Some Random Pictures

Happy Birthday Es.

Matt's new Canoe out on Joy Island

Some after school pool games


Me and Es...

Me and Relian

Matt my roomate bought a canoe and it was finished this last Friday, it is pictured above. We took it out to Joy Island inside the reef. It was also Es's birthday on Sunday, and there was a small celebration (aka cake and ice cream). The pictures are from the weekend. I'll have more pictures up soon, I've been taking more.

Another short but sweet sweet update

I will have more pictures posted soon, i've been working on taking more pictures, or just taking my camera along for the rides.

Life on the islands (or this one in particular) has been an incredibly interesting and varied experience. I have been here just about five months, roughly half of the school year. We are about to break for Christmas vacation (which is a break for christmas undoubtedly, but also not much of a break if you ask me. We technically have school until the 24th of December, then about a week, the have a staff party on the 3rd of January. I am not complaining about having a party to attend, but it would be nice to just sort of shut off from work for awhile. I am coming to realize that on a small island community such as this, there really isn't any shutting off. It's like trying to fool myself into thinking that I can somehow "get away" from it all, even for a day, that's an illusion. There is literally nowhere to "get away" too (ok, that's not entirely true, but without a double engine boat, a car, and tons of cash, it's nearly impossible)

A few things that I have been growing accustomed to include:
taking every opportunity to ride in the back of a pickup, particularly on nice and days, but especially when it's twilight and clear in the skies. There isn't much that can compare to driving along the edge of the island with the moon overhead and the tropical twilight air in you lungs.
learning how to take flexibility to a whole new level and also gaining an entirely different view of what a schedule means, or doesn't mean. If its raining, the schedule is adjusted, and dealing with classes and school when busses arrive after school has supposedly started, staff meetings in the middle of the day, and a plethora of other little nudges and changes to how school goes.
a total lack of resources for education. a systemic waste of resources for eduction.
roosters crowing, dogs mating, and dogs barking.
a usual pace of walking that would make even a midwest or southern pace look ridiculously speedy.


Matt bought a canoe, which is thrilling, really really thrilling. It will make the water that surrounds this place much more of a reality. Sometimes it feels like we are being mocked, its hot, we are on a pacific tropical island, and without a beach to speak of, getting into the water to just cool off, or swim, is a much bigger ordeal than one would ever imagine. so a canoe is going to rock the world that we live in.
I am working on still acquiring a car, it's coming along and I may have one in the next few days. It's been a process and a half, and often times really frustrating, but it will end well I believe, it's just a huge test of my patience and keeping my sanity. I've been a bit stir crazy as of late, add on the fact that the holidays are here and it feels strange and distant to be removed from my friends and family, all that has been familiar up until now. And it's summer in perpetuity here, and that is really really odd, I'm not used to it at all, I'm not complaining though or trying to gloat.

A bit of snapshot of the Pohnpeian language from a learner (sometimes frustrated and slow). or just my impressions, some of them

there are some letters and sounds that english uses that pohnpeian do not use, included in these is the "H" sound in english. english "T, like tea" is a pohnpeian "tch/sh" sound to me. some sounds in pohnpeian are not used in english, like a sort of "ng" sound that's not super throaty or anything, but sometimes hard to get for myself.
tangentially, when we were still in our orientation process a few months ago, our instructor, Johnny, taught a lesson that came off more like a SNL skit than anything else here so far (I think, yet), about that very letter combination and sound, "ng" "and the" "regular" "n" "sound" "in" "english". it was amusing, partly because of the amazingly awesome qualities that surround the teacher in this instance (maybe a bit smurfish, not blue at all though...is that a nice thing to say? what's the deal with the smurfs anyway, anyone have an idea?)

a few vocabularies:
hello/goodbye greating --- kaselehlia
man --- ohl woman --- lih
what's up/going on/what are you doing --- dakot, damenkewiwia, and more
ihmw --- house

Madolenihmw means "space between the houses"ish and it draws it name from the Nan Madol ruins which lay on Temwen island, about a ten minute walk from my house.

There isn't a "be verb" which throws an native english speaking brain for a loop, at least mine. It makes me realize things about language and how it shapes our thinking of the world though. english does an awful lot of describing how something "is" and how you are "being" is very important. Given my limited exposure to Pohnpeian (and lack of "formal" linguistics education, of sorts), it seems that it is more centered around where you are placed in the world than how you are being in the world. who knows though, not me, it's just an observation

So instead of searching for something, like, meaningful or something to say/write, I thought I might just give a brief update about my comings and goings.

School goes along, nearer and nearer to Christmas (which I guess officially starts Dec. 1, at least the "merry christmas's"). Classes are good, the schedule is still chaotic often, and things are still a challenge at times, but things there are well. Students are endless sorts of entertainment as well as work (like reading an endless stream of papers of a huge variety of topics with some interesting responses and phraseology). What will we do for the Christmas party one wonders...?

