Friday, May 2, 2008
broken cell phone
Our cell phone is on its last legs. The chief problem is the buttons are worn out, so we have writing text messages. So communications via text message will be brief and infrequent from here on out. But we'll be home soon! Sarah is leaving from Majuro on May 16
The Last Lap
The good news is that school is ending a week early, so we will get out next Wednesday (May 7)! The bad news is that the planes, though they worked a precious few weeks, are broken again and will not be fixed any time soon. So despite being done with school, I will be stuck here until the next boat. It’s not certain when that will be, but there are a lot of people both here and in a high school on a nearby atoll that will need to be getting to Majuro once school is out. So at least there is incentive for local governments to be chartering boats, which tends to bring them sooner than later. My flight home is scheduled for June 2, but if I can get to Majuro earlier, I will push that up to leave as soon as possible. I expect a boat will likely come in about 1 to 3 weeks (May 9 – May 23).
I have had a lot of energy and effort for teaching this week, knowing that it is the last lap of our long, untimed race of education. I have been planning very detailed and fun lessons, including a plant and seed unit with my grade 7 science class. I am working with the head of the local (struggling) agricultural center on taking students there to see what they do and even take away a few seeds to plant themselves. So far the agricultural center, run by a friendly and experienced Filipino farmer who was hired by the Bikini council, is growing tomatoes, limes, papayas, guavas, okra, watermelons, sweet melons, and raising a few pigs. The project is still in early stages, as only the sweet melons have produced fruit so far. Before coming here, the Filipino worked on farming projects in Saudi Arabia for 14 years and then for an agricultural organization with the UN; I imagine that if he was able to grow crops in Saudi Arabia, he should probably be able to do it here.
Also motivating me is mounting pressure from the approaching high school entrance exam. Having my 8th graders pass it has been my chief goal for the year. We have after school test prep classes almost daily, and they usually last until 5pm or later. It has been hanging over our heads for a long time, but now we know it is coming, probably on the next boat. Coincidentally, I will probably be leaving on that same boat, right after the test is administered. I’m sorry there won’t be much time to celebrate our relief when all the work is over, but who knows when the next boat after that would be?
We had a miserable, sweaty, and dark period when a transformer blew at the power plant and we lost power for a week. We lost most of the contents of our refrigerator and freezer, including several loaves of bread and foccaccia dough and about 30 quarter-legs of chicken. Fortunately we were able to barbecue and/or give away most of the chicken before it went bad. I dreaded sunset because once it got dark there was nothing to do but chat and try to read by candlelight. I didn’t expect them to be able to fix it for a very long time, but the public works department (one of the most effective institutions here by far) was able to bring in someone on a ship and fix it within a week. Early in the week we had a picnic with some Marshallese families, partly to eat some of the meat before it spoiled. By Marshallese families, I mean women and their daughters. Men and women don’t typically do anything together – husbands and wives are never seen together and would never touch, let alone kiss or hug, in public. (So how do they produce so many children, one might ask? Very discreetly, and at night. People usually go deep into the jungle to have sex – there are far too many people in a house to have any privacy). So back to the picnic: it was the most difficult picnic I have ever been to. The women organizing it, well, didn’t organize it at all. There was going to be one woman purchasing the food and she was charging $8 per person, not because the food was really expensive, but because she had absolutely no education in mathematics, and no sense of cost! To get to the picnic area (across the island, about half a mile), they had Erin drive a broken-down car, though we could have walked. She spent a grand total of about two hours in the car because people kept forgetting crucial ingredients and tools, such as the meat, or forks, or plates, and other people, and so she had to drive back and forth many, many times. There was no indication that people thought this was silly, or that it would be more efficient to have thought it out and brought everything on the first trip. In the end, though, I had a good time. I went swimming with some kids in the ocean and the marinated chicken was delicious. We later found out another reason why the $8 figure food was so high – because no one else other than Erin, Sarah, or I ended up paying.
I find myself appreciating the company of my Marshallese friends more than usual, as I won’t have it for much longer. Sarah is having a party for her 5th and 6th grades as I write this and I was joining in the festivity, but also thinking about how it may be one of the last. I will miss the kids, but I can’t wait to get home. See you soon.
I have had a lot of energy and effort for teaching this week, knowing that it is the last lap of our long, untimed race of education. I have been planning very detailed and fun lessons, including a plant and seed unit with my grade 7 science class. I am working with the head of the local (struggling) agricultural center on taking students there to see what they do and even take away a few seeds to plant themselves. So far the agricultural center, run by a friendly and experienced Filipino farmer who was hired by the Bikini council, is growing tomatoes, limes, papayas, guavas, okra, watermelons, sweet melons, and raising a few pigs. The project is still in early stages, as only the sweet melons have produced fruit so far. Before coming here, the Filipino worked on farming projects in Saudi Arabia for 14 years and then for an agricultural organization with the UN; I imagine that if he was able to grow crops in Saudi Arabia, he should probably be able to do it here.
Also motivating me is mounting pressure from the approaching high school entrance exam. Having my 8th graders pass it has been my chief goal for the year. We have after school test prep classes almost daily, and they usually last until 5pm or later. It has been hanging over our heads for a long time, but now we know it is coming, probably on the next boat. Coincidentally, I will probably be leaving on that same boat, right after the test is administered. I’m sorry there won’t be much time to celebrate our relief when all the work is over, but who knows when the next boat after that would be?
We had a miserable, sweaty, and dark period when a transformer blew at the power plant and we lost power for a week. We lost most of the contents of our refrigerator and freezer, including several loaves of bread and foccaccia dough and about 30 quarter-legs of chicken. Fortunately we were able to barbecue and/or give away most of the chicken before it went bad. I dreaded sunset because once it got dark there was nothing to do but chat and try to read by candlelight. I didn’t expect them to be able to fix it for a very long time, but the public works department (one of the most effective institutions here by far) was able to bring in someone on a ship and fix it within a week. Early in the week we had a picnic with some Marshallese families, partly to eat some of the meat before it spoiled. By Marshallese families, I mean women and their daughters. Men and women don’t typically do anything together – husbands and wives are never seen together and would never touch, let alone kiss or hug, in public. (So how do they produce so many children, one might ask? Very discreetly, and at night. People usually go deep into the jungle to have sex – there are far too many people in a house to have any privacy). So back to the picnic: it was the most difficult picnic I have ever been to. The women organizing it, well, didn’t organize it at all. There was going to be one woman purchasing the food and she was charging $8 per person, not because the food was really expensive, but because she had absolutely no education in mathematics, and no sense of cost! To get to the picnic area (across the island, about half a mile), they had Erin drive a broken-down car, though we could have walked. She spent a grand total of about two hours in the car because people kept forgetting crucial ingredients and tools, such as the meat, or forks, or plates, and other people, and so she had to drive back and forth many, many times. There was no indication that people thought this was silly, or that it would be more efficient to have thought it out and brought everything on the first trip. In the end, though, I had a good time. I went swimming with some kids in the ocean and the marinated chicken was delicious. We later found out another reason why the $8 figure food was so high – because no one else other than Erin, Sarah, or I ended up paying.
I find myself appreciating the company of my Marshallese friends more than usual, as I won’t have it for much longer. Sarah is having a party for her 5th and 6th grades as I write this and I was joining in the festivity, but also thinking about how it may be one of the last. I will miss the kids, but I can’t wait to get home. See you soon.
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