October 26, 2007 (Day 14)

Jacqueline had gone out to breakfast before Shelby and I got up. Email went around the school about our performance. 4th grade teacher asked Jacq to have us perform the legend for her class. She came back and said she had bad news, she pulled a fielding and scheduled a performance for us at ten. We got up and showered and dressed fielding took us to school and we performed. The kids seemed to really like it. One Marshallese boy couldn’t figure out how we had found out about the RMI all the way up in Alaska. They asked a few questions and then we had to go. Our flight was later that day around 6:45ish. We had a little while before we would head down at 4:45. Julian and the kids were coming over on the ferry at about noon so after we headed down there to meet with them. Julian and Dano couldn’t get on boat because it was too full. The girls came and we hung out with them for a little while. The boys were coming over at around 3. We had to go drop off our bags to be searched but then we came back to the terminal. Julian and Dano came over and they gave us more gifts, it was very generous. We took pictures and then we had to go because we still had to say goodbye to Ona and Ava. We spent a little while there and then headed off to the airport. We were running a little late and a very nice guy in a golf cart gave us a ride down. When we were in the airport, fielding forgot that he still had our key so he ran over and dropped it off. We were in the airport for a little while waiting to board. When we got to Majuro, we had already missed the nuclear club meeting because we were supposed to have been back in Majuro on Thursday. The flame tree picked us up from the airport and we had cheese pizza for dinner. Dora Heine, a girl we had met the week before from the Nuclear Club, joined us for dinner. We went and sang karaoke with Dora and her cousin. We were pretty tired and fielding had already left so we went back to our rooms. Shelby and I weren’t really that tired so we stayed up for a long time and talked and listened to my ipod. Then around 12:30 or so we went to sleep.

October 26, 2007 (Day 14)

Jacqueline had gone out to breakfast before Shelby and I got up. Email went around the school about our performance. 4th grade teacher asked Jacq to have us perform the legend for her class. She came back and said she had bad news, she pulled a fielding and scheduled a performance for us at ten. We got up and showered and dressed fielding took us to school and we performed. The kids seemed to really like it. One Marshallese boy couldn’t figure out how we had found out about the RMI all the way up in Alaska. They asked a few questions and then we had to go. Our flight was later that day around 6:45ish. We had a little while before we would head down at 4:45. Julian and the kids were coming over on the ferry at about noon so after we headed down there to meet with them. Julian and Dano couldn’t get on boat because it was too full. The girls came and we hung out with them for a little while. The boys were coming over at around 3. We had to go drop off our bags to be searched but then we came back to the terminal. Julian and Dano came over and they gave us more gifts, it was very generous. We took pictures and then we had to go because we still had to say goodbye to Ona and Ava. We spent a little while there and then headed off to the airport. We were running a little late and a very nice guy in a golf cart gave us a ride down. When we were in the airport, fielding forgot that he still had our key so he ran over and dropped it off. We were in the airport for a little while waiting to board. When we got to Majuro, we had already missed the nuclear club meeting because we were supposed to have been back in Majuro on Thursday. The flame tree picked us up from the airport and we had cheese pizza for dinner. Dora Heine, a girl we had met the week before from the Nuclear Club, joined us for dinner. We went and sang karaoke with Dora and her cousin. We were pretty tired and fielding had already left so we went back to our rooms. Shelby and I weren’t really that tired so we stayed up for a long time and talked and listened to my ipod. Then around 12:30 or so we went to sleep.

October 25, 2007 (Day 13)

Shelby and Fielding went to Ebeye at noonish. They came back and we had a performance at 3 at the school, Jacq didn’t go because she works for the gov and she didn’t want to get in trouble. Performance went rather well. We asked them questions and gave them objectives and stuff. We had a few really stupid remarks that we could have done without, but it was ok. After performance we talked to a few Marshallese girls then we went home and Shelby told Jacq that she mentioned to some girls why she didn’t go. Jacq was a little upset but she played it off with a joke so Shelby wouldn’t feel bad.

