What a week

Hey everyone.
It's my 4th day here in Micronesia. A lot has been going on, but I need to say what has happened in the past 6 days or so. This will be a long and detailed blog, so I have divided it by chapter titles. Enjoy!

Hawaii - Part 1
Hawaii - Part 2
Flying
Chuuk Days 1 and 2
Chuuk Days 3 and today


Hawaii - Part 1

So after a quick stop in DC, I fly out of Dulles at 6 in the morning. I arrive in Houston about 2 hours later, and after a quick 1 1/2 hour lay over in Texas, I start my 7 1/2 hour flight to "paradise", as the pilot kept repeating over the loud speaker. I watched XXX:State of the Union with Ice T (or Ice Cube), and I am sorry for that. But I did get much needed sleep and slept for like 4 hours on the plane.
It was my first time travelling alone, and it felt good. I was travelling alone because for whatever reason JVI booke my ticket a day later than the other 5 "islaner" volunteers (two of them being Chris and Jaclyn, my community mates, an the other three, Jacqueline, Emily and Greg, going to Majuro in the Marshall Islands). But when I arrived in Honolulu (which was beautiful to say the least) Trunce (what we call Jaclyn, since her last name is Truncelito) was nice enough to meet up with me at the airport. I got my bags, and Julie, a former JV who is married and lives in Hawaii, picked us up and drove 20 minutes to downtown Honolulu by Waikiki beach, the famous tourist hang out.
It was beautiful. Very touristy, but you can still get the tropical feel. It wasn't too hot and it was beautiful. We had the tall, green mountains towards the middle of the island, with misty clouds covering the tops of the mountain, and then there was the beautiful Pacific beaches behind the luxurious hotels and resturaunts. Not bad.
I met up with the other volunteers who have already been there for one night and we rented bikes from a BYU grad who was very nice, as most Mormons are. Biking through downtown Honolulu and up the hill towards Diamond Head park (a volcano crator) was an amazing time. I could have been doing this forever.
We hike up the mountain all the way to the top, and we were able to see all of Honolulu and the mountains and the Pacific. I honestly have never seen so many shades of blue in my life.
After hiking we bike back down to the city, ate dinner, then chilled on the beach for a while an then passed out. It was very relaxing and comfortable. Hawaii is really everything everyone says it is. So I had my fill, and I was ready to wake up at 4 the next day to make our 7:00 flight to Chuuk.
Little did I know that I was not done with Hawaii yet.

Hawaii - Part 2

It's Wednesday. So we get to the airport, put our bags in, get through security and all of that. However, Chris and Jaclyn don't have seat numbers. The rest of us do. When we board, we find out that the flight is over booked and there is no room for those two. We try to get people to stay in Hawaii, but it doesn't work. So I volunteer my seat and the three of us end up getting a paid hotel, free meals and taxi for the next two days. Not a bad deeal, but we did want to be in Chuuk. We were all very psyched and ready. But we coulnd't really complain.
So we had food at Dukes (this nice and inexpensive resturaunt on the beach. It was the only place the voucher worked other than this upscale restuaruant that would not really have gotten us much).
After a much needed 4 hour nap, we went to an international flea market, bought some board shorts (oh yeah, since our bags were in Chuuk at this point, all I had was one pair of underwear and two shirts. I think I had more than what chris and Jaclyn were carrying with them). Jaclyn had to buy guy board shorts as well that went over her knees, because girls are not allowed to have skirts or shorts shorter than their knees. She looked pretty funny.
We then walke on the beach, which was very unreal because whenever I turne around to look at the buildings, it was just like a postcard.
The next day was amazing. I had 3 "Best ___ Ever" experiences.
We took a bus to the North Shore, meaning we wanted to get our of the city and go through the mountains and see what Hawaii was really about. Our first stop was at this beach/park, but since we got there early no one was there. It was honestly one of the most beautiful beaches ever, making it my first "Best Beach Ever" experience. If you're a marine biologist, you woul have been jealous. There was a huge, steep green mountain behind us and palm trees all over the park. There was also a good sized rock formation about 200 yards out from the beach, and this beach went far out into the bay, so we can see Hawaii all around. I'll get pictures soon.
Then we caught another bus and stayed on for literally 5 minutes until we saw awesome waves (since the road went along the coast) and we got off and found a very small strip of sand whhere the waves were crashing. It wasnt techinically a beach, but there was sand and water. And noooo people. This was on the East Coast of the island. So we had our own private beach and went swimming in the huge waves for abour 3 hours. After swimming in the ocean for hours, Jaclyn Chris and I let the waves push us aroun on the beach for another hour. It was therefore my "Best Ocean Swimming Experience" ever. We were exhausted, sun burnt, sandy and salty, but it was great.
We caught the bus again, smelling like beach bums, started talking with a Chuukese teacher, then got off at Sunset Beach in the North Shore. The North Shore is world famous for surfing. But the waves were very tame. They are intense only in the winter. We got some ready made pasta from a local super market, brought it to a nearby beach, sat on some rocks, and watched the sunset. Honestly, most "Beautiful Sunset Ever" experience. I don't have pictures, but Jaclyn does, so I'll set up a link for that soon. The colors and beams of light and shaes of blue in the sky as the sun set in the vast Pacific ocean was very moving. Great times.
So we got back on the bus after the sunset, went back to Dukes, met a waitress from, you got it, Greenwich CT, and then passed out.
We got up the next day around 5 and then heade to the airport, to try to make our destination one more time.

