Creating a Camp

A few weekends ago Megan and I had a chance to visit a small island in the lagoon about 1 mile off shore of Pohnpei. A portion of this island was given to a member of our church and he in turn gave it to the church. It is to be used as a camp by the church and also by a school that is run by the church. Eventually they will construct a handful of grass huts for sleeping as well as a large meeting hut. Before this construction can take place the land must be prepared, water must be installed and money must be raised. Our job was to clear the jungle.

We arrived with ten to twelve others in two boats with two chainsaws and a dozen machetes. As it is custom here the men set about to the chopping and clearing while the women piled the brush and prepared lunch. The jobs of the men and women where equally interesting to me. Armed only with a machete I chopped down banana trees, bamboo trees and bread fruit trees along with grasses and shrubs. Watching some of the locals fall large trees with only a puny machete was very interesting. We would drop banana trees 20 feet tall with a trunk diameter of 8 inches with one swing! Meanwhile the women started a fire and using various leaves and stems they created the tools with which to prepare lunch. Among other things they made tongs to turn and pickup meat on the grill and a brush to add the marinade sauce. It was very educational to watch them use things from the jungle to accomplish basic tasks. For example, one man cut himself on a piece of bamboo ( FYI the edge of a recently cut bamboo shoot is as sharp as glass) he then cut up a part of a banana tree trunk squeezed some liquid out of it then tore a piece of his shirt to wrap the cut and then he went back to work.

Unfortunetly I did not bring my camera so I don't have any pictures to share with you. I did however find a fun picture that I took of Megan quite some time ago. Hope you enjoy!

Pohnpei is beautiful

This picture was taken yesterday. This is how it looked I didn't do any crazy photochopping to get these colors. Also notice that the body of water pictured is the ocean. It really is this beautiful...

...and another...


...but we really miss home.

Hello from the land of perpetual summer! As you may or may not know Megan and I keep in touch with our family with Skype.(if you use and want to talk to us we're usually on on Saturday between 0900-1300 our time ( good luck figuring out what time that is for you!)) If the person we are trying to contact has Skype this is free for us and them and if they have a webcam we also get to see them. If they don't have Skype it only costs us a few cents a minute (it is supposed to cost $.341/minute but there seems to be an error) so we have been very fortunate to be able to keep in contact with everybody. One popular topic as of late is the changing seasons. Currently it is really rainy in Oregon (why are you surprised mom and dad you've lived there 30 years!), unusually warm and now cold in PA, and becoming more tolerable in Riverside, CA. In Pohnpei it's the same. Really humid and uncomfortable for most of the day, every day, every season. The weather never changes. This is by far the hardest thing to deal with for me.

I love the people here. Their culture is rich and unique. I've talked to our neighbors and other locals for hours asking question after question. The pace of life is slow and forgiving. The traffic is very courteous to foreign cyclists. The food is very unique. We eat a little more fish then we'd like but also really enjoy it. Here is a picture of last Fridays dinner (thanks for the supplies Sachiko!)...


But alas the weather is unbearable. I am amazed at my inability to entertain myself during the heat of the day. I am a fairly active person and the weather has a tendency to sap the life out of me. This is especially evident on weekends when there no work to be done or AC'd office to be occupied. Being the person that I am, I am not content to sit inside and read a book all day.

I guess that'll be enough whining for today. But stay tuned for more there is weekend every 5 days!

I do enjoy anything that has to do with a boat. On Sunday Megan and I once again got to go out with our friend Dennis. We had a wonderful time swimming...


And exploring the mangrove forests...


It was a boatload of fun. You can't see but I'm actually smiling, even during the heat of the day...

Nan Madol

Hello again, last Saturday Megan and I rented a car and drove to Nan Madol the "Machu Pichu of the Pacific". You can read about here or here. We had an absolutely wonderful time. Nan Madol is located on the southeast side of the island. We live on the northwest side of the island and work on the west side of the island. So just going the other direction around the island was new to us.

Here is a picture of the what the major road around the island looks like...


