Manit Day Weekend

This week was pretty low key. Friday was a national holiday -- Manit Day -- so we knew school was going to be cancelled and I adapted my lesson plans accordingly. This week I decided to have a test on everything we have learned so far in grammar class (subject, verb, and direct object recognition; subject/object pronouns and possessive pronouns, nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs; common and proper nouns) and I am happy to say that half of my students passed! While this may not seem impressive, its an awesome feat for the students here, especially since we have learned so much!

Manit Day is a day for the celebration of Marshallese culture ("manit," in fact, means "culture" in Marshallese). Unfortunately, while the other volunteers and I were told that there are usually people doing traditional dancing and handicrafts on one of the larger plains on the island, this year (for the first time in a while) there was nothing coordinated. So, the day just ended up being a day off of work. Hannah, Mandy, and I did make use of the day by telling our students to come out to the field between MMS and MIHS (shown above) and help clean up from 9-12. We did not have high hopes for the number of students that would come since it was a holiday, but at least 20 kids from Mandy and my classes at MMS came! With their help and the help of some of the other local kids, we were able to make the field fairly clean. We brought a soccer ball, a frisbee, and a volleyball and told the kids they could play only if they picked up trash. I incentivized our students by promising them extra points for their team and Mandy did the same by telling them they could add a rock to their prize jar (Mandy had jars for each of her classes and she puts a rock in them each day the class behaves well). Even though it rained for more than half of the time, we were able to get some work done and play with a bunch of kids. We hope to do this every weekend from now on. Later that evening, Justin and Alex came from Ejit bearing freshly caught octopus. Luckily, since we have our own resident chef, we were able to cook and eat it properly. It was delicious! It was the best "Culture Day" any of us could have asked for.

Another nice thing about the long weekend was that other World Teach volunteers from the nearby island of Arno were able to come in for the weekend. Brooke Payne, James De Brueys, and Erica Moore came to stay with us at the Bungalow and hang out in Majuro and we truly enjoyed their company.

The only other news that I regret to add is that our second kitten, Papaya, passed away last week. We discovered that she had worms and we gave her medicine but it was too late to save her. Everyone was very sad to see her go. The Bungalow has been lacking in warm affection as a result, but we are making due without her.

Besides that, this week was pretty standard. Hopefully next week will bring more adventures!

Bar lo kom,

Andrew