Aly, Devon, and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Leaf

            Once upon a time, Aly, Devon and Rebecca were walking home from training when it started to rain. Devon had an umbrella, Rebecca had a raincoat, but Aly had nothing. Poor Aly. Aly decided to make a leaf umbrella but wasn’t able to tear the leaf off, so Devon decided to help. Devon was able to tear the leaf off to make Aly an umbrella so Aly was protected from the rain. Unbeknownst to Aly and Devon, the sap in the leaf’s stem was harmful and soon Aly’s hand started to burn. Not too long after, Devon’s hand started to burn as well. When Aly and Devon finally got home, both of them had burning and itchy hands. Luckily, their moms knew what to do and rescued our poor heroines by rubbing coconut oil (the magic elixir) on their hands and low and behold, the burning and itching stopped.

            This happened to us yesterday and was incredibly painful. For those of you who have ever brushed past sting weed, imagine that pain magnified by about twenty and lasting for at least two hours. The leaf is used as an umbrella by the Pohnpeians but they cut the stem really long and with a machete, which keeps the sap from getting on their hands. Aly and I have definitely learned our lesson and will not be making leaf umbrellas again anytime soon.

Coconut oil and coconuts in general are as close to a magic elixir I think we’ll ever get. The coconut water is referred to as mother’s milk because of how many nutrients it has. Coconut oil is used to help sunburns, acne, itchy and burning hands and on hair. Coconut meat is delicious and nutritious and coconut milk has numerous uses as well. My mom spent the entire time she was rubbing the oil into my hands, telling me everything the coconut is used for, it’s truly amazing. I never liked the coconut shavings we get at home, like those in Mounds Bars, but I love coconut milk and coconut meat, which surprised me.

On a totally unrelated note, we had our Water Safety Training this weekend, as those who saw my pictures on Facebook figured out. We took a twenty minute boat ride into the Pohnpei lagoon and ended up near one of the channels that cuts through the reef. Our training consisted of having our personal flotation device (PFD) thrown into the water and then we had to jump in and put it on in the water. The PFDs are not like normal life jackets; they’re the highest classification of life jacket and prevent you from tipping forward or backward if you fall asleep so you can’t drown. Anytime we’re in a boat, we have to wear our PFD, carry our personal locator beacon (PLB) and a satellite phone. The volunteers going to outer islands all get their own, which includes me since PC classifies Walung as outer island, and the main island volunteers can sign them out from the various PC offices.

Once we proved that we could put the life jackets on, we got to take them off and then had about two hours to swim, snorkel and jump off the boats. The snorkeling was incredible; the water is amazingly clear and I got the chance to try out my waterproof camera.  Again, I’ll let the pictures do the talking here. 

We started our technical teacher training this week and met our counterparts for model school, who will be training and teaching with us for model school. We have three weeks of training and then three weeks of model school, then we’ll have a few more weeks of final medical, safety and security training, and mock secondary project presentations before Swearing In.  The mock secondary projects are a new aspect of training this year. The intention is to get us used to the secondary project process, including talking to our community, the grant application and then the execution. Aly and I have already figured out what our project for our community is going to be, so we just have the logistics to figure out and the execution. We start language training on Monday and will have at least three hours of language every day for the next six to seven weeks. I’m really excited to start learning Kosraean and luckily my host dad speaks Kosraean so he’s started teaching me some words already. Aly is also going to Kosrae and since she lives really close by, we’ve already agreed to have study parties and practice speaking on our walks home. 

The next few weeks are going to be pretty busy between training, preparing for model school, and language work so I might not update for a while. There will be a celebration next weekend in Kolonia for July 4^th, so I’ll try and post an update after that.

Site Placement!

