Happy New Year!

Well, most of you still have a few hours before you enter 2009, but I have been in the new year for a little over 13 hours... how does that feel? Haha. It's really weird actually. Last night we (Me, Jaimie, Trevor, and Evan) went to a thing called a block party, and they blocked off a street and a bunch of people were there, with live music and drunk marshallese to boot. it was fun though, i'm glad we went and didn't just sit around like we were going to do. Don't have too much to write about. I'll just try to upload pictures.

This is a picture with the President of the Marshall Islands and his wife.

Haha. I think Jaimie was the more aggressive one on this one.

We took this at midnight. On self-timer.


Well, we left there around midnight, and the party I guess officially didn't end until 4. But we went back to our apartment and watched Friends with the guys until 3:30ish. It was good stuff. Didn't get to bed until around 4, but that is what New Years is for, right? :) Hope you all have a good New Years tonight! Be safe! Hope to hear from you soon!

-Carrie

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Christmas in Majuro

So I’m sitting here…. Trying to remember the last time I wrote a blog, and I’m realizing it has been quite some time. My bad. Christmas has come and passed, and there have been many stories in between that I suppose I should fill you in on.

Our class Christmas party was entertaining. I only had 17 of my 23 kids show up, but we had a recess most of the day, and then went to the library to watch a movie. The kids had voted on a tradition where the parents bring in presents for the students to open, and we also had ourselves a giant potluck feast o fill our stomachs. The parents definitely went overboard! We had 2 tables full of food, and a table and a half full of presents. I took advantage of the relaxed day to take some pictures with my kids.

The days leading up to Christmas were full of grading, grading, and more grading. Grades were due the day after Christmas, and since Jaimie and I were staying at the resort, we wanted to get them done by Christmas Eve. We had music or movies constantly playing in the background, hoping to keep us entertained while we slaved away at grading. Finally, Christmas Eve came, we turned our grades in, and got a ride to the hotel.

Christmas in Majuro was admittedly lonelier than I thought… but it definitely was worth it. We stayed in the hotel here for 2 nights; Christmas Eve and Christmas. We packed up all of our stuff (including wrapped Christmas presents) into our huge suitcases and headed off to the hotel. When we walked into the room, a wave of air-conditioning washed over us. We were in love. The room had two spacious beds, a TV, a nice bathroom, and a balcony overlooking the ocean. We turned up the AC as high as we could so that it would feel as close to Christmas as possible. We hadn’t really planned much as what we would actually do when we got there, but it was a nice stay. We stacked our presents under a lamp (our makeshift Christmas tree) and we plopped down on the beds and relaxed. The next 2 days were full of mixed emotions. We were happy to be in such a nice place, but very sad and missing our families at home. The worst part was that the internet was completely down for both days, making it impossible to contact or talk with our family at all. That put a damper on the days, but we still enjoyed ourselves by watching silly marathons of Micronesian MTV shows.

The days following Christmas have been a bit boring actually. It’s hard to find things to do here to entertain you for a day, much less a whole extra week. Yesterday was church, which had an entertaining twist. We got ready and went to church (I wear one of the new dresses my parents got me as a Christmas present) and sat through the beginning of it. Once we knelt or prayer though, I got this really funny feeling…. My head got really tingly and my eyes started getting really fuzzy. I remember thinking that I should get something to fan myself, and the next thing I knew, I was on the ground, feeling like I was in a deep sleep. I woke up to Jaimie leaning over me saying, “Carrie, are you OK?” I was really out of it. Thankfully not very many people saw, mostly just the row sitting behind me. I was alert enough to say, “We should go.” So we snuck out the side door and I went back to the apartment and slept for awhile.
That’s basically all that has happened lately. We’re at the resort today, and the internet is working pretty well for the first time in a very long time…. I talked to my parents for like an hour or so… it had been over 2 weeks since I’d heard their voices. I am a very happy camper today. :)

I wanted to thank everyone for the lovely presents they sent to me for Christmas! They meant more than you know. I really appreciate Walla Walla’s packages from people I didn’t even know. It made me feel very special. :)

As far as things I’m needing around here…. My list isn’t very long.

I am always in need of food. It seems like that is the one thing that disappears the quickest ;) Snack foods are always delightful. I got some trail mix from Marissa the other day and ate it in a day. Haha. It was really delicious. I’m always craving like Ritz crackers or Goldfish, or snacky items like that.

I really like instant mixes; like blueberry muffin mix, or pancake mix, or anything mix. Anything that I can just add water to is a lifesaver. (or eggs, or oil… you know.)

I have had a horrible craving for anything veggie food. Redi Burger, Little Links, Big Franks, you name it. Sometimes I swear I can smell it cooking…. What I wouldn’t give for a Boca Burger right now ;)

ANYHOW. I hate asking for things, but people have been asking…. ;) So there you go! Haha.
I hope that everyone has enjoyed their cold Christmas… I hear in Walla Walla it has snowed a good few feet, and it has gotten close to zero degrees! I will enjoy my warm Christmas season for all of you (I went swimming this morning and got burnt?) J It is quite a change, and I do miss Christmasy weather, but I know that this time next year I’ll be wishing for my island weather back, so I’ll enjoy it while I can. I miss you and love you guys, especially around the holidays. Know you all mean the world to me, and I am always praying for you and thinking of you.

Can you believe it’s almost 2009?

Happy New Year!

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December Updates

Yokwe!

I have quite a few things to write about, because it has been forever since I’ve been able to blog about anything. Almost every Sunday for the past three weeks we’ve been packed and ready to come to the resort to use the internet, but almost every week we have SMs who come back saying “it’s not working!” so we decided not to come so we don’t have to sit there waiting for the internet to decide to work.

Well, let’s start with Thanksgiving. It was a good one! We only got that Friday off (the actual Thanksgiving day in the states). People here don’t celebrate Thanksgiving, even though it is a US owned country. All of the other SMs had their own big shebang happening, but Jaimie, Travis, and I kinda just wanted to have a smaller, more homely Thanksgiving dinner together. So we made a FEAST of gluten (thanks to Jaimie’s mom sending her some lovely gluten ingredients), mashed potatoes, stuffing, couscous, peach pie, ice cream, martinellis, and corn! It was beyond delicious. We even went around the table and said what we were thankful for, even though most of us said the same thing: friends, family, and EACH OTHER.

