I heard some people need a quick lesson on how to leave blog comments. Here's the 101.
Go to the end of a post. Click on the link that says "comments". It will then take you to the individualized page of that blog post. Go to the bottom and click "add comment". Type what you like. Please put your name somewhere in the post. Then click "submit" or whatever link, and it will ask you to type the text of a picture. Then, viola, blog, post, comment, boom!
If you need help with this, just post a comment to this post asking how to post a comment....
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Sunday, July 15, 2012
The word for American in Pohnpeian also means Sneaky and Slow
It's been 5 weeks in Pohnpei, and I really can't see myself doing anything else with my life right now. I'm pretty happy that I live in the Pacific ocean helping children to be able to speak English. Everything is peachy.
Apparently the pressure is on for me to get married. There's literally been about 10 comments about me getting married while I'm here in Pohnpei. The girls here are all quite nice, dark skinned, small, pretty, and can cook. If you know me, that's kind of my cup of tea, so we'll see what 2 years does to Mr. I'm Not Getting Married Until I'm 30.
Eating the local food is quite an adventure. The concept of washing hands and serving with spoons (not hands) is lost here, but I'll be immune to about every known bacteria/virus after living here. Ants crawl all over the table at all times. Flies land on the food. If your food hasn't been touched by ants, you've probably eaten quickly. My favorite food here has been sashimi skipjack tuna. Mango runs a close 2nd place, but fresh skipjack caught on the same day is without comparison.
I fixed up my current guitar (my uncle from the opposite of the island is lending me his). Since it was missing the 6th string and because I wanted to say 'thank you' in some way, I put new strings on it. It plays like a champ now after the new strings, cobwebs removed from the inside, spider removed, and random papers removed from the inside. I'll once I move to my main site in late August, but for now that Fender is all mine! I tried to teach the song "Sarah Beth" to my host sister AnJanet today. She kept saying "Serepein" (girl in Pohnpeian) instead of "Sarah Beth". It was adorable.
I'm learning more and more language through practice all the time, and I suppose in 6 months I'll be at a level where I can understand the general meaning of every conversation, at least that's my goal.
OH! I just unlocked my blackberry, so I'll be using that for local phone service here on Pohnpei. I'll be sure to send people the # just in case you want to get in touch with me quickly. Just remember, I live 7 hours behind you but a day ahead. Screws with your mind, right? It does to me.
I can't think of anything else to post, but if you think of anything you want to know, just post a question in the comments section. I'll be sure to get on it.
Kasalelia.
Apparently the pressure is on for me to get married. There's literally been about 10 comments about me getting married while I'm here in Pohnpei. The girls here are all quite nice, dark skinned, small, pretty, and can cook. If you know me, that's kind of my cup of tea, so we'll see what 2 years does to Mr. I'm Not Getting Married Until I'm 30.
Eating the local food is quite an adventure. The concept of washing hands and serving with spoons (not hands) is lost here, but I'll be immune to about every known bacteria/virus after living here. Ants crawl all over the table at all times. Flies land on the food. If your food hasn't been touched by ants, you've probably eaten quickly. My favorite food here has been sashimi skipjack tuna. Mango runs a close 2nd place, but fresh skipjack caught on the same day is without comparison.
I fixed up my current guitar (my uncle from the opposite of the island is lending me his). Since it was missing the 6th string and because I wanted to say 'thank you' in some way, I put new strings on it. It plays like a champ now after the new strings, cobwebs removed from the inside, spider removed, and random papers removed from the inside. I'll once I move to my main site in late August, but for now that Fender is all mine! I tried to teach the song "Sarah Beth" to my host sister AnJanet today. She kept saying "Serepein" (girl in Pohnpeian) instead of "Sarah Beth". It was adorable.
I'm learning more and more language through practice all the time, and I suppose in 6 months I'll be at a level where I can understand the general meaning of every conversation, at least that's my goal.
OH! I just unlocked my blackberry, so I'll be using that for local phone service here on Pohnpei. I'll be sure to send people the # just in case you want to get in touch with me quickly. Just remember, I live 7 hours behind you but a day ahead. Screws with your mind, right? It does to me.
I can't think of anything else to post, but if you think of anything you want to know, just post a question in the comments section. I'll be sure to get on it.
Kasalelia.
Saturday, July 7, 2012
Home is where you're sent.
We had our site placements yesterday on Friday June 6th, and apparently Peace Corps thought I'd be a kickass 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grade teacher here on Pohnpei, Micronesia! I'll be stationed in a small community with less than 150 people (isolation anyone???) and in an elementary school with 70 or so students. Here's what I know about my placement as of now:
I'll be living on a compound with 20 or so family members whose names all start with the letter J.
My house dad is the 2nd highest chief on the entire island of Pohnpei (extremely important).
