Let's Go Band

A lot has happened in the last two weeks. A good number of the outer island volunteers have started heading out on ships, and one of the national planes was finally fixed yesterday. Until now, outer islands volunteers that were determined to get to their islands have been traveling out on cargo ships on trips that can last several days. It is a really grueling experience. They basically sit and sleep on top of the deck crammed in with a bunch of other passengers and have to feed themselves with whatever food they bring on. The ships are really small and bounce around a lot in the Pacific waves. I’ve been really impressed by how brave so many of the volunteers were in deciding to take the ships instead of waiting for the planes to get fixed. One of them even took a boat to Utirik, one of the northern atolls, a trip that was expected to take longer than a week. Intense.

My school is finally starting on Monday. We were supposed to start last week, but had to delay another week for more teachers to be hired and for the school building to finish being renovated. We are still a little short staffed but everyone is going to teach extra classes until more teachers are hired. I was originally planning on teaching math class, but the lack of staff has forced me to become one of the English teachers at my school. It was a bit disappointing to have to change subjects, but I am going try to make the best of it and work hard to help my students.

The island has been a bit chaotic for the last couple of weeks. A large U.S. Navy ship docked in Majuro, and the town was flooded with visiting soldiers. The ship was here for sailors to rest, but also for them to lead a wide variety of humanitarian efforts on island. They also used the ship helicopters to fly over a bunch of Army personnel from the military base on Kwajalein to help. The soldiers even helped to renovate one of our school buildings and were generally much more civil than I had expected. Still, it was a bit strange seeing so many Americans around the island.

The military scheduled a bunch of events while they were here. The ship band played a few concerts, which were a lot of fun to watch, and their basketball team played a bunch of games against a few of the RMI national teams. There was even a rock concert last weekend with one local band from Majuro and one flown in from Kwajalein that a bunch of WorldTeach and military people went to. The bands played all cover songs, and it was fun to listen and dance to some live music. I also saw one of the basketball games, and it was a real spectacle. The crowd was absolutely amazed any time one of the military players blocked a shot or went to dunk the ball, and Marshallese kids flooded the court after the game to embrace the military soldiers. I found myself rooting for the Marshallese teams and was disappointed that we couldn’t pull off a win, the military team ended up winning all the games.

Probably the most random thing that has happened to me here occurred about two weeks ago. I was walking outside the resort hotel in town and heard the sounds of some live concert instruments. I walked across the street and up the stairs into some odd aviary structure, and saw a bunch of Marshallese kids playing in a band. I sat down and watched the rest of the practice, and found out that I apparently was watching the RMI National Band. The band is composed entirely of Marshallese high school students. The conductor is South Korean, and the band is sponsored by the RMI ambassador to South Korea. After the practice, I had a brief conversation with the conductor and the ambassador, and mentioned that I used to play the saxophone. They asked me if I had ever played baritone sax, which I confirmed, and suddenly I found myself given a bari sax and being asked to play it for them. I managed to get out a few notes and they asked me to come help out the band. They let me borrow the sax to practice that night, and I returned to band practice the next day. The ambassador introduced me as a new assistant conductor to the band, and I sight-read a bunch of music during practice. About an hour in, everyone started getting up and going to another room, which I found extremely confusing. I walked over and saw they were all putting on uniforms. I was under the impression that they were trying out new uniforms, but after about 15 minutes I realized they were putting them on for a concert that was apparently happening that evening. I was asked to try one on and the night went on from there. So, on my first full day as an assistant conductor / member of the National Band, I joined them to play at the national government’s welcoming reception for the Navy at the resort across the street. The RMI President and one of the Navy admirals gave speeches, and it was a very formal, diplomatic event. It was a really strange feeling to be sitting up on stage around the podium while everyone delivered their speeches. I found myself again somewhat resenting the American presence in the RMI, and wanting this country to reach a state where it does not need American assistance. Still, I certainly did not refuse the free meal given to the band members after the speeches were over, which was amongst the best food I've eaten in the last two months. I’ve been trying to practice the baritone for the last week on my own, but still have a lot of work to do. I haven’t played sax regularly since high school (seven years ago), and haven’t played baritone since 8th grade. My family is shipping both of my alto saxes from home, so hopefully I will have those soon and will be able to teach students with those. The staff even mentioned trying to bring me on as full-time conductor next year. An Indian-American leading the Marshallese National Band? Absolutely.

Me looking ridiculous in National Band uniform Pic 1

The military band being surrounded by Marshallese kids during basketball halftime. They also played at the high school, the girls literally screamed at them like it was a boy band.

JT, Ajay and the boyz

Me looking ridiculous in National Band uniform Pic 2

Kids grooving at the cover band concert