"I cure cancer", sick again, Spring break!

We are officially on Spring break. What is there to do on a one mile island that is crowded with people? Not much. Aware of this, us SM’s made a to do list before the break started, so we have been motivated to get all those done. We have had a pie eating contest, game nights, mid night snorkeling (not a good idea, will explain soon), “beach” day, and half sleepover night….to which I was extremely sick at again.

I’m starting to get restless here, I want to move around, and maybe me being sick is a factor. I love Ebeye, and the people, but it’s so small. One mile long, half a mile wide. 5 months here, and it takes 7 minutes to walk to one side of the island to the other, any normal person would be anxious… There’s not much to do here….at all. I’m reading my friends blogs and am envious of the grass they talk about and the different adventures they are going on, in the deserts, jungles, African fields….they have their struggles as do I here, and I empathize with them. I have it pretty well here, not complaining about that, but I am envious of their space.. But I know that one day I will have many other missionary experiences to add to my list, and for right now I will focus on all the positive things about ebeye. And my kids are the positive things here. I heard a quote this year. “The grass isn’t always greener on the other side, it’s greener where you water it.” Ebeye is not lovely or glamorous….but God brought me here and has been teaching and using me. I will continue to water it and it will continue to get even greener. Hypothetically, since there’s no grass or plants….but, Praise the Lord anyway. I will pray about my restlessness. We do try to go to the U.S. military base nearby, but they will not let us through without contact from an insider and paperwork and they have to sponsor/babysit us the whole time, it’s a lot of work. Why they will not let Americans into the U.S. military base? Well, we are Ebeye residents and they don’t know if we are terrorists….missionary/teacher/terrorists. It’s such a different world over there. But whenever I come back from Kwadj (all 3 times), I am always happy to be home. It’s nice there, but Ebeye is just…home to me. A crowded stinky home.

Karissa, Lonnie and I can’t help but laugh at the failed pick up attempts we get daily. We don’t ride a high horse, because we know they are just all desperate and we’re foreigners. They are so ridiculous, that I need to share the tackiness..... “Likitu (pretty), how do I get to know you?” What? “Can I call you?” “What are we going to talk about?” *Blank stare….Honestly, what are they thinking? What would we even talk about? I don’t speak Marshallese and you probably only know the one English line…. “We would have beautiful babies, I like you a lot” Do I know you? The other day I was walking down the alley and a boy was urinating in the middle of the alley (no big deal) and when he saw I was American he walked after me, still urinating but not wanting to miss his opportunity, “I would like to get to know you. How’s life?”You’re gross….. I once had an experience that the other sm’s love to bring up where this one man took my hand, gave it a little rub and tried to turn on his way ancient “boyish charm” and asked me my name and got super excited because his name happened to have the same letters in it. Coincidence, I think not…. “Emily? ( *huge smile) My name is Elimy! Emily and Elimy, Emily and Elimy.” He continued to hold my hand, only bringing it up to his heart now, telling me how he wanted to talk to me about “stuff”. I told him I was in a hurry and had to leave, but he explained how he made us lunch plans the next day at his house and he was looking forward to meeting me the next day. Just me and him..Creeped out I told him I had to go. The other sm’s got a kick out of that. I try to be as polite as I can, but I’m not naïve or stupid, I know how to remain safe… My favorite story is Karissa’s. A man went up to Karissa telling her he really likes her (they just met). He then proceeded to take his big crusty finger and rubbing his knuckle on her face he invited her to the island nearby, saying she could take his truck. “You know why?” he asked. “Because I like you” he reminded her over and over. She reminded him of the “boyfriend” she had back at home and he left after doing a super “sexy” pose against the post nearby. Never to be seen again.

Yesterday Karissa and I decided to seize the day and make the most of our spring break. We went to the beach while Daniel, Lonnie and Lance were relaxing and or sleeping around the apt. When we arrived there, we cautiously took off our long Amish skirts and revealed shorts underneath and quickly went into the water. It felt so nice and cool. Ebeye is so hot all the time, and it seems as if it’s only getting hotter, so any opportunity we have to swim is awesome. Swimming peacefully however is even more rare, especially today. So while Karissa and I were swimming we couldn’t help but ignore the loud screeches and shouts coming from the people nearby us. It was a giant Marshallese couple and they were just going at it. They were fighting and hitting each other, and were clearly drunk.  One moment they’d be angrily wrestling and the next they’d be climbing on top of each other kissing and thrashing around. Turns out they were actually having sex, right then and there. They were creating quite a commotion that a crowd was now forming. Grossed out Karissa and I got out of the water and sat on the beach, while kids were crowding around them staring. It was really frustrating to be a foreigner at that moment, because if we were in America I would have definitely attempted to let them know that they were in public and that what they were doing in front of impressionable kids, was disgusting and that they need to go somewhere else, but since I am a foreigner, I couldn’t do that, especially being a woman. I should probably be more careful when it comes to talking to drunk people as well, since you never know what they’re going to do next. Anyway, so Karissa and I left the shore and walked past them to go sit on the shade in the rocks, beginning a new interesting story. This day was just too much.

While we were sitting there a man came up to us and introduced himself.

