Cultural Day and Graduation

Internet is working. So...

Last week was the week after final exams, and it was a busy one. The main event that the students have been preparing for for many weeks was Cultural Day, an event that happens here at Xavier every two years. This is when each island nation (6 of them) plus any other nations that are represented at Xavier (Indian and Japanese this year) perform cultural dances for everyone to see. You do not know how lucky I am to be at Xavier because not only am I on Chuuk experiencing that culture, but I am with students from all over Micronesia: Palau, Yap, Chuuk, Pohnpei, Kosrae and the Marshall Islands. They span a total of 3000 miles, yet the combined land mass of all these small islands is still less than Rhode Island. Yet the cultures are completely different, and the dances, foods, costumes and languages are more diverse than any other region in the world.

I'll take this opportunity to let you all know that I have updated the best of the Cultural Day photos on my webshots. Please check them out. I have titled them appropriately as well so you can distinguish between each island nation dance...


****

(Sorry for the delay. Since the last time I updated my blog, a week and a half has passed. The internet literally started working – albeit slowly – the day before we left. I will explain below what was going on the days leading up to me leaving for the Marshall Islands – where I am writing from right now – but I will continue from May 10th, Cultural Day)

The first part of the day consisted of exhibits and food. Different classrooms were assigned to the different island nations (again, from East to West: Republic of the Marshall Islands, (Federated States of Micronesia) Kosrae, Pohnpei, Chuuk, Yap, Republic of Palau). Each classroom had many things on sale as well as for display. The Palauans had the actual immunity monkey statue they used in the show Survivor, the Yappese had all of their costumes up for display, as well as a lot of betel nut (the best betel nut comes from Yap) the Kosraeans, although the smallest group at Xavier (only 4 students) had a lot of food, including some great banana cinnamon pie. The Chuukese weren’t selling anything, but they had tons of food. The Marshallese and the Pohnpeians had the most crafts to sell. I did buy a lot of authentic and beautiful things, but I wont be sending them home any time soon because I don’t trust the postal service system here any more. I’ll send it home with my brother when he comes here during Christmas (you should think about joining him).

All of the dances that were performed were not really new, since we’ve seen bits and pieces of them for the WASC visit, but everyone, especially us first years, were especially excited. Unfortunately, we missed the first couple of dances because the teachers and I were getting dressed and ready for our multicultural dance in one of the classrooms. That consisted of getting our thu ready. A thu is basically a long red sheet that you tie around your waist. You’re not supposed to do this, but we wore underwear underneath, just in case. We also put on body paint, but we did not smear ourselves with oil, which other students did for their dances. After a few dances were performed in Callaghan hall, in front of many visitors and families (who were also there for graduation) and even tourists, since this day was advertised down town, the faculty was ready to perform. It was really fun, and everyone got a kick out of it. They loved to see many of us white people dressed up and trying to do traditional Chuukese dances. I think most of the students loved the New Zealand dance we did (the one we learned from one of the Australian volunteers). It’s a dance used by the New Zealand rugby team before a match to intimidate the opponents. It’s pretty hard core. I’ll teach everyone both dances when I get home. I’m still trying to figure out how to send home some of the videos that were taken of the dances.

All of the other dances were amazing as well. The Yappese were the best, I think, because Yap is known for preserving its culture better than any other island nation in Micronesia, and they take their traditional ways seriously. All of their costumes, from their special grass skirts to the paint they put on their bodies, come directly from Yap and cannot and should not be gotten from anywhere else. All of the middle island nation states have stick dances, which includes wacking long sticks against others’, almost like a sword fight, and they’re all pretty fascinating how the students can keep a rhythm without hitting each other in the head. The Pohnpeians can do it the fastest, the Kosraeans do a cool move when they move the stick under their legs to hit their partner’s stick, but the Yappese do more complex movements that includes jumping and twirling while holding sticks. All in all, it’s an amazing sight, and viewing dances like this really make me fully aware that I am truly in a different place, a very unique and beautiful part of the world. There are always remnants of Western culture everywhere, but these cultural dances are pure Micronesian culture, and it is very moving to see how serious these students perform them. Please check out the pictures to get an idea of what I’m talking about, although those pictures and this blog do not do them justice.