I've seen some pretty cool fresh water river eels as of late. Some were as large as about four feet long and as thick as my wrist and forearm that came to a sort of fishy flat back. I can get some pictures and post them soon, which I will. In a "frenzy" for some canned mackerel, they were slithering and swimming around the rocks on the shore of the river. The eel is a clan animal and sort of a sacred creature of some sorts, so most people don't eat the eels.

I've returned to Nan Madol a number of times and hopefully will again soon as well as dive there. Matt is about to get a canoe, probably sometime next week, so we'll be able to access the water a whole hell of a lot easier (it'll be really really nice) can I say that?

Thursday (thanksgiving) there was an uhm (that's a Pohnpeian rock/earthen oven) turkey, of which I did not imbibe, but I did make some gravy from the giblets. I had some canned tuna, rice, and uhm yams (local food). Saturday a number of folks (expats and volunteers) had a "traditional" thanksgiving dinner (i.e. the food, right?). We went out after that, it proved an interesting evening...

Last week we ventured into the local dance club "The Flamingo", it was late, smokey, and loud, but we all ended up dancing for a few hours. It's of course inevitable to be seen by someone who knows you or who you know (and not see them) and deal with any 'consequences' about your character that may/could arise.

I got a random package without a customs sheet or return address. It was a flat rate box, filled with things like spices, coffee, and such. Who it's from remains a mystery, any leads?

Speaking of water, a weekend (or maybe two) previous a number of us went on a trip to Joy Island, which is located near our house, just nearby Nan Madol (maybe even part of considering the basalt logs on the island). I've been meaning to write something of or about Nan Madol, and I will get around to it, it needs some pictures to illustrate though (some of which are up here), and some more sitting and pondering.
Joy was somewhat of an adventure, we had only a small inflatable raft and two local kids, along with four of us menwhi. We swam, paddled and walked out to the island and spent an hour or two, it was raining a bit all day which is ironic because the two times I've been on a nice beach it has been overcast and raining. I don't mind the rain, especially since I waded and swam the whole way, which proved to be a great snorkeling opportunity. The sting-rays around the island move in and out of the channel and on the way back, I saw three large stingrays in the deeper part of the channel, amazing coral, and sting-rays darting around quite speedily while we waded back nearer to the Mangroves. There are more sting-ray stories, including an encounter at Nan Madol with one just last weekend, but still no sharks unfortunately, but there around for sure, being as Matt saw one last weekend at Nan Madol as well.

I'll stop apologizing for not posting more up on this and more frequently.


Things in Pohnpei that I've sort of integrated into my worldview (of sorts)
Roosters crowing all day long, it's like I have some kind of button that I can push if I'm on the phone. "Cock-a-doodle-doo" (or the local version which sounds like "cock-a-roach" to my ear)
The sounds of dogs fighting, mostly briefly, but some times not.
The change of the day "plans" because of what seems like torrential rain to me.
Not being able to buy any beer where I live (i'm still working on this one).
A pseudo-comfortability with not understanding the language that's being used.



I've been "busy" here, mostly just being occupied with life, and constantly adapting (which like some kind of exorcise for a part of the soul or something). I am constantly amazed by the island and what is here and how much the U.S. is sort of ever present. I heard today that the US holiday of Thanksgiving might be declared a FSM national holiday!? Read this as you will I guess, I've sort my thoughts on that particular one.

I'm in mid-stride in finding a car to purchase. It seems odd, but transportation is sometimes difficult, especially since we are on the almost-opposite side of Pohnpei from Kolonia. There's lots of people, fun and interesting things to do, and of course school every day up here in Madolenihmw, but sometimes you just wanna move around, go out for a night, go pick up a package, or go to Nahlap (an island inside the reef), a $5 trip, for the day, and you really gotta have a car

The power has been on and off the last couple days, never for extended periods, if it happens at night and you happen to be outside and it's clear (not often, maybe surprisingly) you get an amazing view of the stars (this can also happen without the electricity going off). The breeze is almost constant into our little pad which is also nice and i've been in the water more than once since I last told here.

