Manit Week (Part 1)...

During the week of September 26th - September 30th (I know, it is a little late coming :0), the Coop celebrated manit the entire week. Manit means culture, and we focused on both Marshallese culture as well as other cultures from around the world. Besides getting out of classes for nearly a whole week, the students really seemed to enjoy the activities and guest speakers we invited. The week went as follows:

Monday - Manit Day
Tuesday - Regular school day (obviously this did not work from an academic standpoint, as anyone could imagine)
Wednesday - International Day until lunch time and then we went to the College of the Marshall Islands (CMI) for their manit week activities
Thursday - Half day of school with mat viewing in the afternoon
Friday - Official Manit Day (a national holiday), so we had the day off. That meant I got to play in an all-day tennis tournament which I did not win, but had a blast losing.

For the majority of the week I just gave my camera to the students and let them go crazy; they took it to heart. I have tried to narrow down the 700+ pictures and videos they took to the following:

Monday

(my 11th graders had the camera most of the day, so they are the main attraction)

The students were learning about their lineage, or clans.

Zoya opening a coconut with ease.

Me opening a coconut NOT with ease.

After a few tries, I was becoming a professional.

Myra with the inside of the coconut and ready for the next step.

Tatina, Leona and Denisa...many parents were there to help.

The next step of  making a coconut drink; taking the copra out of the coconut seed

The drink during the process...

All the students helping grind up the copra, except Lulani (foreground) who is staring into space.

The final product; copra, sugar, milk and basil (I think). As you can see by their expressions, the drink is really good.

Marshallese candy, which is basically coconut and sugar. It seems as if everything is either coconut, sugar or a combination of both. And of course, Lulani acting like Lulani.

Mottu and "Spanky" who are NOT married nor are they even dating. Everyone is close here, which creates an incredible atmosphere of care and concern for each other.

In marshallese culture, the longer a woman's hair the more beautiful she is. That is more of a traditional viewpoint, but some of the students still have incredibly long hair. And as a result, they can all braid hair in all sorts of ways....

Joseph and Cynthia...a few students other than the 11th graders.

Patsy; 12 years old and in 9th grade...she is pretty smart.

The marshallese people are traditionally amazing canoe builders because, well, they are surrounded by ocean and need to be in order to survive. With the invention and introduction of boats with motors to the marshallese, they started to lose their craft. WAN is an organization that is trying to bring back these canoe making skills to the majority of people who do not know how to make them anymore.

Part of the canoe requires some pretty intricate weaving abilities; they were all fascinated and learning quickly.

Nelu acting like a "warrior" even though the tool he is holding is for carving and NOT for fighting.

Three of our beautiful students: Beauty, Lulani and Kirsten.

The students making enra; the leaves from coconut trees are woven to create plates, bowls and baskets.

                                      

Mottu using the basket as a helmet...she reminded me of one of the hammer head guys from mario brothers.

Denisa, Zoya and Momo

A few of the 8th graders just hanging outside towards to the end of the day.

Lulani, Tatina and Chloe; not sure what they are doing to Chloe...

12th grader JJ; an amazing artist and person.

Breadfruit; The meat of the fruit is put into a rolled leaf from the tree the fruit grows on. It is then cooked in a hole in the ground, coming out looking like this. Just open up the rolled leaf and inside is a paste kind of texture that tastes a little sweet. Not my favorite, but worth trying.

12th graders - Chrystle and Merlyn...

Lulani and Joseph...