Aw, una familia = so adorable.

Next, this last week we had our class picnic. We were planning on 5-8th grades going on a group picnic to an outer island, named Enemanit; the same one that the whole church went on in the very beginning of the year. Anyways. It didn’t work out. Some of my kids are 9 years old, and their parents were not very thrilled with the idea (who could really blame them?) so we decided to go to a pretty well-known spot here by the airport. David decided to still try doing the Enemanit thing with just his kids, so 5th-7th graders headed out to the airport last Thursday around 8AM. (Well, it was supposed to start around then, but no one really showed up until 9, because of island time and all) So it started out okay. We got there, swam with our kids, had some fun, found some puppies to play with --->

and everything was good. And then it started raining. And it didn’t STOP raining. There we were (the kids were still in the water) but Travis and I were freezing! We were standing there with no shelter, in our soaking wet clothes (which of course we didn’t bring any extras to change into) with the wind making it even colder. Yes, people, I was COLD in Majuro. GASP! Seriously. I was shivering. And I came back super wrinkly, like an old lady. Goodness gracious.

We decorated our room Christmasy on Friday. We had it off, since it was “gospel day” (I don’t really understand what the significance of that really is) but anyways. WE found a box of decorations in one of the classrooms. It is probably the tackiest decorations I’ve ever seen, but it at least gets us in the mood, and makes it feel like Christmas is actually right around the corner (which it is, weird!) I wrapped Christmas presents and listened to the 4 Christmas songs I had on my laptop. I’m going to need to work on finding some more Christmas music to get me in the mood.

Our apartment-mates and the boys next door have adopted a puppy. (Shhhh don’t tell, its against the rules) Here, there are so many stinking dogs that make more and more baby dogs, so people dump them off if they don’t want them. At our picnic on Thursday, we found five that were dumped off by a garbage can because people didn’t want them anymore. The 6th grade teacher, Trevor, wanted to keep one, so he did. They have named her Isabel. She is super adorable, and has quickly made her way into all of the SMs hearts. In fact, as I speak, Trevor is outside (the resort) with Isabel right now. She follows you around and sits and stares at you. It’s the cutest thing ever. We don’t allow her into our rooms, she still has some issues with ticks and fleas. They seem to be doing a good job at taking care of her, although she had an accident this morning (oops!) But she is slowly learning and I know that she will be loved just as much (if not more) than all the other dogs here.

Meet Isabel. :)

Oh, and Friday night Jaimie and I were really bored and did a funny crazy photo shoot. She did my makeup and we dressed up and took pictures haha. Here are some of the winners. ;)

Well, that about wraps it up. I honestly can’t think of too many new things here. We have just two weeks (12 days) until Christmas break. Jaimie and I don’t really have any big plans. We’re going to stay here in the resort for Christmas eve and Christmas night. It will be nice to at least stay in some AC. We’re of course pretty bummed to be so far away from home on Christmas, but at least we have each other. I’m sure we can make it fun. Travis is going to Hawaii to be with his girlfriend. We’re going to get creative to entertain ourselves for two weeks straight. For real. Haha. Majuro doesn’t have many things to do. Perhaps we’ll have to try out the bowling alley or something… Anyhow. I’m planning on mailing my Christmas presents out this week, and hopefully they will get to you all soon and on time for Christmas! I miss you all. Love you!

-Carrie

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A few pictures.

Jaimie and I bought some Muu-Muus the other day. They are rather comfortable, but in all honesty, probably the ugliest things we've ever worn. But it was fun to fit in with the culture. I do believe we will have to buy some more... :)


Happy Holidays everyone! Hope everyone has a lovely Thanksgiving and are enjoying your breaks at home. (I'm a bit jealous...) I miss you all! I also would like to know what you would liek for Christmas.... so send me an email and let me know if there is anything specifically you'd enjoy. God Bless and I hope you are doing well!!

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President's Day Weekend

Another three-day weekend and I have thoroughly enjoyed it! Let’s see… Friday started out good. We get out of school at 2pm and after that we all were very spirited because we knew we didn’t have to be back at school until Tuesday. I spent my afternoon by the ocean trying to think about what I was going to say for Vespers that night. I ended up speaking about the past and letting go of our pasts and the forgiveness of God. It went pretty well I think, even though I paced back and forth quite a bit. ;) I like speaking in front of people; I just wish I didn’t get so nervous beforehand. This time I wasn’t as nervous as I thought I would be though. Anyways. So that went pretty well. Then Jaimie, Travis, John, and I (we jokingly call ourselves “uno familia”, because there is a group of four high school students who call themselves “one family”) decided we wanted to sleep outside under the stars. Okay, wait, I lied. I didn’t really want to sleep out there because I knew it was probably going to rain and our beds would get wet. After some convincing though, I joined in and we all dragged our beds outside. We played sleepover games like “Would you rather?” and talked for awhile, until Travis was falling asleep and we decided to get some rest. It took me awhile to fall asleep (I was a little afraid some bugs would come after me or fall on me from the palm tree above our heads) but then I was fast asleep with the full moon overhead. Around 1 in the morning, I woke up to Jaimie saying, “John! John! Carrie?” I guess the security guard of our campus woke Jaimie up by saying, “WAKE UP!” So then we all woke up, decided we should listen to the security guard and go back inside. (Travis is not very happy about being woken up.) We took all of our beds and mattresses back into our rooms and went back to bed. Ten minutes later, it started raining. We’re not sure if the security guard didn’t want us out there, or if he knew it was going to rain, but either way we were glad we didn’t have to haul our beds in the rain. So that was our Friday.

