Paradise Found...

             It’s been about a month now that we have been living here on the Majuro Atoll in the Marshall Islands.  School has started, the dry season has begun and Neyla is beginning to crawl and stand up.  It seems as though we have been here for years.  The community and our colleagues have been so welcoming and kind and it has been a rather easy and enjoyable transition to our new home and this new culture.  The weather is brilliant.  Each day it gets into the low to mid 80’s and at night is in the low 70’s.  The wind is quite refreshing and waking up each and every morning and watching the sun rise from bed or our porch never gets old.  Each morning, I strategically set my alarm for 6:15 am, so that I can watch the sun rise over the crashing waves promptly at 6:30. 

            Janae and I have had to pinch ourselves on an almost daily basis.  We just couldn’t love our life here more.  Not to say that everything’s perfect, it’s not and will never be, but we are in our own little paradise.  We love being able to walk just about everywhere.   We love being able to spend so much time together and being able to eat all 3 meals as a family.  We love the freedom of having no bills.  No cell phone, no cable, no insurance, no mortgage and on and on.  We have no phone and no TV and it really is quite liberating.  I can focus on my work, students and relationships so much more and it really is a much healthier life style.  That doesn’t mean we live in a thatched hut without any conveniences of modern life, it just means that we have sacrificed certain things that turned out not to be sacrifices at all.  Instead these “sacrifices” have turned out to make us better people.  We have more time to exercise, to talk and to simply just be with other people. 

            My students are great.  I greatly enjoy each and every one of them and I think they enjoy their new ri-belle (term for white people here) teacher as well.  My commute takes all of about 25 seconds to get to my classroom from home and I have an ocean view the whole way.  I teach in shorts and sandals and can see the crashing waves from the open windows of my open-air classroom.  There are some challenges however, as I’ve stepped into a different culture where many of the students know some English, but don’t speak it at home.  A majority of my students only speak Marshallese with their family and friends, but are educated in English as it is seemingly the new Lingua Franca of our world.  Also, we have learned what “Marshallese Time” is.  Janae was supposed to have a basketball game at 6 the other night.  Her ride and team coach picked her up at 6:05 and we thought this was a bit silly, but as Janae asked her coach about this, she said, “6:00 in Marshallese time is 7:00.”  And she was right.  When they arrived at the lighted outdoor court they had plenty of time to warm up and prepare before the game actually began. 

            We have made new friends, but miss our old.  We love living right on the ocean, but miss the urban vitality of Chicago and the pristine mountains of Colorado.  We love playing basketball and volleyball, but miss playing golf (okay, that one is just me).  We love having no TV, but miss watching the Illini play hoops (actually that one is both of us, Janae has become a bit of an Illini hoops fan).  As I mentioned, nothing here is perfect and nothing ever will be perfect, but thus far we are living our dream here in Majuro.  For as long as Janae and I have been together we have dreamed of living aboard and spending years doing so and now we have started that dream and fallen into an amazing life on this tiny sinking island in the middle of the Pacific.  

An Amazing Day of Firsts

      Yesterday we, along with several other teachers and locals, hopped a boat to a small island across the lagoon from Majuro called Enimanet.  This small island was beautiful.  It was natural and wild, the way the Atoll was made.  There were chickens, pigs and dogs running around all over chasing and playing with each other.  We even saw a troop of 5 tiny baby pigs parading around the island and were able to get pretty close to them.  There were roughly 50 people on the island including the US Ambassador and legendary NBA coach Tom Newell.  It was great being able to chat with Coach Newell and hear his thoughts on basketball today.  He mostly travels around the world now giving basketball clinics in poor countries. 

            We left from a pier right next to the US Embassy owned by the Kramer family, one of the most influential on the island.  It was an older wooden boat, but easily handled the 25ish people that were on board.  As we left the pier we had about a 10-minute boat hop across the lagoon, but to the east we saw the dark clouds coming.  Only a few minutes into the boat ride the squall hit us and it quickly became a soaked and rocky boat ride.  I loved it and so did Neyla, but Janae, who is prone to motion sickness, wasn’t a huge fan.  This was actually Neyla’s first boat ride ever and what a boat ride it was!  She loved the bouncing and the sheets of rain and waves that crashed on us.  This was just the first of many great firsts we would have yesterday. 

