Airok - Day Seven
Day 7 – Christmas Morning
I slept relatively late this morning and had a breakfast of homemade bread and cereal bars. I never did figure out how they made the bread here. I did not see any ovens. I asked once and was simply told they baked them in a Marshallese oven but received no description of said oven. Church would start at 10. I kept most of my clothes at the main house and only took my carry on bag down to my house each night. Belenty told me I couldn’t wear a tank top past the church that was between the two homes. Nor could I wear my bathing suit. It would not have been proper by their standards. So I added a pair of shorts over top and a T-shirt as well. …
When I got to her house I gave her daughter the stuffed tiger and paint set I had brought from Kwajalein. I also parted with my ukulele as Belenty let me know her daughter wanted it. I think the entire family wanted it as they were always playing it. I decided I could afford to part with it so I gave it to Moshalina also telling her to take good care of it and to share it. The latter statement was un-needed. People here are the best sharers I ever met. They don’t have the same concept of ownership that we do. This often proved a source of conflict between Belenty and I, as I didn’t always approve of her sharing some of my stuff that I didn’t really want to share. It is not that I am that selfish I hope. Here is an example. I had a cool little flashlight that is real handy back on Roi as it is easy to take with me on a bike at night. Her family liked it a lot and they would always want to borrow it. This might have been fine accept it was the only flashlight I had so if I let them borrow it I could be stuck in my little house in the dark having to feel for things in my suitcase like my toothbrush and toothpaste. I’m lucky I didn’t grab hair gel instead of toothpaste by mistake. I got stuck a few times in the dark until Belenty broke my nice flashlight. I bought a lousy one at the one store in town and was fairly protective of it the rest of my time there. She broke it on one of the nights she’d been drinking Marshallese moonshine.
The night before Herbert, the associate pastor, had told me the Christmas service would begin at 10 with the music to follow at 10:30. 10 AM came and no one in her family gave the least resemblance to being ready to go so I told them I was going without them being a slave to Yankee punctuality. I got to church and it was still pretty empty though the service was starting. I did note that Loren was another adherent to punctuality. I guess it is a failing of Americans though my sister and father did not have this fault. The benches were moved to the side to give room for the dancers. I took a place in a shady spot to one side. An usher with a big stick came over to me and told me to move up to the rostrum where Loren was sitting, as was a young Marshallese lady. It turns out this was the VIP section and in my roll as a local celebrity I was required to sit there. This gave me a great view of the proceedings though at times the performers had their back turned to me. After taking my seat there two young Marshallese girls probably in their mid-teens came up and said “hi Glenn” to me through an open window. I asked their names and the first introduced herself as Luina or something like that and the other was Brenda from my walk. I asked the normal courtesies then one of them told me I was very handsome. My head inflated a few sizes. I told them they were both very pretty, which caused them to smile shyly. They asked me where my husband was. Once again I tried to explain I did not have a wife (and certainly not a husband) but Belenty would be coming later. They asked me if I had a brother and I knew they were hoping he was unattached but my thoughts were that they were too young for my son, let alone me or my older brother (who is attached). Loren came by and rescued me. After a short sermon that no one seemed to pay any attention to the show began in earnest.
Figure 10 Brenda and Luina
The first act came in with the girls on one side and the boys on the other. They came in dancing and singing. The sound of the song was far different than any in the western world. It sounded a bit like a chant in some ways. This group performed several songs, and then another group succeeded them. We took a break at 12 for lunch but they told me to come back at 1:30. I didn’t realize it but they served a potluck lunch by the church. I walked down to Belenty’s family’s home and ate some rice. I decided that I was only one day away from going home without a food borne illness and did not want to take any chances at this point. One of her many cousins, a young man around 20 or so sat down at the picnic table they had erected for the occasion and engaged me in conversation. He opened by saying, “Today is the day that Jesus Christ was born.” I pondered for a moment explaining that is the day we celebrate Jesus being born but that he was actually probably born some other time and that the date had been selected by early Christians to replace a Celtic pagan festival. But I decided it really did not matter because regardless he had the right idea and the true meaning of the holiday. He wore his hair in braids pulled up with a kerchief. He looked a bit like a gang-banger but seemed pretty nice. Most of the younger Marshallese are tattooed. I was working on this article at the time and he was quite interested. I stopped to talk to him but he kept encouraging me to write more. I felt it was more important to talk with him.
