Names

Names are how people identify themselves.  Here it is no different.  However, what is different is the fact that everyone has two names... The one that is on their birth certificate and one that is given by the people.  

I know that many people around the world have nicknames.  Heck, even I have one.  I use my nick name almost all the time.  The only time I use my full name is for official business.  

Here it seems that no one knows other people's full names and only use their nicknames.  I have one story that clearly represents that. 

I needed to make a call so I asked Chinilla to call a number for me and to ask for a certain person.  I gave her the name.  After the call, she told me that the person was a relative and she didn't realize that until she found out his nickname.  

Now, I have a Marshallese name In addition to my full and nick names.  It was given to me by Chinilla.  it is... Get ready for this... Juji... Which also means kick.. So Juji bidum means kick your ass. :-)

Marshallese roof

This week must be my lucky week.  TWO cultural experiences this week.  

I have one child to do home visits for in Ajeltake which is between the airport and Laura, about 15 miles from the hospital way out in the country.  It takes about 45 minutes to get there by regular car (not a taxi). When we got there, we found a bunch of women sitting on the ground on mats with dried leaves around them.  I asked Chinilla what they were doing, and she said that they were making a roof for Marshallese huts (the kind you imagine houses on an island would look like with leaves covering the roof).

  

We watched them bind the large pandanus leaves with the leaf stem from a coconut tree.  They used some kind of tool (that they made themselves from metal... In ancient times, they used a whale tooth) to puncture a hole in the pandanus leaf to push the leaf from a coconut tree through so they will stay attached (they are technicially sewing two pandanus leaves together).  They are made piece by piece then put together on the roof.  It was very fascinating to watch!  Of course, I had to ask them if I could take pictures.  The women fixed their hair so they would look good haha.

You can see the coconut leaf stems next to her on her right

Woman working.... And a baby

Pile of finished product is on her left, unfinished product is in front of her. 

Close up of the tool that they used to make the holes... And the holes with coconut leaf stem through them.

It's really fascinating how the Marshallese people use every part of a plant to make things.  

Marshallese oven

The Marshallese people tend to cook over an open fire, so naturally I assumed that they do not bake things.  Well, imagine my surprise when I went on a home visit to see them baking cookies.  Wanna see how??? 

Ta-da!  It is technicially an open fire in an enclosed place.  The oven is made of wood with iron for the racks and to hold the fire in the box.  The fire is made outside of the oven, and then inserted into the oven using a wooden stick with a nail (the box has holes in it for the nail to go through).  The cookies that came out of the oven was very good, very chewy.  Still amazed! 

Laura Beach Day

(From last week...)

One of my favorite places to go to in Majuro is on the other end of the island-Laura Beach.  It is all the way through the "country" of Majuro where the water is clear and seems to be untouched.  

On Saturday, I decided I needed some time away from everything and a reason to try out my new hammock (thanks, Jenny!) so I hopped on a taxi and rode all the way over to Laura.  It took about an hour to reach there although it is only about 30 miles away.

When I arrived, I found two good trees, set my hammock and then saw the dark skies over by Rairok (I think) and hoped it would go away but it did not.  It started to rain, a little at first then the wind came and it started to pour.  I hurriedly packed everything and found shelter.  Good thing because the storm only increased its strength and lightning/thunder came.  I stood under the shelter for about 15-30 minutes waiting the storm out.  While I was under the shelter, there was another group cooking food.  It was cool to watch them cook Marshallese style, using an old tire rim to hold the fire in and cooking hotdogs on top of a pan. 

After the storm seemed to pass, I emerged back to my original place only to have it rain again so I went back to the shelter, thankfully only for about 10 minutes before the rain stopped. 

The water was low so I could see all the corals and tide pools so I walked over to the water line and explored the tide pools.  

The other volunteers arrived at this time and found a teeny weeny kitty meowing and trying to stay out of the rain.  It was cold, hungry and scared so they took care of the kitty.   It's very adorable!

Eno the cat, not enno (delicious in Marshallese language hahahaha)

Compare this pic to the previous hammock picture... See how low the water was! (And dark the skies were)

Next to our beach site, there was a group of people that we knew from various places on Majuro.  One of the guys wanted us to play volleyball so we did, we joined a Marshallese volleyball game. It was so much fun but very hot in the sun!

After the game, I went into the water to cool off.  There were some children playing with a stand up paddle board.  I have always wanted to try it.  When one of the guys asked me if I wanted to try it, I jumped at the chance!  I got the hang of it after 3 times of falling off.  It isn't as hard as I thought it would be.  You just need to balance yourself on the board.  Of course we had to take a few pictures! Photos coming soon!

We left the beach, walked along the road to try to find a ride, either by hitchhiking or a taxi.  We had a bit of a hard time finding a ride when a truck stopped to let us on.  We rode in the back of the truck with like 15 other teenagers.  It was a very good ride back into town, the entire 1 hour of it! We stopped at various houses along the way to drop children off and at one of the houses, they gave us a pan of rice, the truck driver gave us some chicken and that was our dinner.  If the Marshallese people offer you something, you can't really turn it down which is how I got over many things that I didn't like in America (fish, beer, etc).  

It was a great day, full of unexpected events! 

Another item checked off my bucket list

In the past, not many babies would live to see their first birthday so they really celebrate a baby's first birthday here.  It is called a "Kemen".  

On this recent Tuesday, my coworker for the early intervention aspect of my time here asked me if I wanted to go to a birthday party for the hearing screening nurse's grand son.  I decided to go just to have something to do.  I did not realize til I arrived that it was a Kemen!  I was thrilled because I have wanted to experience it and now I can.  

The party was supposed to start at 7 pm, but my coworker told me to arrive around 7:30 so I did.  The taxi ride there was a completely different adventure. Anyways, so we entered the room, found a place to sit, chatted with the other people on our table.  The room was about halfway full.  We chatted, chatted, chatted... And chatted til like 8:30 when the birthday boy arrived.  He went around the room so that people could wish him a happy birthday.  There was a speech given by his mom to thank everyone for coming, a prayer by a nun and then it was time to eat.  It was a buffet full of seafood and we all know how much I love seafood.  We were asked to help serve food to the young children so we did.  The young children got rice, potato salad, chicken and spam.  I scooped rice onto their plates.  When all the children were served, we went over to the adult buffet to get our food.  I tried to get a little of everything so I could try it.   There were some food that I didn't get because it was raw fish and I did not want to risk getting sick.  

I tried some sushi (made myself eat it.. I gagged but I swallowed it! Progress!), fried shrimp, mussels, some kind of seafood salad with some kind of seafood in it, reef fish (not pictured) and yes that is a lobster.  I ate a little of everything except for the potato salad-Marshallese potato salads are yummmmmmy!

After everyone ate, the baby sat and we all came to him, throwing a dollar into a box.  Then there was music and a dance show showing Kiribati dances (the family is from Kiribati, another island country), and then we had child dance off where a girl and boy won a prize (see video below), then trivia about the birthday boy.  People who answered correctly won Kiribati sarongs and shirts.  Then cake was served and everyone was encouraged to take food home for their families. Not like they needed encouragement anyways.  People here tend to get a plate for themselves, then a few more to bring home to their families. Another example of the collectivist culture here. 

Children watching Kiribati dances

I didn't get home til close to 11, and I was exhausted the next day but it was all worth it! Now I can check it off my bucket list!

 Oh yeah, I also received a crown of flowers-my third one!