At the store they are displayed this way...
On the table they are displayed this way...
31 August 2007
Crab
One evening I went a store that sells local food and bought a 3 lb Mangrove Crab to have for dinner. It was delicious!
At the store they are displayed this way...
On the table they are displayed this way...
At the store they are displayed this way...
On the table they are displayed this way...
27 August 2007
Rocky
This is Rocky! He hangs out at our house, but is certainly not an indoor dog. He finally knows us, and gets excited when we come home. Occasionally, he even waits for me at the corner, and walks me to the door. He used to bark at the new strangers in his yard, and not get near us. He still won't eat from our hands, and he doesn't let anyone pet him.
This is Mayliza and her niece. Eugene and Mayliza are our neighbors and landlords. They've been really nice to us. Then bring us food, they take us places, and they just always watch out for us. They show us how to prepare some local foods: different varieties of bananas in coconut milk, how to fillet a fish, what kind of fish is best for what, and the latest was a lesson on coconuts: when you can drink out of them, how to scrape the guts after you drink, when you can get milk out of them, and all the tools involved. Yum!23 August 2007
Fishing!
Last Sunday afternoon Megan and I were invited to go out on a boat. Initially we thought we were going to do some swimming and maybe surfing. The guy who owned the boat, Dennis, had seen some birds feeding on tiny fish which usually means that there is tuna feeding too. So, we went fishing too. When fishing the Pacific for large tuna in Micronesia you don't use a pole you simply take some large fishing line, about 100 feet, attach a shiny lure, toss it out the back of the boat and hold on to the line with a glove then proceed to drive at 20 mph in large circles. While our host was demonstrating this he caught an 18 inch 10ish pound Skipjack Tuna...
Here is a picture of the birds feeing on the little fish (they don't eat tuna)...
Another person on our boat caught this fish...
Here is a view from Kolonia harbor...
Here is a picture of the birds feeing on the little fish (they don't eat tuna)...
Another person on our boat caught this fish...
Here is a view from Kolonia harbor...
22 August 2007
I'm still here!
I'm working on a post! I just wanted to take some pictures first, but keep forgetting. In the mean time, here's a link: http://www.fm/pohnpei.htm
We live across the street from Angie's, where we go for a 75 cent good-sized cone of ice cream.
Andrew and I wanted to have a nice evening on Tuesday, so we took a taxi and had dinner at the Village:
Yes, it really does look like that... that beautiful. We sat toward the closer side of that bridge-like walkway.
More soon!
We live across the street from Angie's, where we go for a 75 cent good-sized cone of ice cream.
Andrew and I wanted to have a nice evening on Tuesday, so we took a taxi and had dinner at the Village:
Yes, it really does look like that... that beautiful. We sat toward the closer side of that bridge-like walkway.More soon!
16 August 2007
Wikimapia Pohnpei
Wikimapia, kind of link Wikipeida, is a map that anyone can edit. They use Google Maps satillite images as the back drop and then you can name certain landmarks. Below I have pointed to a few that might interest you about Micronesia.
This is where we live:
http://wikimapia.org/#lat=6.958638&lon=158.208961&z=18&l=0&m=a&v=2
The cross hairs point to the house that we are living in now. The box on the left is Angie's Fast food. It is nothing like fast food you have ever had. If you are in town you should try the Yellow Fin Tuna Sashimi with coconut milk : )
College of Micronesia, National Campus:
http://wikimapia.org/#lat=6.909812&lon=158.159695&z=13&l=0&m=a&v=2
College of Micronesia, Pohnpei State Campus:
http://wikimapia.org/#lat=6.960784&lon=158.213017&z=17&l=0&m=a&v=2
Ant Atoll:
http://wikimapia.org/#lat=6.758033&lon=157.994728&z=12&l=0&m=a&v=2
We went to this atoll the day after we arrived on Pohnpei. The cross hairs point to the pass we went through.
Nett Point:
http://wikimapia.org/#lat=6.979634&lon=158.226471&z=15&l=0&m=a&v=2
We went swimming here last Sunday afternoon.
This is where we live:
http://wikimapia.org/#lat=6.958638&lon=158.208961&z=18&l=0&m=a&v=2
The cross hairs point to the house that we are living in now. The box on the left is Angie's Fast food. It is nothing like fast food you have ever had. If you are in town you should try the Yellow Fin Tuna Sashimi with coconut milk : )
College of Micronesia, National Campus:
http://wikimapia.org/#lat=6.909812&lon=158.159695&z=13&l=0&m=a&v=2
College of Micronesia, Pohnpei State Campus:
http://wikimapia.org/#lat=6.960784&lon=158.213017&z=17&l=0&m=a&v=2
Ant Atoll:
http://wikimapia.org/#lat=6.758033&lon=157.994728&z=12&l=0&m=a&v=2
We went to this atoll the day after we arrived on Pohnpei. The cross hairs point to the pass we went through.
