AJ in Chuuk

Last In-Country Blog

2007-05-30T14:21:00.000-08:00

This will be my last blog I will write from Chuuk. The next, and probably last one, will be a reflection of how things are going in the States. Before I enter in my final thoughts, some things you need to know:

I will not be going to Yap. Therefore, I will not be staying longer this summer. Basically, the debate win technically went to the other school. It was an incredibly hard few days for me after I wrote the last blog, mostly because we were dealing with complaints from others about the scoring, but we also had to decide how to deal with the ridiculous judging. We ended up simply pulling out because I thought it would be too difficult and sensitive to fight, and it was the honorable thing to do. It is nice to give the two students from Berea Christian High School a chance to go to another state and represent Chuuk. My two debaters agreed with this course of action, they knew in their hearts that they truly won, and they will be off to bigger and better things in their future.

To keep this short – because I have spent a lot of emotional energy on this – the judges were either extremely incompetent or extremely biased. There is huge amount of indication that they are truly biased because they did not like the fact that two Pohnpeian students (both of our debaters were from Pohnpei) would represent Chuuk State in the National debate. Secondly, even though the Chuuk community praises the presence of Xavier, they usually have it out for us, and try to cheat us out of competitive events. I have heard this from many sources, and apparently this has been going on for a long time. But that’s the reality of things here.

And that’s why it’s a sensitive issue to fight. Filing an official complaint (something I didn’t want to do, but Fr. Arthur now has me doing) does not just touch upon the issue of faulty judging in that particular instance. To address that issue is to address the very broad injustices that are a reality in this state. It would point out, indirectly of course, that the serious lack of quality education is pervasive in all aspects of the society here, and many decades of neglect have produced adults who are either incompetent, inexperienced, or legitimately corrupt. It’s a very sad reality, but that’s how things are here. For example: one of the judges is from the College of Micronesia (COM), but most of these administrators cannot do their jobs; a student from another school took the entrance test a few weeks ago, and his test got sent to two different administrators who grade the test. The result? One test was 20 points higher than the other, even though it was the same test, graded by two different people apparently working for the same school. Such discrepancies, which seriously affect individuals, are an indication that the people in charge are not qualified. Most government officials here do not have high school diplomas!

This is ranting, yes, mostly because I need to explain how very talented, hardworking students cannot win something as simple as a debate. However, I bring this up because this is the end of my stay here, and this reality basically is the reason why people like me are here. The social injustices here in Micronesia – whether caused by the consequences of colonialism, neglect from the U.S., the difficulty of a transitioning culture, or just internal problems like corruption or straight up apathy – are sad and hard to deal with, but it has opened my eyes. My eyes are now wide open to injustices of impoverished education.

And now here I am, at the end of two of the most wonderful years of my life. I say this sentence immediately after the previous paragraphs of my ranting of the problems here on purpose. This experience was not JUST getting down and dirty in the social troubles of this place; this experience was also not JUST about the beautiful screen-saver-esque geography, the amazing and incredibly unique culture, or the friendly, loving and generous people of Chuuk. It was also not JUST about the values of simple living, community, spirituality and social justice that JVI stands for. Finally, even though about 90% of my life dealt with this, my past two years were not JUST about being a teacher here at Xavier High School. My past two years, obviously, were a mix of all of these things. And it WAS wonderful because I (think) I grew.

We had our end of the year JVI retreat on Pisar (heaven) last week, and it was very relaxing and important. The sessions were intense but I definitely got a lot out of it. The ones for Jackie, Chris and I were very intense. I had a feeling there was going to be reverse culture shock (probably the theme of my next blog), but they went in depth with the stages of reverse culture shock. So for those of you that encounter me when I first get home, please bear with me.

Other than that, graduation, the baccalaureate mass and other end of the year parties were very good. No need to get into those. Saying goodbye, and realizing that my work here is finished (even though I’ve been busy with organizing and cleaning and wrapping things up constantly since school has been completed) is pretty hectic. A bit emotional, too. I’m sure it will hit me HARD later on.

I’m not sure what else I can say. I will be home very soon. I have 35 gigabytes of pictures and videos for all to see. I will have many stories and things to say, but I’m sure I will not know how to say it. They told us at the retreat that when people ask you how your “trip” was, you respond with either the 30 second version or the 30 minute version. I’ll try to keep it reasonable.

Thank you all faithful readers and package-senders and letter-senders and email-corresponders. It has helped me more than you know. Now you just have to visit me at home, or let me sleep on your couch.

Peace.

Debate Again

2007-05-13T17:19:00.000-08:00

So yesterday (Saturday May 12th) was the Chuuk State Debate…

Before I go on with what happened, let me fill you in with some background details. Last year I was in charge of organizing the whole thing. Things fell apart, it was kind of a mess, and it was the first time I really had a look into the state of things here on Chuuk. Last year, I used words like “ridiculous” and “incompetent”, and it is unfortunate that most events or general matters are not sufficiently, efficiently, or properly run/organized/dealt with. Basically, it showed me how band aids are constantly used here: they ask a 2 year American volunteer to run this Chuuk State debate which SHOULD be run by the department of Justice (just like how the other JVs run the Interscholastic events for basketball, volleyball and track and field).

As for this year, I was in charge. BUT the guy at the Supreme Court (it’s his job I’m basically taking over) agreed to get the judges and arrange communication between schools; two things that I (or anyone else up at Xavier) can not feasibly do. So, unlike last year, things were more organized. Yesterday, after driving down my team to the court, I helped get the court ready, and everything really fell into place: the judges actually arrived (on time!) and ALL the schools (4 of them, including us) arrived (on time!)! We actually started at 9:00 AM, like we agreed, not island time (30 minutes to 2 hours later).

Long story short, Xavier beat Saramen (the school that won last year), then Chuuk High and Berea Christian High (two schools that are not, unfortunately, up to the standards of Xavier or Saramen) faced off, with Berea winning. It was not the prettiest form of debate I have seen, but I am immensely proud that these two schools are participating and learning. Usually, in the past, it was JUST Xavier and Saramen, but it is wonderful to see more schools participate. Then for the final round, we faced off with Berea. Everyone knew before we would win, and during the debate, it was very evident that Xavier was stronger and Berea, trying their best, could not compete.

However, according to the judges, Xavier lost.

I will not spend the rest of this blog elaborating WHY Xavier obviously did not lose. But it is the opinion of everyone that the judges were either:

1) completely incompetent in the ways of debate, even though they are adults (with rather important positions in the Chuukese community, by the way), AND they had the rules for judging in front of them;

or 2) the judges felt sorry for Berea, OR they discriminated against Xavier because both of the debaters are Pohnpeian (as opposed to being Chuukese).

No matter what the reason was for the obviously ridiculous ruling, everyone was shocked. Everyone. No one was happy – students, teachers, people working for the court, people not affiliated with Xavier high school – no one.

BUT, we had to count up the points from BOTH of the debates held that day, and Xavier ended up winning the whole debate.

So my team came in first place. My students won, and I am very, very proud of them.

Needless to say, I am emotionally exhausted now: drained from moderating this huge event all morning, incredibly proud of my students for winning, absolutely fuming over this poor, poor decision by the judges (which hurts the credibility of the event, and also does not give fair due to both the Xavier and Berea students – AND something like this honestly feels like a nightmare that it will haunt me for a while), and lastly I am very relieved that this last of my big responsibilities here is over with.

So here is some big news:

The winners from each FSM state go to the National Debate in Yap in the beginning of July. All expenses are paid for the two debaters and the coach. Well, since I am the coach, I would like to go, so right now I am in the process of seeing if I can change my plane ticket and leave from here one month later. So all of you that were expecting me home in June, there is a good chance that I may be home by the end of July. It is a bit sad knowing that I will delay seeing everyone, but this will be an opportunity that I will not want to miss. And what is one more month? It’s not like I have a job to go back to.

Debate is finished! I have hundreds of pages of grading to look forward to this week. Then my work is really done.

Almost there.

Matter of Weeks

2007-04-28T20:55:00.000-08:00

Greetings everyone. To my multitide of blog fans (my parents and maybe 2 other souls), I sincerely apologize. My excuse would normally be that I was really busy (I was). But I honestly didn't think anything NEW was happening. It's the same old stuff: work work work, enjoying my short free times, the students are well, still pains and still love to scream and run around in their underwear, still have plenty of problems with this school, but the faculty and staff are hanging in there. My classes are going well, we just had Track and Field Day, and I have 2 weeks of classes left.

It's crazy. Yesterday I planned out my entire Geometry class (circles!!) and I will plan out the rest of my other classes today. It's funny, because while I'm planning, I am telling myself that I need more classes to finish what I need to teach! It's just insane that it's all coming to an end.

May 12th I have the debate. The team is working hard this year, but now that Track and Field is over, we will really start preparing a lot more. The proposition is about the FSM having an office of a Special (Independent) Prosecutor. It's very interesting, and I am actually learning a good amount
about this. So at least I have that to keep working on.

But other than that, this is basically it. my 2 years are up. And I'm trying not to think about it that much. Sure, when I go online and talk with people at home, that's all they bring up, and I bring it up as well, but as soon as I step away from the computer, it's back to reality and continuing my lesson planning, grading, sweating (it's really hot here, incase you forgot) and just getting through one day at a time.

I will be home sometime in mid-June. Again, just writing that is nuts, but knowing that it will be a reality very soon is something.

So that's really it right now. People ask me how I'm feeling, and at this point I say "Excited." I mean, we're all so exhausted that I AM ready to be finished with classes and these students. However, we all know that after 2
weeks, I will become more nervous, sad, depressed, who knows. But right now the feeling is not that bad. I'll let you know in a few weeks.

Oh, by the way, Campbell sent me a 40 gigabyte external hard drive for me to bring home all of the pictures and videos I want (it took 3 months to get here, but it got here). This thing is soooo big I can probably erase all of the computers at this school and back them up. This thing can also fly and make espressos. Just kidding. Point is you will all see plenty of quality pictures when I get home.

Take care and see you all soon!

The Past Two Years in Numbers

2007-04-02T16:36:00.000-08:00

It's been a long time, everyone, but I'm still here.

I'm in the middle of Easter Break right now. This has been a break all of us have been looking forward to since January. Thank goodness for this break.

But the thing on my mind is the fact that I have 2 months left. It's crazy to think about. But I am resting up in order to reenergize myself, so the last 5 weeks of teaching are worthwhile.

There are new pictures uploaded as well. Enjoy those. And enjoy this blog by numbers.

Also, I can finally say with sincerity: "See you all soon."

Number of times I taught class with footwear: 0

Number of smelly teenage boys that sleep in the dorm right below me: 80

Number of inches my hair grew out to: 6-7

Number of waterfalls hiked to: 3 (4 if you count the Twin Waterfalls as 2)

Number of tiny kids who didn’t speak English I befriended (Let’s do the math: each village/small lagoon island has anywhere from 5-20 little kids, times the number of villages/small lagoon islands I’ve been to. Of course, this does not even count Pohnpei and the dozens of kids in Majuro…): A LOT

Number of new languages I can say "hello" in: 7 (6 of them you probably never heard of before)

Number of feet (depth) that I swam above in the ocean: probably a few
hundred; visibility only went down to 60 feet.

Number of times I experienced below 65 degree weather in the past two years: (not counting the super market in Guam) 0

Number of times to eat strawberries, steak, gorgonzola cheese, bagels, pesto sauce, fresh (insert ANYTHING): 0

Number of students taught: around 150

Number of subjects I had to "master" in order to "teach": 5

Number of times I wore shoes in the past year (starting from this August): 0

Number of satellites viewed in one hour: over 8, then stopped counting.

Number of times it snowed: 3 (just kidding)

Number of sports related to badminton I have mastered: 1

Number of glasses I had to go through: 4

Number of permanent scars (so far): 2

Number of Japanese and Indonesian items of clothing I now own: 3 and 1, respectively, so 4

Number of centimeters of my current (and thickest) zorries (sandles): .9 – 1.2 cm (some parts are worn down)

Number of nights to sleep on the hard floor or hard surface: Probably over 20

Number of days without any power (island power or school generator): record, during last year’s final exams, around 3

Number of days Chuuk had 24-hour power: Well, it began in the middle of this February, but last week we had 3 days without any island power, so about 60. (Of course, there were a few days in those 60 where island power went out for an hour/6 hours/12 hours, then continued generating long lasting power)

Number of times to see the president of the FSM / times we hung out with the president: 3 / 2

Pwa pwa pwi pwi pwe pwe
(The Happy, Friendly Turtle)

Chuukese Arranged Marriage

2007-03-02T11:18:00.000-08:00

So this is the third piece in a series of my Junior's English Skills Expository Essays. This is by a Chuukese female who wrote about the practice of arranged marriage. Who better to let you in on some insights about the culture than a Chuukese, right? Forgive the grammar or high school level style, but the content should hopefully be interesting. Less than 3 months left. Keep finding me jobs. Oh, and a huge thanks to my grandparents and my uncle Charlie for awesome packages. Shout out!

In the islands of Chuuk State, arranged marriage has been known to be a very important and beneficial type of marriage to the Chuukese. Arranged marriage, which is also known as fixed marriage, has been practiced ever since the beginning of the Chuukese society. There are many things that brought about fixed marriage, however, there are three main factors: Political reasons, Social relations, and the chief’s reasons. Arranged marriage helps the Chuukese take what they want or accomplish their decisions, therefore, it is very crucial and it is still practiced today.

Political reasons is one of the reasons for fixed marriage. Families that are very large and powerful in certain societies are the main targets for those that are running for a seat in the government. Arranging a marriage between a candidate’s daughter or son and a child of a powerful family can help the candidate get more votes and win the position in the government. However, arranging a marriage for the candidate’s sake is not the only reason marriage is fixed. Within a society or community, a particular family that has been seeking power to control the whole society can look for another well known family within the society and make an arrangement of their children’s marriage with the intention of joining to rule the whole society. Of course, this arrangement always happens since people are looking for more power and fame within their communities.

Another crucial reason for arranged marriage is that the social relations are very important to the Chuukese. They considered friendships to be forever and promise to be kept between each other no matter what. Families with strong relations are said to need a strong bond to keep them together. With their children married together, the families live with the conviction that their friendship will never break. Promises of many important things, such as the responsibility of taking care of one’s land or taking care of one’s family, can also be made through arranged marriage. Through this marriage, the relationships and promises are kept and it is very difficult to break the rare chance the couple get their children are already married.

Last but not least, is the chief’s reasons are important factors in arranged marriages. In Chuuk’s history, the lineage of chiefs cannot be mixed with the lower ones. For the sake of their islands and in order to expand the lineage of chiefs, a daughter of a chief has to marry a son of a different chief. When a daughter of a chief marries the son of a chief from a different island, those islands can form alliances and help each other in whatever they need. As for the chiefs’ lineages, they will grow on both islands from which the married couples come from. In this case, the chiefs’ blood does not mix with the blood of the lower ones and alliances are formed between the two islands.

All of these things are the main reason for the instigation of arranged marriage. When arranged marriage is fixed between the children of different families for certain reasons, the children’s families are elated with the conviction that their dream has finally come true. As for the participants, they are sad that it is not fate that brings them together, but the will of their families, particularly, the fathers. On the contrary, some are very happy and they are married for as long as they live because they turned out to really love each other.

Over all, this form of marriage has helped many people in Chuuk State who are running for a position in the government, those who want more power in society, and the relationship between each other is kept and remained
strong. Over the past few years, those who found the meaning or truth of arranged marriage to be an ambiguous one, finally grasped the real meaning, understanding, and the reason why arranged marriage is very important to the natives and their ancestors in the past. Though, today’s modern life is changing the Chuukese life style, arranged marriage is still practiced in the islands of Chuuk State.

Palauan Culture

2007-02-25T14:52:00.000-08:00

I hope you enjoyed the previous post, written by a Junior Yapese. I have another essay written by a Palauan Junior female about her native culture. I also hope you enjoy this one. You may find it interesting, or you may not.
Nothing new is going on. We had Crazy Day last week, which is just an excuse for the students to go absolutely nuts: scream, wear women's clothing, yell some more, run around, and flip out for no reason. I'm still getting through one week at a time. Always busy, always tired, but trying hard not to stress out. Time is honestly moving by too quickly. I basically have three months left, but, let's be honest, the month of May doesn't count because it's the last month and it's full of final exams, parties, saying goodbye, and freaking out because I'll be entering the real world soon. But your emails still help, and I'm still unsure of what's going on when I get home. Oh well. Enjoy.

A symbol, not embroidered on a flag or tattooed on one's body, but is worn around the neck of a woman. Each has a legend, which came from gods or mystical creators. There are hundreds of these legendary symbols varying in size, shape, color, and design. Each symbolizes wealth and status within each village of the Islands of Palau. The precious item is the traditional Palauan Money. They are rectangular-curved and circular stone beads symbolizing Palauan heritage.

The traditional Palauan Money varies in size, color, design and value. Most of the beads are made of colored stones and a few are made of glass materials, but the stones have a higher value than the glass. The colors of the stone range from yellow and orange to bright orange-red, and the glass looking beads range from light blue to sea-green. One type of bead money had a feather hanging from a small hole in the middle. The bigger the Palauan money, the bigger the value it possesses.

The ancient Palauan Money is extremely valuable; and therefore, not everyone is given the privilege or responsibility of holding this item. The old women of a family or clan is in charge of holding on to these valuables. The respected old women are given the power to choose which of their daughters, granddaughters, or any female in the clan will hold the precious item around their neck. According to tradition, only the old woman who hung the money around your neck could unhook the bead, or until the woman's death. When the respected old woman dies, all the Palauan Money in the family is passed on to either the deceased's sister or the second ranking woman in the clan. If the deceased woman has no sister, the money can be passed on to her eldest daughter, as the Palauan money may never be in the possession of a male.

However, the traditional money was not only worn on the neck but also used during customs and other occasions. In the old days, Palauan money was presented to a girl's family when a man came to ask for marriage. The traditional money was also presented again to the woman's family during a divorce. The Palauan money is also used when women are pregnant, wearing a round, yellow bead called "Omebael," to symbolize pregnancy. Women also wear Palauan money when presented to their husband's family during the first child hot-bath ceremony, showing that the mother and father of the baby are married. The Palauan money is not only used as a symbol for marriage, childbirth, and divorce, but is used to buy land as well as a house.

Therefore, Palauan money usually circulates between clans and families. Once presented to a clan, or family, one has the right to either keep the money within their family or use it in customs. Most Palauans these days choose to keep the traditional money within their family since problems arise of who originally owned the money.

The Palauan money has been used for many centuries. The money is a symbol of pride, culture, and heritage of the Palauans. Palauan customs are incomplete without the presence of this traditional object. The Palauan people have been able to keep this piece of their heritage until now and will continue to do so for many more generations

Yapese Traditional Dance Essay

2007-02-19T12:52:00.000-08:00

Americans have 4th of July parades and picnics. Americans also have country fairs and Mardi Gras. Japan has the Tea Ceremony. Spain has the Running of the Bulls. And the state of Yap, the most traditional group of islands in all of Micronesia, perhaps the whole Pacific, has the Gaselaew. Here is an expository paper, written by one of my best students from Yap, about a very important cultural dance they still perform today.

GASELAEW

In the Western Carolines, on the island of Yap, a dance known as the Gaselaew* is performed synchronously that even the inhaling and exhaling of the dancers are done simultaneously. This dance consists of a single line of men who move in perfect unison. The lineup encompasses all ages from young boys to old men who still have the capacity to stand on their own. The Gaselaew is performed in a Malal*, a dancing arena positioned in front of the Faluw* or men’s house. Accounting for the dance’s compelling oneness and for the sake of it’s preceding reputation, the Gaselaew Dancers or Towrug* sacrifice long hours of organizing themselves mentally and physically before the dance.

