Is this my last post? Does anyone still read this?

I can't believe that next week I will be back in Illinois! I am wrapping projects and paperwork up hear and getting ready to leave next Wednesday. I fly out of here at 8pm Wednesday night and arrive in HI at 2:30 in the morning Wednesday. (Time travel thanks to the IDL) I then have a 20 hour layover to see HI and drink bloody marys. Then off to LA, Chicago, then Champaign. I arrive in Champaign at 6pm Thursday!

This past weekend I went to Eneco on last time and thought that I would include post a few pictures. Robyee, Courtney, and I had a shell carved in the shape of their yacht logo made for Ted and Karen as a thank you for being our island parents. Forest (barely viable in the back of the picture) is the artist and also a wonderful friend here on island.

Karen brought along a bouy for us to paint as apart of the coral reef protection project. I was the "coral master" in charge of painting all coral. I think I have found my life's calling!

I will see you soon! - K

Picture Update

My library remodel is doing well. I am in a hurry to catch a bus, so that I can get home and start making play dough for 30 1st graders. I think just having the pictures shows shat a great job the kids and I are doing. I am really impressed with how the whole school is willing to help.

Ryan, Enne, and Benjimon think that we moved all the books out to make a "boyshelf" not paint a bookshelf. They are too cute!

Edward, Wena, and Junior help me with some cleaning and heavy lifting!

We painted the wall...

and then Isako and I painted the bookshelves. Now we just need books!

See you all in about a week! Katie

Less than one month until I am home. I am feeling a crazy mix of feeling, but most of them are being overridden by the idea of eating a salad. A huge salad bar. Eggs. Ranch Dressing. Broccoli Salad. Peppers. Carrots. Wow -- I am going to pass out. I have not been up to much. Teaching, as always, takes up most of my days. But, I did take a break this past weekend to set up and attend a fake wedding. Ali and Steve are really getting married but in 2 months in Boston. Before they left to go home (Ali was here working for the NGOs and Steve doing an internship for grad school at Brandeis) we had an island wedding so we could all share in their special day.

Ali and Steve were married by Dan. He worked really hard on putting togeather a wonderful ceremony complete with an inspirational reading from The Alchemist. Ben sang songs between each reading and part of the wedding. The boys did a great job. A group photo. There were many other people in attendance. This was just the group that set up and were there when the picture was taken.

As you can see I did not catch the bouquet. Shocking! Ray did but in his triumph dance shook the flowers to pieces!
As the year winds up I am getting very homesick. I decided that I needed a project, so I am going to "remodel" the library with the help of my 6th grade class. We are going to clean, organize, and paint. Then I am going to teach each class how to keep the library clean. We will see how it goes! (I know Liz's mom reads this. Tam is giving me part of your grant money for supplies. I will send you pictures of the process. Thank you so much for all you do for the program. We all are very appreciative. )

See everyone soon!

Easter Weekend

For Easter weekend Tim and I traveled back to Arno to visit Greg. We left Friday morning on the boat and arrived in Inea, Arno a little after noon. Marshallese custom is very strict when it comes to observing the “no work rule” on holy days. Because Friday was Good Friday our activity options were very limited. We were not able to go swimming, fishing, or anything else that might seem to “work-ish.” I choose to set up my hammock and spent the day reading and sleeping under the shade of a palm tree near the Arno lagoon. Shucks!

Around 5 the bells began to ring. I showered, put on my mumu, and joined the boys for church. Church only lasted about an hour, but following church Greg also had to attend choir practice. Tim and I headed back to Greg’s house to wait for him to finish, but within 30 minutes were both sound asleep.

Tim is tired of giving "goo goos" (piggy back rides) to Rino and takes his turn!

