her host mom Tisee taught me how to make birds out
of pandanus leaves. I love them! They are adorable so prepare yourselves for
little bird gifts. I also saw 30 little
baby sea turtles and Kathleen and I started naming them: Ralph, Rolf, Lily,
Marzipan, Pebbles, etc. They were the
cutest things I've ever seen! I'm sorry
I don't have pictures…:( On the way back
to Wotje, we stopped while my host dad, Jibaebe, went fishing and now we have
fresh fish for dinner. The lagoon was
beautiful and clear and the day was sunny, a perfect day. And yes, if World Teach is reading this, I
did wear my life jacket, beacon and whistle included.

All in all, it's
been a great week. I sent out some
letters on Tuesday so several of my friends and family should look for
something in the mail. I'm on a limited
supply of envelopes until my shipment comes in so sorry I couldn't write
everyone something just yet.

Wotje!

So I've finally made it to Wotje!

My host family is amazing. They've really been so generous with everything so this morning I decided to repay them by making Mickey Mouse pancakes. What could say "thank you" better than eating a Disney character?

The family lives right near the airport and they are super westernized. They have a washing machine! I know I'm going to get a lot of hate mail from my fellow volunteers for that one. I brought some DVDs for the family so they've been working their way through my tiny collection and they love the movie Penelope. My host mom keeps asking me if I have Bring it On so my friend Kathleen is going to try to get it from Majuro this week. I love them all, they've been teaching me Marshallese and they say my grammar is really good. I don't know about all that, but I'll take the compliments as I get em.

I have two host brothers and my host sister is Marlynn. They are all amazing and they all play the guitar so they're currently teaching me how to play Happy Birthday. Hopefully I'll progress past that, to some other songs, but if that's all I get, I'll be happy.

School has yet to starts, my principal and the rest of the teachers are still stuck on Majuro. My school is brand new though. They're just finishing construction on it and it looks pretty sweet. Fans and everything.

Hope that updated you all a little bit, trying to save my internet minutes so next time I'll write a little more. Love you all and talk to you soon! (I'll send out emails on Sunday)

PS I got bit by a poisonous centipede. Good thing it was only a baby but it still stung like a *bleep*.