Halloween in Pohnpei

This Halloween was an interesting one. I went into town for the weekend (without a costume) to go the local menwhi (foreigner, USer) bar which was having a Halloween party. They had decked the place out in some great decor, including all the usual suspects, spider webbing, blood, skeletons, ghostly ghoulish things, etc... The place was full of a ton of mostly American expats who had done a fairly good job of costuming themselves. I had purchased a Clark Kent mask, which was more killer creepy than super hero, but I ended up "loaning" (read giving away) it to a kid I met on Halloween night who was pulling it off much better than myself, oh well. The party was a good time.
It was interesting to see Halloween transposed to another country and culture, in town, the night is a spectacle of mostly un-costumed Pohnpeian kids and teenagers who do the usual trick-or-treat gig. Erin and I sat on the street for about an hour just watching the movement of people. It was sort of surreal (or oddly not surreal) to see the whole thing unfold. It was a good time overall and it was perhaps the first (or maybe second) time that I've actually stayed out late into the night. It's easy to get into a rhythm of earlyish sleep and waking up at 7am everyday (which isn't really my M.O.), so it was night to get to be a night owl for once.
Saturday evening we went back to the Rusty Anchor (that's the bar) to see an expat band called "Wetter than Seattle" (an ode the amount of rain received on Pohnpei I would venture to guess), they placed most classic rock covers. We stayed only briefly, I was spent from the previous nights endeavors and debauchery. I was feeling like a bit of a splurge because for two nights in a row in town, I went to one of the hotel's where they serve up some not to shabby pizza, it aint no New York style, but it's real melty cheese and good crust, so it satisfies the cravings.

The Homestead

I've been busy these last few weeks, lots of sakau, a birthday party, helping to carpenter windows for a house, some trips into town which have been really nice as well. Life on the island is good, it's relaxed and enjoyable. We have had a chaotic school school schedule. There are lots of holidays in November which makes for short weeks, which is both a blessing and a curse. It makes it difficult to have solid lessons week to week and day to day, but its nice because of time off and time to just get to know folks and enjoy life.
My teaching is getting better, I have resolved to be more structured and disciplined in my classroom (imagine me saying this), which has helped to improve my classes behaviors. I have a mixed bag of students which makes teaching difficult, should I be focusing on the better students who have more chance(s) of passing the College of Micronesia entrance exam, or trying to be more broad to reach more students...? It is a constant battle of how to teach in this situation. Today, I talked about the U.S. election and gave a brief overview, it's amazing how little many of my students know about the U.S. given the relationship between the FSM and US governments. Many are fairly aware of the "historical significance" of a black man being elected to the U.S. presidency and they have some interesting takes on the whole thing. Many people also have interesting views on race and color as well, it makes for some lively interactions. I am slowly learning to not necessarily hold back or lighten up my opinions of world affairs and the U.S. government as well.
These pictures are of the campus where my house is located. It's an old technical/vocational high school which has been closed for at least a few years, but the grounds are really nice and well kept. It sort of makes up for the lack of any kind of space in our house. On the space note, I rearranged our "kitchen" last week which opened it up a bit and made for some improved feng shui in the place which is good. I still struggle with the lack of space though. I am still attempting to purchase a vehicle as well and have found some possibilities, although once I do it, I'll have to be uber cautious with money here. It a trade off I think I willing to take though.

One of the views from a bench near our house

One of the empty buildings near our house

View from in front of the large building above

Just some random pictures. no writing today

Sarah at Nan Madol

It's the welcome center!

Matt arrives at the staff party

the water is so blue and warm, i'm getting out to this little island asap

More from Ant

Just a short note, I am relishing in the fact that I had (and will again) the chance to go snorkel in probably one of the more remote and pristine coral atolls in the world. Micronesia being so expensive to get to and what not, I promise to try and not take it for granted. The whole day trip made me really crave a dive or two on the coral wall we snorkeled in. I could see all the way to the bottom, what a change from diving the chilly waters of the Puget Sound...

Coral coral coral

attempt to document the ride out to Ant

We finally are swimming in the ocean off a beach!

amazing coral

approaching the atoll

On the way out, its wet

erin, captain, lucas, ira, sarah, isaac

Ant Atoll

Last weekend a group of ten of use decided to take a day trip to one of the atolls outside the reef of Pohnpei. A brief geography (or is it hydrography?) of many pacific islands and what the hell and atoll is... After part of volanic islands sink into the ocean, a fringe of coral reef is left surrounding the remaining island. This reef forms a barrier around said islands, protecting them and their shores from the battering that the ocean puts on such islands. Atolls on the other hand, have almost nearly completely sank beneath the ocean and all that remains is a sort of string of land in the open ocean. Ant atoll is a serious of small islands (maybe three or four) about sixty miles from Pohnpei. The atoll is uninhabitated although at one point about or over a thousand people lived on there. Now, the place is a day trip or overnight visit for tourists and locals who can manage to get out to it. We took a trip with a boat and paid way too much money to go, but the trip was well worth it, at least for the first time. Even though it was stormy and rainy the whole way there and while we were at the atoll.
Ant has probably some of the most amazing pristine coral reef in the world. Very few visitors go the atoll, so we saw only two other people and their guides while there and didn't ever actually interact. We started the day just swimming and snorkeling off the beach checking out coral heads in spots. Lots of fish and interesting coral were there and we managed to spot a large sting-ray who was sort of chilling at the bottom covered in just a bit of sand. The eyes on this one were amazing and the whole thing sort of blew my mind.
After visiting another small beach and drying off in a shelter of sorts and eating lunch, we decided to head back, and stop at a coral wall near the channel leading out of the atoll to snorkel. This channel was the most amazing thing I have ever seen with plenty of various kinds of fish that I can't even begin to name. A shark, or maybe it was two were lazily swimming back and forth maybe 20 feet below us the whole time which was absolutely breathtaking. I have learned, or started to, to not fear these amazing creatures as they are most often not a threat to humans and there are next to no stories of any kind of attacks on humans on Pohnpei or the surrounding atolls. There are some pictures of the trip that a kindly guy, Ira, snapped some photos of on the trip (those waterproof 10 ft. depth cameras are the best thing is this climate and region).

