One Big Fish and lots of sushi

Hey everyone!!

I just figured out how to post, and now I'm really pumped to tell you about the happenings here on Wotje.

1. The islands is breathtaking; it is home to one of the most beautiful lagoons I have ever seen in my life!!! Smooth sandy beaches, two great docks (great for jumping), and an abundance of coconut trees (Jacob seems to have mastered climbing them).

2. Two Wednesdays ago, I caught my first "big" fish in the Pacific. It was nearly 2ft long and weighed anywhere between 15-20lbs. I caught it using my fishing rod, which turned out to be a strenous fight considering I was using a 10lb line on a fish the desperately wanted to pull me in the water. After nearly half an hour of tug of war with the fish, I pulled in a BEAUTY. (I must not give all the credit to myself, I did get some invaluable fishing pointers from a Marshallese co-worker). The fish (I believe it is known as a "big-eyed Jack") was well received by the other teachers, and was later served in succulent sushi rolls, sashimi, and even fried. To this day, we still have a big fish head in the freezer! Mmmmmmmmm...

3. While on Wotje, I've come to appreciate the pleasures of hard manual labor. Among the various projects we have going here, we are constructing a garden, building a chicken coop, pig pen, and possibly a gazebo (maybe a stetch, but it's nice to have it as an ambitious goal). Most of these projects are Jacob's doing. He ordered a large shipment of lumber from DoItBest (a hardware store in Majuro), but it never arrived. Luckily, we have been able to get our hands on scrap wood from the construction sites here on Wotje (on Monday we enticed 12 boys to carry nearly 100 planks of wood!)... I think they enjoyed the work out. So far, Jacob and I have cleared about 800 square feet in the garden, our next job is to put together a fence (to keep pigs out), and start sowing seeds!


I'll keep you all posted on Wotje news, but for the time being keep the news coming... this is Wotje signing out.