One Fine Day in Kwajalein

I realized I kind of skipped over the whole description of Ebeye. I was expecting worse conditions when I came, but it’s still no America. It’s one completely flat mile, with 15,000 people living on it. With all these people, there are houses everywhere. Most of the houses are touching the one next to it. And I’m using the word house loosely. They’re more like scraps of plywood as walls, sheets of metal as a roof with rocks holding it down, and gravel as the floor. There is hardly any grass. Sand, roads, and sidewalks cover the whole ground. Kids everywhere—I tried counting kids on my .4 mile walk home from school, too many to count, I’m thinking over two hundred. Trash everywhere. Dogs everywhere. It’s called the armpit of the Pacific, but I think that’s harsh. The people are wonderful and they really do make this place beautiful. I’ve heard Ebeye is nothing like the other islands. Our apartment is nice though. It’s very simple; we have A/C, working appliances, a couple cushioned chairs. We have salty cold showers. I kind of like them, though. They’re refreshing and it reminds me that cold still exists.

Outside our window

Outside the 6th grade classroom

I got to go to Kwajalein Thursday after school! It kind of felt like Disneyland after being here for two weeks (that’s not long at all—it feels so much longer than that!). Emily and I were pretty excited about going, so we put on a little make-up before we left. Ha! Kwaj is a US military base, so it’s very American. Emily, Blake, Ryan (the principal) and I went as the “softball coaches.” We got on the boat and thirty minutes later we were in what looked like Florida. Wide-open spaces, lots of palm trees, and grass! There were American people everywhere, smiling and riding their basket-ed bikes all around. It was kind of cute. We corralled the kids, walked to the field, and watched them play softball. They don’t have fields in Ebeye so some of them had never played. They did really well though. The “team” was 5th and 6th grade, so most of them were my kids. It was nice seeing them outside of the classroom, in a non-frustrating setting. They really are cool kids. And they won! We had a lot of fun. It kind of felt like a dream seeing the kids in what looked like America. A good dream, but it still feels like a dream thinking about it. I forgot my camera when we went, but Blake had his so I took a bunch of pictures with his camera. I'll get them from him soon and post them! I'm going to start taking more pictures, or I'll be really mad at myself when I leave.

Kenye in Kwaj!

My ever-so-official pass into Kwaj. Seriously, this is it.

Me and Oronia

Ngedikes and Oronia

Some of the 6th grade cool kids

The beautiful Kwajalein

 There are restaurants on Kwaj—so we got Subway after the game! And let me tell you, I’ve never enjoyed a Subway sandwich more. It tasted so healthy and fresh. Healthy and fresh is very very expensive on Ebeye. We also got Burger King fries: not healthy and fresh, but so great!

Emily and I waiting for our Subway!

Ngedikes and I

Kristy, Flora, Ngedikes, Oronia, and Almi

I'm not sure the one on the left, Rufos with the helmet, Ashiro, and the wiseman Malvin

So pretty!

The kids playing softball

Rufos running to first

Flora on the base

After a thirty minute boat ride, we were back on Ebeye. Coming back, we felt a little guilty. Out of the four SMs that were here before us, only one has been to Kwaj and they all want to go. And now the three new SMs were asked to go first month of being here. We all felt kind of bad coming back to the apartment, but they didn’t make us feel bad and we had a fun evening. We all get along pretty well. With the tiny living area, different personalities, and all the time spent together, I think we’re doing great.

While we were on Kwaj, I took one of my students’ necklaces before the game. I said, “I’ll give it back when we get home. No necklaces.” She gave it to me and I had it with my stuff. When I went to get my stuff, it was gone. I feel so bad! It wasn’t like a family heirloom, just a normal kid necklace, but I took it and lost it! She asked me for it Friday in class and I said, “No talking! We’re taking a test.” How rude! I feel really bad I lost it. I dreamt about it that night. I guess I should just tell her and give her a few dollars to get another one. Bad teacher…

Friday I gave a vocab test to 6th grade. One of the boys, Junior, (who is usually pretty loud and distracting) has really started trying harder the last few days. I’ve been making a point to encourage him so he’ll keep up his effort. When he turned in his vocab test, I looked it over and I told him they were all correct. He was SO excited! His face just lit up and he had this huge smile on his face. I put up my hand to high five him and he stepped into it and hit my hand so excitedly! Then he strutted back to his desk. Haha! Kids are hilarious. Teaching is really hard for me, but little things like that are so encouraging.

I want to take pictures of all my 6th graders and put them up here. I’ll work on that! I hope you all are having a great weekend. Love to you all.