Some perspective would help...

           I work really hard on a daily basis to find positives in everything.  Some days and with some people this can be a difficult task, but a worthwhile one.  People who are continually negative and have a pessimistic view on seemingly everything perplex me.  I often remember the film “American Beauty” and recall how the main character can find beauty even in an old plastic bag being blown by the wind.  It may seem silly, but I don’t know how you could get through life sanely without making extra effort to have a positive outlook. 

For some people this can be quite easy.  I’m sure we all know those who are always kind, happy and positive; however, I’m just as sure that we all know those people who are rude, downers and negative about everything.  The world is full of so much negativity; civil war in Syria, 2 disastrous wars fought by America, rape in India, terrorists gaining ground in Mali, bombings in Turkey and on and on and on.  However, the little things in life are often overlooked.  The smile between two strangers, the warm embrace between a father and his daughter at the airport or the person that takes time from his day to feed and listen to a homeless person. 

All too often our collective attention via the mass media is drawn to the negative, but rarely are the small positives that occur every minute, every hour and every day are brought to our attention.  This wave of negativity is not just seen through the mainstream media, but also in social media.  The negativity of political posts and discussions has hit a chronic level.  I am willing, if not eager, to discuss and debate via Facebook, but the rude and overtly negative posts unwilling for intellectual discussion have gotten all too common.  The few, but refreshing, posts with uplifting quotes or images can be inspiring, but are way too frequent to the hatred and disrespect afforded to our elected officials.  My hope is that our modern society could take stock a bit more of just how fortunate we are and how beautiful the world can be and not disregard the negative in the world, but measure it against the positive that is not seen in the small moments of the day.  

Not a Paradise for all...

           As you may have read in my previous blog Janae, Neyla and I have found a little paradise for us.  I love my teaching job.  Janae and Neyla love spending so much time with each other.  We love the simpler, slower way of life here, but Majuro and the Marshall Islands are not a paradise for all who live here.  The average per capita income here is less than $2000 per year and the country is so far away from everything that simple imported food costs as much and usually more than it does in the United States where the average income is 20 times higher.  The history of the Marshall Islands is an interesting one and like any other country, they have a hard time stepping out from the shadow of their history, even when they try. 

            The first people came here approximately 2000 years ago.  Not much other than Island legends are for sure known of early Marshallese life other than they were great fisherman, sailors in their amazing outriggers and used innovative “stick charts” that were used for navigating the Pacific.  In the early 1500’s Spanish explorers ran into the series of Atolls and brought Christianity to the Marshallese.  Even to this day Christianity is a very dear to most of the Marshallese people.  Somewhere along the way English explorer John Marshall also ran into the islands though never set foot on them and yet somehow his name was used to describe these islands.  It is quite strange to me that they never officially changed the name of the country to something more for the people and not named after an English guy who never really came here.

The Spanish claimed the islands, but had very little to do with anything here until they sold the islands to the Germans in the mid 19^th Century.  I find it similarly strange that the Spanish could sell a bunch of islands to another country that they just happen to stumble upon 3 centuries ago.  The Germans didn’t seem too interested in these islands as several of the Germans who came here famously declared that these coral Atolls had no real value and would never be a productive branch of the Empire.  Therefore, aside from a few Germans coming here and mixing into Marshallese culture and bringing some of western culture with them, the Germans didn’t have a major impact here.  After WW1, the Japanese moved in and took over and quickly moved many men to the Island in an attempt to modernize these “backwards” people.  The Japanese brought schools, roads and even new modern inventions, as they were a newly industrialized nation.  The Japanese, like many other colonial nations, always saw themselves as superior to those they were ruling and believed Marshallese culture primitive and quite silly. 

Let’s skip forward to after WW2.  The United States beat the Japanese in the Pacific and now were left with a bunch of islands to dole out essentially as they see fit.  The Marshalls were taken in by the United States as a protectorate, but not out of benevolence, the USA wanted something.  As one of the two dominant superpowers in the post-war world, the United States wanted something from everyone.  They had used Nuclear weapons against Japan, but little was still really known about this new weapon or just how powerful or potent it could be.  The military wanted to know more about effects and potential ways to utilize the newly found power of the atom. 

Leaders from the United States Navy went to a small Atoll in the northern part of the Marshalls, called Bikini.  There were just a few hundred people living on this Atoll and the USA wanted them to leave.  The military thought this would be the perfect place to test Nuclear weapons.  Why you may ask would they “need” an inhabited atoll when there were uninhabited atolls and islands that could be use?  Great question, and through much research I’ve yet to find an answer.  Apparently, to some US officials this was a perfect location and type of Atoll to nuke and destroy.  The officials used references to Christianity to the primitive leaders of the Bikini people and tried to convince them to leave for the “good of mankind.”  They did and now it is poisoned forever and the Bikini people are spread throughout the world in a sort of Diaspora.  That’s the short story, if you want to read the long one, check out a great book by Jack Niedenthal called, For the Good of Mankind. 

