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!!

Francis and the Farm

HOPEFULLY MY FARM WILL LOOK LIKE THIS SOMEDAYI have found my saving grace on Arno! Melissa and I went to the farm again this weekend – like we will do every weekend – and we happened to meet the owner! Boy did we luck out. Francis Reimers, the owner, is one of the best guys in the Marshall Islands to know. His father owns RRE (The number one resort here) his brother is the owner of the Arno, Majuro Boat and he owns a Bed and Breakfast on Arno as well as the farm. This weekend he let Melissa and I stay in the bed and breakfast for free, and said that we were welcome any weekend and told us where the key is! It is AMAZING!!! We get to sleep in a bed, have a flushing toilet, sleep without bugs, drink ICE WATER, go kayaking, and thoroughly enjoy ourselves every Friday night now! Francis is also an amazing resource because he knows so much about farming and is willing to help us get grants. He is on the board of some agriculture committee in the Marshall Islands and is working on getting a grant for Melissa and I to start our farms! He is so amazing.

Melissa and I both plan to start farms on Ine and Lukoj…I might have already talked about that. Anyway, he is giving a bunch of stuff to start off with, and then helping us get grants for the rest. He thinks it is just so wonderful that not only are we helping by teaching the kids of his country English but that we also want to teach them about farming and nutrition. The nutrition here is so miserably horrible that it is hard to stand. I would really really love it if we were able to grow something of nutritional value here and take a break from our daily fried pancakes and donuts! Watermelon sounds soooo delicious!

On the farm though, aside from enjoying life with Fancis and the bed and breakfast – we had new baby pigs this week!!! They were so adorable. And we got to feed the runt! It was less then a week old and fit in one of my hands! It was so adorable…until it went to the bathroom on me and made me smell so bad I wanted to vomit. But that was ok…Tanki gave me a psychedelic mumu to wear, so I was ok.

Walking back from the farm was a bit of an interesting walk. We left directly after lunch, and I proceeded to extract every bit of lunch out of my body. Apparently my body didn’t like the corned beef…I puked it all up! Nasty. I felt completely fine though and just continued on my way with Melissa. We stopped to make our weekly calls which was nice…but Phil somehow always manages to not be around whenever I actually have service – so we always have to have broken conversations when I stand down by the ocean. I did get to talk to Tit and the fam though, which was really nice. I reallyyyyyy miss Chapel Hill right now though, and would love to be able to just hop over there for a weekend. But unfortunately it isn’t just a hop away. Oh well. Now I am preparing for school for the week (ugh) and am excited to make coconut oil tomorrow! Francis taught us how to make coconut oil so I am going to make some for the family tomorrow. My dad said they would cook with it – rather than shortening – if I made it…so I am definitely going to make some!