On the day of the Gaselaew, the Dancer rises from a long night sleep and gets ready to depart from home. Firstly, he begins his day with a verbal recitation of the Gaselaew chant, the Bugan* and practices the most difficult movements of the dance. This method notifies the dancer of the liability of his voice and informs him which flick of the hand or which turn of the head he should meticulously pay more attention to when dancing. Secondly, the Dancer will take a morning swim. This physical exercise stretches and loosens his muscles to preclude cramps and avoid spraining in the course of the Gaselaew’s strenuous movements. Then, he returns to his house and eats a simple meal. The Dancer must not eat fish and only consume fresh or recently cooked food to prevent his voice from faltering during the dance. After his light breakfast, the fully nurtured man gathers the materials required for the Gaselaew. Such Materials include a Thaway*, a necklace of polished stones and shells passed down in his family for generations and a Taliyaw*, a crown of red strings and yellow dried bark intertwined to form a crisscrossing pattern with a tail feather. He accumulates the necessary utensils in a freshly made basket woven from coconut leaves, which he will carry with him. Lastly, he takes a shower, wears his Thuw*, or loincloth attire, and proceeds to the Faluw.

As the Dancer approaches the Faluw, he will search for a quiet, comfortable place to sit where he could mentally rehearse the Gaselaew while he awaits his co-dancers and the audience to assemble. The Dancer seizes every opportunity to practice the dance by himself. Habitually, he does this to reassure himself that he remembers every line and the specific movements executed in correspondence with each one. As a Towrug’s code of conduct, he
must be chivalrous and must lend assistance if needed. However, most of the time, he dwells in silence and reflective thought running the Gaselaew back and forth through his mind. Furthermore, he tries to attain composure which will warrant an exemplary performance later on. During his meditative trance, the Dancer listens to his teacher’s voice which overtime has found a permanent place at the back of his head and is his inanimate guide through the duration of the dance. With his head held high and his chin in the wind, the Towrug suffuses himself in a mental world seeking perfection.

Once the dance hour draws near, the calm rested man transforms himself into a Gaselaew Dancer. First, he will complete his attire by adding to his Thuw, a Bagiy* and thin dried strips of white hibiscus fiber also known as Galq*. A Bagiy is another type of loincloth designed in the Neighboring Islands(Outer Islands) of Yap. The type of Bagiy used for the Gaselaew is the striped, black and white pattern. It is tied around the Thuw with the Galq, making the dancer look majestic. Secondly, the Dancer ties his Palug* or leg decorations made of thin strips of betelnut leaves* that covers the calves like long socks with bristles. After the Palug, he puts on his Tem*, arm bands knotted from dyed coconut leaves with the ends protruding at the sides. Red and yellow flowers, known as Hana*, are tied with the Tem. However, the quality that distinguishes a Towrug is his golden shine. Pounded ginger roots dissolved in coconut oil excretes this yellow shade which is called Rrang* on the island. Next, the Dancer puts on his lei, Thaway and Lubuw*. His lei is made of yellow, red and white flowers along with some green fabricating a colorful, pleasant smelling ornament which matches his golden skin and crimson Thuw. Besides, his lei and his Thaway, he wears a second necklace called the Lubuw, which is made from double strands of a single white coconut leaf. This Lubuw is believed to posses supernatural power such as the prevention of a downpour and said to hold the stability and durability of the Towrug’s composure. Afterwards, the Dancer sprinkles himself with temporary counter black magic to prevent jealous spectator from cursing him. Finally, after everything else, he puts on his Taliyaw and joins his fellow dancers.

Lastly, the final rituals are performed before the Gaselaew begins. After the dancers have erected a line and confirmed that all of them are present, and escort will lead them to the Malal. Traditionally, the escort’s role is to dispel demons or evil spirits by chanting and lashing about with a branch of Yabung* or the Holy Tree. However, the escorts’ purpose is not limited to only dispatching evil, but also to serve as attention grabbers. Therefore, most escorts are battle polished , muscular men. While the Gaselaew Dancers carry out after the escort, their heads are bent and faces avert to prevent recognition and interaction with the audience before the dance. When the dancers enter, unlike most audiences, the crowd remains silent, this atmosphere of serenity spares the Dancers time to empty their minds of all thought and gives the Master or Teacher of the Gaselaew the chance to address the people. After welcoming the spectators and paying homage and respect to the chiefs, the Master blesses his Dancers. He begins by touching each of them with valuable artifacts such as shell money and presenting them to the audience. This ritual is mainly done to banish any negative sentiments that the people might have towards the Dancers. By then, the Towrugs have formulated a perfect line with the tallest in the middle and the shortest at the ends. They all have their heads bowed empty of thought, waiting for the hour to literally hypnotize the crowd. Finally, after a few moments of silence, a battle cry splinters the tranquility. The Dancers raise their heads and look straight into the eyes of the spectators as the Gaselaew is commenced.

The Dancers, because of the synchronously performed dance, need both physical and mental rest before the Gaselaew. The whole day of preparation is meant to fulfill this need. Composure is crucial for the perfection of concurrent movements. To attain this virtue, one must practice frequently, reciting the Bugan or rehearsing the difficult strenuous movements of the Gaselaew. This dance is considered by most Yapese to be the most difficult to learn and arduous to master. Therefore, the Towrugs are honored in Yap as “gods among men”.

So I'm a math teacher now...

2007-01-20T14:00:00.000-08:00

My last winter break here was everything I wanted it to be: plenty of time to catch up on sleep, get away from the students, spend time with the other people my age that know my language, do nothing, get bored, and have ample time to prepare my semester.

And then, about 5 days before classes started, as I was preparing my history lessons for, oh, the next three months, Anne, the principal, came in, and asked:

“How would you feel about teaching geometry?”

I thought she was obviously kidding, but then I found out that me teaching geo to the sophomores was a third back-up plan if the director did not find a new teacher soon. I said, like the great volunteer that I am, that I would certainly be up for it. I just needed to, you know, learn how to do geometry! She said that I would probably not teach it, just to give me the heads up, just in case. I started looking over the geometry book, just in case.

The next few days were not looking that great, meaning, the chances of me being the new sophomore geometry teacher were increasing. The time I was spending not planning for my classes to read the geometry book was also increasing. Finally, two days before the semester – a.k.a. classes – began, Fr. Arthur said I’d be taking over sophomore geometry. I had to give up World History (not only would I have not been able to keep up with 4 classes, but, luckily for me, it was physically impossible for me to teach all of those classes, since I, like most of the other JVs here, can’t be in
two classrooms at the same time).

So I was the new sophomore geometry teacher.

Just to briefly mention WHY I was asked to be the new math teacher: the previous geo teacher, who is now teaching a different subject, was not really making much headway with the kids. It was such a problem that the current sophomores will basically be screwed when it comes to standardized testing. Any of the JVs, or any other teacher, in my opinion, could have taken over. For whatever reason I was selected.

I was very freaked out, but surprisingly very excited about teaching a new subject. It felt like the first few weeks when I first started teaching; the only difference is that now I am a “qualified” teacher and have 3 whole semesters under my belt. The first class or so was mostly review testing, so I knew where the students were. It was also weird since I knew these students as History students. Their grades in geometry were, for the most part, very different. Amazing A++ kids in my World History class were now struggling and not participating. And visa versa.

After a while, the nervousness was subsiding, and I realized how much fun geometry was. First of all, geo is only two things: logic and spatial reasoning. Two things I think I have enough of. Also, it’s a very nice break from those very subjective subjects of History and Writing. There is only ONE right answer, and usually only ONE way to answer the question. No more of trying to decipher very poor English for my history class (which I do miss). The answer is either right or wrong. It’s surprisingly refreshing.

Also, the satisfaction that I think, by making these students work very hard and at a good pace, I can help them catch up is rewarding. The students were very aware of how slow and boring and unproductive the first semester was. They don’t WANT more work, but they do want to LEARN, which makes them a great bunch of kids. So they were both happy that I was taking over, but also scared, because they know I’m a tough teacher.

All in all, the past two weeks of geometry has been amazing. I look forward to those classes, and planning for them is great. It’s also nice to remember all of the geometry I learned. That’s a plus.

As for everything else, my last semester is going very well. Extremely busy, as usual. I think I need to pace myself now, since the first two weeks were done in hyper-drive. But I’m healthy, everyone is happy, and we’re just focused on getting through this semester, week by week, one day at a time.

As for my future, well, it’s extremely surprising to know that I have only 4 ½ months left. That’s nothing!! It was only yesterday I said I have 5 months left. And, personally, I won’t count the month of May, since May will be all Final exams, graduation, end of year partying, and stuff like that. And with the normal busy schedule (especially with the addition of Geometry planning – it’s fun, but it takes a lot of precise work!) I have NO time to think or plan my future. A friend of mine who did a year abroad in Ecuador said, from her experience, it might be better just to wait to get home before thinking about things like that. She has a point: how can I think of resumes, jobs, grad school, the real world and huge decisions like that if 1) I’m still so busy with work here, 2) I want to be totally present with the people and place here, and 3) it’s a bit strange to think of myself in that completely different universe. I think it’s too hard to do (especially since I am not sure of what I want to do anyway).

Point being: anyone have a job for me when I get home?

I’m just kidding.

But not really.

So, I’m psyched that things are going very well so far. I’m just keeping very busy. And I am very excited for going home soon, as much as I love it here. I’m sure I’ll be very sad, maybe even depressed, after leaving this place, but those are feeling I can’t fathom at this point in my life. Right now, I have to make a geometry test. Take care.

AJ

Christmastime and the Home Stretch

2006-12-31T12:58:00.000-08:00

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

2006-12-12T18:13:00.000-08:00

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.

Guam

2006-11-18T12:35:00.000-08:00

So in the midst of all of these weekend getaways and time of being principal, I got sick (aww). Just a virus and a cough. But something else was happening: I was losing my vision. I was not able to see correctly, and that was a huge problem. It got really bad that I couldn’t really read anything any more. Action needed to be taken. So, with the help of the JVI insurance plan, they got me a ticket to Guam (about an hour and a half flight away), leaving last Saturday, the 11th, and arriving back at Chuuk yesterday, the 17th. A week away in Guam. I was excited, but I was really hoping to get everything fixed right away. I would rather have been fine than miss a week of school, which is a big deal, cause I had to plan very specific lesson plans for all my classes for the next 5 days. Anyway, I had a nice flight to Guam and got picked up by Br. Juan, this really nice Palauan Jesuit who I met in the Marshalls last summer. Really friendly and helpful.

Here are some brief thoughts on my week stay at Guam.

Guam is basically America. I think one of its slogans is ctually “Where America’s Day Begins.” It had many stores, paved roads, multiple laned highways, McDonalds, shopping malls, power on all of the time, ESPN, everything. I expected this. Now, maybe the experience was affected by the fact that I was still a bit sick, or that I couldn’t really see so I had a head ache and my vision was distorted. All in all, the experience was a bit weird, surreal, and it was definitely a preview for the culture shock I will receive in June.

First couple of things I noticed: walking down the sleek, modern, air-conditioned terminal in the airport, I noticed how freezing it was. Also, the huge, lit-up signs for perfume advertisements alone probably cost more than the school budget.

I definitely clutched to my car seat tighter than usual when Br. Juan was driving normally down a paved road at 50 miles per hour. Passing by objects, especially multiple cars in the other lane, also going at that speed, for some reason, freaked me out.

That night he ordered Pizza Hut. I went with him to pick it up. The niceness and cleanliness and smell and design and rushed, impersonal atmosphere that embodied the inside of that store, and of any fast food store, literally made me confused and a bit speechless. It was weird. Every time someone hands us food here in Chuuk we usually greet everyone first and sit down and chat for a bit. The idea of just getting handed over our dinner so quickly was strange. It shouldn’t be, but it was.

I was literally shaking in a supermarket one day because it was so cold. I mean so cold. The physical adaptation to this humid climate has certainly affected me. I looked like a fool trying to walk because I was shaking so much. I couldn’t get near the frozen food isle. I had to stand outside in the sun for a few minutes to feel better.

Speaking of the supermarket, I was overwhelmed, seriously, walking down the isle. They had EVERYTHING! Even after the fourth day in Guam, I was thinking of things to bring back for everyone to enjoy. I brought back nothing. I had no idea what to get. There were too many things to get! I probably looked stupid, slowly walking down the isles in complete awe and wonder as if I entered a really cool exhibit in a museum or something like that.

I watched a football game on ESPN. I was filled with this different kind of happiness that I haven’t felt in a long time. It made me miss crowds and cheering and tailgating and getting together to root for a team and getting snacks and pizza to watch a TV.

I probably knew this before, but I don’t think there was ONE commercial on TV that made any sense to me. (In order to eat this cereal, all these kids need to climb that building to fight the bad guys?! What???)

Just seeing what the females were wearing wherever I went – especially the time I went for a walk in the mall – made me feel like I was in a naughty movie or something.

It’s these little things that caught me off guard, slowed me down, made me do double takes, and just made everything around me seem … so weird. It’s still really hard to put it in words. They are asking me what Guam was like, and I say it was “nice.” It was: the comfort, all the things that were available, the things to do and places to go! I certainly got a lot of rest, and I think a week away from school and Xavier and the students helped out a lot. And maybe the culture shock didn’t hit me that hard because 1) I was still basically in Micronesia and 2) I knew I was there for only a week and would be going back, and 3) I was sick and not really able to see, so I just stayed put in the Jesuit house for most of the time. But I know it will hit me and hit me hard when I get back. I try not to think about it though.

In the end, I just needed new glasses. My eyes were fine.

Very, very surreal, is all I have to say.

3 more weeks of classes, then finals, then Christmas break!

The Day in the Life of an Acting Principal

2006-10-31T19:44:00.000-08:00

So as some of you may know, I am currently acting principal for about a week while Anne is away in a conference in Palau. It’s not much, considering that there are only classes for two of the days and a picnic.

This is what my first day as principal included. All I can say about it is, you don’t need coffee to keep you going all day, just be a principal.

6:20 I wake up very early Monday morning (that’s early for me, I can usually do fine getting up around 7:15 or 7:30 the latest) because I need to find keys to the entire school that Anne left me (one of the teachers had them but didn’t tell me about it). So when I found them, I had to open all of the classrooms. I’ve walked to parts of the campus I haven’t even been to yet this year because my classes I teach in are usually in two classrooms. Once I open all of them, I start writing lots of signs for the faculty/staff bulletin board near the teacher’s lounge. I have to get all of this information together about class schedules and basketball games and
announcements that we as faculty need to know. Whenever there is a game, the schedule has to be switched around so some students can go to the game early without missing class. I had to write this up on the board in the study hall. I also had to make some decisions about a group of seniors that were going to have permission to leave for the picnic island a night earlier. I had to find subs for a teacher who was going to miss class due to the basketball game.

And this was all before 7:00.

The rest of the day consisted of doing things Anne left me to do. It was mostly just checking up on people, but it involved lots of running around. The fun part of the day was dealing with all of the disciplinary cases. There was one where two students wrote their names on the Yappese flag. One of them that did it has had many conflicts with the Yappese students before, and it looked like a potential fight. But this Yappese Junior, who I respect probably more than anyone else here (including adults), handled the situation beautifully and the problem is solved now. Instead of having this island nation group wanting to take revenge on this other kid, he talked about it until all of the underlying problems were solved. There was another one with this serious problem child who has been constantly disrupting class and disrespecting students and teachers. Luckily, he’s my advisee (sarcasm … it’s also important to point out that, somehow, I became stuck with all of the problem freshman this year as my advisees). The priests that don’t even teach at this school know about him. He crossed the line in class, so I confronted him, chewed him out, and told him he couldn’t go on the school picnic this Thursday. Of course he was pissed, but I told him he needed a day to think about whether or not he wanted to continue attending this school, because at this rate, he’ll be gone by Christmas (I think he’ll be gone anyway). I also had to report late students and disruptive students from class and study hall – small, yet class related stuff.

All of this did not include classes which I still had to teach. But to be honest, after a long weekend on another island, and all of this other stuff, I had no time to plan (or grade! I’m so behind right now) that I just winged it.

Tuesday was a lot of the same. I was freaking out on the inside most of the morning because this Admissions Officer from Chaminade (pronounced SHAW mi naw) in Hawaii was supposed to give this presentation to the Sophomores and Juniors 2nd period. The entire schedule was messed up to this thing. He did not show up literally until 9:12, when he was supposed to start at 9:10. So I was running back and forth between the freshman who had to change their study room and the other classes to help set up and introduce this guy (it was a good presentation). I also spent most of the day figuring out boat trips for the entire school for the picnic, deciding on times for events, posting more notices for the teachers … and yeah, I had to wing my classes again. Plus normal duties like locking up classrooms at the end of the day, making sure girls got on the busses, and just a lot of overall worrying about everything. It is kind of cute how some of the kids now call me principal or joke around with me like start bowing to me. I joke around with them too, saying today classes are canceled, only because we’re doing
push-ups all day. My favorite line I used these past two days (to someone I was disciplining): “I don’t have to be principal to know what you did was incredibly wrong.” Sit down!

Those are most of the things I did. I’m sure there are more, but now, Wednesday morning (no school, thank all of the gods in all of the religions) I’m so tired that I forgot. Last night was the haunted house. I did not attend because 1) I was perhaps the most tired I’ve ever been my entire life, 2) getting scared out of my wits was not the form of entertainment I was looking for at the time, 3) I was a bit sick – still am, and 4) I needed some serious alone time.

Now, don’t let these details of the past few days fool you. I was, and still am, in fact very happy and I like the exhilaration of being constantly concerned about all of these things and making decisions and having students and teachers look up to me for certain things. It’s not a power trip at all – I rarely did anything for myself. I don’t think I had the chance. It was just good to be in a better position to help out more than I already am. However, it left me utterly spent. Maybe because these two days were a bit crazier than the normal school days, and because I’m in charge of the entire school picnic which is a pretty stressful event (Anne even commented that she was glad she was not in charge of that this year … thanks Anne). So overall, it was good, but I have never been so physically and mentally tired in a long time. Most of it is due to the fact that the past two weekends were off-island. Although those trips are a lot of fun, they are exhausting and not entirely relaxing or peaceful. It usually means not that much sleep. So it’s been about 3 weeks of non-stop action and no rest. Today is the first day of rest for me, although I need to grade all day, which is fine I guess.

For those of you concerned, I am doing much better since my last doomsday-like blog. Things have settled down, however the Junior class is still very divided, and the class leaders still do not realize the error of their ways or thinking. I feel bad for the other Juniors that are hurt by this one (and it really is just this one) island nation group that is too proud, to exclusive, and only concerned for their own. It’s hard, but there we go. I’ve learned to not take things as personally (which I’m still learning to do, because the emotion I have attached to this job gives me the energy I use to make my teaching somewhat good). And I’ve learned to realize that some people in leadership positions are incompetent, and I don’t respect them, but I need to work around that.

What else? This weekend is ANOTHER off-island trip. To Uman for the JVI retreat, which should be more relaxing than the other weekends. Have not been to Uman yet, so that’ll be good. Oh, the Sophomore CSP I went on last weekend was very good. Half of the island is actually an old Japanese WWII runway. If you look at the shape of the island, the northern half is just a long rectangle that sticks out. But many trees and plants have grown over it, although we could still see chunks of the flat concrete (the sponsor house I stayed at was on one). At one end of the island there are old Japanese planes. They’re not really intact, but you can see most of the body, and there many propellers lying around. I also spent most of the time playing and dancing and clowning around with little kids – what I do best.

Hopefully the picnic goes well tomorrow. I’m sure it will. What do you guys think of my braided hair? I took it off last night so I can wash my hair (for the first time in 5 days … gross). But it was actually pretty cool. By pretty cool I mean I did not have to worry about it falling in my face or really take care of it.

Shout outs: To Danielle, who sent a lovely package full of great teaching supplies. Also to Mary, thank you for your package. To the Cullens, great magazines and other things. Also to my mom and grandfather, who keep sending things my way. Also to Meg Frazier, just because. And to my brother, because he and I will take over the world one day. To Matt Brown and Will Versfelt for making me laugh. To Alex for getting married. To Meg Osborn for getting
married. For Dan Thomson for getting married.

Peace out.

Drama: Part II

2006-10-22T17:19:00.000-08:00

(Note: new pictures are up! Go to the link "2nd Year Pics!")

