Sea Turtle Picture

SEA TURTLE!

Note: I would have posted more pictures from both Kwaj and my class picnic, but the server is REALLY slow today. Maybe I can get to NTA during Spring Break and upload some more. We shall see (since NTA costs money). This picture is currently my background picture. I find it soothing, for some reason.

A Dose of Reverse Culture Shock (plus a little on a class picnic)

3-31-09 (even though I am writing this on April 1st)

I am quite happily done with being sick. No more stuffy nose!!

I got my first dose of reverse culture shock this past weekend. You might be wondering how I could have a chance to suffer from RCS when I haven't gotten back from the Marshall Islands yet. Well, it's actually quite simple. Ebeye is in a peculiar situation. It is in Kwajalein Atoll, named after the largest island in the atoll. Kwajalein Island is home to a United States military base--they research missiles and other random stuff. About 1200 people live there, and only twelve families are actually military families. Everybody else is contractors and what not.

The missions committee from the Protestant church on Kwaj finagled it so that most of the missionaries who are on Ebeye got a chance to spend a weekend on Kwajalein. We took the 6:00 boat to Kwaj, then waited around while they processed us and made us visitor badges. Then they shuttled us to the Kwaj Lodge so we could drop off our gear in our rooms for the weekend. Each lady got her own room! (That was very nice, by the way.) Then they took us to the Adult Recreational Center and fed us pizza and subs from Subway. We played round-the-world ping pong and went swimming in a saltwater pool (it would be a waste for the pool to be fresh water) and then went to bed. We had our own Sabbath worship the next morning and everyone did their own thing for a few hours. They had given us gift cards in order for us to get food from the food court (Burger King and Baskin Robbins; Subway didn't participate) and so that's where I ate, even though it felt weird because it was Sabbath. One of the coolest things was that my roommate, Emily, had brought along her phone card and let me use it so I could call my mom and have her call me back (it was like calling California). I talked with my family close to two hours. In fact, I completely shocked my littlest brother, David. Mom says that his eyes got wide, his jaw dropped, his face turned red, he staggered back a step with his hand on his chest and then started laughing. It's nice to hear your family members' voices after eight months of not hearing them!

On Saturday night they had a potluck feast for us. (Potluck because they all contributed something to it; it wasn't catered like the pizza and subs.) They also did live music for us. We had good food and conversation and then went back to the Lodge. A group of us went swimming again, and then went to the ARC to play foosball and air hockey before the place closed. On Sunday morning, we visited their services (since a large portion of it was to honor the missionaries) and then we ate lunch at Cafe Pacific, a buffet place akin to Ryan's, but much smaller. Then Megan, Landen, and I walked to the Turtle Pond and saw the sea turtles that live in the pond. (I will try to post some pictures of them. They are so beautifully majestic.) Then I went back to the Lodge and then they shuttled us to the dock and we came back to Ebeye.

I thoroughly enjoyed myself, but found myself feeling irritated and sometimes downright angry about some of the situation. At least I recognized it for what it was--reverse culture shock. The streets on Kwaj were so clean and empty, and the place was so silent. I felt alternately relaxed and uptight by the cleanliness, emptiness, and silence. It was weird to be back in a place where no one gave me a second glance--I still stuck out, since I was easily recognizable as a visitor, but I didn't stick out quite as much as I do when I'm on Ebeye. It was nice to be in a place with fruit and vegetables so readily available, but it struck me as being completely unfair because of the massive lack of readily available vegetables and fruits on Ebeye. There's nothing barring the people on Kwaj from coming over to Ebeye (unlike the security checkpoint that we have to go through to get into Kwaj), but yet they are very unknowledgeable about life here. (Perhaps it's because they don't go into people's homes much. I don't know.) One of the ladies even asked me if we had refrigerators over here! I said that we do, and when the power goes off, we just leave the door closed. What did she think we stored our food in? Stone jars that we left in the coral soil?

