Saturday evening a group of Marshallese men, women, and children performed a Marshallese war dance called a Jobwa Stick Dance at the outdoor Rich Theater. The dance can only be performed with permission from the King, and it has only been performed a handful of times over the last several hundred years! So needless to say it was a really big deal! We saw them setting up for the show days in advance and the stage looked great for the performance!
I was also really proud of how many Kwaj folks showed up to watch such a cool piece of Marshallese culture!
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| LOOK AT ALL THOSE BIKES!! |
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| Everyone getting ready to watch the show! |
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| And she made a new friend :) |
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| Totally stole the first two pics from Jill Beguhn! Thanks Jill! |
The show finally started and I was so into all the dancers!
Unfortunately, Hadley had other plans that involved her running full speed in the opposite direction of the stage...
We didn't get to stay for all the show, but one of my friends who was there got some cool video of the stick dance:
The next day we went to church, then spent the rest of the day doing some much needed spring cleaning and organizing around the house. Monday was the annual Kwajalein Rustman Triathlon, and several of our friends compete in it every year! We always like to go down to the beach to watch the swimming portion, and to get some pictures of our friends coming out of the water! It's always lots of fun going down there and cheering everyone on, and I'm always so impressed with everyone who competes! Here are some photos from the event:
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| The first swimmer coming into the beach! She was so fast! |
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| swimmers coming in to Emon Beach |
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| Shelbi finishing her swim portion...can we just talk about that girl's legs for a second?! Amazing! |
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| Go, Wes, Go! |
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| Johnathon was having a lot of fun wrangling Hadley while I took pictures ;) |
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| Jane rocking it as usual! |
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| Angela finishing strong... |
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| with her assistant Owen to help towel her off! |
It was a really fun weekend with so many uniquely Kwaj activities! I love our little island!
That dance looks wonderful! So glad you shared! And the pics are great! You know who Hadley reminds me of? Landon at that age. He never stopped from morning till sleep. :) He turned out great, so Hadley is following in good footsteps! :)
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