Tol – Saturday

This retreat is exactly what I needed. I think it’s exactly what we all needed. We were all so overworked, stressed out, and, thanks to the past couple of weeks, emotionally drained. What we did today: have a very quick morning prayer, followed by basically whatever we wanted to do. There was PLENTY of food. We did a lot of swimming on the nearby dock. We sung with the kids some more. Before lunch we took another boat ride to a nearby island where we picnicked. We swam, snorkeled, and chilled on the hot beach in the sun eating snacks. We also stopped across the bay to visit the Turtle Cave (see pictures). It’s called the Turtle Cave because it is shaped like a huge turtle dug it (it was actually a flood). Really cool. Even as we hiked to it, kids appeared out of nowhere to follow us wherever we went. When we got back to our side of the bay, I ended up swimming on the dock with some kids for another hour. I had a bit of a sunburn and I was completely salted up from the lagoon water, but it was a refreshing feeling, since I’ve been cooped up at the school for the past 2 ½ months.

The rest of the day was spent with the kids, dancing some more and singing some more. They put on some shows for us because they love to entertain us constantly. I think some of their high energy and enthusiasm had to do with the fact that they had some visitors (from the prestigious Xavier High School no less) staying with them. It’s been a while since they hosted a retreat like this, since this land belongs to the Chuukese Mafia. They used to be the most notorious family in Chuuk, even in Micronesia. They smuggled
in weapons, tortured people, killed people to get their way. One of them used to be a Congressman and would even carry his gun with him at the capital. The main Mafioso is currently in the states for some medical treatment, but apparently he married like 22 women, and all of these kids surrounding us are his grandkids! But now one of the sons is a Catechist, so we have a cordial relationship with the sub-parish where we stayed.

But things are extremely simple here. No TV, telephone, Internet, cell phones, junk food, stores, roads, electricity, anything! It’s just high energy and beautiful scenery and lots of activity and simple happiness all around me. It’s exactly what I needed to feel re-energized from all of the energy I recently lost …

XHS – One week ago

So the Juniors, thanks to the fired-up class president (Pohnpeian), missed classes for an entire day. There was talk that we would be celebrating the 30 year anniversary of an entire class getting expelled from Xavier by expelling all of the Juniors. Most of the boys (all of the Pohnpeians) worked with the suspended kids in the morning, while the girls were just walking around not going to class. It was a mess. So they spent all day in meetings to go over their feelings and problems. Basically, by the end of the day, everyone was confused, hurt, angry, and nothing was resolved. So
they did have time to go to two more classes before the day was over: my classes. Great. I dropped my lesson plan, and told them, in as serious of a way as I could muster up, that they need to get all of their feelings out on paper. They needed to just write for 45 minutes straight. Micronesians in general are not good with expressing their feelings publicly, but on paper, they do a great job. So, I basically read every single essay, and gave about
half of them to the other teachers that were concerned (most of them were just addressed to me and no one else). Let me tell you, these kids felt very betrayed, misled, and confused. Most were upset with Fr. Arthur, but some were pissed at their own classmates. One very perceptive boy said that it was just the Pohnpeians who were only caring about their own countrymen.
Some said they didn’t want to walk out of class at all, because they didn’t do anything wrong, but if they didn’t follow the crowd, they would have been ostracized. It was a mess.

And the director wasn’t doing anything about it. In my opinion and in the opinion of others, he needed to deal directly with these two Pohnpeian boys and clear up the mess about the so-called “list.” It was these two boys that felt betrayed, and, selfishly and irresponsibly, they got the whole class involved. The director had another priest (Fr. Ken U., Yappese) deal with the situation … which was an awful idea because this priest didn’t know the details, and there was no communication between the two. It was absolutely ridiculous. The administration was not handling the situation well at all. They let these two kids walk all over them (and at the same time, walk all over the teachers – I was completely disrespected by the class president the other day, but there was nothing I could do because if I reported it, nothing would have happened).

What hurts also is how these kids really don’t care that they lost our trust, and they’re upset at us for being mad at them. One of the JVs had this great connection with that class. This JV was like their parent. When this JV was suddenly hurt by what happened with the chewing of betelnut (to re-clarify, it’s a type of local drug that involves chewing this seed with some other substances), it was as if the class disowned her. The JV felt very hurt, and although this person is extremely optimistic all the time, the JV was completely disheartened and even considered NOT staying on for an
extra year (this JV was very adamant about staying a third year.) It hurts to see her so down. It just adds to the hopeless feeling we get sometimes.

This is the best school in this area of the world, but the administration can’t take care of certain things that they should be doing. I understand if a place is poor or there is social injustice or the geography affects the circumstances of the place, but when the problems come from the (so called) capable people working here, it’s frustrating. The gross incompetence of this place gets to me. Seriously, it’s true that the JVs, these American
college graduates, are keeping this school together. Some would say that’s extreme and even a bit conceited, but it’s true. It also didn’t help my week when, as we were driving back from seeing the other two JVs, we were stuck behind a driver that was puking his guts out of the window WHILE he was driving his car. At that moment, I was glad for the first time that the roads were in such an awful condition because drunk drivers (which are like a daily occurrence here) would be speeding. But I digress …

The problem we have to deal with now is this huge divide in the Junior class between the Pohnpeians and the rest of the students. So much for the whole united family” feeling Xavier is supposed to embody. However, now this divide between ethnic groups is spreading throughout the whole school. It’s ridiculous. I don’t want to deal with these things that should have been taken care of or at least suppressed before it spiraled out of control. I have other things to deal with, like this freshman girl who is really sweet and awesome yet she comes to my office crying all afternoon because her
sponsor family makes her work over the weekend and there was a possibility of it turning into an abusive relationship. I need to deal with the freshman class (I’m their skills teacher) not doing their homework and most of them are failing and will probably not be here after Christmas. I want to deal with one of my advisee students who keeps cursing people and disrespecting other students that he was almost beaten up the other day by other boys, so I tried to intervene as indirectly as possible. I want to worry about
helping some seniors I’m close with apply to colleges and get them through that confusing process. I don’t mind that I’m not socializing, or having enough free time even to read, let alone do other relaxing things. I don’t mind that I have 4 classes to plan and grade for. It hurts that I have to miss next week’s sophomore CSP because I will be acting-principal for a few days (sweet). But when I see this gross incompetence from adults around me, when I realize that the Jesuits are not really giving a damn about this
place the more I am here, and when I see certain values that this school stands for not being followed through, it frustrates me.

These thoughts are a bit pessimistic and negative in general. It’s a new quarter right now, and hopefully all of this is behind us (I just learned that most of these boys will not be punished, which is also very ridiculous, but I need to take it easy or else I’ll have an ulcer). I want to get through this quarter without any serious drama. I want to focus on school, not other people’s responsibilities that aren’t being carried out. So some have been wondering, am I happy here? Yes, I am. I do love most of these
students. This blog does gloss over the great aspects of this school, but recently, it has been quite evident that the negatives seriously outweigh the positives. But I am doing fine and I have definitely grown from this experience. For instance, never before have I felt so angry at a person for disrespecting me, mostly because this student is neither poor nor poorly educated, and he only cares about his own Pohnpeian brothers. I have gained a greater understanding for why this place needs JVs, and it’s not just because of where it’s located. And after this wonderful weekend, I have learned what true simplicity is and how wonderful it can be. I want to continue getting better as a teacher, but I know that I did not leave my family and friends for two years to serve certain rich, spoiled kids. I could have stayed in Greenwich for that. I have a more defined pride in teaching and giving my time and energy for those who truly deserve it, because I simply don’t have enough time and energy to give to everyone here.

Tol – Saturday Night and Sunday

It was very sad to leave Sunday. I know some kids will forget us and simply be content with the exciting new visitors that came to their island. I slept on the ride back (I’m pretty desensitized to boat rides now) and it was evident that none of us were really psyched to get back. But our energy was replenished. I miss the kids already. Seriously, there were about a dozen little kids I wanted to adopt right away and just take home with me.

I’ll end this with an experience Saturday night. We went to the dock for a night swim, and we saw one of the most beautiful things ever. I guess in this part of the world, or in tropical waters, the plankton glow and sparkle at night when you disturb the water. Tom Hanks talked about it in Apollo 13 when he was referring to the glow of the wake of a boat. As soon as we jumped in, the water came to life with the dazzling sparkles of the reacting plankton. As we moved our feet and hands, a trail of stars appeared. We were
able to make water “angels” and watch our paths light up. It was extremely magical, under the starry, warm night.

Drama: Part I

2006-10-22T08:04:00.000-08:00

The past few weeks have been dramatic, definitely among the most challenging in my life, and very pivotal with respect to my feelings towards this place (Xavier High School). However, the past three days have been some of the most enjoyable, relaxing, and beautiful in my life. Pretty extreme, but true. This past weekend was the faculty retreat to Tol; the past couple of weeks were the last in the 1st quarter, but also belonging to a huge incident that spiraled into confusion, chaos, and near-calamity. Let me begin with a journal entry from this past weekend, and I will narrate what’s been going on in my life (and head) by bouncing back and forth from this weekend in heaven to the past few weeks of hell.

Tol – Friday

The hour and a half boat ride to the completely other end of this lagoon was the start of getting rid of all of my worries. The day was beautiful, but with a strong wind, causing the waves to be a little choppy, but making it perfectly safe to travel on, especially since we were on a bigger, more modern boat that a Korean research owned. The wind was a bit harsh, but definitely refreshing. My hands gripped the rail as I anticipated every
bounce from the waves. We would get splashed, but instantly became dry from the hot sun.

This place is nothing but serenity. It’s a lush community of families at the edge of the water, facing one of the many bays of Tol. If we’re not facing the other side of the bay, we face the west, which has no other islands in view, just a barely visible reef on the horizon which separates our calm lagoon with the huge Pacific Ocean. There is a dock here to swim and jump off of. The stray dogs are friendly, the grass is trimmed, there are no
drunks, no blaring boom boxes, and there is a working toilet.

And there are DOZENS of kids. And palm trees swaying in the warm sun with the cool breeze. But back to these kids: they love to sing together and dance constantly … and that’s basically it, other than looking really cute. They sing the same songs over and over again, but it never gets tiring. They also love playing dancing games with each other. They get so easily embarrassed, and when they do something outrageous (like sticking out in a crowd!) it causes everyone else to roll on the ground laughing and laughing.
I thought that only happened in cartoons when people laughed so much, holding their stomachs while suddenly losing their ability to stand up, but it happens. They entertained us for hours, fed us tons of food of local delicacies, bananas, and all the coconuts we wanted.

It’s now 8:15 at night as I write this on a bench outside of our meeting house (the place where we gather, eat, AND sleep) under a bare light bulb. Some of the teachers are learning a song in Chuukese under a palm tree. I can’t count the number of children that are in that group … probably 30 – some are hidden in the shadows. Right now there is no rush to do anything, which is a first; I’m comfortable, even though my bed is a table/place to
hang all of my clothes. It’s cool out and I just sit, play with kids, dance with the kids, and play and dance some more. It is definitely peaceful here.

It was basically the opposite of this feeling about a week ago…

XHS – Two weeks ago

The drama all started the day everyone got back from the Junior Community Service Project. Problem: to the shock and surprise of the teachers, most of the Juniors were chewing betelnut. Not good, especially how some of them were on super-duper probation. Two of them, a Palaun and Chuukese student, were on their, like, 5th strike already. Fr. Arthur, the morning before the Juniors left, even asked those two if they could control themselves. They
both said no problem. That same night, they both chewed. Basically, it is galactally stupid, and, after a week of deliberating and discerning, they are expelled. Huge call to make, but I think the right one. It is a problem here that things aren’t always carried out (especially disciplinary consequences) when they should be. Anyway, they get kicked out, and a few other students get a week’s suspension, while still other Juniors lose privileges and so on.

Here is the kicker: Apparently Fr. Arthur asked two Junior boys – Pohnpeian, and apparently trustworthy (the two things are not related) – to ask the Juniors themselves if they chewed or not, because Fr. Arthur believed that if he asked himself, he would be lied to. So these two boys brought back a list, the director compared it with his list, and then he picked who would
be suspended or not. And here is where the confusion comes in: for some odd reason, the two boys thought that Fr. Arthur’s list never existed in the first place, so they were convinced they were lied to, and upset that they put their “brothers” on suspension, AND they got the whole class pissed at Fr. Arthur, and they even rallied their classmates to skip class to help the suspended boys with their work.

Problem: they weren’t lied to, and it happens that these two boys that were rallying the class really only cared about their Pohnpeian “brothers” and not the other kids on suspension. Long story short (too late!) for many days it seemed as if the entire or most of the Junior class was going to rise up in a rebellion, causing expulsion if they continued to skip class; many Juniors were hurt with the fact that they were being led to face consequences when they didn’t even get in trouble; and there was even more drama when it became clear that it wasn’t a class issue, but an issue with a few boys being loyal only to the kids from their own island.

This seems like dumb, high school drama. Well, it is! Except that certain people that are supposed to be running this school let this whole thing spiral out of control, leading to boys skipping class even when they were told not to, leading to an entire group of students call Fr. Arthur a liar when he wasn’t, and now cause a huge divide between the Pohnpeian students and the rest of the students at this school. MEANWHILE, all of the Juniors were so bent on feeling “betrayed” by Fr. Arthur and by each other that they
forgot the whole reason for this mess and the REAL lesson they should have been learning: they broke the trust of the faculty and administration, and they need to be feeling some sort of remorse for their lack of responsibility on this CSP. They are pissed at us for not trusting them. Typical high school behavior – understanding that they did something wrong, but they don’t want any consequences for their actions – but it’s so disheartening. It’s all a mess.

But that’s really not the worst of it …

TO BE CONTINUED...

A trip to the hospital and other health related matters

2006-09-25T08:49:00.000-08:00

For those of you interested in why I didn’t have internet for the past week and a half, here is a little quiz to help you out.

The internet was down because:

A) the power company cut the line by accident, but didn’t tell anyone at the Internet company because they didn’t want to get in trouble (picture 5 year olds accidentally hitting a baseball in a neighbor’s window and running away)

B) someone (probably drunk) SHOT the wire. And by shot I mean shot with a gun.

C) All of the above.

The correct answer is C.

So it’s the end of the third week of school. It is very, very busy. By Monday afternoon I was looking forward for the weekend. I hope I can keep up with all of the work this year. At least my classes are going well. We just watched March of the Penguins with the Seniors for descriptive writing. They are total punks, but it was cute to see how excited they were over the story.

Here is an exciting story:

Last Sunday night, after the power went out at 10:00 at night, the kids were in bed in the dorm and teachers were heading to sleep. I stayed on the porch with the Australian volunteers for a bit, chatting and looking at the stars and what have you. Now, directly beneath the porch is this outdoor shack/house where students and workers chill often. So, as we are chillin, the time is about 10:15. Suddenly, one of the students, a senior, runs up to
the shack/house where one of the Pohnpeian staff is and the security guard, and tells them something is wrong with one of the students. The staff member and the guard book it across the field to the dorm, and upon hearing this, the Australians and I, in the pitch black darkness, also sprint through the dark building onto the field towards the dorm.

By the time we reach the dorm, we notice that all of the students are up, surrounding one of the bunk beds. Apparently this student, a Junior from Pohnpei, cannot move. It was a very eerie scene as I entered the big dorm room: students, all in their boxers or underwear, standing on nearby lockers and bunk beds, faces barely illuminated from the few flashlights and lanterns that are on. This is the Uppers dorm room, by the way. As you walk outside the door to a small patio, there is an identical, large room for the
Unders. All of the freshman and sophomores, at this time, are all awake, trying to get as close to their door as possible to see outside, but not daring to go out. A few students were shining the light on the student to see what was wrong, while a few other teachers were coming in.

First thing we gathered was that he had a pulse and was breathing. His eyes were wide open, his breathing was labored, and he was not moving at all, as if in a trance. First thoughts that went through my head: stroke. Also, probably EVERY student thinks it’s a possession or black magic. Now, I didn’t think that out of any disrespect towards the student’s knowledge of these situations. I know for a fact that all of them and even adults here truly believe in that stuff, despite their convictions of Catholicism and the like. More on that later.

I ran upstairs (where I and some other teachers sleep) to get Br. Dave, the physician. Others were running up to get him. He was awake by this point, and some were telling him what happened: the boy started having a coughing fit, then started moaning, and he wouldn’t stop, so someone shone a light on his face, and noticed tears coming down his face and he wasn’t moving. Br. Dave went to his office to get some things, while I ran back to the main building to find Non, now the Dorm Moderator. He was in his office, and by the time we ran back to the dorm, the boy was still on his mattress, but now resting on the floor. I helped get the truck, which we drove to the dorm, and the boys carefully put him in the back of the truck. Fr. Ken U., a Yappese priest that has been here at Xavier off and on for the past twenty years or so, drove, while Br. Dave, JC (a Pohnpeian that graduated last year but is working here now this year as Boy’s Moderator and other positions) and two Pohnpeian students accompanied the boy at the back of the truck.
There was no one in the passenger’s side, so I asked Fr. Ken if he needed assistance, so I hopped on. We sped out of Xavier, leaving all of the students scared out their minds.

If there was any time to really notice the bad, bumpy roads, it was this time at around 10:40 at night. We were about 40 minutes away from the hospital, but would be about 20 if the roads were paved. Good thing Ken. U. was a very good driver and knew the roads well. I kept looking in the back where the student was lying, still in a trance, with a blanket over him. It was all very scary. Again, stroke was the only thing that came to mind, but Br. Dave, after checking blood pressure, felt certain that it wasn’t that bad. We were managing with the bad roads, but if anything, the bumpiness may have helped, because halfway down, I saw the boy’s leg moving and his fingers gripping his classmate’s hand. That’s when I knew that he would be OK. Still, it was a tense situation.

We got to the hospital (part of the reason I wanted to go down was for the morbid curiosity of how the Chuuk Hospital handled such matters), and we went to the “emergency drop off point.” We knew where it was because a random guy outside the hospital (worked there, maybe not) knew we were in a rush so he guided us to this side ally way – which looked skectchy – with a flashlight. We back the truck up to these double doors, and no one was really there to great us, just some more random people walking around inside
(worked there, maybe not, maybe they were patients). Luckily, Br. Dave knows many people at the hospital, and has been here many times before, so he went in, got a movable bed/stretcher, and we put the boy on it. They wheeled him into a nearby emergency room. It didn’t look THAT bad, but for a more immediate emergency (like intense bleeding or something like that) it did not look that comforting. The best part was a printed sheet of paper that was taped on the emergency room door that read:

The Emergency Room is not a storeroom. Please do not take any materials from this room if you have failed to adequately stocked your own room. Thank you.
The doctors.

If there is a sign like that, you know people (maybe workers there, maybe not) have come in and figured they could just take any supplies they wanted.

Anyway, at this point, I was mostly standing around with the other two boys that came down, while the priest and Br. Dave were telling a Phillapeana woman doctor what was going on. They checked him out, took blood pressure and shone the flashlight in the eyes. To get this story moving along, basically after 20 minutes, the boy started moving a lot more, then finally he sat up, awake, but extremely disoriented. He was basically having a very bad nightmare, and his fever (only 101) was still high. He was looking
around like “why am I not in the dorm any more?” They helped him up after a few minutes, while the doctor was praising the lord, and we all got back in the truck and went back to school. Everything was fine.

I don’t know if I mentioned this yet, but for a while, he was talking in this trance, saying that he was seeing his dead grandfather. This added to the belief that the problem was a minor possession of a spirit. Br. Dave tried to explain to us the next day that you hallucinate during a high fever, but that seemed to offend the two Pohnpeian staff members. There is a word for what happened to the boy in Pohnpeian, which basically means
“possession.” Some of the Senior boys, either truthfully or to scare the Unders, told the Freshman to “be good or else the same thing will happen to you.” As one of the teachers here said, we should not and cannot completely debunk any of their “black magic” or “possession” theories on why these things happen, but it’s a bit disconcerting if they still believe in these things while they claim to be devote Catholics. What really happened was probably linked to unhealthy lifestyle or a bad diet. I’ve never heard of
people falling into a trance with a very high fever, but here on the islands it’s common.

Also, related to that, and I don’t mean to end on a sad note, but I found out yesterday (Saturday) that my sponsor mom passed away two nights ago. She just collapsed from high blood pressure or something like that. It’s very devastating. But, apparently, and I don’t mean to downplay her death, it is not THAT bad for the children, because here on the islands, you don’t just have the small, nuclear family; everyone is considered family, and many
aunts, uncles and cousins are considered part of the immediate family. So the children, to a degree, will be fine. But this event also makes me aware of the conditions of this place: the diet, the health in general, is not always that great. People here are obese and the food isn’t exactly a balanced diet. It’s very unhealthy, despite all of the fish and fruit available.

