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.