May Day

May 1st was "Constitution Day", also called "May Day".  I had no idea what to expect for this day.  I knew about all the Christmas festivities, but no one told us about Constitution Day.

A brief history:  This is the day that the RMI signed their constitution in 1979! Only 9 months older than I am...

I really enjoyed the day.  I think this is going to be one of my favorite events here in the RMI, along with the Ekiden run and Christmas festivities.  Do you see a pattern?  Those are the days that the community come together to celebrate.

I had a little project that I took on and since I hadn't completed that project close to May 1, we decided to make it our goal date, and it was completed by May 1st.  See our new uniform shirts!

Front of the shirt.  The logo was designed by one of the Deaf Marshallese people.  It incorporates the island life with signs for those items.  The school name (Majuro Deaf Education Center) is around the top of the circle with the finger spelled alphabet for M D E C.  

The back of the shirts have a Marshallese flag on the top. 

I asked local organizations for donations and received enough to get each student a free shirt to reduce the financial burden for parents. 

Picture of my very small class (3 students showed up for the march), and 2 educational assistants... Can you see why I feel like a giant! LOL 

I took many pictures and videos.  I figured the best way to share the love is to separate the day into three parts.

The first part:  March

All the different organizations of the Marshall Islands march about half a mile from the ECC to the "Castle", where all the governmental offices were.  That building is not safe to use anymore, so it is just sitting there waiting for its fate.

I arrived at 8:15 (we were told to meet at 8) but of course no one was there.  People started arriving around 9 and it was packed.  We stood around waiting for the march to start.  It was very hot and children were complaining that they were hot and thirsty.  Finally, we walked to our position behind Marshall Islands High School band and in front of Marshall Islands High School.  I have no idea the logic behind that, but when we arrived the castle, we let the MIHS people walk past us to join the band.  There were people around telling us that it needs to be set up this way.

We walked about 1/2 mile, and along the way, we saw many Marshallese people cheering us on.  We held posters that we designed and waved Marshallese flags.  When we arrived the castle, we posed for a picture and then walked around the "center of the castle to  reach the sitting area where we would sit and watch different people give speeches.  We sat to the left of people entering the area, so we could see how different organizations (schools, governmental offices, businesses) entered.  You will see some in the video.

Video of Constitution Day march

We sat watching different people give speeches (the president, ministers, etc.) and then we were dismissed to the park area where there were many different tents set up selling food, mostly BBQ chicken, fish, rice, breadfruit, etc.  By that time, we all were starving so we were glad to get food!

Panoramic view of the park with different tents set up

The tents stayed there all day until after dark.  There was supposed to be fireworks, but it was cancelled. :(  

The second part: Floats

The night before (April 30th), we gathered at the Field Director's house to decorate posters for the parade.  I thought it was the same thing as the march, but then I found out that there would be another one that afternoon.  It was supposed to start at 3 pm, of course, island time...  We arrived to end of Rita to find different decorated vehicles.  You will see some in the video.  We were supposed to be with World Teach, but since it was raining off and on, we joined the Ministry of Education float. It was much more elaborately decorated, with a roof and a bench for people to sit on.  We threw candy to children along the way until we reached Delap park, where there was a huge crowd of people (mostly children) waiting for us.  We ran out of candy in the middle of the route so the Field Director and another volunteer ran to a store to buy more candy.  I hit some people in the heads with the candy, oops!  It was so much fun.

Video of Constitution Day Floats

The third part:  Dances

The Delap park was full of people from the day's activities and there was a tug of war between different businesses, then people were invited to go on the stage and show their cultural dances.  In the years past, there were fireworks, but this year there were no fireworks apparently due to budget issues, but it was very windy so it would not have been safe anyways.

Video of Constitution Day dances

I rode past Delap park the day before (April 30th) and saw people setting up tents.  When I rode past it again that morning at 8 am, people were already cooking food.  That is how huge it was.

We all were exhausted and I zonked out right when I arrived to my room.

Addresses

While Abby was here, she asked me how do people know where to go if no one has an address here.  I thought it would be a good blog post.

Here, no one has an address.  There is only one road so I guess it is a little hard not to know where anyone lives. When people give directions or describe where they live, they will use a landmark (most times its a church, store or restaurant) then describe it from that landmark.  

For newly identified children (either school age or early intervention), we do what is called a "child find" where we (deaf support teacher or early intervention coordinator) goes to the village that the child lives in and walk around asking for the parents or grandparents by name or asking if anyone knows of a deaf child/baby in this area. The neighbors will usually know and point us into the right direction.  

