Manit, Sailing, "Welcum" Party

We had Friday off for Manit Day (“custom” day, assuming that Marshallese custom means grilling up a ton of chicken and playing volleyball against each other…sounds alright to me!). This meant that all the schools came into town to participate in volleyball matches, music and dance performances, and the enjoyment of much delicious BBQ. In addition to chowing on some chicken I joined the elite Marshall Islands Yacht Club, the only yacht club in this country and one therefore of the most elite yacht clubs in the world. It includes a 5% discount at Marshall Islands Resort (one of the restaurants with wireless) and EZ Price (Walmart of the RMI). In December apparently we can join a team and learn how to sail!
On Saturday Malcolm, Amy, and Lee came from town to visit Laura. They stayed Saturday night and we utilized the “ping pong” table and played to the awesome sound of our playlists including artists such as TLC, Ace of Base, Shaggy, Gdead, zep, stones, queen, meatloaf, etc. At some point in the night a large (and wet) palm frond was dragged into the house to be used as a dancing accessory/fan (and by large I’m talking at least 7 feet!). During one of the torrential downpours Allison had the bright idea to fill some of our empty water jugs using the stream coming off the rain gutter and soaked herself in the processs. But within seconds we had at least 8 liters full of fresh rain water. (A word about our water situation: Most houses have a water catchment built near the house that is used as a water supply. This is helpful because even during frequent power outages you can siphon water from the catchment with a tube. Of course during the dry season catchments can dry up and water becomes scarce. Catchment water should be boiled for 5-10 minutes before drinking, but it is potable. Well water on the other is not as good for you and is unfortunately our main source of water at the house since the large concrete catchment outside has a crack in it caused by a breadfruit tree root. The pro is that we won’t run out of water during the dry season, the con is that even if we boil the water it could be poisoning us with weird minerals and formaldehyde, or something like that).

Saturday was also the night of the "Welcum" Party at Laura High School for the “freshmenz”, new students, and new teachers. The 11th grade hosted the welcome party and did a great job decorating. The big poster at the front of the stage said “Welcum Party”. Good thing I am here to teach English! The students gave us a great welcome to the “Tiger Shark family” ( the school mascot is the Tiger Sharks, how awesome is that?). The tradition for new students and teachers is that students are reandomly chosen and then get to choose somebody to dance with in front of everybody. Of course freshmen and new teachers were picked on- they dragged me onto the dance floor kicking and screaming two times, where I did a little head banging and the mashed potato. All the kids remembered my moves on Monday and asked me to teach them and even told me I was the best dancer. The best part of the dancing tradition though was definitely when students would be picked to dance and you would hear their name coming over the speakers, only to see that kid bolting as fast as he could away from the party.