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.