Play On Majuro
If you have read other portions of this website, then you know we have written that there is nothing to do in the Marshall Islands for fun. Although this mainly described our American expectation of entertainment like movie theaters, bowling alleys, golf courses and casinos; in the Marshall Islands you have to make your own fun because it’s usually not provided for you. Play on Majuro can be described in four major categories; sports, games kids made up, music, and fishing.
Sports Sports consisted of basketball and volleyball. Almost every kid plays basketball on the Marshall Islands, boys and girls, and does so on a daily basis. In the high school class we sat in on, students were giving their research presentations, and one was on LeBron James vs. Michael Jordan. There were nice basketball courts made of concrete with fiberglass backboards holding orange metal rims and there were courts with dirt floors and the cut off rim of a five gallon bucket nailed to a tree for the hoop. There were players with uniforms and set plays from coaches. There were also helter skelter pick-up games which seemed thrown together at the last minute. Some players had nice basketballs made by Nike, Spalding or Wilson, while others played with ratty old basketballs or volleyballs. Most games were played by the youth, with only a handful of games played by people 25 or older. Regardless of where they played, they loved the sport and played with passion. Volleyball was the second in popularity on Majuro and people of every age played this sport. There were nets tied between poles, nets tied between coconut trees and nets tied up between buildings. When walking around in the evenings it was common to see backyard games going on between families; men vs. women or even adults vs. kids. Where as basketball was played in a serious manor, volleyball was played to relax and have fun. There never seemed to be any set plays and there was a lot of lifting, throwing, holding and double hitting of the volleyball, but no one cared because it was all for fun. We did see some sort of softball team practicing one night, but never saw them again after that. On another night, while walking past the only tennis courts (except for the courts on the U.S. Ambassadors compound) we found on the atoll we saw four man playing a game. I would have dismissed this as a “hitting the ball just for fun” game simply because we hadn't witnessed anyone else playing tennis on the atoll and three of the four players were in flip-flops, but they played well. Serves were hit hard and returns went down the lines as much as cross court, proving they had played before and this wasn't an anomaly. Games Kids Made Up Another major category of play, at least on Majuro, was “games kids made up”. There were three games we liked the best. The first one was hopscotch. Now, I know this is not a new game and people have been playing this game for hundreds of years, but I’ve never played on a hopscotch court shaped like a very long zig-zag line or one wrapped around a tree before. Some courts were drawn in the ground as wide as houses while others were as thin as the kids feet. Despite the variety of courts, rules and ability levels it seemed all the younger kids knew the game and played daily. The second game kids made up was "water bottle fishing" which isn't really a game I guess but when it’s done using an empty water bottle as a pole and reel, it’s pretty entertaining to watch. The kids would wrap line around the bottle, hold the hook and bait at the top with their pointer finger and act like they are going to throw the bottle in the water but instead take their finger off the hook and bait at the last second. The bait would fly through the air with surprising distance and land in the water. The kids would then slowly pull the bait back to them by wrapping the line around the water bottle until they had caught a fish or the bait returned to them. There were two boys who did this every day in front or our hotel, up and down the sea wall they would go for hours. The third game kids made up was our favorite… suitcase races. The kids would find an old suitcase with a handle and wheels. One kid would pull on the handle while the other would ride on the suitcase. When being pulled through the sandy/crushed coral soil it was not as much fun to watch, but when it was on blacktop it was exciting with all the trappings of “NASCAR meets riding an ostrich”. Kids were running and pulling while others were struggling to hold on with the jerking motion that pulling while running creates. Some riders showed flair by holding on with one hand while others seemed scared out of their minds and made the sign of the cross when the race was over. This was play but this was also serious business (really we only saw one SUPER serious race like this, but suitcase races were common and fun to watch). |
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Music
Instruments and singing are part of the Marshallese lifestyle, weather in church or a restaurant. The instruments were not an everyday thing however, there were a handful of people that did have ukuleles and during the fisherman’s day celebration there were many bands playing throughout the atoll. The music was great, always in tune and on pitch! It was obvious the musicians had practiced. While listening to a band play on the dock at the Fisherman’s Day weigh-in, I watched this 50ish year old Marshallese man just absolutely shred this guitar during a solo. College students would be out in the breezeways between classes with ukulele’s playing and singing while other students played some version of hackey-sack. Singing was a must at church and practicing could be heard throughout the atoll on any given night and all day Sunday's. Taxi drivers, hotel attendants, cashiers, kids walking down the street could all be heard singing at one point or another. The most common type of music, despite the radios all playing what sounded like Marshallese music, were pop songs in English. Fisherman's Day Fisherman’s Day, and fishing in general, is the last part of play that we wanted to talk about. With Majuro being an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean we thought there would be a large fishing population. Although we were assured by locals that fishing was an everyday activity for food and income, we didn't find evidence of it. We only ventured out into the lagoon on two excursions, so it’s not like we spent a lot of time there, but we did not notice any fishing for fun or for food. Sure there were kids fishing along the lagoon wall but there were no adults fishing that we saw, just kids having fun. As an end note to the fishing side of play in the Marshall Islands, I would like to mention the free divers who will dive down, sometimes 60 feet or deeper to spear fish. Did we mention the Marshall Islands are a shark sanctuary? You don’t get that title unless there are a lot of sharks swimming about. Its also common to spear fish at night with flashlights... because, obviously, swimming in shark infested waters is not enough of a challenge. We met a South African named Alvin who taught at the COOP school. He would free dive several times a week to put food on his family's table. Perhaps we did not see the adults fishing because we were looking on the surface of the water and not under it? Either way, the only adult fishing we saw came on Fisherman’s Day Fisherman’s Day is an annual event held on the first weekend of July. I’m not sure of the holiday or historical significance but this day hosts two huge fishing tournaments; the billfish and the bottom feeder. The billfish boats go out into the open ocean and troll for big fish while the bottom feeder boats stay in the lagoon and drop a line in at shallower depths. At the end of each day the boats would come back and weigh their bounty for the day, each tournament weighed in at opposite sides of the Uliga Dock. To be honest, we didn’t spend much time at the bottom feeder side of the dock because… well, the fish were smaller and not as exciting as the billfish on the other side of the dock. The Bottom feeder side had families with kids and baskets of small, (maybe a pound or two) yet colorful fish hoisted from the shallow depths. On the other side of the dock however, the billfish’s largest fish that weekend weighed just under 700lbs! The families of the bottom feeder boats would congratulate the fish caught, the billfish side celebrated and cheered for the enormous fish hanging from the crane. On one side the family pride was at stake, but the other side seemed more corporate. One side seemed to represent the people of the Marshall Islands, the other represented the infringing cultures from outside the Marshall Islands. The bottom fishing side had small wooden boats while the billfishing side had sleek fiberglass boats with huge motors. Julie and I were temporarily put into the position of the Marshall Island teenagers, and we seemed to be caught between cultures. Inevitably, we chose the bigger, shinier culture on the other side to be part of. |