Last Day on Majuro

I'll never forget my last day on Majuro. In the days leading up to leaving I could feel the time ticking away. I quit wasting time watching movies and TV shows because I knew it was time I could spend hanging out with people I may never see again. I spent a lot of time hanging out with Chad and talking about the year and his year in Jeh. We analyzed Marshallese culture and how Americans reacted to it. I decided I wanted to do something with my students for the last day. I went over to Sancha's house because she lives right near the school. I asked her to get in touch with the other girls. I wanted to rent a golf cart and cruise around the island with them. She seemed excited about it.



Friday morning I went to Ace Hardware and rented a golf cart. The big one with three rows was already checked out. I had to take the small one that was only suppose to hold four people. I picked Sancha up first and asked her, "Who do we pick up next?" She directed me to Pearlynn's house. We got her out of bed. Her eyes were still squinting from sleep, but she was smiling. They chattered in Marshallese and then Sancha informed me that she didn't want to ride in the backward facing seat by herself, so Sancha went back there. We cruised over to Nujin's house next. They couldn't reach her on the phone but she was walking outside her house. Ofcourse she had the Nujin smile pasted on her face. She smiles more than anyone I know. She ran back inside and asked her mother if she could go and then jumped in with us. Sancha was begging me to drive so I let her drive to Rubina's house since you can go backroads all the way with almost no traffic. She drove pretty well from the start. Unfortunately, Rubina said she was busy. Those last days she seemed preoccupied and not very happy. Maybe she didn't want to hang out with the girls for some reason.



I again took the wheel and we drove down to Long Island. The girls were chattering in Marshallese the whole time. We tried Maniana's house but she was grounded. Next we went to Mary's house. She took forever to get ready because we had awakened her, but she brought out food. Since we hadn't eaten breakfast, that was very nice. We ate up the Marshallese donuts in a hurry and resumed our treck. The last person we picked up was Jasmine. She was grounded as well, but convinced her mom to let her go. It took us awhile to get the story but this is what I got. The night after the graduation and banquet the girls rented two rooms at MIR. The next morning Jasmine's brother and some guys from school were there and two of them got in a fight. Jasmine's parents thought that her brother was staying in her room and so she got in trouble for what he did. It doesn't make much since to me, but maybe I missed part of the story.



We left Jasmine's house and cruised down to the airport. After the airport there is very little traffic so I let Sancha drive again. As we went she got smoother and more confident. Somewhere near Ajeltake we traded again and Mary drove. She did ok, but wasn't as smooth as Sancha. The golf cart is hard to drive straight and unskilled drivers tended to weave back and forth. It takes a good deal of attention for me to stay smooth and going straight. We traded again and Pearlynn drove. That's when it got out of hand. She kept weaving and jerking the wheel. It was a little scary. She improved though and I prayed she wouldn't wreck into anything. A couple times it was scary when cars were coming the other way.



On the way we talked about stuff and joked around. Sancha told me about a haunted house we passed. She said that a tree was smoking a cigarrette when she went there. As we approached Laura they told me about a road that you shouldn't go on because she are guarranteed to get lost. The Eroge (royalty) have special powers and make it so you will get lost. I told them I wanted to go and get lost on Majuro. This was a funny concept to me considering that Majuro has one road in most places and only two in a couple. They refused and said they were afraid to go on it. We cruised around the tip of Laura. When we were way down at the point we saw this huge, retarded looking kid standing in the middle of the road. Pearlynn was driving and she slowed down. We told her to keep coming. When we went to go by the kid he started running beside the golf cart like a dog chasing a car. He reached his hand out and it looked like he wanted to grab on. Pearlynn hit the gas and we took off and left him. The girls were all strangely silent during this but after we were safe they screamed. It was like a delayed reaction.


We cruised around Laura for a bit and we saw this cop. He turned to follow us and so we pulled off when he couldn't see us and I traded back to the drivers seat. He passed once and then came back and stopped. He rolled down his window and asked me to come over. "A little overloaded aren't you?" He said with a smile. "Maybe a little." I responded. "Well you take care of those girls. You take care of them." He said with a huge smile. When he pulled away Mary informed me that he like young girls and that's probably why he stopped by. Her father is chief of police so he works for her dad. Ofcourse he never messes with her, but she says he goes after young girls.

