From my journal: February 3, 2010
Last week we had two birthday parties at the school. The first party was for the 4/5th grade teacher, Thumbelina. She brought in big speakers and we had a dance party while listening to a great dancy hip-hop band from Ebeye called E-Style on someone’s Ipod (yes, a couple of people in Ine have Ipods; I was surprised by this). I love the cheezy synthesized hip-hop music that is modern Marshallese music. I danced wildly with all the kids while Thumbelina walked around and wiped smelly lotion all over everyone, a strange Marshallese party custom. For food, we ate fried chicken, rice and banana bread with CapriSun juice packets sent over from Majuro. We stayed well after school was over dancing and listening to music.
The next day was Flavin’s birthday. Flavin is a 3rd grade boy and a top student in that class. His mom brought cake and a can of soda for each student in the class and the teachers. The soda was quite a treat because you can’t find that in Ine. It must have cost a lot for his parents to get from Majuro. The children sang the traditional Marshallese birthday songs while again we all got smeared with lotion. Then his mom gave the bottle of lotion to me. I was then asked to give a speech, another important tradition at all social gatherings. I always get nervous when I have to make a speech because my Marshallese gets put on the spot, but they’re always impressed no matter what I say.