our boat captain..."no pictures please"

Side-note, on the way out, still in the lagoon, one of the boat engines wouldn't start which delayed the trip by maybe 45 minutes. After returning to the dock and getting everything working. Our captain took us speedily out of the lagoon and into the open ocean, this boat ride was akin to a roller coaster but with lots of splashing ocean water and oft-times pelting rain on us. I thoroughly enjoyed the ride and found the whole thing fun and amusing, not so sure about some of my fellow riders however. Many of them found that they were actually shivering and cold which is a bit of an odd feeling when you are residing nearly on the equator on a tropical island. The ride back, although the waves were larger, was much smoother as the captain of the boat took the ride much slower and expertly navigate up and down the large swells that we encountered.

the way out, wet as hell

Also, returning to Pohnpei, we saw about six dolphins jumping simultaneously out of the water and one or two of them coming close to the boat jumping in and out of the water. I have never seen dolphins before and have much respect for these creatures who are incredibly intelligent (probably more than any of us realize) and have an amazing agility and speed capability. The dolphins were the most amazing part of the trip, I only wish the water had been a bit calmer so we could have jumped in and swam and snorkeled with them. They are incredibly playful and curious, and to swim with them would be a moving experience that would stick with me for a long long time.

Nice beach....about time

Again, sorry the delay or lapse in getting anything up on this blog. I find myself torn between just experiencing the whole thing and also the business of teaching and actually doing stuff and sitting down to write about the things that I do/am experiencing.
Also, I find myself walking a fine line between sort of making the people I am getting to know and the places I visit into strange objects to post about on the internet for the world to see. It raises interesting questions about the role of outsiders in observing and participating in other cultures and sort of integrating to another place and culture. I've begun to realize the harsh reality of coming to know people as friends and colleagues and then returning to my "home" to forget the whole experience or let it drift into memories. On that note, I am still seriously considering staying here for a second year, despite the fact that I have begun to miss my family and friends and the things they are doing. Overall though, the experience is worth the expense of missing out on so much (no offense to the friends and family I am not around and the things I am missing, have missed, and will continue to be absent from)

I have numerous things to write about in the moment, realizations about culture, outsider status, and more, but often forget to write then can't recall those thoughts when I sit down to type out something to share on this blog. (total tangent, but hello to any U.S. officials and WorldTeach folks who check up on their respective members who are traveling and writing on the internet, I hope you enjoy everything I share as well, wink wink, nudge nudge, and don't worry, I wouldn't put anything I didn't want the world to see up on the internet for anyone's eyes who can lay there hands on a computer and search for Pohnpei, worldteach, volunteer, etc...)


The first quarter of school is drawing to a close and I still find myself struggling with the whole being a teacher, teaching esl, and general classroom management issues that many new teachers probably face. I am learning a lot about all of these things, as well as how to survive without a sink big enough to put a plate in, how to wash clothing by hand (and appreciate the revolution that the clothes washer made for, mostly, women), hot running water, and numerous other aqutrimants (SP?) of a more privileged live in the United States that I a used to. I am also realizing much about class and how that affects ones perspectives of the world and how my perspective is often radically different than many people who do volunteer work such as this (and how much they have traveled the world).

The Uninvited Guest

So last night I was watching a movie with Robert Dinero, sort of a thriller-creapy killer kind of flic. I heard some random noises from the kitchen but hey, figure it is just the "wind". I go to grab a small bit of chocolate before heading off to bed, walk into the kitchen room and go to unplug my cell phone from charging.
Thump... and a good sized (not the biggest I've seen, ahem dish pit wall hole...) friendly rat thumps it way down from the cupboard area, onto the scuba gear bag, and down behind the refrigerator (quaintly referred to by many as "ice boxes", is that British, where does that come from?!?.).