Jasmine hadn't really driven anything before so we went to the large baseball field and let her drive around in the field. She did ok and so we convinced her to drive on the road. It was little backroads and she went super slow. I was sitting in the passenger seat and Sancha was standing up. She was talking and laughing like she always is and she let go for a minute and then we hit a bump. She just about fell out, but I helped her stay in the vehicle and everyone laughed at her. Even though we were going very slow she decided to stay in the vehicle. We went back to the field and let Nujin drive. She was an aweful driver, but it was really funny. She got closed to the edge of the field where the grass was deep and despite it being very difficult to mess up, she drove right into the super deep stuff. We got out without getting stuck, but it was super funny.

We drove back and ate at my house. I gave them the last of my corn and popcorn, which they love. I brought out a stuffed animal that someone sent me in a carepackage and they all went crazy wanting it. I thought it was funny that in 8th grade they still love stuffed animals.

Nujin had to go. She kept saying that she wanted me to stay and teach them through high school. I was sad when I had to say goodbye to her. The rest of us got in the cart and drove to the airport. On the way there we were all quiet. We were all sad that this was it. We had had a very fun day. They kept thanking me for renting the golf cart. It's hard for me to describe the friendship and closeness that I had with them. Just cruising along in the golf cart, sharing iced candy, laughing at their craziness, talking about the island ways. . . I've never felt anything like it. I've never felt remotely that close to anyone so much younger than me. It was like they were my daughters, but friends at the same time. Relationships are so important in island culture. You can see it in everything they do from sharing food with all their friends to walking out of their way to go by your house.

While I was checking in, they went to Jasmine's house and brought me back another Marhsallese handicraft necklace. Rudy took the golf cart and the girls down to the end of the runway to watch the plane land. I was really sad when they made last boarding call and none of them had made it back. Rubina came out to the airport to see us off. I said goodbye to the SMs who were leaving on Monday and the Filipinos. It was a little sad, but not too much. When I had to say goodbye to Rubina I just started crying. I was so sad boarding the plane. We took off and I could see Majuro laid out before me. I thought back to the flight in when I couldn't believe I would live on this ring of coral for 10 months. Taking off it was at night and I could see a ring of lights. I could pick out Delap point where we surfed, shoreline where I went to concerts with my students, Rita where we would go Wednesday nights for worship, Laura where we would go to the beach. I have so many memories attached to this little island. It was overwhelming and I cried a little as we left the lights of Majuro behind. As I took off into the night I vowed I would return someday in the next 4 years. I will do whatever it takes to return. I would even consider teaching another year. This island, with all it's ugliness and trash and bad habits has a beauty that only someone who has lived there and become one with the culture can understand.

Consecration

Today was consecration. I didn't really know what to expect. All the graduating seniors and 8th graders came. They had chairs in the front. Each student brought a towel to put over the chair for decoration. I lined everyone up in the back and we all went in. The rest of it was a pretty normal church service. They put me on the spot and had me help lead the singing. I don't sing well, but this day my voice was halfway gone from the cold I'm getting over. I kept away from the mic and croked through the song. Finally it was over and everyone marched out. The kids all had matching dresses and shirts. I had a shirt made as well. We took a bunch of group pictures. Usually I hate group pictures, but I really wanted these. I'll be leaving them in less than a week and I will want those reminders. It's so sad to think about leaving. It isn't paradise, but it is a beautiful island. Even though we can become very frustrated with the culture and people, I love them and will miss them. There is true beauty everywhere.

Crazy times

I haven't blogged for awhile because the internet has been in and out. Last weekend we went on our last camping trip. It was awesome. We went back to Rongrong and camped for a couple nights. Sabbath we took a hike down to the end of the island to see a shipwreck. There are two on that island. Both are fun to climb around on. It was a nice break before the end push.

Speaking of the end push, my next week is going to be so busy. Sabbath I have consecration to organize. They will be dedicating the graduating the kids at church. We are still trying to get everyone matching clothes. The kids changed their mind a bunch of times but I think we have it on track. Hopefully everyone will show up wearing something that looks good. Next Wednesday is the big day with graduation and a banquet. We are going to need tons of food. We'll be practicing and getting the program together. I'm already stressed and it's still 6 days away.

