January 13, 2010
Day 14:
Today was a great day. I woke up at 6:30 and just laid there for like ten minutes. The sleeping arrangement is definitely less than ideal at this point. I’m still sleeping on the floor on a pad that has about three feathers in it, so I might as well be sleeping on the hardwood. It’s actually better for my back to sleep on the floor but that’s only if I sleep on my back. I’m the kind of person that likes to switch positions throughout the night and this hardwood bed is not really very feasible for that. So after I woke up, I just laid there and stretched my back out; dozed in and out of consciousness until I finally decided to get up. Ben made some eggs of which Derek and I also partook. I left the apartment and, although I had more success finding a taxi this morning than yesterday, it was still quite the ordeal. Now, I supposed, Tuesday and Wednesday are the days when the whole island decides to taxi to work.
Now, it’s time for me to rant a little bit. I invite you all to read it however because you will definitely have something to say about it. So I get to school and because Ben was teaching all five periods by himself today, I walked to over to the middle school alone. I was crossing the lawn between the middle school and the high school and like always the kids greeted me. But there was one boy, in particular that I remember. I couldn’t tell you his name, or even what he looked like, but I can tell you what he said to me, “What’s up my negro.” Now, I’m going to back track now and explain the back story of negro in this country and why it’s controversial for me.
Earlier this week I spoke in Derek’s class about the Civil Rights Movement as a part of one of his literature classes reading the “I Have a Dream” speech. After speaking in that class, I was told that later that period, one student referred to black people as niggers. Derek then explained to me how he attempted to diffuse the situation but the first question he asked was, “Where did you hear that from?” The student told him Chris Tucker in Rush Hour. He then went on to explain the difference between negro and nigger which in this country are synonymous.
So when this child said “What’s up my negro?” I’m well aware that he might as well be saying, “What’s up my nigga.” To him, they are the same thing. So I had to make the decision of whether or not to correct this young boy and tell him that saying that is not okay (Which he wouldn’t understand – explanations of why coming later) or just respond with a “Good morning” because I know he meant no harm by it. I chose the later but this definitely bothered me.
In a country where there is no representation from African-Americans, it’s a shame that their only exposure to our culture is through mainstream media. This is a shame because mainstream media in no way, shape or form represents the complexity of the African Diaspora. I have expressed my opinion on many occasions that hip-hop should stop using the n-word so frequently in their music. Now I’m not against the n-word. Although it’s a social construct I believe that it is a symbol of unity and solidarity that Black people share with each other and have the right, as sufferers of the derogatory nature of the word, to then use it. I often compare this to a fat person calling another fat person chubby; or two known bulimics making skinny jokes to one another. People of the same kind have the ability to criticize and joke with each other in a way that others can’t. My problem with the n-word comes from when people abuse it: using it in the presence of those who, if they said it, would be chastised; and using it in mainstream media – which I’ll get to. If hip-hop was a genre that was only listened to by Black people, then my problem with the connection of the n-word and hip hop wouldn’t exist because we are all of the same blood. However, being that mainstream media is, in fact, mainstream, the media needs to take responsibility for some of it’s actions because, as here in the Marshalls, the only exposure they have of black people is through media.
So here in the Marshalls they don’t see black people as anything but…Chris Tucker. In fact, I was sitting at the resort one day when a Marshallese man’s phone rang and his ring tone was, in the voice of Chris Tucker, “Do you understand the words that are coming out of my mouth?” At the time it was hilarious. What a great ring tone! But now, considering the whole situation, I don’t think it’s so funny anymore. And many could say that I’m over-reacting but I’m one of the few black people who have been to the islands, as evident by the looks I get and the questions they ask me, and I feel like it’s my obligation to at least try to clarify the misconceptions that the third world has about African Americans.
Okay, I’ve gotten that out, and I still stand by my first line that today was a great day. Once I got to school, I didn’t have much work to do because my lesson plan was already done for today. I had some worksheets printed out already and so I came to the high school to use the internet. I caught up with a lot of people and got some more information about my Spring Break trip to Panama City Beach. Even though I’m sort of on an extended Winter break now. Whatever, you only live once.
Once class started, I took some of Garrod’s comments about class and applied them. I reviewed the first part of class, then I passed out handouts to the class, and then we did a fun activity where the kids gave each other the answers.
The handout had five, four-word sentences on it. I had them underline the subject and verb, and then circle the direct object. I then wrote those same five sentences on the board. I then had the whole class stand up, and in order for the students to sit down, they had to come up to the board and identify correctly the parts of speech. It was really funny, for everyone, when I chose the shortest kid in the class to circle the direct object of the first sentence. He walked up to the board and his reach was still about 18 inches lower than the bottom of the words in the first sentence. I stood there to see what he would do, I found it quite entertaining. In defeat he put the chalk down and walked back to his desk. The whole class laughed. I stopped him before he got back and asked him what he would have circled. He was right. I did this for all 5 sentences and most of the students got to come up to the board. I then followed that up with a quiz review session for the quiz that I’m giving tomorrow. ALL of them took notes on my review material which is the first time that’s happened and I feel confident that they’ll do much better on this quiz than the last.
After school, I came back to the high school teacher’s lounge to write the quiz and pretty much just be at school because Garrod doesn’t like us leaving before school’s over. While at the teacher’s lounge I talked with Anna about religion which was a conversation sparked because I’m reading The Purpose Driven Life. That then led into both of us talking about our religious/faith backgrounds and somehow we got into The Life of Pi by Pi Patel. We had to read it in high school but it’s about an Indian boy who practices Buddhism, Christianity and Judaism. It’s a very interesting account of how he finds parallels in all three and manages to practice all three.
