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.

I am not wearing a slip and these white people don't care?!

So, I have not made a public announcement because I wanted to hope that I could surprise someone at home when I showed up at a local watering hole, but I think everyone knows. Darn! Any who-- I am in the LAX airport right now. I have been flying for years. I am not sure to the exact amount of time, but I know that I am getting woozy I am so tired! I should get into Chicago in about 6 hours... I think.

So let me tell you about all the wonderful things they have here on the big island. One, water fountains! They are this machine that comes out of the wall that has already been purified! I love those things. Two, food. They have yogurt that costs less than a months rent! I have raspberry, so good. Cheese! That same plate that I bought the yogurt on came with three different cheeses. Now, at one time I would have been able to tell you what kind, now all I know is they were beautiful and dairyrific! I took it slow and didn't eat much. I figured it was not a good job to play with dairy on an airplane.

Okay, you maybe able to tell but I am going to die I am so tired. I am going to waste some of this hour of Internet I bought but I need sleep.

K

Climbing the Mountain!

Things are getting better. Well really nothing has changed, but I am in a better place. I feel like my blogs are getting a bit repetitive, but I learn the same lessons over and over. My mood, I am learning again, are completely my choice. Monday I allowed myself to focus on the negatives. There are a lot of negatives in my life here, but for every negative there are a million positives. I just lost sight of that.

I am in town today for a couple reasons. One, we have no power. Which means that I have not running water. No showers, no toilets, no music! Ahh! Also, I got a skirt made this weekend. I am so excited. I am going to check it out today before they do the final construction. It is a traditional "ish" skirt made out of fabric scraps from other dresses that they made! It is going to be so fun!

I am also looking forward to Sunday. Sunday is learn to sail day with the Yacht Club. Woo Hoo! I am now a card carrying member of the Marshall Islands Yacht Club. Sunday we learn to sail and then each month we will be able to participate in races! I can't wait!

The Lowest of the Lows

Wow! Today sucked. I am really struggling with so much right now that I am not even going to be able to type a comprehensible email. The school is so diffrent. I strongly believe that kids need strong boundaries and routine and there is none of that here. The school is complete chaos and I am going crazy. I know I should provide specifics but even this email is getting me all riled up. I write more when I am in a better place. What I do know, however low I get is how high I will get another day. Here's hoping for the good days. I miss you all and I miss watches.

K

I am thankful for... my first book!

Happy late Thanksgiving. I was able to celebrate Thanksgiving twice. Woo Hoo. Now that I am a full meat eater I gobbled down the turkey! Thursday night Mona, my host mother, took me, Dan, and Tim to a turkey buffet at one of the local hotels. Then Saturday night we had a WorldTeach dinner at the WT dorm. I made noodles with the help of my mom's recipe and some frozen noodles that she made while visiting. Everyone loved them! It reminded me a lot of the Thanksgiving I spent in Belgium with Maggie. It was so nice for everyone to bring their favorite traditional Thanksgiving dish. Like in Belgium, we also drank a little too much wine.

Now I am still, two days later, working on digesting all of the food. Things are going well here. I am enjoying teaching. The power outages are getting worse and that is hard to deal with at times. But, bring it on Marshall Islands... I feel like the more challenges that are sent my way the more I feel I can deal with anything. We'll see. Every time I post something like this on the blog it comes true. I bet when I get home I will no longer have a roof over my head.

PS Matt and Mel -- I love the bag and can't wait to read the book! I am going to put down the book I am reading now to enjoy that tasty reading treat tonight. (By the light of my headlamp)