On Monday we had an 8th grade party. We went to MIR, the resort and had a picnic. It was crazy. We ordered pizza, which disappeared in a few seconds. Almost everyone jumped in the pool and started swimming. There was the usual pushing people into the water, but they were being pretty careful. Sancha wasn't going to swim but some of the girls tricked her into going to the edge of the pool and then pushed her in. Edward wasn't planning on getting wet but someone pushed him in. The problem was he had Haneo's girlfriend's cellphone in his pocket. I don't know if it works or not. It as frustrating though because the group was split into two groups. Pearlynn and Mary were at odds with Sancha and Jasmine. All the girls divided on that and the boys tried to hang out with both. Finally some of the kids came over and talked with Pearlyn and Sancha and they made up and everyone was friends again. I was really happy because this had been going on more than a week and I was getting tired of it. The girls were crying good tears. Then George said he was leaving for the US the next day. Then he said something mean to Nujin and she cried for about 20 minutes about that. He was moping around. We rented kayaks for 2 dollars and played in the lagoon. I found half a surfboard and used it as a skim board. Everyone wanted to try, but they found out it was much harder than it looked.

When we were getting ready to go when the "stuff" hit the fan. I was telling everyone to put the kayaks up. Characteristically, it took them a while. Then I saw George jump in the kayak and start paddling out. I kept yelling at him to come back but he ignored me. He got out into the middle of the lagoon, which is 200 feet deep, and flipped it over. His friends and out and started swimming to him. A bunch of people were starting to swim and the close ones I told to go back and I started out. I got out there and Edward and Haneo were with him. I asked him if he was ok and if he could swim. He smiled and gave me a thumbs up. Since I had signed for the boat I went to get it before it sunk. It took me 30 minutes to get it out of the water. There is a strong current and it carried us a long ways. When I got back I chewed George out. The kids were shocked because they've never seen me loose it with a student before. I've never yelled at anyone like that before. George was trying to get attention by acting like he was in trouble. Some of the other kids could have drowned trying to save him and I had no sympathy for his attention getting stunt. It turned out he wasn't even leaving for the states. They say he's afraid to return to school because he's afraid of me. School is almost over and he was failing anyway. He won't go to the next grade so there is no point in him coming. After he looked stupid by not going to America he made up another story about seeing the ghost of Marsh, a high school kid here who drowned awhile back. He said Marsh was trying to drown him because they were enemies. The Marshallese are superstitious enough to believe what he says. I believe there are spirits that could appear like that, but I think he's just lying again so people will feel sorry for him. He also says his dad kicked him in the face for what he did. If it's true, that explains some of his problems, but I don't believe anything the kid says now.

Today I got really sick with a fever but after sleeping five hours I'm feeling better. They've taken two of the four finals. I have them graded already, so I feel good about that. Tomorrow is going to be a busy day and I hope I can make it through.

Thank you

My church sent some packages of food and calculators and other stuff. We were really excited to get those. Calculator are hard to come by here and I shared with some of the high school teachers. Previously we had 1 calculator for the whole class. A few people have phones and so I let them use them as calculators. Now we will have enough for everyone.

Awhile back we received some money from the church for the students. A lot of them are having trouble paying their school bill. I told them that if they worked hard and got As and Bs then I would give them the money. A few of the kids worked really hard. After the quarter grades were in I talked with the principal about who deserved the money. I was looking at giving it to two or three kids. Then about that time we got another check. With that I was able to divide it among five kids and they each got a sizable sum. A couple of them didn't have perfect grades, but I felt they were good kids. The principal called them into his office and they were wondering what it was about. They came back so excited. One girl ran up and hugged me. They thanked me a bunch of times. One of the parents came up and thanked me personally. It was a pleasant surprise for the parents. They couldn't believe someone had helped them.

Busy times

Since Spring Break I've been both super busy and bored. School has kept me busier than ever, but I'm starting to get bored of most everything on this island. I guess I'm finally getting island fever.

Graduation is coming up so we've been having meetings with the parents about it. They have very high expectations for this event. On Saturday there will be a consecration service. They have to provide food for it and the kids want matching outfits. This is ontop of the graduation gowns they will be using in the ceremony. We asked the kids to choose what they wanted their dresses and shirts to look like. They went shopping and looked at stuff, but the day before the meeting we had nothing substantial. I told them I would go down to the store with them and we would figure everything out. I told them I would help them out with a taxi fair, but they said one of the girls was getting her car. I thought her mom or dad would be along to drive it but she showed up driving it. She told me I could drive. I was happy about that because I don't get to drive much here. I've only driven twice the whole time I've been here. We all piled in and went down to the store. They looked at fabric and dress styles forever. Finally they chose what they wanted and we got prices.