            Today was the most highly anticipated day of PST so far, the day we find out, if we pass PST and are sworn in as volunteers, where we’ll be spending the next two years. FSM is unique in that we learn our site placement at the beginning of PST and not at the end, like most other Peace Corps posts. We find out our sites at the beginning because, as a cohort, we learn five different languages, not just one. We had placement interviews on Tuesday and Wednesday and then this afternoon was the site placement ceremony. And…..drum roll please…….I will be serving at Walung Elementary in Walung, Kosrae.

             Walung is in the southwest of Kosrae and is very unique village for Kosrae. Unlike the rest of the FSM, Kosrae lost a large part of it’s culture due to the arrival off the whalers in 1800s who brought diseases, like smallpox, that killed all but 300 Kosraens. This meant that there were not enough people to full the traditional leadership positions in Kosrae and the traditional government system fell. Today, Kosrae has a very religious reputation, mainly because the community revolves around the church, since Kosrae lost much of it’s traditional community structure, structure which persists in Pohnpei, Chuuk and Yap. Walung is considered a more traditional village in Kosrae because it’s largely separated from the rest of Kosrae as the road does not continue past Utwe to Walung. In order to get to Walung, you take a boat from Utwe up the Walung Channel to Walung Village, a 10 or 15-minute ride, or you can walk or bike the unpaved road and small bridge, but I'm not sure how long that takes.

            I’m excited to finally know where I’ll be serving once I’m sworn in and can’t wait to start learning Kosraen. Living in Walung, I’ll have the best of both worlds, a living situation similar to the outer islands but with easy access to other volunteers and amenities like stores. I’ll hopefully be able to get my scuba certification sometime in the next two years and maybe I’ll learn how to surf as well. But most importantly, I’m looking forward to meeting my counterpart and other teachers and discovering what I can contribute to make sure our school and community are the best they can be.

 Dawn in Walung (http://www.buckettripper.com/drinking-kava-the-real-way/)

Host Families, Breadfruit, Nan Madol (Oh, and Bingo too)

This weekend we finally moved out of the dorms at PATS and in with the host families we will be living with for the rest of training. My host family is incredibly warm and welcoming and I’m confident that I will be well taking care of for the next few months. My host dad, Petrick, is the Chief Magistrate of our municipality, Madolenihmw, one of the Ministers at our local Protestant church, a member of the Port Authority Board and several other things, I have trouble keeping track of everything. My host mom, Maria, is a wonderfully warm person and a fantastic cook. She makes sure that she eats with me every night because there is no set dinner time, everyone just eats when they want to, but she told me that she would always eat with me. She’s been telling me stories about our family, her time cooking for the military as well as stories about Nan Madol. My host sister, Jaypo, is a very precocious six year old who is teaching me Pohnpeian. I have two host brothers as well but I rarely see them. My host mom and dad both speak English very well but I’m trying to learn as much Pohnpeian as can and using my limited vocabulary as much as possible.

On Saturday, after meeting my host family at PATS and dropping my stuff off at our house, my family took me to a mahi (pronounced my) or breadfruit ceremony in the community. My host father explained that Pohnpeians were not allowed to eat breadfruit until the ceremony had been completed. The breadfruit as placed in the fire whole and cooked. Then the charred skin was removed from the outside and the breadfruit was mashed, almost like mashed potatoes. The now smashed breadfruit was spread onto a palm leaf and resembled a loaf of bread. Coconut milk was then squeezed on top and the palm leaf was placed back in the fire for a little bit. The final product was a little chewy and somewhat sweet. It’s very much unlike anything I have ever eaten before so I’m not sure how to describe it but it was delicious. It was also a fascinating glimpse into Pohnpeian culture.

