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
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.