The largest bomb in human history ever exploded happened in 1954 in the Bikini Atoll, it was so large that it completely incinerated one of the islands in the Atoll and the nuclear dust and waste poisoned another near Atoll called Rongerik.  To the people living on Rongerik, this is known as the day of two suns.  As the Sun was rising in the East the Nuclear explosion went off in the west and looked as if another sun was rising.  The military knew the wind forecast for the day and that Rongerik would likely be poisoned, but they exploded the bomb anyway exposing the children of that atoll to burns and cancer, which obviously followed. 

This use of Marshallese land for over 50 nuclear explosions has linked the USA to the Marshall Islands forever.  In no way can the United States ever make up for destroying Bikini Atoll and incinerating 3 of its islands.  In no way can the United States make up for the cancer and fallout sickness.  But it is the duty of the United States to try to make up for this shame.  They supply much of the money for the Marshallese medical and postal system and many grants to the schools and public works.  Modern life was brought to an island ill equipped for modern life by the Japanese and Americans and now modern life here is dependent upon those two countries aid. 

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Fast-forward to 2013 and the Marshall Islands is a beautiful place with a proud but impoverished population.  The problematic issues here include, but are not limited to, street children with seemingly no parents and no school to attend, a quasi-feudal oligarchy that really rules the country, a climate that does not mix with modern life, an economy dependant upon foreign aid (it doesn’t have to be this way), and the most critical problem of all, global warming.  Scientists forecast that these coral Atolls have less than 50 years left if the warming trends continue at their current rates.  What happens to these people then when their country is submerged under the vast Pacific?  That remains to be seen, but in the present there are many folks here not living in the paradise that this country could be. 

The United Nations ranks every country in every region of the world for education based on how well their students perform on certain assessments.  The Marshall Islands has consistently ranked dead last in the Oceania region each and every year.  Part of the major problem is that the people who live on the “outer islands” have very little practical purpose for an education.  Most of them live a self-sustaining life with little or no knowledge of the modern world and to learn English and other core classes seems a bit silly.  Add to this that the government has mandated that all education be in English to a group of kids whom most rarely if ever speak English at home.  Then, if and only if, students pass an entrance exam in 8^th grade are they allowed to attend of the few high schools in larger islands.  They then are forced to leave everything they’ve ever known behind and go to a more urban island to get a high school degree that again, serves little practical purpose for them.  It is difficult to assert the values of a modern western democracy into people who live on a self-sustaining tiny island disconnected from the modern world.  I wonder if education couldn’t be more practical here and a little less idealistic, as clearly the rankings show there are no results behind this attempt at a modern education system. 

The bigger problem stemming from this education system or lack thereof, is that unlike the United States, not all kids are mandated to go to school and if they were, there would be no way to afford it.  The tragic result is an over abundance of street children that really do nothing during the day.  They have no place in the community and grow up to continue to have no sense of belonging and purpose.  Crime is not very prevalent here in the Marshalls, but one can only wonder what will become of these street children as they grow up.  The birth rate here is one of the highest in the world at just over 7 and as population continues to rise and the government and economy are still unable to meet the needs of all of these children, hope starts to wane.  Something must be done about these children.  Some programs must be started, but as far as I can tell, little care is afforded to these poor souls.

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For Janae and I the climate here is beautiful.  At night it is in the low 70’s with a lovely wind off of the ocean and during the day even when it is sunny and mid to high 80’s the air conditioning is not needed as the same wind off the ocean is a welcome natural cooling device.  However, given these splendid positives of the climate, the over-whelming negative is the difficulty to keep anything clean and new.  The humid and salty air erodes all modern goods.  The life of electronics and metals are extremely low here and add to that the increased price since shipping here can be so challenging.  While a TV or computers are slightly more expensive here, their lifespan here is a quarter of what it’d be in Chicago or Colorado.  The “sweat” of humidity and salt collect everywhere and erode.  Cars are in horrible shape in just a year or two.  Buildings that look a half a century old are maybe a decade.  Freshly painted wood peels and looks as if it’d never been painted at all let alone just a few short weeks ago.  Add to this the fact that modern culture is extremely wasteful.  All the packaging and boxing up of things shipped in has to go somewhere and while the money isn’t here to recycle, the dump on the island is more than over-flowing.  No, not everything here is a paradise.  In fact, there are more practical problems and issues here than one could imagine.  Most people can see these clear issues, but don’t have the money or any ideas on how to resolve them.  The next generation of Marshallese is going to have quite the issues to deal with that much is clear.

