Welcome Party

It's a tradition here in the Marshall Islands to throw a welcome party for the newcomers. These parties consist of heaps (for the Aussies) of food and singing and speeches. My elementary school threw me a welcome party on Monday although I've been here for awhile. We've all been so caught up in getting school started that they forgot. It's alright because the food made up for everything.

They piled me with three plates full of fried fish, sashimi, fried chicken, hotdogs, and salted fish. Then they gave me another plate with pumpkin, breadfuit mashed, breadfruit fried, breadfuit with coconut sauce, and breadfruit raw. Can you tell it's breadfruit season? Then another plate witht he baked goods, cookies, little cakes, bread, rice, and these little coconut drop cookies that are AMAZING. Then they also gave me coconut milk AND a Dr. Pepper. Such an eclectic mix of food and I was only able to make a dent in the first plate, but no worries, my host brothers polished off the rest.

In addition to the wonderful food, my principal got up and made a speech as well as a couple other teachers. Then, my favorite part, the Kindergarten teacher, Limon, got up and sang me a song on her ukulele about mosquitoes. This song was complete with hand motions. Classic Kinder. Then she pantomimed how her husband was shot in WWII. I quickly added up the years and there is no way she's that old. But then who am I to contradict her story...

All in all it was an awesome party and I'm excited to work with such generous and kind people.

Kathleen's Mama: Carleigh, the Dartmouth director, went out to Wodmej on Thursday and took Kathleen's package with her. I also sent out little cakes so she can hand them out to her students on Halloween. Carleigh says the whole island saw the cakes and was really excited. I got another manila envelope with a bunch of letters for her on Saturday so I'm sure some of your stuff is in there. She seems to be doing well and I beat her at Cribbage last Sunday. Pretty typical.

Sea Turtle, the other white meat.

I love the Marshall Islands but there are many things that make me feel slightly uneasy doing. The most recent of these is my consumption of an endangered species. I know that there are only 7 species of sea turtles in the world. I know that they are endangered. I know that the Marshall Islands is one of their many nesting areas. I know that in order to catch one, they wait on the beach for the turtle to come up and lay its eggs and then they walk up and flip it over. I also know that they take the eggs and eat them as well. Knowing all this, I still ate turtle.

On Saturday, there was a funeral for a big important ex councilman for Wotje. There were tons of people there, all the muckity mucks fro the atoll. After the service, we all go to the church and listen to some speeches. While this is happening, they bring in 2, count them, 2 turtle shells that are so big, I could sit in them. They are full of meat and one has the turtle stew complete with baby sea turtle eggs. They serve me up a generous portion of both. Even though it's morally wrong and I felt absolutely guilty about it. I ate the turtle. I couldn't eat the eggs though. Knowing that they would have looked adorable, just like Squirt from Finding Nemo.

The Marshallese people have been eating sea turtle forever. So I don't know if I can feel outraged that they do this. It's not that the Marshallese are consuming turtles at a ridiculous pace that they are disappearing. I feel like it's a gray area. Also, endangered species would last longer if they didn't taste so delicious. It had the texture of well marinated beef and tasted light like chicken but WAY better. Just if you wanted to know.

I'm sorry Tram. I had to.

Kathleen's Mama: Saw her this weekend and she's doing well. Her classes are hard, but it seems like she's getting into a groove. We tried to go snorkeling but it didn't work out. I told her that if you want to email me with questions for her, I talk to her on the radio on Wednesday at 5pm. Oh and I told her Congrats on the 9 law schools!

I Want it That Way and Girls Just Want to Have Fun

Last night I went to the high school welcome feast for new students. My mama and baba were invited because he's the doctor on the island and Ketty is the women's representative for Wotje. Needless to say, in true Marshallese fashion, there was an obscene amount of food. On coconut palm frond plates, we had BBQ chicken, meatballs, pig, breadfruit, pumpkin, cornbread, cookies, and nothing is complete without rice. We also had a few oddities like hotdogs, fruit cocktail in condensed milk and bubble gum. It was absolutely delicious and I ate so much I was actually scared that I would throw up. :S

In addition to feeding upwards of 300 people, the students also put on a show. Each class, 10th, 11th and 12th would sing to the 9th graders. Then the 9th graders sang back. After these traditional Marshallese songs, John and Gabe, the two Dartmouth volunteers, got up and whipped the crowd into a frenzy with Backstreet Boys' I Want it That Way. There was a little dance off at the end and the positive reaction is throw gum at them. After their performance, Nazila, the contract teacher, got together with Grace and they sang Girls Just Want to Have Fun. There wasn't as much of a reaction, I think the song was before their time.

It was a great night and to top it off, we got to take home some more food! I'll be eating some BBQ chicken for lunch today!

Who Knew You Could Bake a Cake in a Microwave?

As you've probably realized, I'm learning a lot fo things during my time in the Marshalls. Many of them revolve around the daily life here in Wotje. For example, I've learned that the best way to open a coconut without husking is to use a machete. Regular kitchen knives are a hassle. I've also learned that in order to eat fresh fish, you need two hands. One to eat with and one to wave in front of your plate to keep the swarm of flies away. By trial and error, I've also learned that the mosquitoes love the color black. In addition to these lessons, I also get very creative when it comes to cooking.

