December 12, 2008

So apparently I skipped out on a few days. Woops. Lucky for you it would have just been more boring stuff to read though…so no big loss. Lets see… the three teachers went down to 2 the next day; as our other teacher had to take her baby to Majuro because it got sick. So movie and I were the only teachers for a whole week…clearly a lot of learning got done by the kids. Try putting 4 year old with 12 year olds and see how much gets done…its no a whole lot incase you couldn’t predict that outcome. I tried to get something out of it by playing an English Bee type thing I invented haha – by dividing them evenly up (some from every age group/ability level) on each team and playing a game that had options for all levels…and that worked…but like anything it got old after a while. I also became a Marshallese Language teacher this week as well. That is when you know you really got some problems in the school haha you have the American teaching Marshallese Language. I can barley teach my own language…I am sure as heck no going to be able to teach these kids their own language. But they thought it was hilarious…so they were paying attention. Who knows, maybe they got something out of it.

Anyways, its now Friday and we are on CHRISTMAS break. Wooo hooo. Poor 4th and 5th graders haven’t had a real teacher in 3 weeks though because Fancy hasn’t come back from Majuro. She missed a week before she went, and now she has been gone for 2 weeks. People who have come and gone say she is perfectly fine and she has been ‘out and about’ enjoying herself; so that is nice and comforting. Such good honest work she will have put into her next paycheck. She should feel good about herself. NOT

Finals though – what an interesting time. Its not that I have no idea where kids are before then, but its is just sometimes surprising to see who really gets stuff and who doesn’t at all. A lot of what these kids know here is only memorization and their conceptual understanding of the English language is abysmal. They have absolutely no comprehension. I can figure out of it is due to the simplicity of their own language, and it is just so much harder to go from Marshallese to English…or what. I could definitely see that, just simply due to the fact that one word has about 6 different meanings 2 of which are English vers, 3 of which are nouns and one of which is an adjective – so whenever they translate it they have no idea in what context to use it…? I could see that. But reading some of the responses the give to questions I feel like they just don’t think. They even copy sentences written directly in front of them completely wrong or the same word two completely different ways in the same sentence. You can tell the poor kids really have never had proper teaching (besides Carrie last year). But one year with one hour a day of real teaching can only do so much. Ah a feel so bad for these kids. It just really sucks, like I have said before, that the reason they can’t go further than this little island isn’t due to their own laziness and lack of determination (although that may be the case for some certainly not all) however, it is due to the sheer ignorance, flippancy and lack of knowledge and care on the teachers part. Uhguk.
Speaking of school problems, however, the Ministry of Education just had a PTA meeting with parents and teachers and addressed the issue of parent involvemnt in holding teachers accountable for their honest work and helping kids with motivation for achievement in school. They also reinforced their intentions to repair the school in January…so that was a god visit on their part I would say!


Away from school…it is still going strong. Haha - we had Gospel Day on Sunday which was an all day event filled with LOTS of church, and singing. Everyone got a nice laugh out of my singing and dancing – and it was an overall good day. After services and lunch I went to jebo to meet with Eric – a ripelle working on Agriculture over there – and got some seeds to put in my COMPLETED garden. The rock wall, thank you to JunJun, is finally completed! THAT was a pain in the butt…and a HUGE frustration. I didn’t mind doing it at all – obviously it was my project so I was expected to do it. But Whellor said he would have the PTA do it – so I kind of let it go a bit expecting that to happen. After the first 2 weeks of NOTHING happening – with constant reminders to Whellor - I finally just said screw it and started doing it myself. JunJun came out and helped after he died laughing at the sight of my attempted mixing cement and transporting it to the wall. The first day we worked 5 hours straight and the next we worked 7. It was a rather hefty project…but hey some bonus and much needed exercise. After 2 days we had 1 long side and 2 short sides completed…and one long side to go. Whellor came back and PROMISED that the PTA would complete the rest. The next day, 4 hours after he said they would, about 5 guys showed up, brought one load of rocks and then left to eat lunch and never came back. I was SO frustrated. If you say you are going to do something – DO IT. If you aren’t going to do it I could really care less. It’s not your job, that’s fine, no problem. BUT if you ‘promise, promise, promise’ that you’re going to do it, for three weeks, and never lift a finger, that’s pathetic. (In my mind. Maybe that’s a bit harsh and maybe it’s their culture, but it’s a pet peeve of mine…so it really frustrated me.) After school that day I was expressing my frustrations with life to JunJun and he just looked at me, laughed, and told me to ‘wait, you will see. You will have a smile again some day. Just you will see.’

So that night I went to sleep pretty early because I was mad, tired and homesick and was planning to finish the wall the next day after school. The next morning, however, I woke up to the sound of some creepy voice saying, ‘Merry Christmas Taylorrrr.’ I had no idea what was going on haha but awoke to see JunJun at my window with an awkwardly large smile on his face. I went outside and he covered my eyes and walked me over to my garden. When he took his hands off, I was standing in the middle of my COMPLETED garden! He had stayed up all night, literally, and finished the rock wall. I wanted to cry. I absolutely could not believe what I was looking at. It was amazing. I don’t think anyone could have done anything more perfect to make my day at the time. It was quite the fantastic Christmas present.

December 1, 2008

Time really has the ability to fly here…but it’s a strange type of flying by. I feel like the weeks zip by – faster than I ever thought time could go – yet I can’t seem to understand how I have only been here for 4 months when time goes by so fast. I feel like the weeks fly by and yet somehow the months seem to crawl. I can’t figure that one out. I feel like I have been saying ‘only 7 more months’ forever now. Wow, I just counted again, and its still 7 ☹ maybe I was just rounding all the times I counted before and rounded down to 7. Who knows…but now…7 more months! Yikes, that seems like a long time if I have only been on Arno 3. Oh well, good thing I like it. I just gotta figure the food thing out and I’m good to go…if I keep going down the path I am no, no good. Jill….you might have to up those nightly sit-ups when I get back to like 1000, 500 wont cut it I don’t think. And we might need to do intervals like 3 times a day…no joke. Haha I already can’t wait for it though ☺ PS…Jill has certainly won the letter writing contest so far…best letter EVER today. My mom came over from the cookhouse to see what I was laughing at because I was laughing so loudly with the door open. It was 11 pages complete with outstanding pictures and everything. I miss you begegakkkkkk!

Anyways, life is still good. I rekindled my love for coconuts and they are my new favorite after school snack. We are getting ready to put our first nursery of plants in the ground and I am also getting ready to extract my first pih waste from the tank. YIKES. I can honestly say that I never thought I would be doing that. Maybe I wont come to think of it…maybe I will just slightly take advantage of the fact that people love to do things for me here and lets my students do that. Hahah we shall see. Sounds like a good plan at the moment.

We are down to three teachers this week because two of our teachers had ‘emergencies’ and needed to go to Majuro. They both said they were sick, but weather or not they really were remains a mystery. Neither of them told Movie or I that they were going – they just didn’t show up and people that had been at the dock told us later that day that they saw them go. So that’s always good. At least the three teachers left are the ones who do any form of work though; that’s a bonus.

Well, there really isn’t anything very interesting to tell you about at the moment. Life is pretty steady. Lots of biit, lots of school and lots of bwebwenato-ing and jambo-ing. I love going around town and learning new things with people and talking Marshallese – its so much fun. I started helping make copra and everyone just thinks that is hilarious. Everyone always tells me how much of a ‘ledrik in Majel’ (Marshallese girl) I am and they tell me I am not ripelle anymore; and I like that for some reason. Hah it makes me feel more a part of this place to know that they look at me like that, and I guess that was one of my goals coming in - so it is a nice feeling knowing that people acknowledge my efforts to really learn and become a part of their culture. It is such a drastically different culture, but the experience of truly becoming part of it is incredible. To gain such a new understanding of life is something that will help me in many ways and something I will truly be thankful for. Sure things suck at times and sure I have contemplated swimming home or swimming over to Samoa; but over all the experience is one of incredible worth that I will always carry with me. There will be good memories and bad, but my cultural lens will be forever changed, and I don’t think that can ever really be anything but good.