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It is very difficult for any country to overcome their history and culture.  Many people can often become nostalgic about the worst part of their histories simply for the sake that it offers some sense of knowing who you are.  Americans rarely can understand this sentiment as we really don’t have too much of a deep history as a people.  Our country is very young and we have the luxury of starting on a sort of blank slate after the Native Americans were either forced off land or violently removed from much of American land.  The Marshall Islands’ history is one of tradition.  Traditionally each of the island Atolls had a unique group of people with some of their own traditions.  The two things that seem to unite Marshallese amongst all else are the Marshallese language and Christianity.  The official name of the country is The Republic of the Marshall Islands.  I suppose that in theory this country is a republic, but then there’s always reality with which to deal.   Historically, before modern life and a cash economy came to these atolls, each atoll had a chief called an Irojj.  They “owned” the land and their role was to take care of the people of their atoll.  It was a sort of feudal society as there was no money economy.  The Irojj was a first amongst equals and used his wisdom to ensure that all people of the island had what they needed.  This created a system like most hunter-gatherer societies have always had where private property not only didn’t exist but wasn’t a concept.  Most everything was shared and for the whole group to survive, everyone needed to pull their weight. 

This former style of life that somewhat still exists on some of the outer islands has been replaced for most Marshallese by modern life.  However, the Irojj’s still own all of the land, but now that land is worth money in a cash economy.  They can charge whatever rent they want to whoever they want and they reap all the profits simply by birth.  The piece of property that is worth the most in the Marshall Islands is on the largest of the atolls, Kwajalein.  It is worth so much because the United States still has a missile-testing base there and rents the land, not from the Marshallese government, but directly from the Irojj.  Therefore, the millions of dollars that the United States pays goes directly to the Irojj and rarely benefits anyone in Kwajalein.  In fact, Ebeye is the most populated island in Kwajalein and is actually the most densely populated place on Earth and is essentially a massive shantytown of 10,000 people.  The Irojj seemingly puts little, if any, of his profits into Ebeye, as his ancient duty suggests that he should.  In fact, the sad truth is that many of the Irojj’s take their profits and live abroad in Hawaii, California or Oregon. 

What occasionally happens on Majuro and the most populated atolls is that when the Irojj is low on cash, he will demand “rent” from those living on his land, as there is little or no public or private land in the Marshalls, it is all owned by an Irojj.  There is little in the way of “contracts” that bind this.  I’ve heard anecdotes of a renter paying for 5 years of rent to the Irojj and then the Irojj dying in 2 years and the new “landowner” comes looking for rent saying that that old agreement was with the last Irojj.  I haven’t studied the Marshallese Constitution in any substantial way, but this is seemingly all too commonplace to be illegal.  One of the major political parties here is for keeping the “rights” of the Irojj landowners and the other major party is a bit more progressive, wanting land reform and a more free and liberal economy where commoners can own land. 

The personally sad part in all of this for me is the tragic role that my country plays in this.  We keep paying 10’s of millions of dollars per year to the Irojj’s to use the base at Kwajalein as a missile testing center with the complete knowledge that the Irojj’s use this money for their personal gain and to keep this Oligarchy running.  It reminds me a bit of our silly support of the Saud family running Saudi Arabia.  We keep getting oil and cooperation from them and so we turn a blind eye to the human rights situation on the ground.  It is the same sort of situation often times here.  We keep our base, hand over money that could be developing a country to Medieval Lords who demand cultural and financial homage and the poor continue their struggle to gain simple human dignity.  I even heard a story that some Irojj’s demand that when you walk near them you get on your knees or if women do not wear their skirts all the way to their ankles they will face physical repercussions.  Of course, not all Irojj’s are like this, but the fact that it can happen legally at all is a travesty and the fact that we implicitly endorse this by again exchanging human rights for military bases is a shameful reality. 

            The biggest issue of all in the Marshall Islands is not one of opportunity or poverty, but one of science.  As global warming has persisted and the oceans have begun to rise, scientists essentially have predicted that small and flat coral atolls like the Marshalls will cease to exist in 50 or less years.  By this I mean to say that the entire country will lie beneath sea level and will become inhabitable.  What will happen then?  Where will the citizens of this country go?  Who will take them in?  When a country literally disappears from a map, do they still keep their government and voting rights in the UN?  Do you need land to have a country?