Nett Point:
http://wikimapia.org/#lat=6.979634&lon=158.226471&z=15&l=0&m=a&v=2
We went swimming here last Sunday afternoon.
Call me Instructor Boes
Hello again, Megan and I had a very busy week this week. On Tuesday I was informed that I would be able to teach a class at the College of Micronesia (COM) national campus. I am teaching business math on Tuesday's and Thursday's. The national campus is for students from all of Micronesia and is about 6 miles from our house in Kolonia. I will also be teaching at the Pohnpei state campus which is about 1 mile from our house. I will teach Elem. Algebra on MTuWThF. All in all I will be teaching 9 credits. The best thing is that I get a free Internet connection and air conditioned office. YES!
Classes began on Thursday and so I was running (actually biking) around between the two campuses getting syllabuses and 1st day quizzes ready on Wednesday. My first day of teaching went rather well although I was a little shocked that the business math students (numbered 110) seemed to be more reserved and confused that the algebra students (number 096). Maybe it was the grim reaper suit I was wearing, who knows?
Classes began on Thursday and so I was running (actually biking) around between the two campuses getting syllabuses and 1st day quizzes ready on Wednesday. My first day of teaching went rather well although I was a little shocked that the business math students (numbered 110) seemed to be more reserved and confused that the algebra students (number 096). Maybe it was the grim reaper suit I was wearing, who knows?
08 August 2007
Kaselehlie!
Megan and I arrived in Kolonia, Pohnpei, FSM an 1425 local time on Saturday August 4th. On our flight were a lot of Freshmen for the College of Micronesia (COM) so at the airport were quite a few of Megan new coworkers and also some peer assistants from the college. When we arrived we felt like they were all there to greet us! We were given some flower hats to wear and began our tour of the island.
We are living in a very nice house. It has two bedrooms, a very large kitchen, nice size dining area and living area.
Our new home...
Bedroom...
Kitchen...
Living room...
The floors are all brand new tile, our feet and ankles are still getting used to the impact. All the furniture is in very good shape. Overall we are very pleased with our accommodation's.
The nicest thing about our new house is its location. We are less than 100ft from the largest grocery store around, a fast food restaurant, the FSM bank, a video rental place, the Pohnpei Library and an office supply store. This is a huge benefit for newcomers, especially new comers without a car.
Local food is not sold at the larger grocery stores and is much cheaper. On Monday evening I decided to go buy a fish at one of the stands that sell local food. I bought a 7 pound tuna it cost a little more than $5. I took it home and started hacking away (later I found out that they will cut it up for you if you ask) and made some sushi (thanks Sachiko for the sushi lesson). Megan was a little leery about eating a lot of raw fish so we baked some in our oven.
It was pretty tasty...
We are living in a very nice house. It has two bedrooms, a very large kitchen, nice size dining area and living area.
Our new home...
Bedroom...
Kitchen...
Living room...
The floors are all brand new tile, our feet and ankles are still getting used to the impact. All the furniture is in very good shape. Overall we are very pleased with our accommodation's.
The nicest thing about our new house is its location. We are less than 100ft from the largest grocery store around, a fast food restaurant, the FSM bank, a video rental place, the Pohnpei Library and an office supply store. This is a huge benefit for newcomers, especially new comers without a car.
Local food is not sold at the larger grocery stores and is much cheaper. On Monday evening I decided to go buy a fish at one of the stands that sell local food. I bought a 7 pound tuna it cost a little more than $5. I took it home and started hacking away (later I found out that they will cut it up for you if you ask) and made some sushi (thanks Sachiko for the sushi lesson). Megan was a little leery about eating a lot of raw fish so we baked some in our oven.
It was pretty tasty...
06 August 2007
Sharks, Dolphins and Flying Fish
On our first full day on the island we went to Ant Atoll which is a small island five or six miles west of Pohnpei. This is a truly beautiful place and we enjoyed our time there immensely.
While snorkeling I spotted a shark and took its picture with our new underwater case...
The water was very warm and clear...
