Lightning the survivor, the mysterious bite and the sweet tooth of Majuro.
We found about four of them at first. Alone on top of a rock, their mother had left them or the kids had scared the mother away. The children came running to us carrying them while their weak little heads bobbed with every clumsy step. Four of the tinniest kittens we had ever seen. Two weeks passed where we almost nonstop took care of the little ones we named vishnu, sailor, siren and lightning. We did our best. Staying up nights sometimes to make sure they were all getting fed. Three ended up dying. We were left with one we had not particularly grown to attached to but one that we now love. His name is lightning and he is a survivor.
Mr. Kennedy is in charge of P.E. for the school and everyday he teaches 4 or 5 classes to the children, so we depend on him to zap their seemingly bottomless energy away. As it turns out he ends up getting a weird bite on his foot that while at first seems harmless, ends up taking away his ability to walk on that foot. So one afternoon I go with him to the hospital and even they don't know what it was.
We started to get a little nervous so all the Student Missionaries decided to take a trip down to the hospital with Ryan and use our love power to heal him. We kinda turned the ordeal into a photo shoot but nonetheless he is much better now and up and zapping the energy away from everyone he teaches. Also while we were at the hospital we met a girl that was surfing on a rolling IV. That was a pretty rare sight.
All the children here someway or another get their hands on copious amounts of sugar every day. Whether it be koolaid powder, gummy worms, doughnuts, or just plain old sugar. They always, at breaks, find something sugary to eat before they start class again. As sweet as these children really are they can be a rambunctious group of hooligans. The phrase, "Djep ge rro rro" which means, please be quiet, hardly works anymore. They aren't laughing at my terrible pronunciation but more focused on making each other laugh or cry. I'm not going to sugarcoat this, teaching grades 1-3 is the greatest challenge that my small patience span has ever had to deal with, but when I am at the verge of breaking down it's almost like they know that you need them to be quieter. They look at you with their big energetic eyes as if to say, "We understand you, but we just had two pounds of sugar each at break time." It's hard not to fall in love with their beautiful little faces. Fin 10/28/13