            All of these issues will need to be addressed in the future, since it is an almost certainty that some country, if not the Marshalls, will face this peculiar fate.  It has never been more important for this young generation of Marshallese to be dedicated to education and citizenship.  The many problems created in the last half a decade here will inevitably fall on their shoulders and I pray that I can inspire some of these young kids to take a hold of their country’s future and turn these struggles into a proper tropical paradise.  

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.

Greetings from Majuro... First Impressions

           My first impression of Majuro was from the sky.  As we approached I saw a very small Atoll out of the plane window that looked both desolate and beautiful.  Shortly thereafter I saw another Atoll and knew it was Majuro.  It was the right shape and I could see ships and the “downtown” area, but it was much smaller than I had imagined.  This excited both Janae and I as we were looking forward to living in a small community.  We banked left and headed in for a landing at the tiniest landing strip that I had ever seen.  At the end of the runway we took a slight left turn and arrived at the “terminal.”  This was by far the smallest airport that I had ever seen, but it was open air and very quaint.  The Republic of Marshall Islands’ customs office was built and supported by both the American and Australian governments.  It was a quick process to get in and if you simply turn around, baggage claim is right there.  It too is all open air and is a few guys empting luggage into large wooden crates and forklifting them the 150 yards to a small ramp where people hustle over to claim their luggage. 

(Baggage Claim in Majuro)

            We had checked 3 bags total and 2 came rather quickly, but Neyla’s pack n’ play hadn’t yet arrived.  It was looking as if it wasn’t coming, since we were one of the few people still waiting for a bag, but the attendant kept telling me there were more bags coming.  I quickly gave up on this promise as I saw the United 737-800 pulling away from the quaint terminal and back onto the runway to head to another Marshallese island called Kwajalein.  I filled out some paperwork and the kind Marshallese United manager, JC, promised they would deliver it as soon as it arrived or they found it or whatever.  Bear in mind that this whole process took well over an    hour in a tiny space.  We weren’t upset and it was really no big deal, but it was a quick introduction to Marshallese culture.  It’s just slower paced here and we are elated about that.  I’m sure the pack n’ play will show up and when it does, Neyla can have her own bed.  Until it does show, she can sleep in between us like babies have always done for most of human history. 

            On the road that runs the length of Majuro Atoll we got a sense of the people and community.  It is very poor.  And despite this fact there are many people out enjoying the hot and humid weather.  There really is only one road on Majuro and when we asked what the name of it was nobody seemed to know.  I suppose if there is only one road it doesn’t need to be named.  We went over the only bridge on Majuro, which was also the highest point on the island and we passed by the Marshall Islands Resort.  This resort was built by the Marshall Islands government years ago to host some Pacific conference or another with the thought that having it would then spur tourism to the country.  This never happened.  The hotel remains mostly vacant at all times and time has surely taken its toll on the resort.  The views are incredible and the beaches are phenomenal for sure, but it’s becoming a bit dilapidated without any visitors.  There is a state of the art gym built by the Japanese government, a bowling alley and a movie theater, but they have all been closed down in the last 5 years.  There is no money to keep them alive and this has a direct negative affect on the youth.  Because of this there is little for the Marshallese youth to do in their free time.

            As we arrived at Majuro Cooperative School, where I will shortly be teaching 8^th grade, there were wild cats, dogs and chickens all playing in the vicinity.  The school facilities were nice, but in no way compared to the suburban schools of Chicago that I was used to.  There were shanties surrounding the school and as we pulled in all of the people waved happily at us.  We arrived at our new house on campus and were blown away by the views.  Our bedroom windows look out over the Pacific and we can smell the salt in the air and hear the waves crashing less than 15 yards from our house.  It is small and cozy and perfect.  I went out with my Principal and her partner to get some clean drinkable water and bed linens.  The stores were like smaller versions of a Costco and actually had some good deals and more of a selection of goods that I’d have imagined.  We stopped by the electric company and purchased some electricity and headed back to our new home to settle in and unpack. 

            As I write this it is 1:29 in the afternoon in Majuro and I have the two windows in our bedroom wide open.  The ocean breeze is rushing through our home and the crash of the waves is music to my ears.  Neyla is sleeping on our bed next to me and too is enjoying the beautiful orchestra of the Pacific.  It’s only been a few hours, but this is our dream come true.  

Colorado Reflections

       

            Back in mid-September my wife and I and our little daughter Neyla made the journey to Colorado.  We have lived in Copper Mountain, CO now for about 3 months and tonight is our last night here.  Our time in the mountains has been peaceful, relaxing and refreshing and it has been a time that we will never forget. 

