Highlights!

Since I haven't been able to provide periodic updates of the past few months, I've decided to share one or two highlights from each month I've been in Kosrae. I also received a question on my last post about what kids do for fun so I'll answer that here as well.

September - Liberation Day Canoe Races

First, what exactly is Liberation Day? Liberation Day is a three day holiday celebrating the Americans liberating the island from Japanese control at the end of WWII. Japan had had control of the island for several years and the Kosraeans suffered greatly during those years. Towards the end of the war, supplies were running low and there was not enough food on the island for the Japanese soldiers and the Kosraeans. The Japanese military leaders decided it was necessary to kill the Kosraeans in order to preserve the meager supplies they had. There were two seperate plans to kill the Kosraeans, the first was to host a boat race in Lelu harbor and then have Japanese sodiers open fire from the shore and the other was to order the Kosraean men to dig tunnels in the mountains, order an evacuation and then kill the Kosraeans that ran to the tunnels. Fortunately, a few Japanese soldiers warned the Kosraeans what was planned and the potential slaughters were avoided. A few days later, American forces arrived and the Japanese surrendered. There is a lot more information about the Japanese presence on the island I could share but this blog is not the right place for that, there is information on various other websites so if you are at all interested, go ahead and check them out.

To celebrate Liberation Day, each of the four villages, Tafunsak, Lelu, Malem, and Utwe, hold different sports competitions between each of the hamlets or sections of the village over the course of the three days. There are volleyball games, speed boat racing, and on the last day, canoe racing. Walung is technically part of Tafunsak so we competed against the other three sections of Tafunsak, unfortunately I forget the names. There are four person and two person canoe races in traditional out-rigger canoes and it is very competitive. Practices had already started when I got to Walung and I was immediately conscripted, not that I was complaining. We had practices usually twice a day, if tide was high, for about a week and a half before the races. On race day, everyone went to Okat Marina, which is right next to the airport and where boats going to and coming from Walung dock. The races started around 9am and went all day. There were four man and two man races and four woman and two woman races.  I was in the boat with my host mom, one of host sisters and one other person. We had been the slowest boat during practices in Walung so no one really expected much from us. All I was concerned with was not tipping the canoe over or completely embarrassing myself one way or another. It turns out, we won! We were the first boat from Walung to win a race that day! It was definitely an experience and there's even a video of it which I will try to post.

 October - S'mores with my family

The highlight for October wasn't Halloween or another canoe race. Instead it was a really simple night but definitely one that I'll remember forever. About the second week or so of October, a group of World Teach volunteers came to Walung for the weekend and happened to bring s'mores stuff with them. I had hung out with them a little bit and when they left, they gave me a bunch of their extra food, including the s'mores supplies. My host siblings had never heard of s'mores before and I figured this would be a perfect time to share a small part of my culture that, personally, is pretty important to me. I know, you're probably thinking, how can s'mores be important to you? Yeah, they're delicious but it's marshmallow, chocolate and graham crackers, nothing particularly earth shattering there. For me, s'mores always remind me of childhood camping trips, summer nights chasing fireflies in the backyard and the annual family Piney-Mo camping trip. It turns out, the weekend I made s'mores with my host siblings was the Piney-Mo weekend back home and my real family was probably enjoying a s'more or two as well.

Anyway, back to the actual making of the s'mores. We didn't have graham crackers unfortunately, but we got creative and used chocolate chip cookies and knock-off Oreos instead, definitely pushing the bounds on sugar intake there. My host brothers made a small fire in a metal basin and we sat on the beach under a full moon while I taught them how to make s'mores. Eventually, some of the other kids in the village wandered over and my host siblings got to show off their newly acquired s'mores making knowledge and teach the newcomers how it's done. I remember standing on the beach, watching my host siblings making s'mores, fighting over the chocolate of course, and thinking that I can't believe this is my life right now.

I'm asked pretty regularly by the kids in the village when we're going to make s'more again, so I'm sure it will happen again soon.

November - Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is one of, if not my favorite holiday, mainly because of all the family traditions, and this was my first Thanksgiving away from home. It was definitely a little hard being away, but since it didn't feel like the New England November I'm used to, it wasn't too difficult. Fortunately, in addition to the other PCVs, there were World Teach volunteers, and Seabees from the Navy, so we had our own ex-pat Thanksgiving.

