We didn't have any plans for Friday with the exception of lunch with Emi. We both looked forward to the visit since we haven't seen as much of Emi as we'd hoped. There's been a pretty complete lack of communication with the CAA since the 20 minutes we saw Donna on Tuesday and as far as I know, Maddy still isn't back to work. We arranged it through Bubu when she drove us home last Tuesday and confirmed 1:00 when we saw her at breakfast this morning. I asked if she was coming as well but she said that it would just be Emi. While we were excited about the visit there's still some apprehension since we'll have no translator. I guess I figure it's better to sit around staring, smiling and trying to make ourselves understood than to not have the visits. The best part is watching Emi interact with Grace – it's clear she's not taking any time with her for granted as she knows that we could be leaving in as little as a week.
Emi arrived just after 1:00 with Bertha in tow. Bertha is 2 ½ and sometimes likes us and sometimes is a little scared of us... just depends on the day. This day was an “I'm too shy to come out from behind mom's skirts” day. We finally ordered lunch and our favorite waiter, Acme (pronounced more like Awk-a-may, not the store where the coyote shops for road runner traps), ended up serving as our impromptu translator for the afternoon! This guy is great – he and Jeff have become fast friends.
At one point I went up to the room to change Grace and grab another bottle so I grabbed a couple matchbox cars from the room to bring down for Bertha. I was hoping that I could entice her to play a little... and I did, just not with us. She would not even look in our direction but when the cars were left on the windowsill, she snapped them up and went to town.
When lunch was finished and Emi had to head home, she asked Acme to translate for her and gave us a very heartfelt and fairly formal thank you for lunch. I was really touched by this and was so glad when I was able to remember the phrase for “you're welcome”... I got a big smile from Emi and raised eyebrows (a confirmation that they understood what I was saying) and a few giggles from both her and Acme (I take that as confirmation that my accent is atrocious). We found out through Acme that Bubu was due at work soon so Emi needed to head back to the house to watch the kids.
Surprisingly, not talking can take a lot out of a person and we headed up to the room to rest a bit. Stacy had been invited by her birth mom to go to a talent show that was being held down by the RRE. At the time she thought that Oliver's Jimma was performing in the show but later we discovered he's more of a coordinator working backstage to make sure the show goes on. We thought I'd be fun so we agreed to go... our tickets were being provided by Oliver's Marshallese family and we considered it an honor to be invited. The only concern was that it began at 8:00 pm which, as you can imagine, would be even later considering island time.
By 8:30 the show was starting (color me surprised) and we got our first introduction to the various performing talents present in the RMI – mostly singing groups and dancing girls. The singers ranged from okay to good – but if I'm being honest, most chose songs that were way too long for a talent show. One group sang a song that was over 8 minutes. I was video taping most of the acts and just had to turn it off after that long. The dancing girls were fun to watch. An assortment of groups doing dances (mostly like the hula) from areas in the south Pacific. The last group we saw was a group of girls doing Marshallese dancing (according to Oliver's birth mom). Here's a short sample:
We finally left around 11:00 as Grace just could not go to sleep... no, the show was not over yet and we're told it continues on Saturday night! We jumped in the car and headed home to sleep.
On Saturday morning we, again, were at breakfast downstairs and had a surprise visitor. Emi was walking in the back area and waved so we waved her inside to visit a bit. She hung out for a bit holding Grace and smushing her face – a common thing we've seen many Marshallese women doing... hard to describe but it just looks kinda rough! The babies don't seem to mind but I think Grace is getting soft thanks to us – she fusses a little and tolerates it okay.
Our plan was to head over to Dr. Pinano's clinic after breakfast and have him look at the kids... Grace is still pretty congested with a rattle in her chest. We loaded up and drove off with hopes that the clinic was open. Not only was it open but there was no one waiting and Dr. Pinano saw both kids right away. Assured us that Grace was fine and that a humidifier would probably help – we take her out onto the balcony since we don't have one and that does just as well. I also brought a bottle of Little Noses... a saline solution that you can drop into their nose (sounds uncomfortable, doesn't it?) and it loosens up the crud so they can breathe better. Supposed to help on airplane rides as well.
While we were there, I had to ask if he would weigh her again as I was sure she's gained some serious weight... “little” Grace is now 12 ½ pounds! To recap, at birth she was 6 ¾ pounds, at 4 weeks she was 8 ½ pounds, at 8 weeks she was 10 ½ pounds... that was only 4 weeks ago! She's gained another 2 pounds in 4 weeks. No wonder people keep telling us she has a fat belly! I am assured that while on the high side, this weight gain is normal – for now I'm calling her Buddha.
While we were out we decided to go to the other New Hope store where Stacy remembered they had dresses - more specifically, Guams. Jackpot! I found a couple tiny Guams for Grace, a couple gifts, and a Guam for me. I'm not sure I'm brave enough to wear it but we'll see – it reminds me of my grandma's old housecoats without the snaps or zippers.
We then dropped Jeff off w/ Grace and were off to our weaving class. We arrive at the Elefa store (which we discovered was named for the owners granddaughter... they call her Elle for short) to find that the owner was at the airport and had forgotten her cell phone. We mentioned that we were supposed to be here for a weaving class and the ladies in the back room immediately jumped into action waiving us into the room and making space for us to sit down. There wasn't a ton of English being spoken but enough to get the gist of what they were showing us. We each made two necklaces using shells we found on the beach. I only had one shell that was really necklace worthy so they handed me a “pendant” piece made from multiple shells that I just had to sew onto the braided rope I'd already made. I'm pretty proud of my necklaces and my respect for the work these women do has been elevated even higher than before. I thanked them again and again and have arranged to return on Monday to make more. I guess I know what I'm doing tomorrow at Enemanot – shell hunting!
We were tired and hungry after our class but wanted something easy for dinner so we went downstairs again. While there we ran into Bubu again and when I told her about the weaving class she offered that Emi could teach me how to make something more complex. I will definitely take her up on that and will try to arrange something for Tuesday if she's free. I told Bubu that I would love it if Emi could help me make something for Grace to where when she's a little older. I think that would mean a lot to Grace.
So now we're in for an evening of TV... it's been a long day and I'm very tired. Gotta rest up for our big day of lounging on Enemanot tomorrow :)
Sounds like you got a lot done...the Guams, necklaces, meeting with Emi.
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