I’m here & alive!!! It’s been far too long without writing and so much has happened, so here is my best effort in briefly over viewing the past 2 and a half weeks. I’ll start with my first week here……
It’s been quite the road to getting here so far. I left Milwaukee on Tuesday morning, flew to LAX, and waited there for 6 hours until all of the other volunteers showed up. It was pretty easy to pick them out of the crowd, as they were all overloaded with bags. From LAX we left for Honolulu. It was night time & we were all exhausted (as it was 4 AM Central time) so getting to the hotel room to sleep was my top priority. We left the hotel at 4AM the following morning to get to the airport. Our flight left Honolulu 2 hours later & landed in Majuro early on Thursday, July 21st (we missed out on Wednesday due to the time change). Landing was an adventure in and of itself, as at some points you could only see water beneath the plane and no land. At the airport we met our field directors Todd & Laura, who both were volunteers last year, and 3 volunteers that came early from Australia. Right from there we were on our way to the Ajeltake Elementary School where we are living for the 3 weeks of orientation. The bus was running late, so instead we piled into 2 pick-up trucks and a van…all 26 of us & ALL of our luggage. At the school there are 3 classrooms for us to sleep in: one is all girls while the other two are co-ed. We each set up our individual sleeping mats & got situated. After unloading, we went to walk around and explore the beach. The ocean side is 30 feet behind the school, and the lagoon side is across the street behind people’s homes—the rumors are true, it does only take about 2 or 3 minutes to walk from one side to another. To get there, you just walk through their yards—no big deal. The beaches are coral, and there is very little sand. There are stray dogs, chickens, and pigs all over the place. The main amenities at the school are bathrooms (equipped with cockroaches, but lacking toilet seats) electricity, and bucket showers. We also have a cell phone to share among the 30 of us (011-692-456-7609….call me J). That number will actually be mine & my roommates for the year once I get to Gugeegue, as the volunteer from last year left it for us!
We went to town on day #2! Ajeltake is about 45 minutes from town-- taxis are rare out there, but hitchhiking as completely acceptable. You either flag a car down or jump into the back of a pick-up truck. There are speed bumps in front of the school we live at, so that gives people no choice but to slow down & acknowledge us. Some stop to pick us up but there are those who just slowly drive past. Majuro is busy but small and is packed with houses and small businesses. At points you can see both the lagoon & ocean. The people seem friendly, but are very shy. Some ask if we are WorldTeach/which islands we will be on, while others just stare. I bought some essentials from town: a hand fan (best purchase yet), a brush (to scrub my laundry), and a Guam dress (we can wear these when we swim and while we are at Ajeltake, but in town they aren’t the most appropriate). As a girl, it is best to have both your shoulders & knees covered at all times. It is also highly recommended that we always wear slips or basketball shorts under our dresses or skirts. Majuro is a little more lax on these customs, but the outer islands are more traditional.
Our schedule is pretty jam packed full of language lessons, group talks, and teaching lessons. My Marshallese is improving, but we’re all still not totally adjusted to the time change, so all the information is hard to keep straight. We have had some free time, and we were able to go for a swim in the lagoon. The water is very pretty but not super clear. At times you’ll randomly swim into a garbage bag, diaper, or other random trash people throw in the water. There is no trash system here anymore as the dump got full and is no longer open. As a result, people have trash pits in there yards, usually on the edge of the beach.
On Saturday night, we went out on the town (despite any advice that it may not be safe for us ‘ripalles’). At first there were about 10 of us that wanted to go. After it started to rain and numerous hitchhiking attempts were unfulfilled, the number slowly dwindled down to 6. At one point, a pick-up truck pulled over to pick us up, but once a couple of us were halfway into the bed of the truck, we noticed something big in the back-- a sea turtle to be exact. We were all shocked and decided not to accept the offer; plus I doubt all 10 of us could fit back there with the huge thing. Eventually, a taxi came by and we got into town. We decided to go to the RRE hotel/Tide Table Restaurant, as that would probably be the safest. Sure enough we saw one of our field directors there along with two of the guys that had come to speak to us at Ajeltake. Guess it’s safe enough. J
It already feels like we’ve been here a decent amount of time already. Everyone knows who we are & where we are living. People even call the WorldTeach office if they see us around town--word travels very quickly here. So far, I’m really enjoying myself though. It’s nice to be around all the other volunteers for the time being, but I’m anxious to get to my island, start settling in, and stop living out of my luggage!
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