Christmas, Mid-Service, and Being One of the First in 2011

Merry belated Christmas and Happy New Year! I have taken a short respite from blogging in accordance with the holiday season but now I have ALOT to catch you all up on.

First and foremost, I have my computer back! While it is missing such modern comforts as Microsoft Office and Garageband (the saddest thing of them all), I can blog again with (relative) ease. Now, on to business.

My last blog entry was the week before Christmas, which fell on a Saturday this year. The first two days of the week were semi-optional days of attendance at MMS. Since Monday and Tuesday were supposed to be final test days and we had them on the previous Thursday and Friday, Monday was used to clean up the school and Tuesday was used for class parties. I spent a bit of time at school both days playing with the few students in my class who showed up, however neither day had more than 8 students in attendance.

All throughout that week, World Teach and Dartmouth volunteers started to trickle in. For Dartmouth, the first volunteers to come in were the girls from Kili--Jenna Cunningham and Kristen Dewey. They brought with them their puppy, Cora. They decided to stay on Ejit, where they spent most of the break. Dave and Carleigh followed soon after and stayed in the dorms with us. While we were over crowded with volunteers, the added company was refreshing. For Christmas, many of the WT volunteers from nearby islands who had come in to visit during the beginning of their break decided to go back to their islands and some of the outer island WT volunteers went with them to have an authentic RMI island Christmas experience. The opportunity was tempting but I thought that since we had our own (real) Christmas tree (generously donated by the Hawley family) and that Majuro was my RMI experience, I wanted to be "home" for Christmas with my Majuro family. Another reason that I was excited to stay in Majuro was that I was going to cook my first turkey! I organized a potluck with the volunteers who were staying with us and the core Thursday potluck crew (the Magees, Ray, and Laura) and it seemed like it was going to be a diverse/large meal. On Christmas Eve, we huddled into the trailer next to the dorm (where the bulk of the remaining WT volunteers were sleeping) and watched "It's a Wonderful Life" and "Home Alone 2." The former brought tears to most of our eyes. On Christmas Day we woke up around 9 and Mandy, Joanna, and I opened the presents that we got for each other. Joanna had made us Marshallese handicraft necklaces. Mandy bought me a number of DVD's that she knew I had my eye on, an ornament, and a necklace. I bought her a slew of my favorite martial arts movies. Afterwards, I opened up my presents from my parents which included a new pair of work slacks, John Irving novels, and learn to play the guitar materials. I was extremely pleased I heard from my parents on that day as they were celebrating Christmas Eve at my grandmother's house, per tradition. I had sent home a slew of Marshallese handicrafts and they were enthralled with them. After opening gifts, Mandy and I got to work on a tradition in both of our houses--Christmas breakfast. We made scones stuffed with cheddar, bacon, and onions, french toast, bacon, and eggs. It was a big meal that kept us full until dinner time. Between meals we watched "A Charlie Brown Christmas." Christmas dinner was ever more grand. Everyone contributed their favorite dish from their Christmases at home and so the spread was very diverse. We had everything from garlic mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes au gratin to ramen/turkey infused stuffing and spinach cakes. WT and Dartmouth provided muscles and the turkey. The turkey turned out so juicy that it was difficult to cut! I was extremely proud. The Magee family bought a roasted pig for the event. To put it curtly: there was way too much food and we had a great time. That evening, we rounded out the traditional Christmas films by watching "A Christmas Story," which my parents had sent me ("How the Grinch Stole Christmas" was part of the list, but the disk was too scratched to be played, much to my dismay). My only disappointment from the day was that Justin, Alex, Jenna, and Kristen were not able to join us because of Ejit/puppy obligations. All in all, it was a great Christmas, which I was not expecting. I thought that my homesickness would be at its height during the holiday, but, as I said over grace, the season is about love and family, wherever you find them.