While Thanksgiving isn't a holiday in Kosrae, there happened to be a Kosraean holiday on Thursday, so we had no school Thursday and my principal decided to cancel school on Friday as well since most of Walung was going to Lelu to celebrate. As a bit of a last minute decision, I decided to spend Thursday and part of Friday in Lelu. On Thursday morning, the Seabees had a flag football game and invited all the volunteers and various ex-pats to join, including an Australian and Japanese volunteer. As a touch football game was always part of the family Thanksgiving tradition, it was really nice to continue that here, even if it was incredibly hot. The World Teach volunteers live in their own house and so they hosted a Thanksgiving potluck that night, which including dishes varying from sashimi to genuine mashed potatoes. It was not quite the traditional Thanksgiving dinner but it was certainly special.

In addition, through careful planning and coordination with my brothers, I got to surprise my parents with a Skype call on actual American Thanksgiving and was able to talk to a lot of my extended family.

December/January - Christmas and New Years

I have an entire post about Christmas and New Years so I won't repeat myself here. If you haven't read it already, check out 'Christmas Craziness' to learn about Christmas in Kosrae.

February - Lime picking

The highlight for February was actually a chore that my host siblings and I had. One Saturday we went to pick fresh limes, which sounds simple enough, right? Not quite. We had an hour long walk to the first lime tree, most of which was along the dirt road from Utwe to Walung. This was the first time I had seen the road and I was not prepared for what I saw. About three quarters into the walk, my host brother turns to me and asks if I'm ready. I responded, ready for what? He just laughed and kept walking. As we rounded a bend, we came to the bottom of a hill that seemed to go straight up. It was one of the steepest roads I've ever seen and I would never want to be in a car going up or down the hill. The walk to the top was not easy but the view was incredible. You could see for miles and seeing Walung from above was really cool. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my camera and so have no pictures to share but I'm sure that I'll walk the around again at some point in the next 18 months.

Once we got to the top of the hill the walk was easy and not too far from the lime trees. Lime trees have really sharp thorns, which I was not aware of before this, so you can't just grab the limes. Instead, my host siblings used a long pole with a nail hammered a little bit more than half way through to essentially yank the limes from the tree. While one or two people are using the poles, the other two of us pick up the limes as the land on the ground. We spent about an hour and a half at the first tree, and then walked another 15-20 minutes to the next tree, which required some clambering over rocks and through a stream to get to.

Once we finished picking the limes, we hiked out to a channel where my host dad picked us up in the boat and even brought lunches that my host mom had made. This 'chore' was a great bonding experience with my host siblings and definitely a highlight of my service so far.

March - Scuba Certification 

I know March has pretty much just started, but I just started my scuba certification today, and will finish it by the end of the month. I had an hour long class this morning, which included four quizzes and a final exam, and then the first 'dive.' Most of the dive was were I was able to stand, in case I panicked or something went wrong, but actually having all the gear on and breathing through the regulator was really cool. For part of the dive we got to swim out into slightly deeper water to practice swimming with the gear and breathing properly and some of the fish I got to see were incredible. Mark, the instructor (and co-owner of Tree Lodge), was absolutely amazing, going slowly enough that I could follow along and checked constantly that I was comfortable and everything was okay.

By the end of the month I'll have my PADI Open Water Recreational Dive certification and am already planning on taking more classes to gain further certification, though that might have to wait until after Peace Corps.

Miscellaneous - What do the kids do for fun?

Aunt Sarah asked on my last post what the kids in Walung did for fun and I was already planning on post about that so I decided to include it here. The kids in Walung are similar to kids in the US, though they do spend more time outside and less time on electronics. They do enjoy playing games on tablets and watching movies but due to lack of electricity, they mostly spend time outside.

One of the major activities is fishing. The kids will take soda cans or empty beer bottles, wrap them in fishing wire and tie a hook to one end. They throw the line out similar to a lasso and then wait for the fist to bite. This takes considerable patience and usually involves kids as young as 7 or 8 using large knives to cut up small fish for bait. I'm constantly impressed by the patience as well as the skill the kids display in using the knives safely.

