I got to my island on Saturday!! It turned into a long day of travel as we spent the night before hanging out with all the other volunteers that we won’t be seeing until the end of December. I think we ended up going to sleep around 2 or 3am and waking up at 5:30 to finish our last minute packing & get to the airport 2 hours before our flight. The flight was only 45 minutes long from Majuro to Kwajalein, the US Military base. The rumors are true—Kwaj is like a mini US suburb. It’s eerily quiet with very little going on. While waiting in line to get through customs and then more waiting for our luggage, we met a couple really nice people. One was a police man on Kwaj that gave us his contact info and told us to call him if we need anything. Another was a diver/videographer that was on his way to Bikini to shoot the first ever 3-D footage there for German National Geographic (awesome). After all the waiting, Liz, Anna (she is going to Santo, Kwaj) & I made an immediate B-line to the food court (we heard rumors of Subway & Burger King both being here, so it was obviously our first priority once on island). The rumors were in fact true & I hadn’t eaten since lunch the day before so I was not about to hold myself back. The 3 of us basically had a fast food buffet for lunch-- my final “American” meal was made of a Subway Melt (Erik, you know what I’m talking about ;) ), Burger King fries & onion rings, and Anthony’s cheese sticks.
Besides eating fast food like savages, we were surrounded by white people wearing American clothes….it felt like home. Regardless, we stuck out like sore thumbs wearing conservative Marshallese long skirts & muumuus. This actually played into our favor because everyone knew us as the ‘new WorldTeach volunteers.’ The first person to actually talk to us was the commander of the military base. He was friendly enough & guided us in the right direction. From then on we made it to the base headquarters, met more very important military men, and were comforted when every single one made it clear that they were the people to go to if we needed anything at all even when we are out at our placement sites. I told them that knowing this would make my mom very happy & I’d pass the info along to her. :) Additionally, we were thanked for what we came here to do & reminded of how much we are needed in the education system here/how big of a difference we will make. It was a very nice visit to Kwaj & we left feeling very privileged for having the chance to meet all of those very important people on base.
Next, we were directed to the dock. The plan was for Liz & I to get onto the military ferry and make our way to Ebeye; Anna would grab her luggage & hop onto another plane to Santo. Once at the dock, the principal’s wife from Anna’s school was waiting for us. The new plan was for Anna to spend the night with us in Gugeegue & fly to Santo on Monday (this didn’t really surprise us because all during orientation we were told to ‘be flexible’—mostly, I think I was just excited for Anna to see our new home, too!). We got on a water taxi with Tonita and stepped onto Ebeye within 15 minutes. No one on Ebeye/Gugeegue knew Liz & I were coming that day, so there wasn’t any type of “plan” in place. (This is all really funny, too, because I really LOVE having plans & knowing what’s going on most of the time. No worries though, I’m already broken in from the last month of chaos and plan changes). Luckily, things always magically work themselves out here. Tonita called a man that drives for the high school in Gugeegue (where I’ll be teaching) and we ended up waiting for about an hour for him to come get us. While waiting, our vice-principal Carl randomly rode up on his bicycle. We didn’t talk with him much, but again, he was unaware we were coming. Once our ride showed up, we drove through Ebeye, not seeing much of the island, and got onto the causeway leading to Gugeegue! The causeway is a gravel/dirt/sandy road about 20 feet wide & filled with potholes. It is only 6 miles long, but it took us about a half hour to drive it because our driver was very careful to zigzag and avoid majority of the potholes. As we drove the treacherous road, I was wondering how anyone decided to put 2 large high schools way out on Gugeegue when over 90% of the student population lives on Ebeye. Last year, the volunteers had to teach their high school students at the elementary school in Ebeye because the buses were broken down. As of now, the buses are working & classes should be held out here on Gugeegue. We’ll see how that actually works out when the time comes…..
We finally arrived at our apartment! It’s one side of a duplex. Before we even came here we heard that local people call it ‘the castle.’ The apartment hadn’t been cleaned in a very long time; the last 2 volunteers left a ton of books, school papers, clothes, and random things/junk here, but on top of that everything was covered in dust, sand and/or mice feces. I can’t say we were thrilled, but the apartment is nice & we would have ended up cleaning it before getting settled in anyway. Again, this is all just a part of us learning to be flexible. :) We have electricity & air conditioning which is crazy to think about because at times during orientation we had neither (and that’s on the capital island). The water pump is in the process of getting fixed, so we have no running water & have to get it from across the way. Currently there is no internet at the school or apartment, but that might also be fixed soon (I really have no idea). Across the yard are the other WorldTeach apartment (which is empty this year) and a few other homes. Kiddy-corner from the apartment is the high school. Further beyond the school are a Catholic high school, a volleyball court, and a few other houses. There is a gravel road to the left of our apartment that leads straight across the island, from ocean to lagoon. Ocean-side is mostly rock & coral; on lagoon-side there is a dock where people fish. The road loops around the island, going by more homes, some pig & chicken coops, the stores, and the church. That’s as far as I’ve gotten so far, but there’s definitely more walking/exploring to come.
We share the duplex with a Fijian family: Billy, his wife Svioki (who is still in Maj), and their 2 children Grace & Adriel. Billy was very friendly & welcoming right away; he even brought us filtered drinking water! Laura & Elfren are a couple from the Philippines; they have been very helpful and friendly so far (and very apologetic for not having our apartment clean when we got here…..they had NO idea when we were even coming, so I feel awful when they apologize). Christopher, Nelly and their 5 children also live across the yard. Christopher is one of the two police officers in Gugeegue. Their son, Jawae, has stopped over everyday since we have gotten here. He is the nicest little 8-year-old ever. He has given us a small tour of the island, brought us to the store, and introduced us to another American teacher living here, Tristan, who is from Washington & lives here with his girlfriend. They are both very friendly & Tristan has offered a lot of advice so I am thankful. They are moving to Majuro sometime within the next 2 weeks, so I hope to talk with him more because he actually taught at KAHS (where I will be teaching) for 2 years. So far, all I’ve gotten was that it was ‘rough.’ Naoki is from Japan & will be teaching Math at KAHS. He has been living here for 6 months and is in the midst of learning both Marshallese & English. I hope to learn some Japanese from him this year!! I think I’ve covered everyone we have met so far…
Since in Gugeegue, I haven’t done much other than clean, unpack, walk around the island, and hang out with the kids. We have yet to go grocery shopping, so we’ve made plenty of trips to the little shops that are about a 2-3 minute walk from the apartment. Anna has been here for the weekend, so that’s been nice. I’ve avoided packing and chosen to watch a season of Grey’s Anatomy and play cards with her instead. :) She was supposed to be picked up at 5pm on Sunday. Around 9:30, with Anna already snuggled back into our couch, there was a knock on the door. In our pajamas & non-Marshallese clothes, we answer to Tonita who is now here to pick Anna up. This is just another example of “Marshallese time.” We saw her off & now it’s just Liz & I in our little apartment in Gugeegue. Home sweet home.