Anyway, that’s what’s going on so far. I’m really loving school, despite how busy I am being kept. I slept basically all day yesterday to catch up from 3 weeks of not that much sleep.

Keep bringing the love

AJ

My BBQ With the Leader of a Nation

2006-08-27T14:24:00.000-08:00

Quick note: check out "End of (1st) Year Pics" for new updated pictures of my summer in Majuro and Pohnpei.

This is how I had a laid back bbq with the president of the Federated States of Micronesia:

So we went downtown with the boys to Nepakos mass - which is the 6:15 Saturday English Mass that the Xavier students help with - and we met up with Marcos and Lincoln, since the church is right next to their apartment. So mass is over and we're about to head back up to Xavier on our bus, when one of the Nuns that Marcos and Lincoln know invites us to a BBQ her uncle is going to. Now, her uncle is actually a very high government official, and the BBQ happens to be with the president of the FSM (who I happened to meet over the summer with my 7th graders...no big deal). So we walk down the street (the dock/water is literally right across the street) and we walk up to a sketchy gate that is locked. Then some "guards" opened up the gate, we walked to behind this storehouse, and it was very dark so it seemed like the place was deserted. But then right there on the dock there were a bunch of guys sitting around, drinking beer. So we see this group, and at first we feel weird cause here are 7 white volunteers crashing this small "family" party. Then the nun stops us, cause she said at her island, she is not allowed to approach a group of men. So here we are, standing in the shadows, waiting for someone to come to us. Then finally this huge Micronesian in a thu - a red sheet barely covering you (what I wore for cultural day) - comes over and tells us to join them. This guy, who really looks like he was out of National Geographic (but he seemed completely normal to me), is the nun's uncle, and he happens to be a high government official. So think of this guy as Donald Rumsfeld. So Donald Rumsfeld in just a thu, inviting us to join them. There is the President, sitting on a plastic chair, surrounded by a few friends and crew mates from the ship he travelled on. Some are sitting on the ground, others on concrete blocks. There is boxed wine and plenty of beer, and the BBQ is roasting some fish and chicken. So think of President Bush, on a normal white plastic chair, with his own box of wine in front of him. And he's wearing a marmar. The boys walked in and found a seat, and I noticed that all the girl JVs and the nun were sitting outside of the circle, behind some crates, in the shadows. Completely excluded from the gathering, totally on the outskirts.
They werent even introduced to the President. And that's how it is here on some of the more traditional islands. The new JVs later said it was a bit uncomfortable, but they're still getting used to the way things happen here. Anyway, it was a very low key BBQ. The food was good, I had a beer, talked to a really cool Pohnpeian sailor who patrols the waters for illegal fishing. The President spoke a bit, said he appreciated that us Xavier teachers were present (he is an alumnus), then went back to his box of wine. The food was good. The girls were given food, and they really weren't allowed to walk up and get some themselves. Crazy. But that's basically it. It's just very weird and kind of funny that we were with the leader of a nation in the back of a sketchy dock drinking beer and having barbequed chicken.

So Colleen went to her sponsor’s family for the first time two weeks ago. Mind you, she’s been in Micronesia for less than a month now. She basically gets taken away to Tol, the farthest island in the lagoon (where I went last year for the entrance exam). She stayed with a very nice family, but they were also pretty traditional. Of course she was given lots of food and they were very accommodating. The interesting parts of her trip, she said, were the showering and the funeral she went to. To shower, you go outside the house, basically on the front "lawn" and use the water from a big bucket. For privacy, she had a few metal sheets surrounding her. So while she is trying to pour water on her from the bucket, her sponsor mom and grandma come walking in the shower unexpectedly and start to bucket shower with her. Apparently the women in the family shower together like it’s no big thing. So it must have been a bit weird and awkward for Colleen. But she managed.

Next was a funeral. It was a cousin of Colleen’s sponsor mom (a reminder,EVERYONE here in Micronesia is cousins with EVERYONE. It seems like everyone is related, whether by blood or just by the strong sense of community here). But here is the structure of a funeral: you enter the big room where the casket is, and you get in a line to walk up to it. Now everyone is very somber, yes, but everyone not in line seems pretty chill and social, according to Colleen. Colleen was walking behind her sponsor mom at the time. When the mom got up to the coffin, she started wailing and crying and sobbing really loud and out of no where. Meanwhile, poor Colleen is standing behind her not really knowing what to do. After a good minute of this excitement, the mom leaves the line (with Colleen), and immediately begins to act normal again, as if it never happened. Definitely a bit strange to Colleen, and me as well, but that’s how they do things here.

My classes I am teaching this year:
-Freshman Study Skills
-Sophomore World History
-Junior English Skills
-Senior English Skills
also Senate Moderator and Debate Club Moderator.

We also act as an advisor to some students. Apparently I just received the biggest troublemaker in the Freshman class. Sweet. But I’m flattered because the principal and the other teacher dividing up the students thought I can handle him.

Some chaos so far: after last year’s graduation, some Xavier students went downtown without telling the school, illegally rented cars, stayed in hotels, got drunk, and did other activities the school does not look kindly upon. The problem: all 12 of these students are on the Student Senate, and they had to be kicked out. Bigger problem: these 12 included some of the top leaders not only in the Senate (Senate President, Senate Vice President, Senior Class President, two district Representatives) but in the school as well. These are the leaders the peers look up to. So I had to be the one to tell them they were fired, but I did so in a way that I said they can still be leaders and contribute to the school. It was very hard for me to do, but I’m happy because they responded extremely well (this was over a week ago…they are still very understanding about all of it, and have been very helpful with the transitioning of the new senate members). Even after all of that, I still had to rearrange the senate. I had a good moment yesterday first day of class) when an entire half hour was scheduled for me and all the sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors of the school. I organized them in the big meeting hall and sorted everything out. So, we have a complete Senate once again, and hopefully we can begin the year as normal.

Also, I found out last night that I will be teaching ALL of the seniors in one section (28 in a class period) instead of dividing them into two sections of 14. The good news regarding that is that I’ll have one extra period of free time all week. The bad news is that I have to control 28 misbehaving seniors all at once. Today’s class with them went well. We’ll see how the rest of the school year goes.

Oh yeah. The Jesuits and JVIs had a nice dinner with the Bishop the other day. I got to tell him stories about how I was an alter server for then-Bishop Edgan, now Cardinal.

Anyway, most of that was teacher drama most of you wouldn’t be nterested in. Things are going very well, my pony-tail pictures will come soon. Keep it real.

AJ

End of Pohnpei, New JVs and Back to Chuuk

2006-08-25T17:31:00.000-08:00

It’s been a very busy time of year. The finishing the HAP program for one,
which was more fun and bittersweet than stressful. But also preparing for
and receiving the new JVs. Finally coming back to Chuuk and continuing
helping out the new JVs settle in. Plus I had to settle in, too. So that’s
where I have been. Let’s get down to it: Teaching summer school to Pohnpeian 7th graders will forever be one of the best experiences of my life. These kids were so bright, eager to learn, friendly, hard working, cute in their own little ways, and very unique. They are like any other middle schooler, I think. I think it was very good to get away from punk high schoolers for a while. 7th graders still respect you and aren’t smart enough to overpower you. They are not always obedient, but nothing that bad. It’s hard for them to not keep still. But there were so many that kept on amazing me. Seriously, I would take half of them (there were 53 students) and replace them with many Xavier students. These kids loved to teach me Pohnpeian, too. I think I learned more Pohnpeian in these two months than I have learned Chuukese in the one year. A bit pathetic, but oh well. They loved to talk about home and all things Pohnpeian. They will be missed a lot.

The end of the program included a spelling Bee which I prepared them for. It was a lot of fun, and the entire program watched and got really into it. I
had to continue the Bee to a second day because the top students knew all of the words I gave them so well that I went through them over and over again. The second day I had to read from a dictionary, and they still did fairly well. There was also a play the Dwyer put on that was a Pohnpeian creation myth. That was a lot of fun. We performed it in the church. We moved the altar out of the way and brought the kids in there. The HAP Olympics were also great. Of course, the kids absolutely loved the dizzy race, ice cream eating contests, and tug of war. That same day, after the Olympics were over, Dwyer and I made our way to the airport to pick up the new JVs. It was pretty exciting. We met Tim and Greg, the two Pohnpeian JVs, Marcos and Lincoln, the two Saramen Chuuk Academy volunteers, and Ellen and Colleen, the two girls who are going to be teaching with us here at Xavier. So 6 new JVs in all. 4 going to Chuuk, 2 to XHS. They are really great. The fun part was not only trying to act like the 2nd year who knows it all and can answer all questions, but it was interesting trying to see if I acted like the new JVs at all when I first arrived. They were so enthusiastic, asking so many questions, and even a bit loud. It is weird thinking if I was that loud when I first arrived. I am definitely a lot more quite. Anyway, it was great to introduce them to Pohnpei, and we drove them to the retreat house (a nice place next to the Jesuit house we were staying in).

The next fun thing was the next day we went to the island Nalap, which is a
resort island. It’s a small island with some huts, a little store, a few beaches, even a small conference room. There are many small cottages for
people to stay in, bbqs, a dirt basketball/volleyball court, and a nice dock/gazebo to jump off of into the lagoon. That is where we had our HAP
graduation/picnic, as well as the new JV sleep over. Basically the day was
filled with lots of food, swimming, and a graduation ceremony. I was the MC, and I think I was the best graduation MC because I kept it very very quick and to the point. I even threw a joke in there where everyone laughed (I called myself a "menwai" pronounced MEN WHY, which is Pohnpeian for white person). After all of the kids left the island, the JVs stayed on and
relaxed and had a good time. The only eventful things that happened were
when we took a kayak to a small hut that was built on the coral about a
hundred yards from the dock. We ate lunch there and enjoyed the beautiful scenery. Oh, yeah, and a drunk local boy (age around 17) stumbled into our
hut early in the morning when we were sleeping and fell asleep next to
Ellen, one of the new JVs. And he was naked. She woke me up and I got Dwyer to help me carry him out of our hut to put him on the ground so someone else could take him away (someone eventually did). It was not pleasant, especially for Ellen, since it was her 2nd night in Micronesia. Nothing happened, and no one, especially any of the girls, were ever in any danger. But it was not the best welcome to this new place for her. Chris and I did not realize how much of a party/drinking scene Nalap was. The night before many families or young kids drank, but they mostly pass out and are usually not aggressive when they are drunk. But one did stumble into our hut, which was wide open to everyone, like most other huts. I’m not going to say it was pretty funny, cause it wasn’t, but there was never any danger, so I think it was ok. Ellen is fine.

The next few days Chris and I showed the new JVs around Pohnpei. We brought them to a waterfall and Sokeh’s ridge. We also showed the new JVs where to go around town. We got their new apartment set up as well. We had only 4 days to do all of this, so Dwyer and I were pretty busy. Plus we had to pack and say goodbye to the Jesuits, who were the coolest and by far the most hospitable people on the planet. I’m really going to miss them. They were really funny and insightful guys. It was also fun having our little
snack/drinks get-together every day before dinner. Some of them stay in
Pohnpei all the time, but others will make their way to Chuuk one of these
days.The other eventful thing that happened was Colleen busting her knee open the night before we left for Chuuk. She was playing soccer on one of the school fields with the other new JVs and some other American volunteers (Dwyer and I were not there). And poor Colleen tripped in the mud, and there happened to be a big sharp rock there. Her actual knee is fine, but there was a huge gash directly below it. Pretty gross. So I drove her, Greg and Ellen to the local hospital for stitches. Now, I thought this was fine and there was no need to worry, because come on, we’re in Pohnpei, which can be called 2nd world compared to Chuuk’s 3rd/4th world status. But I had to remember that these new volunteers just came from an orientation that told them all about safety and the conditions of the health services in these countries, so they were freaking out. Of course, nothing bad happened, the doctor was very good, and she got stitched up right away, no problem. The bad thing was that she needed medicine before it got infected (we got some the next day, but it did become infected) and she would not be able to walk for weeks. Luckily she was able to make it on the plane, but for the past 5 days she’s been in bed recovering. Today she actually made it to the resource room and teacher’s hall way for the first time since she’s got here, so she’ll be fine. Funny thing about it: she’s not using crutches, but an old person’s walker we took from the old Jesuit residence. But she’ll be fine.

Coming back to Chuuk was definitely pleasant and a bit strange – in a good
way. For all of the great comforts of Pohnpei – 24 hour power, paved roads,
stores open past 8:00 at night, night basketball games, a movie theater, a
non-corrupt government, things actually WORKING – I did miss Chuuk a lot and definitely thought of it as a home. That feeling was evident when I arrived back in a place that has become so familiar to me in the past year. So it did feel as if I was coming home. A year ago when I arrived I was definitely stepping foot on a very foreign world. Not this time.

So for the past couple of days we have been relaxing and getting used to the erratic power schedules and extra humidity. We have not been able to go to
much sight seeing since Colleen still can’t move. But it’s been a lot of fun
having the other JVs – Marcos and Lincoln – come up and visit us. Their
school is downtown, about half an hour away (10 minutes if the roads were
paved). As I’ve mentioned before, one of the biggest challenges for me was
dealing with the isolation of Xavier and the lack of fun things (or lack of
ANYTHING) to do when I was not concentrating on school. However, this year we have a whole other community – JV and Saramen high school – to be with, invite up, hang out with, visit, everything. So I am looking forward to that. So, last year was pretty exhausting and challenging when it came to teaching for the first time. Well, it’s a good thing that I’m a professional now, because my work load doubled, if not more, and that says a lot for a Xavier teacher. This year I am teaching Freshman Study Skills, Sophomore World History (like last year), Junior English Skills (also like last year), and Senior English Skills. I am also the Student Senate Moderator, the Debate
Club Moderator, Debate Coach, and I’m in charge of the Social Studies
Department and English Department. I’m also going to be in charge of this
leadership institute that we will have this year (but I’m considering
sharing that responsibility) and I also need to create the Freshman Skills
curriculum, and revamp the entire Social Studies curriculum, because the
person that was supposed to do it all of last year and the previous summer
didn’t, and he’s no longer here. While this sounds insane and very
overwhelming (it is) I am looking forward to it, which is a good sign. It is
good to keep busy here, and I know I will grow as a teacher even more (I’m
not saying that I want to go into teaching when I go home in a year. I
actually still have no idea…all suggestions are welcome).

So that’s about it for me. I am happy, healthy and busy, but not too busy
yet. School starts on September 5th, and meetings start in two days, but it
will not be that stressful at all. I’m an expert now. I just have to keep
watching out for the two new JVs here and we have to keep helping the new JVs downtown, since it is only a 2 person community unlike our 5 person.
Also, in a few more weeks, I’ll be able to pony tail my hair. Check out new pictures of Pohnpei in the link that reads "End of (1st) Year Pics". They are pictures of all over Pohnpei, including some cool ones from the Nan Madol ruins, waterfalls, and the students. Some of Majuro will also go up soon. Enjoy.

Technical Difficulties

2006-08-22T13:46:00.000-08:00

Hello,

This is Daniel Cabrera, A.J.'s brother. A.J. asked me to write this blog updating everyone as to what is going on with his internet connection. The internet connection on Chuuk recently underwent some changes and now it is slower and more erratic. So it will be a while before a new, real blog will be put up. He thanks you for your patience and looks forward to more care packages, emails, letters, and blog posts.

-Dan

Teaching 7th Graders this Summer

2006-07-18T19:13:00.000-08:00

So it's Wednesday July 19th. It's been exactly 1 year and 2 days since I last saw my house in Greenwich. Almost to my one year reunion for coming to the Pacific. But now I will tell you a bit about what I've been doing in Pohnpei (other than seeing pretty awesome ancient ruins and beautiful waterfalls).

Chris, Buddy (the Indonesian Jesuit Scholastic - Jesuit in training) and I have been sent to the Pohnpei Catholic School this summer to teach in the HAP program (High Achievement Program). This is a summer program for kids of all levels (very smart, average, not so smart) who had just finished the 7th grade to take some more time preparing for 8th grade and high school, as well as meet friends from all over the island and join in fun activities.
It's a very easy schedule compared to hectic Xavier. The day starts at 8:30 for a quick assembly, followed by three 45 minute classes, then study time, then lunch, then afternoon activity. The day is done at 1:30, so every day is like a half a day. Unlike Xavier, insteading of teaching the same lesson twice, there are three sections of the students, so I teach the same lesson 3 times. It is sometimes a challenge to keep the enthusiasm 100% by the 3rd class. It is also challenging, in a humerous way (fellow teachers, help me out with this) to repeat the same jokes the second and third time. By the third class is just seems forced. Whenever I think about myself trying to pull off the same joke for the third time, it's pretty lame, it hardly works. Oh well.
But the best part of this whole experience is the kids. 7th graders are definitely different from high schoolers. I bet you already knew that, but I'm telling you again. It's a very different experience, and a refreshing one, after almost getting burnt out from those high school punks.
These 7th graders are very sweet, very eager to learn, extremely friendly, very afraid of me as a teacher (which helps), and a lot of fun to be with. They were extremely shy the first week or so, but now they're all over the place. They like to run around and yell a lot more than high schoolers (high schoolers like to chill around and just hang out...cool stuff if you dont move around). Being with 7th graders has been good for me since before this life most of my experiences have been with younger kids, ranging from 3rd grade to around 6th.
I teach reading class. It did take me a while to figure out how I"m supposed to teach reading. But then most of it is actually regular skills that I taught the sophomores in Study Skills class, aka Common Sense Stuff Everyone Seems Not To Get Class. But I have a good time most of the time. Some of my students are very good English speakers and, to be honest, better than some Xavier students. This program is indirectly a way to prepare for Xavier. All of the teachers make special recommendations for students we think would be great for Xavier. I can already think of a dozen or so, and a few that should just skip the 8th grade right now.

Before I continue with my 7th graders, let me take a break and talk about how my best friend Campbell came to visit. He stayed with me for about a week, and it was great. It was extremely weird to connect the two worlds of mine together. Definitely felt a bit homesick when he left, which I havent really felt this whole time. But I got over it, and I was glad I shared this with him. At least I'll have someone at home who can kind of relate with my experiences here...since, you know, he was here.
Let me share with you a part of Campbell's mass email about his trip to Pohnpei:

"I got to Pohnpei, and AJ was there to meet me. Now, for those of you who don't know AJ, I've known him since 7th grade, and he's doing JVI (Jesuit Volunteer International). He was placed in Chuuk, Micronesia, actually, but this summer he is in Pohnpei. Since AJ is pretty much out of contact with the whole world for the most part of 2 years, and it is difficult to send packages to him, his mother sent me with a package out to him. Funny thing, Mrs.Cabrera never told me what was in it, and I never went through it myself, and, just my luck, I was stopped at pretty much every single customs desk for that carry on bag. Every time they asked me if i packed it, so I had to tell them yes, and they asked what was in it a couple times. Needles to say, I didn't know. Luckily, they always asked me what was in it as they were opening the bag, so i was able to see bits and pieces of what was in it and tell them what i saw (and they saw too...but they didn't pick up on that). Apparently there was a new digital camera in there also, and at one point a customs agent got as far down in the bag as the camera, and was asking me if it was new. Again, she happened to be opening the box as she asked, and i saw some plastic still on the camera, so i was able to answer that it was new. So, it was kind of comical, after the fact.
Anyhow, for those of you who know AJ, he's doing well. He has grown his hair out, and it is quite long by this point. Some of it is just about at his shoulders. Ladies, apparently AJ looks hot with the long hair, he wanted me to let you all know that. Anyhow, there isn't much to do in Pohnpei, because it is a small island in a lagoon (flying over the lagoons and seeing them were awesome, so so so cool). However, the island is huge, in respect to the other islands in Micronesia. AJ took me to a couple places, but it rained every single day I was there. It is said that Pohnpei receives more rainfall every year than anywhere else in the world, but since it is so remote, no one has ever gone out and recorded it, so its unofficial. I believe it though. Since the rain rarely let up AJ and i had to do the ebst we could in seeing the island through the rain. It actually kind of made it more fun, in my opinion. The weather was so hot and humid that the rain didn't bother me at all. We saw some ancient ruins (Non Madal...something like that) which are really impressive. It is unknown who created this little fortress, and how they were able to do it ebcause the rocks they used to build the fortress are huge and seem impossible to lift. it is kind of like the wonder of the egyptian pyramids, but even more mysterious, because we don't even know who inhabited the fortress. AJ also took me to a waterfall, and since it was raining pretty hard all day the waterfall was at a peak and just completely cascading down. Usually people are allowed to swim under the waterfall, but not that day. Another day (it was actually sunny for part of the day) we hiked up one of the ridges on the island. In WWII, Micronesia was a big Japanese naval base (Chuuk specifically, then known as Truk), so we came across some old Japanese guns ni the hike. We proceeded to a radio tower up on the ridge, and were able to see half of the island (the other half was behind some other mountains) and it was amazing. I have pictures of all of this, and hopefully in Thailand (my next stop) i'll be able to figure out where to post them online. It is a very different culture over there, and I'm really glad i made it over to see it. It is quite strange seeing men, women and children walking around ni the middle of streets weilding machetes, but I got used to it. "

...

