Due to faulty internet this post has been delayed a bit. Still I decided this week to bring back something that I was doing religiously at the beginning of my blogging but stopped due to the gravity of my posts and the normalcy of life here in the RMI after a few months. That being said, my on going list of "Things That Have Surprised Me In The RMI" has grown over the last few months, and since I do not really want to talk about last week (where my kids behaved so poorly that by the end of the week I had to sit in front of the classroom door for 50 mins and let them out one by one once they finally sat down with their heads down silently; they are acting much better this week), I figured I would re-post the oldies and write about some new traits that I recognized in the past few months.
So, here are the old ones so you don't have to look back through the blog...
1) There are wild roaming dogs EVERYWHERE. They are pretty docile because they used to people but I am terrified of dogs so I have not gotten used to this yet.
2) Marshallese people are extremely community oriented and friendly. While I did not assume that they wouldn't be, I am still humbled by their notion of family, which includes extended family, friends, and even teachers. The words in Marshallese for "want" and "like" are the same and the Marshallese are very quick to give you anything that you say you "want" or "like."
3) Young children (I am talking like 5 or 6 even) play in the street with almost anything until 10 or 11 at night. I guess this goes along with the idea that the community is close and everyone has to watch out for each other, but I still find this extremely strange.
4) Island time is a real thing. Things do not happen on time and usually go longer than expected. This is perfect for me since I am someone who is not very timely myself.
5) on the list of surprising things about Majuro is that you can take a taxi for 50 cents pretty much anywhere on the atoll. You just hold up the number of fingers of people that you have in your party that want to take a taxi and if the taxi has room it pulls over. Everyone shares the ride and people are constantly getting in and out of the cars. It can be a bit scary depending on the time of day or who gets in the cab but most people are extremely friendly.
6) The city has an initiative where some of the students got together and painted public service announcements about HIV/Aids and posted them around the city. Unprotected sex is common in the Marshall Islands and Majuro in particular and people become sexually active with multiple partners at a young age. The postings depict various illustrations of how to say no or avoid Aids, my favorite being a knight with a shield that has "Defender" on it (a type of condom) that is blocking bullets that say "gonorrhea," "syphilis," and "HIV." Pretty clever.
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.
10) Geckos CLUCK! Yes, you read correctly. The entire time that the DVTP group was in a trailer together during orientation we would hear these noises that we assumed were rats. I later found out that the noise was actually geckos. I can't really describe the noise so I suggest you find an audio clip somewhere...but I can promise you that it is nothing like you thought they would sound. That being said, the only noise I have ever thought a gecko made had to go with car insurance...
11) The kids here are amazing at volleyball. While I do not have much experience playing volleyball with elementary students in America, these little kids are strong and accurate when it comes to hitting the ball. I played with some of my students during lunch on Friday and their slams were knocking me back off my feet!
12) Rat tails (the hairstyle) are totally in. Many of the young guys here have them and rock them liberally. This continues to surprise and confuse me everyday.
13) Everyone knows everyone. If you want to find someone, you can literally drive down the street and look for them or ask if people in an area where that person usually is hanging out and you will learn their whereabouts pretty quickly. Anne, one of the WT Field Directors needed to find Mandy's principal to figure out what was going on on the island she was supposed to go to and told us that she was just going to drive down the street and track him down. Impressive.
14) We have been told to be careful about what we say about others by many people because of something called "coconut wireless" which is how information spreads on the island. Everyone finds out about everything soon after it happens by word of mouth.
15) Kids are kids everywhere! Before coming we were told that we would never really have discipline problems in the classroom but that we would instead have problems with passivity. I have had the opposite problem. My kids have really enjoyed the team game concept I came up with and have been participating in class (or at least a good handful of them have) but there has been a lot of talking/coming in late/hitting. I guess middle school kids are the same everywhere, rebellious, disinterested in learning, and starting their interest in the opposite sex. Sigh...it's does wonders for my classroom management.
16) The word for black person in Marshallese is "rikilmej" ((roll the r) ri - kull - e - mezz). It means "black (as in the color) people." I think it is so much more fun to say and more colorful than the English equivalent, or any other term that black people have been called around the world for that matter (read: les noirs in French, which literally means "the blacks".
17) The ocean and lagoon are beautiful. I always knew there was a world under all the water but it is full of life! I have been snorkeling only a few times but I think it might be my new favorite thing on earth. Imagine being in an aquarium with as many different types of fish of all shapes, sizes, and colors that you can imagine AND huge building sized towers of coral and you will be close to seeing what I have seen.
18) Some of the kids here have hilarious names, which, while having strange meanings, do sound very nice as names. Mandy has a student named Nimrod and I have a student named Agency and one named Cloreen. Think about it.
19) The diversity of people on Majuro surprises me constantly. While "diversity" is usually confined to blacks, whites, asians, hispanics, and, sometimes, native americans, the RMI draws people from all over Asia, Australia, New Zeland, and the Pacific Islands. I never expected to meet people from the Soloman Islands or Fiji or that there would be so many Phillipino, Chinese, and Japanese people here. There are also SO MANY islands that i have never heard of before like Chuuk and Palau.
20) Even though it rains multiple times almost every day, I have only seen lighting once. That was this past Saturday.