The parents were slow to show up to the meeting. Finally, we got started and they began planning the ceremony and banquet afterwards. The place they want to rent is $350 and then they wanted everyone to bring four large trays of food. I let them make the decisions. There were a couple small dissenting voices, but for the most part they were ignored. The next day I got a letter from some of the parents and then two others talked to me. The amount of food was outrageous and the financial burden is huge on them. I'm going to call another meeting on Monday and attempt to scale back their desire for an over-the-top graduation. They are being impractical and some of the families can't afford it. Some families aren't paying their school bills and so can't be expected to go all out. I think if it is outrageous they will just not go to the banquet and it will be a bust.

This week I am going to try to raise some money from businesses. It is going to be a ton of work, but I hope it works. I want that money to pay for the food at the banquet so that it's not such a burden on the parents. This is already turning into the pain in the butt I thought it would be. The parents want one thing, the kids want another, the principal wants something else, and somehow I have to reconcile it all. I've discovered that I like to make people happy, but I will have to disappoint some people. I don't have a problem doing that as long as everything comes out nice. One of my students told me, "You shouldn't ask the parents, you should tell them what they need to do." I told her, "I've never been to a graduation on this island, I've never planned a graduation anywhere. I don't know what to tell them to do." I want to give the kids a worthy graduation, even if it isn't as costly as they would like.

Spring Break 2010!

Leading up to spring break we had a rough couple of weeks. We had education week where we had to plan something every afternoon. It ended up being way more work than just doing school. At the end of that we were all ready for a break, but it still didn't come. The next week they finished up education week. Friday was suppose to be a field day, but it got rained out. They changed it to Monday. Our principal told us we were not going, we would have regular school. Halfway through the day he changed his mind and marched the whole school over there. It turned into chaos really fast and we lost about two thirds of our students. The teachers over the young kids just took theirs straight back to school after realizing how disorganized everything was. The high school kids just walked away and went home. The middle school kids participated in tug-o-war battles. The guys didn't win any, but our girls went all the way and beat everyone. We have some Fijian girls and they are really big and strong people. That helped quite a bit.

I put together a movie night to raise money for graduation. It started about an hour later than we planned, but it went ok. Everyone argued a bunch over the movie. Orginially we had chosen Alvin and the Chipmunks 2, but the kids wanted something newer. They got A Christmas Carol and we put that on. Part way through the teachers came up and were complaining because there were ghosts in it and it was scary. So mid movie I changed it to Alvin and the Chipmunks. I didn't watch either, I was busy getting the food moving and stuff. We were able to raise $260 for their graduation. Along with the money we already have, they should be able to do what they want to.

That was the first weekend of spring break. Friday we went out surfing for a long while. Sunday we went sailing. The yacht club races once a month. This month three boats came out. I got on Deviant and the rest of the SMs divided between Hawkeye and Seattle Seal. Deviant ended up being the slowest and we messed up the start to boot. We thought the line was farther back from what it was so we were messing around and crossed early. We had to circle around and start again which put us behind. It was my second time on a sailboat out here, but I learned a lot. We kept tacking back and forth and I had to move ropes around every time we tacked. Hawkeye ended up being the fastest and despite starting way behind us, blew right past and took first. We gained on the Seal on the downwind leg because we used out sails better, but upwind we lost a lot of ground. Even so we would have been right together if we hadn't messed up the start.

The next couple days I kitesurfed. It wasn't a good couple days. The first day I started strong and then a short rip turned into a long rip and I had to take it back and fix it after only 10 minutes in the water. The next day I didn't put enough air in it and so I struggled to fly it. The struts no longer hold air at all and so when I would crash it it was so hard to get back up. When it was in the air the lack of air in the leading edge caused it to flap and provide very inconsistant power. It is also very sluggish without air and so I can't keep it powered up. Even so I was able to stand up for short runs and I feel like I was learning. If only my kite was in good working condition the whole time I would already be good at this sport. I've spent way more time flying a flat or damaged kite than flying one that works correctly.

