Kili has power!

Last Friday (4/11) the Marshalls Energy Company (MEC) maintenance guy was able to fix the transformer, so power has been restored to Kili. I'm sure they would love to hear from you now that they have modern technology back at their fingertips.

-kristin

Kili has no power, so no communication for now

Hi Everyone,

A transformer blew at the Kili Power Plant, leaving them without power since Friday. So if you have texted/emailed/called them, this is the reason they have not responded. A boat is leaving for Kili tomorrow and it will have a mechanic on it... the idea is he fixes the blown transformer. It is unclear how long that will take.

Charlie, Sarah and Erin are being troopers and staying (relatively) positive despite this setback to daily routines (no water pumps, no lights at night, no stove, etc). They were able to use battery power to check in with me today via the CB radio but didn't have time to say much because they wanted to conserve battery power.

I'm sure they will let you know when the power is back on and they are able to communicate again.

-kristin

I've started thinking about what to do next year; I've started asking around for career advice, although it's hard to conduct a job search via text-message from my cell phone (only reliable means of communication). I'm thinking about consulting or banking or something in marketing or technology. All I really know is that I want to live in New York City.

As of the writing of this update, there are 50 school days left until graduation, and 79 days (including weekends) until I come home. The all-important high school entrance exam is coming up very soon, but nobody will tell me when exactly it will be. This makes it difficult to plan my curriculum, not knowing when my students need to be ready. To their credit, nobody really even knows when the test will be. It's supposed to take place in April or May, and depends on when there will be a boat coming to take the tester here. So I have somewhere between 2 and 8 weeks to prepare my students.

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.

The New Year

So the winter break has come and gone. On Ejit, we’ve finished 2^nd quarter finals and we’re in the beginning of quarter two. I spent Christmas here in the Marshall Islands and Annie went back to visit home so I spent a lot of time getting to know the community here.

Christmas in the Marshall Islands is celebrated during and after the 25^th with the Christmas “Jebta” or beat. It’s basically a marathon of dancing and/or singing with various performing groups. After they perform a collection for the church is made. They had 3 beats in Ejit and at each one I donated an average of 3 dollars. It was really great seeing my kids practice for the beat and then perform in front of the whole community. They had a lot of fun and I enjoyed it.

The greatest benefit from staying was definitely the greater way I’ve been accepted by the community here. I’ve celebrated Kemmems (1^st birthdays), the Christmas Jebta, and New Years with Ejit and they’ve definitely noticed. Kids and adults have opened up to me and are much more welcoming. The vast majority of mine and most of Annie’s kids definitely enjoy hanging out with me outside of school (inside also) and we’ve had a lot of positive experiences.

New Years here was crazy. Every year there is a huge “block” party in Majuro where food, drinks and entertainment are available in a protected block near the RRE (a hotel). Kristin’s band opened for an Okinawan cultural/conversationalist band. They put on a pretty good show and the energy (and booze) were so high that a bunch of Japanese tourists and outer island volunteers jumped on the stage. I left the block party early and walked back home at 1:30 am to join the celebration in Ejit. New Years is like Halloween or Christmas caroling here in the Marshall Islands. The kids go door to door singing new year songs and get candy. I stayed with the kids until around 4 am and went back home exhausted.

Even though Annie was gone I didn’t spend much time alone. There are always kids knocking on my door but Sarah and Charlie from Kili also came over and spent time living in Ejit. Sarah came early but she left for a while when her boyfriend Steve came to visit. Charlie arrived on New Years Eve and moved into Annie’s room. They even subbed for Annie when her arrival was slightly delayed. Charlie taught us how to make French bread (it’s delicious) and the kids a few new step patterns. Sarah came back when Steve left and relaxed. They left for Kili yesterday and we were sad to see them go.

There are a few more things I could write about but I’ll save them for the next entry or the January update. It’s coming out in two weeks or so.

End of 2007

I’m in Majuro until Tuesday (tomorrow), when I ship back to Kili. I’ve been here since New Year’s Eve, and it has been great to take a break in civilization. I had some beer, a salad, butter, internet, lots of great things.
Christmas on Kili was alright, although in my opinion Christmas is not Christmas without family. So from my perspective there was no Christmas this year. Although you might say I had a Christmas miracle in the sense that I was able to get back to Majuro at all. The boat was scheduled to leave December 27th, some time in the afternoon. At 2am that, there was knocking on our door, and I thought it was probably the crazy guy looking for food. But in fact it was two students, telling us that the boat was here, and that it was leaving soon. I thought it impossible that it would leave so soon after arriving, because they had to unload stuff. But I started packing any way, and half an hour later, I arrived at the beach to see the ship, the “Ribuukae” floating away. I was heartbroken and went on a Scrubs binge, watching all of season four over the next two days. But fortune smiled upon me – the boat got as far as Jaluit, but then was called back because they failed to drop off some equipment for the public works department on Kili. So I got on the boat and made it back to Majuro. I threw up a couple times from seasickness, but it was a triumphant seasickness, because I knew I was going back to civilization.
In November we finally got around to teaching sex ed to grade 6,7, and 8. We separated the boys and the girls – I taught the boys. I was daunted at first by the prospect of teaching 25 boys about sex all at once, but we got through it. My main problem by the end was keeping them from drawing penises all over their papers.
People on Kili often ask us for recorded CD’s and digital photo prints - and we don’t have nearly enough paper, ink, or CD’s to give them away – so we’ve begun various systems of exchange. I like to think we are introducing some economic development. In return for burning CD’s for students, we’ve gotten such things as fresh-squeezed lime juice (for limeade!), loads of coconuts, breadfruits, squash, and – my favorite – crabs. We had a couple crab feasts just before Christmas. The third graders who brought us the crabs were able to get 20 in a matter of hours just by picking them up off the reef! I was impressed.
We liked to play volleyball every day at our neighbor Brenda’s house with her and her daughters and other neighbors, until the house’s patriarch (who sometimes joins in our games) cut up the net into little pieces with his machete. Apparently he was angry at his daughter for not helping to clean the house, so he did it to punish her. Unfortunately, he punished a lot more people than that. I couldn’t believe someone would destroy something that so many people enjoy, especially because it is so irreplaceable. It would be weeks or months before someone was able to take a ship to Majuro and buy a new one. Fortunately I did just that and I will bring a net back with me when I return to Kili. I talked to a Marshallese woman about the net getting cut up, and she said, “That happens a lot.”
“What happens?” I said.
“Men not using their brains.”