Okay... so all the times that you experienced RMI families told me that the time will fly by, I thought you were crazy. Well, here it is 31 days in and I find myself really, really glad I've been posting something about each day. Those of you who know me well know that my memory is... uh, what was I saying? Anyway, without this record of our time here, I'm afraid I would forget many of the wonderful experiences we've had. So, to the experienced families – You were right. I was wrong.
That said, I think my clock is winding down an the next week is going to be really, really long. More about that later...
Let's start with Sunday. Jeff slept a little later than I did – he was up more with Grace during the night and it was Father's Day after all... I couldn't wake him up. I'd offered Stacy a ride to Rita so she could attend church with her birth mom at 10:00 but plans fell through and a ride was no longer needed. Grace took the opportunity to give her dad a Father's Day present. She'd picked out a card at Payless a couple weeks ago and had one of our photos printed onto a mouse pad at the TSL across the street. Okay, I helped a bit. I mean, someone had to pay and all she has going for her is being cute. I'll add it to her tab and she can pay me back later :) Dad liked his gift and has it proudly displayed on the desk in our “livingroom”.
After gifts, it was breakfast at, you guessed it, the Enra. We pulled things together and headed out to the Kramers' house. I realized I've been spelling the name wrong which is hard to imagine since it's written (actually etched) into all the chairs on the island. Eh, it's a K and not a C and yes, I'm well aware that no one reading this really needs to know that. It's been 31 days people!
Stacy decided to come with us to Enemanot again so we drove over just after noon. The group on the boat was about half the size as last time. When we got to the island, there were also far fewer people there than before. I knew Lani Kramer was off in Paris but most of the women from last week were also not on the island. Someone mentioned that there'd been an adoption within the family this past week and most of the women were getting together to celebrate. It was mostly a guy weekend on the island. I guess for Father's Day it's father's choice... drinking rum and eating food from the grill is the way to go.
It was one of those rare moments when both kids were asleep so we left them with Jeff and Stacy and I headed down the beach to find some more shells. We had plans to go back to Elefa on Monday and we wanted to make another necklace or two with shells we'd found. When we returned, Jeff escaped to hang with the boys. Stacy and I spent most of the afternoon just hanging out with the kids and chatting. At one point we walked over to the ocean side of the island to look for shells. It was quite windy and we got rained on but we did find a few that will work for necklaces.
We also met a woman from South Africa who'd been in the Marshall Islands for about 2 years. She and her husband are volunteer teachers and just moved to Majuro from an outer atoll to teach here. The thing that struck me was that they have a 4 month old daughter who was born at the hospital in Majuro – she arrived 2 months premature. I can't imagine how scary that must have been. They had to stay in the hospital for a month! She did say that the NICU nurses were wonderful but her room was not – cockroaches and rats, apparently. Fortunately, all ends well and little Clarissa is doing just fine.
We arrived home pretty late - around 7:00 – and Stacy decided to eat in her room. Jeff jumped in the shower while I gave Grace a bath and then took my turn in the shower. After washing off the grime from the beach we went downstairs for a quick bite and then back to the room where I pretty quickly fell asleep.
Monday morning got here way too fast. Grace slept well overnight and didn't wake up until around 5:00. She didn't want to go back down right away but eventually fell asleep around 7:00 – and so did I. Up again by 8:00 and there was no going back. After breakfast, Stacy and I were going to Elefa to make our necklaces and since I wanted to bring Grace with me this time, we asked Jeff to drive us. When we arrived, Lucia, the owner, wasn't there. Lona, the same woman who did most of the instructing on Saturday, was there again but she doesn't know much English. We didn't know how much we were supposed to pay for the class last Saturday and were told to come back on Monday to talk with the Lucia. Lona called her on her cell and we spoke for a few minutes. She was only charging us about $5 per necklace and nothing extra for the class!
On Saturday, Lona had suggested we come back on Monday to make more jewelry. Unfortunately she'd forgotten the offer because when we asked if we could each make one more, she looked confused and said, “Now?” and then offered, “Saturday?” It seemed to us that they might be too busy and our efforts to communicate that we might be leaving around the weekend were unsuccessful. Instead, we offered to talk to Lucia later in the week and work something out. Fortunately Lucia walked in just as we were leaving so we were able to chat with her and, I think, work out a quick session on Tuesday afternoon. Either that or we're coming back to work out a time to come back. Confusing.
The afternoon was uneventful. Mostly hanging out in the room with Jeff and Grace. I'd been able to get an email off to Gordon about returning his car and filling him in on the Embassy debacle of last week. He was originally due back today but he's had to change his return to mid-July instead. Since we were done with the car, he sent his sister-in-law over to pick it up. I ran it to the gas station to fill the tank and run a couple last errands while I still had the car. I have a few small gifts for Gordon and his family so I packaged those up to give to his sister-in-law to give to him when he returns. Now we are carless and I'm already missing the go-anywhere-at-any-time freedom. Of course we can always grab a taxi but with 3 adults and 2 babies, we'll have to get a little lucky to find one that has room for us. As with everything here, we'll make it work.
Another email I sent today went to the U.S. Embassy in Manilla. We've unofficially divided up the Embassy duties: Stacy is calling the one here in Majuro and I'll email the one in Manilla. Both trying to find out information about our visas. The one in Manilla was closed today due to a Philippine holiday but Stacy did get through to our contact at the one here. They haven't heard anything but will call Stacy back as soon as they hear. I guess we'll see if she or I get anywhere with our inquiries. I'm not holding my breath and neither should you.
And now, finally, to my long week. Seems the husband is not feeling very well. A few times in the past he's gotten this infection on his shin – it's not a big deal if you catch it right away but, if you don't, it can get really serious, really fast. So when the mild achiness turned into more insistent pain and it went along with a “bruise-y” feeling and a hot spot, we pulled out the antibiotics his wonderful, thoughtful and very planfull wife thought ahead to bring with us. In fact, she spent quite a bit of time on the phone the day before we left trying to get the prescription called into the pharmacy. Oh yeah, I'll say it... Told you so! Don't worry – he won't read this until he's feeling better so it's not like I'm kicking the guy when he's down. Besides, I now have two kids to take care of so he'll get me back.
This week will be long. And I have the feeling my night will be as well. Grace has been sleeping for hours... like almost 4. I read somewhere that it's a myth that if you keep kids awake during the day that they'll sleep better at night. They said that it was, in fact, the opposite and that kids who slept well during their naps during the day actually slept better at night. I don't know who “they” are but I hope they're right. I think I'm going to change her diaper and throw her into a sleeper. I guess we'll see... cross your fingers for me.
I hope you have a good night (that you get lots of sleep and Grace doesn't want to play)! I've only had it happen a handful of times where they slept too much and they wanted to play in the middle of the night. For the most part they needed the sleep, so I hope it's true for you too! Hope Jeff is feeling better soon and he should be very grateful that you did all of that planning =)
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