It was strange that I both felt grateful and angry, but I quickly recognized what it was. I recognized it for RCS because of two things: 1) plenty of descriptions during SM class and 2) I remember how I felt after getting back after a month in India. I didn't know what it was after I got back from India, but I know now, and hopefully that makes my transition in early June a little easier. Despite the fact that I've mellowed quite a bit, I still have a temper that's pretty quick to flare. So I figure that I need to be careful when I get back--so I don't lash out at people who haven't done what I've done, so I don't judge them for not thinking the same way that I do, etc,. For there's a lot that I'm looking forward to: hot fresh water showers, seeing family and friends, seeing trees and grass, playing my bass clarinet, etc., but I know that I am different now, and that I just need to be aware of that. Now I'm definitely looking forward to camp and to going back to Southern (especially for the returning SM retreat; I'm pretty sure I'm going to need it!). I actually was relieved when we got back to Ebeye, and I'm not quite sure that I can define why I felt that way. Kwaj was nice, but I don't think I'd want to live there. I would get bored pretty quickly, and I felt disconnected from everybody--and although solitude and privacy can be nice and necessary at times, they're not the most important things in the world. I'm still really forming my thoughts about our weekend on Kwaj, and so maybe all of this rambling doesn't completely make sense. That's okay, I'm still working it all out. Just ask me in a couple months if you see me.

On Monday Emily and I had our combined class picnics on Shell Island. Our kids did an excellent job of planning, but I wished that more of the sophomores had brought the food they had said they would bring. We had enough food, but just barely. (By the way, that's not the normal way the food for a picnic goes.) A group of us came back a little before 4:00 PM and so I got to register for my next semester's classes. It was very exciting. I'll be taking sixteen hours of classes in the fall. Fun fun.

More later.

~Ashlee

Education Week and Sick Again (ARGH!)

3-24-09 Ah, Education Week. 'Twas a week dedicated to celebrating how much the Marshallese appreciate education--while almost no education took place. Ironic, eh? Monday (3-16) we had a very loong opening ceremony after a morning of classes. Tuesday there was a parade that went all the way around the island. Wednesday the elementary students had a spelling bee. Thursday the high school had a spelling bee, and on Friday, there was a talent show and a closing ceremony.

They stuffed all of the schools into the big gymnasium just a few alleys over from our school. I quickly grew tired of the kids (mostly high school, mind you) whining about the heat. Everyone was hot, but we teachers from different climates were in shirts that don't breathe well and so there. :) Our school was on time, but the ceremony still took place an hour after it was supposed to start, because we had to wait for the mayor to arrive. The organizers got slightly annoyed that the kids from all the schools were restless--but I don't blame the kids, ours in particular. They'd either sat on the dusty gym floor or squashed together on the benches we brought over for over an hour before it got started and they still had to sit through three people making speeches. But the ceremony eventually ended, and we went home, close to 4:00 PM (an hour after school usually gets out).

Tuesday we had first period, then went over to the gym again to organize for the parade. Since it was stifling hot and searingly sunny, I applied sunscreen and drank lots of water, thankful that I wasn't wearing a school uniform shirt that day (we don't have to on Tuesdays and Thursdays). We waited for about half an hour and then we trooped around the island. I was near the rear of our school's section, corralling children back into line (they have a tendency to try and dash off, either to disappear or to buy snacks) or speeding them up (because otherwise the Catholic school, Queen of Peace, would have begun walking on our heels by accident). We looped around the island (yes, the parade is on the main loop that encircles the entire little island) and then re-settled in the gym to watch the kids from Ebeye Calvalry School do something (they danced and sang).

Alas, all my precautions against the sun were for naught. I felt lightheaded and sick. I leaned against a pillar in the gym, and then the other teachers made me sit down in the only place that had a whisper of a breeze. Alan dashed off and bought me a Gatorade since I was out of liquids by that point. I drank it slowly, and was surprised when I ended up being handed a water bottle from the principal (because of course he'd also noticed that I felt poorly). After the program ended and the students dismissed for the day (it being only 12:30 or so), I went back to the school, sat in the teachers' work room and tried to cool off. Once I felt that I could make it home, I walked slowly back to our air conditioning. I spent three hours just chilling. When I felt better, I took two packages to the post office and sent them home. Then I went back to the apartments. I thought I was totally fine.

