Hair today, gone tomorrow

Ok…the other day (12/17/2007) was a big day. For the first time since February 2007 (when I took a Gillette fusion razor blade to my scalp) I cut my hair. It was over 6 inches long (somewhere between 6.25 and 6.5 I think...I am not sure since there was not an accurate measurement taken before the transformation took place)…I will have to check my email history to see who came closest to the guessed hair length.

When I walked into school the next day some of the students cheered…I heard “woosh woo lakatu” probably 50 times…

Anywho…This is the last week of school and I am pretty sure I am ready for a break. This has been a draining three or four months of teaching (I can’t even remember how long ago I started). But yeah...that is all I have to say about this so um yeah…..


The before and after pics

new post

As I have mentioned holiday season is here in the Marshall Islands. The Christmas trees are decorated, people are singing/playing carols, there are even lights on the houses and stores. It is weird to experience something that is so distinct to home in a place that sometimes feels so foreign and underdeveloped.
Anyway, life has been interesting—as it usually is here in the RMI.
1) Life can be dangerous here. Like I stated in a previous blog post, I fear for my life every time I hop into a taxi. Well, I should probably fear for the lives of the people outside of the cab especially the children playing in the street. The streets are too crowded, and there isn’t enough space set aside for kids to play. Unfortunately while in a cab, a little girl ran into the street and was hit by the car. I believe that the cab driver was not at fault. The little girl darted into the street and the driver hit the brakes as soon he could. While the girl hit the front end of the car and the pavement, luckily there appeared to be no external damage….no visible blood, no visible broken bones. If the situation was not bad enough, an adult ran into the street (maybe a father, uncle…not really sure) to get the girl and then proceeded to physically threaten the cab driver. After a few intense minutes of shouting and I assume apologizing the situation was over. There was no police and no ambulance, just an awkward taxi ride to the other side of town.
2) Last Friday was a nation holiday in the Marshall Islands. Apparently this holiday has three names: Gospel Day, Komolol Day, and Thanksgiving—komolol roughly translates to thanksgiving in English. This holiday commemorates the day that the missionaries brought the word of Jesus Christ to the Marshall Islands (at this moment everyone can secretly make their own assumptions and judgments about this holiday). A cool thing about this holiday, the people who were participating in some of the celebrations were very into it which was very cool. There were two parades, one in the morning and one in the evening. A parade in the Marshall Islands is much like a homecoming parade in high school. You get bunch of cars, van and trucks and pile as many people in, on and around the vehicles—car surfing is highly encouraged. Add some streamers and cardboard signs and maybe a loud speaker and you have a parade. Cars in the parade honk their horns, blast their radios or shout and chant slogans or phrases. (My favorite was “*bang* *bang* *bang* JESUS! *bang* *bang* *bang* JESUS!”) For added spectacle/confusion, there is only one main road in the country, and while there may be a parade in progress other people not participating have their normal lives going on. So while the majority of the automobiles are participating in the parade there will be a spattering of trucks, cars and taxis just trying to get to the other side of town. Oh one must have enough gas to be in the parade, but if you are running out apparently it is ok to pull off the route to get gas and join back in with a 10-20 car gap.
3) At one gas station gas prices jumped from $4.72 on Thursday night to $5.08 on Friday afternoon.
4) I went sailing. On Sunday the Meico Beach Yacht Club sponsored a ‘learn to sail day.’ I was able to go sailing on a 40-something foot yacht with a retired couple from New Jersey. It was cool. I am going sailing again this weekend…it should be fun.
5) My students have suddenly become enthralled with the “who is your girlfriend?” question. It is pretty funny especially since I don’t have one. Since this is such a small place/island/country I see my students everywhere and my students see me everywhere too. If I am hanging out with any girl (either in a group or by myself) they automatically assume that she is my girlfriend or even my wife. And when the students see you hanging out with different girls on different days they think that you have multiple girlfriends. At least the stories I hear from them are entertaining and make me laugh. Just like right now when my student came up to me and said “Darren, I will have a dream tonight that one you will have a girlfriend.” My only response was “Thanks.”

It's been a while...

Ok...So over three weeks has passed since I last updated my blog and many things have happened...

I was able to attend my first Kemem (a Marshallese first birthday...which is also the most important). I competed in another billfish tournemnt. We didn't place, but my friend Joe and I caught our first marlin (too bad it was small...only about 100-120lbs). I also caught a 15lbs skipjack tuna and a small rainbow runner on a handline (that means I did not use a rod and reel but a fishing line, a lure and my hands.....that is pretty cool). And I was able to spend a couple of weekends picnicing on other islands on Majuro Atoll. All in all the theme of the past few weeks has been "Another Rough, Tough Day in Paradise!"

As you all know, last week was Thanksgiving. Suprisingly enough they sell whole turkeys here as well as stuffin, mashed potatoes and pretty much anything else you need to make a Thanksgiving dinner. The dorm decided to host dinner for about 30 or so people on Saturday (since we don't get days off for American holidays here).I would have to say it was a pretty successful meal. The day began with tropical storm-like weather and a football game in the middle of acalf-deep lake at the high school. Of course my team won....and then the football game was followed up by dinner, a game of cranium, mafia, and a viewing of Elf.