So needless to say the next day or two will be a revamping of food storage, clean up project, and general feng-shui'ing of the place. I do like rats, something left over from that book R.T. Margaret and The Rats of Nimh, but I'm thinking that an uninvited guest, who I'm certain was trying to nibble, and did, on the taco shells (ever heard the phrase, "don't shit where you eat") needs to banish itself to the outer worlds of the homestead... rat poisen traps anyone, an early christmas gift maybe?

not quick enough for a picture of this one... sorry, maybe when it's dead

Women's Weekend by the house

local bananas

earth oven "uhm" baked pig

The other weekend there was a large gathering on the campus where we live.

...tangent...
We live on the campus of what was once the "Pohnpei Agricultural and Trade School" aka PATS (sounds like some guys property whenever I say it... "I live at Pat's") The school was a sort-of private high school set up by a Jesuit priest many decades ago. Unfortunately, the school closed down about 10 years ago, money issues I hear, so many of the buildings sit empty and unused. Many of the houses are rented out to families (the church parish on Pats runs and up-keeps the property) and one or two of the class buildings are still used as well (that's where the PeaceCorps does it's training for new volunteers). I'll take a few pictures to put up of the place. The house we live in is nothing to write home about, even though that's sort of what I'm doing... it's tiny, an old dorm room (2 of em, attached with a bathroom with two doors, weird) and one of the bedrooms is now our "kitchen", but that might be a bit of an overstatement. I'm adjusting to it though, it still sucks to not have a proper kitchen sink though.

Back to the gathering. About 200 or so women (catholic I think, from all over the island) came this weekend to spend three days and two nights doing something. This meant that usually what is a quiet place was turned into a thriving center of activity. On Saturday night, the women performed some dancing and singing routines for about three hours which was pretty entertaining. I drank sakau with the neighbor's family and then went up to check out the festivities. Was pretty interesting and I walked up to find one of the new PeaceCorps dancing it up in the midst of all these Pohnpeians, which was pretty highly amusing. I perused the crowd, chatting here and there with some friendly locals and some of the Peace Corps volunteers.
The next morning I went to the church almost next to our house to find the place packed with a ton of women all dressed in white. Instead of going in and sitting down, I hung out outside the front door with a few locals for the service, it was way to hot and I didn't want to crowd in next to a bunch of people. It is interesting to sit through a church service in another language, but it makes it go faster I think. It always strike me as somewhat ironic that people who have been missionized to hell (no pun intended) by Christianity from whatever native spiritual beliefs tend to be the quite "religious". In any case, going to church here is really common and sort of expected. Then the question comes of course "are you catholic or protestant?". I usually read the situation and answer what I think the person is most interested in hearing, but if I feel like a bit more honest, I say something to the affect of not really believing in divisions, and "it's all the same god" kind of thing.
After church, there was a day of eating, more dancing, singing, and drinking sakau in the community nahs here (i'll just have to get a picture of this thing, because describing it wouldn't do it justice really), but basically an roofed open-air room for gathering. I spent the day listening to some speeches, drinking sakau, and being pulled up to dance once (which everyone got a kick out of, maybe residual humor from the welcome party dancing, news of which made it half-way across the island in about a week).
By the end, large amounts of cooked pig, skirts, ramen, coconuts, and other such items were distributed by an old woman to various groups of people, the logic and nature of this distribution I have yet to figure out, but my guess is that it had something to do with personal titles (which I won't try to explain) and previous years gatherings as well. Part of the culture here seems to be giving things away in mass quantity to other people, which I would guess makes sense on an island in the middle of the pacific, sort of like a kind of social-economic equalizer of sorts.

sakau roots being sorted

sakau roots and plant

sakau being pounded by some neighbors

sakau being kneaded to drink

What do you do at school, some of you might be wondering, or what are your classes like, so I'll give a short description of each of my six classes (thanks to Regina's blog from Kosrae for the inspiration to do this).

I rotate through all the juniors in the school each day and one class of sophomores. The students are divided into sections sort of by "majors", but this doesn't necessarily correspond to their english speaking level which makes things interesting (although it does sort of generally). My impression is that of the three high schools, the english level in Madoleniehmw is on average the lowest. These are in chronological order.

11-D
My first class of the day, it has gone from being my second largest to my smallest, right now I'm down to about 12-13 students who show up every day. I should be thankful, most of the volunteers on the island have big classes (ranging from 25-45). These guys are probably the most respectful generally, they are the vocational group, so the least academic. They work hard though and are a smart group but need help with their english.

11-C
My second period is a class of all girls (14 of them) which proves to be highly interesting. They are the business majors, and again are generally pretty respectful. I think I misinterpret their attempts at flirting for disrespect a lot, so they end up saying things (in Pohnpeian) and laughing a whole lot which leaves me flustered and frustrated sometimes. I am learning to just roll with it and realize that they just like me and I interpret it in really strange ways.

