Snapshot 5 - Camaraderie

My groupmates are quite the characters.

There are six of us -- all from the United States -- assigned to teach English at this school on this tiny island. Here's a brief description of my fellow teachers, and in the parentheses are the descriptions we assigned to each other last night and the translated nicknames that we've given each other (and continuing with tradition, I will use code names):

Banana (the creeper) - My current teaching partner. Extremely outgoing, self-deprecating about his height (5'7") and his weight (he got his BMI checked at this nuclear plant, and the meter said he was 33% -- which would be morbidly obese... but really, I don't think he's THAT fat), kind of gross (keeps burping in my presence on purpose and annoys the hell out of everyone when he dumps his leftover ramen down our sink), very funny but usually in a vulgar way, can also be a good listener (talked to me after I got yelled at by my mom on the phone right before our opening ceremony), has the most hilarious accent (I keep snorting in the middle of class because of his terrible Mandarin).

Peach (the kind one) - My current roommate. The shortest of the bunch, very bubbly and loves singing, a little clutzy (keeps bumping her head everywhere), ballerina, artist, talented in all kinds of artistic forms, lives about thirty minutes away from me back in California, loves eating shaved ice -- especially for dinner, saves injured birds

Apple (the health nut) - Peach's teaching partner. Heading to Harvard this fall, vegetarian, constant target of mosquitos, scared of other people's spit (as in , she refuses to share drinks), wondering how she's going to get a boyfriend if she's afraid of kissing, can fall asleep almost anywhere (everytime we sit in a car, she falls asleep right away)

Pear (the sexy one) - My ex-teaching partner. Has the best catwalk I have ever seen -- which is even more amazing considering that he's a guy, rather mellow and enjoys staying up to gossip/chat/confide with Peach and me, the tallest and youngest one, walks as fast as me when we walk to and from the elementary school, constantly playing the guitar

Tangerine (the weird one) - Banana's ex-teaching partner and Pear's current teaching partner. Constantly singing the children's songs we have to teach because those songs never get out of your head. Photographer. Sassy. Screams at all kinds of bugs. Constantly bickering with Banana (which is why everyone used to think that Banana and Tangerine had a thing for each other).

And me? Apparently, I'm the "chill one" and the "badass" -- the one who wears gladiator sandals, dramatic earrings, the one who relocates bugs that crawl into our suite, the one who Pear thinks is stoned because I never seem to freak out (which is not true)

I wouldn't call us the best of friends, but we've got a pretty amazing dynamic in terms of working together. Banana would be the annoying brother who teases/bullies his sisters; Pear would be the nice brother who is a good listener and gets along really well with kids. And I guess Peach, Apple, and Tangerine would be my sisters -- and they all have their own endearing quirks.

In addition, we've got these two military guys who have basically been assigned to babysit us while we're on this island, which means they're with us everywhere and live in the same suite as us. These two guys are badass. Grapefruit wears glasses and has a tattoo on his chest (we kept chanting "Show us, show us!" and so he finally obliged); Lemon is the really good-looking one who has a pierced left ear. Pretty much all four of us girls think he's attractive... but unfortunately, he's eight years older than us. Which is really too bad, because one night, when we were discussing what guys want in a girl and started interrogating Lemon, he responded, "I care about inner beauty" -- quite unlike Banana, who was rattling off ridiculous things like "I like to be hit."

Have I been sounding really boy crazy recently? I'm sorry. But here's the thing: I made a promise to myself that this summer would be an experiment. I want to come out of my shell. I don't want to be the introvert who keeps waiting forever anymore. This is the first dip into the water before I leap into college this autumn.

If there was anything good that came out of the something that was once everything, it was this choice.

But enough of this melodrama.

Earlier, I was out on the basketball courts with Pear, when he asked me if I was a "child lover." He meant that in a good way, because I socialize with my students a lot. During lunch, instead of going down to the teachers' room, I usually just hang out in the classroom with the kids. This one girl named Eva is like a miniature version of myself. She has short hair, loves playing sports, and is very playful. I don't even want to think about the possiblity that I might never see her again after next week. I get along with a lot of my other students as well. We joke with each other, some of them tell me about who has a crush on who, etc. I love hanging out with my kids.

And I love working with this group. We don't exclude each other, and on random occassions, we have these conversations that are both hilarious and deep at the same time. We all get along with each other and bicker amongst ourselves. It's like another family in itself.

In other words, I don't want to leave this place.