So this is what life is like without addresses :-) 

Wellllll... Hello!

It's been a long while since I posted something. It's been a very busy few weeks.

Abby came and left, we had a good time together exploring the island. We went to my early intervention families' homes to give them gifts.  Abby was able to meet the children and families and see Marshallese homes, then we went to a party on Christmas Eve with the people I work with so Abby was able to meet the people I work with.  We saw the Christmas events that I have been "hearing" about since the summer (please see previous post).  We went to Laura beach but that day was very windy so we didn't get to really enjoy the beach, but I think Abby had fun.  The next day we went to Eneko and it was the first time I went snorkeling there.  Amazing!  U can't wait for Jenny to get here so we can go together.  Abby isn't fond of fish, however, she did enter the water, up to her knees. I am proud of her! :-)  we stayed at a hotel, I had been looking forward to hot showers for a while.  It was very nice to get hot showers for a week, once I got used to the heat.  The first day or two, the warm setting was too hot for me.

Abby and I 

Abby and I at Laura Beach. 

Another long awaited event came and went: the New Year Eve block party.  Abby left earlier that day so she didn't get to experience a Marshallese new year or ringing the new year in before everyone else did.  It felt funny to be in 2015 while the majority of the world was still in 2014.  There were two block parties-one in Uliga area and one in Delap area.  I went to both since the Delap one was just a few steps from the hotel we were staying at.  It was in a park, there were various booths set in a semi circle around a band area.  It was not busy yet so I hailed a cab and rode on over to the second block party.  That one was bigger, using one "block" from the RRE hotel all the way to Payless food store.  If you have ever experienced New Year Eve in Las Vegas, it's similar but much smaller.  The road was closed to cars, and there were booths on both sides of the road selling various items-food, alcohol, light up things, clothes, and there were three band areas.  I walked up and down the block, observing people and just enjoying myself.  Chinilla's family had a booth selling alcohol so I hung around there a bit chatting with Chinilla.  When it got closer to midnight, I returned to her booth and rang in the New Year with her and her family, then she drove me back to the hotel.  There were some fire works at midnight, at a much smaller scale than the ones we are used to in America.  It was a nice New Year Eve. Before the events began, we were warned that there wis be drunk people there and that we may be groped.  Thankfully nothing happened but I did see some drunk people.  They kept their hands to themselves.

Taiwan provided some entertainment

Don't be jealous! 

People listening to music and dancing

Same

Fireworks at midnight 

Chinilla, her daughter and her niece

School started.... The teachers and teacher aides were at the school by 8:15, some students came (4) who walked to school.  By 9:30 there were no buses so we sent everyone home and did some work.  It was nice to be able to do some work but I missed my students.  On Tuesday, I had 4 students, uneventful day.  On Wednesday, I had 5 students, but there was an issue with the lock on our door so we weren't able to start til around 9:15 am.  On Thursday, I had 6 students, uneventful day.  There was no school for students on Friday so we could meet with parents and give out their report cards.  It's been an interesting year so far. :-)

Today, I went to my spot to watch th sunset.  While I was walking there, I noticed a large group of people near the pier and felt music so I went to check it out.  It was the second annual Christa deBrum fishing tournament.  Chinilla told me that Christa was a young adult who choked on a piece of meat and died so the family hosted a fishing tournament in her honor.  It was the largest fishing tournament I have seen, complete with music, a BBQ, result chart and dancing girls (that didn't come out right).  I hung out there for a bit then went to watch the sunset. 

Unloading fish to be weighted

Boats waiting for their turn and banner/music area

Crowd watching the girls dance

4 young girls dancing

Young girls dancing

Older girls dancing

The board listing team names and results 

Event seen from afar 

'Ts the season

Wow so I have experienced THE holiday that I have been waiting a long time for.  People have told me about the events that happen on Christmas here on the island but nothing compares to experiencing it yourself. 

Since December started, I have been seeing more and more Christmas decor in homes and stores.  Stores started having percentage off sales.  Traffic in stores increased.  Of course nothing like the states, but I could see the difference between BCS and DCS (before Christmas season and during Christmas season).  

On Christmas Eve, stores were filled with people, there were huge discounts for clothes, toys and small housewares.  Car traffic in downtown Majuro was horrendous the entire day.  I went to a small gathering near downtown and saw people shopping at around 7 pm.  I went to another gathering and got home around midnight.  On the way, people were still shopping!  Yes, at midnight.. No early closures on Christmas Eve here. 

