End of one thing and the start of another

Well, orientation has finally come to an end. The other Dartmouth volunteers left for their outer islands on friday and I was surprised how sad I was to seem them go. I only knew three of the volunteers before coming on the program, and they were only acquaintances at Dartmouth. The other volunteers were mostly strangers to me, but after two weeks of close quarters living and experiencing a new culture for the first time together a bond had been made. I think another thing that made me sad to see the volunteers go was the fact that I am the only volunteer assigned to Majuro while all of the other volunteers are in pairs (except for one, who is by himself in Laura). It was not until the volunteers left that I felt like this adventure had officially begun. Their departure made me realize how long a year actually is and how lonely it could potentially be. That being said, I think that all of these feels are even more of an impetus to be involved in my school and in activities in Majuro.

This past week of orientation we did three really cool things. Last sunday we went to Laura which is on the opposite end of the Majuro Atoll from Majuro, the capital (it is directly on the other end of the atoll from me since I live in Rita, which is on the opposite end of the atoll) (NOTE: from now on when I say Majuro I am talking about the city; if I mean the entire atoll, also called Majuro, I will specify that). Laura is kinda like the suburbs of Majuro. The houses are more spread out and it is more scenic. There is less trash because there are less people and industry (boats and shipping carts are all over the lagoon side of Majuro). The drive from Majuro to Laura is around an hour. The volunteers and I crammed into the back of Anna's pickup truck and enjoyed the sunny ride. We stopped along the way to buy coconuts and boiled clams from children along the road. When we got to Laura, the beach (which costs a dollar per person) was beautiful. The water was shallow everywhere so swimming and snorkeling was very easy. I had just purchased some snorkeling gear and it was the perfect place to try it out. While Justin, our resident expert on all things water related, said that because the water was shallow their was less to look at, I enjoyed the coral and fish that I saw. We ended up swimming 250-300 meters from the shore. We also ran into some World Teach volunteers at the beach because their place of residence was close to Laura. It was a wonderful afternoon.

On tuesday we went to a place called WAM which was a youth program led by Alson Kelen, the mayor the of Bikinians (the Bikinians were displaced "for the good of mankind" in 1946 by the US government so that we could do atomic bomb testing after WWII; since their island is poisoned with radiation they have not returned and live on two other islands--Kili and Ejit). The program teaches young people traditional Marshallese canoe carpentry and navigation skills. They could supposedly build a canoe (which looked like small sail boats) in around a week. Back in times when traditional sail canoes were used Marshallese boys would be chosen from a young age to learn navigation skills. Their final test was to lay down in the boat blindfolded and navigate the canoe based on the wind and the push and pull of the water. The Marshallese had the ocean currents around the islands/atolls down to a science before precision instruments were created. No wonder the Marshallese were regarded as the best sailers in the Pacific! After an explanation of the program from the major we got into the canoe in pairs of two and had two youth from the program take us out into the lagoon. The Marshallese boats were different from other boats because of the moveable mast. The top of the mast/sail was attached to the opposite side of the boat but the mast itself could be pivoted different ways and even switched from one side of the boat to the other depending on what direction the sailor wanted to go. I was impressed with how fast the boats went. Afterwards, our presence had drawn the attention of around 30 young Marshallese children who insisted on using us to play chicken in the water. The kids REALLY went after each other and we played with them for a good hour or two. My neck still hurts from all the exertion! The kids were awesome though, doing backflips off of floating platforms and asking us to throw them around in the water. They did not want us to leave when it was time for us to go. They even sang "Beautiful Girl" by Sean Kingston for us as a group. A few of them rapped some verses from Tupac songs. I also met one of my future students who's name was Martine. He was extremely good at doing backflips. Hanging out with all of the kids definitely got me excited to start teaching.

Orientation ended with one of my favorite things that have done here so far. We met a woman named Nica Wase who Anna referred to as a renaissance woman (she has stared in movies, lead initiatives to beautify Majuro, worked with woman empowerment groups, and was an expert at making handicrafts). She taught us to weave coconut palms to make plates. She then showed us how to take one leaf and fold it into a rose. I tried over and over again with her guidance and got pretty good at it by the end. Still, it was pretty hard. Nica said that she would eventually show me how to weave these flowers that the Marshallese make out of dried and dyed coconut leaves. I want to learn how to do this more than anything while I am here.

That night we had dinner at this amazing Chinese food restaurant called Won Hai Shen (I have always been a fan of Chinese food but this was really outstanding because the people who owned the restaurant were actually from China!). Anna ordered way too much food for us (two plates of every dish...we actually ended up having twice as much as we needed) but we enjoyed our last meal together-particularly the people on the outer islands who wouldn't have access to these types of meals for the next few months.

Now that orientation is over, the focal point of my sojourn in the RMI begins tomorrow--teaching! School starts tomorrow, AHHHH! I am very nervous about it but I think that I am as prepared as I will be. I will be teaching four sections of 7th grade grammar and writing. I was a little disappointed to find out that I am not teaching literature but I hope to incorporate it into my curriculum anyway. How can you learn grammar and writing without reading, huh? I have spent this past weekend cleaning and setting up my room (I cannot tell you how many ants I have killed in the last few days ) and while it wasn't what I expected, I am excited with what I have done with the place.

I will be sure to update you on how my first few days of class go. Hopefully my lesson plans and ideas for classroom management work! Wish me luck.

I leave you with a shout out to my sister, who had her 26th birthday recently and a few more items to add to the "Things that surprise me in the RMI" list:

#7 The water is ALWAYS warm in the ocean or the lagoon, and I mean WARM. I guess thats why they call the tropics paradise?

#8 Everyone here can sing and does so liberally. We had a teacher induction ceremony during our first week of orientation and the Marshallese teachers all sang the RMI national anthem in perfect three part harmony. There were also guy parts and girl parts. It was as if they had all gotten together before and practiced it! It was very beautiful. I have caught my taxi drivers singing and heard many kids sing and they are all in tune. Most people can play the ukelele also.

#9 The weather here is CRAZY. It will be balmy one minute, hot for a couple hours, and then rain torrentially for a few minutes and go back to being super hot right afterwards. These bursts of rain happen a couple times a day but are very short. Its amazing how the entire country seems to stop for those few minutes as everyone attempts to get out of the rain and then starts right back up again after it is over.

Bar lo kom (and please feel free to comment/ask questions!),

Andrew