Week 2

This week went by really smoothly and definitely opened my eyes to what I need to learn for this upcoming year. The majority of our sessions focused on teaching methods and class management, concepts that are pretty new to me and will be necessary for me to survive in the classroom. This experience seems to be something you can try your best to prepare for but then you just have be able to roll with the punches once you get into the classroom. Seeing how adorable the Marshallese children are makes me really glad I got assigned to an elementary school.

Besides our teaching sessions, we have our language lessons almost every day of the week. I am fully convinced that our language group is by far the best. Simply put, our teacher Baby ROCKS. She spices up class with songs and games that we absolutely love, and our Marshallese is drastically improving. We’re going to perform one of the songs she taught us at our end of orientation talent show…will keep you all posted on that!

In my experiences, I’ve realized you need two major elements to survive in a new place: adaptability and a sense of humor. Case in point: we came back to Ajeltake one afternoon and I thought I saw a big spider on my bed. As I got closer, I realized it was an angry looking crab just hanging out on my pillow. As his beady little eyes stared at me and he raised his claws, I couldn’t help but laugh. Only in the Marshall Islands...

We registered at the US Embassy the other day as well, where the staff kindly provided us with Cokes and pizza…how wonderfully American! Each person introduced themselves to the staff there, and the Foreign Service Officer came up to me later, shook my hand, and said “It’s great to meet a fellow Tar Heel.” I never thought I’d be meeting another alum in the RMI, but I’m extremely proud to call UNC my alma mater after seeing the amazing things that so many alumni are doing.

The highlight of this weekend was definitely our trip to Laura, one of the prettiest places in Majuro. Our field directors rented us a truck for the weekend, so we loaded up the truck bed and set off for the beach there. Laura is located right where the ocean meets the lagoon at the point of the atoll. The sand was absolutely amazing, and the beach is really different than the more rocky areas near Ajeltake. Looking back, one of my favorite moments was the ride back…I felt like I was in a movie or something since we were all just so happy with sunburned cheeks and salty hair, mesmerized by the palm tree leaves zooming by overhead. How could you not be in a good mood after a day spent snorkeling, swimming, and climbing the coolest beach tree? Pictures to come soon!