The next morning, I got up, got ready, and went to school. Sometime in the morning I developed a runny nose and felt slightly feverish, but I made it through my full day of classes (although a good number of my students were missing, since they had independently decided that Education Week meant that they had no school) and went home as soon as the tank was rung at the end of the day. Once in the apartment, I felt a lot better, but I worsened. I ended up missing prayer meeting and going to bed early.

Thursday morning came, and I stayed in bed. I just couldn't get warm (or cool). Even though the high school students had their spelling bee, I figured that if I spent a day being sick, I would get better faster and come back to work faster. I spent most of Thursday asleep, under four blankets with a fan pointed directly at me. (So, yeah, I was feverish and had the chills. Not fun.) People supplied me with tylenol and sinus medication, and that seemed to work. [I am happy to report that, in the high school, our students took three second places and a first place in spelling. Combine that with the elementary winners, and we had eleven placements total.] I was blessed in the fact that I wasn't nauseous and kept eating as much as I could (in fact, it was really the opposite: I was hungrier than usual. Feeding that fever, I suppose).

Friday I felt a tiny bit better. Not enough to go to the closing ceremony, though. I slept most of Friday away, and have had to content myself with descriptions of the hilarious (and/or painful) acts that everyone else watched. To be on the safe side, I stayed home on Sabbath, and by Saturday night, I was feeling really well. Sunday I walked myself very, very slowly to school (because I had to make lesson plans for this week), and the walk there and back tired me out. I still went to school on Monday (since I felt well enough to go, but still sick enough to be annoyed at being sick), and it was a very long day. I slept very well last night.

Today was the first day that I felt decently better. My nose is still sort of stuffy and I'm still a bit tired, but I feel much, much better than I did a week ago. I sincerely hope it's the last time I'm sick. I prefer being well, thank you.

I am thrilled to report to all of you that I have hit 188.5 pounds as of Sunday (and it was not due to being sick, since I was eating as much as I possibly could). I'm only 8.5 pounds away from the first weight goal I've set. I'm very excited.

More later.

A Picture for Jim (and others, too, of course)

3-18-09 All right, so I must explain the picture below. One of the lovely people who follow my blog asked for a view of what I see every day from the same height as the picture of Monday assembly (it's a few posts down). My computer has this program that stitches regular pictures together into a panoramic picture. I almost completely succeeded. There was one more picture that I had in this panorama, but it made a weird double vision of the road and the building next to the basketball court. So I took that out and have a better picture. However, that means that the basketball court looks like it's a triangle, when it's not. The picture goes from lagoonside to oceanside. Enjoy!

Third Quarter Exams, Spring Concert, and Megan's Birthday

3-16-09 We had third quarter exams this last week. It was quite obvious as soon as I began grading the tests that my students hadn't studied. It was slightly depressing, to be sure. That's only because most of my kids have been doing better grade-wise, but have now torpedoed their grades with one test. I already fiddled with the weights and gave participation points, too. There is nothing higher than a "B" in my sophomore English class--and I wonder if that's because I'm too hard of a teacher, if I'm not explaining the material well enough. I know it's partially because they don't study, but still I wonder. I get complaints that they "have always done so well in English." (That's the complaint from them, not their parents and/or guardians.) They complain that I make them write too much, that I make them do too much grammar homework, etc., I don't know if that's good or bad or somewhere in the middle.

Last week we also had Spring Concert--we started about an hour late (but that was a rather short waiting period). All the kids sang (except for the ninth-graders, since only two of them had shown up). My kids actually sang! (They had practiced, too, and that was just as surprising.) The concert went well, and I went home afterward and graded tests and review homework.

Sunday was Megan's birthday, and there were cakes and calzones made and eaten. We sang her "Happy Birthday" and John Mark gave her some grapefruit (one of her favorite fruits which are rare on this island).

We went swimming at Beach Park and played Keep Away with Alan's football. Sometimes it's NOT an advantage to be shorter and less strong than your opponents. *sigh* Oh well. There's at least one thing I will miss about salt water: how easily I float in it. Fresh water will be so much work in comparison. :)

More later.

