I haven’t really been able to access internet for a long time, so here are some things I would have written in the past month, since I arrived on the ship after my brother’s wedding.
11/17/07 - Chicken, chicken, chicken.
A USDA aid ship arrived today bearing boxes upon boxes of chicken. They had to use a backhoe to deliver them to all the houses. So now we have the equivalent of 9 whole chickens packed in our freezer. This is very welcome, because the only meat we had left was corned beef, which I hate.
11/14/07
We celebrated Halloween last Saturday (a week late, I know, but we couldn’t do it October 31st because the funeral for the 4th grader was held that day). We had the 7th and 8th graders dress up and hide in the “Haunted Jungle”, then took the younger kids through in groups. The funny thing about having this event in the jungle is that’s where people go to make out. I guess there is much more romance among my students than I had realized, because they were all making out by the end of the night! What’s more is there are two students in my 8th grade class that are very flamboyant and apparently gay, but I wasn’t sure if their behavior indicated homosexuality in the same way it does in the US. I also didn’t know the Marshallese cultural stance – approval or disapproval – of homosexuality. Well I found out that one of these boys has a boyfriend in 7th grade, and they were among those making out Halloween night!
The next school day I had my 8th graders write letters to someone of their choosing in the school, to practice letter format. As it turns out, they were all either love letters or letters gossiping to friends about romances between other students.
11/7/07
So far the most compelling reason for me to return next year is that I know I will be much better at teaching by then, so this job will be easier and more rewarding. I will be providing much better service to the Marshallese people than I am now, so if my mission was to help them, I will accomplish it much more effectively next year. Other than that, I can’t fathom coming back. Maybe I’m just grouchy because I’m tired again, but I really miss home. Sometimes it seems like every day is the same and all the kids are the same: needy and unappreciative. But other times they show me that they are really creative and full of life.
11/4/07 – Gospel O’ The Lord
Never do I feel so close to God as when I am surrounded by people singing beautiful Hymns. Music is the Language of the Lord, man. I came to realize this in church with the Marshallese people singing their amazing harmonious Marshallese hymns. There is no organ, just a church full of voices in multi-part harmony.
10/29/07 - The Racist Chicken
Yesterday I went over to our neighbor Brenda’s house to ask for some coconuts. She pointed me in the direction of a pile of them and I started to go over there, and I almost stepped on a chicken. I missed though, so no harm no foul, right? Well the chicken flipped out and, feathers ruffling, wings flapping, started pecking at my legs! I started to run away, and it just kept chasing me! It chased me all over the yard and would not leave me alone for the longest time; meanwhile, Brenda, Ronnie, and Anci were laughing their heads off at me. Finally it left me alone. I asked Brenda why it attacked me so persistently, and she said, “Because of your white skin.” Erin found and showed me later a relevant word in the Marshallese-English dictionary. It was warre, which means “attack by a mother hen”. I think I threatened her chicks somehow.
10/28/07
Grades are due tomorrow. What a joke – I have about three grades in every subject. I was stuck in Majuro so long, both before the program started and then after the wedding, that I have taught these kids very, very little in the first quarter.
10/24/07
A 200-lb adult man came into the 7th grade classroom, punched one of the students in the face and slammed his head into the wall. He was bleeding from the face and was sent home. Apparently the student had thrown a rock at this guy’s son, so he felt the need to come to school and kick the shit out of him. I am so angry about this. If anyone tries to do this to one of my students in my classroom, I will attack him.
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Friday, November 16, 2007
Crazy Power Outages and Birthday Parties
Last Tuesday night we had our second Kammem in three weeks. This one was huge and Annie and I were really excited about it because a large number of our kids were going to perform traditional dances. They had been practicing for weeks and we kept hearing how tired they were. We had school the next day and Annie and I were ready for a shit show the next morning but prepared.
The preparations were crazy and one of the major attractions was the pig. In the Philippines the full pig is roasted on a spit (I forgot the name. Sorry mom). In Hawaii and other places it is cooked in an underground oven. Here the pig is slaughtered and then boiled in a huge pot. On our walk to school each day we pass by a pig pen and every day we see or hear the pigs there. The biggest one was on the Kammem menu and Annie was sad. She’ll post more about him later.
