The Dreaded February Slump

From the very beginning of this experience, as early as orientation at the end of senior year, we were warned of the "February Slump." I was always confused about the idea. I had been away from home many times (though, granted, not for this long or this far away) and was not too worried about becoming homesick. I understood how one would feel homesick around the holidays and how one could be eager to return home as one neared the end of the experience, but the other traits of the February Slump-depression, exhaustion, disinterest-seemed aggressive to me.

But here we are, a week into March, and I can tell you that the February Slump is a real thing. In the middle of the month, I had a moment where I was moping around Majuro and I stopped and said out loud, "Oh my God, it's happening!" I think this slump is the result of the culmination of a lot of different things. February is a strange time of year regardless of the volunteer-experience-in-another-country thing. It is not the first month of the new year, and thus is not the first month of the new quarter, and as a result, the students have started to become a bit restless again. I reported before that my students had been behaving poorly, but their behavior became a HUGE problem during February. This was not just the case in my classroom, but in Mandy's class and, seemingly, the entirety of Majuro Middle School. My classroom management technique--diving the class into teams and giving or taking points based on achievement and behavior--did not phase the students at all. Mandy had the same failure with her own technique. Despite taking off 5, 10, or 50 points, the students continued to behave badly. The issues were simple ones. I kept repeating the same rules and expectations that I had had since the beginning of the year: do not talk when others are talking, stay in your seat, do not throw things across the classroom, respect school property. It was as if I had never given these rules. I began to send students to the office with little warning. I had a week that I termed my "mean week" where I took no nonsense. I stated my expectations and if they were broken students were sent to the office. I do not know how I was perceived by the office, but between Mandy and I, we kept them extremely busy.

Shipping kids off to the office frequently helped in the short run, but the effects were month long. I am sad to say that lost my motivation. While I recognized that I had taught my students a lot of information and that i loved every opportunity that I was given to impart knowledge to my students, I lost interest in teaching THESE students. While the classroom used to be fun, the teaching had become so routine that the classroom had become a big daycare, and I was the only babysitter. This was not what I wanted from this teaching experience, or any teaching experience, as much of a reality as it might be in schools all around the world. I had planned on starting my MMS acapella group this term, but the behavior made me not want to do anything extra for the students. To infuriate me further, I noticed that this behavior was specially reserved for me and that the students were veritable angels for their other, Marshallese, teachers. One day, at the peak of my frustration, I candidly asked the students, "Why do you act this way with me? Is it because I am a ribelle?" Some of them solemnly shook their heads, "Yes." At first I was extremely insulted and felt almost discriminated against by my students. Thankfully, Dan Moore '10 put the response into context for me. He reminded me that I had told him many times about the nature of some of the other Marshallese teachers, how their classrooms where based much more on route memorization and regurgitation and that there was little room for free thought and personal expression in their classes. He suggested that I take it as a sign of respect that they felt as if they could be themselves and be vocal in my class. I took this advice to heart but added that while I wanted to be able to provide a space where the students feel as if they can be themselves, I also want them to be able to be disciplined, since, I have learned, it is an important part of growing up.

During a conversation during 31 Club on Thursdays, I got to the heart of the problem. As I said, I am proud that my students have learned so much from me. But, after having been here for 8 months, I have learned that teaching life lessons, like discipline and respect, is more important than any academic lessons that I can teach. I am even more proud of the fact that the majority of my students now turn in their homework than they actually understand what their homework entails. It was my failure to imbue my students with these life lessons that depressed me about my classroom.

Another thing that made February somber was the departure of Joanna Dai, another one of my Bungalow housemates. She was also feeling the pressure of February, and because of some health inconsistencies and other frustrations, she decided to leave. Jokingly, Mandy and I said months ago that the dorm would end up just being us by the end of the experience, mostly based on the fact that we were the only two people that spent any time outside of our rooms together in the house. Unfortunately, our prediction came true. This was a big blow to the both of us, since the house was finally empty and was a clear sign of things coming to an end. Joanna will be dearly missed from our household.