Sabbath we decided we wanted to walk out to some of the outer islands again. This time though, we didn’t want to walk out quite as far; we mostly just wanted to find a place to relax and do some swimming. We walked out two or three islands to this old sunken ship that sticks out of the water. We swam around there for a while, looking for different parts of the ship (John insists he found the bathroom) and looked at fish. This is probably where we all got sunburned the most. (Well actually, Travis and I are really the only white people. John apparently doesn’t burn, and Jaimie is half Burmese so she doesn’t really burn either.) Anyhow. We decided we wanted to read and relax on sand, so we walked a few islands over to where a sand patch was. This also happened to be right next to some houses of the Marshallese. They didn’t mind us sitting on their patch of sand, and they even moved our stuff when the tide came in and would have gotten it wet. They owned a bunch of pigs and dogs and chickens. There were a lot of children playing in the water. I think our most outrageous moment on that island was seeing a little girl, probably around 3 years old, carrying a cleaver! She then passed it off to an even littler girl, who was probably 2. They played with it in the sand and the Marshallese didn’t seem to mind. It was crazy! We swam a bunch in the water there, and Travis and I tried to teach John how to play Phase Ten while Jaimie read her book. I think the most adventurous part of this trip was getting back. You see, last time we hiked out there, we headed back around 1 or 2, and we were fine. This time we waited until around 3 or 3:30. This was a bad plan. The tide had risen nearly 4 or 5 feet! When we could easily walk across when we first came out, we had to swim against the current to get to the other side. Travis and John were carrying our backpacks above their heads. At one crossing, Travis was trying to swim while holding the bag over his head with one arm. John even had to swim. (he is 6”4’) The last crossing was probably the worst. I was fine swimming across the others; I just had to do some intense sidestroke to keep from being swept with the current. This one though, was the widest crossing. Jaimie and I literally held on to Travis as he walked across. It was so crazy! When we finally got across, (tired and wet and sunburned) we hitched a ride back and got back pretty fast. We were so sleepy. We tried to watch a movie at night, and we all were falling asleep by like 10. We gave up and went to bed.

Sunday we decided we wanted to go out to Enamanit. There is a rather wealthy here on the island named Jerry Kramer. He owns an apartment chain, a few gas stations, and some other things. He owns the island of Enamanit. Anyways, he takes his nice fishing boat out there every week with his grandkids and family, and welcomes anyone else who can fit to come along. There was a huge group of us that wanted to go, but most of them backed out because they didn’t think there would be room on the boat for us all. Which, now that we have seen the boat, was true. So, Jaimie, Travis, Alana, and I hitched a ride with this Kramer guy and his family. We got there and it was a bit overcast and rainy, but after a few minutes it cleared up and we all went out. I guess last year sometime a plane crashed and half of it is in the water there. So we swam out to where the plane was (it wasn’t too far, mom), and it was very interesting to see. It was like something off of LOST. The plane had fish living in it now, but it makes me wonder if any people died during the crash, or if any of them survived. Perhaps I will look it up online to read about it. I think the airline was Star Pacific. I wonder what went wrong. So yeah, we swam a lot, read some, but mostly enjoyed ourselves in the shade and sand. We ate lunch right when we got there, and Kramer even offered us some of the food from their feast. He was the definition of generosity. It was pretty overcast for the rest of the day, and around 5 we all got on his ship and headed back. We have gotten pretty good at hitchhiking. (It is a thousand times different here than in the states. Here you only hitchhike with trucks, so you can pile in the back. You tell them where you want to go and they’ll take you as far as they can.) We got a ride all the way from Long Island to Delap. So last night we watched a movie and Travis left early to go to bed. Today I’m planning on doing a lot of catching up on grading and stuff. We have the accreditation team coming in on Tuesday, so we have to clean up our classrooms, double-check our lesson plans, and get up to date in our grade books. Tonight we’ll probably make our way to pasta night, because the Internet is shut down here at school. I’m hoping it will work at the resort because I haven’t been able to check my email for probably four or five days. Well, if it’s working I will post this later tonight then. I should go get ready for my day. Jaimie and I ate breakfast but now we’re kinda bumming around. I need to take a shower and then go take our laundry to get done. Anyways. Looks like a long day today, but it was a wonderful three-day weekend. I am content. : )

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Tiny Tidbits

I am running on 3 hours of sleep, due to another supervision of a sleepover. This time, I wasn't alone. Jaimie and I were up til 3 with some rather talkative girls. Needless to say I want to fall over right now. I'm too lazy to write much, but I already wrote the following yesterday. :) Enjoy!

Top 10 things I can always use in Majuro:

Flipflops (I’m a size 8-8.5. I have one only waterproof pair and it rains quite a bit)
Skirts (I’m a size 6-8, they have to be past the knee…)
Peanut Butter (creamy, please!)
Pencils (they go through pencils like none other)
Red pens (they get lost really easily)
Markers/crayons (my kids have lost almost all of my markers)
Laundry soap (it’s extremely expensive here)
Soymilk (they have been out at payless for a while. I hate real milk1!)
Chocolate (what can I say? A girl’s gotta have sweets!)
Bug spray (the bugs love me and my blood)

Here are some random facts about Majuro that I’m sure you wouldn’t know unless you lived here like me:

- The women’s clothing of choice is a muumuu
- It is not odd to see buildings painted extremely bright colors, for example, our school is in the process of being painted BRIGHT purple.
- No one cares if you spent 20 minutes getting ready or just rolled out of bed
- The lighter you are, the more attractive you are (supposedly)
- It is legal to ride in the back of a pickup on the road, and in taxis they don’t cater to just you, it is not full until everyone they can fit in the car has paid
- There is only one road that goes from one side of the island to the other
- Marshallese eat Kool-Aid on EVERYTHING! (pasta, chips, rice, ANYTHING)
- Most Marshallese do not usually live past the age of 47 due to Diabetes
- Rice is a meal you will eat at least 3-4 times a week.
- It is considered immodest to show your knees, your midriff, or your shoulders (for girls)
- Learn to bring a book to everything. When someone says it will start at 5, it will not start at 5.
- There are no such things as dog leashes. Dogs roam free and know their territories.
- Ants will roam freely in your home, and there isn’t much you can do about it.
- Cockroaches will think they are your roommates as well.
- Kids light up when a white person walks by. They run after you and ask for a high five, or they yell “goodnight” because it’s one of the only English words they know.
- Some parts of the island will feel like America, while some parts feel like a whole different world.
- There is one movie theater, and it is a game to see if we have ever heard of the movies that are out. However, we are not allowed to go there because it is “not Adventist like”
- Mold grows on almost everything. You will get used to the smell.

