Army Base Weekend

Weekend on Kwaj

This place could be described as heaven on earth.  Instead, I will deem it heaven in the Marshall Islands.  This is why:

I can swim in my bikini.

I can wear my shorts, tank tops & jeans outside.

There is a salt water pool.

There are sharks!!!

There is a green turtle pond: they're huge & adorable.

There is a bar!  Amen.

Hot showers.

Drinkable water from the tap.

The roads are smooth & paved.

Hot showers.  One of my favorite things.

There are washing machines & dryers—no clothes line drying.

Burger King.  Enough said.

There are nice, clean beaches.

There is grass & nicely kept yards.

There is no trash strewn about the landscape.

You can make domestic calls to the US.  (It was so nice talking to you, Momma!)

You can drink & drive on your bike-no lie.  The only rule: Just don't crash & burn.

While I realize that all of these things are totally unnecessary to survival (or even happiness), it was nice to get a little taste of America.  After all, these are the kinds of things I'm used to, which isn't necessarily a good thing.  "Heaven" turns out to be an overstatement.  I think it’s amazing the opportunity that we’ve been given to come here,  teach & experience the Marshallese culture.  It just works.  I must say that by Saturday I was missing Gugeegue; just the simplicity of it all.  Not having immediate access to all the things you are ‘used to’ is a good thing.  I’m surviving & I appreciate the realization I’ve come to—you can make the most of wherever you are, and of whatever resources/things you have & still live & most importantly,  be happy.  Of course there are things that could change to better the place I’m at, but which place doesn’t have room for improvement.  And who’s to say that those changes would even be improvement.  I don’t know.  It’s a surreal feeling…..something that I’m unsure I will be able to ever wrap my head around.

Anyway, about my weekend….

We got here Friday afternoon.  We took the 25 minute ferry ride from Ebeye & our sponsors met us at the dock.  We got our visitor badges (no shopping rights for us) & were in the golf cart riding around, touring the island within minutes.  It’s gorgeous here & so big!  There are 4 nice beaches, a golf course, the airport, a marina, a high school & grade school, a little shopping center, and tennis courts.  During the drive, I saw a small black tip shark near the shore of the lagoon.  Later in the tour we stopped at the marina & saw more sharks!  There were about 5 nurse sharks all over 6 feet long just in the shallow, waiting for fishermen to come back & clean their catches.  This was probably so amazing to me because I’d never seen a shark before!  I was amazed.  Next time, I hope to go watch them being fed…I’m sure that’s a whole other adventure.  After the tour, we headed to Burger King—we were drooling on the boat ride over because this was all we could think about; the suspense was killing us.  After dinner was grocery shopping, which was amazing in its own right.  There we found brownie mix, raspberries, strawberries, bananas, yogurt, chocolate, organic cereal, cheese galore, and frozen foods just to name a few of the things.  I felt like a kid in a candy store….for real.  The one downside besides extreme jealousy over none of these things being available on Ebeye is that as visitors we cannot bring anything back on the boat.  This only encouraged the gorging.  That night we went to the Vet’s Hall—one of the two bars on island.  We were told that the other bar, which is nicknamed ‘The Snake Pit’, was a little sketchy, so we steered clear (Apparently you get 5 free drinks on your birthday.  Maybe I won’t stay clear that long.  Haha.).  The bar was nice, full of all the liquor & beers you could think of.  I have a big place in my heart for Jack Daniels—I can’t explain how great being reunited with him was. J  The place was chill; we met a teacher that’s been on island for 15 years among other people so it was cool to hear all the various opinions & just to talk to other Americans!

Saturday we spent our day snorkeling (I forgot my underwater camera case, so next time I’ll make sure to get pictures!) in the man-made pools in front of the house we were staying at.  When the tide is low enough, you can just jump right in & see some amazing thing.  We found a big clam, which we played with, and some gorgeous fish—a couple of which I haven’t seen yet here!  Afterward we headed to the pool.   This pool is really big & super clean.  I did some laps, jumped off the diving board, andddddd (drum roll) LAID OUT!  Those of you that know me even a little bit know how much I love to lay out.  Just laying in a lawn chair, reading a book or listening to my ipod, could occupy my life for days on end.  The weather here is always good for laying out, but doing that in a large Guam dress is not so enjoyable.  Plus, can you imagine the tan lines?!  Anyway, this might have made my weekend.  I’ve got a nice tan to prove it (mission accomplished). 

            Saturday night was also the Oktoberfest party that our sponsor family was having.  There was homemade beer, delicious homemade German food, pizza, desserts…the list goes on.  It was heavenly.  Unfortunately there weren’t many people our age so that’s when we decided to ride around on bikes drinking beer (awesome) then head to the bar.  There were a lot more people there Saturday night compared to Friday.  We chatted with the bar manager, our new found friend, and other patron.  I made friends with a guy that works for a company that sends rockets into orbit (so crazy).  It was fun talking with all these people & learning about all the interesting stuff they do. 

On Sunday we went straight to Burger King for a nice greasy breakfast.  My hangover was in full effect.  We got home at 3AM & seeing as I woke up on the couch in a daze, I definitely was in rough shape.  At breakfast, I was digging around in my purse & found chips from the bar.  Background:  so, at the bar, there’s a bell people can ring—this means they buy a round for the whole bar.  This happened a lot.  Additionally, random guys send over chips; this is their way of buying you a drink.  The rest of our day was spent at one of the beaches; great end to a great weekend!  Hopefully we’ll be back soon!