Now that Thanksgiving is over, holiday season is in full swing here. There are live Christmas trees for sale (and of course they are from Oregon), stores and a few homes are putting up lights in the windows and on trees and christmas carols are blaring in stores, restaurants and on the radio. This is going to be my first Chirstmas away from home, so I am not sure what to expect. Granted if they stores and restuarants were not decorated I might forget what time of year it is because the weather does not make it feel like winter at all. Anyway I look forward to spending the holidays here. I hope I will be hanging out with my host family (I guess I should get them gifts...if anyone has good gift ideas for my host parents (25 and 26 yrs old) and my host brother (5 yrs old) and host sister (2 yrs old) let me know...or mom and dad send me stuff from oregon...or nike...or ccolumbia that I can give them.....

Oh yeah....my life is currently occupied by after school activities. I spend Tuesdays volunteering at the traditional canoe building house tutoring students in English. I spend other days after school playing music for my students or coaching the school basketball team. This has been quite the experience. I have students who do not own shoes playing basketball in flip-flops or their bare feet. Our first game is on monday, so I told them to find shoes (buy or barrow--hopefully not steal) so that they could play. I also found out that our school only has 24$ to spend on the students....so that means that there is no money for the 30 t-shirts that I just picked up for basketball and volleyball teams...Luckily I know the guy who makes the shirts and he let me take them with-out paying for them yet...

Anyway that is all for now...I am sure I will have more time to write when school is out.....

Oh yeah..we are now back on the USPS domestic rates so it should be pretty cheap to send me stuff priority.

My address is

Darren Nakata
c/o WorldTeach
PO Box 627
Majuro, MH 96960
RMI




Darren

More photos

Here are some more photos of life here: My students, an outrigger canoe, and Halloween.



And as always you can look at the whole album here:

Marshall Islands part 6

Where I live

Hi all.....

These are some screen shots from Google Earth of where I work and live.


 
 

The power of the internet

The power of the internet brings you this video of the NVTI Choir singing the gospel song All Around. This is the first day the kids had ever sang together as a group, they are pretty damn good. :)

I'm Back! (online that is)

Ok in my last post I some how forgot to put the most popular song in the Marshall Islands. The students absolutely love Beautiful Girl by Sean Kingston. You can not go more than 10 minutes without hearing that song.

ok back to my regular post.....

Time is flying in the Marshall Islands and I apologize for not updating my blog or responding to emails or letters as quickly as I should. Everyone who has written me a letter or a postcard thanks for being awesome. I am in the process of responding to everyone so please be patient, I have not forgotten about you at all.

Recently all of the Majuro volunteers met their host families. I will have to say that I have the coolest host family out of all of the volunteers. I’m sure the other host families are nice people, but it is just a fact that they are not as cool as mine. I guess that is just too bad for the other volunteers. My family is a young family, probably the youngest host family. My parents are in their mid-twenties and my host brother is 5 years old and my host sister will soon be 2 years old. I look forward to hanging out with them in the future.

In other news I have become involved in many different after school activities. I am the boy’s basketball coach, co-director of the school choir and I will probably help out with the girl’s volleyball team.

Other things…

Pogs:
Man oh man, kids play pogs here like it is 1994. You probably remember pogs as the circular cardboard discs about the size of a half-dollar and were popular about the same time as the Tomagachi toys. Here in the Marshall Islands all kids who are not in high school (and even some of the high school ones) play pogs at every waking moment in 2007. They play them on the sidewalk, on benches, and in the street. The funny thing is that none of them have slammers. So if for some reason you still have pogs and slammers sitting around, you can send them here and I am sure they will make some kids very happy.

They call me demon (part 3):
So the students here are always interested in who are the teachers’ girlfriends or boyfriends and want to see the teachers become couples. However, some of the 11th grade girls recent told a fellow teacher that I was ‘enana’ (meaning bad) and that she should not go after me because I have bad hair, I am a demon and I am a woman. HA! The funny thing was that the word that they used for woman was not one that the other teacher knew and they had to explain it to her. The students told her this information in confidence, in front of me, but in Marshallese so that I would not understand them. But of course, she immediately told me what they said as soon as the kids were gone. At first we didn’t know why they would call me a woman, except maybe because my hair is long. Then we decided that they might think I am gay and since the teacher didn’t know the word for gay and the students told her that it meant like a woman. Who knows, the kids here are crazy.

Nicknames:
Every so often some volunteers and I play football, basketball or baseball with the elementary school students in my neighborhood. One of the first times we were playing together the kids were asking me my name. Just to be a pain I would answer with “What’s your name?” And we would banter back and forth with the endless questions for a couple minutes, until—with the help of the other volunteer—I would find out the kids name and tease them because I knew their names and they didn’t know my name. The kids were persistent in wanting to find out my name and as a result the other volunteers told them to call me “Mr. Bushy Hair.” And boy do they love that name. For the last three or four weeks I have had kids yelling and screaming “Mr. Bushy Hair” at me across playing fields, at the school gym, or while I am walking down the street and they are riding in the back of a truck. The funny thing is that with their accents they have a hard time enunciating “Mr. Bushy Hair” and it sounds like they are screaming and yelling “Mr. Pussy Hair” at me. This creates for an amusing site for anyone who is walking around town with me.

