A Bit of Diving, A Trip to an Island, Board Games and Boxes

12-31-08 All right. For Christmas Day, we had a potluck dinner and just hung out with each other. We would have traveled from place to place, watching the various dances that the Marshallese do to celebrate Christmas, but it was pouring down rain and was windy. But it ended up being fine, anyway. We played board games and talked. I had a good time.

On the 28th, six of us (Megan, Landen, Jordan, Ryan, Jhan Dale, and me) went diving. Ryan took us to see an airplane--well, it was a propeller and part of a wing of an airplane, but it was still very cool. It also was a hundred feet down. So, yeah, that was cool as well. Although I'm still breaking in my mask, and therefore, it still fogs a good deal, the underwater part of the dive went really well. However, my BCD (or Buoyancy Control Device; the vest a diver wears that the tank is connected to) decided to keep re-inflating after I had put some air in it so I could float better at the surface (you're supposed to do that), which, besides being possibly dangerous (if it had happened underwater) and being uncomfortable, was very annoying. The problem really was with the hose that connects the BCD to the air supply within the tank; for some reason, it wasn't shutting off. So, Ryan disconnected it and we went on the dive. It was the first dive where I went really close to the red section of the air gauge, even though I was breathing like I was supposed to. Jhan Dale thinks it was because of the BCD's constant reinflation that I was down on air. So, we finished up the dive and Ryan had me surface. When a diver surfaces, they're supposed to re-inflate their BCD so they can rest comfortably on the surface. I know how to do that, both with the hose connected and without, but I couldn't float well enough to be able to fill it without the hose. I tried to find the hose, to re-connect it to my BCD, but couldn't find it. So, there I was, treading water with all my equipment on, trying to find the hose, and I just have this abstract thought go through my mind: "So, I can totally see why the book says that the most injuries happen at the surface when a diver panics. 'Cause if I was panicking right now, that would be bad. Good thing I'm not panicking." At this point, Ryan had now surfaced and he swam over and was like, "Re-connect your hose." I replied, "That's what I've been trying to do." So, Ryan says, "Put your snorkel on," and so I did, and so he found my hose, re-connected it, my BCD reinflated, and then he disconnected it again. Then we all floated and kicked our ways back to shore. It was a fun dive.

On the 29th, we took the church's boat out to an island that's past the channel. (The channel is a gap between islands in the atoll where there isn't a reef for the waves to break on.) This particular island is mainly uninhabited. I say mainly because only one family lives on it, and it's a very long island, longer than Ebeye, I do believe. Also, Ryan told us that the family that lives there sometimes lives in Ebeye, and with it being the holidays, that's where they probably were. We got a late start, again (but not due to us), but soon enough, we were speeding along the islands. We passed Shell, Googeegoo, and Nge Nge (the island that Emily calls "the Island of Evil," for that's where she hurt her foot), and then we were in the channel. It was both exciting and scary. The people in the back of the boat got soaked, and those of us in the front got bumped around, especially when we would go down a wave and hit hard. It was like a roller coaster, without safety restraints and without going upside down. I just laughed the whole time--because I thought it was fun and because I didn't want to yell every time we hit hard. So I picked to laugh instead. Right after we got through the channel, the engine just stopped. It was because it had run out of gas, but that was why we had brought some, so they re-filled it and we sped on again.

The island we went to is called Bigitch, I do believe. I mean, I don't know how it's spelled, but everyone says, "Big Itch," and so yeah. Anyway, this island is the type that people actually imagine an island in the middle of the Pacific to be like. Tons of palm trees (and coconut), sandy beaches, and clear water. There was some very nice snorkeling--I saw lots of fish and some VERY cool-looking coral. One downside was that the water would suddenly change from warm to cool, and I would suddenly start getting cold (there may be more downsides to the temp changes, but I won't share that at the moment. I'm waiting on something, first.). First, we all ate. Then we all went off and did various things--Jordan and I went snorkeling, Megan and Landen went for a walk, Emily went looking for shells on the oceanside, etc., When Jordan and I came back, we waited until everyone else was ready, and then we all went snorkeling again. There were some Kwaj boats anchored offshore (it seemed that Kwaj people didn't want to anchor and come to shore, like we had done), and so there were some other snorkelers. When we had finished that, we decided that we had a half hour yet, since the tide was coming in, and we didn't want a very rough channel crossing on the way back. So I ended up walking on the beach, talking with Jordan, and looking for shells. I didn't find any, but Jordan did. We also got to talk to a guy from Kwaj who had been spear-fishing on the oceanside and was now heading back to his boat. That was fun. Then we headed back, and the ride through the channel was a lot calmer than when we were coming through the other way. The ride back was uneventful--no scary engine stops or anything.