Saturday morning we work up and headed out on a walk down to the next village. We had heard that there was a sunken WWII plane in the lagoon just off the beach. As we walked we stopped and talked with many people. I ran into some kids and somehow ended up doing an impromptu drawing lesson in the sand. We also looked at maps of the Arno Atoll with the Iroj (king) of the atoll, and drank coconuts with one of Greg’s fellow teachers.

Drawing in the sand.

Easter morning we headed to church about 10:30. The service only lasted about 2 hours, but was then followed by HOURS of programs. All of the different villages on Arno were represented and did their beat. (dance) We took a break around three for a big Easter meal. The meal was hard boiled eggs, donuts, rice, beef soup (i think), and turtle. Now, I know that turtles are not only endangered but also my dad and Lisa's pet of choice, but... well... it tastes a little like beef jerky. When in Rome...

Easter Sevice

Around 8 at night we finished with church and treated the kids to the American tradition of roasting marshmallows over the fire! It was a blast. Once the kids got all doped up on sugar we went back to Greg's for a short nights sleep before the truck to take us back to the dock arrived at 4am. Luckly, they arrived at 4am Marshallese time! (6am)

Doped up on sugar outside Greg's house!

Nothing exciting coming up in the next few weeks. I am going to work on organizing my game of capture the flag that I have been wanting to do all year.

Update on Life

The last time I wrote I had just returned from Arno. That seems so long ago! Nothing too exciting has been going here. We have wrapped up the 3rd quarter of school and am now in the second week of 4th quarter. It seems impossible that the year has gone so fast. I am feeling intense amount of pressure to make every day as education packed as possible. This feeling combined with the 4th quarter wiggles that my students are suffering is creating a little tension in the classroom. I am trying to relax and make the lessons as engaging as possible. I will keep you updated.

The week I returned from Arno we had Education Week. Education Week was centered on the motto “Students First”. Elders in the community came to tell stories to the children, women in the community taught the students local handy crafts, teachers read their favorite stories, we had a field day, a walkathon, and I officiated a spelling bee. Over all I was very impressed with the week. It really got the community involved in the school and was a great experience for me and the kids. Jenny and a women from the community work on weaving plates from palm tree leaves.
Mark, Wisa, and I are glad we are done walking!

This past weekend was Robyee and Courtney’s joint birthday party. We went all out and for a moment it felt like I was not living in the Marshall Islands. I even used a blow dryer! The girls rented the same bungalow that my mom had every local ri-belle over for drinks and dancing!

Robyee learned her lesson at my mom's party. She will never dangle her toes in the Pacific again!

Sunday was the end to the sailing season. We sailed out to a small island where we had a picnic. We ate an 80-pound tuna and listened to Ben and two visiting musicians jam. It was a perfect Sunday. This upcoming weekend I have Friday off for Good Friday and the following Monday and Tuesday off for spring break. I am headed back to Arno for Friday to Monday to visit Greg with my friend Tim. I love Arno because, unlike the past weekend, I feel like I am really experiencing a cultural experience. I get to speak in Marshallese, walk on parts of the earth that very few people have ever seen, enjoy amazing snorkeling, and solitude.

Leah's Requested Post

I have had a really wonderful couple weeks, but have really been slacking on the blog post. I will post a new blog on my Monday. I promise. Good pictures too!

K

And breathe.

I took a four-day weekend in order to go visit Greg on Arno. Arno is the next closest atoll to me. Greg lives in Inea, Arno about 20 miles from Arno, Arno then ‘main’ village. To get to him I had to take an hour and a half boat ride and then catch a truck for the very bumpy slow ride to Greg’s village.

I had left for the boat at 8 am but did not arrive to Greg’s house until nearly 6 pm. When I arrived Greg was shocked. He had given up on me coming hours before. That night was very low key. We took a walk, played with the kids, ate with his grandparents, and then went to Youth Group singing practice. At practice we made a young boy cry. I guess the sight of two white people was just too overwhelming to handle. The mother had to get up and move where the baby could not see us. ☺

Saturday we slept in and had a slow relaxing morning. (His grandma made us pancakes!) When we finally got moving we went down to the ocean for some snorkeling. The snorkeling there was the best that I have ever seen. The coral was so colorful and created deep caverns where fish of all sizes and colors swam around. At times there would be so many small colorful fish (hundreds at least) that I felt like I was swimming though confetti. Much to my disappointment, I didn’t see a shark! We finished the day by talking and walking around his village.