I guess my new name is Mr. Pussy Hair the Gay Demon.

Short post

Sorry for not posting recently...there is much to write about but not enough time

Popular songs in the RMI:
Anything by Akon, especially I want to love you, Lonely, and Don't Matter
Rihanna, Umbrella
Whiskey Lullaby...some popular country song that i don't know about because I don't listen to country
Abba...who knew that they like abba here
Eminem, a lot of my students wish that they were Eminem
Britney Spears, a lot of my students wish they were Britney Spears
50 cent....enough said

Update

I saw my first dog poop on the ground...it was weird

Some musings...

Journals:
First, I want to thank our Heavenly Father (or God) for gracing us with this wonderful moment. Second I would like to tell you about…

It is apparent that a good number of students in the Marshall Islands have been conditioned to open papers with some form of the statement above. They always want to tell us teachers about their love for Jesus and asking God to bless us. Unfortunately these words of blessing and thanks are often off topic and are generally inappropriate for the given assignment.

Students here have also been conditioned to write journal entries in one particular way as well. If I ask a student what they did over the weekend 9 out of 10 the journal will have something along the lines of:
 "I woke up at [insert some arbitrary time] and then I washed my face. And then I went to the kitchen and got a plate and cup and I ate breakfast. And then I washed my plate and cup and I went to the bathroom to wash my face. And then I did my study and when I do my study no more I go to friends house and I [insert play sport, watch movie, go to the store to buy food or any other arbitrary activity here]. After I go home and eat dinner and then I go to my room and I go to sleep…" 
It is amazing how identical each of the journals can be when they are actually doing their own work. It is almost funny about the lack of creativity here. I have asked my students what makes them happy and why and they will tell me what they did that morning before school.

Dogs:
Dogs are a part of life here in the Marshall Islands. There are big dogs, little dogs, old dogs and puppies. Most of the dogs are malnourished and have some sort of open sores or growths on their bodies. Also I have never seen so many dog testicles or saggy dog teats in my life. I guess Bob Barker's message about getting your dog or cat spayed or neutered didn't make it here to the Marshall Islands.

The most amazing thing is that with all the dogs on island there is hardly any poop. I feel like I am in the Jack Black and Ben Stiller movie "Envy" where they continually ask, "Where does the poop go?"  Anyway Richard (a former WorldTeach who is still here on islands teaching and college counseling at MIHS) suggested that because the dogs never eat anything they never have to poop.

Taxis:
Taxis never have more than a gallon of gas in the tank at a time. Gas costs about $4.48/gallon and when a taxi driver goes to the gas station it will only ever had the gas attendant $3-$5. Because of this habit, every so often a taxi will run out of gas.  I guess this is not a real issue for anyone who is in the Marshall Islands because no one ever needs to be anyplace on time; things start when people get there.

The real issue is that at the gas stations people will be smoking, or they will fill a car with its engine still running, or people will use their cell phones next to the gas pump or they will fill a container other than a designated gas can. If there is a warning against doing something at a gas station or next to a gas pump I am sure the people in the Marshall Islands have done it and are probably doing right now.

Additionally, taxis have these elaborately decorated dashboards. They are often covered with a beach towel—sometimes adorned with the likes of Hello Kitty, flowers, or even a naked lady. The towel is kept in place by a number of push pins and on top of the towel you can often find photos or various forms of amimono (Marshallese handicrafts) or shells. The dashboards are cool to look at, but they are definitely one of a kind.

Other:
So, apparently I am known by people all over this island. I mean there is something like 30,000 people in Majuro and there seems to be a lot of people who know who I am, maybe not by name but by my physical characteristics. This is kind of disturbing and cool at the same time. For the most part people think I am a volunteer from Japan until they start talking to me, but even then it is hard for some people to believe that I am from the United States (especially my students who I have told that I am from the US but they continue to insist that I am from Japan or Korea or America Samoa or the Philippines).

I think I stand out because of my big hair. People are always telling me that they have seen me walking on the only road on the island. It is pretty interesting.

As volunteers in Majuro, living in the teachers' dorm, we do not have host families and thus lack a more integrated 'Marshallese experience.' As a result, WorldTeach has set us up with Marshallese sponsor families who we can go eat meals with, go to birthday parties with, and go to church with. In the process of setting up the families, where most families and volunteers were assigned to each other, I was told that my sponsor family specifically requested me. They wanted the volunteer with the 'big hair.' I don't know who my family is yet, but it is pretty cool to think that I was memorable/noticeable enough to someone that they would request to have me 'join their family.' We get to meet our families at a big party on October 20, so I am excited to find out who wanted me.