Tuesday night we had a basketball game. It was the championship for high school. We lost the championship, but we came in second on the island, so it was all good. The kids got really depressed afterwards, but none of us felt like they gave it their all. The last two minutes they gave up and the score was 50 to 44. That is three shots, max. I saw them throw that many away with sloppy shooting. We could have won if they hadn't have given up. After the game I ran into the girls in my class. We went back to the school and I opened the gym. We played volleyball for a couple hours and that was really nice. I'm glad I got to hang out with them.

Saturday night I talked with one of the elders a long time. His daughter is in my class and he was helping out with the movie night fund raiser. I had a great talk with him about what is going on here and it's the first time I've felt welcomed by a Marshallese church member. He told me he regretted the distance between the SMs and church members. Anyway, he told me we should go out to Rongrong, an island that has good camping. He got a boat for us and we left on Wednesday. The boat right over was really fun. The waves in the lagoon were a decent size and the boat was flying along bounces up and down. It was a Boston Whaler style boat with an outboard motor and there was nowhere to sit but the edges of the boat. After the first couple minutes the other SMs sat on the deck and complained that their butts were slammed on the deck. I grabbed ahold of a rope and rode in the bow. It was really fun and kinda like riding a bucking horse with water splashing in your face.

The island is beautiful with a sheltered lagoon that was as still as a lake. The beach is sandy and drops off quickly to 30 feet deep. Around the edges are corral walls with tons of beautiful fish and corral everywhere. It is the most beautiful snorkelling I've seen since I've been here. On the ocean side a ship had run aground. Locals told us it had been there 10 years. We climbed aboard and explored the decks and hold. Then we jumped off the side into the water. It was an amazing two days and two nights in paradise. I didn't want to come back when the boat came for us.

We've got one more weekend of Spring Break. I don't know what we will do, but it's been good so far.

A couple stories

I've had so much happen and I want to get it down before I forget about it. About three weeks ago, Joan Lafever, the head of Guam Micronesia Missions, came to visit us. She visited out classrooms and offered suggestions. They decided for her to fly out to Jeh and Wotje along with Lenney, the principal, to see those school. They got on Jeh and the plane broke down. The plane was on Ebeye, fortunately, but they were stuck on Jeh. Air Marshall Islands is the most unreliable air service in the world. Everyone knows that if you leave on one of their planes, you may not be back for quite some time. We could communicate with them by ham radio. Every day John Dale would give them updates and try to get them off the island. Chartering a big boat out there was looking like a $6000 proposition. Joan didn't want to ride in a small boat because of the safety issues. Finally, about two or three weeks after they got there, the plane was fixed and it flew them home. In the mean time John Dale was the main dicipline guy and he did a great job. My kids were afraid to be sent to him.

That leads me to my next story. This week we've been doing different stuff because it is Education week. Strange enough less education has been done than any other week. We have had group activities and games. One day we had Bible Trivia games with 7th grade. 7th grade won and the two 7th grade teachers and I were leading out. None of the kids like one of the 7th grade teachers and complain to me all the time. He was a little biased and wanted 7th grade to win. The 8th graders said he was cheating, which I don't think was true. Afterward one of the 8th grade girls went up to him and said "7th grade can go to hell." I was really surprised because I have no problems with her in class. She is one of the sweetest girls in the whole class. I wasn't there to hear it but two teachers were and so they sent her to do detention. She retreated into the 8th grade class and didn't appear to be moving. Cameron told me to go get her down, which I guess was my responsibility since she was an 8th grader. I went up there and told her she couldn't talk to a teacher like that and she'd have to do detention. She kept saying, "I will go. I will go after school." And other stuff. I told her she had to go right then. About 10 8th graders were in there at this point, watching everything. My rules are very relaxed as far as classes go, but I do have control of the class because I enforce the rules and have and everyone knows that. I knew if I lost this battle the next two months would be much harder. I told her she would have to go to detention or go talk to John Dale. I knew she is afraid of him. She still didn't want to move so I started counting. She went at that point but was angry. She didn't say anything rude to me though. I didn't really know what to expect the next day. Evidently she felt bad for being so difficult because in chapel she sat down beside me and talked to me a bunch. This was her way of saying she was sorry for being difficult and getting back into good graces with me.