While snorkeling we also saw a sting ray. On boat ride back home we saw a dolphin and a flying fish. The flying fish was pretty amazing it hovered a few feet over the water and then dove back in the water. It was pretty cool, sorry no pics. But it was kinda like this one.
While snorkeling I spotted a shark and took its picture with our new underwater case...
The water was very warm and clear...
While snorkeling we also saw a sting ray. On boat ride back home we saw a dolphin and a flying fish. The flying fish was pretty amazing it hovered a few feet over the water and then dove back in the water. It was pretty cool, sorry no pics. But it was kinda like this one.
05 August 2007
Honolulu, HI
Hawaii
“Look in the glove box.” Nope. Idea 2: call AAA.
“Our policy does not permit us to bring bolt cutters to cut the lock. We can however tow the vehicle and repair the tire. We will be there in 30 minutes to an hour.” Not enough time.
Idea 3: call Les Schwab Tire Center. So I sent a text message to GOOGL saying “les schwab wilsonville or”. As always Google didn’t let me down, responding to my message in less than sixty seconds with the phone number and address. “Our service trucks are currently out but I can have one come out as soon as possible.” said the Les Schwab guy.
“Can I come and borrow some bolt cutters?” said Andrew.
“Well I guess as long as you leave a deposit.”
At about 1038 Megan and I drove to Les Schwab which was about a 5 minute drive from our current location. Leaving my dad to continue removing the blown out tire to be ready for the bolt cutters. Les Schwab allowed us to leave $40 deposit to borrow some pretty hefty bold cutters. New problem. We now have to drive south on I-5 and then turn around and drive north again to reach the truck which was on the north bound side. This would cost us another twenty or more minutes. I decided to run south on north bound I-5 to truck. On our way to park the car in a convenient place we got stuck in some mildly heavy traffic, seeing that this would cost a few precious minutes I put the car in park, told Megan I would meet her at the rendezvous point, and jumped out of the car. As I ran I found that running on foot at a few miles per hour takes quite a bit longer than driving at 70+ mph but after a few minutes I was there, cut the lock and running back to meet Megan while my dad put on recently ‘unlocked’ tire. We returned the bolt cutters to Les Schwab, got our deposit back and where on the road north again at 1115.
After a few miles Megan told me that she had some trouble getting the car to move. She thought I left it in drive and put on the emergency brake prompting her to pull the nearest lever that looked like it would release the brake. However this lever released the hood. I now realized that even though she tried to close the hood she had not done so and the hood was now opening as far as the safety latch would allow it. Once again we pulled into the emergency lane of the interstate and fixed the problem.
We arrived at PDX about an hour early for our international flight that left at 1241. We found the continental ticket desk and I waited in line while Megan waited with our luggage. Once I got to the counter I was informed that Continental did not got to Hawaii and that I was at the wrong desk. Even though we booked the flight on Continental’s website we actually were to be flying on Northwest to Hawaii and then Continental to Pohnpei.
1153.
We decided I would run to the Northwest counter and get in line while Megan brought our luggage. After a quarter mile sprint I was back in line this time at the Northwest ticket counter. This time I got to the counter and checked in with no problems. We even had a bright spot to our seemingly stormy day. I informed the ticket clerk that we had five bags to check and also two oversized bags, which according to the website would cost us $240 extra. She did not charge us for the oversized bags which saved us $160. Yippee! On the downside she was a little bit slow, which is probably why we saved the money, so did not depart for the security line until 1210.
We ran to the security checkpoint, hugged my parents, and got in line.
1211.
At around 1228 we were at the X-Ray machine and metal detector. I went in a different line than Megan and as I was putting my sandals back on noticed that she just entering the metal detector. I yelled to her the Gate number, “D8!” and sprinted to hold the plane.
I arrived at D8 and informed them that my wife was stuck in security but that we were both here. While taking a breath, my first in quite awhile, I noticed that there were a few people standing around waiting for standby tickets. I was going to need a lot more breathes.
1232. No Megan.
1233. No Megan.
1236. No Megan. “Last call for Northwest Flight XXX for Honolulu.”
“Boes” the boarding clerk was calling out to see if we were there. Once again I explained the situation to her.
1238. I see Megan! She sees me! She's running! She drops her hat…
A few moments later boarded our plane, fastened our seatbelts and prepared for to begin our Micronesian lives. We arrived in Hawaii on time, checked into our hotel, and boarded a bus for Waikiki beach. We arrived a few moments before sunset and managed to snap a few quick shots…
Stay tuned, tomorrow will be about Micronesia...