Photos

Check out some of my latest photos:





Or you can see all of them here:

Marshall Islands part 5

time for another post

10th grade is pretty cool. In the Marshall Islands the English classes are supposed to cover four main points: reading, writing, oral communication, and grammar. At my school the students take two classes labeled as English and neither one has a specified focus. Both of the teachers who were teaching 10th grade English were Marshallese. When I was asked to teach English, I took over for one of the teachers. Because there are the four points that need to be covered in English two English classes, the other teacher wisely suggested that we split up the four points so that our classes would not overlap as much. However, when she suggested that, she told me to take the harder two points and decided that they were oral communication and grammar.

Many people who know me well may describe me as a 'talker' (I think the Marshallese work is 'bukarrar'). So the oral communication part should not be too difficult for me to teach. And those who know me—especially the ones I grew up with and went to elementary school with—know that I was never officially taught grammar and that my grammar sucks. So one would think, 'well at least his class will know how to talk.' Well the problem is that many Marshallese children are very, very shy and very terrified to talk in front of others. They are embarrassed easily and will clam up if they do not want to do public speaking.

Well anyway, out of about 90 students I have only had about 4 refuse to speak and only one cry. I think that is a pretty good percentage. I was told by many people that I may be asking a lot of the students to do public speaking in front their class on their first day with me, but if that is one of my main focuses I want them to get used to talking as much as possible in a controlled manner.

As for grammar, I am stuck in the mindset of 'guess and go, if it sounds right is probably is right.' Too bad that doesn't work in an ESL situation. Most of my students think that the movie 'Batman' is called 'fat man' or 'bad man.'

Tomorrow is 'Manet Day' it is the national holiday to celebrate the customs of the Marshall Islands. I am really excited to see the different handicrafts being made, the coconut husking contest, and the many other cultural events. I will try to take some pictures and put them up, I think this is going to be a good weekend.

Oh and please continue to send letters to me. I have responsed to everyone that I have received. I love getting mail. :)

Darren Nakata
WorldTeach
c/o Tamara Greenstone
PO Box 627
Majuro, Marshall Islands
Republic of the Marshall Islands

The bombshell

Ok...two weeks of school have passed and I am teaching 11th and 12th grade computers. I was a little shocked when I was asked to take on a special ed class, but everything seems to be ok with them. While I was walking out of school today the principal stopped me and asked to talk to him in his office. I was asked to trade in all of my classes to teach 10th grade English. I am not sure how I feel about this yet, but I said I would whatever is best for the students. So on Monday or Tuesday I will be getting a whole new set of students and get to start school all over again.....


So the things I requested for the computer lab will no longer be needed by me, but I am sure that they could still used by the students and the new teacher. As for things that I will need in my classroom, I will have to wait and see when I start. So I am sure I will let you know.


:/

Another update

Ok while, I intended to put up another post last week on the 14th the internet café was being dumb, so it was not updated and another week has almost gone by.

First off, I would like to happy birthday to my sister Cory, while this many be a little impersonal, you will be receiving a gift in the mail soon (well soon after I actually mail it). Second, I would like to say congratulations to my cousin Zach on getting married this weekend. I am sorry that I will not be attending this awesome event but I will be there in spirit. And thirdly I would like to give a night little shout-out to TK/Taysh for sending me an awesome postcard from Avalon, New Jersey, and to Lauren for sending me a letter as well. I enjoy the letters. Oh and how can I forget the care package of chocolate, goldfish and Twinkies? Thanks My for sending that, it was very much appreciated.

As for the happenings around Majuro, things are going well. I have been catching some things around here. Two weeks ago I caught a big rat. Last week I caught a big fish in a Billfish Club tournament. Joe and I went out on a boat called 'Celtic Pride' with the owner John Murphy. Our day started with getting up at 4:15AM and we fished from 6AM till about 4:30PM. At first we thought that we only had a so-so day of fishing catching 2 fish, neither one of them a Marlin. On Sunday we found out that our boat got second place! The first place boat had caught 2 Marlin.

So let's see if I can keep this up this weekend and see what I can catch. (the rat and fish pics should be posted soon.)

Last Sunday, a guy named Baron (a Marshallese man in his 40's who now lives in Gresham, Oregon) took us out on his father-in-law's boat and we spent the day fishing again. However, Sunday ended up being more of a boating day because there were even fewer fish in the water. At least we got to go to Enamanet to go swimming which is always a fun activity.

Well anyway, school is going well. I met my "Special Ed" class this week and I am no longer worried with taking that class on. While it is a little difficult to communicate with the deaf kid and many of the students have a hard time understanding moderate to difficult English words, that class follows directions very well. They are very patient with me, and everyone in that class makes an effort to participate. I can hardly say that with my four other classes, but those classes are starting to turn around.

Please continue to send me letters and emails they are very much appreciated. I am making an effort to write back as soon as possible. Also, to everyone who I promise a postcard, I am learning about places where I can buy some, so as soon as I purchase postcards and stamps they will be mailed out. Don't worry, I have not forgotten about all of you.

So until next time…

:)


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Phone: 503.467.1177

They call me demon part 2 (this post is from 9-14-07)

The first week of school is over and I have survived. It has been tiring, but other than that not too difficult. I am enjoying myself. However, it has come to my attention that some of my students may be afraid of me because my hair reminds them of a demon. During our WorldTeach orientation we were told that many people on the outer islands believe in demons, but I was under the impression that people in Majuro were less inclined to believe in such superstitions. Well I guess I was wrong. Oh well…the students can remember this year as the year that they had a demon for a teacher.