            As we arrived at the island we were taken aback by the beauty.  White sandy beaches, plush palm tree forests, bright blue waters and some great wooden huts for the non-sea goers.  It was still raining pretty hard as we arrived, but as we settled in the sun peeked out and we were excited for another first for Neyla, swimming in the ocean!  She had her swimsuit on and headed in the lagoon.  At first, I wanted to immerse her slowly to get used to it, but we soon realized that it should be done like a band-aid.  I put Neyla standing up right on the edge of the ocean and as soon as a tiny wave came and receded her feet began to bury in the sand.  She did not like this and let us know so with a nice baby shriek.  I picked her up and tried to calm her down, but every time I put her back in the same baby shriek was roared. 

            So Janae and I decided to skip the slow entry and take her deeper while we hold her, and boy did she love this!  We’ve never seen Neyla so happy and having a grand ole’ time.  She was splashing and laughing and loving every second of playing with mommy and daddy in the ocean.  Our neighbor, Marilee, was kind enough to give us a little baby floating device so we didn’t have to hold her and Neyla like this even better.  This way we could swim around her and surprise her and she was elated.  So far, Neyla had two big firsts, now it was our turn. 

            One of the many island gatherers brought a paddleboard and was very willing to let anyone try it, so Janae and I did.  I went first as Janae hung with baby Neyla and co.  I paddled out and only 20 feet later I saw so many amazing schools of fish below me I was shocked.  There were thousands of roughly 6-inch long fish that were a sort of light blue in color and they actually lit up as well.  It was like I was watching National Geographic, but instead of on TV it was through my own eyes.  I kept paddling beyond the diving platform that included a slide and a high dive and found a sunken plane.  Just off shore there is a sunken plane, helicopter and jeep for snorkelers to explore.  Aside from this amazing beauty, the paddleboard was super fun.  Especially in the lagoon side where the water is quite calm, you felt like you could paddle forever.  However, I quickly came back and allowed Janae to go exploring. 

            As I came back to the beach and took Neyla and Janae headed out, the clouds quickly became ominous yet again.  I decided to take Neyla back into the huts for a lunch break and as we did the downpour came.  We watched mommy out on the paddleboard getting soaked in what was a monsoon type downpour.  As she made it out to the platform she ditched the paddleboard for a second and went down the slide.  This is what I love about Janae so much, as most people hurriedly left the water she loved the stormy downpour and embraced it.  She kept paddle boarding all through the storm like nothing was happening and she loved it.  Just as she returned to shore, the clouds broke and rain stopped. 

            We had some lunch in the hut and afterwards I decided I was going to try my new snorkel gear.  I threw my mask and snorkel on and headed out with our new neighbor, colleague and friend, David.  This was yet another first for me.  I had never snorkeled before.  I had no idea what I was in for, but in just a few moments I would see a rainbow of fish all surrounding me that I could reach out and touch them.  David and I swam all the way out to the sunken airplane, where it was about 20 feet deep and we were about 300 yards off the shore.  I was so intently looking at the beautiful array of fish that I hadn’t realized just how far we had swam.  At this point, I looked at David and asked, “Is there anything dangerous out here that I should be worried about?”  To which David started laughing and said, “I’m not sure I should answer that right now.” 

            As we returned to shore David told me that there were several types of sharks out there, but that most of them weren’t dangerous.  I was sort of glad he didn’t tell me that while we were out because I didn’t want to think about those sharks on the swim back, it was calming just to look down at the amazing fish below.  A bit later David and I swam back out to the platform and decided to give the high dive a try.  It wasn’t like a high dive in America.  This one was rusty and rickety and had no side handle to hold as you walked out.  This being my first time I was a bit scared, but David courageously walked up and dove in like it was no big deal.  As I climbed the ladder, by the way it is literally a ladder, to the top I realized this is a bit higher than I was used to, but as I got to the railless top of the board I saw the fish below that I was about to jump into.  You can’t quite tell when you jump in, but if you go underwater and watch someone jump in it really is quite amazing to see the fish scurry off in every direction when a human comes crashing into their abode. 

