A Month In...

As I sit in the wonderful AC of my quiet apartment, I realize that I am already half way through my third real week of classes and wonder how I will be able to experience days such as today for the next 9 months. Last week went relatively smoothly as I became more comfortable in the classroom and got to know my students. The shortened classes (due to a broken bus) probably had a lot to do with my lowered stress level. This week, however, I spent each night and morning wishing that both buses would break. I've come home each day feeling frustrated, tired and overwhelmed. The biggest obstacle for me has been teaching and creating lessons for such a wide range of english speaking and writing abilities. I've also found it strenuous keeping four classes of 35 teenagers occupied for an hour each day in a language that many do not understand. Today was, more or less, a free for all.

My favorite part of the school day is during the first 1o minutes of class when I have everyone write a journal entry on a question I ask. Reading hundreds of these entries over the past weekend was amusing, interesting, tiring and- at times- frightening. It definitely took some heavy interpreting to understand the ideas that were trying to be expressed. My favorite instance of this was trying to understand the paper of a girl who kept saying "pigass" in each sentence. I finally figured out that she was trying to say "because"... not quite sure how the two got confused. I found myself very excited when a student answered the question in a full sentence, using somewhat legible english and unnerved when a question such as, "Who do you admire most?" was answered with "I admire is when I write I admire at school admire because I do admire is my most admire". When some answers closely resemble this, knowing where to begin teaching is not an easy decision.

At the end of the first week of school, I began teaching grade 9 about the idea of culture. I felt that this topic was a good way for my students and I to get to know and learn from each other. I had everyone write about and discuss their favorite food, music, holiday and traditions. We talked about different aspects of culture and I had small groups create a picture to illustrate each aspect. I hung everyone's pictures on the board as a visual display and constant reminder of what the word "culture" encompasses. Luckily, I found a reading with the title "Understanding Cultural Differences" in our class workbook. After introducing the text to the class, I realized that the level was way above most of the student's comprehension so I decided to make the unit into a vocabulary review. I had each student write down 5 words they had either never seen before or were unfamiliar with. That night, I made a list of each word. The list was disheartening.. in a comical way. The words that got to me the most were: culture (the word we had discussed for the past 5 days), respect (our number one class rule) and understand (the question I had been asking each class 10 times a day). This past week and a half I have spent going over the 16 most commonly misunderstood words. I am still unsure of how this information has been received but the quiz I'm giving Friday should give me a better idea.

Aside from school, I haven't had much of a life. My main hobbies have been: swimming, snorkeling, knitting, reading, drawing and watching movies. Some days, the highlight of my day is "getting my groove on" (as my student Rickinson would say) to the "hip-hop dance party" dvd left here by former volunteers. Even after memorizing all the moves, Amanda and I still look ridiculous as we get down and funky with our exercise dvd. Other than hip-hopping it out, I've been going on long swims and walks down to the neighboring island. There is only one house on this island so it is a wonderful place to feel at peace.

My Secret Swimming Spot

On Saturday, we were invited to a dinner party at the neighbor's. The food was scrumptious. I felt very content as I devoured chicken, freshly caught fish, coconut crab (a better tasting lobster) and sipped on coconut milk. I'm hoping the following week will be filled with more of these marvelous things described in this last paragraph and a bit less stress.

School Begins

Today, after a week in limbo- unsure of the grades and subjects we were teaching- classes finally began.  I headed out my front door and arrived at my classroom approximately 30 seconds later.  As expected, the classroom was locked.  I soon found out that the locks had been changed Friday and that the principal held all of the keys.  I sat on the stoop outside of my classroom with a number of my 9th grade students for all of first period and part of second period.  By now, I've learned to expect such delays so I took the time to read.

