Will You Marry Me?

3^rd period. Right after lunch. 10 minutes into class. Junior English Skills in 11 Maroon. We had just finished our daily journal entry, about our strengths and weaknesses in public speaking, and were transitioning into a lesson on building a speech when it began.

There are two doors in each of our classrooms. One at the front, and one at the back. Kendall, one of the best Junior students, and David Mersai, a smart but lazy joker of a student, had just stepped out of the back door into the hall. I called to them, told them to come back inside. They seemed to be assenting, as they walked to the front door (there are windows between the classroom and the hall) to re-enter the classroom.

Then, Kendall got down on his hands and knees and started crawling into the classroom. David followed close behind him, crouched very, very low. This is the way Chuukese pay ultimate respect to someone, or to a group of people. Why they were doing this here and now, I had no idea.

He sat himself in front of TJ, who happens to be a phenomenal actor (and volleyball player). “Tirow om,” he said – a very, very humble “excuse me.” And he began speaking to TJ. Nelly, one of my best female students, translated for me (yes, they were speaking Chuukese in an English skills class). Kendall was pretending to be David’s father, having come to TJ to ask for his daughter’s hand in marriage for his son. As he was speaking, slowly and with great humility, another two of my best female students – Jessica and Hiromy – sat down beside TJ as his wife and wife’s sister. Soon, Ariel joined the group, sitting between TJ and Jessica (husband and wife) as the daughter.

So, we have a father and son, meeting with two parents, their daughter and an aunt, discussing the marriage of the daughter and son. And they went through the entire ceremony, and they did it with commitment. Jessica was holding her daughter, crying at the idea of losing her. TJ was warning Kendall of all his daughters negative attributes, Kendall was assenting regardless. Kendall promised the protection of TJ’s daughter. He also put to ease many of Jessica’s worries and fears for her daughter. Hiromy comforted Jessica, as Jessica in turn caressed Ariel, the daughter it seems she was going to lose so soon. At last, an agreement was made, Kendall made excuses for himself and David, and the two crawled back out the front door.

This was all with impressive authenticity. I have no idea how it was pulled off. I have no idea how these students were able to take ten minutes of class to do an impromptu performance of a marriage request, in Chuukese no less, without any hint of disrespect to myself or the class. We were discussing speeches, so the event was not unrelated, and we were able to accomplish the lesson in spite of all this, but still. I personally thought it was great because I had a chance to see a thorough presentation of the Chuukese proposal ceremony. And everyone in the class was engaged throughout – no one’s mind wandered, no one was bored. They threw in a couple of jokes, but the overall mood was solemn, respectful, and, well, impressively authentic.

I’m going to miss these kids…