All of these things, compounded with the growing commitment of the play, made the month of February extremely challenging. I found that each day I only had an hour or so to myself before having to do things for others. I talked to my parents at one point during this hysteria and said, "I don't know how you do this whole adult thing." Their smart rejoinder was, "Now think of doing this for 30 some years and add children." I was immediately apologetic for any trouble I had given them through the years!

While February was hard, it is now March, and things have definitely turned for the better. While my students are not behaving as ideally as I would like, they are behaving markedly better than they were before. The play, while still a large commitment, has come to a head (we had our first night last night, and it was amazing, despite not being able to perform the second half on account of the rain and, subsequently, a power outage) and has become wonderful again. And while the Joanna situation is still sad, having the undergrads here has been great distraction from the empty house (two of them are living in the dorm for the time being). Though, when they leave, Mandy and I will have to deal with being our only company--for real this time.

Bar lo kom,

Andrew

Giving Thanks and Finding a New Direction

Sorry for being incommunicado for the last two weeks blog readers! Too many people have gotten access to the free internet provided through the Ministry of Education on the high school campus where I live and so the Media Center felt it necessary to shut down the system for a little while and reset everything. In addition to that, I have been at a bit of a loss for words over the last few weeks (which will come as a huge surprise to those of you who know me well). With December fast approaching, the passing of my first Thanksgiving without my family, and a bit of volunteer drama, tensions and emotions have been running high. There have also been some very fun moments in the last two weeks and great moments of clarity. I will try to share all of these with you.

Things in the classroom have been difficult to say the least. The volunteers were warned by various sources that the students would start to check out and that the whole attitude of Majuro would change come December. The Marshallese take Christmas very seriously and preparations at the many churches began weeks ago. From the dorm, we can hear the music from the practices for the Christmas parties and pageants blasting from over half an American city block away. So much for the piece and quiet of paradise, eh? Consequently, since students are involved in these projects, they are testy, tired, and unfocused with the holiday break on the horizon. It has made discipline in the classroom into a nightmare. In the last week, I feel like my relationship with my students has taken many steps back. They are doing things that I thought I had gotten out of their system; they are breaking rules that I have had established since the very beginning of class. These are easy to follow rules like "no talking when others are talking," "don't throw things across the class," "don't eat in class," and "stay in your seat." While breaking rules like these is part of the fun of being a student, the students do it so blatantly, it is almost offensive. It is like they don't care to show respect anymore. I have gotten tired of trying to enforce these rules kindly, so many more students have been sent to the office and there has been a lot more discipline. However, I am losing steam fast. My students are still getting their lessons and doing their work, but it is not enjoyable to stand in front of the class if all I am doing is doling out discipline. I think that the break will be good for all parties and I do not think that some kind of peace, order, and regularity will be restored to the classroom until the break happens.

It is strange to feel this way now because the week before I came to some profound conclusions about teaching and what this experience has done for me while talking to Bill and Mandy. Teaching has had a lot of parts to it that I did not expect. It has many outlets for all different types of interests and passions. In the classroom I have been able to incorporate my love for grammar, arts and crafts, music, and writing (because we don't have resources, I write a lot of our stories), for example. Outside of curriculum, I am able to influence the kids in their habits and discipline (such as taking notes or not hitting girls (a big one here!)). I really want to invest in the flexibility that the occupation has and start being more than just a teacher focused on curriculum. There are so many more important things that intelligent, motivated people can do when they (we) come to places like the Marshall Islands. I have watched as one of my housemates, Hannah, has created a mentoring program for graduating seniors to help them get into college. I have also witnessed Mandy start a girls' club, a sign language club, and initiate tutoring for her and my lowest students. While I recognize that both Mandy and Hannah have more experience in the education world than I do, they make me feel as if I should be doing more, inside the realm of school activities and outside. I think what has been the hardest for me to come to understand is that its okay to put effort behind something or be passionate about something even if it will only last a little bit or make a difference for a short amount of time. I know that any ideas I push, such as Saturday clean up club or trying to make the brushing of one's teeth a "cool" activity and getting dentistry offices to donate supplies, will most likely not last after I leave the island. Still, I have realized that a large part of teaching is about hope too--teaching hope and having hope. I can only hope that in the few months I have left I do make a difference and that some child--at least one--takes something from what I have do and will try to create and use it in the future. That is all you really can do as a teacher, I think. I have always been afraid of impermanence--I am scared of change and endings to things--but it is a fact of life. In fact, its one of the most beautiful and exciting things about life. I guess its time to embrace it. It is hard to feel this way and the way I spoke of in the previous paragraph at the same time. I once again think that the break will be good for me to organize my ideas and start thinking of ways to apply them. I plan on starting my a capella group at MMS in the third quarter (I have already written up a spoofed version of "California Gurls" by Katy Perry called "Marshall Islanders"). I also hope to formalize our already existing cleaning initiative and organize some kind of donation system for school supplies and dental products as I mentioned before. All of these things are really important here, and I believe that they are all things I can help change, if only for a little while.

