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Writer's pictureJason & Michelle

Back to Blogging! An Update from Kwaj

Hello Friends!

Yes, we still have a blog.

No, we don’t post on it very much anymore.

Yes, we’ve had all kinds of life changes over the last several months.

No, I’m not going to talk about them in this post.

Yes, I’m kidding.


So when we last spoke, Michelle and I were still enjoying the many benefits of island life. Both of us were working for Child & Youth Services, Michelle as the Training Specialist and myself as the Youth Services Director running jr/sr high after-school programs as well as K-6th youth sports. Things were cozy as we continued living in two connected dorm style rooms while eating meals at the chow hall. We both were helping with the sr. high youth group as Michelle continued her youth dance program. I enjoyed getting in the water and playing in rec sports as my schedule allowed.

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Turtles are awesome


While many of our free time activities remain the same, we’ve had numerous professional changes to our Kwaj experience in the last year. Things got moving last fall when the CYSS Coordinator, both Michelle and my boss, left suddenly and Michelle was asked to fill in as the interim Coordinator. Kwaj jobs often take several months to replace and this one was no exception, but Michelle enjoyed the new responsibilities and applied for the permanent position. During this period, I began reporting to the high school principal who was also responsible for CYSS so to avoid any conflicting interests.

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Mantas are my favorite


To no one’s surprise, Michelle officially took the reins of CYS at the beginning of the year, though I would continue reporting to the principal. It also meant that we now qualified for a house with an actual kitchen, living space, and two bedrooms. We moved in next to some great friends from church, spread our junk all over, cooked all the things, and everyone was great. Until they weren’t.

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Sometime shortly after we moved, the boss’s boss called and said I needed to start looking for another position. Even with me reporting to someone outside the department, the company couldn’t have the appearance of conflict of interest. It was pretty rough. As you may recall from our trial a few years earlier, my work experience doesn’t match many jobs on an Army installation that features engineers, technicians, and construction. Not to mention the relationships with so many great kids that I had loved developing over the years. Thankfully, the transition would take several months because, again, it’s Kwaj, and getting new people would take time.

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Long story slightly shorter – replacements came and time was running out, but management thought that I could be an asset as the manager of the island bakery. So a month and a half ago I began my new gig, working 5:30am-2:30pm, pretty much the opposite hours of my last position.


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So…yes, we still have a blog.

No, we haven’t updated our trip to Thailand/Bali yet.

Yes, we plan to be here for a while.

No, I’m not kidding.

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