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"To Err is Human"

Well I guess everyone has their bummer weeks at some point. This week was mine.

Remind me never to procrastinate on grades again. Grades were due yesterday (Thursday) at 5pm. I was hoping to be able to get some things on the report cards done during class and the school day, but I was unable to begin until around 3:20. I was stressed beyong belief. I also found out that half of my kids were failing math (someone else teaches their math class) so I was running around trying to figure out if he really wanted me to fail my kids (i don't think any of them deserve to fail, they try really hard!) anyways. I was super frustrated. And kinda angry. Anyways. I guess it just got super overwhelming and I just wanted to crawl into bed at like 5:15. I finally turned in grades at around 4:40. I seriously could have fallen over with emotional exhaustion right then. I went to the computer lab, and short after I broke. I was just on the rocks by the water and just crying. I miss home, I miss being able to go places, I miss not having so much responsiblity. I know God has me here for a reason, but sometimes it is so hard to see what that is.

I also learned one new thing today: Bad news a thousand miles from home is a lot harder to take. I just found out our family's favorite cat, Zipper died. Now you might be thinking, "So? It's a cat." This was not any ordinary cat, my friend. Zipper was a part of the family. Sometimes I swear he completely understood everything we would say to him. He was our lap cat, our human. I miss him already. Haha. What a sap I am.

Bad weeks also make me extremely irritable, apparently. It is Mexican food night here at the resort, so to set the mood they are playing fiesta music. Evidently spanish music is not easy to find here, because they have a CD that has about 4 songs on it, and they keep repeating the stinkin CD. I'm about ready to go rip the stupid sound system out of its socket....

Now you're probably thinking, "wait, this girl is a student missionary?" Sigh. Yes. And I'll be the first to admit that I get irritable easily. I get sad easily. I get stressed easily. But what can I say? I'm human. A very wise person once said, "To err is human." Well, there you have it, I'm human. Suprise, surprise. And now I am going to go mourn the death of my deceased kitty. ;) Hope all of you are doing well! I'll be praying for you and would appreciate the same!

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Island Adventures

This morning it hurt to get out of bed. I got up, took some ibuprofin and got back in bed, unwilling to get up to start my day.

You see, yesterday (10/18/08) we (Jaimie, John, Scott, Travis, and I) decided to go on an adventure. We got up at the crack of dawn (okay, it was really only 7:20) and we took showers and prepared for our day. We packed a lunch, donned our chacos and flipflops, and headed out for an excursion.

We decided to go island hopping. By this, I mean we decided to walk from island to island. Here in the Marshall Islands, there are many tiny islands that are either empty or few people live on them, and they are all within walking and wading distance away. We wanted to see how far out we could get before the tide came in and stranded us. Near the first island out, the boys found a old rusty sunken ship. John wanted to climb out there, but he didn't want to go by himself. Travis said, "Ok, I'll go with you." And Scott, feeling a bit left out said, "I guess since all the other men are doing it, I need to to." We decided to stay and take pictures.

Apparently Travis was the only one aware we were taking pictures.

Here we are wading out to one of the islands.

This is the on the first island, we were rather excited as you can see.

We got TEN islands out! Mind you, we started walking out at around 9 AM (we walked part of the way to Rita, and hitchhiked the rest), and we took a break around 11:45 to eat lunch. The tenth island MUST be owned by an American. It has to be some sort of vacation home the house was the only thing on the island, along with a fancy treehouse, canoes, and their own dock. We were afraid that the people who owned it might come out and tell us to leave, but no one was there.


Upon arrival at our new-found favorite island (it made us feel like we were in America for a few minutes), we ate our lunches and made jokes and gave our poor feet a break. Soon after, it began to pour. Add some roaring wind to that and it gets a bit chilly. The only place we could find cover to keep us dry was under the canoes (thanks to Jaimie for finding it).

Disclaimer: I realize it looks as though we are both naked, but I can assure you, we are not :)
That is us hiding under the canoes. It was really stormy!

Anyways, imagine our dismay when we all realized that we had to walk ALL the way back! It was a rather rough trip. It sometimes rained, and most of the time it was extremely windy. The hardest part, however, was walking through the water. We all had water shoes (except for John, and then his 13 year old sandals broke haha) so we didn't step on any coral, but since the bottom of our shoes are not that thick, you still feel every thing you step on. My feet are rather sore today.

I got a bit burnt since it was so overcast yesterday. And yes, I always remember mom's words "You always get sunburnt worse when it is overcast!" It is true. And last night I lathered myself with aloe vera and slept like a baby.

It was a nice Sabbath and definitely worth the hurting feet and sunburnt arms.

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It's been awhile!

Hello world!

It has been pretty much an eternity since I have updated you on my life, and I’m sorry! Life has been hectic lately, but today is the official last day of the first quarter of school. I made it through a whole quarter as a teacher! I feel very accomplished and rather proud of myself. I’ve been frantically grading the past week or so, but it really has not been too bad. I’ve been grading the assignments from the day after school, and I’ve been caught up pretty fast. I just have quite a bit of 8th grade English to catch up, but grades are not officially due until next Thursday.

In the past few weeks, we have had three birthdays. Steven Baker from Union, Alana from Australia, and Mr. Spiva, from, well, Texas I guess. We had a joint birthday party for them last night and it was pretty entertaining.

The waves were so HUGE today! It was crazy! I almost thought about what would happen if the water got higher than the rocks. It was pretty close. Crazy talk. It’s such a blessing waking up to the waves every morning and falling asleep to the drone of waves and my fan in harmonic unison.

