Trip to Tol

It's been a while since my New Years and Christmas Blog, but nothing much has been going on. Just normal routine life here at Xavier: preparing for lessons, grading, hanging out with students, trying to soak up this experience as much as possible.
However, this last weekend was different, so it deserves to be posted up for all interested parties to read about.
So this weekend was the time of the year when the Xavier High School administers their entrance exam to schools all over Micronesia. The other island nations recieve them by fax or email and they have to make copies on their own. Some island nations recieve them by mail. Here in Chuuk, however, we go to different elementary schools to facilitate the test taking. We signed up for different schools last week. It would be about one or two teachers for each school, accompanied by 3-4 students to help. At least one student was Chuukese, and preferably a graduate from that school.
So when I signed up, I did not travelling to other islands in the lagoon was an option. So unfortunately I signed up for an elementary school here on Weno. Which was completely fine, because I wanted to experience what a local elementary school would be like anyway. I quickly put the thought out of my head...
Until Thursday afternoon, right after school. Last week was hectic because a lot was going on for the weekend: the teachers going to administer the Entrance Exam, the Seniors going on their retreat for the weekend, the Principle leaving for Pohnpei for a board meeting. Many teachers would be missing on Friday, so we had to work out substitutes and shifting classes around and the like. Anyway, Anne, the Principle, approached me right after school and told me that the teacher that was going to Tol wanted to switch with someone, mostly because Tol was so far away and he had a lot of work to do this weekend. Since I am taking the advice of Dan Corrou (the assistant chaplain at Holy Cross who is the man and basically got me into JVI by encouraging me and helping me out, and I got a letter from him recently with amazing advice - since he's been in Micronesia and Chuuk before for JVI) I wanted to take the opportunity to get off Weno and experience more of Chuuk regargless if I had much work to do this weekend.
Anyway, going to Tol required me to leave Friday morning, so I found out last minute that I would miss classes (out of all the places to give the test, mine was the only one to leave Friday morning and miss classes. I think one other teacher going to a closer island left Weno right after school)...

By 8 in the morning we were packed and ready to head downtown on the flatbed. Three students accompanied me, so I wasn't going to be totally alone. One of them actually came from Tol, which would be a big help. Their job was basically to assist me and carry things for me. The rest of the students were pleased to hear that I was not going to be in class that day, but they did say they would miss me, and not to get killed by pirates or fall off the boat, which was nice of them. We dropped Anne off at the airport to go to a board meeting in Pohnpei (which she ended up not being able to go because the plane was overbooked), and the three Junior students and I were dropped off at one of the churches down town where we met the two priests that were going to come with us on the trip.