On Christmas morning, Abby and I ate breakfast at our hotel then took off to one of my aides' house to attend church with them and see the famed "Christmas dances".  We got there at 10 am, finally got to church at around 1130 and dancing started around 230.  Yeah, island time.  But I didn't mind because while we were waiting to go to church, we chatted, ate some Marshallese donuts and told Abby about some Marshallese culture things such as the water catchment tank.  One of my students just happened to walk by with his mom so he joined in on the fun while his mom went to church. The aide's family wanted us to stay after church for some BBQ food.  After we saw my EA's twins dance, we went back to her home and ate BBQ chicken, ribs and rice.  

We went back to the church and saw other groups from other churches around the island dance.  It is like a traveling dance troupe, groups visit different churches and dance for them, then go to the next church. Some groups gave money, others gave lots of food to the church.  We left around 730 pm and it was very difficult to get a taxi that could fit two people.  We waited for about an hour before finally finding one.  By the way, stores were still open on Christmas Day.  

Although I was not with my biological family other than Abby for Christmas, I felt that the entire community was my family because we spent most of the day together.  

Enjoy the pictures and videos. 

My student that joined us for a while.

Above two pictures: local church dancing group (mostly children)

Another church dancing/singing group

Another group 

I couldn't post the video directly on this blog, so I uploaded it onto youtube, and the link is http://youtu.be/AYbeTXL9R7M  Enjoy!

Another group waiting outside the church to begin 

The inside of the church was filled with maybe 100-200 people and maybe 100 more were outside the church watching/listening through the windows. 

Amazing experience!  

Giving thanks....

People here do not celebrate thanksgiving, but us Americans have the day off.

I would like to take the time to give a few thanks:

First, I would like to thank my family and friends who are behind me 100% in this experience since the beginning, from texting/emailing me to face timing me to mailing me care packages and letters, I couldn't have survived this far without you guys!

Thanks to the Ministry of Education, EHDI (Jean), DeafWorldTeach and WorldTeach for allowing me to have this experience of a lifetime.  Thanks to Judy for contacting me and making me reconsider everything. 

 

I am very thankful for technology that makes it possible for me to keep in touch with my family and friends back home as well as keep up with some American news.

I am also thankful to everyone who donated money and made it possible for me to buy a lot of stuff for the kids here--books, toys and games for both the brain and the body.

I am thankful that the people I have met here so far are very welcoming and willing to integrate me into their culture by showing me stuff, giving me food and answering all my questions honestly without laughing at me 😄.

Home visits

The EHDI coordinator and I have been doing home visits together since I arrived because Marshallese people are shy and not comfortable around people who are not Marshallese.  She went to a conference in Texas last week so I have been doing them on my own for two weeks now.  

It's been an interesting experience.  Most parents are able to read/write English to some degree.  We usually try to communicate by lip reading (hard because they pronounce things differently) or gestures before goog to written English.  They also teach me Marshallese while I teach them sign language so it works out both ways! 😄

Today I had a first: home visit with a naked 3 year old boy. 😄. I arrived to their home to see him standing out near the driveway.  I wasn't sure if it was the right boy or not but he led me to his mother and I figured it was the right boy. I just had to giggle in my head... Welcome to Marshall Islands! Lol!

Young children are often naked for whatever reason and I guess I was bound to encounter this experience sooner or later. 😄

Yokwe from Marshall Islands!

Well, I have arrived to Majuro!  The airport is basically a runway with a "house" without walls.  They have a passport ststion, baggage claim and then customs  inspection, and then you are free to explore! 

Majuro is very hot and humid. I never thought I would love the rain so much. When it rains, it is very cool and breezy.  

The first day we were here, there was no power on this part of the island so we had no power for the first day. We couldn't flush the toilet, and had to manually flush the toilet using a bucket of water to force it to flush. The power came back on the next morning, 12 hours after the promised time.  😄  we have had power since then.  I have also learned how to do showers using a bucket.  It is not bad, actually.  The water is lukewarm and very refreshing.  

Yesterday (Saturday), a bunch of us walked to a beach nearby and swam in the rain.  It the water was very warm!  It was my first time swimming in Majuro! 

There was a local little boy and girl who decided to join us.  They walked into the water with no shoes on and all of us had to have shoes on because of the coral.  I got two small cuts when trying to get out of the water even though I had shoes on.  

I am doing very good here, going through orientation and meeting the other volunteers. They are very interested in learning sign language and communicating with us!