7-22

This week has been a week of firsts. Wednesday was the first rainy day that we’ve had since my arrival. I awoke to the sound of pouring rain, which is only nice when it’s not a couple of hours before you have to wake up. It rained most of the morning, but remained cloudy for most of the rest of the day. Rain is always refreshing because it cools down a lot. However it leaves gigantic puddles of water everywhere that can be rather challenging to avoid.

I also had my first Majuro related illness. I had an upset stomach for a couple of days, but I am feeling better now.

On Thursday, most of the island didn’t have any power during daylight hours. Apparently they needed to do some sort of repairs on the generators, so they cut off the power from 9AM-5PM. Luckily, there is a generator at my apartment. But I couldn’t help what wonder what everyone else did today. Most of the people just did the best they could. I saw a lot of dark stores and a lot of store clerks sitting in the doorways.

I went swimming at the Marshall Islands Resort again today. I’ve gotten used to wearing shorts and a t shirt over my swimming suit because that’s what girls wear here if they go swimming. I could probably get away with swimming in my suit out at the resort because a lot of tourists swim there, but I just can’t bring myself to do it because there are usually Marshallese people around and I don’t want to be stared at. Today, some other Americans came out to swim in the lagoon, and one of them was wearing a bikini. All the Marshallese guys hanging out where they make the traditional canoes were staring at her because it was so shocking, as well as pretty much everyone else around.

Two things that this side of the island has an abundance of are dogs and rocks. The Marshallese have cleverly devised a plan to deal with the over abundance of threatening dogs: they throw the rocks at the dogs if need be. Usually, if a dog is barking at you, it’s enough to raise your arm as if you are about to throw a rock, and the dog will back down. Apparently both the dogs and the kids learn this from a young age. Today, as I was walking home from my swim, there was a man in his early 20s out with his daughter, who was barely old enough to walk. There was also a mid sized puppy nearby, which the little girl was afraid of, even though the dog was just sitting there and not doing anything threatening. As I walked by, the man put a little rock in his baby’s hand and told her to throw the rock at the dog, which she did. It made me sad for both the dog and the baby ☹.