Christmastime and the Home Stretch

Hello all. It’s New Years Eve, the middle of our Christmas Break. In short,
my break has been extremely relaxing, very fun, and the perfect escape from
work and students. I feel more energetic, alive, and normal than I have felt
in a long, long time. By normal, I mean that I am beginning to naturally act
like AJ again, which is a good feeling. Being bogged down by work and stress
for so long can make you be someone you are really not. Maybe I was being too serious, or trying to act like someone I THOUGHT I should be acting like, but I think, and I’m sure we all know this from experience, we are at our best when we are more like ourselves.

With that said, the break as been amazing. There has been a lot of down time for cleaning, reading, watching movies and other activities. The two Pohnpeian JVs, Greg and Tim, came a week ago, and hanging out with new faces is like Christmas for me. Jackie and Dwyer are still in Pohnpei for the basketball tournament, but other than that, we have the Saramen JVs up here at Xavier all of the time, so we have good group of people to hang out with.

Pohnpei Trip

Speaking of Jackie and Dwyer in Pohnpei: So they are there for a basketball tournament set up by the Pohnpeian government (something that would never happen here in Chuuk). Those two have spent the entire semester planning this trip, fundraising, and figuring out other logistics. The hardest, and more frustrating part, was figuring out the boat ride. I got an ulcer just listening to those two talk about the constant change of plans and obstacles to their trip. As the departure date got closer, the departure date of the boat to Pohnpei had changed so many times that Jackie, Dwyer and the basketball team players had to quickly drive down to the dock, only to find out that they weren’t leaving until the next day. Why does the boat not follow a schedule, you may ask? Great question. They are not bound to anything, really. I think, after trying long and hard to figure it out, the
departure just depends on the whim of the captain. Typical. Anyway, the team finally got down to the dock one day after Finals ended (but they all had to wait on the dock for many hours before they even boarded). The worst thing, however, was that this boat trip to Pohnpei, which usually takes one day, ended up taking 3!!! I heard bits and pieces of the trip so far, but being on a huge boat, going through the Pacific Ocean, packed with many people and sleeping on the floor does not sound like a fun time. I heard many, many students threw up … on each other. I also heard that when they finally arrived in Pohnpei, Jackie and Dwyer were dead, dead tired. I wonder how they are doing right now. Oh well, I’m relaxing here!

Love Curse

Strange news: so Ellen has had this rash on her for quiet some time (over a month), and she has not been able to get it off. She has been to clinics and the hospital many times. NOTHING was working. Finally, after many dosages of strong medication and the like, she visited the hospital one last time. The Philippina doctor, who’s been living in Chuuk for quite some time, asked a weird question to Ellen:

“Has anyone professed strong feelings to you, and you did not return them?”

Random. Ellen could not think of anything, but then suddenly she remembered, at the end of JVI retreat on Udot, after coming back to Weno, the boat driver, a young boy, told Ellen “I love you.” I remember that happening, but none of us, especially Ellen, thought much about it. He was probably exaggerating the affectionate statement, or perhaps he didn’t really understand the full meaning of the English translation. Who knows. Well, Ellen did NOT return the feelings. I mean, what do you say to this random local who you just met who tells you “I love you”?

Long story short: this dude put a LOVE SPELL on her!!! Since she didn’t return the feelings, a rash appeared. Why? According to some of the Chuukese workers here, that spell is for the girl to think about the boy every time she thinks about the rash, OR the only way for the rash to go away is to go back to the boy for the counter curse or whatever. (This is no joke). This doctor, a legitimate doctor, prescribed this: burn some palm branches into ash … but the palm branches MUST ONLY be from Good Friday branches. Then mix the ashes with a special time of palm oil. Apply. There you go.

Now, we always see this doctor at Church, up front and center. But she legitimately believed in that – both as a Catholic and a doctor of Western medicine. Crazy. I remember seeing Ellen’s face when she walked out of the hospital after being told this. Very crazy. Needless to say, she has NOT tried this out. She is doing better, though.

It’s just interesting to see more examples of the mix of Catholicism and traditional beliefs. While some of the local workers here didn’t really believe it, others, who are devote Catholics, were legitimately angry with this guy from Udot, and now most of them fear going back to that island.