Mostly About Diving (but about the weekend, too!)

3-8-09 This week was action-packed. I say that rather literally. I went back to school on Tuesday, but still wasn't feeling incredibly up to par. Wednesday dawned, and I did feel better. I also ended up in the lagoon, trying to make up my Underwater Navigation dive. I'm still a bit shaky on the usage of my compass, but I do have a little confidence in my counting of kick cycles. Thursday was even better. We had two dives planned--the first to a plane (or what's left of it) in the lagoon, and then a dive for about an hour later, after the sun had set.

Yes, I did just say after the sun set. Part of the advanced dive course is at least one dive at night, and our night dive was on Thursday night, after we had swapped our almost-empty tanks for freshly filled ones and munched on a roll or two while the sea-breeze blew and chilled us. I was equipped with my normal gear, plus a heavy-duty flashlight. Oh, that is one sweet flashlight! Hideo told me that he has been using it on the same battery for three months already, and the beam is still very bright. We suited up and stood on the beach, waiting for everyone to arrive so that we could get into the water, go down, and have a look around.

Being underwater at night is entirely different than being underwater in the day. It is both terrifying and thrilling (and I would not have missed it for anything!). We had our lights on and went down about twenty feet so we could look for fish and see the coral. The coral opens up at night to feed, so it's nothing like the hard branches we see during the day, but rather the polyps are like little fingers raking food out of the water. If I had turned my light off, I would have been in utter dark. Inky pitch-black dark, the sort of dark where you can't see your hand in front of your face. It's rather disorienting because a diver cannot use the sea floor as a guide to depth, and can never be quite sure where their hands, feet, and fins are. Happily, bubbles provide an up and a down. As it was, the lights only illuminated so much. We swam. I made sure to keep close to the group because I wanted to (and we were supposed to try to, anyway). I saw a fish that looked quite similar to Gil from the movie Finding Nemo (except that he was a good deal larger than my hand (or so it seemed). Some of my fellow divers saw a shark, but I didn't. Before we had gotten into the water, I had not wanted to encounter any sharks (it did not help that Lorraine was humming the theme from "Jaws"), but as we were diving, I realized that I really did want to see a shark (and still hope to see one before May).

Friday Emily and I had vespers. She arranged the song service (and got Jordan to play guitar), and I spoke. I've been reading 1st and 2nd Kings for my personal devotion, and I was really struck by some of my thoughts that I had concerning Ahab, king of Israel. Despite God trying to reach him through prophets and warnings, Ahab decided to be focused on the negative and to be "sullen and displeased." (The NKJV states that exact phrase at least twice!) To get his mind off of what God's men had said, he decided that he wanted to make a vegetable garden, and, for convenience, he wanted it right where Naboth's vineyard was. Naboth was completely within his rights to refuse the king's request that he give the king his vineyard, but Ahab goes home and sulks about the fact that Naboth would not give up the vineyard. Jezebel saunters in, tells him that he's the king and should be cheerful, and promptly goes out and arranges things so that he can have Naboth's vineyard. My point was that sometimes we humans decide to not deal with our issues directly and try to divert our attentions elsewhere (and sometimes those diversions are thwarted, because God wants to draw us closer to Him). I told my own story about having to choose between keeping Sabbath or going to a band contest, and ending up challenging people to listen to what God says and to draw closer to Him. Then we closed with a song and prayer and went our merry ways.

Jordan and I (though I must admit that it was mostly Jordan this week) planned for our AY program. We hit upon the idea of seeing how well people at the program knew each other, and so we had this list of random things and had pairs of people try to guess what the other person's favorite this or that were--and were not surprised when most people failed at even some of the most basic things. Then we doled out Scripture verses and had people read them and report on what the verses were about (and they were all about how God knows everything about us). Our challenge was that, even though God knows us so very, very well, we don't know Him as well as He would like. To get to know Him better, there are a few options: Bible study, prayer, nature, learning about Him from other people. The challenge was that we should try and get to know Him because of how well He knows and loves us.

