Day 57

February 25


Day 57:

Happy Birthday Daddy Curt! Today is my grandfather’s 61st birthday (East Coast Time, anyway) so if you know him and you see him, let him know!!
As for my day, I woke up early to get to school in time to print everything out before the power went out. I knew what I wanted the kids to do but actually making up the worksheet was much harder than I anticipated. Luckily, I threw something together in time, printed it and got it copied about five minutes before the power went out. After that, in an attempt to conserve my computer battery, I read some Obama until it was time for class. Obama plug: Anyone who hasn’t read Dreams From my Father by Barack Obama needs to read it. It’s a great book about the inner struggle of being apart of two worlds; thus being apart of neither. It humanizes him on a level that I never would have expected. He doesn’t write extensively about politics, not so far anyway. He mentions it and explains its significance in his life but it’s more a look inside himself and how the absence, and brief presence, of his father has impacted his life. It’s really good.
So anyway, class went well. The kids acted fine and I’m pretty sure all the classes got a half day because the indoor plumbing wasn’t working. I went from school to the resort to use the net, workout and get some food. I had the chicken wings with sweet chili sauce, fried rice, cole slaw and fries. I got to Skype chat with Gramma briefly and she got to pass on my birthday wishes to Daddy Curt, that was nice. After that happened, my battery was at 13 minutes so I sat in the resort and read some more before my food came. Then I paid, went to workout after a minor roadblock from Manuma the security guard at the resort. Then I came back to the trailer. Now when the power is out, that includes the A/C obviously. But our trailer is positioned that it runs parallel to the “beach” and the water front during high tide is maybe ten feet from our trailer. So when the power goes out, there’s one spot in the living room that I LOVE to sit in with the window open because the ocean side breeze is just perfect. Every time it’s happened I’ve sat in that seat and usually fallen asleep. So I did that again today. When I got back Eric asked me if I wanted to go to the beach. To be honest, I just did my hair on Sunday and it had been looking REAL rough before then. I’m usually not a diva like that to skip out on the fun but I knew there was a basketball game coming up soon and between swimming again and playing in a game, it would look like I’d done nothing at all. He promised his kids he’d take them so he rented the golf cart again and he and Robyn went to the beach by the airport. Apparently ten of his kids showed up. I’m glad I didn’t go. I wasn’t in the mood for anymore kids for the day. Not that anything happened but our whole existence on this island is around kids and yes, I love them, but sometimes I need to be around people of a different age range…that speaks the same language as me.
Edie came and woke me to ask me if I wanted to watch play rehearsal. She then apologized profusely for waking me because I seemed to be enjoying my nap. I didn’t go then, and by the time I went it was over, but I did go to play rehearsal in time to hear Niten playing the Ukulele and all the leads singing along with him. I sat out there reading while Edie and Anna graded some of their work. It was cooler outside than in their trailer. I figured I’d read until the power came back on. Well I got tired of being out there and listening to Nitten try to teach Ben the soprano part of a Marshallese song so I went back to the trailer. That was when I saw Eric returning with the golf cart. He asked if I wanted to ride with and since I had nothing else to do until the power came back, I joined. We road the Rita loop and got some donuts, then road the Uliga back road before returning the golf cart. On the way back, we saw this guy, one of three crazy men on the island, get bitten by a dog. Although I have no tie to this man I feel very bad about this situation. This man was walking down the street with the same stuff he always has, two poles and a satchel over his shoulder. His name is Wilfred and we’ve been warned by the locals that he’s crazy, legitimately. It sounds like schizophrenia. There were several men seated outside of one of the hole-in-the-wall shops, probably about 20. The dog didn’t bother any of them. I feel even worse because I watched the whole thing happening and saw it coming. There were four of us and we were walking on the same side of the street as Wilfred. The dog trotted up behind him pretty calmly with its eyes fixed on his leg. He slowly opened his mouth and I remember my heart stopping for a second. Then the dog leapt and bit him on the back of the knee, latching his jaws into his skin to the point where Wilfred jerked his leg and the dogs body pulled with it. Wilfred then turned around, grabbed his leg and chucked one of his poles at the dog and screamed some Marshallese obscenities at the dog. Needless to say, we crossed the street and picked up some stones on the way. When we got back the power was on so I began to make dinner. I browned some ground beef and shrimp and put some Mexican flavor with it.
After eating, I sent some emails, watched an episode of Entourage and went to sleep.