After school I went back to the apartment where I made two grilled-cheese sandwiches. Before I even finished making them Eric and Ally came in from the elementary school, “Let’s jump off the bridge. Now. It’s high tide!”
I had mentioned jumping off the bridge before but I wasn’t terribly anxious to do it. I did, however, agree to do so. So I ate my grilled cheese and changed my clothes and Ben, Eric, Ally and I headed to Mt. Majuro, the highest point on the island. We were told that it’s 15 ft above sea level. So Eric decided he would jump first, so he did. He then explained the technique for swimming against the current and avoiding sea urchins and crabs. Next, Ben jumped. And then I did. It was DEFINITELY more than 15 ft. The high dive at Harper’s Point pool is 12 ft. I think. I hadn’t been in the ocean for three of four years so it was nice to say that I did that. After all, we had been on the island two weeks and no one had gotten in the water. I banged my left knee on a rock when a wave came through right when I was getting out of the water but it was a great experience nonetheless. So we decided that we’d jump again, this time together. And all the while, Ally’s photographing us. So we jump a second time and Ally got some great shots of us standing on the ledge, and then jumping. The second time I went into the water pencil-style and reached the bottom. When I pushed up from the bottom, I cut my toe on another rock. I got out of the water safely, we all did. Eric almost didn’t, he was trying to get out of the water before a huge wave came in and didn’t quite make it. He somehow held on and wasn’t washed away with the current. Yesterday, we successfully conquered Mt. Majuro. After the second jump we tried to calculate how high the jump was and it’s definitely more like 15 meters which is somewhere between 40 and 45 ft. The hang time was ridiculous and our velocities when we hit the water is definitely more than 15 feet. If I get a good jump off the diving board, I can get my feet to about 15 feet above the water and we were at least double that height.
After jumping off the bridge, we took showers, I cleaned out the cut on my foot, and shortly thereafter the others returned from play rehearsal. Edie and Ally cooked fajitas, black beans and rice for us. It was delicious. For some reason Anna hates the words moist and fajitas, so we were saying moist fajitas at random parts of the dinner and watching her react. Before Garrod got outside, I asked if everyone could avoid any debates over dinner just so that we could say we had a nice dinner free of controversy at least once. The discussion went well, somehow we got on the topic of tenure track professors versus visiting professors and that started to get a little heated so Eric and I left. It didn’t turn into anything I don’t think but I saw the potential and bailed. I decided to do a mash-up, which I hadn’t done in a while, because I heard a couple from Ben and Eric. I took the Ice Cream Paint Job instrumental and put the Hate it or Love it acapella over top of it and also the 99 problems acapella as well. I then mixed in some No Cielings and it turned out pretty nice. Next, Professor Garrod had us watch a movie that he had received from a man at the Marshall Islands Journal, the only newspaper in the country. It was a documentary about the relation between the island of Ebeye and the island of Kwajilien which is where the US Military base is. After the movie Eric and I subtly kicked everyone out so we could lay down for bed. We listened to some Mitch Hedburg comedy and before that was over, I was gone.
Today this week’s edition of the Marshall Islands Journal “hits news stands” and in this issue there is an article written by yours truly. Below is an exclusive look at that article.
An Unexpected Lesson
Reflections of a Dartmouth Volunteer
On day one I was introduced to the school during the Monday assembly and was asked to speak to the student body by Principal Lennja. I spoke briefly about who I am, a Dartmouth teaching intern; where I’m from, Cincinnati, Ohio; and why I’m in the Marshall Islands, to assist teaching at Majuro Middle School. I then observed Teacher Rosita’s 8th grade English class for two periods along with Ben Kahn, the other Dartmouth undergraduate teaching at MMS. Next, we went downstairs to Teacher Terry’s 7th grade English class. Teacher Terry’s son was sick so Ben and I had the students all to ourselves. Usually, this would have been a disaster; throwing two college juniors into a classroom of thirty 13-year-olds in a foreign country. Not in Majuro. The students welcomed us better than we could have dreamed. Not having a lesson plan, we decided to introduce ourselves, show the students where our hometowns are on the world map, and open the floor for questions.
Not many people had questions so, after a few seconds of silence, Ben said, “We’re here in Majuro to teach you but we’re also here to learn because you guys can teach us just as much as we can teach you.”
I was completely unsure of where he was going with this but then I was inspired by Ben’s statement. “Since we’re going to be teaching you English for the quarter, “ I said, “today, why don’t you all teach us some Marshallese?” No one responded.
“All we know how to say is Yokwe and komol. What else do you think we need to know?” Ben asked.
Again no one responded, “How do you say goodbye?”
Everyone responded, “Barloeok!”
For the next thirty minutes, the class enthusiastically translated common words around the school into Marshallese, such as: jolokbor, jouj, jikuul and komalij. The next class was the same and, because it was a half-day, my day ended with me copying the Marshallese words into our notebooks for future reference.
From the beginning, the Marshallese students have embraced me as their grammar teacher and have respectfully allowed me to do what I came here to do. Over the last week the students have been very responsive and well behaved in my classes. Not only are the students lively in the classroom but they are also quite welcoming outside the classroom as well. Whenever I see one of my students, or any students for that matter, they always smile and wave, “Hi Kyle!” It’s a great feeling to be some 10,000 miles away from my residence yet still feel, in a way, at home in Majuro after only a week and a half of being here. If this first week of school is any indicator of how the next nine weeks will operate, it’s going to be a great time in Room 107 at Majuro Middle School.
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