            In September we found our love of the mountains.  We came right at the time when the Aspen trees were a bright gold and juxtaposed to the pine trees and the rocky mountains made for a truly majestic landscape.  Each day when Janae was finished working, usually around 3 pm or so, we went for a family hike.  I would put Neyla in the Bjorn and we would hike around Copper or we would go to our favorite hiking spot, Breckenridge.  There were some stunningly breath-taking hikes in Breckenridge and we would make the 15-minute drive as often as we could.  Neyla loves the outdoors, especially hiking.  Either she’ll catch up on some much needed sleep or she stares at nature awingly singing.  I kid you not, it’s really quite adorable.  The winds were calm and the skies were clear for seemingly the entire month of September and we sure took advantage.  During our first few weeks here I was also trying to sharpen my golf game since I had qualified for the Colorado Mid-Amateur.  I would hit balls and putt at the Breckenridge driving range, while Janae and Neyla would play on the ground or walk around the beautiful golf course.  Our first month living in Colorado was splendid and culminated with me finishing tied for 3^rd in my first golf tournament ever in Colorado. 

            October came so quickly and those beautiful Aspen trees quickly lost their golden leaves.  I hung up the golf clubs for the year and we were preparing to ski come November.  But October at Copper Mountain is a strange time.  Nobody lives here and no shops or restaurants are open.  We felt like we were the only people here, and we may very well have been.  The beauty of this was that we had the whole place to ourselves; it felt more like Rusin Mountain than Copper Mountain.  We hiked anytime we could and since the weather was so fantastic that meant we hiked virtually everyday.  We discovered new hikes and blazed the Colorado Trail as often as we could since it runs right through Copper.  It was a beautiful month where the three of us spent almost every minute of everyday together and it was perfect.  October ended with Neyla’s first Halloween and her being carried around her cousins’ Broomfield neighborhood in her kitty cat costume. 

            November came and as it did my parents showed up in Colorado for a visit.  Janae and I were under no illusions; they were clearly here to see Neyla.  ;-)  Their visit coincided with opening weekend of ski season at Copper and although it was warm and sunny they had found someway to make enough snow to open several runs.  My parents loved hanging out with Neyla, so Janae and I got to spend some quality time on the slopes and at the pub together.  Their visit ended with a day in Boulder and a brilliant weather day it was.  We got to walk around and shop on Pearl St. and had a nice lunch with Janae’s family joining us as well.  The day after my parents left was Election Day and I am happy to say I finally had the privilege to vote in a swing state!  Shortly after Election Day, I found a job opening on Craigslist for an 8^th grade-teaching job in the Marshall Islands.  It was November 9 and Janae and I got our hopes up for relocating once again but this time to the middle of the Pacific Ocean.  To make a long story short, I got the job and we are moving right after Christmas.  (For more info, see my “If you want to make God laugh” post).  Thanksgiving was down in Broomfield at Janae’s parents house and by that time I had gotten the offer for my new job in Majuro and planning had begun to move half way around the world.  November was a life-changing month to say the least. 

            By the time December snuck up on us we were deep into the planning stages for moving to Majuro, Marshall Islands.  We had sent several packages, booked our flights and bought plenty of sunscreen.  I had been spending any free time I could preparing to teach in January (or blogging) and was getting more excited by the moment. The second weekend of December will always be a memorable one.  It was when two of our great friends came to visit, Susie and Landon.  It was a special weekend, but it was extraordinarily cold!  For all the great weather we’d seen in our brief stint in Colorado, this weekend made up for it.  The one silver lining was the beauty of the snow, but when you ventured outside it was freezing and windy adding up to below zero wind chills almost the entire weekend.  Despite the blast of frigid cold, it was a fantastic weekend.  Susie and Landon are great people and anyone would be blessed to have them as friends.  This weekend was also the 40^th anniversary of Copper Mountain, so on Saturday afternoon there was a Neil Diamond cover band and 72 cent beers.  Many good conversations were had in the hot tub, but none quite as good as the final afternoon where Landon and I debated the meaning of Freedom.  I think he’s still frustrated with me over that conversation, and despite some semantic disagreements between us, we both became smarter people and better friends. 

            That brings us to today, December 15, 2012, our last night living at Copper Mountain.  It is again just the 3 of us and we have been reflecting on our time here.  We will miss Copper, Colorado and all of our friends and family in Chicago, but we are so excited to begin our new life in Majuro.  In just two short weeks from now we will be settling in to a new country, culture and life and we couldn’t be more excited.  We have loved our time in Colorado and who knows, maybe we’ll live here again after Majuro, but for now, so long Colorado.