Final email (hopefully) from Heidi

Hi! This is my final email before I attempt to leave. From here on out communication is via snail mail! :)

After 2 weeks waiting around in Majuro I'm finally planning on leaving tomorrow on an airplane! :) Hopefully in the next 18 hours the plane doesn't break so I really do get to go. Since I'm taking a plane and not a boat, as was initially planned, I have to take the time to repack my bags so I have one 30 pound bag with my essentials in it because I am only guaranteed space for one bag. After that I have to pack my stuff according to what I need most. I might not get some of my stuff for a month or two (or three?) so I'm kind of thinking if I don't need it for 2 months, why will I need it at all? I'm sure life will be easier with everything I have purchased here, but it's obviously not crucial to my existence to have...how frustrating. Anyway, if the plane is not full I will be able to put more than one 30 lb. bag on. Cross your fingers!

My time here has been good. I've grown very close to the 3 other girls who are still here and I will miss their company dearly. I'm anxious to get to Kaben to see what my life is going to be like for the next 10 months though, and look forward to my departure early tomorrow! :)

Letters might (will) be slow coming from here on out, but I will still diligently write because I get great joy from all the letters I receive and want to continue receiving them! Thanks for all your support!

email from Heidi Aug19

The things that happen in the RMI are completely random and exciting. Last night myself and a couple of girls were enjouying the sunset at the MIR (Marshall Islands Resort) and we met a few fun people there. We got invitied to a mixer, hosted by the owner of the hotel, a birthday party for a very old, rich "yachter" as they call themselves, and we got invited to go tour a Chinese fishing boat. Since we all have such pressing social schedules here (ha ha ha!) we decided to head to the fishing boat. Today (Wed. Aug 19) we met the very nice (and might I add handsome) New Zealand helicopter pilot that works on the boat for our tour. We had some problems getting past the gate at the dock because the security guard there told Daren (our guide) that no women are allowed on the fishing boats (whcih is true to Marshallese culture because women are bad luck on boats.). After a failed bribe (beer) and a short call to customs (as if we were planning on leaving the country) the guard finally let is on to the dock. The fishing boat was a decent sized boat housing about 40 crew and it was quite interesting. We got to see the living quarters (about 8 to a room, but they did have air conditioning), the helicopter, the bridge, the mess hall, and the place where they store the fish. They were actually unloaded fish while we were on so we got to see a bit of that process....not a life for me. Anyway, what a random morning activity, but it sure was fun!The birthday party is tomorrow night, and anyone who is anyone (and white) will be there so you better belive we will make an appearance! The mixer is on Friday night and we will also be making an appearance at that. My departure from Majuro is still TBD, but I'm in no hurry what with all of my social events!Thanks again for all the mail. I love mail days! :)

Saturday Aug 15

This is from an email Heidi sent us and wanted it posted to update everyone.

Hi! I am in Majuro for an unknown amount of time and I'm okay with it. Initially I was bummed to not be leaving but Cornelia didn't make it to her island as planned either so she is here for the next week (scheduled to fly on Saturday). I'm not leaving till one of 2 things happens (or both, who knows): first, my principal is prego's (she is about 50!!!) and isn't going back to our island until she has her baby so her husband said he would be the acting pricnipal but he doesn't know when he is going back either so I will go back when he goes (since school won't start until he get's there anyway even though it is supposed to start on Monday), or I have to wait for a drum of gas to get to the main island of my atoll so when I get there I can hire a boat to take me to Kaben but they don't know when the gas will arrive (even though they sent it on a boat about a week ago). Anyway, it is hard not knowing when I will be leaving but I'm enjoying my time in "the city."

Yesterday I went scuba diving!!! It was so great!!! Friday night we were all hanging out at a restaurant and Sarah (yes Sheila, I do have a friend named Sarah here) told me they were going out diving tomorrow and said I should come because we only had to pay for equipment. There is an Aussie here who said he would take some of us out so I jumped on the chance. I spend $25 to rent all my gear and we headed out. I was disappointed though because we didn't get to go to the reef he wanted to take us cause it was stormy yesterday (as it is most days actually) and he said it would be too dangerous (it sounded like we were going to a pass between to reefs and the water was really choppy so when we came up it would be pretty challenging) so he took us to a wreck instead. Now, I love diving and I'm happy to go whenever, but there is only so much to see of an old boat on the ocean floor (we went about 25 meters which I think is around 60+ feet) and I can only imagine the sea life by the coral (since I've snorkeled in the shallows and seen amazing things!!!). So maybe in December if he is still around he will take us out again.