One night this week, my host sister, Marleen splurged and bought some cake mix. After Ketty's birthday cake, apparently I'm the cake-master. I was enlisted to help make it except that the convection oven I used before died. Such a dilemma...the batter's made and Marleen and Lala are looking at me like, "Well? Do your ripelle thing. Make us some cake." Having never baked a cake without an oven, I adopted the island way and just shrugged and threw it in the microwave. I had to turn it every couple minutes because the turntable broke and it was definitely not the prettiest cake, but it made everyone happy. So now I know. Microwaves are the BEST INVENTION EVER.

As far as teaching goes, I'm loving it although it is so exhausting. I have to carve out an hour a day for me to just decompress. It's very satisfying and my kids make me laugh everyday. I have some pictures that I'll load soon.

I want to thank my Aunt Sally, Jessie, LIz in Kwajalein, and Aussie Matt in Arno for sending my letters! It gets pretty lonely out here. Also Susan King for her incredible box of books. I've already read 3 in addition to 5 from the Dartmouth library. Thank you!

For Kathleen's Momma - I talked to her on Wednesday and she's doing good. She's loving her classes and she's started reading them chapter books complete with character voices. She had a little trouble finding a suitable textbook but it all worked out. She's thinking about doing some phonics with the younger guys. I sent her a Snickers and a Coke as an End-of-Your-First-Week present. (If you couldn't tell, we love Snickers here) :)

Bieber Fever

As most people know, Justin Bieber is something of a phenomenon among preteen girls. This is most apparent here in the Marshall Islands. The girls (and boys) here love his songs and they know every word and will sing it ad nauseum. For example, a few weeks ago, Kathleen (the
other volunteer on Wodmej), went swimming or tutu in iaar with a couple little girls. Once we had figured out they really like music, we both started singing Summer's Night from Grease. But we were not to be out done and these little 4th grade girls started belting out Baby Baby Baby by the Biebs. Thinking this was hilarious, we continued with the song awhile and then tried to move on to Lady Gaga or some Disney songs but the girls eventually brought us back to JB. We sang the few songs I have in my Bieber repertoire for the next 30 minutes. When we couldn't handle it anymore, we went back to my house where we listened to anything other than my only Justin Bieber song.

If you think that this obsession is only for children, think again. Every time someone sees my ipod or hears my music playing, I only have to wait 10 seconds before they follow up with the dreaded question, "Do you have Justin Bieber?". If I'm feeling generous, I will play my lone Bieber song. Most times I tell them no and give a sad face and they move on to Chris Brown and Eminem. Justin Bieber is something of an idol for young and old here on Wotje. I hear his songs everywhere and even little Kindergartners are singing the choruses of his more catchy tunes. Justin Bieber is truly an international sensation.

Other than my musings on Justin Bieber, I have been working a lot to complete lesson plans and prepare for my 3, 5, 6, 8 and 8th grade health classes. They are all doing great and for the most part of paying attention and being respectful with only a few hiccups. There were two funeral this week and I attended the first one. Here on Wotje, the entire island turns out for a funeral. There is food and several days of prayers with everyone from babies to the elderly showing up to pay their respects. On a lighter note, I learned the Marshallese version of Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes and then sang it with my Kindergartners. It was a big hit.

I wanted to give a shout out to Kathleen's mom. Kathleen came by this afternoon and she's doing well. She's been cleaning her classroom and is excited for classes to start on Monday. She borrowed Charlotte's Web and Because of Winn Dixie to read to her classes. She ate two Snickers and says hi! :)

First Days of School

School has officially started and under the conditions, it runs very well. This is considering there are only 4 grades being taught now and two of them have to share a classroom. If you don't think teaching is tough, try sharing your Kindergarten classroom with the 1st grade teacher. Two different teachers teaching two different subjects at the same time to two different classes. This is all happening within 6 feet of each other. Definitely a little distracting.

The ship has finally left Majuro! This means that within a week we should have: desks, chairs, and tables for the new classrooms, as well as school supplies like paper, pencils, crayons and I'm hoping construction paper. I've been watching my paper usage over the last week because I wasn't sure when our supplies were coming. I've had students use the front of a paper
for one assignment and the back for another.
On this ship, I will also have my luggage which has taken a month to get to me. This is because of a series of
delays and several boat changes. I'm
really excited! I was starting to run
out of toothpaste.

I absolutely love my
classes! My Kindergartners are the
best. I'm teaching them the alphabet and
the different sounds for each letter. I'm
doing the same thing as my Kindergarten master teacher, Mary Barnes. I'm using gestures that go with each
sound. There is nothing cuter than 10
little 5 year olds making the T sound and making a gesture like pushing a tack
into the wall. All the Marshallese
parents love to come watch my lessons and I often hear a giggle from them
throughout this whole process. I also
taught them "I'm a little teapot" and I couldn't even get through the
whole song because they made me laugh.
They were so serious and focused, trying to follow along with the hand
motions so when they all tipped over at the end, I cracked up. The parents loved it. My other classes are equally wonderful but my
third graders are rowdy which is hard to manage when I don't speak their
language. But I'm working on it. My 8th graders are amazing and really work
hard. There is an 8th grade test at the
end of the year to determine whether the
students go to high school or not so they are focused to say the least.

Life on the island
has infinitely improved because school started.
The kids know me now and I've been playing volleyball, collecting
shells, and drawing pictures in the sand with them. I'm really excited for the ship to come and
possibly have school supplies, my luggage and maybe some letters for me!