So the trip to Tol. After waiting for 2 and half hours for the boat operator (that’s what they call the boat driver. He’s almost like a taxi driver. He knows the best route to take to each island – it’s not always straight – where the coral and rocks are and how to navigate around them, drive against the wind and current), the two priests accompanying us to the island, the three students with me, and some others (I think the son and friend of the operator, or maybe just some residents of Tol) hopped into the small motor boat and headed out.
You cannot see Tol from Weno, no matter how high you get. You can see most of the islands in the lagoon, however Tol is the farthest away and hiding behind another island or two in the distance. The big islands in the distance on the horizon usually start out to be a hazy color of grayish blue and green with no definite features. After bouncing through the waves for half an hour, some of the islands in the distance started to become clearer. They hardly populated, maybe a house or two that are clearly visible on the shore. But most of them are probably more inland, completely surrounded by the jungle. Some were probably not inhabited at all. After passing by one island that was previously on the horizon from Weno, we saw Tol. Weno, my island, is about 3-4 miles wide. I think Tol is about 7-9 miles wide, and the hill (mountain) is enormous compared to the ones we scaled here on Weno. It was pretty intimidating and amazing: as our boat sped closer, my eyes remained fixed on Tol, and it just became bigger and bigger and bigger, yet we were still not getting any closer.
Finally, about an hour and a half later, we finally reached the proximity of Tol. Yet we didn’t just find a place to land. The shape of the island is anything but circular or anything like that. It almost looks like a starfish, many points of the island jetting out, creating little bays on all sides. Our boat carefully went into the closes bay and we were soon surrounded by land on our left and right. We headed straight for the center of the bay, and I noticed that the shoreline was made up of mangroves: the swamp-like trees with multiple roots sticking into the ground that supported its canopy. As we got closer to the mangroves, it was hard to see where there was any dry land to step on. It seemed as though most of the perimeter of this island (I later found out it’s only the side we entered on, the other side has beaches) consisted of mangroves. Some mangrove roots have been cut, creating a sort of drive way or canal for boats. It was very beautiful.
As we reached the apex of the mangrove walls, we found ourselves slowly driving through a canal between the swampy roots surging upwards. The canal was so small that there was a ceiling of leaves above us from the trees. After a few minutes from leaving the lagoon bay, it was as if we were in a bog or swamp land. We heard children in the distance as we went more towards the center of the island. I even saw a few naked boys jumping from the tops of these trees into our canal. There were other smaller canals, probably passages to individual homes, along the mangrove walls. As we continued on the main canal, the scenery quickly changed.
The canopy disappeared and some shacks appeared along some dry land. The canal did not end, but the mangrove trees did. Surprisingly, I found myself in a real canal: concrete docks and steps have been made on either side of the canal, with hills going upward on either direction. We were now at St. Julia’s, the school I was administering the test too. On the left side, the hill led up to the church and the priest’s house I was staying at. On the right was the school and nice grass fields belonging to the elementary school. There were only a few houses visible at the beginning of this concrete ally, and the canal continued going underneath a nice bridge (the only means of connecting the two sides) the went to another bay on the other side of the island. I learned later that this part of the canal was constructed by the Japanese during WWII. Instead of going around the entire island, you would simply pass through. The water itself was only a few feet deep. I noticed that when I noticed young children swimming and playing in the murky water.
The area was beautiful. When I got out with the students and headed up to the house, I noticed that we were really in the middle of the jungle. There were no business areas or shops or real roads on this island that I was aware of. The canal and small paths in the thick of the jungle were the only real means of transportation. I wish I had a camera, but mine broke a few months ago and everyone else was using theirs.
That afternoon, after we settled in, there was really not much to do. I was provided a very nice room, even though it was also being used for a small storage room. But the bed was very nice, the breeze was great since the house was on top of a hill. I slept for a while.
When I woke up, on the way to the bathroom, I noticed something strange on the floor. As I walked closer (the power was out, and the afternoon sun was setting, so there was little light) I noticed that it was a crab that found its way inside. That’s normal, that has even happened at our classrooms at Xavier. However, this was not a cute, little pink crab. It was huge black one. I crept forward to try and scare it away, but it raised both of its big claws. Fine. Whatever. I still moved closer, but suddenly and litereally jumped back when it snapped its enourmous claws. The snap produced such a loud sound that I was certain that it could easily chop a finger off. It was that big. I told priest, who was just sitting on the floor in the other room, chilling with the other priest (both are Chuukese, one is from the outer islands), and of course he thought it was funny that a white guy was afraid of this crab. He get a machete, carefully brought it up against the crabs claws, let the crab grip the huge knife, and slowly and as if it was no big deal, the priest, still holding onto the machete and keeping it in front of the crab, walked behind it, held the snappers closed, and tucked the crabs arms into itself. He then got a long rectangular of banana tree bark (thick and tough green bark with a smooth texture to it) picked the crab up, placed it in the middle, and carefully folded the other two sides of the bark on top of the compact crab. He tied it up, put the crab (still alive) down on the floor near the kitchen, and was done. The crab, resting nicely in that bark basket, was our dinner for the night. Amazing.
Crabs for dinner (I’m not a fan of sea food) was actually pretty good. We had taro, rice and crab, sat around on the floor (it’s common not to use tables and chairs) and had a good meal. Afterwards, the students hung out and relaxed in their room downstairs. Riantho, a Junior I teach, bit of a trouble maker but good kid, was from Tol, so he was also hanging out with his cousins (apparently EVERYONE is your cousin in Micronesia if you’re from a certain island.) So the priest and I were just having conversations on the outside porch. It was a nice night with a good breeze to keep us cool. There were some betelnut trees on the front of the house. Betelnut is the local drug of choice here. I will try and send you one of my Junior’s essays on the subject. By 9:30 we were pretty tired, there was really nothing to do, so we went to bed.
The next morning I got up early, took a bucket shower, and went to 7:00 mass. There are no seats in the church. It’s a regular sized church, very spacious, but you sit on the floor. It was all in Chuukese, and I was definitely standing out, but it was OK and I didn’t mind. Walking up to communion I wasn’t sure if I was in the wrong line because there were only women in my line.
After mass we had a short breakfast and I got the students up. We met the sisters of St. Julia’s at exactly 8:30, (which was just a 2 minute walk across the small channel) and they were waiting with the eager and very nervous 8th grade students. Basically all I had to do was read over the instructions, time the test, and read the oral part of the English section. The students helped me collate the tests as well as carry them (if we lost them or got them wet, it was over). I tried to speak very clearly and extra slowly, because this was the first time I was dealing with elementary school kids. The 8th grade class consisted of 8 kids total. One didn’t show up. There is only one boy in the class. I learned that there are only two 7th graders! Families sometimes pull students out because the tuition ($16 a month) is too high for them.
I tried not to seem intimidating, and I tried to joke around with the students a bit. One of the sisters who ran the school said that they were always nervous for these entrance exams even though they knew the material.
The test was 3 hours total, an hour and a half for each section. During the time of the test I was just walking around ( I didn’t sit ) making sure everything was OK. There was a Chuukese teacher there as well, and the sisters watched every now and then. The students had nothing to do so they just went to the canal and watched kids jump in. I had some good conversations with the Chuukese teacher and the sisters.
When it was done we packed up the test, I thanked the students, the teacher and the sister, and we tried to make arrangements to go home. It was Saturday afternoon, and we were all pretty tired, but there was a small possibility that we would have stayed another night if it was too dangerous to go back to Weno. We thanked the priests, found the operator, and surprisingly left right on time.
All I have to say about the ride home: it is not for the faint of heart, weak of stomach, and sensitive of butt. What took us an hour and a half to come to the island took us about 2 and a half hours back. We can’t go directly back towards Weno, of course. Because of the winds and currents, we had to around some other islands while staying as close to them as possible. There was a noticeable difference in the waves when you got past the coral of each small island. It was a sunny day, no storms on the horizon, but it was a bit windy. The waves in the deeper parts of the lagoon got so high that on the crest of the wave the boat would be about 8 feet higher than sea level or more, and then with a fraction of a second suspended in air, we would crash down on the water again. We would sometimes ride the waves in a way that we were almost going parallel with them. Just before the boat would ascend up another wave, we would find ourselves in the middle of two waves that it seemed as if there were a wall of water surrounding the boat.
I was incredibly soar by the time we stopped on Weno, but the trip went very quickly because there was not a dull moment and the adrenaline was pumping the whole time. I thought it was very exciting, and did not fear for my life at any point. The other Chuukese in the boat were fine and were completely used to it. I did get a great tour of all the other islands in the lagoon. The rock formations on some of them are amazing.
Anyway, we waited at the dock in downtown Weno, and luckily for us one of the Xavier trucks full of students and teachers drove by. They were also coming back from giving out entrance exams. We hitched a ride, and went back home. I was completely exhausted, but it was a great trip.