Stepping off my soapbox now, Thanksgiving in Majuro was a difference experience for me. Mandy and I decided to take Friday off, our reasoning being that it was the day of the actual holiday in America (we are a day ahead here) and because we both needed a break because we were feeling a bit homesick. Friday was also the day that we planned on having our big Thanksgiving dinner. It was strange to celebrate Thanksgiving on a day that was not Thanksgiving, but not as strange as I thought it would be. While we recognized celebrating an American holiday and taking the day off in another country as kind of a cop out, it was really nice to be able to help Bill cook the meal, which is something that we both do with our families on Thanksgiving. Bill did in fact cook the whole meal (with the exception of some deserts that people brought and my mac-and-cheese, which I insisted on making, since that is always my job during holiday dinners) and it was delicious. We had appetizers of hot sausage, cheddar and pepperjack cheese with crackers, a pepper and olive tray, papaya and cucumbers from one of the volunteer's family's gardens, and deviled eggs (made by my request by Bill since it is my family's staple appetizer at our family events). For dinner, the menu included a huge turkey (wonderfully provided by the Dartmouth and World Teach programs), ham, mac-and-cheese a la Andrew, creamed spinach, green bean casserole, candied yams, garlic mashed potatoes, sausage stuffing, and vegetarian stuffing. Desert included numerous pies, including a homemade apple pie by the World Teach assistant site director Angela Saunders, and homemade ice cream made by Ray, one of the CMI teachers who comes to Thursday night potluck at Yvonne's house. The guest list included all of the current World Teach and Dartmouth volunteers and directors, past and present, on the Majuro atoll, my host father, Kurt Phino, and the core of the Thursday night crew, which included Yvonne, her husband and daughter, and Ray and Laura. We even had two WT volunteers come in from the neighboring atoll to dine with us--Erica and Brooke. In all, the event was a success. The food was tasty (though, no offense to Bill, my dad can throw down in the kitchen pretty hard as well) and I was able to stave off homesickness by bringing together my Majuro family. It was nice to have everyone in one place and I am extremely thankful for them. I was able to talk to my family at the end of our Thanksgiving dinner at home in Chicago earlier in the day and it was great to hear everyone's voice!

That evening was followed by even more revelry at an event called the Tidal Wrave. Created by Michael Honeth, a ripelle who works at the Majuro EPA, the event was intended to be Majuro's first private island rave. Michael rented two boats and an island known as Three Bag Island (so named because it is said that the island is so small that one could only procure three bags of copra, or coconut product, from all of the trees there) and invited a group of ripelles (which I have recently learned is the CORRECT spelling of the word for foreigners/Americans) to come and rave it up! While I was exhausted from all of the excitement from the day before, Alex Huestis and Eric Hahn woke me up and carted me off to the island. I slept away most of the day in a hammock (the longest I have ever slept in a hammock--it was excellent) and that night we played cards and danced the evening away. I even got to play with fire twirlers! That was a short lived experience, however, since I was terrified. We had to wait a while for a boat to come get us the next day, but we left, physically exhausted from all of the beachside dancing we did the night before.