Please enjoy the pics I have taken over the last few weeks :)

To whomever wrote the comment below, please let me know since I am not sure who sent it.

"D said..."Sounds like a good challenging experience. Let me know if you have questions about behavior difficulties or special education."



You can view all the pics here:

Marshall Islands part 4

First post in a while

Ok, time has flown by and so much has happened. The Navy came to provide aid all around Majuro (which delayed the start of school another week), Dan had his 25th birthday weekend, and I have been spear fishing (and actually catching fish).

However, the thing that sticks out in my mind the most is that I began teaching this week. Our first day was Monday, September 10, 2007 and in Marshallese school system fashion, we had a half day which started with an assembly at 9AM and dismissing the students at 10AM. To top is all off, at about 8:30AM the power went out in the school.  

(A side note, NVTI is located on the same campus as Majuro Middle School and Marshall Islands High School, and our school was the only one to lose power, oh well.)

So I have approximately 100 students in two 11th and two 12th grade classes. The two full days of class I have had so far have been exhausting. But that might also be due to the lack of sleep I have been getting—going to bed around midnight/1AM and getting up at 6AM. (I know mom and dad, if I went to sleep earlier I would not be so tired…oh well I guess I will have to figure that out at some point.) Anyway, my school schedule began with 3 classes from 8AM-10:45AM, lunch from 10:45AM-11:35AM, free period from 11:25AM-12:35PM, another class from 12:35PM-1:25PM, study hall from 1:30PM-2:20PM, and a prep period from 2:25PM- 3:15PM. I thought this was a pretty good schedule especially since I was able to get about an hour and half for lunch which gave me time to do more class room prep and relax. Today I was asked to take on another class during my free period; I was asked to teach the 11th grade Special Ed class. Of the students in that class I am told that one is deaf, two of them do not speak English and the rest of them are 'really slow learners.' I have not been able to determine if 'really slow learner' means that the students are actually mentally handicapped or if they are just not very bright. It is good to see that they have decided to group all of these kids together. I am not a trained teacher and am definitely not trained to teach special education. This is going to be an interesting year.

Anyway, I will put up pictures soon and continue to let you know about my teaching endeavors.

Also, since I am teaching computers I am always in the need to for computer related materials (especially mice, keyboards and mouse pads-a class set of 30 each would be awesome) or posters, or any other regular school supplies. Today I spent the whole class period reviewing the parts of the computer with the students (Hardware, internal device, external device, monitor, keyboard, mouse, CPU, hard drive, input and output). Most of the 11th and 12th graders have had 3 or 4 years of computer class. This may be turning into a long year. :)

Until next time.....

Short entry

Favorite sounds in the Marshall Islands:

- The noise made by geckos at night
- The ping sound of a fishing spear as it hits coral/rocks

Sound I hate in the Marshall Islands:

- The dripping of water from my air conditioner to the linoleum tiled floor

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I start school on Monday, September 3, 2007. I will be teaching 11th and 12th grade computers.

Thanks for all of the comments on my last blog post. I enjoyed reading all of them :)

Not everyone wears pants

It has almost been one week since we moved into the dorm. The dorm is fairly similar to college dorms back home, probably a step down, but our living quarters are pretty nice by the local standards. I have my own air conditioned room and bathroom and share a common room and kitchen with about 9 other people.

While there are 9 bedrooms in the dorm, there are currently 10 people living here relatively permanently. But, in this country, things don’t always go as planned. The two airplanes of Air Marshall Islands are broken and some roomers say it may take up to 10 days for the planes to be fixed. This means that many of the volunteers going to outer islands are stuck here in Majuro with no place to stay and no idea of when they will be leaving. As a result, many of the stranded volunteers are moving into the dorm. The upcoming weeks will be interesting.

Because we live in the dorm (which is located on the high school, middle school and vocational school campus) we do not live in a neighborhood. However, our living quarters are located right next to one of the poorest parts of the country and maybe the poorest part of Majuro. In that neighborhood there are many children who are always playing outside all day long since school has not started yet. Yesterday Rachael (a stranded volunteer going to Jabut) and I decided to take chalk outside to draw on the pavement. Being the crazy ri-belle (the Marshallese word for American/white person—so this term doesn’t always apply to me, but I can pretend) that we are, all of the kids came running to see what we were up to. Being kids they are very interested in what we are doing. Being Marshallese none of them want to speak to us or participate in the drawing on the ground. The best we can do is hand them the colored chalk and they hold onto it for about a minute/minute and a half and they hand it back to us. After about 10 minutes of having little kids stare at us, one little girl decides to draw a line on the ground. As soon as we look and recognize what she did, she stands up and runs to the back of the group and hides. We go back to drawing on the ground and in about 5 minutes all the kids begin to draw and they all want to show us what they have drawn.