On Tuesday, we had more of a down day, sort of. I woke up early (for 6:50 AM during break is early), because Emily, Ryan, Kiba, and I went to Beach Park to jog/walk. For me, it ended up being mostly walking, but that's okay, I completed two entire laps during the time we jogged, and for me, that's a good thing. After that, we went to the school, for the Internet had finally been fixed, and checked our email and such, then went to the post office. I got some cards in the mail, and I really appreciated the one from Mrs. Schulz. She's been following my posts and sending me encouragement through the mail. I just love her cards! (And by the way, Mrs. Schulz, I can read your handwriting perfectly fine. I have never had a problem reading it.) There were also a lot of packages, two of which for me!! One of those packages I had been waiting for since OCTOBER, and so I was very glad to finally get it. It turns out that it went to Guam first, then made its way from island to island to get here. Thank you, Jessica and Larry and Cindy and everybody else who stuck things in there! There were two big bottles of A-1, a bottle of 1000 Island, Sweetarts and books (of which I was very thankful to get), but what I was the most excited about was all the notes and letters from my friends at school--even though they're two months old, they still made me smile! I especially appreciated the Dutch Blitz game that Ashley Seymour sent me--we almost immediately opened it up and played for like two hours. I just love that game! Although it was a bit slow, considering that none of us had played in a while, and that we were only playing with one deck (because I learned how to play while using two decks of cards; now that is a fast game!), but we sped up as time went on and when we got a fourth player. Instead of keeping points, we were just playing to count how many times one of us Blitzed out--I got at least two Blitzes, and that was good for me. We also played a couple games of Scrabble.

The second box I got was from school. It was my Christmas box, and I knew it was coming. It was sent in enough time to reach me by Christmas, but what happens is that boxes for Ebeye don't get as high a priority as boxes for Kwaj do, at least around Christmas time. But let me tell you, yesterday felt more like Christmas! I opened the box from school, and was very excited to find the note that told me who had filled the box. It was three of my friends from Southern who also work at Timber Ridge Camp--Ryan, Baylie, and Danny. I was so excited. (Actually, I found the music CDs with Baylie's handwriting on it, and I thought to myself, "Oh, cool, they asked my friends to help out!" But it's actually much cooler than that. In the note, Ryan told me that the three of them had decided to "adopt" an SM, and that they had decided to adopt ME! It was very awesome. I am currently listening to the music you sent me as I write this. Thank you, you three!

After I had opened my boxes, that was when we decided to play Dutch Blitz, because I had found out in August or September that Ryan and Jhan Dale and Emily all know how to play, and that's the perfect number to play. When some students showed up to hang out with Jhan Dale, Emily and I decided to go back to the post office, because as we were leaving, another shipment had been coming in, and we had seen at least one box that belonged to people here in the apartments. So we put skirts on over our shorts and went forth. We came back with five more boxes--one of which was for me! It was the last box that I know of that I had floating around the US Postal System. This box was from my mom, part of the bunch of boxes she had sent a while back--and I had gotten all the rest of those boxes. So I gleefully opened my last box, knowing that I had my film camera inside, along with various other things. My mom has been asking me if I had gotten a certain sweet surprise, and I hadn't, but this is the box that had that surprise inside. All over the place. Somehow, the marshmallow cream that Mom had sent had oozed out a little and gotten onto some of the things, but nothing was ruined and everything was easily cleaned (except the book and the comics, because paper doesn't do too well under water). But most of it was still inside, under the seal, so I really don't know how it came out. Oh, well. Emily reminded me that it was much better than her package that had come dripping with a nasty-smelling liquid. I agreed. So, thank you Mom!! I really enjoyed getting the comics and my AFM. It was a very good read, by the way. :)

That brings us to today. It's New Year's Eve, and we are, of course, planning to stay up until the year 2009 arrives. Of course, you all won't think it's 2009 until it's 2009 where you are, but that's life in a different time zone. I'll tell you how it went in another blog. More later.