            Our house is about a 45 minute walk from PATS, down a somewhat secluded dirt road but it’s nice because it’s really calm and quite. Stephen and Aly, two of my cohort, live right down the street so we’ll be able to see each other quite often and walk to and from training together. Our house is right next to the road that leads to Nan Madol, so it takes me about 10 minutes to walk to the water from my house, which means I can hear some of the really loud waves at night. I actually got to go to Nan Madol on Sunday after church, my host mom says that volunteers always spend Sunday at Nan Madol. Matt, who lives near PATS, and his host family came to pick up Aly but picked me up as well, which was a nice surprise. Nan Madol, called the Venice of the Pacific, is a thousand year old complex that is spread over nearly 100 man-made islets. The buildings are constructed with basalt blocks that weigh hundreds of tons apiece. I’ll let the pictures do the talking here because I’m not sure words will do.

            In addition to Matt and Aly, Olivia, Evan, Stephen and Rebecca all ended up at Nan Madol and it was great to see everyone. We weren’t really allowed to swim because we haven’t had our Water Safety Training, which is this coming Saturday, but we’ve already said that we will be coming back later to swim and jump off the rocks.

            One of the things my host mother loves to do is play bingo. Friends, neighbors and relatives come over every night and they’ll play bingo on our front porch for hours. I played with them last night for a few hours and ended up winning some money. I still don’t fully understand the rules and the different versions of the game but it was a lot of fun and a good way to learn Pohnpeian numbers.

            I had my site placement interview this morning and will find out on Thursday where I’ll be spending the next two years, which is crazy! I have some definite preferences about my placement but I’m not sure I conveyed that well in the interview so we’ll see. I’m keeping an open mind and I know that my service will be incredibly meaningful and life changing wherever I end up but there are certainly some placements I want more than others. I’ll keep you all updated when I find out.

Pohnpeian Crash Course

Two blog posts in the same number of days! What is this insanity? If you have ever read any of my previous travel blogs, you’ll be well aware that this is a very rare occurrence and will likely never happen again. This isn’t much of a blog post but rather a primer on the Pohnpeian language. Though we still don’t know our placements (we find out next Friday) we have learned some crash course Pohnpeian for living with our host families for the next few months. I decided to share some of that Pohnpeian with you lovely readers since I will be trying to use as many Pohnpeian words as I can during my blog updates to practice them and because it gives you a taste of the different languages I will be learning while I’m here. Additionally, I hope that if any Future Peace Corps Micronesia Volunteers stumble upon this blog, this post will give them a general idea of the language.

Kaselehlie                               Ka-say-LEH-lee-eh                    Hello/Goodbye

Menseng  mwahu                    Men-seng mwow                       Good morning

Kalahngan                               Ka-LANG-an                             Thank you (formal)

Menlau                                    Men-lau                                      Thank you (informal)

Edei _____                             Eh-TAY                                        My name is ____

Ia edemw?                              Ya TOM                                       What’s your name?

Eih                                          Ay                                                 Yes

Soh                                         Soh                                                No

Ia iromwi                               Ya e-ro-muwe                                How are you?

I kehlail                                  E ke-lyle                                        I’m good

I sohte kelail                          E sochi ke-lyle                               I’m not good

Ia mwomwen nda                  Ya moe-m-when enda                    How do you say___?

Menlau wawai                       Men-lau wa-why                            Please slow down

Menlau kapwurchieng          Men-lau ka-po-ray-eng                   Please repeat

I sohte wehwehki                  E sochi way-way-ke                       I don’t understand

I wehwehki                           E way-way-ke                                 I understand

Ke kak sewese Ie?                Ka kock sa-wah-se ya                     Can you help me?

I men mayir                          E men meir                                     I want to sleep

I yah                                     E ya                                                 Excuse me

I men kang ____                  E men kang                                     I want to eat____

I sohte men kang_____       E sochi men kang                            I don’t want to eat___

I iouki ______                     E yoki                                              I like_____

I sohte iouki______            E sochi men kang                            I don’t like ______

Nono                                   No-no                                              Mother

Pahpau                                Pah pau                                            Father

           

A few quick disclaimers on the list, many of the pronunciations are how I’ve interpreted how they’re said, so they might be a little off but they make sense to me, so that’s what matters, right? Also, Pohnpeian and the other languages in FSM are all oral so there are discrepancies in spelling and you will find the same word spelled differently, which can make learning Pohnpeian a little more challenging.  A view pronunciation rules- Pohnpeians roll the R, like in Spanish, the T is a ‘ch’ sound, H is a signifier that the preceding vowel should be extended, and the ‘ng’ is pronounced by putting your tongue at the back of you mouth.

