Last week I spent Monday and Tuesday filling in for the P.E. teacher at the School. In the morning monitored recess and ran calisthenics for the middle school kids before turning them loose to play volleyball and basketball. In the afternoon I led P.E. classes for the different primary classes (kindergarten through 6th grade). All the classes were outside in the sun unless it was raining. By the end of each day I was ringing wet with perspiration, slightly sunburned and exhausted. I always thought being a P.E. teacher was a easy job but not anymore and I apologize to every P.E. teacher I ever had.
After working so hard on Monday and Tuesday I had to rest up on Wednesday and Thursday (and catch up on my house work). I also tried to find out what was going on with our Internet instillation. When we first got to Majuro we didn’t think that we needed Internet at the house because we had access at the school. But then our neighbor got Internet at his house and we were able to use his WiFi (with his permission). We found that we really liked having it. But our neighbor moved out at the end of September so I went down to the local telephone company on October 3 and paid my $69 for instillation of DSL at 256 speed for our house. The girl at the counter said that instillation would probably be the following week but they would call before coming out. So we waited two weeks and when nobody called or showed up at the house I went back to the phone company. The counter girl checked on my instillation and she was told that billing had not finished with the paperwork and they would be out the following week. So we waited another week, and you probably guessed they didn’t show up. Now it’s been over a month and I’m starting to lose my sense of humor over the whole thing. So I call again and this time they tell me that they will be out on Friday.
Now Friday I had been invited to a Remembrance Day (Veterans Day) observance at the Australian Navy Compound and planned to attend but if the phone company called I planned to fly home as we only live about ten minutes away. Anyway, I went to the ceremony which was very nice with about a half dozen Australian Veterans and a dozen U.S. Veterans in attendance. While standing at attention for the three national anthems (U.S., Australian, and Marshallese) we were looking across the lagoon and I could almost feel those American Marines crossing the reefs here in the South Pacific. After the ceremony there was a very nice catered lunch. The ceremony started at 10:45 and I was on my way home by 1:00 PM so I wouldn’t miss our internet instillation. I called the phone company and they said they would be out in about half an hour. I waited over on hour and then got a call from the phone guy who said they had run into a problem and would not be able to make it but would be out on Saturday. I told them great because I knew Becky would be home all day.
Saturday was the monthly fishing tournament and I was at Ronnie’s boat at 6:00 am. This month’s tournament was for biggest Marlin. We caught Wahoo all day. We had seven Wahoo, the smallest weighed in at 14 pounds and the largest at 35 pounds. We also caught two Barracudas weighing in a 14 and 34 pounds respectively. About 2:00 PM we hooked into a big Marlin that we fought for 40 minutes and had it right up to the boat before it got off. I was really disappointed because it looked like it was between 300 and 400 pounds. It had done everything possible to get off the line, including a beautiful tail walk, and we had just gotten it up to the boat and were preparing to gaff it when it surged forward and spit the hook. When we got back to the dock it turned out that none of the eight boats had caught a Marlin so the tournament is continued to next month. We cleaned the Wahoo and Ronnie sold 100 pounds to a local restaurant and the crew each took home a nice roast. When I got home I was not surprised to find out the phone company had not shown up.
I contacted the phone company on Monday and they didn’t know why no one had been there but scheduled me for first thing Thursday morning (they only do installs on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday). Thursday came and went and this morning I called again. I was told they were having some problems and said they would be out on Saturday. So I’ll wait and see what happens tomorrow. But the house is clean and I’ve got a good book and a new X-Box game so I’ll just have to wait it out. Life’s tough when you’re a Cabana Boy!
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