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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.
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.
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.
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)
