Day 65

March 5

 

Day 65:

 

            Today in class I passed back the kids’ tests with corrections and handed out their review packets. When I told them it was 12 pages they freaked out. Then I told them they had until Wednesday to finish them. They were still freaked out. After class, I walked with my first class to get donuts because they had won the competition with the other class for a better class average. Only 12 of the 31 students came, but that was fine with me; I didn’t have to baby sit as much and I didn’t have to throw down nearly as much money as I expected. It cost me $15 for 30 donuts and 12 waters. Gotta love Majuro prices. On the walk back I learned something interesting about some Marshallese custom. Some of them like wouldn’t leave the shop where we got the donuts. I had to remind them of the rule we all agreed on before we left the school: that they promised to all come back to school. James then informed me that some Marshallese believe that bad spirits will haunt you if you eat and walk at the same time. So I decided not to pass out anymore donuts but rather let the kids take them as they wanted if they were comfortable eating and walking. I got some great pictures of the kids. It was a good experience.

            After my walk through Rita, I came back to the trailer. I then ended up helping Derek take some stuff to the Nitijela. I’ll now take the time to explain what that means and it’s significance to our group. The Nitijela is the Marshallese Congress basically. Derek is involved with a group in Florida called Youth in Government. It’s a branch of the National YMCA that gets kids involved in government simulations. They also have a national conference in North Carolina every year. His involvement in YIG has translated to the Marshalls. So with his senior government classes he has been working the whole quarter on getting the kids to understand the processes of the government and drafting their own bills. When we went to Bikrin with Senator DeBrum he told him about what he wanted to do and eventually got the chamber of the Nitijela donated to him so that he could hold a Youth Nitijela in which the kids presented their bills and such in the actual chamber of the Nitijela. Well that event is tomorrow. Also, he’s trying to work with the YMCA, the Nitijela and Dartmouth to get 8 of his best students to come as foreign ambassadors to the YIG conference in North Carolina this summer. So he’s doing big things here and most of his work culminates tomorrow.

            Switching gears, tonight was the Tech rehearsal for the play. So we had the set painted black, had all of the lights and speakers set up, and I played the bongos. We started around 8 and went until about 11:30. Then I had to drive five kids home in the golf cart which, was not designed for seven people to lap up and ride on it. After that I came back to the trailer and passed out.