Ebeye Island

Greg and I decided we wanted to visit Ebeye Island the other day. In order to do this we had to fly over to Kwajalein and then catch the ferry over. I had to respect their culture and toss my short shorts and dig out my long skirt first lol. When we told people on our island we were wanting to visit it we sort of got looked at with a blank stare and the question of "Why?"

The island is less than a mile long and about 200 yards wide, yet is populated with around 15,000 people! It is the 5th most densely populated place in the world.  Ebeye is 3 miles north of Kwajalein island. One of 93 islands that make up Kwajalein Atoll, it is the bedroom community for the Marshallese who work at the military base. Following WWII, when the US took possession of the Marshall Islands from the Japanese, the US conducted several nuclear tests in the Marshalls (most famously at Bikini Atoll) and moved many Marshallese to Ebeye. When the US started to use Kwajalein Atoll for other missile tests, Marshallese from the mid-atoll were also moved to Ebeye, thus setting the stage for overpopulation and various social and economical problems such as a lack of food, water, jobs, and money. 

The island is very much third world living conditions. Sometimes up to 40 people living under one flimsy shack, sleeping on the ground. 

One thing that really amazed me is the amount of smiling kids you found on the island. The island population is estimated to be over 50% populated of children, which is easy to see as soon as you step onto the island, there are kids running around every where. But like I said these kids literally have nothing and couldn't be happier, it really made me a little embarrassed to know the average American's child's Christmas list these days consists of things like Ipads, Cell Phones, and crazy materialistic things. The children on Ebeye would be happy with a used soccer ball they could kick and play around with outside. It's nice to see children outside playing and SMILING, they would even run up to us and  want us to play with them, which melted my heart!  I caught a cute pic of these two girls climbing on Greg's arms hanging like monkeys, I wasn't strong enough for that so they climbed on my back. =)

They must be a little used to the American's coming over once in a while, because they don't speak English but know enough to yell "PICTURE PICTURE" when they saw me walking with a camera. And unfortunately some American must have shown them how we pose by throwing up "Deuces" and making duck faces lol, because every time I went to take a photo the kids would throw up their peace sign and make a silly face! It was still cute, I even jumped in for one! 

There were quite a few stray dogs hanging around the island too, which I am a huge animal lover but they were very neglected, as you can imagine if the living conditions for humans were poor how they would be for dogs. They aren't treated as pets around there either, a dog around home you would naturally go up and pet (at least I would) and when I was petting this sweet dog it wasn't sure what to do and the islanders looked at me like I was crazy. 

Made me really miss my little Chihuahua! I wish I could take all the dogs and kids there and give them a good bath and the health care they need. It was definitely a life changing experience that really made me thankful for everything I've been blessed with in life, and realizing what little these kids have they are still so happy and make the best of it all. Although their view is UNREAL, check out this shot I got of my man looking out the window of a busted up shack that still had one wall up. 

I really enjoyed my day over on Ebeye Island, although it's third world and it was a little sad it really opened up my eyes. And I absolutely adored the children and their little smiling faces!

I Said Yes!

I Said Yes...

Alright Alright so as most of you know by now, I got engaged. It was lovely and I am so happy and everybody wants to know the story soooooo here ya go!

Tuesday Jan 28th
Greg got off work at 8 A.M. and had planned out our day for us. We usually like to tackle a lot during his off days while I'm here, because before you know it I'll be gone in Snowy Cold Iowa. *VOMIT* 
We decided to start our day off by filling the cooler and hitting the green. There is a little golf course here on the tiny island, it's not what you picture your usual country club like...but it works. I had to get my golf ball of the airport runway multiple, that was a first lol. So after a long day of golf and drinking we grabbed a quick lunch at the chow hall and took a little nap. Later I knew we had planned on Grilling Out and Kayaking so we were gunna need the energy. 