If the kids aren't fishing or playing ping pong, highly popular, they play a game they call Inside. The first time I saw them play Inside was my first weekend in Walung and it took my forever to figure out what was going on. To play Inside, you need a sandy space about 10 feet wide and 15 feet long, and at least 6 people. The 'field' is divided into four squares with two base lines, two side lines, and one vertical and one horizontal cutting the space into four squares. The 6 people are then divided into two teams, offense and defense. The offense wants to run from one base line to the other and back, without getting tagged. The defense wants to tag the runners, but have to keep one foot on either the base line, or the horizontal or vertical lines, but NOT the side lines. There is lots of shouting and yelling involved and can be difficult to follow if you don't know the rules. I've played a few times but am definitely amateur status to the kids pro status.

One of the other, less boisterous activities involves throwing rubber bands. To play, one person tosses a rubber band about 3-4 feet in front of themselves and then alternates throwing with their opponent or opponents. The object is to get one of your rubber bands to overlap with one on the ground. When this happens, you get to pick up all the rubber bands that have been thrown. The kids will often play this before school or during break, if they aren't playing ping pong.

And last but not least, is swimming, as one would expect from kids living on an island in the Pacific. The kids will spend hours swimming, usually in whatever clothes they happen to be wearing.

I hope this post gave you all a better idea of what my life has been like since I got to Kosrae and as always, if you have any questions, leave a comment below and I'll try to answer it as soon as I can.

Facsin Friday: Orahluh Fuhkyah Tapioca

It's Friday which means it's time for a Facsin update! Today's title Orahluh Fuhkyah Tapioca translates to How to Make Tapioca. Tapioca is one of the few traditional dishes I've learned to make so far and the first dish I learned to make. Tapioca is a very popular dish in Walung and there is almost always at least one variety at every big village event. There are different versions of tapioca and while it's very time consuming, it's relatively easy to make.

Once the tapioca is gathered, usually by my host dad or brothers, we have to remove the outer skin. To do this, we soak the tapioca in water, double purpose of cleaning the tapioca, then slice the both ends off the tapioca and then make a vertical cut. Once the cut is made, you peel off the outer layer of the tapioca. I usually use a spoon for this step because getting the skin under your nails really hurts and it doesn't always peel off easily. Once we've removed the skin from all the tapioca and washed them, it's time to grate. You don't want to grate the entire tapioca because center is quite hard.

Once the tapioca is grated, you have to remove the liquid from the tapioca. There are two ways to do this, depending on how much tapioca and how much time you have. For the first method, we fill up a pillowcase (only used to make tapioca) and hang it from one of the beams in kitchen with a pot placed below it. Between gravity and the weight of the tapioca, the liquid is squeezed out of the tapioca. The second method is more labor intensive but much quicker. Still using a pillowcase, we put about 5-6 cups of tapioca into the pillowcase and then manually squeeze the liquid out. After the liquid is separated, we add sugar and coconut milk to the tapioca and mix it by hand. We also add the 'starch' from the tapioca liquid, a semi-solid white substance that settles at the bottom of the pot. Once the tapioca mixture is sufficiently sweet, it's time to wrap it. How you wrap it depends on what type of tapioca you make.

The first type of tapioca I learned to make in Walung, my second or third weekend, is tapioca usr (tapioca banana) and is a highly traditional dish. This dish is made by slow cooking in the traditional fireplace and is wrapped in banana leaves. To make tapioca usr, you place a small amount of tapioca in the middle of the banana leaf, then two pieces of banana (cut vertically) and then cover the banana with more tapioca. Then, you fold the leaf, sides in first, then bottom up and top down. Once all the tapioca usr is wrapped, the bundles are placed on super hot rocks in the traditional fireplace and covered with larger leaves and are left to cook for a few hours. As it's a traditional dish, only women are allowed to make tapioca usr, though the men can help placing them on and removing them from the fire.

Normal tapioca is slightly easier to make and doesn't take as long to cook. Once the tapioca has been mixed, food coloring is added and then the tapioca is wrapped in tin foil. Each foil wrapped tapioca is only about 6-7 inches long. This version of tapioca is placed in a large pot and steamed over the fire.

As I said before, tapioca is simple to make but time consuming between grating the tapioca, grating and making the coconut milk and the mixing and wrapping the tapioca. I've since learned to make a few other traditional dishes, including sihkyahki, my favorite Kosraean food. I'll post another Facsin update about how to make sihkyahki later this month. I also plan on sharing a Kosraean language post to share some basic vocabulary and explain the different vowels and consonants.

If you have any questions about Kosraean culture or traditions, even ones I haven't posted about yet, please let me know!