November 5th, 2015

Thursday...

We lost our very first volleyball game tonight for the indoor league.  It was a team of 3 Marshallese, 2 girls and a guy, and the guy and his wife who own the catamaran I wanted to buy.  I found them a 6th player since they only had 5.  The two Marshallese girls had played beach volleyball with us a few times, and they were pretty good.  The Marshallese guy, who I'd never seen before was real good.  During the warm ups someone served the ball fast to him and he put his hands behind his back handcuff style, leaned forward and hit the ball back perfectly.  We had a ton of athleticism on our side, but only a few really good players.  I would love to say I was one of them, but not so much.

The Marshallese people out here, whom we work with every day, are great.  They seem to be always happy, always laughing, and always ready to help out if you need it.  They have names like Bilwa, Belele, Batlock (who's last name is also Batlock), Rambo, many of them have American names, but not the American whininess.  They are tough.  Bilwa is around my age.  He's missing most of his front teeth, but he loves to joke around. The guy just smiles a lot.  I think his smile is more genuine without the front teeth. He drives around in the bobcat all day, or as much as he can get away with.  Whenever I want to use it, I ask the rest of the Marshallese where Bilwa's "car" is.  They are mostly treated with respect and dignity by the Americans out here, but there are a few bigots that I happen to work with that don't.  One of the superintendents, who is a great guy, gave a great talk to everyone when the RMI (Republic of the Marshall Islands) people were not around.  It was basically a "Do no disrespect them" speech.  I later asked one of the bigots I work with if he listened to the speech.  He didn't seem to think he disrespects them.  He is also the guy who gave me the speech about "using your economic advantage to win women over in poorer countries.".  Obviously, he has little respect for anyone.  He doesn't see it, and never will.  I guess morals are not part of everyone's resume.