Last night was a full moon. I sat on top of the monkey bars on the playground right outside our apartment. I basked in the moonlight and the serenity of the moment. It was so beautiful. As I dangled my legs like a child, I was once again reminded of the peace I could have when I simply take all other distractions away. That was a nice reminder.

I dined like a queen during my lunch break today. Yes, ma’am, I had mashed potatoes and a fried egg on a piece of toast. That is pretty good since the past few days it’s been instant Easy Mac and PB&J sandwiches. Well, I’m out of milk, bread, and I need to get some apples or something to be healthier. We just got paid on Wednesday so I should be able to stop by Payless sometime this weekend and buy some necessities. The store was out of soymilk, so I was sadly (and not voluntarily) forced to buy real milk. That stuff is nasty. I want my soymilk back! I also bought Smart Balance, which I thought my parents would be rather proud of. It reminds me of home. However, the reign of my cooking legacy ended tonight when I made hard-boiled eggs but did not cook them all the way by accident. Gross. I just wasted an egg. Bummer.

Right now I am fighting the urge to put ‘Singin’ in the Rain’ on. I’m not sure how good my resistance will be. It’s a classic and also one of my favorites.

Jaimie and I have started a countdown. I know it’s horrible to be counting down the days until we leave, but in case you were wondering, it is a mere 240 days until June when we all go home for good. However, it is only 63 days until Christmas break. What a jolly time. We leave each other notes on the white board on our door, usually during our lunch breaks for the other to read, and today she left me one with that countdown on it.

Here are some pictures of my kids and I. We had a birthday party and took pictures on self-timer. :)







See the nice evolution of nice pictures to eventually falling on the floor...?
Next I have some pictures of the first time I ever wore my sweatshirt on this island. The other day it was crazy rainy and windy!

Welcome rainy season!!


Well, that about sums it up. I am not really needing anything at the moment, except for I can always use food ;)

I hope you all are doing well. I'll keep you in my prayers! I'd appreciate it if you did the same :) :)

God Bless!

-Carrie

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My Music Wishlist :)

So, today I signed onto itunes store, just to glance around and see what kinds of music I've been missing out on. I wish that it didn't take about a million years to download any form of... anything... especially music since that is my guilty obsession. So there are about a million Christian CDs that sound splendid! I decided to make a wishlist. Please don't feel obligated to buy them, I just thought I'd throw these out there ;)

1. Ending is Beginning - downhere
2. What if We- Brandon Heath
3. Wonder of the World- Rush of Fools
4. In the Making... - Nevertheless
5. Hello Love- Chris Tomlin
6. This is Our God- Hillsong
7. Addison Road- Addison Road
8. Roots- Shawn McDonald
9. Acoustic Storytime (Live Songs and Stories)- Jason Gray
10. God and A Girl- Joy Whitlock

As far as Non-Christian, I think the only thing I'm dying to listen to is the Mamma Mia soundtrack! That movie/musical is hilarious!

That'll do it for my current music obsessions.
I thought I'd share that with you. :)

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Ode to Jaimie Nicole Myaing

 

Jaimie is so beautiful

All her students agree

She cares for everyone

And she cares for me

 

She cooks for me

And sings me songs

It’s not hard for us

To get along

 

We work all day

And play at night

When we start dancing

It’s a funny sight!

 

She makes me laugh

And buys me pizza

And, well, nothing rhymes with pizza

Her best friend is Marissa

Who is also my friend too

They both live in Salem

My sister lives there too!

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Life is Beautiful?

“Oh Life, how beautiful you are.” These words are taken from a song that I grew to love last year, by Allison Sattinger (look her up on myspace, I really enjoy her music). In some ways, I completely agree with this statement. In others, I don’t. Life is beautiful. It is a gift, a present, and a daily reminder that in comparison to God, we are nothing. In a movie entitled, La Vita è Bella (Life is Beautiful), a family is torn apart by the Holocaust. They are put in concentration camps, and the father is trying his hardest to make his little boy believe that it is a game. He hides his son in the depths of the bunks, telling him that he’s playing hide and seek with the soldiers, and to never let them find him. It’s a beautiful story about life and compassion and love. But their life was not beautiful. It was full of pain, hurt, and dreadful murders at the hand of one hateful man. So what really makes life beautiful?  Or is this life on earth, full of so many disasters, both physical and emotional, truly beautiful? What is it that defines beauty? The world would tell you that beauty is only possible if you are willing to alter your whole image to become something else. God would tell you that you are “beautifully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14); that you are precious to him because you are His child. “The Father has loved us so much that we are called children of God. And we really are his children!” (1 John 3:1). Personally, I’m leaning towards life is not beautiful. Well, at least not this life on earth. I’m not very close to home, so I haven’t heard a lot of the news lately, but I have heard that there is pain out there. There are lives that are taken by others because they simply felt like it. There are children on the streets stealing just to get buy. There are teenage girls selling their bodies just so that they can get a little money, or feel a connection in a desperate way. There are tsunamis and hurricanes and earthquakes snatching the lives of our loved ones without warning. Is life truly beautiful? I choose to believe that life someday soon will be beautiful. When Jesus comes and sweeps us off our feet to a place so great we can’t even imagine it, even with Revelation spelling it out for us word by word. I guess my mission here is to convince you, and the world, that life is not beautiful. Not beautiful enough to want to stay here. Which in turn means, that we need to tell everyone we know that life will be beautiful, if they choose to accept that life. Eternal life. That’s sounding pretty sweet right now. “Jesus, the One who says these things are true says, ‘Yes, I am coming soon.’ Amen Come Lord Jesus!” (Revelation 22:20) Let’s try to reach the world, one person at a time, one child at a time. Jesus is coming soon. Let’s get on it! 

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Pictures!

Here are a few pictures I thought you might enjoy: 

These are my very own personal hairdressers. I was braiding my hair, and they wanted to help :)

This is Tim. He is hilarious and probably has the most spunk in my whole class. He is the one who insisted that my brother Zac MUST be Zac Efron! 