Travelling

It was a bit startling at first when we found out that Chris and Jaclyn did not have seats again. But the airline remembered us, so we got boared first. The plane was packed again, and it was a 747, i think. Three seats and three seats on either side, with 29 rows. I would know that number, because I was seat 29 E. I sat next to a minister from Tennessee going to the Marshall Islands for a conference and we talked a bit, and on my right was a Micronesian woman who was pretty big. Most Micronesia women are pretty big in size. Nothing wrong with that.
I slept a bit for the 4 hour ride to Majuro in the Marshalls. It was beautiful to see the atoll from above, and I have a picture of that. We stopped for a bit, then went to Kwajelon (spelling?), a bigger atoll. Then after that was Kosrea, which is a small island 6 miles wide in the middle of nowhere. There were cars and people lined up around the airport fence to either see people off or just watch the plane land. Planes come into the islands every 3 days. Perhaps watching this plane land and take off is one of the more exciting things on the island to see.
Then we went to Pohnpie (spelling) which was beautiful and it had the most modern airpport (meaning there was airconditioning inside). I have a nice picture of me in the airport and some from the air.
Finally, after moving in through some clouds, we reached Chuuk. We first flew over the coral reef surrounding the islands in the lagoon, then we saw Weno, the 3 mile wide island. I have pictures, even though it was a bit misty we could see it clearly.
We had to make a second pass at the runway, which was a bit unsettling, and us three volunteers wanted to get there already! But during the whole time we cirlced the island we just coulnt beleive that this was going to be our home for the next two years. Crazy.
We landed in the small airstrip and then got inside the airport.