After our nap was over we tossed our suits on and started cutting up some potatoes and veggies for the grill to eat with our steaks. We packed what we thought was everything in the bag, tossed it all in the wagon, put the wagon on the bicycle, and pedaled over to the Rat Shack. (Fancy place for dining eh?) On our way over Greg realized he didn't have a lighter so told me he had to stop at the fire station and told me to pedal over to the Surf Shack to get the lighter fluid. Once we both got to the Rat Shack and unloaded stuff we realized we forgot a glove to use to grab the hot foiled tater packages, so I pedaled over to the Surf Shack once more to grab the rest of what we needed. Finally time to sit down enjoy some sangria and have some dinner with my honey. After we finished eating dinner (Greg, Myself, and one BILLION flies) it was time to walk 50 ft down the beach to the shack that has the kayaks and stuff. It was about 5:45 and the sun sets about 6:40 and Greg had the great idea of kayaking around the corner of the island so we could see the sunset. On our way over I bet Greg that he couldn't stand up in the Kayak without it tipping over and of course being the big strong man he is, he had to prove me wrong (right.) So he attempts to make his way up before a few seconds was up flips out of the kayak and falls into the ocean water. When we got around the island we noticed a little beach that was uncovered since it was low tide, so we decided to row the kayaks up to it and get out. We hung out for a while watching the colors in the sky slowly change, walking around looking at things and then we rowed back to shore. We got out and I was ready to wash the kayaks and put them away but Greg said we should do it later, even though it was going to be getting dark, I didn't argue. (Surprised? Ha) I started to walk on the other side back over to the Rat Shack and Greg told me I to get back down and walk along the beach with him, I would soon realize why.

We hold hands and walk up to the shack we had previously eaten at. It looks different. The tiki torches are lit up, candles all over lit up, bottle of wine on the table, and a wrapped box in the middle of it. This box was wrapped in Christmas wrapping and had a sticker on it that said "To Greg From Mom Love and Miss You." Obviously he was confused. I wasn't really sure what was going on. The first thing I said was what's going on how did you light these candles when we were gone? And why is your Christmas present on the table? 

*About three months ago Greg's Mom had called me and asked if she could ship a nice watch she got Greg to me and I would pack it in my carry on with me when I went to visit him. When you ship stuff to the island you have to fill out a customs form that says what's in the box and how much it's worth, plus you don't always know how safely it will get here. Of course I told her yes and she insured it and sent it to me, it's been under my tree since I got it. When I arrived I had handed it to Greg and told him his Mom had sent me with his Christmas present, and he said he knew but he couldn't open it until the other present arrived that she shipped. And so it's been sitting in his place ever since.*

I walked up to the table and Greg told me to open MY PRESENT. Again I told him that it wasn't mine and he just kept quiet as he watched me open it. A GUCCI WATCH? I don't get it. So I open the box up and there is no Gucci watch. There is a ring box, it's empty. I turn around and my honey is on one knee holding the most beautiful size 4 1/2 ring I have ever seen. Right there candlelit beach side my boyfriend asked me to spend the rest of my life with him. I SAID YES! Holy shit...I just got engaged. Is this real life?! LoL I sort of blacked out and forget what all happened right then I just knew that I said yes and I couldn't stop crying. And yes if you hadn't put it together, turns out I was carrying my own engagement ring around for months! Just imagine if I had accidentally left it at home under the tree LoL. He picked it out completely on his own and already knew my size. The inside of the ring is engraved with "Forever My Love." He had also asked our friend Alana for some help by setting up the candles and stuff and lucky for me I got some awesome pictures because she was hiding behind a tree taking snap shots the whole time! Apparently Greg had been trying to propose for weeks but either the weather or I had kept ruining his plans lol. OOPS! ANNNND remember when he flipped out of the kayak into the ocean with this diamond ring in his pocket?! Some fish could have been rollin through the deep blue sea with some awesome bling...

Who knew the little fling I found when my best friend and I visited Vegas would turn into forever? (That's another blog to come.) Marriage. AH I am so excited and I am so lucky. I have been living in paradise since I met Greg. I've found the perfect man for me and I love him more than words can say! 

Jelly Fish Wall

Another day scheduled to take the boat out and snorkel. Luckily today's weather allowed us to do that. We were headed out with some friends to 8th island which is pretty far from our island and to the coral gardens. It was a bit of a rough ride to get out to the spot but totally worth it. So snorkel gear on I jumped off the boat and followed my man. As soon as we got in the water he spotted a HUGE stingray at the bottom, with a little shark riding the stingray's back. It was pretty deep down but as usual still freaked me out. I'm beginning to gather that I really am quite the "weenie." Ha but I am not used to sharks and stingrays I'm used to cows and corn, and that shit ain't near as scary lol.