October 24, 2007 (Day 12)

We woke up and got dressed for our performance at the Ebeye school later on that day. We went out to breakfast and headed for the school and Deo had everyone assemble in one of the classrooms for our presentation, This presentation was a little bit different than what we had been doing. We set up objectives and told the kids some of the themes and ideas that appear in our piece. We planned to ask them questions after they had seen our presentation to see how well they payed attention. Of course, there was some difficulty in getting the kids to follow everything, but most of them got it, which was good. At the end, after we had finished our presentation and questions, we threw bubble gum to everyone, which they absolutly loved:) Then we went over to the gym and performed again for some of the older kids at the school. This time we didn't do the teaching part because the gym was so large, it was hard for all of them to hear hear us and answer questions. After we were finished we played the documentary "A New Island" about the Marshallese people living in Arkansas by Dale Carpenter. While the movie was playing a named Rogan came up to us and thanked us and gave each Shelby and I a necklace, which was probably my favorite gift form the entire trip. Another man named Jack came up to us and gave us some feedback about what was not mentioned or incorrect in our piece, which we were grateful for because we want all of our information to be as correct as possible and show it in a respectful way. After the movie was over we left and headed back to our hotel and got our bags and headed for the terminal to go to Kwaj. We didn't really have anything else to do for the day so we went down and bought underwater cameras to take with us snorkeling. Before we went out snorkeling we went back home and ate lunch. During lunch we began playing a game of Uno, which turned into a never-ending game which got very tiresome. After what seemed like forever, Shelby finally won and very graciously rubbed it in mine and Jacqueline's faces, which was all in good humor of course:D Then we went and borrowed the snorkel gear from Ona again and left for the beach. We took a bunch of pictures, although I'm not exactly sure how they would turn out because they didn't have zoom or anything like that. Shelby and Fielding decided that they would go back to Ebeye and walk around again while Jacq and I stayed on Kwaj. We went to the Micronesian shop again and then to the library to check our emails. Then we went home and took a shower and I worked on homework for awhile until I fell asleep on the couch. Shelby and Fielding came back and Shelby told me that we would have another performance the next day, besides the one that was already planned. After that we went to bed.

October 23, 2007 (Day 11)

This morning I woke up early because I wanted to see the sunrise, which was around 6 AM. Jacqueline woke me up and we walked down to a beach where we could get a good view. Once we got there we started taking pictures with different exposures to get different angles, it was very beautiful. I also noticed that the little rocks on the beach kept moving around, so I bent down to take a look and saw that there were bunches of little hermit crabs! They were everywhere and I was so afraid that I was going to step on them. We also took tons of pictures of them. Once the sun had completely risen, we began walking home and to take a shower. Today we would be going over to Ebeye and we were going to spend the night, so we had to pack a few things for an overnight stay. Once we were all packed, we cleaned up the house, because we didn't know if we would still have the house when we got back. We went over and Julian picked us up and took us out to Gucci-gu, which was where the school was where we would be performing at. We got changed and headed over to the performance. The students had prepared a welcoming show kind of thing and presented us with a lot of really great gifts. We did our performance and there were these two dogs that were bothering us on stage and wouldn't leave us alone, it was kind of funny actually. After we were done we presented gifts to seniors at the school, they were to be the first graduating seniors the school had, which was a great accomplishment. Then we went over to the Catholic school across the field and did another performancefor them.The same dogs followed us over and tried to steal the stage from us, it was pretty funny actually. We hung around for a little while and talked to people from the school and exchanged stories about the places we live. They thought that Alaska was very intrigueing. After we were done there, we went back and got a ride with Julian to town and it started raining so we stopped and ate dinner. It rained really really really hard. Shelby and I got in back of truck and they took pics of us, Julian took us around to the hotels and then helped us settle in. We watched the news for a bit, then Shelby and Fielding went out for a walk around Ebeye at night while I did homework and talked to Jacq a little bit. When they got back Shelby and I worked on interview questions for a little while and then went to bed.

