Wednesday night, Day #27 away from home

Good evening!

It’s Wednesday evening here….it was rainy most of the day here today and cooler than normal – maybe only 80 and humid. We got our DHL tracking number today from the embassy – and learned that our papers have now been to Hong Kong and Seoul Korea, since leaving Manila on Tuesday afternoon.

The video above is from this morning in the room. The kids are sitting on the inside edge of the sliding glass door, and trying to sing the Marshallese tune of "Happy Birthday". It isn't anyone's birthday here - just a silly way to start the day. Hannah isn't singing much because she still had her vitamin in her mouth to chew. Jacob is very excited during the video, as you'll see...but I thought you'd enjoy seeing these three and Boston singing and clapping, hugging the kids, etc.

This morning I looked at the RMI guidebook for ideas of things to do today. We headed off to the Alele Museum, to see some examples of Marshallese canoes and learn some history. It took us a few drive bys to find the museum and when we went to go in – the sign on the door said “come back when we are open!” The hours were 9-12 and we were there at almost 10am…oh well. I laughed at the sign. We learned since that it took another about 5 tries to find the museum open, but that it was worth the trip. So, we'll probably try again! We have time.

After our museum try, Hannah spotted the tuna can rental car (which the Jones family is renting now) at EZ Price Mart, so we pulled in there and visited with them awhile. We promised them we were not stalking them – we were just bored! We thought about bowling, but the Majuro Bowl was not yet open.

Peter and the boys came back to the hotel and took a walk, and Hannah went with me to try and get my hair cut. The picture of Hannah above is of her almost curly hair in the rain and humidity today. Couldn’t get the haircut done with the time we had left, but we took some pictures downtown and found swim rings to replace ours which sprang leaks here.

I thought you would enjoy the picture of this chicken restaurant. Isn’t it a complete take off of Kentucky Fried Chicken?! The colors and everything! And instead of being the “colonel” in the picture, the chicken mascot is the “Marshall!” and it says that on his tie. The other pictures are of the bank and post office, to give you a sense of the downtown area.

At noon (yes, it was a long morning!) we went to visit Jacob’s birth family again. I practiced my 10 – 15 Marshallese words, and we all appreciated the Grandmother's new fan oscillating and making a breeze! We passed out gum to the 25 or so kids that were around playing there. Eomi and Danny gave us each a gift of jewelry . You can see Hannah and Jacob’s necklaces in the picture below – as they are sitting with Eomi and Danny, and their two little boys.
Back at the hotel, I stayed in the room so Boston could nap, and Peter took the kids swimming in the rain. Tonight we met up with the two other American families for dinner. It was a great time - even though with 6 adults and 6 kids not everyone was sitting at the table during all of the dinner! We are going to think of other ways to get together in the days ahead so the kids can play and we can visit. It was wonderful for us to be together with these other families - as we are all going through the same experiences.

Bye for now - thanks for keeping up on our adventure. Love, Lois