Today (Sunday), we again went diving. This time we went diving at Shell Island. We geared up at Hideo's and went to Shell and went diving. Although, it was not nearly as simple as that may seem. First, Landen, Megan, and I were the first three into the water, and when Hideo got in, we followed him out to where we were supposed to be. Then we discovered that Lorraine and Emily F. were still near the shore. Hideo headed back towards shore and told us to wait there. That would not have been difficult except that it was high tide and the waves were decently sized and smacking us in the head repeatedly. I was glad for my snorkel and mask. Finally, he got back out there, and we went under. I descended pretty well. My ears equalized decently, although once or twice I had to kick furiously to stay at the depth I was in order to get my ears to clear, but I finally made it down to 110 feet. We swam around and through the same wreck we had been to before (the time we went diving with Pastor Rich), and then Hideo showed up and it was time to head up toward the shore.

This is the part where it got very interesting. I had been keeping an eye on Emily F. and Lorraine (since at one time or another they were both my buddies), but also kept close to Megan and Landen. However, Emily and Lorraine were together, so I kept close to Hideo and began swimming uphill. We had reached about sixty feet when Hideo asked where Emily and Lorraine were. I looked around and then shrugged. They were together and being buddies, so all was good, right? I looked back toward the ship and saw two shadows emerging from the blue gloom and pointed. Hideo turned and went to them. I noticed that Emily was pulling Lorraine along, and that Lorraine was holding her snorkel in her hand as if it were the Olympic torch or something. The second thing I noticed was that Emily was having to share air with Hideo, and upon wondering why, I realized it was because she had been underwater longer than we were. We swam and swam, and I kept looking back to see where everybody was. The current must have taken me slightly off course, because the others disappeared. I had to surface and look around. Upon seeing them, I re-descended and met up with them. Soon I was at the point where I had to switch from tank air to my snorkel because my tank was getting low.

Once we were back on land, I got the whole story about why Emily and Lorraine had been so far behind the rest of us. There is something that is a potential hazard of diving to depths of 80 plus feet, called nitrogen narcosis. To put it in the simplest terms I can, a diver's brain gets loopy off of the nitrogen they've been breathing under pressure. It can happen to anyone and can be affected by multiple factors like weight, age, experience, current fatigue, wrong breathing, and physical fitness. Scientists still don't truly know why it happens (so says my dive textbook). Divers call it "getting narked." It doesn't (to my understanding; it's what the book said) do permanent damage, but the reason why it's dangerous is because it can impair decision-making, ability to recognize and respond to danger, create undue anxiety (or euphoria) and end up with a diver doing things that they shouldn't. Therefore, it's dangerous not because it damages one's brain, but because it impairs it and could lead to mistakes with permanent consequences.

Well, Emily was running low on air because she had been down longer than the rest of us, and when she buddied up with Lorraine, she informed her of her low air, like buddies are supposed to. Lorraine just hung there in the water. Emily had to get her attention, ended up pulling off her snorkel (that's why Lorraine was holding it like the Olympic torch), and had to drag Lorraine toward the rest of us. She had to share air with Hideo because she was below 500 PSI. Lorraine explained that she had been totally fine when she suddenly was light-headed and couldn't decide where she wanted to go. The thought of sharing air with Emily never even entered her head, even though her alternative source of air was right where it was supposed to be. She just wanted to lay on the sand right there at sixty feet and chill, but decided against it and kneeled instead. (Still not a good thing, by the way.) She said her head did clear once we ascended far enough (ascension's the only "cure" for getting narked) and then felt really stupid, even though it could happen to any of us. (She is completely fine now, by the way. She wanted me [since I said that I was going to write about it and she was okay with that] to tell everyone who would be worried about her that she's okay now.

Now we're gearing up for third quarter final exams. I got my third box and it was very nice to get. Yay for new flip-flops! It's hard to believe that it's almost the end of the THIRD quarter, and that there is only one quarter left until I head back to Michigan City (and then to camp!). More later.

Some Pictures

The kitten the apartments have adopted and me (I took this photo with a wriggling kitty while I was walking.)