            We had arrived at the island a bit before 1:00 and now it was approaching 6:00 and our boat was leaving very soon.  I got out of the water to dry off and was mesmerized by what I had seen and experienced.  The pigs and dogs fighting, swimming with Neyla, paddle-boarding, snorkeling, diving into the fish and seeing the sunken plane were all phenomenal experiences all packed into 5 hours that I and we will never forget. 

  

Janae's First Impression of Majuro

Bryan asked me to guest blog about my first impressions of Majuro (pronounced Madge-ew-row). Let me first say Yokwe, or hello (and goodbye) in Marshallese. My first impression is that I love it. And it’s hot. That probably ranks up in the biggest surprises. I thought the climate was more temperate. When I saw 80 degrees before we came, I thought of the summer days in Chicago where the warm breeze feels good on your skin. I’m no meteorologist but I guess when you mix in 100% humidity, it turns into 80 feels like 100. But let me also tell you, we are 15 feet from the ocean, and the breeze you get off that puppy feels great. So we open the windows, turn off the AC, and let the ocean mist cool us off. Did I mention we live in paradise? May I also mention running AC is 4x the energy cost as that of the States?  

The town is dilapidated. The buildings are in rough shape not just because the country is poor, but because the ocean is brutal on buildings. Our apartment is only a year and a half old and already there’s some rust on the outlets, mold in the ceiling. It’s just the problem with living on an island. We’re in the city part of the island (I’ve heard people refer to it as downtown which always makes me smile). There’s no ocean boardwalk or pristine walking paths. There’s The Road. There’s one road that goes through the whole island (the island is shaped like a U and very skinny). When I asked the name of the road, I got an “I don’t know, The Road?” So that’s what we call it.

The people always make an experience so let me tell you the people seem great. It’s a small town here, 20k people in the capital city. Everyone knows everyone, in a good way. We meet new people every time we go out, and they always go “oh… you’re the new Coop teacher!” (well they say that to Bryan, I’m now the teacher’s wife, which could be a whole other blog post). We’ve been invited to and gone to the US Ambassador’s house, and the Australian ambassador’s party is tomorrow. We’ve met a few of the teachers… one’s from Canada, one couple from South Africa, one from Fiji, one from Japan. One of our hopes as we raise Neyla is to make her globally aware. This is a start.

When we first moved into our apartment, it was mostly furnished. One of the things the previous tenants left were straws and I thought, how strange, they must love to stay young (they were the ones with all the fun loops). Then I figured it out: coconuts. Coconuts, coconuts, coconuts. Did I mention I love coconuts? I am currently sipping coconut juice straight from the source with… you guessed it, my old tenant’s straw. Anyone know any good recipes using fresh coconut? Email me.

Here are some other fun facts and surprises in no particular order:

1)    You can find pretty much all your basics here, albeit for a premium over what the cost would be in the states. My most surprising find was the exact Melissa and Doug toy set that I had gotten my niece for her birthday. Small world.

2)    There are sandy beaches here but mostly they are rocky. I have snorkel gear coming with some swim shoes, hopefully soon. Until then I have to stick to the sandy beaches. Note: don’t send packages parcel post to here.

3)    Bryan and I tried to go to Ace Hardware (yes, THE Ace Hardware, the only US chain that I know of here so far). On the door it said closed for a week. I put that one in my “pace of island living” mental folder.

4)    The food here has been really good so far. I had “traditional” Marshallese food which consisted of pumpkin rice and fried chicken. Today I had all you can eat sushi…. For $12. If you try to get American food at the grocery store it can get very expensive, but for all the local stuff it’s very cheap. Also I’m pretty sure that all you can eat sushi is the most expensive meal in town.

5)    The Marshallese have two favorite sports: basketball and tennis. That happens to be my two favorite sports as well. That will work out splendidly.

6)    Bugs. My worst fear was cockroaches in my home but I have been very lucky so far and don’t have any. They are on the island, but I’ve avoided that so far. We did buy pasta and when we boiled it, we saw some ants floating in our water. We made a mental note to buy the plastic wrapped pasta going forward instead of the boxed kind.

7)    Bryan and I really like that there is such a de-emphasis on stuff. People have stuff, but only enough to get by. There’s not a shopping culture here and it’s quite refreshing.

In the words of my neighbor: “I love it here! But I pretty much love life wherever I live.” Amen, my friend.