Here are some of my girls, both 8th grade and 5th. This was before our potluck started.

This is Andy. He is 8 years old and in 5th grade. Also one of my top students. 

Peter, on the left, is quite the trouble-maker but I like him none-the-less. Lennin, on the right is such a sweetheart. 

These are my boys. Most of them. This is pretty much how they always are. 

My new classroom! Can you tell it's at least 2 times the size of the last one? I can't remember if I showed a picture of my old one, but this picture was taken from the doorway. I really really like my new classroom.

Here I am sitting while being sung to for my birthday at our so-called "meeting." :) 

Peace! :) 

What? There was no meeting? They had me fooled! 

I heart Jaimie.

This is Jim, or Mr. Spiva. He's my boss. I think he had cake in his mouth and was trying to pose, but started laughing. Note the terrified look on my face.

Meet Lindsey. She's from Walla Walla, but we didn't know each other before here. I like her. She's a sweetie. She teaches music now, Jaimie took her old job of teaching High School English.

I really like this picture. Even though I'm not quite sure what I'm doing with my hands. I was very surprised and happy. :)

This is me posing with all of my Marshallese birthday gifts. I decided to wear them all... at once.

I got some pretty fancy local jewelry, as you can see.. I really like the flowers. I wear them in my hair a lot. 

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Birthday day(s)

Birthdays in Majuro are double the blessing and double the fun. One, because I have a beautiful and wonderful class and two, because I get to celebrate my birthday twice! The first day, the actual 24^th of September here was a great day. I awoke to eat my honey-nut cheerios (which I was extremely excited to see were still on sale at the grocery store) and one of my apartment-mates, Grace, leapt up and wished me a happy birthday, followed by Jaimie. On Tuesday, my class had decided to have a potluck style lunch and invited the 8^th graders to come as well (since I teach their English class). The day went by pretty fast, and before I knew it, parents were dropping off their various dishes to share with the class. I really wish I ‘d taken a picture of all the food. It took up three long tables! I’m glad I had a nice big new classroom otherwise I would never have been able to accommodate that many people! Anyways. It was delicious and my kids had a great time. Also, side note, at morning worship Jim (our boss/principal) announced that we had a meeting that night at 6, and everyone needed to be there. So, I was scheduling my day around it so that I could get a bunch of things done before then. I stayed in my classroom from 7:45am-5:35pm. By that time I was really wiped. I was about to leave to come back to the apartment when I was greeted with my beautiful roommate, Jaimie, carrying a package and a gift bag. The gift bag was from Alana, our Australian PE teacher who is so sweet and funny. She’s so excited about health and exercise. I really admire her. She’s always inviting us to go on these crazy long walks and none of us usually go because it’s about 80% humidity outside, and probably 85 degrees or so. A deadly combination. She gave me an apple (which are super expensive, so it was a welcomed gesture!) and some teddy gram like things. That was really sweet of her. Then the package I opened was from Lizi, which made my day. J She sent me a “birthday in a box.” Which had streamers, balloons, a limbo stick, and cake to make. She also sent me these beautiful earrings which I’m guessing are from Arcata or Eureka or something. They’re beautiful. She knows me so well. Anyways. It was such a sweet sweet gift. I absolutely love things that you can tell really took a long time. She’s the coolest. I love her. And miss her terribly. Hmmm. Oh, yes, that was all within a 15-20 minute period. Around 5:55, I began to get ready for the meeting, but Jaimie was taking her sweet time! I am one who likes to be on time, but I was waiting for her like a good roommate. She kept doing weird things; taking forever to put on clothes, turn off the fan, and by 6:07 I was like Jaimie, we’re going to be the last ones there! (Which is discouraged with staff meetings). Well, when we got there they hadn’t started yet. Jim did start though, and after a couple of announcements, a door opened and I wasn’t really paying attention. Next thing I know there is a big fat birthday cake being walked into the room while the room sings happy birthday. Then I get to blow out my own candles, along with Emerson whose birthday was last week I guess. It was fun. It turns out the whole “meeting” was really a birthday surprise, and a good one it was! It had me fooled! I felt very very loved by the end of the day. It was a good day all in all.

Birthday day two- the “real” birthday. The reason we called it my “real” birthday is because it was the 24th in the states, and since I was born in the states, that was really when I was born. This morning I woke up to a big sign on the mirror that says “Hey Beautiful” in lipstick, and a sign on the door that said, “Happy Birthday Carrie! California time” along with a note from Jaimie saying how much she loved me and hoped I would have a lovely real birthday. ☺ She’s so sweet. I really do love her.
Let’s see… today was a pretty boring day actually. It was a nice one though because we don’t have school tomorrow because it’s some holiday, but I don’t really remember which one it is. But heck, who cares? So Jaimie and I planned to leave school right after school got out so that we could get to the resort and get back in time for the “welcome party” for the freshmen class. (This was a party put on by the sophomores, juniors, and seniors, along with the staff and faculty). Anyways. So school went well, my kids were pretty dang rowdy today, especially during chapel today. I’m thinking since chapel is in the afternoon on Thursday they are more sleepy and antsy because they just got out of lunch and recess. Not such a good match. Well, so Jaimie and I left after school today to walk to the resort. There was only one problem: It was so stinkin hot! I mean, really hot! Everytime we walk to the resort during the day, I usually say to Jaimie, “This is the hottest trip we’ve ever made so far!!!” And I can’t lie, I said it again today, but I think it was true this time. Jaimie and I decided we needed to hitchhike. (You have to understand that hitchhiking here is a million times different than the states. The people don’t really talk to you. You just tell them where to go. You only hitchhike with drivers who have truckbeds, so that you can hop in and out quickly. You never sit in the cab with the people, and you always travel in groups.) We really needed to hitchhike, but then we didn’t end up needing to really, because Neil (our accountant for the school) drove by in the school truck and we flagged him down. He ended up giving us a ride to the resort which was such a gift because I’ve literally never been so sweaty and gross in my life. It was ridiculous. Well I got the hotel and signed into Skype, and about 5 minutes later my parents got on and I got to speak with them with the new headset they bought me. IT worked really well. Then after that I called Zac’s cell from Skype and got to talk with him and Lizi (because she was in the car too) which made me super super super happy. I tried calling Stacey quite a few times, but I didn’t realize it was around 10pm her time, and she was probably in bed already. I was sad I missed her, but I left a message. Sad. Then after that I called Chenelle, and even though it was 11pm her time, we talked for about 20 minutes, which is surprisingly cheap on Skype. I love Skype. Anyways. I hadn’t talked to her in ages. I miss her so much. But I was so stoked I got to talk to her.