Chuuk - Days 1 and 2

Joe, Adrienne, Anne and Keirran met us with a big sign saying "Welcome to Beleize Rostro de Christo". Beleize is another JVI placement, and Rostro de Christo (Face of Christ) is another international volunteer group set in Ecuador that shared the orientation with us. So it was good to start off with silliness. Joe is the other JV, red hair from Montana, and Adrienne is the other JV from Michigan. Anne finished her JV tour last year, but is staying on for a third year as Principal of Xavier High. That's right. I can be Princepal in two years. Scary. Keirran is just out of high school from Australlia who is volunteering here with us through an Austraillian program. He's here until Decemeber and then he'll go to Sydney U.
We found our bags that have been chillin in the airport for the past 3 days (although it took a while, since once the plane takes off again, most of the Airport staff goes home) and then put everything into the back of a blue pickup truck, which is our only means of vehical transportation. We all sat in the back, which was awesome, and made our way up the hill to Xavier.
We passed many locals who are extremely friendly and curious. Chuuk is interesting since it is literally a tropicall paradise yet there is a lot of garbage and sewage and poverty all around us. Yet the people are very welcoming and beautiful.
Xavier is on top of a hill so we have a pretty nice view. The school used to be a Japanese bunker. I'll show you pictures later. It is pretty big, and even though it looks like it's crumbling from the outside, inside is pretty nice. Xavier is one of the more elite schools in Micronesia.
We put our bags in our rooms. The JVs have their own little house at the edge of the property. It is literally right next to a jungle. I am pretty sure I have the smallest room. It is quite a wake up call. I don;'t really have room to put my clothing, and on the first day alone I found two big cockroaches and a gecko chillin in my room. I share a bathroom with Joe who lives right next to me. Chris is currently sleeping in a faculty room above the boys dorm, but we're going to move him into Joe's room soon. Adrienne an Jaclyn live above us.
Since we were pretty exhausted from travelling, and it was getting late Hawaii time, we just chilled in one of the huts the students made and had some snacks.
It was pretty hot, so sleeping was pretty hard. But I passed out around 10 Chuuk time and woke up the next day to roosters at 6. They didnt stop until 7. I showered (and to save water, I quickly drench myself, turn off the water, then apply soap and shampoo, then quickly wash it off), had breakfast in the faculty lounge, which is pretty nice, met more of the staff, and then went back into town for Sunay mass.
It was long! 2 1/2 hours sitting in a packed church which was pretty hot. But everyone looked really good, and even though it was all in Chuukese, the children's choir was amazing. I could have listened to them all days. They were very cerimonious when it came to presenting the water, wine and hosts. They put the gifts onto a small canoe and carried it down the isle as the children were signing.
After the mass we were invited to a community hall behind the church where we ate local food for the first time. There was a lot of bread fruit, fish, tapioca, sweet soup, and pig. I ate most of it. Then some girls from the youth group put on a show for us and did some traditional dances which was very similar to Hawaiian dances. Then they started picking people from the crowd to dance with them, and of course, they picked me, and of course, I pretended to be shy at first and then started breaking it down. Not full force, but enough to get everyone laughing at the crazy American. A lot of elderly women came up to me afterwards to tell me I was a good dancer. It was a lot of fun. The girls always where dresses so they are always very pretty, but they are very shy. They like it a lot, especially the children, when you say hi to them, especially when we're in the back of the pickup truck an d we have to them.
After lunch, we heade back to Xavier, then hiked down to the other side of the island, deep into the jungle, until we reached a rock dock that streched out to the lagoon about 50 yards. We jumped in the extremely warm water and went snorkling for about an hour. It was very beautiful and fun. I saw many tropical fish and plants. It was very safe, so don't worry.
Walking to and from the dock gave us an even clearly view of how poor this island is. It is very sad but joyous at the same time to see how happy everyone is.
Back at Xavier we cleaned up, took a tour of the place, ate some fried chicken an rice for dinner, then passed out again. I saw a huge spider in my room but i was too tired to care.

Chuuk - Days 3 and Today


After a nice night's sleep, I went running with Trunce, Joe and Chris. Trunce is a hardcore runner, and hopefully she gets me back into the habit. It was pretty brutal, since it was aso hot and humid, but it was fun running down the road passing locals. They love it when you try an speak to them: "Ran annin" means "good day" and "nessor annim" means "good morning". Little kids ran with us every now and then. It was really nice.
After breakfast, which is usually cereal, we went farther down town to the markets and post office. There i got some mouth wash, some Austriallian cookies calle Tim Tams (Adrienne says they're amazing, which they are), and something called a style towel, which you can wear aroun your neck or over your head to wipe sweat away or make a bandana or something cool. I'll get pictures of it soon.
When we got back we had a llonger tour of the place, checking out the huge shower room the boys use (it's like a cave with shower heads sticking out of the wall) and their toilet house, which is literally stalls with a hole in the ground surroune by walls and a roof. Then we got a quick Chuukese lesson from a local which was fun. Then we had dinner, relaxe a bit, then had a meeting with the community to go over expecations for the year in terms of how we define community, spirituality, social justice, and simple living. Then we went up to the roof quickly and checke out all of the stars since it was the first clear night since we got there.
Today I ran again with Trunce, which was good, but it was hotter this time. I'll be in shape soon enough.
After lunch we're going to hike to the Japanese light house on top of a hill, then eat down town with a former JV.

All in all, this place is very exotic and interesting. I feel as if I'm adjusting to the hot weather easily, and the bugs and humidity are not bothering me as much. I cannot wait until school starts. I saw a bunch of great books in the library. I will be a World History expert by the time i come home. Also, since I'm teaching Junior English skills, it will be more focused on writing essays and debate and not so much on basics, which makes me feel a lot better. I really cannot wait to teach, because it will be a learning experience for me as well.
Being thrown into this strange and wonderous culture is very overwhelming, but it's an adventure that I am sure is feeding my restlessness and curiosity. Everyone here is so nice and helpful, and the Chuukese people are great human beings.
Alright, I've been on this computer way too much. Time for lunch and more reading, then hiking. I miss you all. Post comments or email me. I'll talk to you all soon.
Much love,
AJ