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).