November 28, 2008

Week one with using learning stations is over…and WHAT A DIFFERENCE. Although creating them took up pretty much my entire weekend – the difference they make in the ease of your week is immeasurable. Definitely a bit hectic at first and pretty much the whole week was devoted to explaining them to the class first and then trying to get the kids through the stations and testing everything out; but the kids loved it and I loved the fact that I got so much more one on one time with the kids. In a school like this, where the kids are at such drastically different levels, individual work is really important.

I implemented a behavior point system for the group work – apart from my regular class participation, performance and behavior system – and the kids seem to really like that. Positive reinforcement of the groups that are doing well really helps the others get back on track and stay focused. The difference from daily activities also helps keep their attention and they are big fans of the hands on work. There are definitely still some flaws to work out…but for the most part I can tell I am really going to like these centers and so will the kids.

November 26, 2008

We had our field trip to the farm today! It was tons of fun. After leaving an hour after we were supposed to, all of the 6th and 7th graders hopped in the rusty imitation of a pick-up truck and headed on down the hole stricken road to the Arno farm. Richie and Kiaben decided to walk 3 hours earlier and skip math – so they earned themselves an hour of weeding tomorrow after school…bad move on their part.

At the farm, however, we got a tour from Nebit (Benjamin is in the hospital sick right now ☹) and he taught the kids all about how to plant and care for all the fruits and vegetables. After that we helped make a cucumber bed and plant the seeds we have been nurserying for about bit now. We learned how to make a bed with the compost and pig manure and how to plant the seeds so they are spaced properly to absorb the compost. The guys loved it and worked hard all day – but the girls not so much. They weren’t the biggest fans of shoveling pig manure and were ‘thirsty’ every 2 seconds. Going to the farm was really good for some kids though because it gave me chance to see them in a different light. The kids that always excel in the classroom weren’t necessarily the hardest workers out side; and the kids that consistently fail most assessments were among the hardest workers. It was nice to get to see that side of them.

After the field trip we waited for the truck for 2 hours and played volleyball with the Arno kids. JunJun was a little on the late side – but I found out after it was because he took the MOE to Lukoj so they could take pictures of our disastrous school building! So that is ok…that means that something might actually be getting done. They told us they were planning to come in January to re-do the school; so I am keeping my fingers crossed big time for that one. (My initial thought when they said January was ‘there is no way they will come, you can’t build with all the snow.’ Thennnn I remembered where I was, and realized…not so much. Hahah)

Never Ending Roller Coaster Ride

This place is like a never ending roller coaster ride…and you can find the biggest drops within the same days. The kind of drops that send your stomach to your throat and make you want to get the heck off the ride…or get the heck off this island that is in the middle of no where.

Well, maybe it’s not that bad. Maybe I would just like a break and then get back on…

I just can’t stand the constant “where are you coming from, who did you talk with, what did they say, what else did they say, where are you going now, what are you going to do there, who are you going with, when are you going to come home,” and the lack of effort and enthusiasm from the teachers. It drives me insane and just puts me in a bad mood sometimes. I still love it tons, but the smallest things have the ability to just put me in a ‘screw this’ mood.

I had a big meeting with all the teachers the other day to discuss their work ethic and talk about what their job title actually entails. I informed them that it does NOT involve: not having class because you want to go use your cell phone, sitting and socializing with the neighbors while they make cobra, bringing a 2 year old to class everyday, coming in 30 plus minutes late to class, letting your students run around free, or sitting in the corner of the room and not moving just because that is where the breeze is. It was a last minute meeting but I simply couldn’t hold my patience after Fancy was 20 minutes late in the morning, 35 minutes late after lunch and let her last class out 25 minutes early; and she took care of a screaming 2 year old the whole time she was actually at school, leaving periodically to feed him. Poor 4th and 5th graders. The kids here have the rare ability to love school – and to think that the reason they aren’t learning is because of the teachers inability to teach, or even care, makes me go crazy. I had a 5 year old complaining that we had so much time off for school yesterday!!! “I lukkun konan jikul. Taylorrrr etke ejelok jikul. Jouj im jikullllll. Jikul ej lukkun emman ippa.” (I really want school, why isn’t there school. Please school. School is my favorite.) I don’t think you could ever pay a kid to say that! It was so cute to hear – and it reminded me why I am here and took a bit of the day’s frustrations away.

The statement was perfect timing too! JunJun and I were biking to a random place in the jungle to hang out....just away from all kids…but I brought Jelina too because I love her and she always makes me laugh. The jambo was initiated by my frustration with school and the seemingly pointless meeting I had the day before (Fancy was still 25 minutes late). The PTA was supposed to work on the wall but all they did was eat instead. It drove me insane and I was just having a ‘need to get out of here moment.’ So I was sitting with Jelina thinking of what I could do to just go away and JunJun came up on his bike and said ‘itok, jambo.’ Perfect timing. Jelina hopped on my bike with me and we biked about 30 minutes away and just sat singing, playing and laughing on coconut trees and the beach. It was exactly what I needed. It’s the fact that that type of retreat is always here that saves my sanity I think. It can fix anything!

Now I am back and just hoping that I can get out of this irritable mood. When I am around some people I am completely fine, but then one person who I can’t stand will come and annoy me all over again – I think I have a hard time separating the kids from life and the classroom. The kids that are a disaster in class tend to cling all over me away from school and it drives me insane. It’s really strange having no separation of school and life; sometimes is good and sometimes its bad.

Community

I have definitely settled into a bit more of a life here. Still no routine and still get frustrated – but I feel like this life is normal now and not just something crazy and abstract that I have no connection to. It feels more like my home now and I feel like I am a true part of the community. I think a lot of it has come with my outgoing and accepting nature of their culture – but they are finally giving into the fact that I love Marshallese culture and don’t want to be “the ripelle.” They give me babies to hold, they make me do yard work, they always correct me when I do something ‘out of culture,’ they yell hi and invite me to come eat and talk every time they see me, and they aren’t scared to talk to me anymore! My favorite thing that everyone does now is when there are other ripelles here they always look to me to translate when they don’t understand what they are saying…ahah they trust/understand my Marshallese enough now to be able to ask me what other people are saying! I suppose the index cards next to my bed (still being updated) are paying off! I have found this new sense of community here and I am loving it. I don’t have to love everything about this place, but to feel at home and accepted is an important part of being happy - so it is nice to have that working with me right now.

As for the past couple of days – we had our three days of school this week and life pretty much continued as it has been. In school I had the older kids read books they have been practicing to the younger kids – practicing alliteration and speech elements – and that was a successful and fun activity. They younger kids loved it, the older kids got stuff out of it, and the teachers got off easy and didn’t have to teach their class…so it was a triple win situation!

I studied some more amimano and started making some bracelets to send home for Christmas. They may not be the cutest things in the world…but you all have to wear them! I jamboed on the beach with Jumina, Atlynn and Aribut the other night after beat until 1 AM teaching them kartwheels and fun stuff like that. It was so refreshing to run around on an open beach, with thousands of stars and a full moon, and just have simple fun. I love that that is my life right now. So simple…so unfeigned…so pure. Just life. (Well the environment is pure at least…maybe not the food.)