“Look in the glove box.” Nope. Idea 2: call AAA.
“Our policy does not permit us to bring bolt cutters to cut the lock. We can however tow the vehicle and repair the tire. We will be there in 30 minutes to an hour.” Not enough time.
Idea 3: call Les Schwab Tire Center. So I sent a text message to GOOGL saying “les schwab wilsonville or”. As always Google didn’t let me down, responding to my message in less than sixty seconds with the phone number and address. “Our service trucks are currently out but I can have one come out as soon as possible.” said the Les Schwab guy.
“Can I come and borrow some bolt cutters?” said Andrew.
“Well I guess as long as you leave a deposit.”
At about 1038 Megan and I drove to Les Schwab which was about a 5 minute drive from our current location. Leaving my dad to continue removing the blown out tire to be ready for the bolt cutters. Les Schwab allowed us to leave $40 deposit to borrow some pretty hefty bold cutters. New problem. We now have to drive south on I-5 and then turn around and drive north again to reach the truck which was on the north bound side. This would cost us another twenty or more minutes. I decided to run south on north bound I-5 to truck. On our way to park the car in a convenient place we got stuck in some mildly heavy traffic, seeing that this would cost a few precious minutes I put the car in park, told Megan I would meet her at the rendezvous point, and jumped out of the car. As I ran I found that running on foot at a few miles per hour takes quite a bit longer than driving at 70+ mph but after a few minutes I was there, cut the lock and running back to meet Megan while my dad put on recently ‘unlocked’ tire. We returned the bolt cutters to Les Schwab, got our deposit back and where on the road north again at 1115.
After a few miles Megan told me that she had some trouble getting the car to move. She thought I left it in drive and put on the emergency brake prompting her to pull the nearest lever that looked like it would release the brake. However this lever released the hood. I now realized that even though she tried to close the hood she had not done so and the hood was now opening as far as the safety latch would allow it. Once again we pulled into the emergency lane of the interstate and fixed the problem.
We arrived at PDX about an hour early for our international flight that left at 1241. We found the continental ticket desk and I waited in line while Megan waited with our luggage. Once I got to the counter I was informed that Continental did not got to Hawaii and that I was at the wrong desk. Even though we booked the flight on Continental’s website we actually were to be flying on Northwest to Hawaii and then Continental to Pohnpei.
1153.
We decided I would run to the Northwest counter and get in line while Megan brought our luggage. After a quarter mile sprint I was back in line this time at the Northwest ticket counter. This time I got to the counter and checked in with no problems. We even had a bright spot to our seemingly stormy day. I informed the ticket clerk that we had five bags to check and also two oversized bags, which according to the website would cost us $240 extra. She did not charge us for the oversized bags which saved us $160. Yippee! On the downside she was a little bit slow, which is probably why we saved the money, so did not depart for the security line until 1210.
We ran to the security checkpoint, hugged my parents, and got in line.
1211.
At around 1228 we were at the X-Ray machine and metal detector. I went in a different line than Megan and as I was putting my sandals back on noticed that she just entering the metal detector. I yelled to her the Gate number, “D8!” and sprinted to hold the plane.
I arrived at D8 and informed them that my wife was stuck in security but that we were both here. While taking a breath, my first in quite awhile, I noticed that there were a few people standing around waiting for standby tickets. I was going to need a lot more breathes.
1232. No Megan.
1233. No Megan.
1236. No Megan. “Last call for Northwest Flight XXX for Honolulu.”
“Boes” the boarding clerk was calling out to see if we were there. Once again I explained the situation to her.
1238. I see Megan! She sees me! She's running! She drops her hat…
A few moments later boarded our plane, fastened our seatbelts and prepared for to begin our Micronesian lives. We arrived in Hawaii on time, checked into our hotel, and boarded a bus for Waikiki beach. We arrived a few moments before sunset and managed to snap a few quick shots…
Stay tuned, tomorrow will be about Micronesia...
Sunny Salem Oregon
We spent 24 July 07 through 2 Aug 07 in Salem, OR. We had a wonderful with family and friends. We did some hiking...
mountain biking...
wake boarding/knee boarding...
and went to the beach...
Over all we just spent a lot of time with some really good friends and family. This was my first time home during summer in 4 years and Megan's first time to Oregon in the summer
mountain biking...
wake boarding/knee boarding...
and went to the beach...
Over all we just spent a lot of time with some really good friends and family. This was my first time home during summer in 4 years and Megan's first time to Oregon in the summer
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