The last notable thing was the Sakau pounding in the Pohnpeian hut. I think I mentioned how we drank Sakau during Christmas, when the two Pohnpeian JVs came to visit. Some Pohnpeian parents brought the Kava root, and the students showed us, in the hut, how they traditionally prepared the drink. On a big flat rock, the pounded the root as much as they could, turning it into stringy dust. Next the put clumps of this crushed root in soaked hibiscus bark. They soaked this for a while, then squeezed out all of the juice, which was the drink Sakau. The students also explained that they prepare this for guests or big feasts, and females never prepare it. The son must also always prepare the Sakau if the father is present. There is also a special way of passing the Sakau (which is drunk from a dried out coconut shell), and you must close your eyes when you drink it. My mouth turned numb when drank some, and apparently you are supposed to get a relaxed buzz from it. It’s pretty nice, although it has this slimy feel to it. Overall, it was pretty cool.

That’s about it for Cultural Day. I wish I took time to write my blog immediately after the day occurred, because I’m sure that I am forgetting some details at this moment, almost 16 days later. But it was a very busy time. Although I was done with grading, I still had to do a lot of clean up with my office and my room, as well as help with the Baccalaureate mass and Graduation. Chris’ parents were also visiting, which was great. Mrs. Dwyer even taught some of us authentic Irish Dancing, and if the Dwyers showed up a few days before Cultural Day, we would have performed it in front of everyone. Why not, it’s a cultural dance! I wish I knew some authentic Spanish or Cuban dances to show off. Next time.
The Bacc. Mass was nice, and getting ready for graduation was mostly the job of the students. I was not that close with the senior students, so I was not as sad or emotional as some of the other teachers. I spent the last remaining days of the year hanging out with the Dwyers, resting, or just running around from meal to special meal with the graduating seniors.
Like everything else at Xavier and Chuuk, everything was unorganized and a mess, but I just sat back and let the confusion that usually ensues for big events like this happen. Graduation was outside on the courts, with everyone under tents. However, while walking towards the tents for the first time that Saturday morning, the whole setup looked like an outdoor Hawaiian themed tag sale. There were colorful balloons and decorations everywhere, as well as shirts hanging from all of the tents. Apparently it’s a Marshallese tradition to hang out up newly bought shirts for the kids to grab after the event is over. There was also island music blasting from the stereo system (which, of course, went out due to a power outage in the middle of the event).
That night, also on the court, there was huge dinner for all of the graduates, students, families and guests. Apparently there was enough food prepared for about 1000 guests! I don’t know if that was true, but there were a lot of people (who I assumed brought food themselves); even the entire field was covered with cars. There were tables for people to sit at under the tents, plus a live Chuukese band (consisting of some relatives and, of course, the most popular instrument nowadays, the keyboard), plus some room for dancing. The students sat in the outskirts of the tables, and the seniors sat at tables at the special stage/tent. There were some speeches made by our deacon and director and some random parents (thankfully there was no alcohol, or else the speeches would have gone on forever). There was some dancing, as well. Some random Sapuk kids, who were also hanging out on the outskirts of court, dragged me out to dance, which was pretty funny. Sunday, the next day, involved a lot of nothing: for the first time in a long time, there was really nothing to do.

Monday was the debate, round two. First of all, I appreciate everyone’s sympathy from the first debacle, but I’ve learned a lot from that experience. I taught me a lot about organizing events and working with different groups of people. It also led me to recognize and deal with frustration. Now this second time was a piece of cake, because we had 6 judges in total, which was very helpful. SDA backed out (which was fine with us), and Chuuk High, who said would participate, did not show up that day. So it was just us and Saramen, the site where the new JVI community will be starting at the end of the summer. We had two rounds against Saramen, and they were very, very good. We won the first, lost the second, and lost by ONE point overall! But I didn’t mind, because I was glad it was all over, but more importantly, both teams gave very great debates. I’m glad the score was so close, because both teams deserved to do so well. My debators were not that disappointed, since they were also glad it was over, but they also knew that both teams did very well, and it also deserved to be close. However, with the debate over, my summer vacation officially started.

Tuesday was also incredibly busy. Not only did I have to finish cleaning up my office, but I had to clean up my room, pack everything for the summer, and attend a 5 hour student government meeting, since I am moderator. I am very excited about working with the Senate next year, and I wish I was around longer to work with the students more. I have many ideas, and I want to see that they do well. Anyway, it was a very busy day, and I found out that later that afternoon the internet came back on. That’s when I quickly updated my blog, and wrote emails to let everyone know I was alive.

Early the next day we all left for the airport, and everyone was there to see us off. Even my sponsor family came just to say goodbye to me. Then, after many hours of island hopping, we arrived in the Marshall Islands, where I am right now, and I’m pretty tired, so I need to go, but I will update you guys later with what Majuro is like. It is totally different from Chuuk, I’ll say that much.

Yokwe (hello, goobye, I love you – Marshallese)