Last night I had the girls from grades 6 and 7 sleep over at my house…thaaaaaat was fun. Haha I haven’t had a sleep over like that since my 10th birthday! (With the exception of my going away one with kels and tit ☺) It was back to the ‘who can stay up the latest game,’ and I was definitely the loser. I really wish I had batteries in my camera to take a picture of it…it was definitely a site to see! There were 4 of us curled up on my sleeping platform area (3 side by side and one laying horizontal) and then there were 4 girls curled on the floor (2 on the orange float from Whitney!) and then two more little girls in the outside room sleeping on my mosquito net. We were sleeping Marshallese style to the extreme! We watched center stage, ate Oreos, talked about boys and did all the fun things that you do at sleepovers. The only non-fun part was the part when they all got up at 6 o’clock after going to bed at 2 am. I could have gone for another 5 or 6 solid hours of sleep! But that’s ok…I will make up for it today.  

I am more than ready for bed right now at 6:30 after we spent the ENTIRE day, and I say that with no exaggeration, weeding. We practically cleared the entire town of any form of weed…EVEN IN THE WOODS! We started at 8 this morning and at finished at 5 tonight with an hour break for lunch; and we did nothing but clear the jungle making enormous mountains of weeds and trees. (lots of compost material at least) Apparently everyone does it every so often and Ajuon pays the church $30 for it? I am not sure what the point of that is…but oh well…it looks nicer I suppose. For lunch….get ready for this one…we ate TURTLE. Yikes. I was a bit scared but to be completely honest, it was one of the most delicious tasting things I have had here! They fried it with garlic and black pepper and yummmm. Delisch. It is more on the chicken side as far as meats go, but it’s really a kind of its own. It doesn’t have a fish taste, but I would say it had more that taste than chicken…with the texture of chicken and its sweeter. That was a really bad description…so pretty much I just recommend you try it if you have the chance; it’s good.

Ok, that’s all. Tomorrow I am going to make the nursery for my garden!!!! We have all the materials now and the PTA is coming to help made the cement and rock wall on Tuesday. We have most of the dirt in, will make the beds Tuesday and are taking a field trip to the Arno farm on Wednesday. This is finally happening and I am very excited about it.

Things might just be continuing to move in a positive direction. We will knock on wood though, because you never know with how things go here.

Sick :(

Well…strep throat in the Marshall Islands isn’t very much fun. I started getting sick yesterday and today it is definitely full blown strep…nasty. Luckily there is no school though because of a rainstorm! Anyways, Melissa and I both had a hard day yesterday but made it better by lounging together listening to music and watching movies…very American. We made soup and laid snuggled in bed for a good part of the day – only getting out of bed to go use the phone when the rain stopped for a little bit every now and then. She was supposed to go home last night but because of the rain and just really not wanting to, she stayed again. I actually really liked that because I felt horrible and it was nice to have someone here. I had a pretty big fever during the night and Simbe and my mom took care of me – which was really nice. They rubbed my feet and put a cold washcloth on my face “massaging the fever out” as they said and stayed with me until I fell asleep. It definitely wasn’t like lying in mom’s bed when you’re sick, but it was still nice. It felt really good.

Today I woke up though with double the number of white spots in my throat and feel horrible. I think I will head to the doctor to get some medicine when the pick up comes – so I am hoping it does.

Melissa and I have been sitting plotting how excited we are to go to Majuro in two weeks. Its not that I don’t love it here – I actually don’t really like Majuro that might – but it is definitely nice to get internet and cold things and normal food for a couple days at a time every now and then. I like the outer island simplicity…but a little flare every now and then is never a bad thing.

Well, the next time I write will probably be from Majuro ☺ I hope everyone is doing well and I miss everyone tons. Xoxo

More Mail!!

Wow…another amazing day for mail! I FINALLY got my school supplies (mailed August 1st) and I got two more awesome packages from friends as home…it was phenomenal.

Melissa decided to come down today, instead of yesterday, and we had fun hanging out with Lin (the gardener from Laura farm) and playing in the lagoon today. Thank you to Whitney and Kel’s expert care packaging skills, we had an awesome raft to play on (which also now doubles as Melissa’s bed when she is here) and just had a fun, relaxing afternoon.

After lunch and playing we decided to take a jdik jambo to Arno to say hi to Francis and Agnus…who are now our Marshallese grandparents! (Don’t worry Bumpa, you’re still my number 1 grandfather!) By the time we got there one of the biggest rain storms since I have been here hit and we ended up staying and having dinner to wait it out. Melissa and I were the chefs and it was a delicious meal of spaghetti and meatballs and garlic bread…what a treat. We didn’t bring any sleep over stuff though and had to go back..my family was expecting us as well. So at about 8 we decided to head back. This ride back was the definition of a true Marshallese adventure! There clearly isn’t much light on an island with limited solar power and we only had one headlamp. It was DARK. The puddles were ENORMOUS from the rainstorm and the side of the road was lined with nearly invisible HUGE hole used for cooking pigs. I was a bit scared at first, but after a while it just became hilarious. We splashed through mud puddles that were over a foot deep and occasionally fell into ones that were up to our knees…we had to get off and wade through the rest of it. I almost lost a shoe in one that was over my knee…but luckily found it in the mud. The ride that normally takes 25 minutes took us 45 minutes, but it was a hilarious ride and tons of fun!

Halloween?

Halloween in the Marshall Islands…what an experience! School was fun today and the kids loved making all kinds of Halloween crafts. We made pumpkins and spider webs…we ate candy…we played games and pretty much did nothing that had to do with school. It was great! The kids don’t exactly understand what Halloween is though and they think it is a thing…not at day. They kept holding up the teeth that I gave them (that Carrie sent…what a great idea!) and saying I have a Halloween! And after school they kept saying have you seen a Halloween? Is it time for Halloween yet?  

After school we had our PTA meeting (another story it itself) and then hung out until later that night. Then, all of a sudden, as I was sitting there talking to my dad about the days meeting, a HUGE group of people came running up behind me with flour caked on their faces, shirts tied on their heads and sunglasses on their eyes! They tried to ‘make a halloween.’ Hahaha it was the funniest thing I have ever seen! They have never done anything for Halloween before (they only heard about it last year from Carrie) but they started a new tradition tonight. They get ‘dressed up’ /put flour on their face, and go around from house to house singing church songs – like Christmas carols! It was hilarious and great. So funny to see how people interpreted my explanation of it and made it Halloween Ri-majel style here. Definitely a fun night.

As for the PTA meeting after school…I think it might have actually accomplished something! Although the first hour was still about who would make food for the meeting, we eventually got to talking about relevant issues and sorted some messes out. We talked about moving Tari out of the library so we can finally use it – the PTA will start repairing his house this week. We talked about teacher attendance…there is a meeting with all the teachers this week to discuss the issues and talk about consequences for poor attendance. We talked about parent involvement in their children’s education and helping them study and showing interest in their achievement and success. If a parent doest care about this children’s education why on earth would the child care? The last thing we talked about was putting a community effort into getting the MOE to come out and repair the school. I think the most successful part of the conversation with was teachers providing children with an honest effort in their work and really trying to teach the children. Fancy looked as though she was going to cry and Tari, although defensive, looked like he got it too. I don’t know that anything will necessarily change, but it is the first time they have been called out by the community – so hopefully some positive changes will arise from the meeting. The foundation for improvement has been set…now it is just a matter of follow through and action.

Accept what is and make the best of what I have. . .

Tomorrow is Halloween and all of my kids now think that Halloween is a day where you put flour on your face… They don’t exactly understand the concept of a ghost – or else I am just not explaining it in an understandable way – and so they just think you put flour on your face. Haha that was the only way I could think of to explain how you would look like a ghost or a dead person. But they also didn’t understand why you would want to look like a dead person. Regardless, they are all just really excited because they know it is a day where you get candy…and that is pretty much all they care about.