Kammem’s usually start at 8 o’clock but at 7:30 it started to rain. Hard. We waited for the rain to subside but then the power died. Annie and I made our way over to the basketball court where the Kammem always is and were told that the party would start when the power came back on. At 8 PM we heard that power would be back at 9 PM. After 9:15 rolled around we heard that power would be on at 10. By 9:45 there were around 10 to fifteen kids lying on a mat (and each other) on the floor taking a nap and finally at 10:30 power came back on. This time around we were ushered to the head table immediately because I accidentally made eye contact with one of the community leaders. At the table there were huge plastic containers full of food and when we sat down we were served an enormous platter of meat. There was a full lobster-sized crawfish on each platter, the best cuts of turtle (I enjoyed it more this time), chicken, and of course our friend piggy. I wasn’t that hungry and I was extremely careful this time. I didn’t touch the shell fish and stayed far far away from the potato salad and sashimi. We ended up going to sleep at 2 in the morning.
School on Wednesday was hard but we were able to drag ourselves out of bed on time. Then right before school starts at 8:30 we lost power again. Unfortunately for us, the Marshall Islands Energy Company (MEC) lost generators during an accident and cannot meet the 12 megawatt energy needs of Majuro during peak times. In order to prevent the other engines from overheating they need to shut off power to the outermost lines. This means that Laura and Ejit have been losing power during the day for the past week. The part for them to fix it is apparently expensive and only made in Germany. They’ve ordered it and we’ll see if we get power soon. I have my own suspicions but I won’t post them here. Send me an e-mail if you want to hear about it.
That’s all for now. This Friday was the Marshallese President’s Day so it’s a 3 day weekend. I’ve got relaxing and work to do.
The preparations were crazy and one of the major attractions was the pig. In the Philippines the full pig is roasted on a spit (I forgot the name. Sorry mom). In Hawaii and other places it is cooked in an underground oven. Here the pig is slaughtered and then boiled in a huge pot. On our walk to school each day we pass by a pig pen and every day we see or hear the pigs there. The biggest one was on the Kammem menu and Annie was sad. She’ll post more about him later.
Kammem’s usually start at 8 o’clock but at 7:30 it started to rain. Hard. We waited for the rain to subside but then the power died. Annie and I made our way over to the basketball court where the Kammem always is and were told that the party would start when the power came back on. At 8 PM we heard that power would be back at 9 PM. After 9:15 rolled around we heard that power would be on at 10. By 9:45 there were around 10 to fifteen kids lying on a mat (and each other) on the floor taking a nap and finally at 10:30 power came back on. This time around we were ushered to the head table immediately because I accidentally made eye contact with one of the community leaders. At the table there were huge plastic containers full of food and when we sat down we were served an enormous platter of meat. There was a full lobster-sized crawfish on each platter, the best cuts of turtle (I enjoyed it more this time), chicken, and of course our friend piggy. I wasn’t that hungry and I was extremely careful this time. I didn’t touch the shell fish and stayed far far away from the potato salad and sashimi. We ended up going to sleep at 2 in the morning.
School on Wednesday was hard but we were able to drag ourselves out of bed on time. Then right before school starts at 8:30 we lost power again. Unfortunately for us, the Marshall Islands Energy Company (MEC) lost generators during an accident and cannot meet the 12 megawatt energy needs of Majuro during peak times. In order to prevent the other engines from overheating they need to shut off power to the outermost lines. This means that Laura and Ejit have been losing power during the day for the past week. The part for them to fix it is apparently expensive and only made in Germany. They’ve ordered it and we’ll see if we get power soon. I have my own suspicions but I won’t post them here. Send me an e-mail if you want to hear about it.
That’s all for now. This Friday was the Marshallese President’s Day so it’s a 3 day weekend. I’ve got relaxing and work to do.