As a final and more somber note, as of last Friday, one of the World Teach volunteers has gone missing in transit from one atoll to the next on a small boat. The boat never reached its destination. The coast guard here has been searching frantically and planes have been called in from Hawaii as of a few days ago. There has been nothing found so far. I have decided to not name the volunteer's name out of respect for the family, the program, and all those involved in the search, but please keep this volunteer in your prayers and best thoughts. We are all hoping for good news.

Until next time (which will be this coming Sunday, I PROMISE!)

Bar lo kom,

Andrew

Quarter 2, Week 1

This week was fairly low key after a week of multiple birthday celebrations and end of the term exams. As I wrote in the blog last week, I wanted to start this term by giving my students some study and thinking skills. In my reading class on Tuesday (we reviewed the final on monday), I instructed my students on three different ways to study - memorization through repetition, notecards, and self quizzing. I also told them that there would be a quiz the next day on describing one of these methods and that I highly encouraged them to use at least one of the methods to help them study. The next day, many of my students came into the classroom with notecards made from the night before and almost everyone passed the test. Unfortunately, these study skills did not seem to carry over for most of my students for our grammar test at the end of the week (though I did see one or two students using notecards), so I guess I need to constant reinforce the use of the notecards.

Wednesday, after the quiz, I gave my students seven questions to respond to: Why is the sky blue? Why do mosquitoes bite? What makes the waves? Why do certain fruits (pandanas, apples, oranges…) grow on trees? How did dogs get in the RMI? Why do people speak different languages? Do you think the Bikini bombing was “for the good of mankind”? I knew the answer to some of these questions (the moon creates the waves, the sky is blue because of the ocean, dogs got to the RMI on the boats of European invaders) and I was able to fake my way through the others (natural selection for the plants question, the development of language as a necessity as humanoid groups moved across the world) but the real purpose of the questions was the get the students to think outside of the realm they usually did. These were questions that the students, I was sure, had never really thought about. It was my hope that the students would stretch their minds attempting to come up with answers. The project met with little success. The students did not do the assignment for the most part so I had to give class time on Thursday to do the work. When I collected the work and looked at the answers I saw that many of the students simply stated that "God made it that way" or that "because its good that way." As a Christian myself, I saw that I would need to explain that the belief in God does exclude the rationale of science and that many scientists are religious people themselves. Some of the students did think cleverly. Some tried to explain that the movement of fish or of boats in the water created all of the waves. I was also surprised to find that not all of the students believed that the Bikini bomb tests were a bad thing. The next day, I progressed through the questions and was surprised that I was able to explain such complex concepts simply enough for my students to understand them. I was a bit disheartened to learn, however, that my students thought that the moon was larger than the Earth and that the Earth rotated around the moon. In a place where the two greatest resources were the sky and the water, I was shocked to find out that the students did not even know basic scientific concepts about either. I guess that is a testament to the usefulness of practical science (like understanding the winds or where certain fish dwell) and the superfluousness of hard science to a people so firmly rooted in their native culture. When it came to discussing the Bikini bomb testing, I did my best to explain the idea of every situation having two sides. We discussed the reasons that the Americans and the Marshallese thought that the testing were a good thing at the time, but also discussed the negative consequences. We did not have much time to talk about the issue before the end of class, so I hope to bring up the topic again in a more constructive manner. Overall, I was happy to provide the students with knowledge of things that they had never heard of (like Darwinism) and discuss with them some things they had thought about before, but I was left troubled by the inability of most students to think outside of the box and come up with answers themselves.