Sunday we woke up and put on our Sunday best for church. Because everyone lives on ‘island time’ the chuch bell rang at 9 am just to say ‘We are still planning on having church today. Wake up.’ The bell rings again at about 10. “Make sure everyone is up. Eat. Shower. Get Ready. Again, at 11 the bell rings 3 times. ‘REALLY, you need to get ready hurry.’ Finally, at around 11:30 church gets under way. Some how Greg and I still managed to be late. Church was wonderful. I could not understand much of what they were saying but I still loved every second. Greg, sadly, did not get up to sing. After church I took my hammock to the lagoon side and found a breezy spot to read a book. I never got to read because as soon as I laid down 5 girls ran over and jumped in too.

After lunch Greg and I walked to the end of the island. We left a little before 3 and did not return until 7. When we got home my feet were blistered and cut from such a long walk in my sandals, but the view was worth it. It was so interesting to think about how few people have ever stood on the end of this island. Sometimes it dawns on my how I am truly in the middle of nowhere. After our walk we were exhausted and quickly went to sleep.

Monday I woke up and began the daylong journey home.

Today is Tuesday and it is Education Week. This is wonderful for me because we are having guest speakers all day long. I have been using the time to catch up on my grading and get ready for finals next week. I can’t believe that the 3rd quarter is almost over.

I never wrote the blog that I promised to last week. A few words on pink eye and environmental week. Finally it is over, but for most of February attendance at schools through out Majuro was nearly cut in half. Pink eye at one time or another effected 80% of the island. It got so bad that the hospital ran out of medicine. I was able to escape pink eye free. Also, I held Environment Week for my 6th and 8th grade. We talked about littering and the difference between bio and non-biodegradable trash. Then we had two speakers from the EPA come into to discuss littering in both English and Marshallese. Finally we took a trip to the dump. I have seen the students litter since. It is so ingrained in them to just through trash on the ground. A horrible habit that hopefully I took a tiny step to break.

And finally my host family finally moved in! I have a family and am so excited. I will let you know more about them and my new life later.

Greg's House

Inside of Greg's House

Greg "hanging tough" with his students.

Sitting in my hammock in my Sunday best with some Inea girls.

My students looking at the huge piles of plastic and glass bottles on our field trip to the Majuro Dump.

Ej elekun lazy!

I just noticed that I have not written a blog all month! I will write one this weekend. I will tell you all about the Pink Eye Epidemic that is sweeping the Marshall Islands and Environment Week. Happy Valentines Day! (Speaking of love... I am at the hotel that has Internet and they are playing Somewhere Over the Rainbow. I miss you Matt and Mel.)

Last weekend was one of the most bizarre and wonderful of my life. It was not at all a typical Marshall Islands weekend, but a welcome relief. Friday night I came into town with plans to stay in town from one night to chit-chat, buy food, and use the Internet. However, the comic-what-not had a different idea. Courtney and I went to a surprise birthday party for a woman who is working on a music preservation project here in the Marshall Islands. No one we know well, so we didn’t plan to stay long. How wrong I was. We ended having a wonderful time singing karaoke (the big thing to do here on a weekend night. I, of course, only listened. We all know I sound like a dying cat.), playing pool, and laughing. While carrying on we met Anthony. Anthony is on vacation from Australia surfing with his friend Paul here in the Marshall Islands. Some how after living here for 7 months this was the first I heard about surfing in the Marshall Islands. Apparently, as the weekend revealed, this is the new big place. Shh. Don’t tell.

