I will be passing this blog on to next year's volunteers, should they choose to use it. The new Dartmouth Volunteers for next year will be: Maggie Severns-O'Neill, Joseph Guarnery, Jonathan Marable, Kiersten Hallquist, Cassandre Tanner, Alyson Daniel, Patena Key, Nicholas Williams, and Jamie Tansey.
Paul Espina will return to Ejit, and Anna Zelinsky will return as Field Director.
Monday, June 16, 2008
Sunday, June 15, 2008
End of 2007-2008 School Year
I just wanted to write a brief wrap-up from Kili. Erin is either in Majuro now or visiting Wotje with Annie Daher. Sarah is back in Oregon I think, although she will be moving to New York City shortly. I'm back home in Connecticut.
In the week leading up to our final departure, we actually had two going-away parties. Sarah was supposed to leave Kili a few days before I did, so we had a party then; but then the plane got a flat tire and didn't show up until Friday, when I was planning to leave. So we had a second party, much like the first, the day before we both departed. We gave away a bunch of our stuff as gifts, and received some gifts in return. I watched High School Musical with my 8th graders to celebrate their finishing the 8th grade exam, not to mention graduating from elementary school.
The morning of our departure, Sarah and I could hardly believe it when we saw the plane come down out of the sky and land. Between all the malfunctions and repairs, I never thought it would be in operation long enough to actually reach us. We said some tearful goodbyes and made the short flight back to Majuro. It was only 40 minutes, a blink of the eye compared to our previous 24-30 hour boat journeys. Then after taking care of a few errands in Majuro, we parted ways. She flew out a couple of days before I did. I got to visit Annie and Paul and the kids in Ejit one last time and say goodbye to a few other people - other teaching volunteers, former students - before flying out myself.
I had a 24-hour layover in Honolulu, and to kill time I went to see a movie. I found a theater and saw Iron Man. It was AWESOME, or at least an awesome reintroduction into American culture. I was pretty excited to be in America again. Sometimes people find it overwhelming to re-enter their own culture after being integrated into another for so long, but I felt surprisingly little of the so-called reverse-culture shock. Now I instinctively take off my shoes when I enter a building, then remember and put them back on again, but other than that I've re-adjusted pretty thoroughly.
It's been good to see friends and family again. Lately I've been bouncing between Dartmouth, New York, and Connecticut, reconnecting with people I haven't seen in a long time. And wow - fast, free (sort of) internet is really, really great. I miss Kili from time to time, and I'll always remember the people there. I think I will appreciate my experience there, despite the hard times, more and more as time goes on.
In the week leading up to our final departure, we actually had two going-away parties. Sarah was supposed to leave Kili a few days before I did, so we had a party then; but then the plane got a flat tire and didn't show up until Friday, when I was planning to leave. So we had a second party, much like the first, the day before we both departed. We gave away a bunch of our stuff as gifts, and received some gifts in return. I watched High School Musical with my 8th graders to celebrate their finishing the 8th grade exam, not to mention graduating from elementary school.
The morning of our departure, Sarah and I could hardly believe it when we saw the plane come down out of the sky and land. Between all the malfunctions and repairs, I never thought it would be in operation long enough to actually reach us. We said some tearful goodbyes and made the short flight back to Majuro. It was only 40 minutes, a blink of the eye compared to our previous 24-30 hour boat journeys. Then after taking care of a few errands in Majuro, we parted ways. She flew out a couple of days before I did. I got to visit Annie and Paul and the kids in Ejit one last time and say goodbye to a few other people - other teaching volunteers, former students - before flying out myself.
I had a 24-hour layover in Honolulu, and to kill time I went to see a movie. I found a theater and saw Iron Man. It was AWESOME, or at least an awesome reintroduction into American culture. I was pretty excited to be in America again. Sometimes people find it overwhelming to re-enter their own culture after being integrated into another for so long, but I felt surprisingly little of the so-called reverse-culture shock. Now I instinctively take off my shoes when I enter a building, then remember and put them back on again, but other than that I've re-adjusted pretty thoroughly.
It's been good to see friends and family again. Lately I've been bouncing between Dartmouth, New York, and Connecticut, reconnecting with people I haven't seen in a long time. And wow - fast, free (sort of) internet is really, really great. I miss Kili from time to time, and I'll always remember the people there. I think I will appreciate my experience there, despite the hard times, more and more as time goes on.
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