My Next Big Adventure
As many of you know, or might be finding out right now, I’ve accepted a teaching position in a rather unusual place. It’s a tiny speck on the map that very few people can say they’ve ever visited, and I’m so fortunate to call it my home for the foreseeable future. For the next chapter of my life, I will be teaching fourth grade in the Marshall Islands!
Starting a new job is never fun or easy. The onboarding process takes forever, the training is always boring, and most of the time you get halfway through thinking, “What did I get myself into?”
When it’s an international job, those feelings are amplified by ten. People look at you a little crazy when you tell them you’re voluntarily leaving behind your routine, your friends and family, and your favorite coffee shop to walk straight into the unknown. All I can say is this is my fourth time packing up my life and making a move like this, and it never gets easier. There is always an adjustment period, learning the lay of an unfamiliar land while watching every step, hoping you don't make a fool of yourself.
Yet, in those moments, is when the strongest connections are made. You’re almost always onboarded alongside other new joiners who are figuring it out right there with you. Before you know it, those people become your new best friends, the anxiety flips, and things start to get exciting.
Landing to this beautiful sign in Majuro.
That exact process is where I find myself right now after moving to Kwajalein, also called "Kwaj", a tiny island inside a Pacific atoll about a six-hour flight from Hawaii. Yeah, I’m truly in the middle of nowhere. This is easily as far as my adventures have ever taken me.
Getting here was no quick trip. It took two full days of travel. The first day was a transit flight to Honolulu, where I had a glorious, sunny afternoon to soak up the sun on Waikiki Beach.
On day 2, I was boarding United’s famous Island Hopper. This route starts in Honolulu and ends in Guam, literally hopping across four different remote islands along the way. Kwajalein happens to be the second stop after Majuro, the capital of the Marshall Islands.
It’s hard to put into words the sheer awe of flying over endless miles of open ocean, only to suddenly land on the smallest strip of runway in the middle of the Pacific. The plane touches down just long enough to unload passengers, swap out luggage, and run quick safety checks before soaring back into the air toward its next destination.
My birthday swim!
One of the most surreal parts of this entire journey is crossing the International Date Line. Depending on which direction you’re traveling, you are literally transporting into the future or back to the past.
We departed Honolulu at 7:00 AM on July 27th and touched down in the Marshall Islands at 12:00 PM on July 28th. July 28th happens to be my 28th birthday, my golden birthday, to be exact. What better way to spend my birthday than by landing at the place I’ll call home for the next chapter?
The moment I stepped off the plane, the stifling tropical humidity clung to my skin, and I knew I was home. Thankfully, we jumped into a nicely air-conditioned van. That’s a rare luxury here, since almost everyone gets around on bicycles.
We received a short tour of our 3-mile-long island. It didn't take long to cover the important spots: housing, the dining hall, the school where I'll be teaching, and, of course, the beaches. All along the coast, there are benches and Adirondack chairs overlooking the endless miles of water. The Ocean Side has dark blue waves crashing dramatically against the shore, accompanied by a steady, refreshing breeze. The Lagoon Side, however, is calm, crystal-clear teal water thriving with coral reefs and marine life.
I didn’t need much for my birthday this year. All I needed was to jump straight into that turquoise water to commemorate finally arriving. It took ages of planning and dreaming to get to this point. But as I took that birthday swim, I knew I had officially arrived.
Soon I’ll update all about Life on Kwaj as I begin to get settled in.
Let the adventure begin!