As far as the beginning half of the week, I had a rather large break down on Tuesday after our PTA chairmen’s meeting. We met to discuss what would be talked about at the PTA meeting and it was just so frustrating. They argued about money for the first part of it and then we made a list of things we are going to talk about. You can just tell by the way my principle has no interest in anything that not much is going to change while she is principle. She has no ambition to make the school a better place and it is just SO sad. I want to be able to help this school and this town, but if the only person with a voice for the school will not speak up and ask the MOE for help – we aren’t going to get any. All you need to do around here is ask for help, and they will give it to you. The other towns in Arno did that – and they have brand new schools now. We are the only town with a run down school that is on the verge of collapsing…literally. The MOE won’t know anything is wrong if we don’t ask for it…but I also suppose they won’t favor us either because our teachers don’t go to any of the required classes over the summer so we aren’t exactly on the Ministry’s good side. Oh well – the whole town is behind me, my father said, and will work to help us move Lukoj Education in a positive direction. I am a little scared for the confrontation that will take place on Friday – simply because I work with these people every day and if everyone is about to tell them what a poor job they are doing and I sit there and agree…they won’t look at me with much of a smile I am predicting. But oh well, I am here for the kids and its not my problem they aren’t putting forth an honest effort. I am determined to give these kids a descent facility to learn in and I am determined to educate these teachers enough so that they are able to adequately teach the kids. It isn’t very good when the Math teacher can’t write a number in standard form or do long division…

This year is a year of growth for both Lukoj and myself and I know I am not the only person unhappy with the way the school is run. That said, regardless of how frustrated and miserable things may make it at times I will accept what is and make the best of what I have. I will take advantage of the resources that now sit dormant, and try to make a positive difference. Big or small, a positive difference is just that…positive. It is something better than what was.

Christmas in October!!!

Today was like CHRISTMAS in October!!!!!!!!! The mail that I have been waiting for since 10 days ago, finally arrived! After Lauren missed the boat both Wednesday and Friday last week – she finally made it this morning! Seeing all my boxes when I got back from school completely negated the fact that: Tari hadn’t shown up today, Fancy was 20 minutes late this morning and 40 minutes late coming back from lunch, Movie cancelled our PTA meeting for the 4th time in a row, the MOE didn’t show up, and I’m stranded on this crazy island. Despite all of that, a huge smile was able to find my face! I finally got the much anticipated packages from my mom and Phil, I got a surprise one from last years’ volunteer Carrie, I got 2 boxes of healthy food from Danielle, a package from Lauren with donated supplies, and 2 awesome letters from my Begegak and Megan! I was entertained for a LONG time! There were lots of great books for my kids, Halloween candy for our party on Friday, find surprises and reading material for me, and many nice things to read. I love, love, love, mail day!

Fishing, Arno Style

What a relaxing weekend! I spent the entire weekend in Arno with Melissa and Francis and it was quite enjoyable. We worked as normal Saturday morning and then decided to stay an extra day because Lin, the garden guru from Majuro, was planning to come early Sunday morning. Melissa and I just relaxed all night and did a bit of lesson planning and reminiscing down on the lagoon at night. It was really fun talking about all kinds of crazy memories from our childhood, and I think it actually made me sympathize with my kids a little bit remembering what it was like to be their age – in America nonetheless.
Anyways, Sunday morning came and we waited around until about lunchtime for Lin to come. This guy is a little bit hilarious and has a huge crush on Melissa. He doesn’t know English super well, so the bluntness of his comments are hilarious. We talked about farming a little bit, but mostly we just ate and then ended up going out on the boat he had chartered for the day! Not a bad deal. He chartered the 4X and so that meant he had it for the entire day. He offered to take Melissa to the Ine dock so she didn’t have to bike home, so I went along for the ride and it was awesome. We went straight there and the on the way back stopped in various places and fished. These guys (the men on the boat who are actually both Francis’ brothers) were big time fishermen and are the best in the Marshall Islands. Ben Reimers, the captain, actually just won the All Micronesia fishing tournament and got $10,000 for breaking some record and catching a 694 Lb. Marlin! That is huge. We didn’t catch anything like that – but we definitely caught a bunch of big groupers. As the guys were reeling in one of the groupers, a shark came along and right before we pulled it out of the water chomped down on the fish and fought for half of it. He got it! That was scary…but also kind of cool to watch.
We ended up fishing and hanging out on the water for about 3 hours before we went back to Arno,Arno. When we did finally get back, I biked back to Lukoj and spent the rest of the evening lesson planning, and bewbewnato-ing with the family. I felt bad being gone all weekend – but it was a rough week and I needed a little decompression.

School is getting better. . . I think. . . .

Well, Movie decided to join us again. That was nice of her I suppose. We started a new quarter yesterday, and things have been going smoothly…so far. I have introduced a few new disciplinary elements to my classes, and they seem to be working nicely. School has gotten a bit easier as I have been learning more about how to effectively engage the students. The class I still have the most trouble with though is my 6th and 7th graders; they simply just don’t get English. Their English comprehension is FAR less than my 4th and 5th graders and they don’t seem to really want to do anything about it. They don’t have disciplinary issues so much as they just don’t talk. I will ask a question and it will be silent…it is like pulling teeth to get them to say anything. There are a few that will talk, but for the most part they are silent. I try not to call them out and make them talk, but sometimes I just have to. Listening to what they say though – it tells me they just don’t get it. I will ask them if they understand something and they will all say yes. Then, I will ask them a question about it and it is like I just asked them to explain it to me in Swahili. They have NO idea. They will repeat some random word that they heard me say, and put a few other words around it in an attempt to make a sentence. Here – I’ll give an example: Last week we spent the week learning about the four seasons and writing paragraphs. We talked a lot about the four seasons and read a story called “Natures Year.” Natures Year outlined the four seasons pretty much, and had 4 or 5 paragraphs explaining what happens in each season. The sections were very distinct – with headers – and the language was simple. We learned 20 vocab words related to the topic and also learned how to write a paragraph. We read examples, talked about them, and wrote example ones as a class. We talked about into, three details and a conclusion, and talked about how to pick out important things from a text to put in a paragraph. We made a sample paragraph about the four seasons in general, and then I tried to have them do it on their own. I asked them each to pick one season and write me a paragraph telling me about it. They were instructed to read the section again by themselves once – read it again and ask comprehension questions they may have (vocab they didn’t know etc) and then once more to write down important details. Then they were supposed to fill out a “paragraph sandwich” template for their season and then write a paragraph. When they were done they should switch with a partner to edit, and then write the final paragraph. I okayed most of the outlines – and then the paragraphs they turned in were almost all completely different. I don’t know how they changed so much, but not a single paragraph made sense. It was so depressing. There were sentences like, “The season is Natures Year is the one a winter. The winter is very hot and gets warmer. In the season there is winter. You can play in the snow. Leav sit an no more, in the a winter is the season.” Their outlines were NOTHING like that and I don’t understand why they changed them…but that was their final product…and it just made me want to cry. They will act like they get it and be enthusiastic in saying they understand…but apparently I have to make 10,000 percent sure. Oh well, I guess that just means we back up and do it again…just go down a different road to learn it this time.

Life here is still good though…again not much is changing. Day to day routines are pretty…well…routine. I got a package from the SPRAGUES today – which completely made my day!

OHHHH and I GOT MY GARDEN SUPPLIES TODAY!!! Three weeks after they were supposed to come about half of them came today! I got a message from Billy this morning that they would be coming – so I went to Arno after school to check it out! Most of the supplies came – but there was no soil or cement. So it’s good that we got this stuff – it’s definitely a start – but we can’t officially start until we get the most important part – soil. Shovels and hoes can only get us so far if there’s nothing to shovel or hoe. Regardless, it was still exciting and I can’t wait for the rest!

Baptizing in the Marshall Islands

Happy Birthday Alex!!!!!