So there you go. It was a lot of fun. Anyone else that actually wants to visit, please look into it (my brother is actually coming around late Decemeber, so feel free to contact him to join him).

Back to my classes. There is something I learned about teaching from this program. I knew that this summer teaching experience was not going to be as serious as Xavier, so I went into it with a much more lax attitude. I want to teach the kids good information, but I want to stress having fun more, like enjoying the lesson. I think that my classes are a lot more productive that way. I got this idea for a lesson from Chris Dwyer about following directions. I asked the kids to write down directions for how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (some of them didn't know what it was, and most have never eaten one, which was a huge cultural difference that stood out...a standard lunchtime meal for kids their age would be rice and fried chicken...the lesson worked any way). After I collected some of their directions, I took out the ingredients out of no where and started following their directions literally. For instance, when they said "put the peanut butter on the bread" i literally picked up the peanut butter container and dropped it on the bread. When they said "spread jelly on the bread" without telling me to take out the slices frmo the bag, i actually put jelly on the plastic bag the bread is in. The class was cracking up and got a lot out of it (lesson: always use a lot of details in directions). So things like that.
I also got the kids addicted to the game Mafia. They absolutely love it. Basically, I'm teaching the kids to lie. Hey, that's how you play Mafia! But the kids really have a great time. I will definitely miss them a lot, because we joke around a lot and we get along fine in the classroom. When I get back to Chuuk, there will be plenty of pictures of the kids for you all. Maybe I'll even adopt some and bring them home with me. I feel bad for all other kids of the world because I dont think anyone can be as cool, innocent, and full of such a rich personality as these students of mine.

I think I've said too much. Please keep in touch, and I'll probably report back to you by the end of my Pohnpeian trip. Give you some good legends about this place. Keep the questions coming in. Peace

AJ

How 1 Year in Micronesia Has Changed Me

2006-07-01T21:19:00.000-08:00

As my one-year mark - or my halfway point of this entire service mission – approaches, I think it is important for myself, and for my faithful readers, to reflect on what’s been going on. I am pretty certain that I have changed a lot since leaving for orientation in Scranton about a year ago. On the other hand, I know that it is too early to tell, and I am also certain that a second year will really have a more significant effect on me than simply (yes, simply) being here for one year.

These past 11 months have been filled with places National Geographic desperately needs to go to (the ancient temple, Nan Madol, is definitely a location for the next Indiana Jones movie…although I’ve been saying that for almost every place I visit), beautiful and wonderful people of countless cultures, a high school that is as unique as any school can be, and a job (teaching high school) that has made me grow more than I will probably ever know. And let’s not forget the great people that I’ve been working with in my community – JVI, XHS, and more – the students that I have met along the way, and the sense of being isolated on a tiny tropical island. Mix that all in with the great support from home, the realization that I will not see home for 2 whole years, plenty of humidity, a laid back way of doing things, and long hair, and we have a pretty interesting experience so far.

The surest way to grow is through facing challenges. Some were already mentioned above: being away from home for two years; enduring simple living ($60 a month, lack of basic resources, lack of luxuries from home...no Dr. Pepper!!); trying to live in a community without going nuts; the constant humidity; the problems of trying to run a school that lacks funds, resources, teachers, etc.; teaching, even though I am NOT qualified one bit; struggling to understand a culture (or 6) when I know that I won’t come close even after being here for 2 years; living in an isolated boarding school, being surrounded by students 24/7; living on an isolating island where there is not much to do for entertainment; struggling to adjust to an “island-style” way of living, where the pace is much more lax than New England; the stress that comes from the fact that some people that I work with are not like me. There’s a lot.

Let me address that last challenge first. After getting through the “National Geographic- phase”, which includes being totally swept away by the beauty and exotic feel of the islands (I can argue that I’m still in that phase and will be for months to come…this is just one whole adventure for me), JVs tend to start missing home and getting more frustrated. Although I do miss home, I am not and have not been homesick to a serious extent. However, the last few months I have become more and more frustrated; frustrated with myself, with how the school is run, with the students, with the Chuukese, with the island pace and “work-style”. Some previous blogs may have picked up on my complaining and frustration. A good example was the Debate debacle. Nothing gets done around Chuuk, or at least that’s what it looks like to me. The truth of the matter is that the government of Chuuk has always been considered sketchy compared to the other states (traveling to Majuro and now Pohnpei has given me much greater insight to the contrasts between the island nations). It is sometimes referred to as the “Ghetto of Micronesia”. Needless to say, I got frustrated. Some of those times, I was justified.

But as a very wise friend recently told me, in response to my complaints, I was frustrated because it sounded like I wanted everyone else – the teachers, the people running debate, everyone here in the islands – to be more like me. “Why aren’t these people more like me? Why aren’t they more like Americans?” are questions that I never directly asked or thought about, but my friend interpreted it correctly. This friend also was abroad for a while, and he said that he experienced the same thing after a few months.

I think the lesson is all about appreciating the good in this place and in these people. In truth, I really do miss Xavier and Chuuk, especially the Chuukese (I've only been away for one month). They are by far the friendliest ones I’ve met. I definitely feel more at home in Chuuk. I also miss the craziness of Xavier. I am looking forward to teaching, even though it will be more hectic (is that possible?) since I will be teaching three full time classes. Very stressful. But I can’t wait for it. Xavier is a place that is so unique that I don’t think it can be matched by any other place in the world. Some of the volunteers that recently went home emailed me and said that they are having a very hard time trying to describe the life at Xavier. Hopefully I have been doing a decent job. As for the island pace of life, I am not going to try and adopt it for when I return home in a year, but I have to get used to it, and that will help me love it more. And there is nothing wrong with that. There are many values that I can – and have been – learn from being out here. I cannot voice them now, but perhaps I’ll be able to pinpoint them later on.

Simple living and being away from luxury has been tough, but very manageable and rewarding. I’m sure that there are many things that I thought I missed, but probably don’t. Example: we have TV here in the Jesuit House in Pohnpei. Other than the NBA Finals, which are now over, there is nothing good on TV or really even worth watching. I actually get sleepy, extremely bored very quickly, headaches, or a feeling of complete worthlessness when I am sitting to watch something even for a little while. I wasn’t a big fan of TV before, but I have a whole new perspective towards that. I honestly wonder what else I will feel differently towards when I get home. Probably tons of things. Things that I thought I couldn’t live without, but in reality, I don’t need them at all. Living the simple life makes you appreciate so many more things, and I definitely like to cherish things that I didn’t necessarily want to cherish before. Take conversations. Yes, simple sitting down and talking. Not idle chit chat. I would rather do that than sooo many other things. And certain normal things in life, especially food, are now considered luxuries. Cheese? I’d pay 1/5 of my salary to get some good, sharp cheddar. Quality pasta sauce, which I love so much? Only if I make it from scratch, when the ingredients are on-island. Steak? Nope, not until summer 07. Dr. Pepper? I had one, when a friend sent it to me in a package, and it was great, but now that I’ve had it, I’m not that fixed on it any more. It’s weird.

Teaching has made me more confident in myself, by far. I was not the one to speak in front of crowds. I did it daily, and I love it now. Making a lesson plan, and even entire curriculum, with limit resources, power very sporadic, internet less reliable, pages sticking together from the humidity, no formal training…I can do that now, and although I was so terrified the first week of school (I took a nap EVERY day after teaching just for an hour or two I was so mentally exhausted), I do it now with more ease, and look forward to making my lessons and course goals better.

I don’t know how I can ever really explain what’s going on out here. What is starting to be “normal” for me may be the craziest thought or action from someone back home. What?! You mean not everyone rides on the back of a pickup truck back home? You mean you don’t use a cooler as your luggage? It’s 70 degrees and you’re not freezing? Yes, I’ve (barely) picked up on two, maybe three major stories from the news media, and I’m still alive and well. There are no smoke detectors and fire drills at the school, and rain pours in the windows and some class rooms don’t have doors and everyone walks around barefoot…yet the school still functions and there are no complaints there. The power went out? Oh well, business is closed, stop doing work. No problem. You’re thirsty? I’ll have my 6 year old son climb up a 40 foot tree, with a machete in his mouth, to get you all some coconuts. Cavity, gum disease, chipped tooth? Fill it in with gold. It looks good. It’s time for the girls to run track and field, and all of them are running with skirts that go past their knees. I don’t know you, but you’re Americans? Come to my house and I’ll feed you a huge meal! We’re going downtown, everyone pile on top of the truck. No more room? Sit on the roof. I’m going to go swim in the lagoon that’s 80 degrees where there are beautiful coral and fish, and if I go far enough, I might see some reef sharks. Want to come? It poured 4 times today, but it’s been sunny the entire day. There are a bunch of kids walking around the street, playing, and I made their day by making a funny face at them. It is always great to make them laugh.

It goes on. There are so many little things. And as these little things become part of my life even more, I hope to understand this place and these people a whole lot more in the coming year. I honestly cannot even think of what I will be like in one more year. I do know that when I do come home, it will be very weird…actually, that’s a huge understatement. Even saying that it will be surreal is an understatement. But we will cross that bridge when we get there.

I guess you would have to really see me and spend time with me to see if I’ve changed. I know deep down inside I have not, which is (hopefully) a good thing. But I know I have been effected for the better. Other than my freakishly long, Antonio Banderes hair, I am not sure if it will be easy to see if I’ve truly grown. All I know is that I’m glad I signed up for two years, because the second year will be as fruitful as the first, and there is still a lot more to learn from.

My next blog will be about my teaching experience so far here on Pohnpei, and the visit from my friend since 7th grade, Campbell.

I also am putting up a link in my blog called "Micronesian Seminar". It's a website that is run by the actual place by the same name, which was started by Fr. Francis Hezel, the leading expert on Micronesia. It has amazing articles and discussions and links about everything and anything regarding Micronesian issues. This link will give anyone who is interested a more in depth look and feel about how Micronesia deals with real world problems like every place else on Earth.

I love everyone at home, and I miss you all. I love Micronesia. Keep the questions coming in. Peace.

Summer Vacation - Majuro and Pohnpei

2006-06-10T19:14:00.000-08:00

Times are certainly going very well for me right now. I am full swing into my summer vacation (summer school hasn’t started yet) and I am certainly getting the most out of relaxing and exploring these wonderful new places. Here’s a bit about what Majuro and Pohnpei - two completely different island states/nations from Chuuk.

Majuro - Republic of the Marshall Islands

Majuro is the capital of RMI. The Marshall Islands consists of dozens of atolls and very few actual islands. It is home to Kwajelane, the world’s biggest atoll and also an American military base, as well as Bikini atoll, where the U.S. staged many famous nuclear and hydrogen bomb tests. Majuro is an atoll, and like all other parts of the Marshall Islands, it is incredibly flat. By incredibly I mean 100%. It is also very very small. Basically at any time you’re on this atoll, you can see both the Pacific Ocean side as well as the lagoon side. The narrowest parts are as wide as the road itself, and the widest parts are maybe 5 football fields long. Yet many people live on these atolls. The most remarkable feature that stands out in comparison with Chuuk: Majuro is a metropolis. It is a lot more Americanized than Chuuk, or than the FSM for that matter. But there is still that mix of island life and culture. It was certainly surprising seeing countless stores, supermarkets, and big, modern buildings. For a second, I could have mistaken it for southern Florida or Puerto Rico. Yet it was all crammed in the little space of the atoll. There were also some parts of the atoll that were very beautiful that contained just trees and beaches. And the highest part of the atoll was a bridge. I heard that some Marshallese kids have never seen real mountains or hills before, so they are usually shocked when they arrive in Kosrae (the first stop in the FSM). Crazy.

There are a few things of note from my two week stay in Majuro:

First was the actual reason for going in the first place: the half-way retreat (for us 1st years), also known as Re-O Dis-O, the "O" standing for Orientation. It was a chance for us 1st years to get reacquainted with the values of JVI and to examine our times in the islands so far. So it was the Chuuk community along with the Pohnpeian community - Tom and Ashley, who visited us in Xmas - as well as the Majuro community. It was really meaningful to have three different island communities coming together to share their experiences. It was also great to hang out with people our age. It was also nice to see Emily, a Majuro JV, who I went to HC with. It was the first time I met up with someone from my "previous life." It was great, just weird. Hard to explain.
Another cool time was when we went to one end of the atoll (it’s not connected all the way around, there are a few islets in between, where the big boats come through) to a beach. It was a very beautiful place, and unlike the places in Chuuk (unless we’re on a reef island) the water led right into the big blue of the Pacific. Dwyer and I decided to venture out past the coral into the actual ocean. Probably not the smartest thing, but we tried anyway. After walking through shallow coral for about 150 yards, we made it to the waves crashing. Once we got past the waves, and once we made sure there was no rip tide, we swam around for a bit, exploring under the surface. A few things notably different: there were many fish and they were huge. Where we were swimming - the first few yards after the breaking waves onto the shallow land - was where most of the fishing takes place. Also there was this really cool crevasse that went really deep and cut into the ocean floor with sharp walls going down. It was very creepy to see, but unlike anything I’ve seen before. We swam down in it a bit and saw even more fish. Finally, the creepiest thing was this: once we swam merely a few yards out even further into the deep blue sea, the ocean floor drops dramatically. So far, in fact, that we couldn’t even see the ocean floor. Scariest feeling in the world. We did not stay out for long, for fear of a shark or something coming out of no where (I found out from a Marshallese teacher that came with us that that was where the sharks hung out…good thing I found out afterwards).

The other great thing about Majuro was the kids. The JVI house was right next door to the school and, like everything else on the atoll, right next to the main (and, really, only) road. There are always people walking about (or jambo, as it’s called in Marshallese) on the streets, which is a pleasant change. There is usually no where to go in Chuuk, so you don’t see people walking on the roads often. Anyway, there are ALWAYS kids walking around, and the JVI has a tendency to attract little kids there all the time. In the kitchen, there are some children’s books, coloring books, and some blocks that the kids always ask for. Even if you don’t want to play with the kids or pay attention to them, we just give them some crayons and books and they chill on the porch. But it was really nice to be interrupted by the cutest kids in the world. I can’t really explain it that well, but having children around who are really sweet and innocent is very refreshing for me. It’s definitely a good break from the high school punks I’m surrounded by. I had good times entertaining them for hours throughout my two weeks there. I miss them already.

Other than that, the two weeks went by fast with some sad goodbyes (Joe and Adrienne left), fun parties with the Majuro JVs, meeting many new people, BBQ at the American Embassy, and I saw X3 at a movie theater (also a incredibly weird experience. For the briefest moment, I thought I was back home in the states. It was a surreal experience leaving the cold theater into the humid atmosphere of downtown Majuro. It was like I was in a dream, back home, and a bit sad because I thought to myself "I can’t go back yet, I’m not done with my work here on the islands." That thought lasted for a second as I exited the theater, which made the whole experience even weirder…that’s just a glimpse of what may come with the whole reverse culture shock in one year).

After two weeks, Dwyer and I left for the island hopper to our new home for the summer, Pohnpei.
Pohnpei is the capital of the FSM, or to be more accurate, the capital is located on this huge island. Out of all the four FSM states (Yap, Chuuk, and Kosrae…I have to keep reminding you, just in case you forget), Pohnpei is the most developed. It is not as Americanized as Majuro, but the infrastructure is definitely … well, there and intact. It is full of jungles and constantly rains. It was nice landing in Pohnpei because it really reminded me of Chuuk. I wouldn’t really say Pohnpei is a cross between Pohnpei and Majuro, but it’s definitely Chuuk on steroids.

We’re staying at the Jesuit House, which is more like a hotel. We live in the town of Kolonia which is a pleasant town that has many streets and side streets (finally, a place that does not have just ONE road going around the island), stores, supermarkets and the usual sites of a normal town. Everything is in walking distance, so walking around is a nice change from being stuck up on the hill at Xavier.

Although we’re staying with the Jesuits, we’ve been hanging out with Tom and Ashley a lot. Although they are second years, they stayed after Re-O Dis-O because they were technically not done with school. On the first day Ashley took us out to a bar (a real one, with drinks and music and people and pool and a TV - not a run down place with one sketchy, drunk guy). It is also very safe here in Pohnpei. Being outside of Chuuk has made me realize how it compares with other places in the islands. People outside of Chuuk don’t really consider it a nice, safe place. It’s considered the ghetto of Micronesia. It’s hard for me to realize, because Chuuk was the first place I became acquainted with. I have no problem defending Chuuk and its people (who I believe to be the friendliest out of all other island states/nations).

Anyway, back to Pohnpei (or Ponape, for those of you using outdated maps to locate it.)

The first week here has been packed. So far we’ve walked all over Kolonia, and we already know our way around the entire town. We’ve also been to two waterfalls, which Pohnpei is known for. When I thought the first one was amazing, the second one blew me away. The first waterfall we went to was about 75 feet high. Dwyer, Tom, Ashley and I went swimming there, which was great. Yet when we went on the PCS (Pohnpei Catholic School) staff picnic the other day, we went to this place called "Twin Falls" because, as I noticed from the top of this huge hill overlooking a jungle valley in front of me, I saw two huge waterfalls streaming down, disappearing into the canopy below me. We had to hike one hour down an incredibly steep hill. If I ever compared any of the jungles in Chuuk to Jurassic Park, I take that back, because Pohnpei definitely resembles all those movies containing real jungle rain forests. The island of Pohnpei is huge compared to Weno, and it takes a few hours to drive around the entire island (on paved roads, going fast, no less). Anyway, after hiking down a muddy hill and then walking through a rocky river (all with NO ZORRIES! It was safer, since it was slippery wearing our sandles, so bare feet was much easier) we went to the first waterfall, which had to be about 200-250 feet high! It also contained a swimming hole. The second waterfall, just a short hike away, was also 250 feet high. It was very hypnotic to watch. I really hope I get pictures to you, though you may have to wait until August, because uploading pics here in Pohnpei is a bit hard, since I rarely get online now.
We also hiked up a mountain that contained a few Japanese guns (the Pohnpeian government actually preserves them as a historical site, unlike Chuuk) and saw a spectacular view of many of the hills of the island as well as the ocean. Being so high up and seeing water almost all around me really gives you that feeling that you are indeed on a small island in the middle of the vast ocean.

I also had the good fortune to have a small meal with a local Pohnpeian, a worker at the Jesuit House whom we befriended. We watched his family members pound Sakau in their community hut outside their house, and we joined in the drinking ritual of passing the coconut shell cup around and drinking the mud-like root-juice that makes your mouth go numb.

We still have lots to do, like check out more water falls and also go to the legendary Non Mandol, a pre colonial temple/ruins that you can only enter with a kayak. This island is incredibly beautiful and huge. It was a great first week here, and I know the rest of the two months will be great.

Chris and I start work on June 26th, so we have plenty of time to get ready. Chris and I are also preparing to welcome the new JVs to Pohnpei when they arrive in the beginning of August. Not only will we have to welcome 6 new JVs, but we are in charge of organizing the main in-country orientation for the Pohnpei JVs, since there are no overlapping second years.