That was about a week ago. I wish I had a camera, but I hope my account gives you some idea of what happened. Overall, it was really great to get off island, and to represent my work place all on my own. Since then, nothing significant has happened except for the fact that I finally got a sponsor family. I finally took the initiative to go to one of the school’s secretaries, a really nice Chuukese lady Antonia, and asked her if she could help me get a sponsor family. She responded that my family was actually waiting for me and wondering where I was. I was surprised, but should have known better, since organization and communication aren’t really aspects of the life here. I was lucky enough to have a quick meeting with them outside of Xavier. The father speaks good English and is a sports fan. I told him where I was from and he said he was a UCONN fan. He was also updated on Kobe’s 81 point game this week. They have a few children, including a girl who just graduated from Xavier last year and a high schooler, plus many other little kids I haven’t seen yet. I will let you know how the first meeting goes.

This Saturday is Dance Night, which should be interesting. The teachers have to chaperone and do bag checks for alcohol. I wonder how different this high school dance will be from ours back home.

In two weeks it will be the end of the quarter, and luckily, for our staff retreat, we’re going back to Pissar, the island we stayed at for XMAS break, the best tropical resort island ever. I’m going to do more spear fishing, and hopefully catch something bigger this time, while at night.

I love you all, keep in touch, and I love answering your specific questions. Take care.
Peace