October 22, 2007 (Day 10)

Jacqueline and I had gotten up before Shelby, so we decided to go out to breakfast while she was getting ready. Today was the day of the Marshallese Trade Fair and it started at 9:30 AM. While we were eating, Fielding stopped by and told us that Shelby was going to meet us at the Trade Fair later on. We finished breakfast and ran back home and grabbed our bikes and then headed off for the school, which was where the Trade Fair was being held. There were tables everywhere covered with the most beautiful handicrafts and trickets. I met up with Shelby and we walked around looking at all of the different tables to see what we could buy. We each ended up buying some jewelry, traditional maps, and hand-woven ornaments. We also bought little trinkets for the rest of the kids on the DDF team back in Skagway. Of course, I ended up spending way more money than I had planned to, but I'm glad I ended up with the things I bought. When we went outside, Shelby and I saw a stand that was selling fresh coconut, we went over to buy some and were very excited. However there was a man in front of us that we had talked to, and he knew that we wanted it, but he bought all of it! We were very upset. After we were all done there, we went down the street to the Micronesian Shop and bought even more things, but it was all worth it. However we sort of had to rush because we still had to catch the boat over to Ebeye to meet with Deo Keju, Darlene Keju's brother. We went back home and then to terminal to go to Ebeye. Once we got to Ebeye we looked around for Deo and found himat his family's store, he brought us to his home and allowed us to interview him. After we left Shelby played volleyball with some kids but tripped and fell on the sidewalk, which was kind of funny. We went shopping around a little in Ebeye and then took a water taxi back to Kwaj. Then we went to the cultural center and then the library. We were Invited to picnic after a soccer game across the street, but we didn't stay very long. We left and went to the cafeteria to get something to eat. We wanted to go swimming again, but it was already getting dark out. At the beach, there were a bunch of kids there and it was too dark to see anything in the water, so we didn't stay very long. We headed back to our house and practised for a little while with Jacqueline and Mr. Fielding. The day had left us with several new gifts and handicrafts, as well as very tired. After we were done practicing, we went to bed.

October 21, 2007 (Day 9)

We woke up and went over to Ebeye at about 8 am so that we could go to a church service. Julian met us at the dock and showed us around a little bit and took us to a place where we could get some breakfast. After that we walked down towards the church. As we were walking down, Shelby and I made friends with two little dogs who were very cute, but seemed to be homeless. It was sad. We got to the church and before the service; Julian introduced us to the minister. While we were there, a little puppy came up and he was very very cute, but Jacqueline wouldn’t let us pet him because we had already sanitized our hands. The dogs on Ebeye were very dirty and not many of them were very well taken care of. Then we went into the church and the dogs tried to follow us in, we didn’t mean to, they just really liked us ☺. The little puppy ran inside and almost went to the bathroom, which would have been very bad, but someone came and took him out. The service began and the minister welcomed us. The entire thing was in Marshallese though and Julian tried to translate when he could, but we didn’t understand nearly any of it. After the actual service was over, several different singing groups came up and performed and through out bubble gum and money, which was very generous of them. The church service was really wonderful and so lively. After it was over, Julian took us around town. One of his students, Dano, had come to the church service with Julian and walked around town with us for a little while. They took us over to Julian's house and introduced us to his wife, who was very nice. However she had a cold and couldn't come out with us. We left Julian's house and went out to lunch. We found out that Julian had been part of Operation Homecoming at Kwajelein years before. After lunch, we had to get going to catch the boat back to Kwajelein. Once we returned, we went over to Ona's to use her phone and she let us all call home. I told my mom about the evil little Picasso fish and she laughed at me. After we were done calling home, Shelby and I had decided to go and buy some lettuce to feed the turtles at the pond. Mr. Fielding showed us again how to get to the turtle pond and we assured him that we would find our way back home easily enough, considering we were on an island. We hung out at the turtle pond for a while and fed them, we figured out that there were three turtles in there, we had previously only seen two. They were so huge, it was amazing. We competed a little on who could get the turtle to come over to us, it was fun. By now, the sun had set and it was dark out. We both had little head lamps to help us see in the dark. We started heading back, and of course, we got lost, on an island, impossible right? Not so much. We ended up riding our bikes pretty much entirely around the island and almost went into a restriced area before we finally made it home. Once we got back we told Jacqueline and Fielding that we had in fact gotten lost and they laughed at us. We got ready for bed and went to sleep, and that was the end of that day.