It is all very exciting and happening very fast. But it feels great to be in limbo in my two year mission (the first year is done because I’m out of school and Adrienne and Joe have left, but the new JVs aren’t here yet, and this is almost like a real summer vacation for me). My next blog will be a bit more insightful to my whole year and I will try to capture any growth that I have noticed in the past year. I’ll try to make it exciting.

Anyway, it’s great to hear from all of you. Keep in touch. So long from Pohnpei.

Kalangan!

Cultural Day and Graduation

2006-05-12T23:14:00.000-08:00

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...

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(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)

Power Problems and Debate: Part 1

2006-05-02T02:47:00.000-08:00

Where to begin...

It is Tuesday night right now. Let's see what has happened in the past couple of days. The theme for tonight: Ridiculousness. Capital 'R'.

First of all, for the first time here with my stay on Chuuk, we, at Xavier have had NO power, none whatsoever, for TWO WHOLE DAYS. I'm sure you have heard about the power situation here, and how it goes off and on at random times. It's incredibly frustrating, but honestly, after a few months of it, it is as normal as the sun rising and setting. Our two sources of power are the school's own generator and "island power"; power that comes from the main deisel fueled power plant downtown which generates power to the whole island. When island power goes out, our generator is turned on (only if it is during school hours and meals, not, let's say, during unimportant hours like Saturday and Sunday afternoons).

So what made the past two (and a half, actually - no power today until 6) days different. It just happens that our generator broke and the island power plant, well, ran out of fuel. For our Xavier generator, something broke that cannot be replaced for months because it is in Guam. The question most of us have been asking ourselves is: Why isn't the spare lying around somewhere. I mean, the generator is a pretty important thing, especially since the power situation is very sketchy here at best. It's like saying when you buy a car "Spare tire? Why would I need that? I have four perfectly good ones right here. Here, you can keep it." But, that's the ridiculousness of the situation that we have to appreciate. Plus is didn't help that this week is finals week, and a certain number of teachers (aka ALL of them) need to type up and print their finals.
Now, when I say that the island plant ran out of fuel, I need to elaborate. Here on Chuuk, that means that the government either ran out of money to pay for gas. Or, in more precise terms, the people who pay the money for this fuel have been so behind in paying Mobil that they got pissed and denied the plant fuel. So, for the past two and a half days, the whole island was without power (to be fair, it's not the WHOLE island; some houses and individual stores have their own generators, like we HAD, but theirs work).
Joe made a good observation today: When power goes out in America, people's work is ruined, and their jobs are messed up. I mean, when there is a blackout, that hurts the business we have to do. Apparently that's not the case here. Power goes out here all the time, some times (as I have experienced in the past few days) for an extended period of time. How do they function? What types of jobs are here - or I guess to be more accurate - what types of mentalities towards work is here that people can casually allow the power not to be on for days? That's the world that I am in. That is what Chuuk is like.

Now, for more ridiculousness.

Today is Tuesday, the day of the Chuuk State Debate, which I am in charge of. First of all, I took on the responsibility from Anne, the principal, because she had way too much on her plate, and I felt bad, but also because I wanted to experience working for an extracurricular activity that involved many schools. However, it is also noteworthy to mention how this guy at the FSM Supreme Court, Harry, was supposed to run this whole thing to BEGIN with, but he dumped it on Anne. We are certain he did this because, well, he's probably lazy (surprise) and she's American, so she would work hard at it. That's not an exaggeration.
So, after many months of desperately trying to get people to participate in this debate, after many phone calls that have gotten no where, after two meetings that I called and attended (once I rode downtown on my bike, second one when I barely made it down in the truck since I was still learning how to drive stick shift - I'm an expert at it now, thank you) NO ONE SHOWED UP, and after a week, just one week, of preparing my Xavier students to cram and take all of their extra time to work incredibly hard for both sides of the proposition (to state it simply, should FSM have dual citizenship), the day finally arrived. It was us against Saramen Chuuk Academy (the second best school - Catholic school - here on Chuuk) and SDA (Seventh Day Adventist).
However, there was a problem going into this whole debate (and this is the beginning of the problem, so pay attention). We had no judges. That was also a problem last year (no one showed up when they said they would, so Xavier's assistant principal had to do it last minute). Basically, after trying EVERYONE we possibly could (Anne did most of this work), these potential judges have turned us down, are off island, or just gave us some lame excuse why they couldn't help. Lame. Capital "L". Mind you, there are only two criteria for a judge in this case: you had to be a competent English speaker and unbiased towards a certain school. Alas, we couldn't find anyone. We needed SOMEONE. So I asked each school to bring one judge from their school. That would cause the problem of people being biased, fine, but everyone agreed to it, because we had no one to judge, and it was the best we can do at this point.
Besides, we're all adults here, so even though there may be some bias, we can all judge a simple debating event pretty fairly, considered this is an important event that the students worked hard on, and they deserve the best judging to adequately decide who should represent Chuuk for the Nationals. Also, we're all educators, so we would judge fairly in the name of respect for education.

Oh, how I can be so wrong.

Tuesday morning, we're all psyched and ready to go. I wore pants and my only dress button down shirt, tucked in, rolled up sleeves, business casual. I got a lot of great comments from the students in the hall way. Eugene and Desi, two of my brightest and hardest working students, both Pohnpeian, were the ones who would debate, and they were also looking very sharp in formal clothing. So, after we frantically scrambled to print out our debate briefs from the lone computer in the main office that was hooked up to a back up miniscule generator (the generator was so weak, that once started printing something, the battery backup turned on on the computer, meaning we had literally a minute to print before the computer shut down), I drove everyone down (stick shift, thank you) to the FSM courthouse. We also brought along 5 other Juniors who are alternates, but really part of the team who helped Eugene and Desi along the way, and Nick and Jeremy, the Australian volunteers (right out of high school) who volunteered to judge and help (they don't really have anything better to do now, since their only job was to grade the Entrance Exam, and that's been done for months).

We get to the courthouse early, then the other two teams arrive, I find out that I'm the moderator, so I'm basically making all of the decisions on how this runs, and I ended up addressing the whole crowd (it got pretty big, with spectators from each school) and controlled the time and everything like that. So Jeremey was our judge, a teacher John Martin (whom I've met before, nice guy) from Saramen was their judge, and from SDA ... no judge! They didn't do what they were supposed to do. No one wanted to help, the coach told me (surprise). However, right before we began, their principal volunteered to help. Fine. I gave them grading sheets, as well as a sheet with a detailed explanation on how to judge. They were set. The teams were set. I got the event started, reading off the procuders we would follow and everything else, and we flipped coins, and Xavier went first against SDA. The debate began.

Now, how this works, is the loser of the Xavier-SDA would go against Saramen, and the winner of that one would play the winner of the first one. If you don't know debate, it goes like this: introduction, about 4 minutes, main arguments, up to 15, rebuttal, then response to rebuttal, followed by a summation. So about an hour total.

Let me speed up this story...

The debates went fine, but the problem happened with the judging. Let me reiterate something for all of you at this point (I've been reiterating things to people all day, so I'm getting good at it): I KNOW that we didn't have perfect judges, and I REALIZE that they may be biased, but we had the best we could work with. What I, and I guess everyone else, didn't expect was for the SDA principal - PRINCIPAL! - to be so blatantly biased and basically, well, an idiot! I'm sorry, but that's how I still feel. Let me explain.
SDA clearly did not know how to debate well. They did not have an organized format, they did not have strong or logical reasoning, their speaking was very informal, but most importantly of all, they provided no evidence. None (my Xavier students were very good to point that out in the rebuttal, thank you). But that's not the point. The SDA judge CLEARLY favored SDA over Xavier, causing Xavier to win by only one point (actually SDA won first - much to everyone's surprise, but the SDA judge can't add up his point correctly. Luckily, I recounted, and found his errors). Still, we should have blown the SDA team out of the water. Fine. We won, we had to move on.
SDA vs. Saramen next. Same proposition, but SDA was now the Affirmative team instead of the Negative team, which they were for us. Same thing. SDA did not give any reasonable arguments, lacked complete evidence, used emotional appeals some times (you dont do that in a proper debate), and were very unorganized. They even didn't do the summation correctly at all. Remember that. Saramen, however, did incredibly well (they might have beaten us, even). Result: SDA barely won. But they won. Why? Because the SDA judge decided to give them perfect scores for half of their entire debate.

Pure ridiculousness.

And that's when the fighting started.

The Saramen judge, coach, other teachers, students (the poor girls, they were crying because they were so shocked) and even Harry, the FSM supreme court guy (still havent figured out his title yet) surrounded me to address complaints (some formal, some informal, like when one Saramen teacher kept repeating bull s***) about the judging. How could SDA win? This judge is biased! He doesn't know what he's doing! Blah blah and so on. As the moderator, I had to listen to all of these complaints from the losing team. If both teams were very close, I would have to just dismiss it and stick to the final judgement.
However, as the moderator, as the Xavier coach, as a teacher of debate, and as someone who hates it when adults are completely biased and incompetent, I had to agree with everything they were saying. There was NO way they were close, and I didn't want Saramen to be denied to move to the next round. They probably worked as hard as we did, and they followed the proper procedures, like us, and unlike the SDA team. Now I feel sorry for the SDA team and I hope they are better prepared and coached next year, but to reward them but not the two teams that tried hard and did everything correctly...I didn't think so. So I got all the judges and coaches together in a meeting and we tried to work everything out.

For those of you who know me, I'm not a confrontational guy. I'm pretty laid back and I just want everyone to get along. You would have been proud and surprised of how I handled this. The SDA judge, this principal, was amazing! He kept dodging an explanation regarding how in the world he can judge his team the way he did. Pure ridiculousness.
Anyway, this is taking some time to tell, so, in the end, after almost a 30 minute meeting (while the students were waiting for the third debate to happen) we decided that the best thing to do - the best thing for the students - is to reschedule the debate and have ALL teams find a competent and UNBIASED judge. We have to start all over. So after 5 hours of debating and waiting and getting organized, we have to start all over again. All because this one man had to disregard all and any notions of evaluation of a proper debate to blatantly favor his own school. All because of this one man's inconsiderate, idiotic judging do we have to do all of this again. This is why I'm so upset. We the judges expected to be perfectly unbiased? No. But not to this ridiculous extent. It's also a sad statement of the situation of some of the schools in this area. This is the type of principal that runs their institution, and SDA is one of the better schools in Chuuk.

At least I'm proud of my students, who rocked out there, and probably would have won. So we're going to do this again! I'll let you know how THAT goes. Now I know how Joe feels, who is in charge (well, as you may have guessed, the responsibility was dumped on his by someone who was supposed to be doing their own job in the first place) of all the sports in Chuuk. He organized basketball, vollyball, and track and field. He had to deal with the same crap as I had to. This is how lax and unorganized everything is here. While the poverty may not be completely obviously in the physical landscape or possessions, the whole system is corrupted with uncarring and unorganized people. This does not go for everyone, of course, but I hope this gives you a better understanding of how things work here. I bet next year this will be very normal for me. But from a college student from New England, this is almost surreal. At least I'm learning how to confront people and gain patience.

Part 2 to come soon. Take care, and I hope my ridiculousness makes your seem like nothing. Peace out.

New Pics

2006-04-28T20:39:00.000-08:00

Hey guys. I know I haven't posted anything in a while. But I will very soon, because the month of May is filled with exciting things, such as a possible other trip to Pissar, Cultural Day, and Graduation. Plus, I will fill everyone in with my overall thoughts on how this whole year has gone by, and any other reflections that I think are appropriate at this time.

I just want to let you know that there will be a lot of new pictures coming up, and I added another WebShots page (since the free sign up only allows for a certain number). The first album has some of the Juniors preparing for the State Debate (i'm the Deabte Coach as well as the person in charge of the Chuuk State Debate ... it's a joke, I know, but the people who SHOULD be running it down town dumped it on us - Xavier - so now a white boy who;s been here for 9 months is coordinating things together). Anyway, the Juniors are working hard as we speak in the library, and it's Saturday afternoon.
The last day of classes was yesterday, and next week is finals week. All I have to do is write them up, grade them, and I'm done for the year. Just a reminder to people who are wondering, I am leaving for the Marshall Islands May 17th for my retreat, and then Dwyer and I leave for Pohnpei on June 4th until August 4th for summer school. It should be a lot of fun.
Finally, a shout out to Vers for the awesome package.
Keep the questions and correspondance coming. It really helps. Almost one year through!!! Peace

Track and Field Day, Good Friday

2006-04-14T17:34:00.000-08:00

Hello from my Easter Break! This vacation has been the most relaxing one I've had in my entire life. First of all, we haven't had a break since January 2nd. That's right. No spring break or anything like that. So this week has been very chill, just a lot of reading, hanging out on the wonderful porch overlooking the back field and the lagoon, waking up when i want, not following a schedule. It's been great. Here are some of the things that's been happening this April so far...

Track and Field

For the past month or so, the students have been practicing for track and field with a vengence. Even Fr. Arthur has been coaching the boys after school, making sure that everyone trains very diligently. He even locked up the computer room just so all the students would be on the field, practicing (that bothered me a bit, since most of the girls don't have computers at their sponsor familie's houses, and there were some weeks when I needed them to write papers for me).

Track and field officially started the last week of March, when the marathoners ran Tuesday morning at 5:00AM. Our boys and girls did OK (Jaclyn, who loves running more than anything else, has been training them hard, but sometimes it's really hard to motivate these students or get them to do anything. They are obidient, but they lack the enthusiasm to work hard on their own - that goes for academics as well). On Thursday, we had half a day, since the official Track and Field events started at Anderson Field in the afternoon. Anderson field is the only public park on Weno, and this Track and Field event is a huge thing here on Chuuk. It is like the Superbowl of Chuuk. Some schools have been practicing all year (since that is their only sport they train for...or can train for, since they don't have funds for a basketball) for these two days. Friday is the bulk of the events, and it lasts all day.

After many bus trips down to the "big city" (the faculty usually go on the last trip so they don't have to wait in the heat for so long), we found the Xavier tent. There must have been about 600 or more people on this one field. Each school had a tent on the perimeter, while the events took place in the middle. Each school loved to be as loud and wild as possible, which was fun to see. Each had their own cheers and chants. The Chuukese women and girls love to scream (literally screaming, more than yelling) for their players, and stepping out from under the tent to dance usually causes a HUGE uproar among the crowd. I think this is the only time (sporting events) for females to really "let loose" and go nuts. It is always fun to watch. Of course, Xavier students had many chants and cheers.

Most of the events were fun to watch. It did take a long time, since Track and Field events take all day. The most interesting events, however, were the coconut husking and basket weaving. There is no other place in the world (the announcer kept pointing out) that you will find events like this. Coconut husking involves jamming a coconut into a pointed stick to rip off the husk, or the dry "shell", stripping it down to the actual coconut shell where the meat and juice is inside. Each player has to husk as many coconuts in a certain amount of time. Basketweaving involved taking a palm branch and turning it into a good quality basket. It was amazing watching these girls' hands fly! It took them about 2-3 minutes to make a usable basket made entirely of one branch. (Check out my pictures, all of this is in there)

Xavier came in 2nd (tied for 2nd, actually) but it was a very fun time, overall. The best part, actually, was a the surprise that came from the Principal the Wednesday before Track and Field. Originally, we were supposed to have classes this Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Instead, we had no school! So that meant that Easter break started Thursday afternoon! There was just no point having school for three days this week. Plus, it was very much needed. It is currently Saturday now, and I actually feel rejuvinated.

Good Friday

The Easter services have been fine so far, nothing that different (considering that I'm used to have 130 students sing beautifully in the hot humid weather and surrounded by sun and coconut trees.

However, yesterday was a bit different.

Good Friday involves the stations of the cross followed by a short service. Fr. Arthur has taken an idea from us JVIs and decided that we, as a school, along with the Sapuk Catholic community, would walk around the entire neighborhood while doing the stations. We did the same thing for our JVI retreat back in the fall, but we walked around the ENTIRE ISLAND (17 miles, 9 hours). If you check out a map of the island of Weno, you'll notice that Xavier is on the right side of the island, and it's located at the beginning of a small peninsula that jets out to create the eastern most point of the island. That little penisula is the Sapuk neighborhood, and that's what we all walked around. There were about 500 people walking and doing the stations. The Chuukese were singing traditional songs while we walked, and each station was said in Chuukese. I walked in the front with most of the Chuukese, and found some of my little friends that I see weekly. We stopped at some of the Catholic family's houses to do each station. The huge crowd of people followed a person, usually a Sapukian youth, carrying a huge cross that they cut themselves from coconut trees.
It was also considerably HOT that day. We started walking around 10 in the morning and ended a little after noon. We were all drentched in sweat. I also was asked to carry the cross on the last leg (up the hill that reaches Xavier) and I ended inside of the buildings where we sometimes say mass with a large crowd. The cross was heavier than it looked. But overall, it was a wonderful experience, doing the stations while walking, and being with the Chuukese community at the same time. I don't think I'll ever encounter a Catholic ritual like that again.

Well, break is almost over, but that's fine with me. I'm well rested, and I'm ready to finish classes, since we only have two more weeks! After that we'll be getting ready for finals (I'll also be getting ready for the Chuuk National Debate, since I am both in charge of the Xavier team as well as coordinating the other 3 schools in this tournament), Cultural Day and Graduation. After Graduation, I'll be going to the Marshall Islands for an orientation with two other JVI communities in Micronesia. After that, Dwyer and I head for Pohnpei to teach summer school while Jaclyn does the same back here in Chuuk.

Keep sending your love this way. I love hearing from everyone. Every time I have an IM conversation with you or get an email from you, it strenghtnes me more than you would beleive. Thank you for your support.

A typical day...

2006-04-02T14:59:00.000-08:00

Nothing new to report. April is finally here. March was just way too long. But I’m glad (and the other students and faculty are also glad) that the last month of classes are finally here. This month has some exciting events, such as track and field competitions and Easter Break.

A few of you wanted to know what a normal day is like for me, so I’ll try to go through one for you. Remember, this is the average weekday for me.

Wake up – 7:30.

I am glad I get to wake up on an average time. I am not an early morning person, or a morning person for that matter. Sometimes I can get by to sleeping until 8:00. I usually wake up on my own without my clock getting me up. By this time the light from the window is pouring into my small room. I take a cold shower (remember, I have taken one hot shower since I got here 8 months ago), and I’m usually the last one to go because Joe and Dwyer get up right before me. For some reason which we have not been able to figure out yet, the water always drips in the morning, and the water pressure comes later in the afternoon. So some mornings we have to settle for a little drip of cold water. Waking up on those cloudy, rainy days makes the cold shower even harder (these days are a freezing 68 degrees…freezing!). If my beard is out of control (I don’t like to go without shaving for more than a week now) I shave afterwards in the adjacent room which is our “community room”. This is where Joe, Dwyer and I have our tooth brushes and other things. The bathroom connects that room with my bedroom. By 8:00 or 8:20 on the later days, I’m walking to work.

8:00-8:30

For the students, this time is morning study, which they have to attend (unless you are a senior, then you just bum around or frantically start your homework or study for a test). This is a good time for students to look for teachers on any last minute questions. Since my students know my feelings on last minute work, I’m usually eating my breakfast during this time. I am available right before the 8:30 bell for assembly, or sometimes on the day of a test I’m there the entire time. But traffic to the teachers’ offices is not that high during this time. I’m still trying to wake up. If the internet is on, I am checking my email. I have a good schedule since I usually have the first two periods open every day.

8:45-11:55

This time takes up the first 4 periods with a small recess (10:00-10:30) in the middle. On my free periods I am getting ready for the day’s classes by looking over my notes, printing certain papers out, or just planning the actual lesson an hour before I step into the class. The latter has happened more than once, and it’s really not that big of a deal. I’m always prepared for class. Some lessons require a lot of personal research on my part, but most of the time it’s common sense (for me) so I just have to learn how to simplify it for these kids. I don’t like to do grading in the morning, so I am good to get most of that done the night before.