The preceding list is just a small example of what we’ve learned. I’ve been pleasantly surprised with how much Pohnpeian we’re able to pick up in a relatively quick class. Granted, the real tests will be how much of this we’ll all remember once we get to our host families and keeping Pohnpeian and whatever other language we learn separate.This is also incredibly basic Pohnpeian since it's only meant to be a crash course to help with living with our host families and I'm sure that more intensive studying and speaking would prove challenging.

            Something I’ve observed since arriving is that I not only get up much earlier than I did at home but I also go to sleep much earlier. The sunset is before 7, which has been a strange adjustment since the sun is setting closer to 8 at home, but the sunrise is also earlier. I’ve been naturally waking up before 7 every morning, which, if you know me, is highly out of character.

           

            Another note, the food has been amazing so far, so I’m eating very well. At the moment, we get all of our meals on campus and the cooks are incredible. They mix traditional Pohnpeian food with American food and everything is delicious. I’m also eating more vegetables and fruit than I, very naively, expected after first reading about Micronesia. When I move in with my host family, I’ll eat breakfast and dinner with them during the week and all three meals with them during the weekend. I’ll definitely be exposed to more traditional Pohnpeian foods.

All of the host families but one have had volunteers live with them before so that will hopefully make the transition a little easier. I’m very excited for this opportunity and can’t wait to meet my host family and really start to immerse myself in Micronesian culture. I’ll hopefully have another blog post next week about my first few days with my host family but until then kaselehlie.

Kaselehlie

Kaselehlie (ka-say-LEH-lee-eh), welcome/hello, to Micronesia! Though it’s been a sojourn, I’ve finally arrived in FSM to begin my two years of service as a Peace Corps TESL volunteer. I’m currently at our training site, PATS (Pohnpei Agricultural and Trade School), which is about an hour outside of Kolonia. While we’re currently staying in dorms at PATS, we’ll be moving in with our host families on Saturday, most of them are about a 45 minute walk from PATS.

            Though I left Pittsburgh on Thursday morning, I didn’t actually arrive in Micronesia until Saturday afternoon. We spent about 12 hours in Hawaii and were able to meet up at the hotel. We also took a boat ride out to Diamond Head to watch the sunset, which was a pretty amazing experience. Our flight left Hawaii at 7:25 in the morning, stopped at 3 islands on the way, and arrived in Pohnpei around 2:30 in the afternoon. We spent about two days in Kolonia before we headed to PATS.

           

            We got to PATS last night, after a bit of delay getting the trucks, something I’m sure I’ll get used to over the next two years. Our dorms over look a bay surrounded by small mountains and is an amazing view. Last night, we were welcomed to PATS by the local community leaders with a saku ceremony. Saku is a traditional Pohnpeian drink made from the roots of the saku tree. It’s similar to alcohol but it calms you down and turns your lips/mouth numb instead of the affects of alcohol back in the states. This was the first time they had welcomed Peace Corps Trainees in the this manner so it was a pretty big deal, especially since one of the highest ranking community leaders was present and formally welcomed us to the community. 

            Though the weather is very hot and humid, temperatures in the 80s but the real feel is about 92, we have air conditioning in our classroom and ceiling fans in our dorms. This definitely makes things more tolerable and is also helping transition to our host family’s houses where we likely won’t have air conditioning or fans.      

            I’ll have semi-reliable access to internet during training so I’ll post updates as I can. We get our permanent placement sites in about two weeks so I’ll have a better idea of my internet access at that point.