11-A
I have this class twice each day which is sometimes a struggle for all of us, there are about 20 of them. They are the top academic students of their grade which of course is good and bad. Smart students who have been treated like the smartest can sometimes be the most self-rightous and "know I'm smart" of all. I'm making a generalization about a group, so it's not true down to individuals (although maybe sometimes, yes). They are generally highly amusing, but they want to teach me Pohnpeian as much or maybe more than I teach them english, which is frustrating. I might be getting a squirt gun to start enforcing some english only days in this class. They are high achievers though and generally there english is the best of my classes.

11-B
My class after lunch is oft-times so crazy I don't what to do with them. About 20 students, I would say that regularly about 6-8 come in almost halfway through class (the bell is pretty much inaudible during lunch and the elementary students have lunch for about 15-20 more minutes after our classes have started, so I usually have an audience and peanut gallery outside my windows). I have struggled with these students, some of whom I really like and enjoy. A few of them like to laugh uproariously and sometimes they set me off laughing which is not the best thing, but it's almost uncontrollable (my laughter that is).

10-D
This class is probably the craziest and least disciplined in all the school (don't ask me why I ended up with them, my discipline skills, as I'm sure you can imagine, are not super honed). Numerous other teachers have said as much and they have struggled with this class. There are about 30 of them and it's the end of the day when I get them. Couple this fact with their lack of english textbooks and I'm left to sort of fend for myself (of them off) for the period a lot. I have learned to find amusement in this class, but many times I just leaved pissed off. I've resorted to using a lot of journal prompts for them (most recently, if you could have any superpower what would it be).

A general note about education here, for someone who likes to do things in a not very traditional way, this school system is a super-challange. Students here expect to copy everything down, question and answer included, and do a lot of work right out of the book (which is not very useful for ESL students, the book that is), but they do get something out of it. I am still surprised when I give book exercises my students are the best behaved and respond fairly well. Discussions, lectures, games, or other such activities are way outside their bounds and they often times don't know what to do with these things. They also strive for perfection, so often times will just start over on new paper if a couple things go wrong for them.

totally unrelated picture, but i thieved it off of another's blog (thanks regina)

brian, nick, beth, lucas, dani, regina, scott, kate at Rusty Anchor

Empty Promises

I feel like my blog is sort of a little baby compared to other volunteers. I got some good pictures but don't have the time to upload right now. I'll make a vague promise to get more up this weekend.

There was a big catholic women's party this weekend where we live. More to come on that. It was a weekend of drinking sakau though. It seems that that's becoming a common thing for me around here.



Staff Meeting

We had a staff meeting today, it was during lunch and we just went ahead and kept meeting through our fifth period. Half the time was a big discussion of when to have the staff welcome party which was highly amusing. Seemed like serious business, i just laugh... Maybe half English half Pohnpeian this meeting was. I can sort of understand what people are talking about (sort of), but mostly by context, tone, etc, not knowledge of what they literally say. It's frustrating at times, OK a lot of the time, not speaking the local language, especially since my students like to take advantage of the fact.

case in point
In Pohnpeian, during class the other day "let's both guess and see who gets the most right"...In English "teacher, they're talking about guessing"...

The other half of the meeting was a fairly intense discussion about 20 students who were suspended (for the whole year!, yikes) after the Welcome Party we had last Friday. These students (10 of whom are my juniors) were caught drinking or were drunk at the party. Stupid mistake on their part for sure, probably not the best discipline policy in my opinion though.
Some teachers want to let them back in, most want to be firm in the school's policy. I agree with both, the punishment is too harsh in my opinion, but also the school shouldn't back off something it's already chosen to do, especially if it's a policy. What to do? As an outsider and a guest, I think it's best to just see how it unfolds, of course, I do have an opinion, but in a culture where confrontation and going around/above authority figures is kind of a no-no, where I'm a guest and an outsider, I think it best to just sit and watch, for today.

World Teach Micronesia (minus Andy and Erin)

Bunch of us in Telecom when we first arrived

More Pictures.
These are mostly of my students in class.


