JVI Retreat and French Frigates

JVI Retreat

As a JV, we all (Joe, Jackie, Chris, Adrienne and I) must have a retreat once a semester. Our first one, if you remember, was back in October or November (I apparently don’t remember) and that was when we climbed Mt. Winepon for the second time, followed by a walk/stations of the cross around the entire island of Weno (pronounced Weda). For our second retreat, we decided we wanted someone else to help direct it for us. Dennis, who is a Jesuit Novice (being a “Novice” means you are in one of the first stages to becoming a full fledged Jesuit) from upstate New York (undergrad: Fordham, grad school Niagara), was our director, and he is a really awesome dude. There is no other way to put it. He is here for only this semester, and he led the retreat last weekend...
So we left for downtown (or the Big City, as we know affectionately call it) and arrived at Saramen High School, the high school where we go to church downtown and which is directly across from the main docking area (Grand Central Station, as I have affectionately called it). We then wait for the priest to take us over to Fefan, one of the main islands south of Weno. And we wait, and wait, and wait. Chuukese time, of course. I did have a chance, however, to find my sponser sister, Delarine, and I chatted with her about stuff (I think I embarressed her in front of her friends. But that's what big brothers are for). She decided that she will be going to this Merchant Marine academy this april. If she passes the medical exam in Guam, she's off. I told her that was great, but she is very nervous, and she doesn't want to miss her graduation, which is very understandable. But I tried my best to encourage her. She also said that she didn't want her hair cut...probably shorter than mine! That surprised me, cause my hair is always short, but then I remembered, oh yeah, I am growing it out. I thought that was funny.
Anyway, the boats arrived and we were taxied off to Fefan. It was a short, easy trip of half an hour. It was Dennis' first time riding in a boat like that for an extended period of time, and he was loving it. It reminds me of the thrill of my first time speeding down the wide open lagoon, with tropical islands towering over me or creeping off into the distance. It is surprising how used to it I am now.
If you see the pictures, I need to explain the one with the Stop sign in the middle of the water. No, there was not a flood there, and no, it is not an actual traffic "street" sign. Near the islands, there are rings of coral (no island necessarily has all sand surrounding it). You cannot just land your boat anywhere. You have to find the "driveway" between the coral. The locals put sticks or something to indicate where the coral is high. Someone just thought it was funny to put up a stop sign there instead. So, no, you don't actually have to stop. It is also hilarious since that is probably one of the dozen (or less) stop signs in the whole Chuuk State!
Anyway, as we got close to the dock of our destination, we could see the huge, white church of Sacred Heart from a few hundred yards out. It is the second biggest church in Chuuk (the biggest is located in the outter islands). We get close enough to the mangroves surrounding the island, and when it becomes too shallow, the driver lifts the motor and uses a big long stick to push us to the land. Many of the locals (mostly kids) are gawking at us as we approach. This is the typical routine with entering any island.
We got introduced to the Deacon and his wife, since we'd be staying at his place (a nice house near the main church). The area had other buildings, all for meeting places for the parish. We slept in the downstairs, where we had the Micronesian style beds (mats) and a pillow. Both nights I slept fine. I wouldn't be surprised if, when I get back home, I might need to sleep flat on a carpeted floor for a few days or weeks just to adjust.