My house brothers are apparently extremely good-looking (The current female volunteers apparently have huge crushes on them).
It's an hour's drive from Kolonia to my site in Kitti (pronounced /key-chee/)
I move to that house and start working at that elementary school on August 15th ish. I'm really going to miss living with my current host family because we've made a good bond. I'm excited to continue learning Pohnpeian because I've already learned a fair amount of it. I'm also excited to start working and stop training. I'm excited to make really good connections with all of the other Peace Corps Volunteers who are stationed on Pohnpei (I believe there are 6 of us). In general, I'm excited/anxious to start my service instead of being in tourist/trainee mode.
I haven't been getting too homesick, but there are times when I miss you all from back home. I've been trying to limit my Facebook/internet time to once per 2 days since I have it at my current house, but it's hard to keep to that.
We've been running a 2 week summer school called Model School for about 200 Pohnpeian elementary students, and we just finished our first week. I'm working with exactly the age group I'll be working with in the future, and I believe that I can really have a good impact on some students in my future community. Teaching 11 year old kids isn't that bad, and I actually have kind of enjoyed this week in teaching them. One part that does suck is planning (Lesson planning would die a slow death in the burning pits of hell if I had a say in it).
In all, my first month of Peace Corps has been exciting. They call it the 'Honeymoon Phase', and I definitely have been aware of that. The next phase is supposed to be a little easier in some ways and harder in others, and we'll see how I do in that.
Well, it's Saturday night, and it's time to go party. Pwon Mwaow (goodnight)!
I'll be living on a compound with 20 or so family members whose names all start with the letter J.
My house dad is the 2nd highest chief on the entire island of Pohnpei (extremely important).
My house brothers are apparently extremely good-looking (The current female volunteers apparently have huge crushes on them).
It's an hour's drive from Kolonia to my site in Kitti (pronounced /key-chee/)
I move to that house and start working at that elementary school on August 15th ish. I'm really going to miss living with my current host family because we've made a good bond. I'm excited to continue learning Pohnpeian because I've already learned a fair amount of it. I'm also excited to start working and stop training. I'm excited to make really good connections with all of the other Peace Corps Volunteers who are stationed on Pohnpei (I believe there are 6 of us). In general, I'm excited/anxious to start my service instead of being in tourist/trainee mode.
I haven't been getting too homesick, but there are times when I miss you all from back home. I've been trying to limit my Facebook/internet time to once per 2 days since I have it at my current house, but it's hard to keep to that.
We've been running a 2 week summer school called Model School for about 200 Pohnpeian elementary students, and we just finished our first week. I'm working with exactly the age group I'll be working with in the future, and I believe that I can really have a good impact on some students in my future community. Teaching 11 year old kids isn't that bad, and I actually have kind of enjoyed this week in teaching them. One part that does suck is planning (Lesson planning would die a slow death in the burning pits of hell if I had a say in it).
In all, my first month of Peace Corps has been exciting. They call it the 'Honeymoon Phase', and I definitely have been aware of that. The next phase is supposed to be a little easier in some ways and harder in others, and we'll see how I do in that.
Well, it's Saturday night, and it's time to go party. Pwon Mwaow (goodnight)!
Thursday, June 21, 2012
He runs, he shoots, he scores!
This week/weekend has been one of pains and small
victories. Last Friday, I went to the
local club here in Pohnpei called Flamingo after having drank some sakau with
Ben, a Peace Corps bud of mine. They
sell Bud Light in cans for $3, and the partying doesn’t start until 2am. I pooped out by 1:45, but it was good to see
how the young Pohnpeian crowd gets jiggy with it.
Starting on Friday, I had a sore throat which I knew wasn’t
going to turn out well. Sore throat +
sakau (google it) + local water + alcohol + late night = sickness. Saturday morning my Nohno (mom) and I went
around town helping unload fish from a boat, got wood for a coffin, and checked
out my house dad’s office. That’s when I
found my guitar, but my Nohno says that she might already have one for me at a
relative’s house. Anyhow, Saturday was
then filled with rest. Sunday was filled
with rest. Then I went to training the
past 3 days feeling slightly shitty, and today I finally copped out at went to
the PCMO (Peace Corps Medical Office). I’ve
had the runs since June 11th which apparently 5 days longer than
usual. They gave me some medicine for my
congestion, and they’re taking a look into the runs situation. Poop seems to be
a big topic now with Peace Corps, but enough about poop
I joined an international soccer team that plays right
across the street from my house. They
play every Tuesday and Thursday. Yesterday
Peace Corps bud Ben and I played, and I scored my team’s only goal! On the other hand, I did allow 2 goals out of
7 or so shot attempts when I was goalie, so that evens out, right?
