Weeks 2 & 3 in summary.....

Laura Beach

We took our first trip to Laura beach!  The weather was gorgeous & the beach was mostly white sand so that was definitely a treat.  Kool-aid + $9 rum=who would have thought that’d be a drinkable mix J  I even tested out the dry bag for my camera & was able to get some decent pictures while snorkeling.  This trip was just what we needed to relax before our long week of classes & teaching.

Dinner at the US Embassy

            I’m thinking this is just a ‘formality’ for all of the American teachers that come here.  I mean, I’ll take a nice pizza dinner & a cool Marshallese flag pin, but other than that, I just felt 'somewhat special' for about 40 minutes until they abruptly rushed us out of there.  On top of that, I couldn't even take my camera beyond security to document the experience.  :)

Practicum

            After all of our teaching lessons, Practicum week finally came.  We have been working in groups the past week trying to plan a unit to teach from Wednesday to Friday.  This “Practicum” is advertised on the radio as a summer day camp, and any students were encouraged to come.  If there weren’t enough students, our field directors used candy to gather more (this is funny and would be totally creepy in the states, but it’s not here J ).  I was in a group with all of the teachers that will be teaching at high schools.  We were to teach independently for an hour and a half.  The first day, we had 7 students all of which were males.  This group was comprised of 1 guy that had already graduated from high school, 4 guys that were definitely over high school age & had never attended school, and 2 men that were over the age of 40.  Based on this, we definitely did not have a realistic high school setting to teach in & get practice in.  Additionally, on the first day we were told we needed to end our lesson a half hour early.  We got no warning of this prior to starting our lesson for the day, so you can imagine how caught off guard we were.  After day 1 being behind us, things started to get better.  6 of the 7 men showed up for class everyday, they were much less shy, and classes went more smoothly as they began to participate.  I taught on day 2 of the Practicum; things went well for me.  Day 3 was the best of all because we finally got some actual high school students!

Mid-Service Extravaganza

      This celebration concluded our week of Practicum....with a bang.  The 'extravaganza' was held at the "China Restaurant" (a Chinese Restaurant, with outside decor of half-buoys plastered all over the building).  The food was decent, but the karaoke was definitely the most amazing part of the night.  Our field director, Todd, really belts it out on the mic.  Mariah Carey & Celine Dion have got nothing on him....honestly.  

Teacher Appreciation Dinner

     This means free food & open bar at the Marshall Islands Resort.  Here we saw nearly every 'ripalle' on the island, networked some, and just let loose!  A few of us stayed a little later after the bus took the rest of the group back.  This entailed karaoke & some random man giving me his little baby girl that he had in the bar with him.  Marshallese babies are SO CUTE.  I held her for maybe 2 hours (in the bar) -- him & his wife were totally okay with it.  Apparently, small Marshallese children cry at the sight of ripalles; this girl loved me instantly (this makes me feel special).  I offered my babysitting services to them in December while I'm back on island for mid-service....we'll see if that goes anywhere.  haha.

Enemanit

      On Sunday a small group of us took a boat (called ‘The Boom Boom’) to Enemanit, a smaller island on the Majuro Atoll.  There were teachers from the Co-op school, including some past WorldTeach volunteers, and a large Marshallese family.  We got connected to this trip by randomly hitchhiking with a friend of the boat owner, who told us to call him up & try to get in on his Sunday trip.  Mission accomplished.  The island was beautiful-- much cleaner & smaller than Majuro.  We explored a little of the island which was filled with pigs, chickens & jungle.  We fetched some coconuts, drank the water & ate the meat, and saw a small pig being prepared for Sunday dinner….a little glimpse into what the ‘outer island’ life might be like.  We spent the rest of the day eating Marshallese foods & snorkeling.  The coral & fish near this island are gorgeous.  There’s even a sunken plane there that we snorkeled by.  Great day!

Alright, week 3

     It really feels like we've been here much longer than we really have.  I think we are all just very eager to get to our islands & start settling in.  All week we have been busy with our final language lessons, speakers, and other random events that WT schedules for us.  We had a community fair this week-- some local non-profits & organizations came to talk to us/give us more info & resources on the actions that they support in the RMI. I was really excited to see two conservation groups--1 for water & 1 for overall conservation of species & wildlife.  I really am hoping to be able to teach a science class at my high school, but if that doesn't work out I plan to start an Environmental or Conservation Club at the school.  Additionally, some of the groups that were represented cover sexual education, domestic violence, substance abuse, and diabetes--all huge issues here in the RMI.  I hope to incorporate all of this information into my curriculum during the year--especially in the Girls' Club that Liz (my roommate) & I plan to start :)

      The highlight of our final week in Majuro was definitely the 'End of Service Event.'  This was held at Majuro Bowling, nothing more than a closed bowling alley (only opened by request) that got flooded in the last few months.  Either way, we bowled (30 of us on 2 lanes), I broke my lifetime record of 60, and I beat the two other people I played against!  Oooh Ohhh!  Don't worry- we didn't hitchhike, we rode back with Todd......blasting Ke$ha the entire way.  I couldn't get enough.

     We were scheduled for a language lesson yesterday, but our language instructors decided to teach us how to climb coconut trees; how to husk & open coconuts; how to eat pandanus; and how to weave baskets, windmills & balls out of coconut tree leaves--another perfect day to end our stay in Majuro.

     To be honest, the last 2 days have been a little hard.  Volunteers have started leaving Ajeltake & going to their placement sites.  It sounds crazy, but in the past 3 weeks I've made some amazing friends that I feel like I've known for years.  Tonight is the final goodbye as Liz & I leave for Gugeegue, Kwajalein bright & early in the morning.  I hope to have internet access on a more regular basis than what I've had, so plan on getting more updates in the near future.  (A special shout out to Mandy- Steph gave me your email so I can keep you updated on how she's doing!!  We will talk soon :) )

   

 I love & miss you all!