Anyways. Tonight we had that “welcome” bash for the freshmen, and the teachers were invited as well. They played about a million games while we listened to songs I never would have thought and SDA school would play (they weren’t bad songs, but they were like you know, up to date, popular songs). It was really fun. There was a lot of food, then at the end, the losers gave us and the sophomore class some leis. It was sweet. And fun. Jaimie and I came back here and took about a thousand pictures to entertain ourselves. And its 11:14pm right now. I am so tired! If I think of anything else to add, I will. Besides pictures.

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It's a great day to praise the Lord....

I’m so jazzed about life right now. Honestly. This is probably the best day I’ve had since I’ve been here. I’m not really sure why, I can’t really even pinpoint the reason. Actually, I have a reason to be cranky today, too: I woke up at 4:30 this morning and couldn’t fall back asleep. I was awake when my alarm went off at 6:16. I stayed up pretty late last night getting some stuff done too. Bummer. But, for whatever reason, maybe because it’s so close to my birthday, I am actually more chipper today than normal, even with less sleep J Well, today we finally moved into our classroom. It really made a world of difference. There I was, sweating up a storm, while all the rest of the SMs who had been in those rooms all year were probably like, Um, what is wrong with this crazy girl? She complains so much! But really. The classroom is at least twice the size, and I positioned the seats nicely so I can walk down the middle and have plenty of room for discussion and whatnot. I even made a new seating chart. I was pretty proud of myself. I have a few things left to do in the classroom, but it looks pretty snazzy, if I do say so myself.

I got a few new packages today! It made me so so excited. First of all, Kelsey Zuppan sent me a package and I had NO idea! I loved it! She sent me homemade cookies which pretty much would have made me feel better even if I was having a bad day, but since I wasn’t, my day got even better! On top of that, I got 2 packages from my parents and one had a fan in it! I will be sleeping nicely tonight J For real though. I got some great school supplies. I’m so excited to get started on crafts and stuff with my kids. They’ll be excited. All in all, the atmosphere and mood of the kids was a lot better too. They agreed that the classroom was about a thousand times better. Today went by really fast, which I really enjoyed. Life is good. God is good. Today was a great day. Everyone needs an excellent (that’s one of our spelling words this week) day! J Thanks for being so great, I love you guys and miss you! Hope this finds you doing well!

-Carrie

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How's the weather?

Life is like a day in Majuro. The weather is sometimes sunny, sometimes cloudy, sometimes rainy, and sometimes all three within minutes of each other. Life can be a sunny day. Everything can seem to be going your way, and, just like the unpredictability of the Marshallese rain, your day can be hit with a downpour you never even saw coming. Sometimes your day just seems to start with the rain, and gradually, maybe through the smiles of some of your students, the sun peeks out through the clouds, convincing you to turn that frown upside down. Life is unpredictable. It always will be. Who knows what will happen next, or what your emotional weather will be? All I know is to look out for those rainbows. After the rain, after all that pain that we endure, God will always send us a rainbow- a little promise. It's as if He says, "Hold tight, it will get better!" or "I'm so proud of you for sticking with it" Watch out for those rainbows. God will provide. He always does, even if we don't immediately see it. So, my question is, how's the weather? ;)

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These are a few of my favorite things....

There are so many "little" things in my life that truly makes a difference. Some people might laugh, but hey, it's who I am. These are some of the "little" things that I adore.

- Waking up to the lull of the waves of the ocean going in and out, in and out... it's the perfect white noise. I'm falling more and more in love with the ocean.

- A song with the perfect lyrics. Sometimes I feel like a song has been written specifically for me... like that person knew exactly when I'd be on my knees, laying on my bed, or just needing a pick-me-up. Sometimes it's good to know that someone, even if it is a famous musician, feels the way I feel. It's silly, I know.

- The smell of fresh bread. I really really like walking into my apartment when bread has been baking all day in the breadmaker. It's like smelling heaven! 

- Rainy days in Majuro. The locals actually call it cold! Which, in reality, probably only means about 70 degrees. But it's so nice to have a break from the blasted heat. 

- Getting packages. (No, that's not a subtle hint) But really. It makes my day. Not only because it shows that someone actually took the time to think about each item that was placed in that box, but because I get to anticipate it my whole week long! I can't wait until M, W, or F just because I know it's mail day. 

- Weekends. I'm so thankful for when the weekend rolls around. I remember liking them when I was a student, but as a teacher, I need those blessed 2 days to rejuvenate and recharge myself. I've come to appreciate resting in God. 

-I'm addicted to Saturday afternoon naps. If I don't sleep, at least I lay in my bed and read, or just lay there. It's nice to not be moving to the motion of the world for at least a few minutes. 

- The sound of children singing. Chapels here are incredible. Here the kids sing their hearts out! You have to plug your ears sometimes because they're so into it. I absolutely love it. I have my kids sing in the morning and afternoon. It makes my day and it ends the day on a positive note.

- Sunrise. It's beautiful, when I'm actually awake for it. This morning I distinctly remember thinking, "Ugh, no one should ever be up before it is light outside" But, I also remember in the past seeing some incredible sunrises from my bed. It's amazing to be able to look out and just see God's creation. Loves it. 

- Massages. I really love hand massages and back massages. Man I could totally use one right now. Haha. 

- Swimming in the ocean. I didn't do it much until I got here, but now I can't see why I would ever want to swim in a pool! (minus the intense waves) It's a cool experience to be able to look down and see fish swimming with you. 