The plan for the retreat was just to have some reflection sessions with Dennis after dinner on Friday and Saturday, then leave after mass on Sunday. One unexpected problem was that we were not necessarily alone for this weekend. For instance, dinner. We bought a lot of food for our stay (we expected to cook ourselves), but the family actually cooked for us instead for every meal. It is impossible to turn down hospitality here. However, we didn't mind, and I thought that it was a great chance to be immersed with the true culture for an extended period of time. The most definite sign of that was our food from Friday night to Sunday lunch. I think there was fish (different types, mind you) for every single meal. And it was actually good! So I had fish for 5 meals in a row, which is a record for me. There was also breadfruit, taro, rice (which I couldn't eat, since I gave that up for lent) and we had a coconut for each meal!
During our reflection time I spent some time on their dock, which is not as big as the Japanese dock near Xavier, but it was very nice to gaze up at the stars and watch the fish light up like fire flies in the water (I dont know what makes them do that, but I think it's actually the coral using a defense mechanism when they sense danger, or when a fish eats it). It was very beautiful. After our individual reflections I showed the rest of the group that dock, and we just chilled there, having a good time (especially being away from the kids) laughing away and chatting.
Saturday we relaxing. The only big thing we did was hike up to this grassy spot in the mountain where a big stone slab is sitting in the ground (the hike took only 20 minutes). That stone is for the cross they make for Easter mass. Apparently the parish hikes up to this spot on Easter and has mass there. It overlooks the lagoon and you can see pretty far. The rest of the day we just relaxed. Napped, read books, hung out with some of the children, who were really cute, obviously. We acted silly, tried to talk to them, the usual. One of the young ones actually got their slingshot (most of the Chuukese kids carry them...they actually can be very dangerous, especially when the Sapukian kids are not fond of us driving by in our truck to Xavier) but it is really amazing how good they are with it. We watched some of the kids try to sling shot some cans on a wall. Another amazing thing about the kids is that, well, some of them, smoke. Yup. We were walking around, and we saw what must have been a seven year old puff away like a pro. Both the boys and girls. That was pretty crazy, but incredibly sad. How they start smoking at a young age is beyond me. I dont think it's a huge problem on Weno, but then again, maybe we haven't encountered it yet. Crazy.
Mass on Sunday was very nice. It was packed with about 400 people from the parish. The best part was being stared at by most of the young people (all the kids were literally gawking at us with their mouths open) for the entire mass. After mass, when they give announcements, we were thanked for being their at their parish, and they called our names to stand up as if we were the guests of honor. This is nothing new here, and I'm slowly getting used to it, but it is very strange how, as JVs, we get a royal treatment in most places we go. It is very humbling. It is also hard not to laugh to the JV next to me when I sit back down. Not laughing at them, but at myself.
That's pretty much it for Fefan. When we got dropped off at Weno, we waited, and waited, and waited some more. We got dropped of at 1:00. We got back to Xavier at 4:30. Typical, but that's island time for you.


