Moving to Laura

Finally!

We're driving out to Laura today, in the next hour or so. Very exciting.

There used to be a small house on the high school campus which the Dartmouth volunteers stayed in. Then they tore it down, along with big parts of the high school, for a big remodel. This was a year or two ago. They brought a trailer out from Kwajalein Atoll (where the big US base is located, where they do all the missile testing), and we were supposed to live in that. I heard this summer that it still didn't have AC or furniture, but it should be ready by the time we arrived.

Well....not surprisingly, it still doesn't have AC or furniture. As we found out when we got to Majuro, it doesn't even have electricity or plumbing. Big surprise, these problems didn't get worked out in time for us to move out to Laura before classes started. So we stayed in Majuro, hanging out and just waiting.

They found us a rental place, some sort of house near the school, and the plan is for us to stay there for a month until the trailer is ready. Heather and I figure it'll be at least two months. Eric thinks 4. Honestly we'd much rather live in a 3-bedroom house than a 2-bedroom trailer...even with AC I bet the thing is miserably hot, given that it's made of metal and has tiny windows.

But the good news is we're actually moving to our site and can finally start teaching, and we know everything will work itself out. I'll have pretty sporadic internet access once we move, because there's no internet in Laura (apparently the school used to have internet, but not anymore). But I'll come back into Majuro every so often for supplies and laundry and email, so I'll try to keep everyone posted. Oh I and wanted to upload tons more pictures, but the internet died...

A short summary of our time in limbo waiting in Majuro: We went to visit Kiersten and Malcolm on Ejit. My computer got fixed (viruses), Heather's computer broke (the hard drive). Eric and I spent 11 hours (1 pm to like 11:30 pm) using internet, doing lesson plans, eating the pasta buffet, and then getting some drinks with World Teach people and this guy Jared from New Zealand.

The next day Jared took all of us onto his boat, a Taiwanese fishing boat. He flies the boat's helicopter out to look for tuna, then radios back to the boat to say where it is. Pretty cool. Then last night we went to Bonnie's birthday party. She's one of the "Perma-belles"- Kiersten's term for the Ribelles (Americans or other English-speakers) who come here on yachts or as volunteers and just never leave (don't worry mom, I miss cooler climates and cockroach-free houses too much to stay forever). Bonnie does non-profit work here and we know her because she sat in on some of our language lessons. Anyway, the party was great fun- there were dance performers and loud music and I won a handicraft basket and tried pandanus fruit (it's ok...sort of bland and sweet and you can't really chew it, you just suck out the juice). We also met some nice Navy boys who do construction here (sort of random).

Anyway it's been lots of fun but we're really ready to move to Laura and stop living out of suitcases. I can't wait to tell you how it goes!