While I'm in town, I'm also going to go see Harry Potter this very afternoon! Someone heard there were a bunch of American's in town and rushed to get the reel out here so it is here in the theater that is very near my new residence and it is a whopping 3 bucks! :) I'm excited. (and we heard Sunday matinees are only 2 so we'll see)

So, mail hasn't gotten out for a long time because I was told I was leaving for Kaben a day before I was supposed to go and didn't have anything ready so I was busy. Then I was told I wasn't going. Then the whole group was told we were moving out of our elementary school earlier than they originally said so we were busy cleaning and packing. Then we were moved into 4 different locations in town (I'm with one of the field directors with Cornelia and 2 other girls!) and other people started leaving so we've been having almost daily "last days" together. It's been a lot of fun but very busy! I will get my letters out that are almost a week old so keep in mind everything has changed since I wrote them. Let me update everyone. I now live in a 2 bedroom apartment that is SMALL!! With all of our luggage and wonderful sleeping mats, there is just enough room to get in the door and get to whatever area you are sleeping. It's fun! We also share the apartment with an army of cockroaches that really gross me out. We have a cockroach bowl that we just catch them under then slide the bowl to the door and kick the roaches out. Fun, fun, fun! As I said, my date of departure is still unknown! I'm going to try and email updates instead of writing, but we'll see how that goes!

Love,
Heidi

I talked to Heidi on the phone

I was able to talk to Heidi on the phone on Wednesday. The school house they are staying in had a phone in the office that we could call on. With the 18 hour time difference we had to set up a time that works for both of us. I called her at noon our time and it was 6 a.m. the next day for her. She had to get up early, but said it was worth it. She is still loving every minute of it and sounds very happy!
She was in town having pizza, fries and chocolate milk shakes, and her tooth broke. She doesn't like to go to the dentist, so you can imagine going to one in a third world country. The field director made her go. She didn't want her to get to her island and have any problems. For anyone that has been to Pioneer Village at Lagoon, she said walking into the dentist office it was like they had taken the Dentist office building in Pioneer Village and placing it in Majuro! She had just broke off part of the filling and the dentist said she could leave it or fill it again. I am sure you know what she decided on. She just left it.
She misses everyone but is having a wonderful time!

Pictures from Majuro

One of the girls in the group has her computer with her and sent some pictures.

This is on the bus ride to Majuro. They are about 45 minutes outside of town.
A few of the ladies sporting our Mumu's. The more formal apparel..
A group at the picnic gathering where we met the Ministry of Education as well as many of our principals.
Drinking coconuts at the picnic.
Our visit to the US Embassy. The talked with us, gave us Earth Day posters, and fed us pizza. And also gave us Obama postcards.
A group of us went bowling.
This is Laura beach about 15 miles down the road at the tip of Majuro Island. Incredible beach and great snorkeling. A neat tree to sit on, too.
Some of the girls on the tree branch. Heidi looks good and happy. I would assume that one of the girls is Cornelia.
Beautiful tree in Laura beach. Many of them enjoyed climbing.
Laura Beach. girls on the tree at Laura.
The whole crew that trekked out to Laura.
Laura Beach(up) (below) this is from Edamamet, the small, almost uninhabitited island we took a boat to for our first Saturday. Great beach for swimming.

Heidi sent this post card to her dad for his birthday. It is hard to see but she made the little bubble like he is talking and it says Happy Birthday Allen! For any of you who know Allen, he is not a Obama fan at all, making this very funny!!

Letters from July 29

Right under the date she has written 7:00 pm on the beach at sunset! :)

Hi everyone... It is one week into my adventure & I've come to 2 important realizations. First, it is time consuming to write letters and second, the Marshall Islands requires us to use official RMI stamps and they are very hard to come by! They are having a stamp shortage! I've decided to write one letter & have asked my mom to send it out. (this is why I am doing the blog). I will respond to personal letters privately!

I got my first batch of mail today! (The field directors bring our mail from town every Monday and Thursday. We are about 45 minutes out of town. ) it was like Christmas and made my day! When I head to my island I fear there will be a much longer delay.

Okay, on to the good stuff! RMI (Republic of the Marshall Islands) is the most beautiful place I've ever been. There are palm trees & pandana trees all over with a nice mixture of other island plants that make for beautiful scenery. Add in the lagoon which is an amazing clear blue and has splotches of green a mile or so away where tiny islands of the atoll sit, and the ocean which runs into the sky & it's pretty amazing. I can't complain. I frequently sit on the coral beaches & watch the sunset with Cornelia and chat about our current adventure.

Side note from Mom(Shauna)...When she met Cornelia in Los Angeles, there was an instant bond between them. Heidi told us they are like soul mates.

I haven't been swimming too often yet. Orientation keeps us busy from about 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. with short breaks for swimming or sleeping or eating. I've been swimming lagoon side a few times and encountered my first jelly fish. SCARY! I haven't been been swimming ocean side yet because I fear what might be lurking in the water. Only a few people have ventured out ocean side and every one of them have seen multiple sharks! I imagine the snorkeling is amazing but I'm going to have to wait to go with some locals on Maleolap so they can take care of me.

Besides the beauty I'm surrounded by, my next favorite thing about the RMI is the clothes! The girls were advised not to bring much from home because we could buy everything here for a decent price. Clothes are more expensive than I'd like but shopping sure is fun. We get to wear skirts, guam's and mumu's plus a slip (so we don't show the silhouette of our legs) and it really isn't bad. The guams are my favorite because they are the coolest and most comfy and have a pocket for my much needed chapstick! :) The clothes are made from the obnoxious designed material and Carnelia and I have made a point to find the worst designs possible to add to our wardrobe.

