Again... An Overdue Post

First, for all of you who check my blog I apologize for not updating it with the care and frequency that I should. Technology here sometimes seems to be more trouble than it is worth. But, it is important to me to stay connected to everyone at home. I have signed up for Internet at my house, but as you may have come to understand through the emails I will be lucky if it is working in 3 months.

Next, I wanted to share the wonderful time that I had with my mom with all of you. She arrived on October 27th. As you read in the blog, I was too excited to function in the days leading up to her arrival. My friends Robyee, Dan, and Darren joined me as the official “Majuro Welcome Team.” I forced everyone to arrive at the airport excessively early. (I have been known to miss flights due underestimating what time you need to arrive.) Because we arrived so early we were able to explore a part of Majuro we had not yet seen… the airport bar.

After Mom arrived we headed back to my house for a little brunch before setting out on an afternoon Jambo. (Jambo: To walk or drive with out destination.) We had a wonderful afternoon visiting Laura and going to a birthday party for the WT Director’s “daughter.” It was nice for my mom to meet everyone that is in my life in one quick swoop.

During the week my mom lived my Marshallese life with me. She went to school and met the students, dealt with the constant power outages like a pro, and joined in on an afternoon baseball game. At school the students graciously demonstrated one of my favorite parts of living here in the Marshall Islands: Marshallese Manit (culture). The students sang songs, brought gifts, gave speeches, and made my mother feel loved and appreciated. All of this without any request from me. It was amazing for me to see my mother with the students and equally amazing to see the students with her. I will never forget those days.
I took the Friday and Monday before my mom left off of school. Friday we took the bus into town and checked into the RRE Hotel. We spent the day “Jamboing” on foot looking at Marshallese handicrafts and I showed her all of the locations that I speak of so often on the phone and in my blog. Friday night we had all of the WT volunteers that are on island over to the bungalow for happy hour. (A Simpson Tradition) Needless to say we had a wonderful time. Robyee stepped on a sea erchant and… well… there is only one thing to do to help with the pain… poor ammonia on the sting. We didn’t have any ammonia, so Robyee got in the shower and person after person lined up to pee on her foot. Then we all got cleaned up and headed out to the Marshall Islands Club for a little shuffleboard.

The next morning we had a little bit of a rocky start. But, we rallied and met up with Courtney and Tim at Shoreline Dock. We took a 45-minute boat ride out to Ennco Island. Ennco Island is in the Majuro atoll and, other than the caretakers, completely uninhabited. We spent Saturday playing Rummy, eating, and looking for shells. Sunday we woke up to constant heavy rain. I was very impressed with Mom’s eagerness to go out and explore despite the yucky weather. We walked all the way around the island looking for shells and trying to avoid phenomena.

It was a wonderful week. The past week has been a little hard. Knowing that I will not see my family until June (maybe May) is hard. I am still happy to be here. Once I can get out of bed and get to school I am reminded why I am here. I love teaching and am not ready to leave yet.

Now, my request. Many of you have sent me messages telling me to let you know if I need anything. I need something. I am out of books to read. I would like who ever is interested to send me their favorite book. Not only will it provide me with a very diverse reading selection, I also think it would make me feel close to everyone. Maggie has sent me a book directly through Amazon and reportedly shipping was not outrageous. (Shipping it from home with a note written in the cover would be pretty wonderful too.) The book does not need to be a surprise if you would like to check with me to see if I have read it that would be okay. My address is:

Katie Smith
c/o WorldTeach
PO Box 627
Majuro, MH 96960
RMI

I have more pictures to go with this blog, but they are not working. I will try and add them this weekend. Katie

Mom is gone... I am sad.

This will be a very quick post because I have to return the rental car in the next 20 minutes. I took mom to the airport last night. I was not fun. I have been feeling very sad for the last 24 hours. But, I am still not ready to go home and very glad to be here. I am going to apply to get Internet out at my house. They have dropped the cost and after my move I am coming into town less and less. Hopefully the quality of my posts will begin to improve. Look for more pictures soon. Matt and Mel- I can't believe that you had Kenny Chesney over to your place! How cool is that! I got to have mom over to mine?! Too bad she doesn't sing. I love you and miss you. I can't wait to see pictures of you vacation!

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.