12:00-12:45

This is lunch time. We’re usually pretty hungry by this time because we’re usually running around all morning or teaching. Plus breakfast is not always that fulfilling. The lunches here are very good, mostly fried spam, tuna fish, different types of spam, veges, rice (obviously) and some fruit. On non-busy days I take my time eating. But there are some days where I still need to get some work done and even I leave work for the last minute, so I feel like I need to look over my notes again before class. We all sit in the faculty resource room, and the faculty take up three tables.

12:45-3:00

The last three periods of the day. This is the time of the schedule when I’m usually booked. Some days I have all three classes in a row! That means standing, walking back and forth, talking, and all that other energy you need for teaching for over two hours. Luckily for me, I don’t notice how exhausted I am until after my last class, but it really takes a lot out of you. In the beginning of the year, I needed naps almost every day. But now I’m doing a lot better. On those hot days we get a good sweat going (some other teachers compare our soaked shirts with each other, see who got a better sweat going).

3:00-5:00

This is the time of day for afternoon study, any meetings, and rehearsals. The students have the first half hour to chill, meet with teachers, go to the Galley (the student run store that sells cola and other snacks). Freshman through juniors must be in the study hall from 3:30-5:00. This is the time of day when I am in my office or hiding out in the faculty lounge, but I try to make myself available, especially since this is the best time of the day for the girls to see teachers or do their work before they go back down to their sponsor families at 5:00. I do some grading, but never any lesson planning. If I need a snack, I get a peanut butter and jelly (which is a huge life saver for most of us here…the reason we’re all losing so much weight is that extra food or snack is hard to come by). I most definitely need some water from the humidity and all of that talking I do. It’s a good time for me to have some informal chats with the female students as well, if they don’t have any homework. For the girls that break school rules, they are supposed to do some work after one of the school days. Their form of work involves cleaning the school, like mopping, sweeping, taking out trash, and so on. I once saw them in the back of the school cutting up wood for kindling, which surprised me cause high school girls at home would never think of doing that, either because they’d be scared of breaking a nail or would think it’s too “hard” to do.

5:00-7:30

This is my free time of the day. I stop all work at 5:00 (sometimes earlier if I’ve had a bad or really tiring day) and try to get away from my work. This is also the time of the day that the power usually goes off (not the first time of the day, but a time that has been part of a pattern). I try to get out and exercise by playing basketball as much as I can at this part of the day. Being outside, the activity and being in that informal, fun environment with the kids is always relaxing. I played basketball with shoes and socks ONCE this whole year, so the bottoms of my feet are now as tough as leather. I’m very used to hardly wearing anything on the feet (you have to take them off everywhere you go because it is both clean and polite). I’m even used to teaching barefoot, let alone hiking through the jungle barefoot, since wet zorries are too slippery (take that, $60 hiking boots).
If I’m not playing, I usually just chill on the porch, looking down (literally, not figuratively) on the kids on the field, playing or practicing. Then the power comes back on at 6:00, and we start dinner. Dinner is usually some weird meat or chicken, some local food (we wish we got more fish, or sashimi) and some cabbage or veges. Between the end of dinner and 7:30 I try to relax, because 7:30 the students come up for evening study.

7:30-9:30

That’s right, my day is not over. Evening study is from 7:30-8:30 for the kids. This is usually when I grade or lesson plan, but by 8:00 the kids come up and start bothering the teachers. Not really bothering, mostly asking questions. However, some of them leave study saying they need to see a teacher, when all they do is travel from office to office chatting it up with each teacher, not getting any work done. On some days it is nice to talk with the guys and have informal conversations with them. Other days I’m either really busy with work, busy helping my own students, or in the resource room, hiding yet again from the kids, trying to get some work done on the computer. Even in here, in the faculty resource room, the students come knocking and are always looking for you. Usually they have some good questions – which I welcome, because this is an advantage for going to a boarding school; the close contact with the teachers gives you all of the extra help you need – but sometimes they just need you to repeat what you said in class because they weren’t listening. It’s tough to distinguish, but I’m learning.
Even by the time the flow of students dies down, we’re usually still doing work in our offices until 9:30, or even 10:00 if we’re busy. I usually try to be done by 10 the latest.

9:30-11:00

This is the time for me to wind down. On really busy days, I just leave my office and fall into bed. But I try to decompress by reading on the porch or just chatting with someone. Usually my books are good (I’m on my third Tom Clancy now) so I want to read until 11:00. I basically read until I can’t open my eyes any more. Also, 11:00 is usually when Xavier turns off the power, so that’s when my day officially ends.

So this is a normal day for me. A LOT of interaction between the students, so you can see how it is important to try and get away from them on the weekends or at night. But it has created a more genuine bond with them, and it helps us understand and help them a lot more, which is the whole point of what I’m doing here. Also, like I mentioned, every now and then I have some fascinating conversations with them about their home islands or about whatever. It’s also a good time to help the students with any of their personal problems, although you do not really show your emotion or feelings in this culture.
I hope this answered your questions about what my normal day is like. On the weekends, it varies, but it’s mostly waking up later – around 9 if I’m lucky, and taking my time to wake up. There is a lot of reading, movie watching, playing outside, grading, and lesson planning, but a lot less interaction with the students, or at least voluntary interaction with them. We need the weekends away from them, and I’m sure they need it away from us as well.

Keep brining on the questions. Peace.

Shout Outs

2006-03-17T16:32:00.000-08:00

A quick shout out to a few of you who sent amazing packages.
First to the Cullens, one of the best families in the world, thanks for the presents and the magazines!
To my brother and Campbell. Thanks for the mixes, books, and especially the pasta stuff. Those sauces will keep me happy for a long time.
Also to my mom, for the shorts and stuff.

Well, nothing big to report other than yesterday was St. Patrick's day and we hung out at Hard Wreck Cafe (one of the few bars at town) where we (not I) sang Kareoke and I had three White Russians (most milk I've had in a few weeks).

Tomorrow, Sunday, the WASC accredidation team visits, so everyone is cleaning, practicing their welcome dances, and preparing reports and meetings. This is what we've been getting ready for the entire year. So when this week is over, we'll be very very happy. There will be many local dances performed by the students tomorrow, so check my pictures soon.

One of these days I'll update my blog with some general information, such as "What A Typical Day is like" and just comparing life here to what life was like for me back home. Please keep emailing me questions so I have specific things to answer.

JVI Retreat and French Frigates

2006-03-09T14:43:00.000-08:00

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.

Some Cultural Differences

2006-02-28T19:17:00.000-08:00

Something interesting about Lent which is coming up. Normally we Catholics give up meat on Fridays. However, that doesn’t make any sense in the islands. So at Sunday at mass Fr. Arthur told us that we’d be giving up rice. The students gasped. That makes more sense since we give should give up something big.

Also, I’m teaching SAT prep, and the new SAT has a section that involves essays. The principle gave me an SAT practice book, and I looked through all of the essays. Some of them are impossible for the Juniors to do. Not because they’re too hard, but they’re geared towards American society. Here is one example:

“Have professional sports influenced the values of American society?”

That one is obvious. Here is one that you may not understand would be hard for these Micronesian students to write about:

Quote: “A man walking down a crowded street noticed a dog lying by the side of the road that looked like it might be injured; but since everyone else just passed by, the man was satisfied to assume that the dog was fine. The next day he learned that the dog had been hit by a car and lay injured for two hours before a concerned man stopped and took it to the vet. The animal recovered, but the man never forgave himself for leaving it for someone else to help.”

Now, the assignment asks you to write a well developed and clear 400 word essay on your view on individual responsibility in the situation described above. To be fair, I’m sure most of the Juniors could figure how to find a point of view on individual responsibility. However, this is not fair for a Micronesian for two main reasons. 1) They do not treat dogs like pets here. They’re all over the islands, skinny, dirty, dying and not really treated well by anyone. Why would anyone even be concerned about a dog in the first place. 2) The idea of a vet is foreign to people here. The only real animal you would be concerned about is your pig, which is where they get most of their meat from. But each family takes care of their own pig, so they are the vet. Anyway, I thought that was an interesting cultural difference.

Dance Night, Chuuk Education, Sponsor Family

2006-02-20T22:51:00.000-08:00

It’s been a while. A lot has happened since I last updated you with stuff.

Dance Night

Since I last updated my blog on my amazing trip to Tol, the first out-of-the-ordinary event was Dance Night. 3rd Quarter is hard because, once Christmas break ends, there are really not any important breaks or events until Easter, so there is this long stretch of time that usually gets to the students and teachers. However, the students really get excited for Dance Night and take it very seriously. The Junior Class prepared it. It was on a Saturday night and the girls were bussed up here around 5 in the afternoon. The Juniors did an amazing job turning the dark, moldy gym into a rockin’ dance hall. They rented huge speakers, got lights set up, great decorations. All from the few recourses available on campus, plus toilet paper and a bunch of palm trees. But it looked good (I’ll try to get pics on soon) mostly because they worked very hard. The Juniors can barely work together on a research paper, but they put all of their energy and time into making the dance look good. Typical high schoolers. However, it was impressive, especially since I think back to my high school dances and all of the work and money that went into it – buying from those corny catalogues, picking those themes.
From those who know me, they know that I, well, love to dance. You would have been impressed with my will power, because I did not dance that night. I refrained because the faculty were acting as chaperones/guards (some of the people from the neighborhood have been known to crash these dances, and that usually equals trouble. No intruders this year, thankfully.) But I still had a good time.
The remarkable thing was the difference between this dance and typical high school dances. Especially with what the girls wore. The girls definitely dressed “down” for this dance, but by dress down I mean wearing pants instead of a long skirt, or a t-shirt instead of a formal dress. When I think of girls dressing down for dances, I recall the females dressing a bit, well, let’s just say “loose” and “informally”. You get what I mean. Here, the girls were wearing X-L t-shirts, baggy clothing, and very unflattering clothing. And they didn’t care at all. They all had a great time. It was a comfort to know that you could go dancing and have fun while not trying to make yourself look like a whore.
It took a long time for the kids to start dancing. It was cute in a way. All of those tough kids who were all talk showed their true selves when they stayed in the dark corner all night, not inching near the dance floor. Halfway through the night, when the students finally did get the courage to dance, it was very comical to watch the dance floor fill up, then as SOON as the song was done, they would literally rush off as fast as they could. They are very bashful when it comes to standing out. And it is a very cultural thing.
Thankfully, nothing major happened. Good night for everyone.

Blue Lagoon Retreat

Our faculty retreat was at Blue Lagoon, the very comfortable resort at one edge of the island. It is mostly used by divers, so there are a good amount of Americans and Aussies there. I’ve been there before for meals (all very delicious and expensive and a tiny break from the simple living aspect) but I have never stayed over before. However, we used the grounds of this resort for the entire day for prayer and reflection with the other faculty, and we stayed over. So we had three meals there total, and for the first time in 7 months, I slept on a real bed (with multiple layers!!) and in the air conditioning. I was freezing when I woke up, but I did get a lot of sleep. Filling myself with good pasta for the first time was not a bad thing as well.
When I got back home to Xavier, however, it did not feel as if I were crossing a boundary of comfortable/uncomfortable. I felt at ease in the sweaty, surrounded-by-jungle, a bit run-down atmosphere. I think it was weird for me to enter into Blue Lagoon and stay there for a while. It makes me think of the true culture shock I will receive when I come home. It’s so far away, but I know I will be shell shocked. But I think that’s a good thing, and that feeling I will get when I get home is one of the points of this whole mission: to have a different perspective on my world when I get home.

Problems with Chuuk Education

As you know we gave out the Entrance Exam last month. The new Australian volunteers have been working non-stop to correct the scores, as well as calculate different percentages and comparing data and all of that with each school on each island.
Normally, Chuuk doesn’t do so well. Out of all the Micronesian nations (Palau, Yap, Chuuk, Pohnpei, Kosrea an the Marshall Islands) Chuuk is the poorest state. That is why Xavier is located on this island, because of the Jesuit mission of serving the poor. The Chuukese school system is very bad because of many reasons, most certainly because it is under funded, teachers do not bother even showing up, and the parents’ attitude towards their children getting educated. It is just hard for most of them, plus education is not always the best option for them, because the kids need to take care of the family.
This year something major happened with the test results. Only 2 Chuukese students passed the test. One was Japanese, who did very well, and the Chuukese girl barely qualified. However, that doesn’t even mean that she got in to Xavier, it just means that she is now under consideration. Apparently in the past, the school has lowed the bar a bit just for the Chuukese students to allow some to enter in the school. This has its problems, of course, since the other schools aren’t fairly treated, and the Freshman teachers always have a very hard time with them since they are not qualified, plus it is hard for the student themselves. But this year, Xavier decided to be firm and not lower the bar.
The news was very shocking and sad. Having a school in Chuuk with no Chuukese students for the incoming Freshman class is a hard thing to accept. However, it is important to send the message to Chuuk that they need to start taking their education seriously. On the other hand, the other volunteers and I (who are working with this Jesuit mission in mind) did not come here to serve the wealthier and more fortunate students of Micronesia. It was also a shock to the students, and it both hurt our Chuukese students, but also did not surprise them since they are very familiar with the system they came from.
Currently, we are working things out with the community. Fr. Arthur has been talking to parents and teachers and principles from around the island, and there is talks of setting up a tutoring/summer school program here.
It’s sad, but it’s the reality here, and it’s one of the eye-opening experiences that we face in a place like this.

Sponsor Family

So I finally got my sponsor family! It was really exciting to get one. I have been putting it off for a long time. I heard that time with a sponsor family is one of the best experiences you can have on a mission like this. So Antonia, one of the school's treasurers, has this family friend who was actually supposed to have a sponsor son/daughter last year, but the JV never made it.
So I finally set up a weekend where nothing was going on and I let Antonia to let my family know that I'd like to come down. They were thrilled, of course.
The wife (I think her name is Nerami) and their daughter, Delarine, a senior at another high school downtown, picked me up on the road near Xavier. I had to walk down the narrow, slippery path in the jungle behind the JVI house to get to the road. I waited with some other Chuukese on the road, one of them being one of the security guards. They picked me up in their car and we drove down towards the Japanese dock. So apparently we passed their house dozens of times. This road that goes to the dock is a very rocky and muddy road, with the lagoon directly on the right and houses on the left. Their house is on a grassy hill with many palm trees overshadowing it.
When we get there I see the father again (DM, whom I've met before) and the two little boys (Junior and Jermain) who were about 4-5 years old. We call them Jun Jun and Jer Jer. They were a bit scared of me. But that's expected. Their house was very nice, one floor, with a spacious living room, a kitchen on the left and a small hallway infront of me with two big rooms, one for the parents to sleep in and another for both daughters to sleep in.
We were going to have dinner that night, but it was a special night, since Delarine passed this test for a Merchant Marine Academy in the Phillipines. So DM, the daughter and I drove downtown to a dinner for the top 10 students who passed the test and their parents (and me).
DM is a very cool guy. We talked a lot, he knows English vey well, he studied in the states. He's an acting principle at one of the elementary schools. We talked about politics, education, life in the states and a lot about life here in Chuuk. He is a very chill person and very smart. He knows where I'm coming from, and how different it must be for me, and we talked about that a lot. Anyway, this dinner, which took place in a big community hall with catered food, started VERY late, Chuukese time, as DM kept saying. There were some important people there: the personal assistant to the Governor of Chuuk, the special assistant to Chuuk education, the head of transportation of all of the FSM (a father of one of my students, Rose, who was actually there as well. She was a bit embarressed to see her teacher there on a Friday night), two representatives from the Acedemy, and some other big people from the island. There were some students there, only 3 parents, and me, the only white person in the room. Finally this guy started talking, introducing everyone. Many speeches. Everyone was recognized, even Delarine, who DM and I found out that she got the highest score (DM was surprised about this whole dinner in the first place, so he didn't know about his daughter doing that well). After almost 45 minutes of speeches and introductions, even a recognition of DM, the father of the student with the highest score, the host looked at me, and then at DM and asked him to introduce me. He said that I was family, and this and that, and that I'm a teach at Xavier. When he said that, everyone in the room litereally let out an "ooo" sound of awe. It felt like I was one of the more distinguished guests there. Most of the people that I mentioned were Xavier grads anyway.
The catered food was good, I talked to DM most of the time, and there was a Xavier alumn next to me who I also talked to for a while. It was a nice night, but DM and I, both teachers, were very tired. As we left, the important people (who were very drunk by this point, which is not unusual in Chuuk. Even though there were kids around, these government officials getting drunk is just common here. It is quite sad. At least DM didn't like it.) shook hands with me and I thanked them. I told the head of FSM transportation that I am a teacher of his daughter, and he should be proud. He was pretty drunk, but he thanked me and was very happy. The special assistant to the governor, I guess the highest official there, became very serious when he shook my hands and said "You are doing great work here. Thank you for not forgetting us." It was very flattering but humbling. It really tells me how important Xavier is to Chuuk and to the FSM. It is really true that best come from this school.
After a while, we finally went back home. Everyone was asleep. They had a traditional mat for me to sleep on and a pillow. I slept in the spacious living room, and I was surprised to see both boys sharing a big mat as well, no pillow. That was their bed room. They were both sleeping when we came in. I slept fine on the hard floor that night. The funny thing was there was a couch big enough for me right next to me.

The next day was mostly just sitting around on their concrete porch outside. Annnnd that was it. A lot of sitting around some talking, overlooking the beautiful lagoon with one of the islands on the horizon. It was extremely relaxing and quiet. We overlooked the road below us, watching kids and other walking back and forth, some just carrying chickens, kids visitng other kids. The shower was a bucket shower which was outside, and it was shared by some other houses. There was a big bin with a plastic pipe leading to it, with 3 metal shingle walls surrounding the shower area. I just showered with my shorts on.
I met the other daughter, Alissa, a seventh grader, that morning. She was also a bit scared of me. But DM and I just sat and talked for a few hours. Although it was definitely a break from Xavier, an it was very quiet and relaxing, it was a bit hard because it was extremely slow and boring, but that's a good thing. This is what people do here. There is NOTHING to do here, from a perspective of a crazy American, but this chill feeling is normal here on the islands.
After a while, I finally approached the two boys, who were playing with other neighborhood boys. They dont know English, which is fine. We finally got to throwing stones into the lagoon, which we did for over half an hour. So they finally became accusstomed to me, and we had a great time, since I love kids. We were goofing around and having a good time.
Around lunch time I helped DM get some breadfruit (which is neither a bread nor a fruit) from a tree. By helped I mean I watched him and another Chuukese boy cut them down with a huge stick. They looked like plump, greenish pineappples without the spiky texture. They would fall hard to the ground, and if they didnt splatter, they were good. The wife cooked them, and we all had lunch on the porch that afternoon. We had cooked breadfruit (which is like a potatoe) and some fish. By fish, I mean they were about 6 inches long totally intact. Just fish, not cut, not cook, sprinkled with soy sauce and lime. We had to peel it open with our fingers, avoid the tail, head, and skeleton and it eat raw. It was actually pretty good, and for someone who hated fish before, it was quite an accomplishment to rip out raw fish meet and eat it with my hands. Typical Chuukese meal.
After lunch, I we chilled some more. I even talked to Delarine about her future. She had to make the decision on whether or not she'd go to this acedemy. She would miss graduation, but it sounded like a good deal. However, it was the first real conversation I had with someone that was close to my age outside of Xavier.
But I was getting tired (I slept fine, but apparently I wasnt well rested, and I did wake up at 6), and even though they offered to have me for another night, I wasnt expecting to stay the whole weekend. I wanted to stay, cause it was so nice and they were very friendly and it was just a great experience being away from the hill. But I was tired, I ran out of nice clothes (which didnt really make much of a difference) and I didn't psych myself out for it. But I promised that I would come back soon whenever I had another free weekend. In fact, if we ever went to the Japanese dock for a swim, I'd stop by. We said goodbye, I gave them a present that my mom mailed up (a really nice Greenwich hand towel), and Alissa walked me back through a short cut to Xavier. I said goodbye, thanked her for protecting me along the way (finally made her laugh). I took a shower, and took it easy for the rest of the day.