So Greg tells me to put the video on and he's going down, I'm thinking dude don't piss him off this is how Steve Irwin died ya know? And this guy is HUGE! I turn on the video camera on my iPhone and Greg swim's down to the bottom. He flips his flipper  about an inch away from him to create a wave that'll startle the stingray and the thing instantly freaks swims away (from us thank God.) It was really cool to watch his big body float away and see the little shark guy riding his back across the bottom. Plus I got it on video which was cool, except I can't for the life of me get video's to upload on this blog which totally bums me out because I have a lot of cool things to share that we've caught on video.

We kept swimming around finding some beautiful fish per usual and then Greg showed me a ginormous clam. I really don't think I'd ever seen one before and what I pictured in my head was a pretty purple small clam that would hold pearls inside lol. Not at all what this was like. It was probably two foot wide and sure enough my man wanted to go down and poke it so he did and thing clamped shut hard and quick! I was hoping he'd come back up with pearls for his lady, but he didn't. I suppose I should just be glad he didn't come up missing any body parts as quick as that thing shut! We did see a shark or two while swimming around and I surprisingly didn't find myself as scared as before, I suppose I was warming up to them. It was time to head off to our next destination to snorkel.

WHEN YA GOTTA GO YA GOTTA GO...lol

I thought everything we had just saw was pretty, man I had no idea it could get any better. I believe this part was called the coral gardens. The water had such clear visibility and the colors and size of the fish were outstanding out here. First thing we did was swim over to the the 8th island. Nobody lives on this island it is literally a deserted island. I told Greg we were swimming over to it and stepping foot on it, because how many people can say they were the ONLY TWO PEOPLE on an entire island?! LoL

Unfortunately about 10 minutes into the dive we discovered my waterproof case was leaking into my phone and we took my camera back to the boat. So we didn't get what we were about to see on camera, which is really too bad. The sun rays shining down through the crystal blue water over the beautiful purple coral was a site in itself. I've never seen anything so beautiful. As we swam though the coral gardens we came close to a little drop off spot. I had a hard time seeing out my goggles it was like there was water spots all over them or something, or maybe they had fogged up. NOPE. It was a whole wall of jelly fish floating around. Just a bunch of white spots. THOUSANDS. It was incredible. But of course I was making sure not to swim or float any closer, because there seriously were thousands everywhere. It was pretty cool! I wished so bad I had my camera at that point. As we were headed back towards the boat we saw multiple sharks, and pretty good sized ones. I can't believe I've been swimming with sharks on multiple occasions now.

WARNING TMI TMI TMI AHEAD

I sort of freaked when I realized it was what my girlfriend and I call shark week for me. It happens once a month to ladies, and hopefully I don't need to explain any further that it was that time of month for myself. OH GAWWWWWWD. Sharks and blood go together like fat kids and cake right?! I'm doomed. PMS. Pissed Mad Sharks. OH NO I told Greg and he just laughed, but I seriously was freaking out, however I yet again made it out safe without any shark attacks. LoL It ended up being a great day and my favorite snorkel ever. Since then we bought a GoPro camera which is great for underwater diving and snorkeling so I am hoping before I leave we are able to go back out there and get it on video because it was too amazing not to share with the world.

It's Not All Rainbows And Unicorns

I know I've done my share of bragging about how awesome my life is and how great the island life is....however it's time I share, it's not all glamorous and fun and games. 

When the dark night sneaks up on us, it's when they come out. What comes out you ask?! ROI RATS! Gross right? Seriously there is tons of them all over the island. And of course the first one I see I squak and freak out and the usual response from people about all the creatures I've encountered is, "They won't hurt you, they're just as scared of you."

YEAH OKAY maybe. They are still gross and creep me out! Same goes for the geckos they crawl everywhere at night, so fast and eeeeek lol. I was sitting down the other week at the shack watching the sunset and had hung around  a little after. Sure enough it had gotten rather dark, all of a sudden a gecko runs across the table in front of me, another across my foot, and a rat climbs up the tree by my head. 
Here's the little gecko dudes that hang out....