Well word must have traveled around the neighborhood that the crazy foreigners had come out to play because our group of kids had began to grow larger. There was one little boy in particular who came wearing a blue striped shirt and what appeared to be really, really, really short shorts—or I was hoping he was wearing short shorts or at the very least underwear. Well as it turns out, he didn’t have shorts or underwear and the other kids were making sure that we knew that he didn’t have any on. We told the kids ‘Jaab’ (the Marshallese word for ‘no’). They stopped, sorta…..

There are plenty of famous people who didn’t wear pants, most notably Donald Duck and…well I can’t think of anyone else who doesn’t wear pants. I guess that is just part of the reality of living in Marshall Islands. At least that little boy must be cool in this hot and humid weather. Sometimes it is just so hot here I wish I could walk around without any pants.

Jelter, End of Orientation, and Moving Into My New Home

This past week has been packed full of fun, entertainment and change.


On Wednesday and Thursday our group (plus the Dartmouth volunteers) went to an outer island called Jelter on the Majuro Atoll. This was a great experience—especially for the people living on Majuro—to get an outer island-like experience. We husked coconut, people wove plates and baskets out of palm fronds, and we went spear fishing during the day and at night. This opportunity gave me some insight on how people on outer islands live and eat. We ate canned corned beef and rice for lunch, a whole coral reefs worth of fish for dinner and even more fish and coconut crab for midnight snack. Think of the coral reef exhibit in an aquarium and how much each one of those fishes cost…I must have eaten many expensive fish.
Besides the many species of fish I was able to consume, the highlight of the trip was spear fishing. It gave me an opportunity to see many different types of sea creatures and the opportunity to try and bring back a snack…though I am still pretty bad at this activity.
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Friday was our last day of orientation. We arrived here 4 weeks ago and time has flown by. It does not feel like I have spent that much time here, which is probably a good thing since I still have many more months to go. To end orientation we had a dinner and talent show where about half of the volunteers participated. I do not have any talent show talents, so I did not participate (though, I was asked if I would MC the event and I politely declined). I am very impressed with all of the volunteers that in the program, and after seeing the talent show I was surprised at how many talented people we had among us. It was a night with laughs, music, and all around good fun.
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Also on Friday, some of us moved into our permanent housing into the teachers dorm on the Marshall Islands High School Campus (which also includes Majuro Middle School and NVTI—the school I will be teaching at). There are 10 teachers staying on the MIHS campus, but only 9 bedrooms in the dorm. There is a house about 500 feet from the dorm that was supposed to house one or two of the volunteers, however, the day before we were supposed to move in, some construction workers did something to the sewer line and the toilet in the house exploded. As a result there are 10 people living in the 9 bedroom dorm.
People living in the dorm: Me, Dan, Tim, Ben, Courtney, Amy, Mariko, Elizabeth, and Robbye. I will get a group picture of us up at some point so that you all can see.
In the Marshall Islands, nothing seems to go as planned or on schedule. (A little side note, last week the Ministry of Education officially decided that there will be no official start date of school this year). Currently the two airplanes of the Air Marshall Islands fleet are ‘broken’ and as a result, many of the volunteers going to outer islands are unable to leave Majuro. If they do not leave by next Friday, it is likely that many of them will be moving in with us at the dorm. This is good because we are not ready to see everyone leave yet, we won’t get to see our friends until December, or in some cases May, but also they need/want to get to their islands so that they can begin their teaching. We will see what happens in the next few days.
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Thanks for all of the comments on my blog and the emails and facebook messages. I love to hear from all of you. I will try to get more pics up soon.

And yes Becky, it does look as nice as the pics I have placed on here.

Also please feel free to send this blog to anyone you want. I am always up for more readers.
:)

the post is fixed

Okay, I have fixed the previous post. I would like to thank everyone who has been sending in their predictions about my hair length and weight loss/guess predictions, we will see how this plays out throughout the year.

On Friday I get to move into my permanent housing. I am excited to finally unpack. I hope everyone is enjoying themselves at home because I am having a great time here.

-Darren

Hmm....