Well, today was interesting. I had my first experience with Baptizing in the Marshall Islands…different could be one word used to describe it. Here in the Marshall Islands they don’t believe in baptizing until you are old enough to have committed sins, and they do it to rid you of all wrong you have made and put you on the road with God. We had our normal session this morning, and this afternoon’s session was on the beach at the Lagoon because there was a baptizing ceremony. Six kids (ranging from 12 to 20) were baptized. The first part of the ceremony was normal…but the strange part came next. All of a sudden my father started walking down to the water. I was expecting him to bring some water back to use a holy water, but he just walked right on into the ocean. He had his very nice church attire on, and just walked right on in…up to about mid stomach. He stood there with his hands towards the Heavens for a few minutes yelling in Marshallese, and then it stopped. At that time the first of the kids walked in to join him; Richie was first. Like my dad he walked in fully clothed and took stance along side Kamot. They were there for about 4 minutes and then my father dunked him under water and he came out. We sang a song for him as he came back, and then it all happened again six times. I wish I had my camera to share the experience with you, but I thought that might have been a little inappropriate. Oh well. Needless to say though, it was a touching ceremony and really cool to see yet another way the Marshallese conduct their lives so differently.

Away from church I spent my Sunday cleaning and organizing the school. The condition of our school is AWFUL and it looks as though it might fall apart any day. The cement walls crumble more each day and wooden windows and doors slowly rot before our eyes. Another year and this school is definitely not going to be standing. No exaggeration.

I cleaned out the extra closet in the Kindergarten house and finally finished sorting out the Library. I hoped I could finish that sooner, but there were too many other things to take care of. I almost died when I saw the boxes that Movie decided to bring over from her house. I can’t tell you how many episodes we have had because no one had pencils and there are no staplers or sharpeners or rulers or markers etc…and movie had three boxes full of EVERYTHING we have needed that she ‘forgot’ she had. How can you forget you have all that stuff when you need it every day?!?! It blows my mind. Oh well. I cleared everything out though, sorted it, and but it all back in an orderly fashion – not just heaps. I also made quarter lesson plans with the weeks laid out (9) and then lessons for this week. It was a TON of work, but it feels nice to be organized. It makes for a lot less stress in the Sundays to come.

My, how time flies.

Today is the end of the first quarter of school! My, how time flies. We have been practicing dances for all of the classes all week and we are planning to perform them at the assembly that is happening next Friday. I have come up with some pretty sweet moves and am quite proud of my dance making abilities. It must be all the practice I got with Mrs. Michelle and at PDC…

Aside from dancing we also had finals in all of my classes today. We had a cumulative spelling test for all classes and then various other assessments for the different classes. The older kids did writing, and the younger kids did individual assessments on related materials. Some went really well, and others – well – lets just say they didn’t go as well. (For example: I had one kid write all letters for the number assessment part, draw shapes for the letters and write a combination of numbers and letters when asked what letter makes the sound /_/…I don’t think he understands English so much.) A lot of the test were what I expected though, so nothing was too surprising. I think the most helpful part about taking them will not be seeing where they are now – but they will really help me figure out what I have to focus on now!

On a completely different note, I think having the kittens live in my house was a bad idea. This is the second time I thought having kittens would be a good idea and it is the second time that having kittens turned out to be a bad idea; and both times have been for the same reason. They go to the bathroom whereever the heck they please…with no regard for the fact that what they may be peeing on happens to be your notebook filled with lesson plans. How rude. They did a good job not going to the bathroom for a while (or at least they hid it nicely and I didn’t find it) but now its all over the place. I keep finding small presents all over my workroom and lots of my stuff smells of urine. It is disgusting. I have tried to kick them out – but they somehow find ways back in. (I guess that is what happens when you have holes all over your house…) I already gave two away to little kids haha so hopefully I can find something to do with the others. One good thing I suppose is that they don’t go in my bedroom or on clothes…so that’s a bonus? Only lesson plans and boxes of books.





PS…Movie has not shown up to school for two weeks exactly today! She claims that she is “sick” yet she is well enough to jambo all over Lukoj during the day bwebwenato-ing with her friends. I would post the reason she says she is not in school, however, it is a little disgusting, so I was spare the details. Anyways, she didn’t come for a week and then she left to go to Majuro on Tuesday. She had not come back and it is the end of the quarter. We have no report cards and no idea what we are supposed to do. Good principal huh?

My Pounding Heart

It was two thirty in the morning last night when I awoke to the sound of a gunshot. My heart was practically pounding out of my body and my muscles jerked into fetal position. I lay there with my eyes wide open not wanting to move. About thirty seconds later I hear the same noise again, only this time it was closer. I had no idea what was going on. I did not hear the sound of rocks crunching under human feet outside my house and there were no voices carrying in the wind. ‘If they were killing an animal,’ I thought, ‘there would definitely be some sort of noise. Maybe someone shot themselves?’ I had NO idea what was going on. I didn’t dare peer out my window and I didn’t dare move. Every muscle in my body was as tense as rock and I had no idea what to do. I was certain there was someone with a gun outside my house – I just didn’t know what was happening. I thought about going to my family’s house, but that was too risky. What if the person thought I was someone else and shot me by accident. I couldn’t go outside!

At about 3:15, still completely wide-awake with my heart beating a million miles an hour and eyes glued open I heard the sound again. It was RIGHT outside my house. I patted around my bed for my headlamp and clung to it as though it was for my life. My eyes filled with tears, but I didn’t let myself cry. As slowly and quietly as I could I slipped out of bed and crawled on the floor. I tried not to make a peep of noise and curled into a ball. The cement was cold and hard and the space under my bed was limited. Within seconds the noise struck again and I began shaking. What on earth was happening? Why were there no animal sounds or any sounds at all for that matter? Why does this person keep shooting a gun? What if he accidentally shoots a bullet at my house? This is horrible. Morning can’t come soon enough.

I laid curled in a ball with my head on my crumpled mosquito net for nearly 3 hours. The noises stopped for a while, but that didn’t the fear away from me. I might have fallen asleep for 10 minutes or so, but I couldn’t let myself; I was too terrified. When morning finally came and I heard the voice of my mother outside I quickly crawled out from under my bed and went outside to see if anything was wrong. I asked my mom if she heard anything last night, and she looked at my like I was crazy. “Nope, not a thing,” she said and continued with her morning routine. THEN, all of a sudden, as I was walking to the cookhouse, the noise happened again! I jumped about a foot in the air and quickly looked all around. Just as my eyes hit the roof of the cookhouse I saw a coconut sliding down the tin roof and tumble onto the ground! I had never felt so silly in my life. A weight of about 1000 pounds was lifted off my chest and I no longer had to be scared of not sleeping for the rest of the year; there was not really a gun and I was not going to be shot by accident. It was only coconuts falling on the tin roof of the cookhouse! Why it took me over two months to hear this for the first time…I don’t know. All I know is the noise those things make when they hit a roof is HUGE and sounds EXACTLY like a gunshot. To think I spent a night on the cement floor under my bed because of a COCONUT…haha well…I guess that’s what happens when you are a naive ri-pelle in the Marshall Islands.

It's Raining - No School!