21) Power outages are not THAT bad. We have had three unplanned power outages this week and for some reason whenever they happen everyone in the Bungalow gets quiet and reads or works silently. Usually the silence is not so pervasive. I guess the lack of electricity stills us. Kinda cool.
22) It costs 5 dollars every time you see a doctor for anything, a check up or surgery. The 5 dollars also covers all the medicine you could need. Dental is the same. You have to pay for your stay in the hospital, but when I asked how much it was, I was told, "a penny a night." This can't be true...but still its pretty obvious that its not expensive. One of the Marshallese women I work with said, "Primary healthcare is a must." I think this is one thing that the Marshallese have definitely gotten right.
23) The realization of how Americanized the RMI is yet how different it is from the places I am familiar with was striking to me, especially after having been here for two months.
24) Despite the idea that the pacific islands are isolated and paradisiacal, the islands (including the RMI) have had major influence from outside parties. They are not as disconnected from the rest of the world as one might think.
and HERE are the newbies...!
25) The idea of sharing transcends personal hygiene. One that never ceases to amaze me is how the kids will take the gum they are chewing, whip it around their finger--which, undoubtedly, has not been washed all school day--in large circles back and forth, eat it again, and then give it to someone else to eat. Suffice to say my students have learned the word "disgusting" from me.
26) To go along with 13, everyone here is related. Mention someone in passing in conversation to someone else and you will definitely hear, "Oh, that's my brother" or "Oh, that's my auntie" or, the famous, "Oh, that's my cousin." The notion of family relations is completely different here. Family friends can be aunts. Cousins once, twice, or even three times removed can be siblings, and cousins can be anyone. It's extremely confusing.
27) Ants are the most disgusting thing on earth. We all felt dominant over them as kids and as adults we barely even notice them but here they in force everywhere? Drop a crumb on the counter and leave it for a few minutes and there will be a swarm of them. Kill a cockroach and leave it for a night and the carcass will be gone by morning. I have grown a large respect for them for their fortuitous work ethic, but a disdain because of their ability to collectively maul any type of thing available to them. Be a bit more tasteful in your food choices guys.
28) My students had no idea who Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is (not that I know any of their national heros--except for the first Iirojlaplap, Amata Kabua--or that I necessarily expect them to know American heroes, but many Marshallese people do go to America and are minorities there, benefiting from the work of MLK Jr. and those like him). It was one of my saddest moments teaching and the moment I felt it the most necessary to give them knowledge of something/someone.
29) From January to March is the dry season which is also referred to as winter. My students are always cold and wearing sweatshirts, but really, the only thing that has changed is that is windy all the time. I think it feels downright balmy and perfect, they say its cold. Go figure.
30) Marshallese children are the most resilient human beings I have ever met in my life. They play "karate" where they actually kick and punch the life out of each other, but come away with no scars. I have seen kids obliterated by a kick to the stomach and bounce right back. I literally do not understand how they are able to do it.
31) It is totally socially acceptable for men to wear "man-pris" (capris for men). Most students roll up there pants a few inches to keep them from being wet or to keep cool. I do this every day now.
32) Marshallese people find EVERYTHING funny. Seriously. It could be something that is not actually funny at all and they will get a good laugh out of it. Lucky them!
33) My students favorite songs have not changed since I have been here. "Waving Flag" by K'naan, "Down" by Jay Sean, "All the Above" by Maino, "Love Story" by Taylor Swift, and "Waka Waka" by Shakira are still the songs that the kids will choose when given the choice. However, I have recently made my kids obsessed with "Whip my Hair" by Willow Smith (who they knew as Jayden smith's sister, NOT will smith's daughter...kids these days...)
34) Because Majuro is such a small microcosm, one is able to notice the evolution of fads. First, we started with whipping bandanas--every young person on the island had a bandana and would wind it up and snap it. At first I thought the kids were doing it to hurt each other but after a while I found they just did it for the sound. While walking down the street or in the middle of conversation, they would snap their bandanas. It was EXTREMELY annoying as a teacher. Second, and my favorite of all the fads for its use of recycled materials and inventiveness was the Spiderman bottles. The students linked together the small red rubber bands that held together their disposable plastic lunch containers and attached them to the top of a standard Pacific Pure Water water bottle filled with rocks. The would then wrap the other end around their wrist and fling the bottle out in an attempt to hit other kids while yelling "Spiderman!" Third, after this, was a short lived fad by the boys of putting said red rubber bands in ones hair and making small ponytails. We had a dirth of fads for a while as the holiday season took over, but pogs were a big hit at the end of the year. Now they can been seen in the dirt everywhere. Who knows what will be next!
And to top it all off...
35) Every young person on this island, elementary, high school, and college LOVES Justin Bieber. While I know that he has some appeal in the US, it personally boggles MY mind that he could have such wide appeal (If I hear my kids sing "I will never say never..." again I might explode...mind you, I have never actually heard any of Justin Bieber's songs in their entirety besides MAYBE "Baby"...maybe this is why it drives me insane).
There you have it! Eleven more things that are shocking about the RMI. I am certain there will be more to come.
Just as a note for the future, over the next two weeks there will be random blackouts as the Marshall Islands Energy Company is going to be working on the generators and they do not know what will affect which areas of the island. I will do my best to post in a timely fashion but if you do not hear from me, that is why.
Bar lo kom,
Andrew
Justin Bieber is the cutest.
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