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!