Everyone here is freaking out about their final island
placement, but no one can really control where they’re finally placed. We can have a ‘preference’, but the final
decision is made by the Peace Corps staff on where they think our skills match
up the best. No one really wants to go
to the Mortlocks, the outer islands in Chuuk, because of the isolation. I too don’t truly want to be placed on an
outer island, but I’m sure that if I am I’ll figure out how to deal with stuff.
More pictures once I get around to it. As for now, bom mao (goodnight).
P.S. I’m catching on fast to the language here. Thanks Mr. Genetics for a good language brain!
Thursday, June 14, 2012
And so it begins...
I'll try to keep this blog post shorts seeing as how I could probably bore you for hours with my travel stories.
Our group did our 'staging event' in Honolulu, Hawaii for 2 days and we had a good time. We went to Waikiki beach, bonded with each other, and got to swim in the Pacific. The group of PC Volunteers seems like a nice bunch, and it'll be fun to see how/if we all stay together on these diverse and distant islands.
After a horrible 10 hour plane ride from Honolulu to Phonpei (yes, it's called Phonpei. It has no volcanoes. That's the Italian one...) we were immediately handed coconuts fresh from the tree to slurp down their delicious milk. All the coconut milk from the U.S. I've had sucked. This stuff is off the charts!
I was pretty scared throughout the first 4 days including staging. I was worried that "I'm not cut out for this" or "I'm scared". I figured out that those were just normal reactions to dropping a whole American life to live on an island for 2 years. Now on Thursday, one week after arriving in Honolulu and 5 days of being here in Phonpei, I feel good. I don't feel scared. In short, I feel like a badass who can kick this job's ass. And so, here I go!
I'm amazed at how Americanized Micronesia is. They all have Iphones and cellphones. Wireless internet is available in a lot of places. They all speak very good English. It's like as if I've never left home, right? My family owns a 'sakau bar', and it's more like a bunch of chairs and tables set out in front of our house. It is a business though. Sakau is kind of like alcohol, but tastes even worse. I'm trying it on Friday. Can't have a hangover for training!
My house is filled with tiny ants, geckos, and spiders. Good thing I got over my germ-a-phobe phase a long time ago, because this is not the right place to be for cleanliness (except personal hygiene. Micronesians, including myself, do a cold shower twice per day, partly for the heat mostly for the sweat.) My host family is very nice. My Papa is an ex-congressman from another island called Chuuk, and my host Nohno is a nice woman who works at the immigration office. She treats me well, and definitely keeps me well fed (Even though my appetite has dropped off because of the heat and anxiety).
I'm done for the night. It's almost 11pm and it's been dark for 4 hours. It gets dark early here, and the roosters start crowing at 4am.
Mensung Mao (good morning) to all of you back home, and I'll post again fairly soon.
Our group did our 'staging event' in Honolulu, Hawaii for 2 days and we had a good time. We went to Waikiki beach, bonded with each other, and got to swim in the Pacific. The group of PC Volunteers seems like a nice bunch, and it'll be fun to see how/if we all stay together on these diverse and distant islands.
After a horrible 10 hour plane ride from Honolulu to Phonpei (yes, it's called Phonpei. It has no volcanoes. That's the Italian one...) we were immediately handed coconuts fresh from the tree to slurp down their delicious milk. All the coconut milk from the U.S. I've had sucked. This stuff is off the charts!
I was pretty scared throughout the first 4 days including staging. I was worried that "I'm not cut out for this" or "I'm scared". I figured out that those were just normal reactions to dropping a whole American life to live on an island for 2 years. Now on Thursday, one week after arriving in Honolulu and 5 days of being here in Phonpei, I feel good. I don't feel scared. In short, I feel like a badass who can kick this job's ass. And so, here I go!
I'm amazed at how Americanized Micronesia is. They all have Iphones and cellphones. Wireless internet is available in a lot of places. They all speak very good English. It's like as if I've never left home, right? My family owns a 'sakau bar', and it's more like a bunch of chairs and tables set out in front of our house. It is a business though. Sakau is kind of like alcohol, but tastes even worse. I'm trying it on Friday. Can't have a hangover for training!
My house is filled with tiny ants, geckos, and spiders. Good thing I got over my germ-a-phobe phase a long time ago, because this is not the right place to be for cleanliness (except personal hygiene. Micronesians, including myself, do a cold shower twice per day, partly for the heat mostly for the sweat.) My host family is very nice. My Papa is an ex-congressman from another island called Chuuk, and my host Nohno is a nice woman who works at the immigration office. She treats me well, and definitely keeps me well fed (Even though my appetite has dropped off because of the heat and anxiety).
I'm done for the night. It's almost 11pm and it's been dark for 4 hours. It gets dark early here, and the roosters start crowing at 4am.
Mensung Mao (good morning) to all of you back home, and I'll post again fairly soon.
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