I will soon be a teacher…

Showering under a million stars…

They call me demon…

Hitching to Laura…

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Those are three blog article titles that I have been meaning to write, but I have been lazy and I did not write them.
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So life here is great. I have met some awesome people and am making great friends. Soon it will be time to move into the teacher dormitory and begin teaching. This past week we have had our teaching practicum to prepare for the school year. While my group was supposed to teach 8th graders, we ended up with two of the smartest 12 graders in the country. This ended up working out well since I was able to move at a much faster pace and introduce more complex topics. While I have been mainly working with just two students I have enjoyed my first experience teaching. School is supposed to start in just over a week. We will see if school starts on time, it rarely does in the public school system here. I haven’t even met my principal yet, so I have no clue what my schedule is going to be like. I hope I find out soon.
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So we take bucket showers since there is not enough running water. As you may have seen in my pictures, our showers are just a couple of tarps put up around a wood frame. The coolest part of the bucket shower is taking them at night under all of the stars. If it is late enough, all the lights in the neighborhood will be off and there is no light pollution. I have never seen so many stars in my life, not even the night I spent on the ferry in Alaska. Anyway showering under the stars is pretty awesome…. J
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Outside of teaching we have kept ourselves occupied by playing with the neighborhood kids. There are always 3-5 kids playing with us whenever we have free time. They are great kids and they enjoy having fun. We are able to teach them English and they are able to help us with our Marshallese, which is pretty cool. As you may have seen in my pictures, some of the little girls have named me ‘Timon’ which translates to ‘Demon’. We spend our time growling and snarling at each other. It is a fun time. I will miss hanging out with the kids when I move to the other side of the island.
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Last Sunday was the first day we had to ourselves, we had no lessons, no instructions, and no real plans. We had heard about a part of Majuro called Laura. It is located at the far western part of the island and pretty much the only place that has sandy beaches. Unfortunately Laura is about 17 miles from Rairok (where we are currently staying) and we only had our feet for transportation. So we started walking in flip-flops and sandals. After about a couple miles we decided to make a sign because we knew there was no way to walk to the end of the island. After another half mile of walking, a nice Mitsubishi sedan stopped and told us to get in—there were 6 of us so it was quite the squeeze. (Hitchhiking is accepted here and is one of the main forms of transportation for people.) The man in the in the car ended up being a Senator from Majuro and was more than happy to take us out there and he became our personal tour guide. Laura (and the drive out there) was much different than downtown. There are more trees, almost a jungle, and lots fewer people. We got to the beach and the weather was awesome…it looked like I had just entered a postcard. We snorkeled and sat in our hammocks.
The only problem with hitching out to Laura is that we did not have transportation back towards town. And with such a large group it is hard to get picked up. We walked for a few miles before a truck came to pick us up. The truck made it a few more miles before it broke down and we were without transportation again, and we started to walk. While it was getting dark, we were lucky enough to have someone pick us up and we made it back to the compound safely…..
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That is all I have for now. I hope everyone is well at home and enjoying seeing and reading my experiences. I am currently working on sending out postcards to everyone who sent me their address. If anyone else would like one, please send me your address at dtnakata@gmail.com

:)

Me again

More pics.....Enjoy

Also I thank everyone who is participating in the weight and hair games...keep your guesses coming.

Marshall Islands part 2

Picture time.

Hi All...this is a slide show of some pics i have taken so far. I hope you enjoy them :)

You can review all of them by clicking on the picture below!

Marshall Islands - the beginning

Week one is now done

So the first week is over and I am still alive. It has been quite the experience and I can hardly believe that I will be living here for a year. Life here has been simple. All of our meals include in some form rice, noodles, tofu, cabbage, mushrooms, and carrots. Also, I have only been to the store once or twice, but the selection for the most part seems to be acceptable, it looks as if I will have a wide variety food in my diet.

As compared to some of the outer island volunteers, it appears that the volunteers in the dorm may be a little spoiled. We will have air conditioning, our own bathrooms, and we get to hang around other English speakers, all of which I think will make this experience a little easier. But we will be much more dependent on our $300/month stipend for even the basic necessities.

On Friday I joined the Marshall Islands Billfish Club . It looks like a great way to get way to pass the time while I am here. They hold tournaments once a month and fish for Marlin, Yellow Fin and a few other types of large fish. The meeting was quite the show with all of the debating that went on. I feel like it was a decent example of Marshallese culture.

Saturday night was spent bowling with the orientation group. It only confirmed that I am not good at bowling. However, we were joined by some people who have been living on this island for the last 3 years, and they were pretty good. So that just means I need to live here longer if I want to become a better bowler.

Sunday was spent on an island on the other side of the atoll. We got to snorkel and see many fish, coral (though half of it seemed like it was dead or dying), and the cockpit of an old sunken plane (though it was brought to that location for tourists to see). I opened my first coconut by cracking it open on the rocks. It tasted okay, I think I like it better when it is cooked. But over all it was just a great day to relax and enjoy the new environment.

Today was a very educational day. Our sessions were about the social and economic conditions in the Marshall Islands and the effect of nuclear bomb testing on the Bikinian people. It was great to receive all of this information, but it was also a little depressing. Hopefully my time here will make things a little better.
_______________________________________________IN OTHER NEWS....

Currently there are 45 volunteers living in 3 school trailers. There is not a lot of room or privacy but we have air conditioning and sometimes we have running water....but we don't drink that. The people I have met are awesome. WorldTeach did a great job bringing in some really cool people. I am really excited about this next year.

When school starts I will be moving to a teachers dorm on my school's campus with 8 other volunteers. I like everyone, so I am sure this will be a good year.

Anyway, I am all typed out... for your enjoyment I am attached some pics of people, where I am currently living, and near perfect sunsets (I mean the clouds are kinda ruining it.). Enjoy.

PS.

Please send in your predictions about my hair length, the days I will go without cutting my hair and how much weight I will gain/lose. :) And for everyone who gave me their address, I am currently working on getting those post cards out. Enjoy!

I have arrived :) I am alive

Hello Everyone...I am writing from the future!

I have no clue what the time difference is but it is about 9:19 PM here on Tuesday, July 24, 2007(?)

I have landed in Majuro, Marshall Islands and all is well. In just my 3 days here there has been so much going on and there is so much more to do. I am very excited about everything that I will experience this year.