In grammar class, we learned about interjections and conjunctions this week. I taught the students a variety of interjections, including "bangarang," an interjection made famous by the 1991 Steven Spielberg film Hook starting Robin Williams (it was used by the Lost Boys whenever something good happened). My students liked it so much that they have already started using it when they answer questions correctly in class. As I said before, the students did not do well on their quiz this week. It was the first time that I had used a matching format on an exam and since the kids had used it before in other classes I figured they would do well, especially since the bulk of the quiz was based on matching interjections with emotions. I will have to remember to test out formats before using them in assessments. In lighter news, my parents sent me BBC's Planet Earth and Life for my birthday. They also sent me the entire collection of School House Rock videos. Grammar Rock is my favorite, and I look forward to using them, and all of the videos in class. Thanks mom and dad!

I also learned this week in school, through journal entries, that many of the kids here do not believe in celebrating Halloween for religious reasons. Mandy and I had planned on having some kind of Halloween party for our students, but now we have decided against it. While some of the students said they would dress up, many of them said that it was a bad holiday. I believe that the volunteers, the other ribelles, and myself will find some other way to celebrate.

Outside of class, this week was lacking. I got hurt playing soccer a few weeks ago (because of a fairly grim scratch, I now know why shin guards are so necessary in the sport) so I have not been as active, but hope to spice up this week by regularly going to gospel choir rehearsals after school at MIHS.

That is all for now,

Bar lo kom,

(and please, somebody, send some snow?)

Andrew

Stormy Weather

I am sorry for the delay of this post. The (free) internet on campus has been down since this past Thursday when the Majuro Atoll had a planned power outage (for more details, continue reading below). This past week was pretty tumultuous, but after writing this and having started a new week, I feel much better about those things that went wrong. This past week started off like most others. Like I have said in past blog entries, I think that I am getting into the swing of things here and finding a rhythm to the way of life. School went as it has been going. I started this week telling my students that they had a second chance on everything. I had previously caught some of them cheating (my response was to dramatically rip their papers up in front of the class and give a lesson on the definition of the word "unacceptable"), some of them had skipped class, many of them had come in late, and even more of them had chosen not to turn in homework or to study for my quizzes. I was disappointed but I acquiesced to the idea that maybe these slip-ups had been the result of my failure to clearly outline my expectations. I did just that at the beginning of the week and hoped that many of my students would take advantage of my generosity. I also gave them the chance to come into my classroom during lunch or after school and get extra points on their quizzes from the previous week which most of them did very poorly on. I did not expect to see many or any of the students for the retake but after school at least 20 showed up. I thought that maybe my talking-to had worked and that things would go more smoothly in the classroom. Little did I know what was coming the week ahead of me.

One highlight of this week was talking to the deaf student at MMS in sign language. Mandy, the World Teach volunteer that I spoke about last week who specialized in teaching special education classes in college, told me a week or so ago that if I wanted to make the deaf student happy, I should sign to him "What is your first name?" She thought that even some recognition from one of the new ribelle teachers would make him happy. I learned the ASL alphabet in elementary school (to give you some kind of indication of how nerdy we were back then, we used to sign notes to each other across the class instead of passing them; it was a short lived fad) and so I felt relatively prepared to read his response since it would be spelled out. I was in the office during one of my prep periods and the student walked in. I was excited to use the sign I had learned so I tried it and he beamed at me and commenced to spell his name. Unfortunately, my alphabet was a little rusty and so I mixed up "m" and "n" and was thoroughly confused about what his name was, especially since I have no expertise in Marshallese names. There is a white board in the office, so I went up it and spelled out what I thought was "Amdy." He shook his head no and spelled out "Andy." I felt so dumb. However, I signed my name and spelled it on the board too and then drew and arrow from his name to him and my name to me. He smiled again. I then erased the "rew" from my name, replaced it with a "y" to indicate that his name, Andy, was a form of my name. Then I pointed from him to me to try to indicate that we were the same. He clapped and was very happy. It made me feel really good to communicate with someone who I do not think gets to communicate with anyone besides his interpreter at school.