Anyway, back to break: we went caroling on Christmas Day, at 8 in the morning, to the prison and the hospital. Now, the concept of Caroling is very new to Micronesians. So new, in fact, I think Xavier students are the only ones who do it. But the boys sang well, and it was nice to visit these places in town, since the boys are only used to going to Laundromats and the markets.

Pisar and Getting Stuck at Sea

We went back to Pisar, aka the most perfect tropical island getaway probably in the entire world. I went there last year. I think I wrote a blog on it, and I am sure there is an album of pictures from it. I did not take many this year. Also, it was interesting getting there. We left from this Korean research facility – an old Chuukese hotel that’s no longer in service – to make our way to the eastern most point on the reef that separates the vast Pacific with our lagoon. However, it was very windy, the water was extremely choppy, and there was nothing but Black Death on the horizon – on coming storms. One boat almost tipped over. My boat had water coming in. We barely got out of the shallow coral area when we realized it took us 10 minutes to go a couple of yards. We had to turn back, which was a bummer because that would be one less day of spending time on Pisar, but I think we were all
relieved to be back on dry land.

Second day was more interesting. The day was calm and sunny. We make our way in two boats to the island. 20 minutes out, our motor dies. The other boat comes around and we just tell them to go ahead. We’re close enough to Weno that we will try and go back very slowly, get a new boat, and meet up with the second boat later. We turn around in the boat back to the island. The engine dies and starts up again about 20 times before finally dying completely. It was bad when one of the drivers asked us if we had a cell phone. So, yes, we were stranded in the lagoon. Now, it wasn’t THAT bad, because we were practically in the middle of many big islands, we were
drifting towards the middle of the lagoon where there were other big islands (not drifting to the reef, which would have been bad), and the weather was good. Granted, the rocking up and down was pretty bad. Some JVs got sick, and I, who do not get sea sick, started getting dizzy after about an hour of rocking there. We were close enough to Weno to be seen, but too far away to make any noise. So I wasn’t really worried, but it just sucked a lot. THANKFULLY, one of the Australian volunteers left his cell phone in a bag that was in our boat. So we called the Korean place, and about 30 minutes later – after rocking in the water for about an hour – a boat came to get us. They towed us in which was extremely slow, but at least we made it back.
After landing on solid ground again, and having a quick lunch and getting our bearings back, we took a bigger, faster, and much safer boat to Pisar.

For those of you that are not aware, Pisar is a small reef island smaller than a football field. There is a really, really nice house on it (perhaps the best furnished house I’ve been to here – the mattress must have been from heaven), some other small rooms in a cabin, and a big cooking area. This family who owns the island cleans the island when visitors are not there. The sand, unlike most other places I’ve been to, is actually nice sand, not hard coral. The water is completely fresh and clean, unlike the lagoon water nearer the bigger island, especially Weno. There is a constant hard breeze from the reef. We can see the huge waves of the Pacific ocean crash against the coral reef about 200 yards from our little island. It’s completely isolated and absolutely beautiful. It’s really perfect beyond
words. I could stay there for weeks. Anyway, we stayed there for 3 days and two nights. We hang out with, listened to some of the JVs play guitar, snorkled, played in the strong currents that circumnavigated the island, napped, napped some more, and just enjoyed the quietness of the wind.

Home Stretch

That’s pretty much it for break. We have a few days left, and I hope to nap, read, play badminton as much as possible, and rest up for my last semester. I always knew that this winter break would be a serious turning point in my mission here. From here on in, I’m technically on my way out of Micronesia. I can count the months left on one hand. I am actually thinking (or trying to think) about my future. I try to place myself back in normal society in my mind. I am trying not to think about it that much, and I’m sure when school starts again in over a week that I will have little time to think about the future, but I’m trying to plan for it nonetheless.

It’s very stressful thinking about the direction I want to go in, especially here. While many of you think about changing jobs or applying to schools and whatnot at home, it’s very difficult to focus on that while I’m still on a small island in the middle of no where, and I’m still exposed to this warm air and constant power outages. How does one think of resumes while still teaching kids here in the tropics? It’s also a bit weird, but it’s something I will have to do soon.

This is also the time to think about my time spent here in the past 18 months. Naturally, I will ask questions such as “What did I accomplish”, “Was it worth it”, “Did I spend my time productively here,” and so on. I’m sure I will be sad to leave. But, I will be honest, I am excited to go home soon (5 months and a really long, probably harder semester ahead of me is considered ‘soon’ for me).