Figure 11 The first group of dancers enter the church
I headed back to church at 1:30 and tried to take a seat with the plebeians. Once again the usher came by with his stick and shooed me back to the VIP section. The other occupants of the VIP section was Loren as mentioned earlier, Kevin, a 60 something Peace Corp worker who had been in these islands for years, and a young Marshallese woman who was Iroj (Marshallese royalty). To be polite and friendly I tried to introduce myself to her saying “Hi, I’m…” while extending my hand. She looked at me and stared down at my hand. I could almost see the wheels turning in her head as she wondered whether to lower herself to touching this foreign commoner or not. Eventually she condescended to shake hands with me saying nothing. At that time I felt a great gratitude to be a citizen of a nation without royalty where every man and woman was deemed created equal.
Figure 12 Kevin (on left in black shirt) and Loren
The day wore on and the dances began to hold a similarity in my mind. Typically, the dancers would form two lines, (boys on the left facing the altar, girls on right). They would hop twice on the right foot then change directions and hop twice on the left. Occasionally they would do a doe-see-doe with the dancers from the opposite line. A few of the acts would go into a hand slapping routine, maybe one time between dancers in the opposite line and another time with another dancer from their own line. Next time you see me you can ask me to demonstrate the dance for you.
The adult groups tended to feature more in the way of singing than dancing but did feature some dancing. Sometimes it would be an elderly lady doing the dancing which increased the mirth of the audience. It seemed there would always be some lady making some comic gestures and it was mandatory to toss out large quantities of candy to the audience. They threw some up my way and I picked up the candy and tried to pick out some kid that wasn’t getting a lot of candy and toss it to him or her. One time a piece of hard candy smacked me in the eye. My fellow VIPs and I began discussing the necessity of safety goggles. I have to admit I also ate a few pieces of candy tossed my way. The children were receiving plenty and it was too tempting. At the end of each act the group would circle around the church then head up to a table set up front. People from the audience would fall in line behind them then donate money to the table. The offering plate would be piled high with wrinkled up dollars by the time it was all finished. Prior to the day’s festivities Belenty’s family felt moved to donate some of my money so they asked me to give them $10 so that they could give. I got some satisfaction in my own mind because when the Iroj would get up to donate her dollar I would think to myself, “hah, I’m having my people do it for me.” She was the only unfriendly person I met on this hospitable island. You may be sensing that I did not care for this snob and you’re right. I should also say that her attitude was unique, as I have met other Iroj who were very friendly to me.
The afternoon wore on yet still the acts came and went. Kevin had to leave to get into his boat to return to his island before dark. As the day wore on I spotted the love of my life in a back corner. It was frustrating to be locked into my VIP section and not to have a shot at talking to her at long last. One by one my other VIPs were escaping so I finally made mine and started to walk out of the church. There was a pretty lady in a yellow shirt smiling at me so I didn’t notice Belenty to my right. She came and got me so I sat by her for the last act. I spotted my intended again but was once again trapped almost as thoroughly as if I were chained to the pew. I tried to comfort myself with the thought that even if I did talk to her I might not be able to convince her to marry me that night. But things are crazy out here so who knows? Finally around 7 or 7:30 this marathon Christmas show ended.
We walked back to Belenty’s house where I had a Christmas meal of canned Corned Beef and rice. Corned beef may have forever lost its allure to me for it seemed like the last two times I ate it my friends were up to some gross eating antics. It doesn’t help that they don’t bother to heat it up before serving it to me. I’m not sure what their aversion to cooking is unless it is that it is too much hassle to start a fire. I lingered for a while after the meal knowing that the next day I would leave this island paradise and most likely would never see these good people again in my life. Perhaps as a Christmas present the mosquitoes seemed to leave me alone for the most part. I only got a couple of bites where as poor Belenty continued to be devoured by them. I told her it was because Marshallese skin was healthier than haole skin.
2 Responses to “Airok - Day Seven”
 Comment by PrelKikam August 16th, 2007 at 4:51 am |
enter text? test, sorry dfdf767df |
 Comment by caston roberts August 21st, 2007 at 12:10 pm |
ha ha, “haole skin” funny. |