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.
2 comments:
I bet you are so cute driving that little truck around the island! beep beep! (I make it a point to note the important things ;)
Katie, Mel and I are off to St. John to visit dad while mom is visiting you. I hope you have a great time with her. I will try and check your blog while we are down in the islands, but I will go with the no news is good news mindset....Next time you are on the internet you can search for Gallows Point St. John and see where Mel and I are staying this year. Love you and take care
-Matt
p.s. I am very proud of your new found ability to keep cool under pressure
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