A cool thing I thought up to explain linking verbs to the seniors



The school gathered for Monday morning assembly

Sick and Tired, A Long Weekend, and Boxes!!

3-2-09 I have been feeling a bit poorly lately. I started feeling truly horrid during church last Sabbath (February 28th) and ended up lying in bed with a wet cloth over my eyes while everybody else was packing up to go to Bigej (the island past the channel) again. I wanted to go, but eventually decided against it, because I felt like I had a fever and wanted to try and be well in order to go diving. So most everyone left, and I was alone in our apartment.

It was very quiet. There were other people in the apartments, sure, but it was still very quiet. I found myself missing everybody and wanting to be on the boat crossing the channel. Hopefully there will be another chance before I leave in May. I was tired, but I was also extraordinarily hungry. I made myself food and ate it while listening to a sermon off of my laptop. Afterward, I had my own little sundown worship, and then I listened to some music and stretched out on my bed, thinking that I'd listen a little bit and then do something to entertain myself.

Ha. I woke up about ten, twenty minutes later, and realized that the best course of action would be to get myself to bed. Which I promptly did. I think I was asleep by 8:00 PM or so, and, for the most part, slept until eight the next morning. I made myself breakfast and ate it most happily. That was one of the things that was a blessing and an annoyance of being sick-ish. I had a fever or so because my body was trying to fight something off, but that made me tired and hungry all the same. I didn't know what time everyone was going to arrive back, but I decided to try my hand at making one of the recipes that Megan has given me: her black bean soup. Very yummy, and I figured that everyone would be hungry after arriving back from the camp-out.

So I made the soup and waited. When everyone finally got back, I started feeling worse again, so I ended up in bed again. The only problem with the soup I made was two-fold: I had made it too early in the day, and so by the time they got back, the rice had soaked up much of the liquid; and two, it needed more chili powder, but I hadn't put too much in because I thought we were close to running out (we're not; we have another whole little bottle of the stuff). Other than that, people liked it!

Our dive class last night was canceled, and that made me happy, because I had already decided that I still wasn't up to diving. You're not supposed to do it when you're sick, and though I suppose that usually applies to blocked sinuses and such, I figured that being so tired probably wouldn't be a good thing. So I went to bed around nine and slept until about nine this morning, because today was a holiday. Well, Sunday was the holiday (Nuclear Victims' Day), but the authorities that be (not our school) canceled Monday's classes. I was hoping to go on the dive today (for our class), but since I still had a slight fever (but it HAD gone down since Sunday) and felt sort of tired and bad still, I missed class today. Which is a bummer, but I can easily make it up (which very much thrills me).

Also, a short time after they all had returned from Bigej, our (the girls') air conditioner decided to up and quit working for some reason. Happily, we had an electrician join our crew a few weeks ago, and he looked at it last night, and worked on it today. (So, yes, we spent a night without our AC. Big deal. Thanks, Mom, for all those summers without AC in Indiana. I completely mean that in a non-sarcastic way.) Boyet fixed our air conditioner by doing something that I could never attempt to do without training. He took another AC's controls and replaced the controls that had gotten fried by the rain, then rigged up something that would drain any future water away from the controls. It's pretty cool. And it saves the cost of buying a new air conditioner.

I haven't gotten anything graded from the things that I collected on Friday, but at least my lesson plans are done (I did them on Friday, too). At least I'm starting to feel better. Yay! Back to grammar on Tuesday.

Oh! Almost forgot (but didn't). I got two of the three boxes that my mom sent me a week or so ago last Thursday. I very much appreciate the clothes and reading materials (already finished the Readers' Digests, AFM and Adventist World). Maybe this sounds a bit weird to those of you who read this, but there is a particular sort of happiness that comes from clothes that fit well. Anyway, I haven't broken into the Girl Scout cookies yet (remember, I've been a bit sick and trying to fight it off, so a nix on the sugar), but I will soon and I plan to share, just like I usually do (and like I promised). Hopefully the other box came in this weekend and I'll be able to get it tomorrow (Tuesday).

More later.