Thursday there was a planned power outage for the whole island. There has only been one of these since I have been here but it was for half of the island. The outages take place so that mechanics can fix the generators that power the entire atoll. Many schools took this as an opportunity to have a half day, since the outage is scheduled from 9-5 and the buildings get hot and the bathrooms don't work. My school did not do this. Unfortunately, Marshall Islands High School (MIHS), who shares a field with us, did decide to have a half day in addition to a celebration/party for their new freshman, new teachers, and transfer students. The music started before lunch and I knew that all was lost as far as trying to keep the focus of my students. Many of the students wandered into the MIHS celebration and did not return at all for classes after lunch, and those who did were over 20 mins late. The MMS teachers were not much help at bringing the kids back to school, especially when they were saying we should have a half day too despite the fact that principal said no.

To make matters worse, a large number of my students did not have their homework again, AND I caught one of them cheating--one of the people who I had given the second chance to for cheating the first time. All of this together made me extremely upset and frustrated. I struggled to understand how I would ever get any progress with my students when they were so easily distracted and unwilling to even try. I ended up being fairly bitter and doing a poor job of hiding my disappointment. In my second section, when I found out one of my "bad" students did not have his homework again and that his response to why he did not have it was a simple shrug I flipped out. I kept removing his feet from the chair in front of him as I tried to get a reason from him as to why he did not have his homework and he kept putting them back up AND not giving me a reason for not having his homework. He was the first student I sent to the office.

I went to the office after school very frustrated (school ended up concluding a period early because of all of the distractions). I attempted to express my frustrations the other teachers and I learned that I was not alone in my treatment from the students. Many of the Marshallese teachers expressed the need for more discipline and punishment. They suggested that I crack down harder on my students. They said that in the end, they will still like you and will respect you more so for doing it. This is my plan for this week.

The Bungalow received its final member on Thursday. Bill, a World Teach volunteer from last year, came to complete our family for the year. An older gentleman, Bill had been traveling around the country before coming to Majuro. He did not have to be at orientation because he did the program last year. He entered with a bang, buying us lunch at Tide Table. The following day, he helped us turn our house into a home, moving around furniture and motivating us to clean to the point were I said, "Wow, this is scary. i am starting to see this as a place I might live for the next year." Everyone agreed. Bill brought a number of supplies to help cover surfaces and complete our kitchen and he says that he has spices (including Lawry's seasoned salt, thank God!) and other nifty things on the way here. He has experience as a chef so I am excited to learn cooking techniques and eat the meals he prepares (not that we haven't been doing a good job, but still)! Bill is also teaching on the MIHS campus kiddy-corner to MMS at a school called the National Vocation and Technical Institute (NVTI). This school is basically for students who do not score high enough to get into MIHS. It helps get an equivalency diploma.

Later Friday night, I was invited to dinner at the home of Yvonne and her husband Craig. Yvonne is an older woman who is here teaching at the College of the Marshall Islands (CMI). More importantly, she is from one of the suburbs of Chicago! I was ecstatic to meet her a few weeks ago because of our connection and she has treated me like her own child since our first meeting. She is the only carnivore in a family of herbivores so she was happy to have me over to have a reason to cook some meat. We sat around her family's apartment and talked about like in the Marshall Islands and teaching with her family and two other CMI teachers who also stated the importance of discipline in the classroom in order to reach the Marshallese students. I found this very encouraging. I was also able to talk Yvonne and Craig's daughter, Amethyst, who is a high school senior and is looking at colleges. I am very much so pushing her to apply to Dartmouth and was giving her application and college advice from my years of experience as an intern in the Admissions Office at Dartmouth.

Later that night, Yvonne and I headed to the Marshall Islands Resort (MIR) for a drink after dinner (Craig and the other guests were not interested in coming). On the porch, we met some friends of Yvonne's and talked for a few hours. One of these friends was a Marshallese man who goes by the name Junior. I told him of my frustrations in the classroom this past week and he told me of the importance of parents and how many parents here are not involved or not aware of their children's academic life. He is very involved in his children's schooling. He says that he takes out a white board every night and has them write out what they need to do and that he does he best to help them learn what they need to learn. He encouraged me to get the parents involved and that he said he would come to my class to offer some Marshallese motivation. I was very encouraged by this. However, when I went inside, I had a conversation of a different and less encouraging sort.