No school today! There is no snow…there is no thunder storm…there is no lightening… there is no monsoon…there is no hurricane…there is no wind…there is no typhoon…there is no tidal wave…there is no deathly heat…there is just a small rain shower. BUT because there is no such thing as an umbrella or rain coat there and my principle doesn’t want to get wet walking to school and she doesn’t want the kids to either – there is no school. 10 minutes after school is called off the sun clears and the sky is blue. At 8:30 though, the sky was dim and a few rain drops sprinkled down to dampen the hand of Movie as she stuck her hand out of the door way. “No school today, its going to be a wet one,” she said. So – I sit here, now able to catch up on reading a letter, writing and all of the things I never manage to get enough time to do otherwise. I kind of like it! I think I am going to bake cookies with all of the older girls that came to school anyways today – only to find out that there wasn’t any. Then, when we are finished we will all curl up and watch a movie. Almost like the states – when Whit and I would have nothing to do on a Sunday morning when it was raining outside – and we would lay on her couch…eat food all day…and watch movies. It is practically the same thing here today, only: its Tuesday…the food won’t be quite the same…the kitchen we cook in wont be quite the same…there won’t be any Whit…and the TV won’t be quite as large. Oh well, I can pretend. ☺

I think I have actually got people interested in exercising here! I started being really good about exercising (on a need basis) about a little while ago and some of the kids are actually being religious about it with me! JuneJune, Michael, and Jeramin all go running with me every day – and they are the ones pressing me to get off my butt and go. They always come looking for me around 5 – which is when we usually go – and are ready to go. Michael asks me about it all day in school and JuneJune and Jeramin (who are my age) make sure in the morning that we will go at night. I start the week at 25 minutes and ad 5 minutes every day so I run for 50 minutes the last day – and they do it all with me! I was actually really surprised that they would last the whole time – especially since they are running in sandals or without any shoes at all. We carry big rocks or coconuts for parts of the run and really just make the whole thing fun. When we get back from our run we go to the beach and do sit ups, push-ups and other various arm and leg workout stuff. I think having them do it with me really helps me to stay motivated and as much as I though it would just be a joke – it is really awesome. They get really into it, take it seriously, and just make it fun! It’s awesome.

Aside from my new exercise routine, there really isn’t much different going on in Lukoj. Billy and Karen from DSAP should be coming with our supplies this week, but we aren’t sure what day they will be coming.

- I am still horrible at doing my laundry and my clothes still get dirtier.
- Rice and tuna still make up at least one of my meals every day – and eating papaya is probably more delicious than eating chocolate.
- My 4 kittens still like under my bed, and I still haven’t figured out where they go to the bathroom…seeing how they can barely walk.
- I still love living like a rimajel but their constant fixation with my every action still annoys me.
- I still use a coconut in some form or another at least 5 times a day and drink one at every meal
- My showers are still freezing and the first dump of the bucket always takes my breath away (That is ok though since it is the only cold thing on this island)
- I still have yet to want to go home…I love it here.

MY BABY BROTHER HOLDING OUR NEW KITTEN!

It's Open!

Francis’ store opened this weekend! Woo hoo. I took my NEW BIKE (I got a bike in Majuro to save my self the trouble of the flat tires I seem to get every time I borrow someone’s bike) down to Arno this weekend to help out with the farm again. Francis and his wife were there – so it was a lot of fun. Friday night they cooked a delicious meal and Michael (the volunteer in Arno) came over as well. We talked and ate for a very long time and then got some rest for the big day on Saturday. Saturday morning I worked on the farm a bit and then I helped Agnus make tuna sandwiches and Christmas cookies (ha they were the only ones they had – Christmas trees and snowmen) for the big store opening. We set up the inside of the store and brought out a big radio. The whole town came over for the event and it was a blast. During the day I became friends with the deaf lady that is always around because we discovered how to talk using sign language! I remembered the alphabet in sign language and she thought that was the best thing ever – that I knew that! Haha so now we talk using the alphabet. At about 3 o’clock everyone came to the store and there was a ceremonial opening. Prayers were said and people spoke to the honor of Francis and what he gives to the people of Arno. When everyone finished talking, candy began flying and feet began moving to the beat of the blaring music; it was a true Marshallese celebration!

It Pays to Plan

You know that something that I was talking about that I thought changed in school last week…that was just a fleeting illusion. Things are back to their exasperating ways. It may be that I am probably not as prepared as I should be because I was so focused on my grant stuff this weekend that I neglected my lesson plans a bit…but it’s still driving me crazy. Sometimes the kids will have flashes of brilliance and you think they understand it – and two seconds later they will write down what they just told you and you realize that their previous statement was just a lucky blurb that happened to come out of their mouth at the exact right time and answer the question you had posed. You will think they understand what an adjective is – because they happen to say 2 in a row (after doing it for over a week) but then you play a game and realize they have no clue. This week is definitely teaching me to always put the extra effort into planning the whole week, because it can only make things easier for you as the week goes on! I understand now why the teachers here don’t like teaching. If you are imprudent, like many are, you are certainly going to go crazy and hate every second of it. The kids don’t know how to be productive during unstructured time – and 50 out of 60 minutes in a Marshallese classroom is unstructured time. No wonder their teachers are ‘sick’ at least twice a week.

We are still doing lesson plan checks on a weekly basis though – so hopefully structure may begin entering some of their classes and a bit of accomplishment will inspire them to continue planning and putting effort into their job. Right now, even though we are writing lesson plans they still don’t use them, so my next goal is to get them to actually use the plans they spend time writing!

YEAH!!

Well, I just got back from Majuro…and WE GOT OUR GRANT FOR THE FARM!!!!! We got $1000 worth of: materials, labor and instruction, donated to us through DSAP. (Development of Sustainable Agriculture in the Pacific). Where I'm standing in the picture above is where our new garden will be!!

I’ll start from the beginning. Melissa and I had been working with Francis for the past couple of weeks to further our plans for the farm and gain more knowledge on what it would take to make the project really happen. We met with him Friday night when we got into Majuro and had dinner at RRE. Lin, the farmer from Laura was also there and we discussed what we were going to need – how we would get it – and lots of other details. Francis said he would work on more contacts, Lin would give us seeds and he said he would also teach us a bit about it by taking us to his farm on Saturday.

Saturday – Melissa and I went to a cooking class in the morning that Lin put on, where we were able to learn great recipes using the foods we would be growing at our farms. Then, Lin took us to his farm in Laura where we were able to get a book that basically laid out step by step how to make a farm in the Marshall Islands. It couldn’t have been more perfect. After our trip to the farm, we stopped by Ace where we got the prices of everything we would need and made a cost analysis spread sheet for our proposal.

Sunday was the day we spent making our proposal and figuring out the details and supporting evidence for our need to build a farm. Our problem was: The lack of nutritious local foods and the heavy reliance on imported foods high in sugar and sodium contribute to the Marshall Islands’ growing problem of diabetes. Without the means or knowledge to cultivate healthy foods, this problem will continue indefinitely. And our proposed solution was: By educating the students and community about healthy lifestyles and gardening, as well increasing the availability of local, nutrient-rich foods though the creation of school-based fruit and vegetable gardens, the well being of these villages will be greatly improved. We drew the proposal out much further – stating our: objectives, goals, progress analysis plan and cost analysis chart – and then decided whom we would submit it to.

Accidentally, Melissa ran into the President of DSAP and arranged a meeting. Upon hearing our proposal he was extremely excited and practically agreed to support us right then and there. We met with him to show him the details and within minutes we had our grant. He said he had been wanting to do something like this for a very long time and we were like a dream come true to him; little did he know, however, that he was our dream come true.

So, coming back to Majuro today it was an incredible feeling knowing that I had already accomplished what I had set out to do. I definitely wasn’t expecting to come back $1,000 more invested into the farm…but apparently Lukoj really needed this project and it is going to happen now! Billy and Karen from DSAP are planning to come out next week – supplies in tow – and teach the kids about laying beds and making compost. Although we have already been working on that as a class, it will probably be nice for them to hear about it in Marshallese. I can’t WAIT to really get started and begin growing some fresh fruits and veggies. I am more excited about this farm that I ever anticipated I would be about anything here…and it feels so awesome to have actually received the grant and know that it is something that will actually happen and is no longer a mere aspiration! This is great.

