The Best of Majuro

Dear blog readers,

In an attempt to upgrade the "blogginess" of my blog, I decided to keep up with this theme of lists (because, really, who doesn't enjoy a good list) for this week. Earlier in the week, I came to the terrifying conclusion that I had spent all of my stipend for the month and that I was in desperate need of next month's stipend. In thinking that, I realized that the month of January was almost over, that it had flown by, and that I only had four months left of my RMI/DVTP experience. The realization was exciting, depressing, and shocking. I do not know where the time has gone. In light of this, I figured that I should take some time out to give a more accurate picture of the place I have been living and give some credit to the people, places, and things that have made this experience so wonderful to me thus far. Conclusively, here we arrive at the best of Majuro list. Now, I know that many of these lists focus on a particular area--food, hotels, shops, performances, etc.--but since there is such a variety of somethings and a dearth of others, I figured that I would keep the list general. So, for those of you who are daring and are interested in coming out to Majuro for some Pacific Ocean fun, these are the people, places, and things that you will want to meet, go to, and eat/buy.

Best Handicraft (Animono) Store

There are a plethora of handicraft stores in Majuro. When I was doing my Christmas shopping, I went to every single store to find the best deals. Many people will tell you that the airport has the best handicraft store, and, in earnest, they do have the best deals. However, as far as the quality of the physical plant of the store, variety of animono, and service, Elefa is the best handicraft store in Majuro. The store itself is beautiful. Most all patrons take off their shoes before they come into the store in respect to the homeliness of the place and the wood floors. When you come in, the smell of the manipulated coconut fawns is the first thing you notice along with the numerous number of baskets covering the right wall. To the left, there is a depressed portion of the store that has a number of woven purses and hats (I have never seen woven hats at another store). In the far left corner of the store is an enclosed room where patrons can peek in and see a number of women working on the actual handicrafts. This is my favorite feature of the store. I love knowing that the profits are going to the women making the products. The store also offers classes. I have not taken any of them, but I hope to take a class or two before I go.

Best Pizza

There are a number of places that sell pizza in Majuro, but my favorite has to be The Marshall Islands Club. While the Marshall Islands Resort boasts a delicious array of toppings and a double sized garlic crust, for price and quantity, MIC takes the pie. There speciality pizza, which ports most vegetables you can think of, pineapple, and ham, and it runs around 18 dollars. The crust is delicious and the timing, from order to in your stomach, is extremely quick.

Best Restaurant (Ambiance)

This is an extremely difficult category. The most beautiful restaurant is definitely the Marshall Islands Club which is located right on the oceanside of the island with a beautiful outdoor view. But, as far as a winner in this category, I am going to have to concede this to the Tide Table. TT is an extremely popular spot for ribelles and visiting fishermen and sailors since it is right next to the Shoreline dock. Though small, the far wall that runs the length of the restaurant is all glass, giving a nice view of "downtown" Majuro and the lagoon. The walls are covered with animono and the restaurant has a nice bar with a large television that is almost always playing sports. The best part of the restaurant is the wait staff. All of the ladies that work at the restaurant are extremely nice and will cater to any dining experience need that you may have. It just so happens that I teach the children/siblings of almost the entire evening wait staff, so whenever I go there I get extra special treatment!

Best Restaurant (Food)

Majuro is full of excellent Chinese food. I assume this is because of the large number of Chinese residents in town. Ask any one and they will give you a different answer for which is the best Chinese food restaurant, but despite all other claims, I must side with Won Hai Shen. The prices are great, the variety of food is amazing, and the portions are hefty. If you do get a chance to go there, try any dish with eggplant (if it is on island), the sizzling beef (otherwise known on the menu as "hot beef on an iron board"), and the sweet and sour soup. You will be pining for another meal there soon after.

Best Bang For You Buck (Food)

There are two close contenders in this category. The second place winner is DAR (and, unfortunately, I have no idea what that stands for). DAR specializes in Marshallese and Pacific Islander cuisine (which includes curries, I was surprised to find out), however you can get your standard breakfast foods and lunch plates also. The portions there are large and the food is delicious and cheap. However, the real winner is one of the newest restaurants in Majuro. It is an unnamed sandwich shop in the Good Foods Market. The atmosphere of the place is like that of a Boarders Cafe and the sandwiches, made on homemade bread, are huge. You have have chicken, tuna, beef, hot dog, bacon, lettuce, tomato, cabbage, onions, pickles, hot peppers, sweet peppers, and cheese in any combination for the small price of $3.50. And you won't be hungry for a while.

Best Bar (Drinks and Bar Tender)

I must admit that have have frequented the few bar scenes that exist in Majuro and you cannot beat the guys at the Marshall Islands Resort bar. Many of the patrons are ribelles or Marshallese officials, so the service is top notch. Once the guys know you, they make your drinks strong and cut a lot of deals for your continued patronage. Gary, John, and Sunny are all great guys and my experience here would not have been as fun without them. Unfortunately, MIR has recently raised the price of their drinks, so I do not know if MIR will hold this title for the remainder of the year, but the bartenders still remain unbeatable. If you go there, make sure you ask for an "Aqua Shocka." It is an invention from some of the permabelles on island. It is the color of the ocean and will knock you off of your feet.