Anthony invited Courtney and I to join his the following day the Australian Navy compound for Australia Day. I have always walked past “Wallbee Downs” but never before seen the inside. Going would mean that I would miss the last bus to Ajeltake until Monday and would have to hitchhike home, but I felt this chance to celebrate a whole new holiday and see the inside of W.D. was worth the trouble.

Boy was I right. In the middle of Majuro is a little piece of Aussie heaven. Whenever I speak of wanting to live in a commune this is what I am picturing. (Except the houses were on the ground not in trees) Three wonderful families live together with a community play area and a beautiful back yard entertaining area. The company was amazing. So many interesting people from town and the yachting community with endless stories of amazing adventures!
While at the party a whisper of excitement started to circulate among my armature surfing friends. Martin Daly had arrived. Now, I am new to the surfing world, but apparently this was something to the effect of Elvis arriving. Martin Daly, who I have yet to Google, is apparently the guru of untouched surfing spots throughout the world. Apparently he made Indonesia what it is today in the surfing world. Martin had arrived with his very large boat in which for $12,500 per day you can charter to take you to amazing dive and surfing locations. He has been here finding 18 new world-class waves. (none of which he was willing to divulge the location of) He brought to the party his crew who, I will not lie, consisted of five attractive surfers. Anyway they invited Courtney, Robyee, and I to join them back on the boat. How could we say no?! This boat was way more than I expected. It had beautiful deck, an amazing dining area, and a helicopter pad with amazing views of the stars. So fun! This again was another late night, but there was no time for sleep! In the morning we were off to Arno!Arno is the nearest atoll of Majuro. At its closest point it is about 10 miles away. Our plan was to read and enjoy the sun while the men did their wave thing. Now, I found out about 45 minutes into the boat ride that I get very seasick. I spent most of the day getting sick or trying to avoid getting sick by laying as still as possible. Even with the consistant vomiting it was amazing to see the waves, watch the surfing, and every once and a while watch a school of dolphins swim by!

This week has been very low key. My handycraft class is over, so I am not as busy as I was. I spend my days working, reading in my hamock, and playing vollyball and baseball. Not too much to complain about. I hate to end on a sad note but Buda, one of my dogs is missing. The conclusion the Bener and have come to is that she was stolen and eaten. Let's all take a minute to wish Buda the best in the doggy after life.K

How cute is this kid. He is wearing my glasses and acting like a mini-Katie.

This past week has been particularly challenging. That weird rash and cold quickly transformed into a weird “unknown” rash and a high fever. Thursday night I was brought back into the downtown area by the request of WT. I spent the night at my field director’s house and returned in the morning to the doctor’s office. The doctor still believes, as do I, that the rash and temperature are unrelated. He did a blood test that showed that I had a viral infection that was causing the fever. Like all viruses I just had to wait it out. I stayed in town Friday night as well and returned to Ajeltake Saturday afternoon to rest. Sunday morning I woke up to find that my temperature had switched places with horrible stomach pains that come and go. I called the doctor Monday to see if these pains could be a common side effect of the anti-allergen medicine I am taking for the rash. He said no, but I am unwilling to become the hypochondriac that this blog makes me sound like I am. I am going to give my stomach time to heal. I have been buying my water and not filtering to try and cure my stomach woes. I am afraid that after 6 months my filter may not be effective?? (I hate doing this because the one-gallon jugs that the water is sold in is not recyclable. I do however donate them to the “gas station” across the street so they can be reused.)
Other than my illnesses, I have not completely come out of my funk that has trapped me for the last two months. It is not really a homesickness as it is a… well funk. I have been doing a lot of reading (my current reading has me convinced that I need to study meditation and yoga), journaling (Maggie are you proud?), and general reflecting. It is my sincere hope that I quickly remove myself from the funk and start living, learning from, and just generally enjoying my last four months here.