French Navy Frigate “Vendemiaire”

There are hundreds of incredible things that I have been experiencing out here. It is amazing enough that I’m teaching, and even more outstanding that I’m on a small tropical island paradise that I did not even know existed a year ago from today. However, the unexpected perks of this whole mission cannot be beat. A perfect example is the surreal (there is no other way to describe it, really) experience we had last night. As the subtitle above this paragraph suggests, yes, we were on the French Ambassador’s frigate for a cocktail reception…

INTERUPTION NOTE: I am currently writing this blog at 10:00 AM on Satruday. These people that I will begin to talk about shortly JUST flew their helicopter RIGHT over Xavier. We heard them circling, so we went on the roof. Apparently these French Navy guys are just cruising around the island in their helicopter (I have a picture of that helicopter tied down to the ship). Anyway, it decided to have some fun and flew right past the roof, but REALLY close to us. The kids were yelling and waving on the field, and I, of course, was going nuts. Don't see that everyday. Ok, back to the real story...

Let me explain what's going on here. I sit down for dinner Tuesday night, and Dwyer says that we were invited to dine with the French ambassador tomorrow (wednesday). I said who's going? He said just the JVs and Fr. Athur. I dont beleive him. He shows me the invitation. I still don't beleive him. He tells me we're going aboard his frigate. Then I really don't beleive him. But then Athur confirms it, and I don't beleive it. Apparently the person in charge of inviting (important) locals to his cocktail hour was a Xavier graduate, and is very familiar with the Jesuit Volunteers, so he invited us along. It was quite an honor.
We leave Wednesday night (we prepared ourselves by listening to "Le Poissons" from the Little Mermaid...the French chef song...and going over French history...I was prepared to tell them how they made a mistake with the Vikings by assuming they were blood thirsty barbarians and not letting them pass through Paris when all they really wanted was to pass through to find some good farm land in southern France ... silly French!), and arrived to the docks around 6:45. When we see the ship, we really cannot beleive that this was happening. It is a pretty big ship (93 meters long, I checked on one of the posters of the ship that gave out information about it) and only had one gun on it. But it was still very impressive. I think the whole experience really hit home when we saw Navy officers or whatever in their Whites waiting to greet its guests on board. We were greated by the captain, French accent in full force, and we headed for the back. And under a huge tent were many French in their Whites (I have not seen this many white people since Hawaii) mingling with locals and even other white people who must have been on the island for one reason or another. Inside this hanger were the appetizers and the French wine. Let me tell you, that French bread and French cheese was exquisite! Now, I love the simple living, and I have overcome most of its challenges and I think I have adjusted fine. Even with the food, which I knew was going to be a hard time with. But having some freshly made real French bread and cheese definitely hit the spot and made me reminice of the top of the line meals I had at my grandparents house. I went to town on that food, and enjoyed some wine as well, which I suppose was good. I also had some champagne (first time ever!) which, according to Jackie, was very, very, very good. It was bubbly.
We mingled with a few people, some French officers and such (it was so bizzare to hear these thick French accents all around us...we're in Chuuk!!) Funny note: the girls, Adrienne and Jackie, were COMPLETELY surrounded by the officers as soon as they got on. They did not have a moment of peace from them. Us guys, Arthur, Joe, Dwyer and I just stood in the corner like fools, not having anyone surround us. But that thought quickly passed when we just downed some food. The girls DID get a private tour of the ship and Jackie even got to sit inside the helicopter (I was very jealous of that...only time I wish I were a girl). But we did have some interesting conversations with some paratroopers (not as cool as you would think) and the captain himself. When he heard I was a history teacher, he thought that this story might interest me: during the French Revolution and up until the Napoleanic Age, the French apparently started the calendar back to year 1, and changed the names of all the months. One of them was Vendemiaire (the name of the ship) which was the month for good harvest. And there you go. It's too bad I wont be teaching the French Revolution this year to my class.
As the night was winding down, we had to find the girls, who were trapped somewhere inside the ship (who, we found out later, got to see all the really cool stuff in the ship such as the captain chair, the boiler room, and the weapons room!). To find them, that meant we also had to get a little private tour of inside the ship, which was pretty awesome. We found ourselves in this small room that must have been the lounge area (the bar, stereo and flat/widescreen TV told us that) And there they both were, Jackie and Adreienne, surrounded by French officers trying to impress them with this or that. They did offer us French beer (as seen in the pictures) and we sat there for a while. However, we felt bad, because Arthur as waiting for us back on deck. We saved our girls from their clutches and headed back up. IF we didn't have to go, I think we could have stayed the night (which they definitely let the girls aware of). As we left, I made sure we got some pictures with some of the Frenchies and the helicopter in the back, and as we drove away, we could not beleive what just happened. Honestly, it was very surreal. But there is one of the perks of being a JV, I guess. Once in the lifetime, definitely.
Also, funny thing, we saw most of them at Truck Stop (one of the few resturaunts on island) last night. We saw Patrick, our good friend, and some other officers who recognized Adrienne (Jackie is off on a retreat for the Juniors). It was pretty funny. I told my students to give Adrienne and Jackia a hard time, which they did. Some of the girl students in my class really wanted the French to visit the school. It was pretty cute.

That's it for now. The WASC team (the committee that travels around the Pacific checking out schools, and the thing we've been working on all year) comes next week, which will be very exciting. However, when they leave, it's party time for Xavier, since the staff, faculty and students, and definitely the administration has been working very hard recently for the report and to improve the school.
I've written too much. If you have any specific questions, let me know. Miss you all. Peace.