It’s been a really interesting experience here. There are basically only two roads in the entire atoll so it’s really easy to figure out where you are going. Cabs usually only cost 75 cents if you are in the same district or $ 2.00 if you cross the bridge. There are a few shops in Delap (the place I’ll be teaching) that have many have of the essentials of school supplies, food and bootleg DVDs—I really hope they have Ant-man coming soon.

I finished my first practicum a couple days ago, which was essentially a test-run of teaching in the RMI. It proved really hard the first day because I was really nervous and didn’t write down enough instructions. The following day went a little better after I introduced a football game as an activity. The kids have a hard time reading but have easier time when they are asked to say something in English.

The living conditions are rough, but I got used to them after a couple of days. Bucket showers are the worst part of it. You basically have to fill up a bucket with rain catchments (there is one provided for us in the school we’re staying at, but we’ve lately been filing up ours with trashcans we used after it rained.) There is also a really bad cockroach and rat problem here—I still have yet to see a rat, but there have been a few cockroaches crawl up my wall and maybe one time that one waddled over my blanket—I was half asleep so I can’t exactly remember. It also doesn’t help we’re sleeping on a mattress pad on the ground with dogs barking all night, but I got used to that after the third night.

Being in a different country is intimidating, especially here. Everyone stares at you because you are a ribelle: an outside, foreign white person. The community knows about World Teach and its much more attention than I expected after reading about it. I hate being stared at. If you ever want to have the experience of truly being an outsider, this would be the place to be. It’s not all that bad attention, though. I’ve had dozens of kids just come up to me and shake my hand. On the fourth day, I spent a couple of hours playing cards with kids from the local neighborhood we are staying here, Rairok. I also played football with the kids outside after my final day of practicum. The kids here are much more outgoing than back at the states.

Psychologically, this place makes you bi-polar. There are some moments that are so awesome that you can experience nowhere else. Playing with the kids, riding in a truck that you flagged down so you can get a ride in town or swimming up next to a coral. And then there are moments where it’s really hard. When you are alone and have nothing to do, you can’t help but think of family and friends. You can’t help but think of how you took for granted being able to talk to people at the drop of a hat with 0 difficulties. That’s the reason why I’m typing this now. Because, well…

Anyway, I have about a little less than a week of practicum left and it’s only going to get harder. I’ll be away from the other volunteers and I’ll have to start purifying my water on a consistent basis (we’ve been getting water from water jugs). However, it was also be cool to get my own classroom and create my curriculum. It’ll be challenging at times, but I think I just the right amount of ingenuity to make it work. Two weeks down now and it’s felt like 2 months. People are saying there is an island time around here but I’m experiencing Narnia time. The time when time feels like it stopped itself. And everything feels right where left you get back home. That’s atleast how I hope it feels when I get back home.