I am currently blaming Lost. I have for almost two years recognized my addiction to television and purged my life of its hypnotic powers. However about two months ago (coincidence?) I was given Lost Seasons 1 and 2. Since that time I have been spending at least an hour a day (ya, right. Closer to two hours) inside watching T.V. I love TV because it allows me to zone out, forget my worries, and sit in the one air-conditioned room of my house. However, when I journal about this (again making Maggie proud) TV does nothing but make me sad, lazy, and remove me for the community which is all based outdoors. So, the TV is off. I am reading, enjoying my hammock, playing with the kids outside, and participating in life. Not ‘zoning out’ of it.

K

Hello friends. Today is January 17, 2008. I am not at school today because I am waiting to see the doctor. I woke up a couple days ago to find a weird, very ugly rash on each of my elbows. I planned to come into town yesterday and go to the doctor as well as my jewelry class, but was just feeling to crummy to deal with the bus ride that some days takes hours. (For those of you who don’t know I am taking a traditional Marshallese jewelry class on Tuesday and Wednesdays this month. I love it!)

Anyways the doctor is closed for lunch so I am at the Tide Tables eating a cheeseburger and passing the time. Other than a cold and the weird rash I am doing well. The time is passing quickly again. I am trying to stop focusing on going home to all my creature comforts and really live each day to the fullest. It is hard to do.

This weekend I had my first race with the yacht club. It was wonderful to spend time out on the water. For being on an island under four square miles, I spend a surprisingly little time on and in the water.

Okay, I feel horrible and am going to cut this short. I am going to TRY to attach a couple pictures. We’ll see how it goes.

Miss you all,
K

Hey there friends

A quick note. It is about one million degrees in the computer room today. I just wanted to let everyone know that I am adjusting well to being back here in Majuro. School has started up again and provided me with purpose. I am heading out today for a sailing race around the lagoon. The boat that I am crewing is owned by a very interesting couple that I am sure will teach me a lot about sailing and tell great stories of their adventures. After sailing I am going to some how make it back out to Ajeltake and start another busy week of school and handy craft classes. I miss and love you all. K

As I write at the beginning of every blog, this one too is very overdue. So much has happened since my last sleep deprived blog. I arrived in Chicago on the 14th of December. Maggie, Leah, and Sarah met me in the Hilton bar for a Jack and Coke. (The same way they sent me off.) I spent the first weekend of my visit in Chicago celebrating Libby’s birthday and reconnecting with friends. As always we had a wonderful time and constantly wondered if there was another group of friends in the world that have remained so close for so long and still had so much fun.

After Chicago I went to Champaign to visit my family and friends there. It was wonderful to see everyone, drink water right from the sink, and explore the grocery and bookstore. Choice is something that I had taken for granted before this experience.

On Christmas morning Maggie and I headed back the Marshall Islands. I am so thankful that she came with me. I not only loved showing her my life here, but it also made leaving home so much easier.

Now that Maggie is gone I am struggling a bit. I knew this would happen. The wonderful part of going home and having her here was that I could reconnect with my friends and family. The bad part was that now I have to re-disconnect. I have to readjusted to the extreme isolation that I had become accustom to, but this time with out the excitement of a new experience.

I am committed to being the best teacher that I can be to these incredibly deserving children in my last five months. I am determined to learn as much as I can from the Marshallese culture that has already taught me so much. However, I hope I can stop counting the days until I go home while I do all this.

On a positive I am getting closer to having Internet back in my home. By closer I mean that I may be working on it for three more months, but I think before I leave I may get to send one email from my house.

I hate to end on a bad note, but I do have devastating news to share. A Hummer has reached the Marshall Islands. How? I have no idea. It is not even one of the small “fuel efficient” models it is a full-fledged Arnold “the Governator” Hummer. With gas steadily climbing into the mid $5 range it is not even a status symbol, it is just a mark of stupidity.

I will add more pictures, but as always the Internet is being silly.