- Reading a book in a day. I haven't had the chance to do that yet. I hardly ever have time. I did finish the book I started last Friday night last night (Thursday). So I guess less than a week is not bad for a teacher.

- The color blue. It makes me really happy. I'm not sure why, but whenever I see the color blue I just smile to myself. I really like it. 

- I really like the feeling of a towel right out of the dryer. It feels so nice and clean. On that same note, I really like fresh sheets that have just been washed too. It's so great.

- Emails from friends. It is amazing to be able to keep in touch with friends miles and miles away from home. On a tiny little speck of an island, no less! It makes my day to see an email from family or friends. 

- Singing. It is my passion, it is my life. I can't go anywhere without humming, singing, or dancing. I get too nervous to sing up front sometimes. I don't want to be like conceited or whatever, but I know I'm not tonedeaf or anything, but I still get nervous. I guess I care too much what other people think.

- Sand. There are millions and millions of grains of sand on the beach. It is just mind boggling to know that God knows how many hairs are on my head. That must mean he knows how many grains of sand there are in the world. Crazy! 

- Clean air. Someone is smoking right now and sharing the lovely air with me. I appreciate clean Oxygen. For real. 

:)

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Hello world there's a song that we're singing... come on get happy!

That song is in my head right now :) I'm sitting here in the resort, as always, enjoying the air-conditioning and all-you-can-eat pasta night. I don't know why I haven't come to this more often. It's really yummy! Here's a picture of Jaimie getting ready to eat the amazing pasta!

It really is quite delicious. I have a picture of me eating too, but it's not such a lovely one. Oh, okay so there is a bit to write about. On Friday I got 3 packages from my parents and it was so amazing! Getting packages here is like Christmas day every day! :) I absolutely love it! I got a lot of neccesities, which I might add included mashed potatoes, 2 cans of big franks, and the LAST can of little links. They love me that much. Jaimie and I ate the little links for Sabbath morning breakfast. It was incredible! (See the picture on the right) Jaimie's plate is so obviously the one with tomatoes on it, because I DETEST tomatoes. Yuck! That is homemade bread with the peanut butter and little links that I got in the mail... and Jaimie scrambled us some eggs. And that orange was actually pretty sour which was disappointing. :(

And to your left, you see me enjoying this blessed treat on Sabbath morning, before church. Jaimie and I then got ready for church and I wore my cute new dress my mom got for me at Nordstrom Outlet. I absolutely love it! She also got me this way cute skirt that I'll probably wear tomorrow. It's just so nice. I adore it. Here we are at church, on the right. I'm wearing the new dress that Mom and Dad got me, but I guess you can't really tell. I'm not going to lie, it looks pretty good on me :) Haha. What a dork I am. Anyways. That was Saturday. Saturday night I had the priveledge of chaperoning my first event as an official "chaperone." It was the 8th grade party for one of the girls whose birthday it was. She just turned 14. Her little brother is in my class, and her little sister is in Jaimie's class. They're a cute family. They go to our church. Anyways. They 8th graders decided to have a sleepover so I was by default (because I am their English teacher) chosen to supervise the girls while David watched the boys. We watched The Parent Trap and then First Sunday. IT was pretty fun. However, it ended around 1 or 1:30 AM. And, now I have new respect for those chaperones on all of our trips, because of course I stayed awake a little longer to make sure none of the girls decided it would be fun to sneak out or anything. So I was up pretty late. I slept on a table. It was a little uncomfortable. But heck, it was an experience. The next morning, the church hosted a picnic for us on one of the outer islands, so we had to get up at 6ish. One girl left at 6, so the rest of us were basically awake. The boys came back over, there was a prayer, and I barely had time to run back and shower before we left to go on the picnic. However, when we got to the dock where we were to take off, we of course waited about an hour, because it is Marshallese time after all. It was about a half hour ride over there, and I really wish I had remembered to bring my camera because that beach was the most beautiful beach I've seen since I've been here. The water was that crystal blue you see in the magazines, and the sand was white and soft. I went swimming, but it came with a price. Even though I put SPF 80 sunscreen on twice (Yes, I did say SPF 80! I didn't even know that sunscreen went that high...) I still burnt horribly. I was smart and stayed in the shade the rest of the afternoon though. I know my body's limits. Here's a picture of my sad farmer's burn.... :( Can you see that horrible line? ah, so embarassing. In addition my knees got sunburnt too! That was silly. I didn't put any sunscreen there because I hardly ever get burnt there.Oh well. Oh, another new thing that happened this weekend was that Jaimie and decided to rearrange our room. It was feeling a bit crowded. Here's a before and after for you:

Before:

After :)

I just realized I don't think you've seen my class yet! Jeepers. Let me upload that now. I have 22 as most of you know. They're all so funny and amazing and sometimes a handful, but for the most part they behave. :) Yeah, they're quite the characters. But they're great. Can you spy the white teacher in this picture? Haha. I just realized I do smiley faces quite a lot in these blogs. I guess since I can't talk to most of you in person, I have to portray my emotions this way. That's how I roll.

As I said earlier, my parents sent me a few packages, and one was full of books which made me so so excited! I started one on friday night, and I'm about 3/4 of the way through. I love reading! Ah, the one I'm reading about right now is about a few people that work in the ER. It's very intriguing. Medical stuff intrigues me. A few weeks ago, one of my kids got his nose smashed in during Recess, and he was bleeding everywhere. David took him and got him cleaned up, but there was blood all over the gym... and yes, I got to clean it. I didn'tget sick or anything so thats a good sign. It got me thinking if I could like doing something medical... but that thought is probably only going to last about a week. So anyways.

I think that's about it. This was a super long blog. I really hope this will post. I might cry if it doesn't. Haha as for prayer requests here: Just pray that I can stay strong and keep the faith. It's hard when we all get hit so hard with the devil. You know how he rolls. Pray for us. I'll do the same for all of you. I miss you all! God Bless!

-Carrie

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