update from charlie

I was working on a great video to send home and post here, but then my computer broke. I will have to finish it when I get home. I used to watch a lot of movies and tv shows on the compute; I was initially pretty bummed when it broke, but without it I may get out more, and ultimately have a more rewarding experience without it. After all, I can watch TV at home.
In addition to school, my daily routine now includes baking bread, playing volleyball, and jogging (in that order). I have gotten much better at all three. As for the baking, I have started experimenting with herb additions and using starter for sourdough.
People keep trying to set me up with Marshallese girls, some of which are single, some not. “You take [name of current girl] for your wife?” they say. I have not accepted any offers, much to their surprise.
After New Years I traveled again by boat from Majuro to Kili. The return trip was much more pleasant than my initial journey to Majuro before New Years. I didn’t throw up at all and I slept on a mat, not in a hallway. However, it rained most of the journey and our tarp-shelter leaked all over Sarah and me. If the climate were anything less than tropical, we would have quickly acquired hypothermia. I woke up with pruny hands and feet and clothes soaked through.
I can’t wait to go back home. We are too overworked and under-resourced to really enjoy teaching here. I might have enjoyed teaching somewhere else. None of us – Sarah, Erin, or I – plan on returning next year. But I have a lot to look forward to back home. Besides vegetables and efficient economic systems, I am excited to see friends and family again. Also I will be working as director of the sailing program in Point O’ Woods, NY this summer. So the future is bright.

-Charlie

February

We have 4 months to go and I’ve been thinking about my time here and what will happen when I leave. I’ve compiled a list of the things that I’m okay with now that I never thought I would be and a list of things I’m really going to miss when I leave.

Things I’ve gotten used to:

• Bugs- I’ve become completely fine with bugs everywhere, including on me. Ants often crawl on my body and instead of feeling dirty like I used to, I just calmly kill them and continue what I was doing.
• Carrying around a large stick to scare off attacking dogs- Most of the dogs on Ejit show me respect even when I don’t have the stick and it’s gotten me out of a few problems in Rita with dogs there. So far I’ve only had to hit one. There’s a pretty cool tooth mark on my escrima stick from when I struck the dog on the jaw.
• Eating deli meat a month or so after the sell by date- It obviously doesn’t hurt you because I’ve done it for months but the idea of ‘expired’ meat made me queasy in the beginning of the year.
• Wet clothes- when low tide is pretty high (more than 1 foot over the mean low tide mark) it’s impossible to cross the reef without getting a little wet. This means that I’ve had to walk around town and run errands with saltwater wet shorts. Clothes dry quickly here but I got used to it pretty quickly.
• Snot- the Marshallese have no taboos against nose picking, snot rockets or spitting. I’m not exactly okay with the first two but I’ve learned to ignore them. Spitting is something that I’ve taken up myself. As long as it’s not full of betel nut and it’s outside I don’t mind it.
• Dogs barking at night- If I’m asleep the barking no longer wakes me up.

Things I’m going to miss:

• The kids of course.
• Coconut water- I really really love fresh coconuts, and if I win the lottery or something later on in life I’ll have them imported.
• Walking across the reef at night. Stars at the equator twinkle red and blue and the light pollution is really low in the middle of the reef.
• Snorkeling- there are still some beautiful reefs here.
• Spear fishing- like snorkeling but with a purpose.
• How friendly and easygoing the Marshallese are.

On a side note, pink eye has come to Majuro big time. Tons of kids and adults have it and we canceled school today because the only teachers without pinkeye (including substitutes) were the three volunteers.