“Call me doctor. I found a cure for cancer.” He unzips his backpack and pulls out a plastic water bottle with the paper torn off and shows us this salmon colored liquid inside of it. “This here liquid has cured 20,000 people.” Karissa and I exchanged sneaky this guy is wack glances. He goes on to tell us that he is not just smart, but brilliant and that this can cure any form of cancer in just 48 hrs. “How did you come up with it?” “I was on one of the outer islands with my friends and they all thought I went out to the bathroom, little did they know I was coming up with a cure for cancer. They would ask me, “”What are you doing over there?”” I would tell them, “”Umm nothing, making sugar cane!”” I can’t tell you the exact ingredients, and if I were going to tell someone, I was offerered 3 billion dollars from a Chinese scientist. But you see money doesn’t matter to me. It doesn’t..” He went on to tell a ridiculously confusing story about crossing the shark invaded ocean with a suitcase full of money, and in the end the person with and without the suitcase, they both die. “I tell them, yes, I am brilliant but I am no better than you. I invite them to eat with me because though I am royalty, He (points up) he’s the real king…I own a lot of land and am very well known, but I’m not a king, though people think I am. I am constantly curing people and that’s why they think I’m so selfless. I devote my time to cure others.  Hospitals, they kill people, I, I cure people. Take your choice. Kill or cure….” By this time 45 minutes have, I was dying for him to get real. Karissa thought it was super funny and kept asking questions. He then pulled out his water bottle and told us to put out our hands so we could try it. I told him that I was a little scared, and tried to show him how hesitant I was. He saw it, didn’t care. He poured the liquid into our hands and told us to drink. I smelled it first, and asked if there was alcohol in it. He offensively said, “No, not at all, no alcohol, just a ton of vitamins and fruit juice.” Yeah, okay….it reeked of alcohol. I ever so swiftly or so I thought (haha) lifted my hands to pretend to drink, so I wouldn’t offend him, and I let the liquid run down my arms and onto my skirt and the ground. “Fruity”. He was happy and content. I looked over at Karissa hoping she didn’t try it, but it was too late. She drank it…After a few more minutes of talking he got up and told us he’d be back, we took this to our advantage and politely said goodbye and left. “I don’t even know where to start” I said. We couldn’t believe that there was someone in this world who thought that highly of himself….what just happened?

A little bit later I was not feeling very good. I was super nauseated and my stomach was upset. I tried to ignore it and it was night time by now and we had a fun night ahead of us. Lonnie had laid out glow stick bracelets for us and we were going to go night snorkeling. We got to the ocean and it was so eerie at night. Almost immediately we saw a manta ray under water. Its eyes were super freaky and it kept swimming at us. Luckily we had brought flashlights and put them in many zip lock plastic bags so we could see everything around us. Worse yet, everything around us could see us. When we got back we were informed that what we had just done was very dangerous. The sharks come to the shallow water at night, and the ocean comes alive. The fact that we were wearing glow sticks, which at first we thought was a clever idea, since then we could see if anyone of us got lost or eaten,  turned into a bad idea. It gave the sharks evidence to wear we were. We were told never to do that again…I decided I was never going to even before I had gotten into the water that night. It was freaky.

So by this time I really wasn’t feeling good. I took a shower and immediately went into the fetal position. I wished I would just throw up. Be careful what you wish for…I got my wish. While we were watching sixteen candles and preparing for our overnight sleepover I quickly ran to the bathroom and threw up. On and off I stayed in the bathroom the entire night throwing up. Ten different rounds and about 4-6 times each round. I was up from 9:30 p.m.-4:00 a.m. just going at it. All in all it was about 50 times….It was so painful and I was getting so weak and shaky. Never have I ever thrown up this much. I weighed myself this morning and since last night I have lost 4 lbs. but not healthily or any way I’d want to, it’s all my insides. It started with contents, and then it turned into any little thing I had in my body. I couldn’t drink any water, yet I was so dehydrated….I did not sleep at all last night. I went into Lonnie’s room, and she came out and talked to me and was trying to figure out why I have been sick so often. It was really nice to have company besides the trashcan. All the sm’s have been really sweet about it. I gave Lonnie and Daniel money and they went and got me ginger ale from one of the nearby stores. I have been drinking that a lot today…..Whenever I’m sick (physically) it always makes me miss my parents. I’m almost 20 and I still miss my parents whenever I get sick. My dad used to wake up when he would hear me throwing up and sit with me in the bathroom, then he would put on his coat and go out and try to find me ginger ale and ice cream. My mom would be a mother and just play with my hair and hold it back as I puked..and you don’t have that here in Ebeye. Makes me thankful for my blessings.

 Tomorrow I am going to the hospital to get my blood and stool tested. Our friend who works in the laboratory, finds it peculiar, that the other sm’s and I are doing the same things, eat the same things, but I continually get sick. They have hypothesized it being a bacterial virus or parasites. I don’t mind whatever it is, as long as it will go away. I don’t feel as if it is the water, since I have been here 3 months, and this past month have I only started to get sick. I’m anxious to go tomorrow, but not too anxious to eat, it makes me really nervous now. 

We still have a lot more to do on our “to do list” so I will post again soon. Until then, God Bless!