A couple observations

Written 2/21/10

I realized today that the “default” in any social setting in the US is to be talking to people. While it is possible to be with a bunch of friends and not talk, that is the exception, not the norm. In the Marshall Islands, it is just the opposite. Saying something to people around you is neither required nor expected in any social setting. Speaking is only done when necessary. I’m sure it stems from the fact that people spend so many hours around the same friends and family, but it’s rather pleasant to be in a place where you are both welcomed and not expected to say much of anything at all.

Another funny this-country-is-so-different-from-the-US moment I had was when a JHS student left to go to DC a few weeks ago. He and another girl (neither of whom are my students, but I know the boy fairly well) were selected to participate in a “Close-up” program that takes them and a few other students in the country to Washington, DC for 2 or 3 weeks. Morgan and I saw him off on a boat last Saturday. He had with him nothing more than a small backpack that could barely have fit a lunchbox inside. The first thing Morgan and I said to him was, “John, you’re going to freeze!” (this was just after DC had gotten 2 feet of snow dumped on it), but he assured us he would get warmer clothes in Majuro before he left. The next week, when Morgan and I went to Jaluit for the day (see post above), we each had about 3 times more stuff than John had had, and we weren’t even spending the night. I have traveled enough to think of myself as a fairly light packer, but I have a long way to go before I reach Marshallese levels.