Marla, Judyleen

Tracy, Etriana

Marla, Marquez

sorry for the sideways'ness of it. This is Nathan

Me, Bryan, Giftleen relaxing a bit

Randomness I'd like to share

• We burn our trash. Which makes me think each time, atmosphere or ocean, atmosphere or ocean?
• There is only metal recycling and that is really not utilized much.
• Teaching English as a second language with few resources is hard work.
• When it rains, it more like dumps (although thus far we have had fairly atypically dry weather. I say this as I sit outside on my patio while its still dripping from the days downpours and rain kind of blows onto my laptop)
• A battle with mold and mildew is inevitable. (If someone wants to buy me a little dehumidifier that you can just plug in to recharge I would love your forever, it might save my laptop from certain death).
• Gecko's shit from the ceiling and walls onto lots of stuff.
• It is humid.
• It is really really green and things grow like mad.
• The municipality where I live is a 'dry' one (yikes for me).
• You can't legally send beer here. (why is this, does anyone know?)
• It is hard to find an easy place to access the water for swimming (although I have resolved to go snorkeling near the ancient ruins which are only about an hours walk from my house and not too bad for this activity. But should I really have to pay four dollars just to swim in the ocean on a tropical pacific island?)
• I am posting most of my pictures on my Facebook account in the coming couple weeks, its just too easy to upload them from iPhoto. So only some on the blog but probably most of the ones I take on Facebook.
• I now actually experience and realize how much the clothes washing machine freed up time for women (although the vast majority of people here don't have one)
• I really appreciate having a kitchen with an actual kitchen sink now that I don't have either really.
• Even in another culture, I don't appreciate having to take out my various piercings for anyone or anything and this is something I don't think will change anytime in the near future (or at all).
• Hot running water is a luxury that I can live without.
• I wouldn't mind being an ex-pat.

Leon looking sly

Brandon, Rueben, Bryan, Sami (my students)

Welcome Party

Madoleniehmw High School (that's where I am working) had it's "Welcome Party" last Friday. It was quite interesting to say the least, and hopefully I can get ahold of some of the video that was taken to bring/send home to give a more full picture (or video as it were) of what it was really like, but some pictures and description will have to suffice for now.

The day started late, I slept in a whole extra 15 minutes but somehow didn't feel rushed in getting to school. Maybe the fact that we were only supposed to have first and second period and the rest of the day devoted to the party motivated my reasoning in that. In any case, I made it to school to find a simple note posted on the office door that actually we were only going to do homeroom and then just go ahead and party the day away. A relief really, because trying to actually teach for only two periods would have been a cruel joke (at best). I sat around with the teachers in the staff room for a bit and then headed down to my classroom to unlock my door. My Junior classes (I have all the juniors throughout the day) were going to use my room to prepare for their bit of enertainment for the day. More on that in a few...

A few students trickled in to sit and hangout for a bit and we started the day off with me showing off a few juggling moves (of which I don't have many) with the three rubber baseballs I have in my classroom. They seemed impressed by the under the leg juggle and we just spent some time hanging out. Eventually a student brought in their stereo (from where did this appear I'm not sure) and started to play some music. As I am next door to a number of elementary classrooms, I ended up turning down the stereo a number of times, but who can blame high schoolers for wanting to listen to loud music?.
Eventually I herded the students in my room into the cafateria where the party would shortly commence. There were already most of the students there, so I waited outside while the rest went in. Eventually the MC (one of the teachers) called in the "World Teach people". Matt was absent at the moment, so I went in and was placed in the front of the group along with the vice principal and another teacher. I had been informed earlier that guests typically "open the dance floor" so I was slightly nervous at the whole thing. Some short welcomes commenced, including a welcome to the World Teach people and freshmen (still no Matt, I was a bit worried). Matt found his way into the cafateria soon enough though, and after a couple more welcomes and horray's for the school year, the entertainment started.
Groups of students from each class as well as the different sections of the municipality where we reside (Madoleniehmw) started doing some routines, singing mostly which was nice but also short skits. Eventually it was the Juniors turn.
A couple weeks ago, my students were thinking they would do some kind of skit, which eventually morphed into a "fashion show" featuring couples from different parts of the world (Hawaii, the mainland, Mexico, and Pohnpei). In great style, the boys played the part of the women (complete with wigs, dresses, and makeup, and other props) and the girls played the part of the men. It was a big hit and although could have been a bit more rehearsed, it went off well and everyone got a real kick out of the whole ordeal.

The Best Dressed

The dancing part of the party had started with different classes dancing at different times and the first person to come pick me up to dance was a senior boy who has a great personality. This of course got screams and laughter from everyone (the whole school) in the room as I shook it nasty with him. When the Juniors were doing their cross-dressing skit, one of my students playing the part of a super trendy Mexican woman of course picked me to do a little dance with him. A few other people (including some of Matt's sophomores) came and picked out me (and Matt) to join them on the dance floor to some pretty catchy Pohnpeian Pop music. All in all it was a great time. After the entertainment, we ate lunch (rice, fish, chicken, hot dog, cake, ice cream) and then proceded to dance for the next couple hours. All in all the day was really good, I had a good time and got a number of compliments on my dancing (which honestly I don't think is anything special).