I will try to be more prepared and next time and have a better post. Oh by the way, Carolyn wins the prize for sending me the first piece of mail. I greatly appreciate having received it...I was actually the first volunteer to receive any mail..woohoo :) I feel so loved.

Anyway, I look forward to posting a more in-depth/entertaining entry in the near future.

In the meantime, please enjoy this lovely picture of the atoll that I flew over.

Last post from this side of the globe

Okay, so it is 12:46 AM on Friday, July 20 and I have yet to finish packing. Oh well, I am always up for a challenge.

Anyway, this is my last post until I get internet access again, and I am not sure when that will be. Oh and thanks to everyone who has been reading this blog, I appreciate the love. Let me know if you have any questions or comments, and I will try to answer them in my next post or in a personal email to you.

And if you have sent my an email and I have not responded yet, please be assured that I have read it and I am planning on responding when I get a quick second. Also, if you have sent me your mailing address you have earned yourself a postcard or something that may resemble a postcard, we will see what I can come up with.

Lastly, with regards to the "Guess Darren's Weight,' I have completed my official weigh in and I weigh...*drum roll*...218lbs (Yikes! I guess I really am turning into a fatty). Maybe it is a good thing that I am going to be moving to a third world country and am going to be poor.

Well, signing off from Portland, Oregon, USA....have a good night!

So long Bay Area

So I'm on my way out of Mountain View. It has been good. I will return in the future. I will miss everyone I have met in the area.

The Final Countdown (cue the music by the Swedish hard rock band 'Europe')

So I have completed all prerequisite requirements for my trip and all I am left with is packing up my life in California and heading home to Oregon, which will leave me three days to pack for the whole year abroad. I mean how much could I really need in a tropical, third world country?

Since I will be living on the other side of the world in extreme conditions, I thought it'd be fun to play some games. I expect every reader of this blog to participate.

Game 1: How much weight will Darren lose (or gain) while in the Marshall Islands. I will do my initial weigh-in on a bathroom scale in Oregon within the next week.

Game 2: How many days will Darren go without cutting his hair, (if at all)?

Game 3: How long will Darren's hair get?

Things to keep in mind when making educated guesses:

• Common foods of the Marshall Islands: breadfruit, pandanus, coconut, rice, fish and canned meat (I am told the food is very bland)
  
• Previously, the longest I have gone without cutting my hair is 6 months (between Oct '02-March '03 as seen in the pic below)
• The weather is hot and humid year round, with highs about 88 degrees, although there is a pleasant "windy" season as well.
• In February '07 I shaved my head with a razor, currently my hair is approximately 3 inches long

Prizes will be awarded for the best guesses!

So What exactly is Darren doing?

So what is Darren doing? That is a good question. I have been told by a couple people that I am crazy. I have been told by some other people that they do not approve of where I am going. But in all reality, I don't really know what I am getting myself into, but I will do my best to try and explain it.

On July 21, 2oo7 I will be leaving the USA for approximately one year to teach English and various other skills to high school aged students in the Marshall Islands.

You may ask, "Where are the Marshall Islands?"
The Marshall Islands is a small country located in the middle of nowhere Pacific Ocean. Literally, the middle of nowhere. You can find more info at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_islands & http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_islands

Then you will want to know "So Darren, how did you even hear about this thing that you are doing?"
I found out about WorldTeach from a friend I have know since kindergarten (sorry no actual name shout-outs here, it's policy) From there, I did a little bit of research, applied for a placement, and now the rest is history, well at least recent history.

For more information about WorldTeach, a non-profit, non-governmental organization please visit http://www.worldteach.org

The next question is usually, "Well, where will you be living? And, what will you be doing?"
Well no matter where I am placed I will be teaching students in a public school. Until two days ago, I could have been living a in a grass hut without electricity, running water, or internet! (Super Eek!) However, I recently learned that I will be living and teaching in Majuro, the capitol of the Marshall Islands. I will be a teaching high school aged students at National Vocational Technical/Training Institute. (I am not quite sure what the name of the school is, but I am sure I will find out soon. <-I NOW KNOW MY SCHOOL!) So major advantages of living in Majuro--I will have electricity, running water, internet (though it is super slow dial-up speeds) and air conditioning in my room and my classroom!
Well anyway, I am reading a book called The Sex Lives of Cannibals: Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific. Yeah, I know it is an interesting title, so I am sure it will be a good one.

Furthermore, I am tired and have totally lost my train of thought. I am spending my last few days with family singing karaoke and packing before I leave for good.

Even though I will have access to internet, I will still accept letters and packages sent to me at

Darren Nakata
c/o WorldTeach
P.O. Box 627
Majuro, MH 96960
Republic of the Marshall Islands

I do not know the current rates, but you can use USPS and things will get to me. Also, if you send a package, send it priority mail and with a customs form, or it may take 6 months or a year to reach me, yikes!

Well this is me signing off from Winchester (AKA The Desert), CA.

First Post

http://dtnakata.googlepages.com/keepdarrenalive2

Hi,

Please visit the link I have provided.

Since you have found this blog, you probably already know that I am teaching English in the Marshall Islands from July 2007-June 2008. I plan on using this blog as a way to keep my sanity and as a way to keep in touch with the outside world.