"and now, to close our feast day mass, the youth choir will favor us with the 'ave maria.'"
the first verse is traditional enough, but then theres a lull after it. shannon and i look at each other "they aren't really going to....they aren't going to....oh yes they are!"
oh yes they did. as is true of more than a few occasions in the month (holy crap!) i've been here, i could not stop smiling. the full on sister act version of the hymn was complete with the high "oh-oh-oh" part sung by the little red haired nun-in-training and the low "sanctus santuses" of the older sistas. majuro never ceases to surprise with little flashes of colour.*
a week later we listened to the version from the film using shannon's ipod and speakers (white priveledge, i know...simple living?) and sang along. there were some kids who were playing behind our house and some of them peeped in the window...one of them gave an "AMEN!" after it was over.
as it is september a mass e-mail will find its way to inboxes the world over sometime soon
hugs,
aaron
*thats right, i spell it the british way.
Friday, August 31, 2007
Monday, August 20, 2007
disregard my alarm clock, or, the sounds that wake me up
the sounds that gently beckon me from sleep are 2 of the most beautiful sounds in the whole world. here they are, in no particular order:
1) the soft static of the pacific as its infinite waves lap against coral
2) the laughter of children
1) the soft static of the pacific as its infinite waves lap against coral
2) the laughter of children
Thursday, August 16, 2007
shake my head and smile, or, absurdity
in the past week, i have been increasingly aware of a certain absurdity that cloaks everything. (if thats not a blanket statement, i don't know what is) in america, this absurdity takes the form of people trying to fill a spiritual or emotional hole with things never meant to fill them. posessions won't make you any more aware and celebratory of your true nature as a human being then pouring alcohol down your gullet will. i mean absurdity not in a rude way, "thats simply absurd!" but in a when-you-really-think-about-it, it-makes-you-chuckle-and-shake-your-head kinda way. the thought that being happy starts anywhere but inside us is sad. it makes me want to sign.
the absurdity here is different. it stems from the fact that we are all here, living on coral gorwn on the rim of a submerged volcano a couple thousand miles from the nearerst real land. why is this place here? how have people been living on it for more than 2,000 years? what made it worth settling? its a precarious place to live, without the size to support large-scale agriculture or populations of large food animals. the absurdity is that it is here, that it is home to 60,000 souls and, even more, that i'm here. i step out of my classroom, turn one way and see the bright blue lagoon, and turn the other and see the deeper sapphire of the pacific. all i can do is smile and shake my head; shake my head and smile.
the absurdity here is different. it stems from the fact that we are all here, living on coral gorwn on the rim of a submerged volcano a couple thousand miles from the nearerst real land. why is this place here? how have people been living on it for more than 2,000 years? what made it worth settling? its a precarious place to live, without the size to support large-scale agriculture or populations of large food animals. the absurdity is that it is here, that it is home to 60,000 souls and, even more, that i'm here. i step out of my classroom, turn one way and see the bright blue lagoon, and turn the other and see the deeper sapphire of the pacific. all i can do is smile and shake my head; shake my head and smile.
Sunday, August 12, 2007
a beautiful moment at 30,000 ft, welcome to the next 2 years, and getting up to date
“what the eff am i doing?”
“by the hammer of thor, where am i?”
“great scott, what was i thinking?”
these thoughts and more were tangled like noodles in my skull as i flew from honolulu to majuro; the last leg of my journey to the marshall islands. i had just popped the ear phones from the in-flight movie from my ears and turned to the window next to me. there were thin, gauzy clouds above and fat, puffy ones below. there were white dots in the ocean far below that I thought were maybe fish or dolphins, but they were everywhere so i decided they must be the sun glinting off the tips of waves. my lost feelings were not soothed by the blue and white, however. then i spied, coming from the bottom of one of the low flying puffy clouds a rainbow. a rainbow. a rainbow going straight down from the cloud to the ocean. a small rainbow. i remembered God’s deal with Noah, that God would not abandon God’s people. my thoughts quickly raced from that story to whatever psalm or psalms talk about how God does not forsake God’s people. i belong to God. God will not let me perish. i trust in God and God has my back. let nothing and no one stand in my way!! (these are a bit out of character for me to think, if you know my spirituality…maybe i’ve been spending too much time in catholic volunteer programs)
nothing stood in my way as i descended the stair to the ground of the majuro atoll of the marshall islands. it was hot but not as hot as i was readying myself for. it smelled weird but not as weird as i thought it might. it was dirty but not as filthy as i thought it could be. the two second year members of my jvi community were there to meet me and the two other first years. mike and emily, meet shannon, bridget, and aaron. this is the marshall islands jvi community for the next 10 months. we’re what happens when 5 substances collide.