We have to take bucket shower which I love! Don't get me wrong, I'll enjoy a real shower when I get one in 11 months, but for now I enjoy my cold bucket of water. We talked to Heidi on the phone and she said they have made a few shower stalls with something like a pallet for the floor and then put some poles up and hung tarps around them. She said it is really hot in them during the day so she takes her bucket shower at night. She can look up and see all the stars and it is a little cooler. We also have to do our laundry old-school style by hand. What a task! Actually, the hardest part about laundry is getting my clothes to dry! The humidity here is out of control!!! I'm sure the humidity is at 200 % every minute of the day!! Keeping that in mind and the fact that it rains at least 10 times a day, you can imagine air drying my clothes is challenging. This brings me back to guam's, they dry fast! Maybe 2 hours in the sun and they're ready to wear!

If any of you were wondering, Marshallese is hard!! I can listen and read it fairly well considering my short exposure, but I can't pronounce it well at all. I think I struggle with because, they have sounds that my mouth doesn't know how to make.

Another challenge here is the food. OH MY GOODNESS! Initially we weren't fed traditional food, but it is slowly being put into our diets. I've had fried fish, deep fried fish (like chicken nuggets but fish nuggets) grilled fish and raw fish. I've also had coconut rice, pumpkin rice, plain rice and cold rice. I've tried them all but really only liked the plain rice so far. Octopus has been offered but I didn't have the guts to try that yet. I've had coconut milk('ll grow to like it because it is a crucial part of my diet in 2 1/2 weeks and fresh pandanas. (I'll grow to like that as well) and to top it off breadfruit! We've had breadfruit prepared a couple of ways but I've only liked one so far. They fry them and make chips out of the slices and boy are they tasty! Go figure. Don't worry, I'm not starving yet.

All in all, this has been a great experience. Everyone here is excited to start teaching but we all dread the day (Aug 13 or 14) we go to our islands. We know that is when our challenges will really begin!

Where we are living for the first 4 weeks.

When we flew in it was beautiful! The landing was a bit scary because you couldn't see land on either side until we touched down. What a sight it was. It's hard to describe the sensation that you're going to land on the water!

Our first hour or 2 was spent in this INSANE humidity and every hour here on out I believe will be just like the first ones.

I feel like I'm at a summer camp right now. We are staying in the purple school house with nothing much in the classrooms (there are only 10 rooms) but a few ceiling fans that don't seem to do much. We have 3 classrooms w/people staying in them. We sleep on the floor with our mats. The mats are probably 2 in pad so it offers some comfort. We have about 15 people sleeping in our room. In a later letter she says that there room is the non snoring room. They had to pass our test and if the failed (snored) we kicked them out! We have lights out at 11 but I'm usually asleep around 10. I wake up around 6 with a few other early risers and get to enjoy a nice bit of quiet, which is hard to come by these days.

I made it to the Marshall Islands

This is Heidi's mom and there is a stamp shortage in the Marshall Islands but Heidi wants to keep you all updated and we thought this would be the best way to do it. She also didn't realize how much time it takes to write letters. She has never really had to write anything. All her school papers were done on the computer. We all can type 50 to 70 words a minute, but we can't write that fast. She said in one of the first letters "I guess I didn't think about mass communication without technology!

From her first letter:
Let me tell you how weird it was to skip Monday. I woke up, (Monday July 20) got on the plane in Honolulu, sat for 5 hours. Landed in Majuro and it was Tuesday!! Cool Stuff.
Anyway, I am already in love with this place.
Currently, I am sitting on some rocks on the lagoon side of our atol, 20 or so yards from the bright purple school house I now call home, writing to you.
If I look up or down the shore all I see are palm trees. Looking across the lagoon I see little specs of land covered in palm trees. It is the most beautiful place I've ever seen. Of course, you have to look beyond the trash that unfortunately litters the very rocks I'm sitting on.
I had my first bug experience. We went to the lagoon and waded around to feel the bath warm water, and we got back and were sitting around and I noticed a bump on my foot that looked like a zit! So I examine it closer and realize there is a clear bug sticking out of it!!!! I picked it out and it looks fine now. I guess that's what's in store for the next year! Totally worth it!
I took my first bucket bath and had my first dishes duty. (we're in teams for the 4 weeks here and take turns cooking and cleaning) My bucket bath bath was actually very refreshing and I'm already looking forward to my next one! The water is cool, even close to cold, but it feels great! (side note from mom. This coming from the girl who wore sweat shirts in my house all summer)
I even took my "bath" after the sun went down and still thought it was comfortable.

I'm no longer at the beach writing this, but I'm sitting outside under one of the only lights at the school thinking about sleeping tonight. It is so HOT and muggy in our room. Plus there 15 or so people sleeping in the room.