EW I'm out! Of course the residents here laugh at me and call me a weenie but c'mon rats and lizards aren't anybody's thing right? So I forget to bring a flash light and attempt to make my way down the stairs to my bicycle without screaming. What  a terrifying ride home lol I was dodging running over rats with my bike the whole time. However, the moon and stars here are out of this world bright! It's so beautiful in the sky at night with no clouds or polution you can see all the stars perfectly and the moon so bright reflecting off the ocean is just stunning...until you see a rat and freak out ha ha. And then there's the bugs. UGH. I have bug bites galore all over my body. Day and night there's always something looking to bite. Bug spray is a must all the time. But besides those gross things as I said before it's wonderful out here, I mean you can't have it all right? =) One of the residents actually asked me to paint them a rat out of my palm frond art....I am not sure how it will turn out but I'll definitely give it a shot! Until next time.....

Peace Out! 

Reflecting on Roi

It's be wayyyyy too long since I've updated this...

So it's been quite some time since I have had the chance to write, better yet since I have made the time to. It's just things are different when you're living "Roi Island Life." It's wonderful though. For instance if you want to get ahold of someone or make plans, you actually go knock on that person's door and talk to them face to face instead of sending a quick text like you would in the states or you call their house phone and actually speak instead of just type. 

It's also great when you meet people for a day at the beach or at the bar at night. This might seem crazy I know so brace yourself. . . but people ACTUALLY LOOK AT YOU, LIKE MAKE EYE CONTACT instead of staring into their smart phone the entire time you are out and about. That in itself is amazing, it's almost like how it used to be before these smart phones were invented. Even though I will confess to being a bit of a Facebook addict, I LOVE being out places and not seeing the tops of people's heads. Now I see their lovely faces and get to hear their awesome life stories. I get to see people enjoy spending time with others instead of spending times on their phones while around others. It almost makes me wish we didn't have cell service and internet service in more of the places we go, but with that it sure does come in handy at times! 

Aren't you going to get bored, I mean seriously what are you going to do?!

I can't tell you how many people said this to me before I left. Followed by, "Wait you won't have cell phone service and only limited internet access? A tiny island with less than 90 people, what are you going to do? I would die!" 

Well if that's true ya'll have a serious problem. C'mon this is f*!$'n paradise! For real! Just look at the island sunsets and that should be enough to sell anyone. 

I've actually considered moving out here, I love it so much and it's only been a month. However, they don't let you have dogs on the island. For anyone who knows me, you know living without my little girl is NOT an option. Hell this 2 months away from her is killing me. HA. Plus I have a great job and beautiful house in Iowa that I couldn't just leave on a quick notice. Luckily Greg's contract is only for 1 year and by the time I leave he will only have about 8 months left and should get some vacation in that time period so we can see each other. 

But seriously it's amazing here. You instantly become part of a little family. I mean when you are one of 80 some people on an entire island you all get to know each other real quick. You can actually trust people here, leave your bicycles out and a backpack sitting on a picnic table and nobody is going to bother it. Everybody is so nice and helpful. With Greg being new to the island and me being just a visitor, there are a lot of times we haven't had something we needed and every person here has been so willing to help us and let us borrow things. Maybe it's not for everyone but I can totally entertain myself and get along with most anybody. I've read quite a few books to pass time, worked on some art of which I'll be posting more on soon, and just made time to do nothing. Think about this.... 

When is the last time you did nothing and embraced it? Didn't have a plan or schedule for the day? Just lived in the moment with no time restraints?

I know most people aren't lucky enough to be in the spot I'm currently in and with jobs, reality, kids, and all that stuff it can seem impossible. Sometimes it's great to just do nothing. 

Literally I'll just lie in the hammock and take everything in. Feel the warmth of the sun, hear the ocean waves crash in, feel the ocean salt infused breeze on my skin, hear the palm trees blowing above me shading my face, watch all the little creatures come to life as I sit there so still and peaceful. The geckos, hermit crabs, ghost crabs, butterflies, birds, just everything. I actually laid in this hammock for 2 hours once expecting to finish a book and instead watched this little army of hermit crabs beneath me. There were probably 50-75 of them. I was eating sunflower seeds (just like I am now as I write this lol) and when I'd spit the shell out they would all fight over who got it. I was even able to spot the bully crab LoL I let him know real quick I was part of the anti bullying movement and poked him with my stick so the runt crab could enjoy my seed and the bully move on! I let him know he shouldn't be so crabby with the little crabs HA HA! It was so fun to watch them crawl around with their beautiful shell homes on their backs. It's just great because here you can actually be BY YOURSELF and think, reflect, observe, and people need that yet a lot of people never do that. Any other beach you go to is packed with people and the people you do see aren't truly getting away they are laying out with their phones or I pads tweeting about what they are doing at that exact moment instead of just living in it. I am living in pure bliss right now and absolutely love it, every second of it. 