Well, the overall status is pretty good at the moment…all elements included. I got a huge envelope of mail today, I had patience in school and actually enjoyed it (yikes didn’t see that one coming), I just got back from an awesome weekend at the farm and then a visit to Ine, Lauren is coming for 2 days this week, and I get to go to Majuro this week! Things are great.

Melissa and I went to the farm as usual on Friday night – and that was a bit of an adventure. We were completely looking forward to the opening on Francis’ new store – which will have ice cream and cold drinks – yet to our dismay, Francis was nowhere to be found and the store looked just as it did last Friday…empty and not finished. That said, our plan to buy meat to cook for dinner fell through and we ended up eating plain cooked pasta with plain mashed potatoes. It was a delicious and highly nutritious meal to say the least. We relaxed by ourselves and woke up to a morning of rain and a breakfast of last nights’ left overs. We did save one potato to fry like hash browns though, so that spiced it up a bit! When the rain stopped we went to the farm and did our normal work, only this time, in a bit of rain. I did manage to walk straight into a piece of wood with a nail sticking out on it though and fell straight down. That hurt A LOT. I was sure I was going to get stitches, and I felt like a bit of a baby when I looked in the mirror and only saw a huge red mark that later scabbed over and left a nice bruise. My head did not feel very good the rest of the day.


When we finished on the farm we had our normal lunch with Benjamin and Tarkien, and then began our eventful trek to Ine, where Melissa lives. The beginning of the ride wasn’t bad and there wasn’t much rain. We stopped to make our weekly phone calls and then stopped to pick stuff up at my house. For some strange reason I decided to grab a trash bag, and that was definitely a genius idea. Not more than 10 minutes after leaving my house it was down pouring! Our bags were safely stored in bags in my rusty basket…but we were getting soaked. The roads aren’t ideal for biking in the first place and they definitely aren’t ideal for biking in the rain. The rain added to the already lake-like puddles and re-slicked the fallen palm fawns and coconuts. Wet plants slapped our face and scratched at our legs as we peddled along. Rain soaked our guams as the puddles of dirt splashed all over our arms and legs; what was not covered by our clothes, was quickly covered in mud. The bikes made a large clanging noise with each rock that we hit, and it was often loud enough to make me glance back to make sure my basket and wheel were still attached. I was sure I was going to lose a wheel. It you hit a coconut or a rock or a fawn – which there were zillions of – at just the right angle, it sent you flying into the jungle (and I use that term literally). There were at least two times that my bike managed to hit a coconut at just the wrong angle, and since my bike doesn’t have breaks I went veering off into the trees. I was a little scared and an hour and forty five minutes has never seemed so long.

We eventually made it though and enjoyed a little down time. Ine is beautiful and I got to meet her family. Her family is really amazing, and I am jealous of so many things. It is not that I don’t like my family, hers is just a bit less serious and leaves her alone a bit more. They do nice things for her all the time and really respect her space and things. They are a blast to hang out with and talk to, and it was just really cool being able to really hang out with a different family. They don’t go to church every day of the week and they don’t read the bible at dinner. It was a nice change of pace. Friday night was mellow and lots of reading and playing cards. We helped her sister make banana bread too – and that was amazing!! I wish Lukoj had bananas!

Sunday was amazing. Melissa and I got up relatively early and biked and hour to the end of Arno to go ‘island hopping!’ We biked, this time in the sun, for a while and then got off and walked the rest of the way. We waited to the tide to go out and then walked over to about 4 different tiny islands. It was really awesome. The islands are mainly dead coral and shell searching was a lot of fun. We sat down and enjoyed a picnic on one of the islands and all around just had a lot of fun. Heading back I could tell later I would be regretting not putting 50 sunsccreen on, as my forearms already stung like a sunburn. (I definitely regretted it later that night too…and I regret not buying the Aloe that Phil so intelligently suggested when we were shopping. I said, “No, I’ll just use the sunscreen I am buying so I won’t need aloe.” Genius idea Taylor…not.) We went back to Melissa’s and hung out for a bit before it was time to bike home. The bike home wasn’t as bad as the day before, but the puddles were definitely still left over from the day before. I only took one detour into the jungle this time, but I really wish someone could have been there to witness the ride. I just would have loved to watch myself peddling so fiercely over all the rocks and coconuts and fawns and heading off the road so many times. It was definitely scary not having breaks cause you either had to crash to avoid a bigger crash or just hope for the best and peddle though.

Back in Lukoj though it was nice to finally relax and not bike. I had been biking for the majority of two days and was ready to be done. Girls from school came over asking if they could wash my clothes – which I thought was a little strange – but they loved it. Hahah they washed and hung everything and somehow I think they managed to actually clean them. When I do it, they always seem to get dirtier – but I think they might actually be semi-clean now. Strange! Anyways, that was my wonderful weekend and now it is time to lesson plan. I had a good day today, so hopefully the rest of the week will follow suit. Knowing the Marshall Islands…maybe not…but at least I have Majuro to look forward to soon! That can get me through anything. And Lauren will be here for 2 of my 3 more days. Woo hoo.

September 19, 2008

Happy Birthday Mom!
…and happy birthday Travis ☺

Please wind, come back!

The wind is gone this week, which means the cell phone reception at my house is gone this week, and of course, this is the only week I really want to talk to people. I go down to the ocean hopeful, at least three times a day, but there is nothing. I can connect for a brief second, but that is it. All I want to do is talk to my family at home or talk to Phil. I don’t like teaching and my family here is driving me crazy. I have tried teaching them manners but that isn’t going so well. They just feel completely entitled to everything that is mine. I understand things are different here, and I don’t want to be selfish or mean, but I can’t support a family of seven. I don’t have enough tea for them to drink it every meal…even if I am not drinking it they still ask. I have started pretending I just don’t have more of the stuff they constantly ask for – and I feel bad – but they don’t ask nicely for one thing and I don’t have a ton for another. “Give me one your tea.” “You got Mosquito Coil, I need.” “You go and get an oatmeal Taylor eh.” I don’t mind sharing if you ask nice or a offer, but like this is really getting to me. I try to spend more time alone or with June June and Junior (some guys my age who think its hilarious I like doing Marshallese things and they love teaching me) and I really like that. We hang out a night, which is a nice break from the kids and family, and we are starting to hang out after school. I really like being able to hang out with people my own age and now that I speak more and more Marshallese it is becoming a lot easier. June June is already talking about how boring Lukoj is going to be when I leave hahah. He is one to think ahead apparently.

Today we husked coconuts to make some coconut oil and jamboed down to the house with the basketball hoop. It wasn’t much of anything, but it put me in a better mood after yet another, frustrating day at school. There are definitely some things that are getting better and I am figuring stuff out little by little… but the older kids really get to me. They just don’t think sometimes and always take advantage of every opportunity to make a joke or say something about me in Marshallese and crack up and then not tell me, and simply not put effort into understanding directions. I am trying to do something fun by making the garden, but that is turning out to just be play time. Maybe after the quiz they earned themselves on Friday they wont look at it as playtime anyone. But then again, who knows. They probably still will, because no one really cares about grades here. Soooo, who knows.

Well, it is now 8:30 and I am ready for bed. These kids have learned how to ware me out. Hah - I am going to bed with a positive attitude tonight though and am hopeful that tomorrow, a new day, will be a good one. I made cookies tonight with my sister for school tomorrow so hopefully that will inspire some kids to listen. If it works though, I’m in trouble cause I can’t do that all the time. Oh well, maybe I will get one day of sanity out of it. I offered my mom 2 cookies tonight and she just simply said, “Well do you think I could maybe have 6 or 7.” I probably should have been surprised, but I wasn’t, and just said, “No, but you can have the two I offered you.” I think that might have been a little mean, but I told her I was making them for my students, and she wanted 7 cookies! Last time she ate all the cookies I put aside for my sister. I was SO mad. Lizzy was crying and she just told her to stop. UH- some things make me so annoyed here.