Best Bar (Ambiance)

The award for this category has to go to the Marshall Islands Club. Not only is the bar huge but it has a hand shuffle board, two bars (one indoors and one outside), live music, three different outdoor seating areas, three different indoor seating areas, pool tables, and karaoke. I mean, c'mon! It's also right on the water making it a beautiful spot. Unfortunately, enough people do not frequent there so it is never a "hopping" scene, but the lack of huge crowds in the big space is sometimes refreshing.

Best Karaoke

Many different spots offer karaoke in Majuro but the most entertaining place to test your vocal chords is at The Flame Tree Lounge. FTL, an infamous bar in its own right, has a small television in the corner of one of their bars and two microphones that patrons fight for vehemently. While the music selection is not full of popular hits, the regulars at FTL seem to know all the words to the most obscure songs. You get everyone, from people who can really wail to people who are actually wailing. The song I have heard performed the most?: "We Are The World."

Best Dance Spot

Rounding out this section on nightlife and entertainment is a Majuro favorite--The Pub. Now, it is a commonly known fact that you cannot go to The Pub before 1:00 AM, or else literally no one will be there. Most other bars close around this time so this is when The Pub comes to life. Best of all, they pretend to close down around 3:00 AM when the cops arrive, but stay open even longer afterwards. The bar itself only has two rooms, one for playing pool and another, large room with a second bar and a dance floor, complete with black lights and lasers. The music varies between Marshallese music (which can be difficult to dance to at times) and American music. If you want to get down, The Pub is definitely the best option.

Best Place to be Mobbed by Children

In a completely different vain, taking walks, or "jambos," around Majuro is a popular activity. As I have spent more and more time in Majuro, I have gotten to know more and more people. Still, there are a limited number of ribelles and since my students are spread all over the town my name has gotten around to all different groups of children. If you are looking to hang out with the local kids and have a great time, look no further than Demon Town. Demon Town is the name of the oceanside road next to MIHS. There, on the narrow street, seemingly dozens of kids are hanging out at all hours of the day and night. I always feel compelled to stop and play with them when I go on this jambo for the fear that if I don't, the kids will overtake me. Marshallese kids are extremely sweet and friendly and playing with the kids in Demon Town is actually one of my favorite activities in Majuro.

Best Jambo

The Demon Town jambo is an incredibly enjoyable one, but it is one that you have to be ready for. If you want to relax and go on a beautiful walk, you definitely have to walk across the ocean at low tide to Ejit. The home of Justin and Alex, Ejit is an island full of Bikinians who were placed there some time after the atomic bomb testing in the Bikini Atoll. The island itself has many mean dogs, but the walk to the island is a refreshing. It takes about 30 to 40 minutes. Going at low tide is highly encouraged since at high tide the current from the ocean can be strong and the water can be near or above one's head. Between the end of Majuro and Ejit, there are two small islands. The first is called Demon Island, since, supposedly, demons live there. The second is called Electric Island, aptly named because there is an electricity tower placed on the island. The walk itself is gorgeous. The ocean is on one side and the lagoon is on the other, you can see a few fish, and the sound of the waves is incredibly relaxing.

Best Place to Swim

On the other end of Majuro is the town called Laura. An hour ride from Majuro, I refer to Laura as the suburbs of the city. Life is different there and moves at a slower place. At the end of the island in Laura is a beautiful beach. The water is not deep for a long time because of the coral shelf making it the perfect place to lazily swim. You also have the option of going snorkeling in a relaxed setting.

Best Place to Snorkel

Speaking of snorkeling, Laura beach is NOT the best place to go in Majuro. Off in the lagoon side of Ejit is pretty beautiful, but really, the best snorkeling is on Enemanit, the picnic island. The island is a short ride from Shoreline and my host family and a few other people go there every Sunday for a picnic. The snorkeling there is unbelievable. There is a sunken WWII fighter plane and a sunken ship a few hundred yards from the beach. Even more amazing is that you can walk a few feet from the beach, put on goggles and see more fish or coral than you have probably ever seen in your life. It is like being in an aquarium.

Best Place to Relax

Enemanit also tops my list for the best place to relax in Majuro. In addition to great snorkeling, Enemanit has lazy swim spots, bungalows with hammocks, and the regulars usually bring a feast of food. Honestly, it is what I imagined island paradise to look like when I came to the RMI. It is the perfect place to spend a Sunday.


So there you have it. The Best of Majuro! If you have any questions or have some suggestions for categories to add the next time I do this (which will most likely be right before I leave), please don't hesitate to ask. Hopefully this gives you a bit of a better picture of what this place is like.

Bar lo kom,

Andrew

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