Get out there and enjoy whatever bliss may be for you, find a day and do nothing but ENJOY and live in the moment! 

Kayaking

The First Day of 2014!

So it's New Year's Day and we decided we would go kayaking. This is something I'd never done before, and especially never thought I'd do in the Ocean. So we packed our beach bags and snacks and hit the beach. They have community use Kayaks and life jackets at one of the shacks. So we hauled them down to the shore and off we went. I really don't have a lot of upper body strength and it turns out this Kayaking stuff is one hell of a workout lol, so again I say I am so thankful I have a patient boyfriend. =)

We kayaked all around the area for about 2 1/2 hours which by the end of that I was real wimpy. Greg mentioned Kayaking over to the 1st island but I didn't feel like I had the strength to go against the current and wind after a couple hours already in. So after some practice we will give that a shot, and hope I survive! We saw a few sea turtles pop their heads up but nothing that was really close to us. It was still really awesome to see the insane colors of the water and the clarity of it all. What an incredible first day of the year. If this is any indication of how the rest of 2014 will go, I'm in for a real treat....because my life is already way better than I could have every imagined. Here's a few more shots of us kayaking around the Pacific. 

As you can see it was a beautiful experience. So happy I got to experience it with my man....it's even more bittersweet because back home in Iowa it's been record low temperatures. Knowing that it's 85 every day here and how miserable Iowa winters are, makes being here THAT much better! It is going to be a rough adjustment going back in March.



PEACE OUT!

My First Day ALONE

Greg had to work today so I am on my own. I was pretty lazy all morning since I was still not feeling 100%. After a while I decided to grab my DSLR Camera and head out on the bicycle to capture some of the scenery. HOLY HOTNESS. Lugging that thing around while pedaling against the winds in 88 degree weather makes for one hell of a workout. I hadn't planned out my photography session very well, because I had to wait about a half an hour for the condensation on my lens to go away...woops. I was a little worried about getting lost at first, but then I realized the island is way too small to actually get lost. So I spent the day venturing the island solo and soaking up the scenery. I got quite a few pics so I'll share some...

Pontooning The Pacific

My First Actual Day On The Island:

As if I'm not already in enough bliss waking up next to my man for the first time again in the like two months, we are going to take the pontoon out in the Pacific today! As I said before I hadn't been feeling the best but I didn't want to skip out, I was ready to start taking advantage of island living! So we get some breakfast and meet some people out at the Marina to get in the Pontoon. We packed some snacks, tunes, and booze, prepared for a great day. Being out on the crystal clear water for the first time was absolutely breathtaking. Here is our friend bringing his booze over lol

We took the boat out near the "Third Island" and anchored down! A few other people met us out there in their sailboat and came over to hang. A couple folks jumped in to snorkel before us. There was an immediate mention of Jelly Fish and that totally creeped me out. I had never seen one before and wasn't sure jumping into an ocean to swim with them sounded like a great idea. The only thing I knew about Jelly Fish is if you get stung by one someone is supposed to pee on you, and personally I didn't feel like being stung OR peed on today....I know such a fun hater! LOL

Sure enough we jumped in anyways. If you know me I'm not a very good swimmer...I'm actually one of those nerds who still has to plug my nose and can't dive to save my life. 
Shout out to my mom for never giving me swimming lessons, thanks alot Mom. Ha Just kidding I Love you! Anyway I'm so thankful I have a patient boyfriend for me to get a grasp on my snorkel flow. It didn't take long before we saw a jelly fish swimming right next to us and Greg ha to shew him away. Right then I instantly wanted to go back to the safe zone on the boat where the couldn't get us..but as he always does Greg convinced me everything will be fine and encouraged me to keep going, so we did. THAT is one of the many reasons he is great for me, always helps me conquer my fears! I still stayed far away from the jelly fish when I could but Greg got right up in there face with the camera:

The rest of the day we just spent snorkeling around, drinking beer, and jammin out. Overall a fantastic first day with new friends, a new place, and the love of my life. Here's some pics of me snorkeling and Greg doing crazy tricks of the boat. LoL

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First week on the island

I'm playing catch up here from my journal because I haven't been able to blog due to Greg's laptop being down. So here  is the first page of my journal:

12/31/13 7:05 AM 

It' my 4th day on the island and I've yet to adjust to the day and time difference. Which basically means I wake up at 3 AM on the dot every day which would be 9 AM back home. On top of that I haven't really felt good since I've been here. My whole family was fighting a stomach bug on Christmas, so I assumed that combined with a 33 hour travel itinerary, jet lag, and lack of good eating has been what's dragging me down. Yesterday around noon I finally started feeling myself. So on to the good stuff let me catch you up from day one!

One thing not many people have probably experienced is flying on/off of a runway of which the whole length of is the entire island....for those of you who haven't let me tell ya SCARY SHIT! I fly often enough I never really get scared but when you look down and see your descent is almost complete and you still see no land under you, just ocean you start to panic. I just knew we were going to touch down in the ocean. Obviously I'm aliving writing this so we made it but talk about freaky. Here's a little pic to get you some of an idea...but not really capturing the no land part:

Obviously I'm alive writing this so we made it but talk about freaky! And as you can imagine the same level of freakiness taking off, it looked like we were going to drive right off the runway into the ocean.

So after a few more island stops and a bit of a delay I arrived into Kwajalein. I felt like a kid at Christmas when we pulled up. As I walked off the plane I could see Greg waving at me outside the fence. AHHH FINALLY! But all the passengers had to go inside the "Airport," which is the size of my living room. As soon as you enter all the officials make you put your bags on the red line, take a seat, and fill out paperwork. The polic K9 comes in and sniffs the baggage and after about 20 minutes of processing I was the last one to be let FREE lol. I hopes the door and found my love hiding around the corner trying to surprise me. 

BEST HUG AND KISS EVER

It was so great to finally be back in his arms. BUT after all this flying I'm still not to my final destination. The next flight we have to catch is a daily flight they run back and forth from Kwajalein to Roi. That flight was only about 15 minutes and it was really awesome to be able to see the different tiny beautiful islands in the chain of the Marshal Islands from above.

White Snow to White Sand

Guess what?!?!?!

I'm out of here! I am leaving Iowa the day after Christmas for the months of January and February and can't wait to get out this miserable cold weather! I'm going to stay with my boyfriend who currently lives and works on a tiny (basically deserted) island in the middle of the ocean. Rough right? Well here is a picture from my front door step today...

And here is a picture my boyfriend sent me of the view he has to deal with...

Any sane person would clearly prefer the 2nd picture, the white sand and beautiful blue waters over Iowa's dead trees and freezing cold snow and ice. 

So what the hell is this place called and where exactly is it you ask?

Kwajalein Atoll. Ever heard of it? Me neither. It is part of the Marshall Islands and to put into perspective it's about halfway between Australia and Hawaii and just 9 degrees north of the equator. The island Kwajalein is 3 miles long by barely 3/4 mile wide. The population is around 1,000. Small right? WELL if you think that's small the island Greg (my boyfriend) is on and where I am going is 50 miles North of that island and is called Roi-Namur. Roi (for short) is just 2 miles long and 1/2 mile wide. Population here is 100. Now that makes Kwajalein look big huh? To put it in Midwest Iowa farmer terms basically that's a well off acreage around here. TINY! 

Here is a picture from the plane that Greg took of the islands....

Here is a map to show you how far across the world my other half is from me..

And here is the breakdown of the Kwajalein Atoll islands....

It's crazy isn't it?

Well if you know either of Greg and I, It really isn't. This adventure of tiny island living and long distance madness couldn't be more perfect for two people like us. We are both crazy, spontaneous, outgoing, always up for a new adventure type people. Our love story in itself and the how we met story is a crazy story and will be a whole new blog in itself, so stay tuned for that one! <3 You really do find it when you're not looking. So here's to the next 17 days and hoping they fly by so I can see my honey, I miss him beyond words! Just look how cute we are....

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