In October 2008, during our fall break, we boarded a plane to a place I had never ever heard of. The Marshall Islands. Yeah, you're probably thinking, what the heck are those? Its a tiny military base in the middle of the Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and Guam, where they test missiles. You think with the word, "Island" I would be jumping up and down with my bags already packed and ready to board that plane. Instead, being the 13 year old teenager I was, I grumpily walked into the Sky Harbor airport at 4:30 in the morning wishing that we were staying home for fall break so I could hangout with my friends instead of visiting my dad on this tropical exotic island in the middle of the pacific ocean. All I knew was there was a day layover in Hawaii and I was a little excited to say I went to Hawaii, but not the Marshall Islands. I don't know, I guess that was the teenage brain thinking because I definitely needed an attitude adjustment.
This tiny little island has been apart of my life for 10 years now. It seems like yesterday that we were visiting my dad there for two weeks in 8th grade and remember walking into the teen center there (because my dad forced us to go meet the kids that lived there) and Mary McPhatter and Kori Dowell were there and were like, "You guys are the new twins! You guys have to move here!" I thought in my head, no way in heck am i living on a tiny island leaving my "perfect" life in Gilbert, AZ.
8 months later, we were on a plane moving there and it was the best decision our family has ever made. I went to high school here and visited my parents during the holidays in college. I remember getting on the plane and looking out the window and bawling in my mom's lap because I was leaving everything I knew behind.
Back in 2009 on the last leg almost to KWAJ
The day we moved to Kwaj, my new home
Looking back at it now, it seems like a dream. It is so hard to describe and tell people about this beautiful place because you have to experience yourself. It feels like it was straight out of a movie, it was so perfect (well looking back now). To ride your bike to school everyday and everyone on the island had the privilege of coming home for lunch to be with their families.
You lived literally right next door to your best friends. We spent a lot of our days at Kori Dowell's house. We would walk through the back door like it was our own home, grab whatever Mama D or Pat was cooking, usually rice in the rice cooker, drizzle some soy sauce on it, grab a Capri sun, and grab a blanket and go sit on the famous green couch and pop in a Disney movie.... but let me remind you, we COULDNT take Kori's special spot on the far right corner.
Our school was comprised of a high school and junior high combined with about 113 students total. You had most of your classes with your grade. Your grade usually consisted of about 15-22 students. I definitely lucked out. We had 18 girls in our grade and about 4 boys. Everyone knew everyone. One class I don't think any of us would forget is Mr. Jahnke's history class. All of us 10th grade students at the time were all piled into his computer room and never learned anything because we never listened. My brother and I were usually fighting across the room (it was actually quite funny) and we always tried to play tricks on our teacher.
We had nothing to do on weekend nights since you know, we were stuck on a tiny island, so we would usually end up riding our bikes around the island for hours and then end up at the teen center, the beach, the high school field, skate park or at the rec center and sit outside and sweat from the humidity. You always knew where everyone was because if there was a pile of bikes out front, you knew thats were the party of high school kids was.
During our school breaks, we would hop on a plane and fly to another island 30 minutes away (Roi-Naumur, also known as the Bachelor Island with NO kids) (FOR FREE) to spend the weekend there. We got to stay in the "Bachelor's quarters" and would every night there we would go to the Snack bar, order a Roi Roger (Coca Cola and grenadine) and order a greasy tray of beer battered chicken and onion rings. We then would finish off the night swimming, dying our hair, and making infamous videos and sit on the same bed listening to reggae music.
We had 4 "restaurants" to choose from: Burger King, Subway, Anthony's pizza, and Baskin Robbins. They were located in the snack bar. We usually went there, ordered Subway, and got on the wifi there, since that was the only wifi available on island. Yes, we had dial up internet at home and it was SO slow. We had no cell phones because why would you? You live on a tiny 1.2 mile island and you were usually ALWAYS with your friends anyways.
I never will forget
- Always having a wet butt from your bike seat because it rained at least once a day and your bike was your own form on transportation rain or shine
- Everyone living in the same type of housing (military housing) from the 1960's
- laying on our high school bleachers in awe of the stars in the sky,
- tsunami evacuations
- jumping of the WWII ships that were half sunk in the water (yes, it was illegal)
- renting a boat for the day and almost dying through Bigej (Bee-Jee) pass,
- running around the island at 11pm at night by myself because there was nothing to worry about,
- running into the 82 degree all year round water at Emon beach after soccer practice
- knowing every little thing about every one in high school,
- high school parties gone wrong
- hanging out at the skate park; feeling the wind pick up; and then running for cover because YOU KNEW that rain was coming
- 85 degree weather all year round
- Sea Glass was our "treasure"
- Always seeing your principal/ school teachers at the free gym we had for the community
- Almost dying from a coconut falling off a tree while riding your bike home
- NO TOURISTS
- Playing soccer games and other sports against works teams because there was no other schools to compete against
- Sleeping over at Mary McPhatter's every October before the Columbus Day 7.52 mile run and her dad feeding us peanuts and toast before we had to go run
- Your friends swimming in the Olympics representing the Marshall Islands
- Always being so excited for summer because that meant everyone got to fly home and visit their families in the hometowns
- Visiting Ebeye (a third world country) and having all the little kids always wanting to take pictures of them
- Getting Diet Coke from the fountain at the snack bar because that was the only place on the island
- waiting weeks and weeks for something you ordered to arrive
Kwajalein is where I found myself. It shaped who I was and I learned so much about myself during my teenage years there. It was a great place to be away and separated from the real world and realize what was truly important in life.It will forever be apart of my life and I am forever grateful for that tiny little 1.2 mile island and my second family and friends that we've made there; especially my SMAKEM girls. No matter where we are in life, we are always there for each other during our big milestones in life.
http://alifemapped.com/kwajalein-republic-of-the-marshall-islands/
Ps. Here's a link to one of the videos I made a couple years ago visiting my parents
