New Student Entertainment

I cannot beleive it's October already. As I'm writing this, the rest of you are still in September (unless you're in Singapore). Speaking from the future, October is very similar to the month you're all still living in, so don't get your hopes up.
So let's see. What's new? Well, a definite shout out to my uncle Charlie who sent not one but three packages of goodies. Lots of chips, cheese salsa, and garlic tabasco sauce. They come in flavors? My uncle is the best cook around, incase you didn't know. So that was awesome. There is your shoutout. You can have one too! Send me CD mixes (got some from Sotz and Quinn) and pictures are an awesome thing to recieve. Students love seeing pictures. They all love to make comments of my pictures of the beach in Greenwich: "how come the water is so black?" "Why is the sand so dirty." Yeah, I get it, CT beaches aren't as good as Pacific beaches. Who would have known. Also, good books are a plus. Now is a good time to pick up reading. Send me books that have changed your life.
Ok, enough about showering me with gifts. Yesterday was New Student entertainment, which means that half of the day on Friday was spent watching sophomores, juniors and seniors putting on dances and skits for the freshmen, transfer students and new teachers. They mostly pick on the Freshmen. These students prepared for many weeks. It was kind of a waste of time, because when they could have been studying or practicing drama, they said "oh, we have practice for the dances." But you know they didn't really need to be practicing every day. It was just a waste of time for them, which all high schoolers would welcome.
Aside from that, it was a very good show (there are new pictures posted up for you to see). They decorated the gym with baloons, streamers and lots of palm leaves. The dances were either very traditional Pacific dances, which were awesome to watch. They others were rap battles or "You Got Served" dances, which were also pretty entertaining, but after the third one, it got repetative. The skits were funny for a bit. The students got a huge kick out of it, of course, but after the 5th skit that involved boys dressing up in drag, it got a little stupid. I feel so old, criticizing these highschooler's idea of really really funny times. Oh well. It was generally a good time. A nice half-day.
Today, Saturday, was a great day. It was very sunny and not humid at all. I got some grading done, found a nice book calle "Spirituality of Imperfection", and the best part was when I went with Joe to his host family this afternoon. He baked some cookies for them, and he, Jackie and I took a short 5 minute walk into Sapuk (the community XHS is situated in), walked through the jungle until we made our way to a small clearing with very small, run down houses/shacks. Chickens and pigs were walking around all over the place. The time we spent there was relaxing, but Joe does not know much Chuukese, so it's hard to communicate. After a while of trying to talk back and forth, we followed one of the young boys that lived there to a nearby church where the mother of the family - also a worker at Xavier - was preparing for tomorrow. We walked further into the jungle and ran into a bunch of veyr young children playing in on the pathway towards the church. Since the adults were praying, we just sat outside for about an hour, just watching the kids play and have fun. It was a really enjoyable and refreshening time, since I rarely get off campus, and just getting away from my office or the punk highschool kids is a very welcoming time. The time flew by, just sitting there in the shade, laughing with the kids. It seems like we didn't even need to know the same language.
This is one of the challenges of being here. Xavier is great, and that is my work, but sometimes I do not get a real sense of Micronesian culture or a real third-world atmosphere up on campus. I want to get out more into the neighborhood. No matter what my intentions, I do have to realize that no matter what my interaction will be, it will be somewhat voyeristic. I dont want that to be the case, but it will be regardless. I'm not living in the neighborhood, I'm living at Xavier, which is still incredibly different from the lives we're used to, but it is also apart from the surrounding Chuukese community. Social justice, I was told, is very hard to discover or encounter here at Chuuk. So getting off the campus whenever I can will give me more of a taste of the world I'm really in, but it will still not be enough. I need to think of ways to work towards really connecting with the culture and life here.
Anyway, I'm rambling. Check out my pictures. Thanks for the packages. Love you all
AJ