Week 6 in Tarawa:

 

I'm sitting here at the desk on a Saturday afternoon wondering what I would tell you about this week.  The weeks go  by quickly and it seems like we just do the same things day after day.  It's not so different than when we were in school before we retired. 

 

We have been here six weeks and have seen four cultural events of one kind or another.  We are always the judges, even though we know less about what goes into the dancing than anyone else.  I spend most of my days preparing for my Special Ed. lesson and Elder Sumner spends most of his time at our house taking care of all the administrative things.

 

Elder Sumner was excited this week when his telescope arrived.  Not the one in the picture, that came in our suitcases, but a big one he ordered from Australia.  The picture shows Benririe, the deputy principal looking at sunspots.  It's a pretty exciting thing for everyone because no one had ever looked through a telescope before.  The telescope will be our gift to the school when we leave.

 

I spoke a little about the culture of Tarawa last week.  We are learning more as we get to know the people better.  I talked about the little pests last time but today I thought I would mention the bigger animals.  As we drove down the road one day we had the three little pigs cross right in front of us.  Unfortunately, neither of us had our camera with us.  Pigs are common and are kept tied to a tree (usually) by the bouias. Chickens, dogs, cats and rats are common.  Many of the people have never seen a live horse or a cow or any other large animal.  The dogs and cats, like the rats, are mostly feral and roam freely. 

 

Speaking of animals, here is an interesting cultural note that I learned this week.  We were discussing culture in my class and I showed the teachers an example of testing bias that included the tooth fairy.  I asked if they had anything that they did when their children lost their teeth.  The answer was "The rat".  I said, "the rat?" and they answered, "Yes, we give the tooth to the rat and he eats it".  I like the tooth fairy a lot better. 

 

As we get to know the people, and see their true commitment to the Savior and to serving others, it makes us want to be more like them.  This past week the deputy principal and some of the older students spent a day repairing the seawall on another part of the island.  This part of the island is controlled by another religion.  The leader of the other religion told the people, "Don't help those Mormons."  Because of this the people stayed at their homes and just watched the work, even though it was to help keep them from being flooded when the waves are high.  They came back happy for what they had accomplished and saddened for the attitude of the people.

 

The last picture was taken at the awards presentation.  The students were awarded prizes, all wrapped up in Christmas paper, for academic excellence.  about 1/6 of the students received an award, some more than one.  All I can say is "Girls Rule!"  The boys need to take the challenge for next year.

 

 

 

 

 

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: wasum1 <wasum1@msn.com>
Date: Fri, Oct 24, 2014 at 7:32 PM
Subject:
To: Wayne and Janet in Tarawa <wsumner1@gmail.com>

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