Mom Has Arrived!

My mom arrived yesterday and everything is going well. We just finished brunch and are going to go get some groceries. Today is Sunday so nothing is open and there is not a lot to do. She will come to school with me Monday - Thursday. Then, Friday - Monday we will spend in town. We will make sure to upload pictures and update the blog once or twice in the next week.

I had to take a sleeping pill last night!

AHHHHHHHHHH! I am so excited! I am picking up my mom tomorrow from the airport. Time is going by so fast. I am at the hotel right now renting a car and then I am off to go out to eat with friends. I am trying to keep myself busy, because literally I am shaking with excitement. I will keep you updated and put up lots of pictures. You know what makes my mom coming even better? Maggie comes in 2 months! (I hope)

The Loss of My Street Credibility

Blogger will not allow me to upload any more pictures, but this in fact is the beautiful house that I have moved into. My experience in the Marshall Islands will now be slightly diffrent. A little more vacation like. Thus, my loss of street cred.

I am still learning flexibility and constantly impress myself with how well I am handling situations that in the States would have sent my into a downward spiral. Thursday night we had a WorldTeach party where all of the Majuro based volunteers who do not live with a host family received "families" to help expose them to cultural experiences and what not. I was given the truck you see in front of the house to pick up the volunteers that live in Woja and Laura and take them to and from the party. Like everything in the MI the party began late and after taking everyone home I did not arrive back at home until nearly midnight. Super late for me. When I arrived home I discovered, in true Katie fashion, that I had lost my house keys. Shocking! What I love about being here is that there is no room for "freaking out." I have become so much more of a problem solver. (I hope it remains) Anyways, I knew that I had to sleep and ideally not in the white truck. I drove to Woja to Hannah's house to see if I could sleep there. I was a little worried that this would not work, because I assumed she would be asleep and I would have to knock on her window. I knew if I knocked on her window if would worry her a bit because a common dating practice in the Marshall Islands is to "poke" a women who is sleeping and see if she invites you in. But, when I arrived at Hannah's house I discovered her awake and was able to crash at her house.

I woke up in the morning, very dirty, and headed off to school. Luckily, I had my school supplies in my backpack and not at home. After school I went into town to Mona's house to get keys. I then went back to the house to clean up, but first had to go into town to get gas. When I finished getting my gas I went to turn the car back on only to discover that the car was dead. Thanks to my father I recognized that the car battery had died and it was a simple fix. I did not anticipate how hard it would be to find jumper cables. I was able to use the gas station phone after an hour or so of asking everyone who walked / drove by if they has a knew where to get jumper cables. I called the WorldTeach office and Tamara, my field director, saved the day and called a mechanic to come jump the car. I finally hours later made it to the house and was able to get inside.

I then had a wonderful weekend. Courtney, Robyee, Dan, and Tim came out to the house where we cooked fresh fish and veggies over a fire of coconut shells. (Which makes food taste so much better than charcoal) Dan and I went out Kayaking around this abandoned boat that is stuck in the middle of the lagoon. The boat and the high coral, which caused the the boat to get stuck, create some big breaks. I had a great time "surfing" the kayak!

Okay, I am off to go back to Ajeltake. Everything is going well. My mom gets here in 6 days! Wow! I have an amazing 10 days planned for us! I will keep everyone updated on our adventures. I miss you all.

Update... but I have to do it really fast!

I am in a crazy rush but so much has happened in the last week I wanted to write a quick blog.

1. I moved. I am now living about a half a mile from school and around all of the kids. I am still living alone, but feel more apart of the community. Another benefit is that they moved me into a beautiful home. I would try to describe it, but am going to post pictures tomorrow for everyone to see. Let me put it this way... I have lost all karma points previously accumulated by volunteering. My life is now like a fancy beach vacation.

2. It is finals week. 1st quarter is already over. I can not believe that I am 30% done with my time here in the Marshall Islands. It is going way to fast.

3. There is more, but I have no time. My new host family allowed me to use a car to come into town and do my shopping for the week. I need to get to the store and head home. I will be back in town tomorrow because it is a half day to confirm reservations for when my mom gets here NEXT SATURDAY! I will write more then and post pictures.

4. Last but not least I got mail. Thank you Seth, Zach, and Andrea! I will read them tonight and respond as soon as I can. You made my day.

A Quick Update

I am town today for a meeting and had to take the day off work. Shucks! I have spent the day getting errands done that I typically cannot do, because on weekends so many things are closed. At noon I went to lunch with my field director, Mona, Monique, and Monique's adorable son. (Mona is Nika, my current host mom's sister, and Monique is Mona's daughter.) I have been looking for a new host family that will be around more and that lives closer to my school. Monique has offered to let me move in with her and her husband. They live within 15 minutes of school in a wonderful home. Today's lunch was all about discussing the details. I will be living in the house alone for a month or two until Monique and Ben move in , but at least I will be near the kids so I can play baseball.


This picture was taken last week. On my long walks home from school I take breaks to play with the kids . On Tuesday of last week I played baseball with Neirland, Ryan, and a few other kids that attend Ajeltalke. It is nice to be near them; they make me feel very happy and purposeful.

This weekend and the following week their is going to be a huge conference for "Friends of Taiwan." There are only 10 countries that recognize Taiwan as an independent state and the Marshall Islands is one of them. So, Taiwan gives tons of money to us. One of their latest gifts was the building on the left. This building was build just for the upcoming conference. There have been workers there 24 hours a day for the past 2 months. To illustrate how nice, and slightly out of place this building is, I turned around after taking the picture to show you what the building across the street looks like. The two buildings are truly complete opposites. I will keep you update on how the conference goes.