that first night, mike and emily drove us to the other end of the island to have a sunset picnic. i put pictures of it up on my photos link, which i have endeavored to set up. hope it works for ya. the next days and days have been spent getting acclimated to the island. our house is what it is supposed to be; a house in the third world. its neither clean nor particularly filthy. it is simple and adequate. i don’t think many would call it comfortable. but it is walls and a roof and serves its purpose.
this week has been full of preparing for school, which starts monday, august 13. i will be teaching two classes of freshman english and 2 classes of sophomore biology. i am also in charge of a freshman homeroom. assumption high school has a strange way of getting ready for the school year. every day there were to be meetings at 9 am. we head over more or less on time (the school is about 30 yards from the house). we wait. and wait. and wait. after maybe an hour and a half, someone will declare that the meeting has been cancelled or moved to the next day. this happened 3 of the 5 days this week.
in the interest of not writing a novel, i will close by saying that i am safe and healthy. well, except for the urinary infection that i incurred on monday. blood was coming out somewhere it wasn’t supposed to. not a lot, just a little. I saw the doctor. before giving me the pills that cleared it up in no time he made sure to ask the following question several times: “have you been using the women? it’s very important. have you been using the women?”
see you soon
“by the hammer of thor, where am i?”
“great scott, what was i thinking?”
these thoughts and more were tangled like noodles in my skull as i flew from honolulu to majuro; the last leg of my journey to the marshall islands. i had just popped the ear phones from the in-flight movie from my ears and turned to the window next to me. there were thin, gauzy clouds above and fat, puffy ones below. there were white dots in the ocean far below that I thought were maybe fish or dolphins, but they were everywhere so i decided they must be the sun glinting off the tips of waves. my lost feelings were not soothed by the blue and white, however. then i spied, coming from the bottom of one of the low flying puffy clouds a rainbow. a rainbow. a rainbow going straight down from the cloud to the ocean. a small rainbow. i remembered God’s deal with Noah, that God would not abandon God’s people. my thoughts quickly raced from that story to whatever psalm or psalms talk about how God does not forsake God’s people. i belong to God. God will not let me perish. i trust in God and God has my back. let nothing and no one stand in my way!! (these are a bit out of character for me to think, if you know my spirituality…maybe i’ve been spending too much time in catholic volunteer programs)
nothing stood in my way as i descended the stair to the ground of the majuro atoll of the marshall islands. it was hot but not as hot as i was readying myself for. it smelled weird but not as weird as i thought it might. it was dirty but not as filthy as i thought it could be. the two second year members of my jvi community were there to meet me and the two other first years. mike and emily, meet shannon, bridget, and aaron. this is the marshall islands jvi community for the next 10 months. we’re what happens when 5 substances collide.
that first night, mike and emily drove us to the other end of the island to have a sunset picnic. i put pictures of it up on my photos link, which i have endeavored to set up. hope it works for ya. the next days and days have been spent getting acclimated to the island. our house is what it is supposed to be; a house in the third world. its neither clean nor particularly filthy. it is simple and adequate. i don’t think many would call it comfortable. but it is walls and a roof and serves its purpose.
this week has been full of preparing for school, which starts monday, august 13. i will be teaching two classes of freshman english and 2 classes of sophomore biology. i am also in charge of a freshman homeroom. assumption high school has a strange way of getting ready for the school year. every day there were to be meetings at 9 am. we head over more or less on time (the school is about 30 yards from the house). we wait. and wait. and wait. after maybe an hour and a half, someone will declare that the meeting has been cancelled or moved to the next day. this happened 3 of the 5 days this week.
in the interest of not writing a novel, i will close by saying that i am safe and healthy. well, except for the urinary infection that i incurred on monday. blood was coming out somewhere it wasn’t supposed to. not a lot, just a little. I saw the doctor. before giving me the pills that cleared it up in no time he made sure to ask the following question several times: “have you been using the women? it’s very important. have you been using the women?”
see you soon
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