Friday, November 9, 2007
The Good, the bad and the annoying
Halloween at Ejit was really great this year. Annie and I had at least 30 kids inside our small house engaged in various stages of mischief with an overall effect of barely contained chaos. Annie dressed up as a pumpkin and I went as a vampire/skeleton hybrid. I scared them all when they first saw me (some of the kids jokingly said I was ‘the black magic’) but only one kindergartener refused to enter the house for a while because I scared her. The whole thing was exhausting but well worth it. It was a highlight of the kids and my week.
I apparently caught something during the kaimem two weeks ago. Poor Ejit has had some of the worst luck among all of the groups on Majuro. Scabies, pink eye, giardia, a stomach virus and now Dr. Pinano and I think that I have a mild form of amoeba. I won’t list the symptoms here for the faint of heart, but if you want to find out what they are a quick google search will provide you with the information. (It’s the digestive form, not the brain eating type). Just remember that I have a mild form of it. There’s another kaimem coming up this Tuesday and I’ll be sure to watch out for suspicious food this time.
We have new neighbors next door and although we like them they bought over their dog. As we’ve mentioned before the dogs on Ejit are brutal and this particular dog is pretty small and scared all the time. It is smaller than the rest of the grown dogs on Ejit and it’s sort of cute. Unfortunately the dog has an incredibly frustrating way of expressing its insecurity at night. At around midnight the dog begins sustained, frantic and loud barking because it wants to be let inside. The first night this happened the dog barked for 15 minutes straight. Finally I went outside with my kali stick and whacked the ground threateningly at it. This worked for a little while because the dog ran away and barked at some other house outside of our hearing. Fifteen minutes later the dog came back but after a few barks it guess it grew tired and went to sleep. Last night it started up again but this time as soon as it started I went outside and threatened it. Fifteen minutes later I needed to go back outside and threaten it again but things are improving. Hopefully it will stop barking soon.
I know it sounds cruel but I haven’t physically hit the dog and if I have to choose between the dog and my sleep I’ll pick my own sanity every time. I’ll post more on this as it develops. Maybe I’ll mention to our new neighbors that I’d love to try dog…
I apparently caught something during the kaimem two weeks ago. Poor Ejit has had some of the worst luck among all of the groups on Majuro. Scabies, pink eye, giardia, a stomach virus and now Dr. Pinano and I think that I have a mild form of amoeba. I won’t list the symptoms here for the faint of heart, but if you want to find out what they are a quick google search will provide you with the information. (It’s the digestive form, not the brain eating type). Just remember that I have a mild form of it. There’s another kaimem coming up this Tuesday and I’ll be sure to watch out for suspicious food this time.
We have new neighbors next door and although we like them they bought over their dog. As we’ve mentioned before the dogs on Ejit are brutal and this particular dog is pretty small and scared all the time. It is smaller than the rest of the grown dogs on Ejit and it’s sort of cute. Unfortunately the dog has an incredibly frustrating way of expressing its insecurity at night. At around midnight the dog begins sustained, frantic and loud barking because it wants to be let inside. The first night this happened the dog barked for 15 minutes straight. Finally I went outside with my kali stick and whacked the ground threateningly at it. This worked for a little while because the dog ran away and barked at some other house outside of our hearing. Fifteen minutes later the dog came back but after a few barks it guess it grew tired and went to sleep. Last night it started up again but this time as soon as it started I went outside and threatened it. Fifteen minutes later I needed to go back outside and threaten it again but things are improving. Hopefully it will stop barking soon.
I know it sounds cruel but I haven’t physically hit the dog and if I have to choose between the dog and my sleep I’ll pick my own sanity every time. I’ll post more on this as it develops. Maybe I’ll mention to our new neighbors that I’d love to try dog…
Sunday, November 4, 2007
DVTP update via email
Hi there!
Earlier today I sent out the second update of this school year for the Dartmouth Volunteer Teaching Program. If you follow this blog and have not received an email with the DVTP update and you would like to get it, please email me (Kristin Romberg, field director) at dvtp@dartmouth.edu asking to be put on the update list.
Thanks!
-k
Earlier today I sent out the second update of this school year for the Dartmouth Volunteer Teaching Program. If you follow this blog and have not received an email with the DVTP update and you would like to get it, please email me (Kristin Romberg, field director) at dvtp@dartmouth.edu asking to be put on the update list.
Thanks!
-k
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