Ok I have to stop complaining now. I really do like a lot of things here – and it probably isn’t as bad as my complaining makes it out to be sometimes. I am just starting to get really homesick right now, so a lot more is bugging me than what is probably normal. Oh well. Just so long as the wind comes back so I can talk to home and people keep sending me wonderful letters, I will be ok.

Hope everyone is doing well, I miss you all tons.
Love,
Taylor

It's SO frustrating!

Well…the PTA meeting officially started at 4:30. So that was a bonus I suppose; but then it lasted until 7:30. So after my speech that was in the first 30 seconds I was pretty much over and out. They talked about money for a good portion of the time and from what my dad told me after really got a whole lot of nothing accomplished. Its funny, my dad always talks about how greedy and bad and lazy Marshallese people are. I tell him he should speak up and tell people that they need to start getting stuff done and taking responsibility but he says no because they are crazy and wont listen to him. So my goal is to get him to start speaking up. He is a very knowledgeable man with good ideas – he just thinks no one will listen to him unless it is about God. I am not saying everyone will listen – but he should at least try and start planting the seed of change in peoples minds.

School this week has already been so miserable. I just want to do community development here. The teachers drive me crazy and the students do too. I’ll start with the teachers. One is an alcoholic, Tari, who everyone hates and makes fun of…but he is the only one I like. Not sure how that worked out, but he is an extremely kind man and hasn’t shown up to school drunk once. Everyone says he is always drunk and a waste, but he has been doing really well this year. Of course there is a lot of time for things to change, but right now he is my guy! Then there is Movie and Fancy. Talk about Marshallese time, these women are the definition of lazy Marshallese. They are kind people with good intentions, they just have no idea how to control a class room. Apparently the parents don’t like the teachers either because they are lazy and that is why they don’t come hang around school, because they don’t like to see them. Anyway, they literally don’t do anything. About half of their class is ALWAYS running around and they look so confused when I bring a student back to class and tell them to “SIT DOWN AND STAY” They look at my like, “Why are you bringing her back in my class?” They show up to every class at least 20 minutes late and then just sit there. Movie fills the entire chalk board with paragraphs from a history or English text book and the kids sit there and write it. There is no talking, and Movie goes to the ocean to talk on her cell phone. She is the head teacher and Principle. Then there is Fancy. Fancy gives the kids one chalk board worth of work to do, the kids do it and then she sits there and corrects it while the kids run ALL OVER the school. Literally. She doesn’t say a word and just sits in her chair correcting the kids work. It drives me CRAZY!!!!! I don’t think I would care as much if I could separate my class from the rest of the school – but there is literally no division of class rooms – just a chalk board – so when the kids are running around in one class, they are running around in all the classes.

I had a meeting today after school to discuss classroom management and lesson plans with the teachers to hopefully help them out a bit and I am anxious to see how it works out. I outlined lesson plans and offered to help them every Friday for an hour or two – so that will definitely be good. And as far as classroom management I offered some ideas for creating a fun learning environment while I subtly tried to say “TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR CLASS.” I don’t know how that went over but I gave them some good ideas that I really, really hope they take advantage of.

Marshallese Time

I walk inside the ramshackle classroom. No other word really captures the state of this room. A list a verbs only partially remains on the board and students names with small pictures are now interspersed. All of the days work lies crumpled in a heap on the ground of the far corner. Five desks stand neatly in a line at the front of the room; with two white plastic chairs for the five teachers. Benches contour the crumbling cement walls and a grand ballroom floor-like space fills the center of the room. In the distance you can hear the ocean waves rolling over themselves onto the shore. The rocks tumble, making an exceptionally soothing sound. The faint breeze flows in through the ever-opened, rotting, wooden windows and touches each bead of sweat, just enough to create a cool, fresh sensation. Children’s voices echo in the distance; but not so much to overtake the serene sounds made by nature. The two sounds actually make a pleasant blend. I feel as though if I shut my eyes I could be listening to one of those nature sound tracks; only the chirping birds would be playing kids. I’m not sure that is a very good trade out…but it could work. There is not a single person near me to make a distraction; and all of the lively bodies that brought this room to life so shortly ago, are no more. It is just me…at my PTA meeting!!! This is the scene of my PTA meeting!!! The meeting started at 3 and it is now 3:30. Not a single person has shown up. Only me. I am not complaining…seeing how I have to speak Marshallese in front of 30 or so people…I am just observing the stark differences between a meeting in The RMI and a meeting in America. I am made fun of a lot, for still living on American time and actually being ready to do something when they say we will do it…not 2 and a half hours later. The Marshallese definitely have ‘island time’ down to a science. It is like they all know to arrive exactly an hour and a half late. Although something may be starting at 3…somehow everyone still knows to show up at the same time…it is just 4:30 and not 3. Why bother even say 3? Why not just say 4:30? …although that would really mean 6 to them. I just need to start adding 2 hours or so to every time they tell me.
Well, maybe I will sit here like this for 10 more minutes – or maybe an hour. Who knows? Only the patience for Marshallese time will tell.

Patience…to accept the truth

Uh, two days into school and I am already ready for my week to be over so I can go back to the farm. I swear some days I walk into my class room and think I just walked into the chaos that might surround an accident on the New Jersey Turnpike during holiday season! Kids running every which way, pencils flying through the air, a thousand people yelling TAYLOR…HELLOOOOOOO, desks flipped upside down on the ground, drawings all over the board...anything…you name it. I have to ask myself how it got like this between the time they finished their last class (which should have been less then 2 minutes ago) until when I get there. It baffles me.

I got a card from my mom the other day though that had an absolutely wonderful quote on the front. (For some reason I am loving quotes these days) The beginning phrase was “May you have…” and then one of the items was, “Patience…to accept the truth.” That saying is so relevant here and is something I truly need to listen to. I attempted to go into school with a new mind set Monday morning – one of patience and understanding – but it is tested SO much starting the very second school starts. I think it was better, remembering to have patience and think of what Spanish class was like for me just starting out, but it was still hard. I just need to keep trying different strategies out and find out what works best for these kids. They seem to really respond with hands out activities and activities related to their lives – so now it is just a matter of being able to think of daily activities like this to keep them interested and learning. It is very easy to wonder off if a teacher is standing up there talking and you have no idea what is going on. Some kids get every word and some get absolutely nothing. It is just a mater of time and patience I suppose. I need to accept the reality of my situation, and realize I can’t teach like I would normally imagine teaching. This is the Marshall Islands and is worlds different from anything I have ever known.

Anyways, aside from school and its daily frustrations (with its occasional breakthrough moments) life here is normal. I got a HUGE blister on my palm from husking all the coconuts for my oil – so I had to put that project on hold for probably a day. I finally started exercising again, and boy is that interesting. Coconuts are now my substitute medicine ball and I can imagine it would be quite a hilarious thing to watch! I run on the beach about 20 minutes down, then turn around, and then I do lots of random exercises with coconuts and palm trees. You have to be quite inventive here with your workouts – but it definitely makes for some variety in your routine. (Limited variety…if that is possible?)

Tomorrow I am going to get the materials from the farm with the truck driver so we can start our compost. We started a gardening unit in science class this week, so our project at the end of the week will to actually make compost as a class! It is also my way of not having to gather the grass and stuff all by myself and have 15 kids help me. Haha tricky!

Oh…side note…MAGGIE HAD 4 KITTENS!!!! I haven’t figured out what I am going to name them, but I have four little kittens sleeping next to my bed every night now. They are so adorable. Daddy (that's the name of my brother - strange, huh?) found them in the shed in front of the house yesterday and came running to find me! I was so excited. I went in my house, found a box and a shirt and made them a nice little kitten bed. ☺ So fun!

HOLDING OUR NEW KITTENS!!