Also, since it’s my last semester, will I change my teaching style? Maybe I’ll be less serious and strict and be more like myself, or maybe I’ll be even more stringent with rules and application of lessons. Really, who knows. Bottom line: this is going to be a different time for me here, since I am in the home stretch. It’s just crazy!

Alright. Thanks for everyone who has written and sent packages. A shout out to the Cullens for their awesome package. Thanks for that shirt. I missed the smell of new shirt. Don’t worry, the humidity will take care of that soon. Also thanks to Bridget for her awesome CD of great Rock music I’ve been missing this past year. I’m all caught up now. Thanks to Tool for the little package! Thanks to Laura for the card. And thanks to everyone else that I can’t remember to thank. Your best wishes and correspondence is great. It makes me miss home even more and makes June the most anticipated month of my life.

Peace, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year

Final Exams

Great news! Classes are over. Today we begin "Review Days", then I give my Final Exams (my students are freaking out, they know I give hard exams, sweet!) The only stressful thing to do now is to actually write out the tests, administer them, and then grade them, which I will want to do as quickly as possible. As soon as the last red pen mark is made on that last exam, I will soon be tasting sweet sweet freedom.

...for 3 weeks. Then back to the second semester. But a break is desperately needed for everyone.

A quick recap of the past few weeks.

As soon as I got back from Guam (still a surreal experience, it almost seems like a dream) I still had to adjust to my new glasses. My eyes were still in pain for the first few days, and I tried not to panick, thinking "Man, will I have to go BACK to Guam?" But thankfully, I got better.

I got back on my feet, and after examining the craziness of this semester, I seriously rethought how to pace myself. So the past few weeks have been much better, compared to my doom and gloom blogs in the past. I'm more relaxed, less stressed, but more importantly I'm back to focusing on why I am here. That helps a lot for me. I ask myself "Why did I come here? What am I DOING here?" If I think about that every day, or especially when I'm down, I remind myself of all those reasons. Long story short: I'm here to help people. I can do that, and I like doing that, and I think i'm decent at that job, so I feel better.

Then I tell myself "Hey man, I'm just trying to have a good time," and then I usually feel more at ease with myself, my coworkers and especially my students. When we're all having a good time, serious learning gets done. My energy levels rise and my enthusiasm comes back (which is seriously needed in my profession right now, since I completely lack any competence for teaching, so my energy must blind my students of that fact.)

So, other than that, nothing exciting has happened (thank the lucky stars).

Well, unless you consider my hair cut!!! Girls across the world: I am very sorry. I know how dissapointed you are. But it was a fun experiment while it lasted (one year) and it was getting too annoying and too hot (heat wise). It feels great not to wipe that long, surfer hair out of my face. But more importantly, it feels good to be back to the normal AJ. It was a lot of fun seeing everyone's reactions, especially the new JVs that have only known me with long long hair. It was also endearing to see some of my Seniors (Juniors last year) get excited for my new hair cut because they were also like "Ah yeah, the old AJ is back." Because that's how they used to remember me when we first met.

Speaking of the old AJ, it is officially down to 6 months until I make my way home. I'm trying really hard not to think about it or plan anything yet (I still have no life direction ... a huge prize to anyone who figures it out for me ... and I'll throw in eternal glory!). But I cannot help but to think about it. The emotions are high and mixed, but all in all, I think I will be OK to leave.

But that thought is premature, and I need to focus on pushing back the boundaries of ignorance with my students and make some hard finals. (Or, in reality, to catch those bad students who have been fooling around all year with their pants down - not literally, although when the girls leave campus, the boys love to run around in their underwear - and give them their comeuppance for being a "cool kid" while they suffer through their final!)

Ah, it's nice to be a teacher.

So I'm doing very well. Christmas packages would be most welcome, of course (books, Nutella, chocolate things, pasta stuffs, the usual). I love hearing from everyone. I hope my blog is interesting.

OH: new pictures are up. Go to "2nd Year Pics". I put some new ones (still with old, long hair) in Random Pics, and a lot of new ones from my second Xavier Day 06. You can see my new, awesome, totally hot haircut in that one. Hotness.

You are all great. Have a great time with the upcoming break. Good luck to all of my friends (the smart ones) who are taking final exams in grad school.

Take care.