At the start of second period, the principal arrived on the final bus with the remainder of the students.  After a brief assembly, I held about 10 minutes of second period and about 20 minutes of third period.  Despite the fact that I taught for about a half hour, I was exhausted and feeling somewhat in despair.  Other than students chattering to each other in Marshallese, all of my classes were silent.  Nobody would so much as nod their head to the questions I asked and everyone silently refused to participate in the simple icebreaker activity I had planned. For my final class period, I held class for a bit over 30 minutes which felt like an eternity.  Most of the students stared at me as if they had no idea what I was talking about, which they may not have.  This is exactly what has been creating my confusion and elevating my stress- not knowing if the students do not understand what I am saying, whether they don't like my activities and don't want to participate or whether they are just shy because they are new to the school.  I'm guessing and hoping that the explanation is the latter.  Also hoping that tomorrow and the following days get easier as I get used to teaching, establish a routine, get to know my students and their abilities and as they become more comfortable in the classroom and with me.

Arrival at Paradise: The Island of Gugeegue

As a volunteer with the World Teach program, I will be spending the following year on the gorgeous island of Gugeegue.  Gugeegue is connected to Ebeye, the second largest island of the Marshall Islands and, by far, the most densely populated- with approximately 15,000 people residing in 1 square mile!  Gugeegue and Ebeye are connected by a 5 mile causeway and are part of the Kwajalein Atoll (the largest atoll in the world).  Gugeegue is quite a small island, I was easily able to navigate the entire island.  It took about 20 minutes to walk the length of the island and no longer than a minute and a half to walk across.

Along the causeway from Ebeye to Gugeegue

My room

Sunset from the dock behind my apt

Although my surroundings are beautiful and living situation has exceeded any of my expectations, the educational challenges here are grand and my work will not be easy.  I hope that I may be of assistance in the classroom and community and would like to thank everyone who made it possible for me to come here in the first place! 

(Near) Death by Coconut

Luckily, our second day here was a Sunday, the day of rest.  Cultural norms determine that minimal activity is to be performed on this day.  We spent most of the day eating, reading, walking, listening to music and talking.  In the morning, Val and I decided to take a walk down the coral beach of the lagoon and read on a sandy patch.  Lured by the beautiful warm water and gorgeous view, I set down my book to my left, water bottle to my right, shoes by my feet and walked to the water.  I stood peacefully in the warm water attempting to register the idea that this unbelievably picturesque surrounding was my new home.  After about 20 minutes, Val ran up to me and told me that her reading had been interrupted by the loud thud of coconuts falling right beside her.  I turned around to see two plump coconuts sitting in the sand directly between my book, water bottle and shoes- literally within the sand print of where I had been sitting.  I’ve definitely learned my lesson: always look up before sitting down.

Arriving at Majuro & Life in Ajeltake

After a calm night in LA and wild night in Honolulu, we (all 32 of us) have arrived on the other side of the world. We took a four-hour plane ride, leaving Hawaii at 7am on Saturday and landing in the Marshall Islands at 11am on Sunday (we are 17 hours ahead of the US).  As our plane descended, I nervously peered out the window, looking at the water that we were feet away from landing in.  We couldn’t tell where the lagoon water left off and ocean water began; land was absolutely nowhere to be seen.  Moments later, to our great relief, we felt the wheels hit the ground.  We had landed in Majuro, the capital island of the Marshall Islands- a place that many people have never even heard of. 

About an hour later, we arrived at our residence for the next month; a bright purple elementary school in the town of Ajeltake.  We chose our sleeping rooms, “Jikinkiki” in Marshallese, I somehow ended up in the least populated room.  We were introduced to the bathrooms and taught how to flush the toilets manually.  The trick is to pour a bucket of water in quickly enough to make the toilet flush but not so quickly that water pours out in, on and around the toilet.  Never did I think I’d be so excited to successfully flush a toilet.  We were also introduced to bucket showers, which involves trash cans full of rain water from the water catchment, small buckets to scoop the water into larger buckets that we take into a tarp surrounded wooden frame and pour on ourselves. After sweating profusely induced by a long day in the heat (covered in sunscreen and bug spray), I greatly enjoy this method of showering.  I take my daily shower around sunset, enjoying the beautiful sky and swaying palm trees overhead.  Life is good J

Majuro Airport

View across the street from our home (Ajeltake Elementary School)

My sleeping quarters during orientation