The conversation started like most of my conversations with Marshallese people. I explained to him that I was a volunteer teacher at MMS and that I was here for the year through the DVTP. I expressed to him some of my frustrations from the week and his only response was to tell me that the Marshallese people were stupid. I was taken aback by this response and insisted that I did not agree. I told him that while my students may not be doing all that well in my class, there were a few who were doing outstanding work. Even though there were those that weren't doing as well, I could still tell that they were smart. Their only problem was a lack of effort and motivation. They were too distracted by other things and did not see their education as a priority. The gentleman's response was to ask me if I was being asked questions in Marshallese would I be able to respond. I said, "Of course not," and that that was exactly my point. My students lack of success in my class was not indicative of their intelligence. It only spoke to their inability to read, write, and comprehend English. Still, I argued, I knew that my students could do the work if they tried, they just chose not to try. I asked him what he thought I should do. He said again that the Marshallese were stupid and that I should ask President Obama for more money for the country. This bothered me deeply because I knew that handouts from America, warranted or not, were not the solution to this problem. I said this to him and he responded that I was like all of the other volunteers and ribelles that came to the island. That I thought I was better than the Marshallese and that I knew what was best for them. He said that I was here for a vacation. I tried to disavow these accusations but the man stayed firm. After my experiences in my classroom this week and knowing all of the work I had put into teaching, this comment made me furious. I stormed away from the man and out of the bar. It was my first encounter with someone who did not seem to want volunteers to be here. I left mad because I knew I was not on vacation, that I had worked hard, and that I had even more hard work ahead of me. I think I was even more mad because I kept thinking to myself, "How do I help a people that do not want to be helped?"

I was so distraught from the conversation that I got in touch with Anna, the DVTP field director, who lived close by to MIR. I told her about the interaction that I had just had and asked her my question -- "How do I help a people that do not want to be helped?" She replied that this was a typical response from many Marshallese people and that they had a point. The Marshallese did fine on their own for hundreds of years before intervention from foreign countries. What were were doing here? Why did they need our help? She encouraged me to find answers to these questions myself. As far as motivating youth who did not put the effort forth to reap the benefits of volunteer teachers she said, "You have to inspire. You have to be consistent and show the students that you care. In time, they will come to care too." These words, though simple, resonated strongly with me. I left Anna's house that evening with renewed energy and hope that I could make a difference once again.

In lighter news, this weekend was the All Micronesian Fishing Tournament sponsored by the RMI's own Billfish Fishing Club. Justin, one of the volunteers, was lucky enough to be asked to be on a team for Kwajalein, the atoll where the American military base is located. On Saturday, his team (a man short) was able to bring in a marlin weighing just under 300 pounds. They had also hooked two other marlin's but were not able to reel them in. The one fish was enough to put them in fourth place for the day. The next day he was not so lucky. Due to boat malfunctions and poor fishing location choices, his team was only able to real in a skipjack and a wahoo (two DELICIOUS tuna). His team ended up getting fourth place in the end. The other volunteers and I were very proud of him. He faired extremely well against "all" of Micronesia!

Finally, this Sunday around Majuro (in the Christian churches at least) was known as White Sunday. This basically meant that the church youths wore their finest white regalia and led service. I went to the UCC church on Ejit with Alex (Justin was fishing at the time) and watched at the adorable kids sang (or shouted to be more precise) "We Shall Overcome" and "Praise Ye the Lord" while waving dollar bill flags. Alex was very proud of her students. I was personally moved to hear kids from across the world singing "We Shall Overcome," a song that speaks directly to the Civil Rights Movement in America. After this week, I can only hope that the Marshallese youth do feel as if they can overcome their adversities some day.

As always, I will end with some more observations about the RMI that have surprised me.

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.

Until next time,

Bar Lo Kom,

Andrew