Obviously this can't really capture the event in its entirety and I hope to get the video, if only to look back and laugh after a few months. I am looking forward to the Christmas party (which will be more of the same) and practicing my dance moves and will help my Juniors to prepare something to top their funny performance at the Welcome Party.

Me Dancing with my students

Erin

Sunset view from the hosts balcony

Ira (lawyer friend in town) and Beth

Michaela looking bemused at the BBQ

Picking up Nic and the arrival of the Peace Corps

Last weekend, Beth, Tanja, and myself went to the airport to meet Nic, one of the other World Teach volunteers. He was returning for a short trip to Kosrae (also a state in the FSM where seven WorldTeach folks are working this year). He was happy to see us at the airport, maybe just pleasantly surprised in a better way to put it. With him on the plane were 28 new Peace Corps Volunteers, so we sat around in the lobby of the airport in hopes of catching a glimpse of them and maybe meeting a few (I swear we didn't have any ulterior motives). These same PCV's are now living with host families near to me and Matt and doing there training close to our house (like maybe two hundred yards). So after two months of seeing outsider faces maybe once a week at most around our house, suddenly there seems to be hoards of them around.
As we waited the rest of the airport emptied out (maybe one flight a day here leaves and arrives, maybe) so we were sitting just sort of waiting. When they started to come out of the doors into the lobby, I think they saw the first four foreign (or not foreign?) faces and came over to us to introduce themselves. It was funny and overwhelming and they were quickly herded away from us by a Peace Corps staff person. The whole ordeal was highly amusing and the feeling of it all is hard to capture is this short little bit. The Peace Corps is awhole'nother beast from World Teach, this much is true.
To entertain ourselves while we waited for Nic and the PCV, we (mostly Beth) made up little thought dialogues for the rest of the people coming off the plane (OK, so you probably had to be there for this one). Just a bit of a tangent, Beth, and I are sort of like Nitrous Oxide when we are together, meaning that we make each other laugh hysterically, which is you know how crazy my laugh can be, you can imagine is pretty funny. She also a a really great laugh that sometimes comes out like a santa type ha-ha-ha which just sets us both off even more. All that laughter without any sort of altered consciousness too...

After picking up Nic and ogling the PCV's at the airport, we took ourselves to a BBQ at the home of two menwih folks, Boris and Karien (sp?), who work for the World Heath Org. and Red Cross, respectively. They were gracious to invite all the World Teach people to their house to have some R&R. We spent the late afternoon and evening drinking, talking, and eating, and just generally having a good time. This experience led me to consider the life of ex-pat's in general and sort of think that it would be something that I could see myself doing with a chunk of my life. In any case, there are a few photos of the event above. (and a random picture of Tanja and Beth doing up some gnocchi the other night, unrelated event, below)

Liberation Day Games

Pohnpeians celebrate their Liberation Day (from the Japanese) on September 11. So that Thursday, we trekked down into town to spend the day at a track and field competition between the three high schools. We arrived at the track in Kolonia and walking around, I thought the whole event had the feel of a sort of "county fair" kind of atmosphere with food booths and lots of people.
MHS might be something of the underdogs of Pohnpei's high schools (in sports and academics), so unfortunately our runners didn't have uniforms but the students attending and participating did have spirit. We ended up third at the end of the day but did come in second in a number of events and won the last and final relay race. I realize that in my own home (i.e. when I was in high school in Steilacoom) these kinds of events are exactly the things that I really didn't have an interest in, but as a guest of another country, I feel like its partly a respect to attend and participate (which it is), but also fun and interesting. Just strikes me as interesting the way the context of something can really change your perspective, although I am still just not really a sports person. I might get involved with the ping pong team though if it takes off this year, that is one game I love to play.
The day was pretty hot and really sunny, and a number of students were taken away because of heat exhaustion, so you can imagine that for my white skin, the sun was kind of brutal and I ended up with a sunburn, although not a terrible one. My skin did peel like a reptile molting for few days though. Here are some pictures of some of my students and myself at the games.

Three of my students (on right)

The student body president of MHS

The event lasted the whole day and I was tired by the end. Thankfully we had Friday off of school, so I stayed in town for a long weekend with the other WorldTeach volunteers. As a side note, Matt bought himself a vespa-like scooter and ended up being "pulled over" by three police. He managed to allude being taken into the police station along with his bike (what would have happened is anybody's guest, but as one crazy ex-pat put it, he probably would have been hung up on the cross as an example), by some fancy and clever footwork on his part. His crime...not wearing a helmet, not having the correct license type, and not having the bike registered. Thank god they don't have three-strikes your out laws here. I think thus far, he has gotten a helmet, but still no registration and extra license to ride.

The student I first danced with

Warm Ups

Me at the games