On Tuesday of the following week, Dartmouth geared up for our mid-service on Three Bag Island (some of you readers will remember Three Bag as the site of the "Tidal Wrave"). The day started out with a downpour. We waited under some shoddy palm frond shacks for the rain to subside for about an hour. When it finally did, we packed the boat and got on our way, Cora and all. Eric, as a returning volunteer, now on contract, came along as well. The boat ride was long, since the boat was slow (imagine a large plank of wood with an engine and a small roof, and you have a pretty good image of what we traveled on; it was sturdy but extremely slow!), but enjoyable. Once we got to the island we had a lot of time to settle down and enjoy our surroundings. Many of us swam, snorkeled, and ocean kayaked. Even more of us read. After a few hours, the boys from Jaulit--Alex Rivadeneria and Chris Zablocki--arrived by boat on the island with Chris's sister who had just arrived for a visit. Their plane had just gotten in that day. Now that we were all united as a happy family, the mid-service activities started. The sessions centered around sharing experiences and lesson plans and were very low key. Each morning most of us woke up around 7:30 or 8 and we did not have our first session until around 10:30, so we were free to relax in the morning hours--something that few of us ever had the opportunity to do despite being on a tropical island. My two favorite sessions were the carousel exercises. In one, Anna set out large sheets of paper with prompts like "The RMI is...," "The RMI is not...," "Somethings I wish I had brought are," and "You know you've been in the RMI too long when..." We went around in a circle with 2 minutes at each station writing down our own responses. I thought this exercise was good because it allowed us to voice our opinions about our experiences in a collective and humorous way. In the other exercise, quote topics were laid out and we were asked to write down our own thoughts about our experiences. The prompts ranged from travel and animals in the RMI to food, communication, and education. Many of the responses were extremely clever. The major highlight of the mid-service retreat was the talent show in which each island group had to put on some kind of performance for the rest of the group. The performances were judged by Anna, Eric, and Chris's sister. The Kili girls won with a spoof of "Tik Tok" by Ke$ha on the subject of living in the RMI. Wotje came in second with a skit mocking radio check in (Carleigh did a spot on impression of Anna). The Majuro group, consisting of myself and Dan from Laura, got third with our performance of some common themes in the Marshall Islands Journal comic section. A good time was had by all.

The anticipation for New Years was high. We had been told since before coming here that Block Party, the city celebration on New Years Eve, was going to be one of the most ridiculous and raucous events any of us had ever seen. Drunkeness was supposed to be rampant and include all age groups. The Majuro atoll teachers were especially warned that we would see some of our students drunk, anywhere from 3rd grade and up. Consequently, in order to save face in front of our students, we were instructed to be careful about our own public drinking as well. To be honest, the Block Party itself was a bit of a let down in lieu all of the build up. I did happen to see two of my students, but I do not believe they were inebriated (thankfully). I saw many more of Mandy's students, but again they did not seem inebriated either (again, thankfully). The event consisted of a number of vender booths selling light-up wares, a variety of food, and alcohol. There were also many live performances including singing and beat dancing, which is a Marshallese dance style that is similar to line dancing to an uptempo song (it is performed constantly around Christmas time and the Marshallese take it very seriously; students and families begin practicing their beat dance with their church around the beginning of December). The event started out slow since most people did not arrive until around 10:30 or 11 and spent most of the time sitting around watching other people sit around. However, when midnight struck and all of the World Teach and Dartmouth volunteers were together, we decided to start the party ourselves. It started to rain lightly but we took this as an opportunity to dance in the rain in front of one of the performance groups. The singers were extremely appreciative. Most of the Marshallese adults and children nearby stood and watched and laughed at us. We attempted to coerce them into joining us, but they were not having it. I woke up the next morning having spent the night in a hotel room with my host brother and his friends who had rented the room to have their own party for New Years. It was a great bonding experience for all involved.

Between Christmas and New Years, the first group of Dartmouth undergraduate students arrived in Majuro--John '11 and Rosa '11. The other volunteers were supposed to arrive during this time, but because of the blizzards happening in the United States, flights were canceled. Professor Andrew Garrod, director of the DVTP program, and two other volunteers, Dan Moore '10 and Kestrel Coon (daughter of a Dartmouth professor) arrived on New Years day and the entire Dartmouth group was treated to dinner and drinks at MIR. As is typical with Professor Garrod, business started in a whirlwind. For the past few years, Garrod has brought undergraduates here for the winter quarter and put on a Shakespearian play at MIHS. This year the play is the Tempest. I was quickly asked to play a part to be an example to the students in the play and told that auditions would begin on that Tuesday. I will give you more information about this process in my next blog entry.

The holiday season was the time I feared I would be the most homesick, but the presence of so many volunteers who had quickly become my family, my Dartmouth volunteer family, and the arrival of Professor Garrod and the undergrads helped to ease my emotions and make the holiday season a pleasant experience. I stand by the fact that a warm Christmas is not a real Christmas, but I did my best to make it special, and, for me, it was.

Best wishes to you and yours in 2011. It's gonna be great!

Bar lo kom,

Andrew