We didn't actually have any driving directions only a terrible map. We knew the ruins were around near a school called P.A.T.S (Pohnepei Agricultural and Trade School). A little guessing was going to be needed to find our destination. When we guessed that we were fairly close we decided to follow a truck with 12-15 people in the back, thinking that might be headed in the same direction. We guessed right! When we arrived at Nan Madol we went through a very large party, at first we though "woah the ruins are going to be crowded." "Well it is Saturday" we reasoned. We followed the crowd for a while only to find that they were stopping and we still didn't see anything spectacular. Come to find out we parked our car at the correct spot however we walked in wrong direction. We were in the middle of a party for the village chief. We asked a little girl were Nan Madol was and she pointed us in the correct direction. After about a thirty minute walk we found this...



That's Megan standing by the wall. We had the entire place to ourselves.

We walked around for 2 hours taking it all in. To get from one islet to another you have to wade through water that is about a foot deep. This sounds refreshing but actually it was low tide and the water was very warm and above all not refreshing. The weather on this side of island is a little more pleasant. There was a nice breeze the whole time we were which kept us comfortable.
We also spotted an island about a mile off shore that had sandy beaches...


Here is another pic of the ruins...


As I said we came during low tide so when we left the water was a little higher maybe 30 inches. Next time we come we will try to rent a boat or kayak and come during high tide to see all the different islets.

Parting Shots: On our way home we found some pigs pigging out...


This shot is for my Father-in-Law. The name of the boat says it all...

Biking

Lately I've been feeling pretty proud of myself and all the biking I've been doing...

Andrew and I live town (Kolonia) here. The college where I teach is 5 miles down the road (in Palikir). We are content without a car, and so I bike to school. If I'm not feeling up to it, I can catch a ride with our next door neighbors (Eugene and Mayliza). The first few weeks, I biked 3 days per week. But lately, I've been feeling pretty good about myself because I've been biking every workday. And it's not just any 5 miles. There's not a single flat section - hills the whole way. With one giant one of about 100 meters and 6 switchbacks (vertically, its about the length of a football field).

So anyway, I'm feeling pretty good the other Saturday because we biked a couple miles further then the college, after I rode my bike every workday that week. My ego was about as giant as I thought my leg muscles were...

On the way home, at the beginning of the hill, I passed 2 girls, about age 8, and we greeted each other. And so I pedaled up the hill and thought what wonderful shape I must be in. When I got near the top, I heard some giggles. Those 2 little girls had stayed right behind me the whole way up. And they were walking... casually... in flip-flops. I felt my leg muscles deflate.


Hehe - anyway, other fun things on bikes... young kids do like to race/chase me... and I love it. There's a group of young boys who have a bike and fairly regularly race me for a section on the way home. I lose more often than I win.

I have once seen another girl on a bike here, but I get the impression that I'm a novelty - that's fun for me too.

Dogs chase us. Squirting them in the face with my water bottle scares them off. But then on busy dog-days, I run out of water.

I had a flat tire the other day, and Andrew was kind enough to take care of it for me, and walk to his closer school that day, while I took his bike.

I often get caught in the rain (this morning, yesterday, probably in about 15 minutes... I'm at school now, and it's raining). BUT, this is a terrifically fun thing for me. In the rain, I get to be cool, and I do enjoy splashing around, and not stinking like sweat when I get to my destination.


Random thing: Did you guys know we don't have hot water? We could get a hot water heater, and we could afford it, but we chose not to. We don't have hot water at the school either. So for 2 months I've taken nothing but cold showers. The first few weeks, there were days when this was torture to me. But now I don't usually think twice about it. And, my showers are usually after a bike ride, when I'm hot and sweaty, so they feel good.

Another random thing: I had moldy hair. Yes, really, truly stinky moldy hair. They said everything gets moldy here, and they didn't lie. The remedy is washing your hair with coconut oil. And if you use to much, you have oily clumpy hair for a few days afterward, just like I did. :o)


Last Saturday we went to Nan Madol (ancient ruins!). Andrew took a gazillion pictures, so stay tuned for the full story!