So next week is the second JVI retreat and Ash Wednesday. Things are going fine. In study skills class, one of the things I went over was how bad it was to study last minute. It seemed like it was common knowledge, but I had a great teacher moment when after class, one of the kids genuinely thanked me for that advice. He said that he always does poorly in tests and he doesnt know why, but he always studied last minute, so he was grateful for that info.
I also made a student cry the other day. There were many Juniors in my office picking topics for their second research paper. It was kind of first come first serve. It was chaotic and rushed, and apparently I passed over one of the students who thought he was next. When I passed over him, he got very upset, lost his temper, stormed out of my office even after I called out after him, and he started cursing me in the hallway. So the next day I made him sit in the middle of the room (which they hate, they dont like to be pointed out) and chewed him out in front of the whole class and made him write a line 200 times by hand about what he did. It was the worst behavior i've seen all year, and this kid has such an attitude, he thinks he's such a tough guy. His advisor told me how upset he was, which is understandable, and the advisor made him apologize which he also idnt like, but we talked about it. Gotta lay down the law. It is a bit of Lord of the Flies here sometimes because the Dean of students, well, doesn't really do his job. The other one left the island, and we have no idea if he's coming back. Crazy.
I also learned how to cut open a huge tuna to make sashimi.
I miss you all. I love your support and emails. Much love

Trip to Tol

2006-01-21T16:46:00.000-08:00

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

Christmas and Pisar and New Years Resolutions

2005-12-30T15:48:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas everyone, and Happy New Year. I thought it would be hard since it would be my first Christmas away, but there was a lot going on, and I really have been grateful for this break away from teaching. Here is what has been going on this vacation:

Christmas Eve Eve and Christmas Eve
It's a tradition at Xavier for the students who are left here for the break (the ones that don't go home because they can't afford the plane ticket) bake cookies with the staff. These students are also allowed in the faculty lounge and porch, which they really loved. The freshman were amazed they can even join us for meals this break. It was really great because the whole student/teacher boundary dissolved just a bit, so we were all able to relax around each other and get to know them better.
We cooked in the student kitchen and made three types of batter. However there was a bit of lice in the flour. We tried picking it out, but we all had the mentality of "well, more protein. They'll be cooked." So it actually didn't phase us, so we cooked away. And of course, the food fights started by throwing dough and flour on each other. An egg flew here or there. Afterwards the students were rapping to the key board (which they're really talented on) in all of their native languages. It was awesome, and I joined in, which I think gained me a lot of street cred with them.

On the actual Eve, the JVs (oh, the day before Eve Eve two JVs from Pohnpei, Tom and Ashley, came to spend the week with us. Really nice guys.) went down shopping for the students. Fr. Author gave us some money to buy small gifts for the 30 or so students on campus. We bought little things like sun glasses, water guns, hats, and also cans of spam and other lunch meat. When we got back to Xavier we spent a long time wrapping all of the gifts, listening to Christmas music and watching A Wonderful Life.
The Christmas mass was really wonderful. The students and Jesuits set up a really beautiful altar on the roof of Xavier. The Sapuk community was invited as well. The altar was surrounded by white christmas lights on the floor, some palm leaves on either side, a nativity scene and other colorful drapes covering it. There are some pictures of it in my blog. The mass was very beautiful, and I even saw my friends that I met on CSP. I gave all of the kids chocolate after mass.
It is also the tradition to give out the presents to the students after mass. So after sharing some snacks on the roof, Chris Dwyer dressed up as Santa, which was really funny, and we gave out the presents to each student. It took a while, but we were all having a real fun time. Afterwards we all watched Toy Story in the faculty lounge, which the students at first didn't want to watch because they thought it was for little kids, but they ended up loving it. Late that night a few of us picked up Joe's parents from the airport.

Christmas
Christmas morning we all - staff and students - went down to the hospital and the local jail to sing Christmas carols. It was a really nice time. The students sang beautifully, and I didn't do to badly myself. The staff and some of the patients at the hospital were very grateful, which was very heartwarming. The local jail was not that big of a deal. The "prisoners" we sang to were just in there for petty crimes, nothing big, but they were also very appreciative, even though they didn't speak English, unlike the hospital patients.
The rest of the day we just relaxed with Joes parents, then we had a fabulous Christmas dinner the Jesuits cooked, delicious ham. Afterwards we watched Toy Story 2 with the students, which they really got into.

Pisar
So on Dec 26th we set off for a small island called Pisar that is a 40 minute boat ride from this island of Weno (remember, pronounced Weda). We loaded up the truck with a bunch of food and headed down to the Xavier dock, which is actually just a 10 minute walk. We waited for 3 boats, and us 5 JVs, the Pohnpei JVs, Kieran and Luthi, Makoto (Japanese volunteer, awesome guy) and Joe's parents headed out in the lagoon. Riding on the motor boat in the lagoon is always an amazing experience. It was a beautiful day, and just sitting on the edge of the boat, having water splashed in your face, riding those hard bumps against the waves, and enjoying the spectacular view around us is unforgettable. As the main island got smaller behind us, more islands appeared in the distance. Some were the size of an acre, others much smaller. So after 40 minutes, we arrived to Pisar, which is right on the edge of the atoll.
This small island, the size of a football field, is taken care of by a family that owns it, and whenever guests arrive, they leave. It's a beautiful island but obviously doctored up to be a resort. There are a few houses, a great grill, some bathrooms, a big hut to chill in, and the sand is clean and everything is perfect. I wish I could have stayed there all week. Check out the pictures. You will be jealous. Sometimes I wonder if I'm really volunteering or just got amazingly lucky with my surroundings.
So we basically chilled, swam, snorkled, and explored the other two desserted island adjacent to us for the next three days. Needless to say, it was very beautiful, incedibly relaxing and a lot of fun. Here are the highlights, and they are glorious:
-Spear fishing: I finally did it! One of the true Micronesian experiences I was really wanting to do is now done. We don't use a gun, but a completely make-shift spear. You take about a foot of surgical tubing so it can stretch, but a small wire in both ends to connect it, use string or guitar wire to tie the wire tight to the tubing. You put the small wire end into the small groove at the end of the spear (the non-pointy end) and stretch the tubing far infront of you, and then all you have to do is let go and the spear goes flying in the water. That was a bit confusing, but rest assured, it was awesome. We went snorkling and practiced for a bit in the shallow. We only had two spears, and it was mostly Joe, Dwyer and I that did all of the spearing. I didn't catch anything the first day. Joe and Dwyer did. It's real hard, since you have to get the spear real close to the fish.
On the second day I was determined to catch something, so I went out by myself to the right side of the island (the front was facing the lagoon, where most of the coral was, the back was facing the Pacific Ocean and another small island that we were able to swim to, and the left side faced the third small, desserted island. It was very shallow surrounding Pisar. You had to swim out about 100 yards until it got significantly deeper, about 10-15 meters). Anyway, I went to a small strip of coral between Pisar and a small sand bar. It got to be about 5-8 feet deep, and I floated around, waiting to catch something. It was absolutely beautiful (one day we'll get an underwater camera) and there were small fish everywhere, but the small spearable fish were about half a foot long, nothing impressive, but the bigger ones were much farther. I just wanted to catch one. As I was swimming around, something big caught my eye. I saw this foot long blue and silver fish swimming about 10 feet away from me. I slowly crept forward and the fish suddenly changed shape, became rigid, touched the coral is was floating above and turned color to brown, black and yellow. It was a small octopus! I slowly pulled the tubing back, aimed, and fired. I wasn't as close as I should have been because there was shallow coral between me and the octopus, so I just skimmed it or the spear went through it. However, the octopus squirted out lots of black ink and jetted out of there. The big black cloud of ink freaked me out, but it was pretty awesome. I did, however, spear my first fish, only a few inches big, a few minutes later. I was very proud.
The next day I speared two more fish, still small, in the shallow coral. So I headed out to the drop off where it get a lot deeper. As I made my way to the drop off, I was overwhelmed by all of the bigger fish that were waiting for me to spear them. I looked a few feet down and saw a decently sized fish chillin near the bottom of the coral. I swam down few feet under the surface, aimed, and got it! However, it was a blowfish, and the second I impailed it it puffed up twice the size of what it originally was. It struggled on the floor for a bit, and after it stopped I swam down, picked up the spear, and swam back to shore with the blowfish and spear out of the water. I didn't want the fish to struggle more under the water. It was an awesome catch. However, we couldn't cook it (like we did with the others) because it's poisonous. Still, it was amazing, and I can't wait to do it again.
-Night Spear Fishing: Yup. Take all of those experiences I just talked about with spear fishing, except it's pitch black out except for that underwater flashlight we each had that luminated a small beam in front of you. I should have been more scared to be in pitch black water, not being able to see 15 feet in front of you, or anything to your left or right, for that matter, but it was too exciting. Joe, Dwyer and I set out after dinner, the mighty hunters that we were, and made our way out to the drop off. Someone set up a latern on shore so we would know where the island was. It was hard to navigate through the shallow coral because we couldn't make out the paths between them. After scraping our hands and knees for a while, we made it to the deep. It was eerily majestic under the water. It reminded me of those under water National Geographic specials where all you can see if the diver in front of you and his little beam of light. What was also weird was that all the fish were sleeping, so there was not much life out in the water. The smaller fish were sleeping within the cracks in the coral, and the bigger fish were closer to the bottom near the drop off, which is where we spent most of our time. Joe and Christ caught a few small fish, a little less than a foot long (interesting note: here in Chuuk, when you want to measure things with your hands, you do not hold your hands apart. Instead, you hold out your arm and indicate with the other hand on your arm the length. Because if you use both hands to measure, that indicates you are describing the lenght of, well, something else on the male body. So be careful with that!) . My light went out, which is my excuse for not catching anything. But it was an amazing time, really adventurous and thrilling.

So that was basically it. When we walked to the edge of the atoll, we watched the huge waves of the Pacific crash down on the coral. We tried getting close, but the waves were too powerful. Looking on the map of Chuuk back at Xavier, we noticed that it starts off 10 meters deep where the waves are, and only a few dozen yards away, the depth drops to 200 meters! Imagine that.

On the third day the students came to the island, since it was there turn to relax on Pisar. All of us left back for Xavier, leaving behind that wonderful island. I hope to go back there soon. It was very relaxing.

The next couple of days were spent relaxing at Xavier, dropping off the Pohnpei volunteers at the airport (I can drive stick now, by the way. It was very hard learning on these rough dirt roads with all of the pot holes and in the old, blue pickup). We spent the last few days just taking it easy, playing some board games, watching movies, doing some work and reading. I really feel relaxed. We were supposed to have three weeks instead of one week vacation. I guess I would have gotten bored after a while.

Thoughts on Teaching

The students come back today. It will be actually nice to see them again. I think I got enough time away from them. I, along with the other teachers here, needed to get away from them. I definitely feel a lot closer to the ones that stayed here over break, and I think they are also a little more relaxed around me.
Some things I will have to work on this semester (I guess my New Years resolutions for this whole experience) are to not be too hard on myself when it comes to the frustrations of teaching, and not to be too hard on the students. Ashley, the Pohnpei volunteer who is also a second year, gave me that good advice which I plan to follow. I do need to be more patient with the students and remember that they are not originally English speakers, they are away from home, high school is tough for them, and they are normal teenage punks, like all teenage punks around the world. I do, however, have to remember not to be too easy on them because Xavier is one of the, if not the, most prostigious schools in Micronesia, and we are training future leaders of this country, which is hard to imagine. All of the teachers here are underqualified, most staying for at most 2 years, so teachers are always changing. But we are all willing and passsionate, which is amazing to think how the best school of this country operates on that. Anyway, I need to enforce some rules that I was a bit lenient on last semester. For instance, we are supposed to report any student who is caught speaking in their native language. We do this because they are supposed to speak English to improve their skills, and speaking in their own language isolates them from others. But it is hard for an American to come in and tell them to not speak their own language. But I need to be more strict with that rule, for their own good, I guess.
Overall, I'm looking forawrd to this semester. I'll be spending the entire third quarter on writing research papers with the Juniors. For the Sophomores I will be teaching the middle ages, mostly the crusades, black death, and then expansionism and world exporers. I'm not too familiar with that time period, and honestly, it doesn't seem as exciting as the Greeks and Romans. Oh well, I'll learn a lot.

So that's what I've been doing, and it's really been great. School will start on Tuesday (today is Saturday, New Year's Eve) and I completely feel well-rested, which is great. I need a new boost in energy. Today Joe's parents and aunt and uncle are taking us out to Blue Lagoon for New Years. We will have to watch out for the drunks (well, more than usual), but it should be a fun day. Then I'll spend Sunday and Monday grading and lesson planning. Anyway, thank you for all of your Christmas greetings. Love you all.

Finals, School Picnic, Freshman CSP and getting ready for XMAS

2005-12-16T19:21:00.000-08:00

What's up everyone! It's been a real long time since I updated this. I've been really busy with finals and relaxing. Finals week was very busy, then we had a small break, then two more weeks of classes before the week long winter break. Right now it's Saturday, one more week of classes, then break time. Here is what's been going on:

Finals Week

For my English Skills final, there was a Vocab Exam with 50 questions, but ALSO an essay due. The essay was actually based off the Manresa Talks format: they had to choose a life aspect (all that were used as topics for the Manresa retreat) like community, commitment, family, friends, obstacles, suffering and so on. Their essays were actually very good. They were upset because I wouldn't accept any rough drafts, which they usually depend on, but I told them they needed to write something on their own and do their own revisions and checks. THey all turned out to be very good, which pleased me. The sophomores, however, not so well on their HIstory Exam. They were doing much better in the quarter, but they still do not know how to study for tests. I'll work on that this quarter, obviously. Grading is always tough during Finals time, I was told, and it was true. But I made it my goal to grade as soon as the tests were over. I got most of them done on that very day, too, which was good. I didn't want grading to drag out. The first exam was on a monday, and the last one on a Thursday. Thursday was the school picnic...

School Picnic

Every year the entire school (except for the students on the Drug List, meaning they were caught or suspected of using drugs) go to a nearby island for a day-long picnic. We left early in the morning, packed on top of this flatbed, and arrived at the docks where a pretty big boat loaded us on (check pictures). After an hour boat ride we arrived to a very small island, about the size of a football field or two, and anchored about 300 yards from the island while small boats started picking up the students and staff to ferry them to the island. Chris Dwyer, Joe and I, however, didn't want to wait, so we were the cool ones and jumped in the water and swam to shore. It was longer than I thought, andwe barely made it. I jumped in and thought to myself "man these waves are choppier than we thought." Then I swallowed a lot of salt water, and struggled to be the cool teacher and swim to shore. But I was fine.
So on this small island, we basically swam around in the beautiful and warm water the entire day and played in the sand. We had a short mass at the cetner of the island, and had a good, relaxing time until sunset. Also, there were many sand fights, which were a bit intense at first, seeing that we were getting sand in our eyes and mouth and ears, and I was hit at least twice point blank range with huge sand ball in the head, but sand fights are pretty awesome. I told the kids that they would never go over in the US. Anyway, it was a real fun time. Going to the small islands in the lagoon is not that much of a big deal any more. They're all beautiful, amazing coral, great swiming water. I appreicate it every time, but it's like "going to the beach" back home. There is more of that special feel and extra prepaaration needed.

Freshman CSP

So after being thoroughly exhausted from being in the sun all day and swimming all day and having many sand fights, Friday, the real first day off, was supposed to be very relaxing, finishing up grading and just taking it easy and enjoying the fact that finals were over. However, one of the other American volunteers, not a JV, got sick, and he was supposed to be one of the faculty that was going on the Freshman Community Service Project (CSP) that day. So Joe, the frehsmna class moderator who was also going, asked me to come along. I havent gone on a CSP yet because I am supposed to go next year. I definitely said yes, for a few reasons. One, I really wanted to help out with a CSP. Second, I wan't to get to know the Freshman class a lot more. I dont have them for class, only a few as advisees, and maybe play sports with a few. But I wanted to get to know them better so I can be friends with them and be ready for them next year. Finally, I wanted to experience life outside of Xavier campus, and this CSP was going to be done in Sapuk, the neighborhood that Xavier is located next to. As you have seen from the pictures, it's a completely different world. I have been accustomed to passing by these houses and neighborhoods on my walks and driving by, but this was the first time that I would be staying, eating and sleeping with some local Chuukese for 3 days and 2 nights.
So after a meeting and mass, all of the freshman, the faculty moderators and I walked about 20 minutes down the road to the place we were staying. It was this big meeting house where mass is sometimes held, people eat, and people sleep. It's just a big room with screen windows surround it with a kind of soft floor for sleeping. People actually sleep there, not just guests. Traditional Micronesians usually sleep on mats on the floor. That night I just used my backback as a pillow and I slept on a sheet. It wasn't that bad, actually.
So that friday night we were just chillin around this meeting house, which is also next to a few other houses in the community. There wasn't much to do that night, and because there was a death in one of the family's houses a few months ago, the mourning period was still going on, so we had to be very respectful and quiet. It was hard for the freshman to be hushed all of the time, but they managed. After the girls left to go sleep with some sponsor families, the boys went to a shower/bath ... um, hole, about 20 minutes away. Joe, Kieran (the Australian volunteer) and I stayed back to write letters. However, there were many little kids around, and as of now they are my new best friends. Earlier that afternoon I was entertaining them with card tricks. But that night, while sitting under a light, the kids slowly started to congregate around me and Joe. We eventually started trading the paper and pen back and forth, drawing pictures and trying to talk to each other. They knew very little english, and I know less Chuukese. But they were absolutely adorable and really cute. They were about 10 years old, both boys and girls. I have many pictures of them. Man, they were awesome. I entertained them with the thumb trick, where it looks like I'm pulling my thumb apart. They loved that, and they were "chopping" my thumb in half for the next two days. They never got tired of it. I also taught them that rope dance that I do. Basically, I could have been there all night entertaining them, but we both had to go to sleep.
The next day, Saturday, we got up early, met up with the girls, and took two flatbeds to a church in the neighborhood, near the Japanese dock that we swim at. We worked on it all day by cutting grass with machettes, pulling weeds, sweeping the inside, and painting the inside and outside. There are a lot of pictures. For the mst part the freshman did a great job doing a lot of work, even though I heard that the other classes liked to slack off on the other CSPs. It was a hot day but we all managed to get through. We had the staple meal for lunch: chicken, rice and tapioca. That's basically all they eat. Chuukese food is a bit bland, which I'm not too pleased with, but it's good. There is also fish sometimes, which I sometimes eat. I actually love raw fish now, sashimi.
Anyway, after a hard day's work, we all went to the Japanese dock to cool off, then we walked back to the meeting house were staying at. On the way a student was trying to be funny and accidently knocked my glasses off. They were already snapped, for those of you who dont know that, and they resnapped. So I had to cheat the CSP and walk back to Xavier to re-tape and glue them (I'm such a nerd). I also cheated by taking a nice shower. (PS, I havent taken a hot shower since July. I'm not really complaining, because it's hot here most of the tmie, so cold showers are welcome, but there are rainy days and cold nights and cool mornings where I could use a hot shower. But, again, it's one of these things I'm accustomed to now, and it's just funny to think that I used to take hot showers and couldnt stand cold showers.)
That night, after the boys showered and the girls showered at their sponser's houses, we had a toned-down entertianment, in respect for the community and the mourning they were still observing. It was beautiful, actually. Each island nation (the Marshalls, Kosrea, Yap, Pohnpei, Palau and Chuuk) got in their groups and sung some traditional songs. I will have to record them sometime and get them home for all of you. It seems as if everyone's voices in Micronesia are trained for singing. Lucky.
The American group, along with Kieran, sang a funny version of Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer. We messed up and acted a bit goofy, which everyone got a huge kick from. Joe later explained to me that it was actually really good that we messed up, because everyone usually has this impression that Americans are always with it and perfect, so whenever we act goofy or mess up, the Micronesians, especially the more traditional ones, get a huge kick from it. It is humbling, Joe said, and it was a very interesting perspective. After entertainment I continued to hang out with the kids again. I think there were 15 kids all toghether, ranging from 4 years old to 13. They are so cute and fun. Again, I could have been playing with them all night.
The next day we had a mass all in Chuukese at the meeting house, followed by lunch. It was acutlaly sad when were started to go, but I had a chuukese student translate for me to the kids, telling them that i had a great time, I would promise to visit, and for them to come up with Xavier if they wanted to visit. I remember most of their names (Lucia, two Rosaleens, Lue...and some I can kind of pronounce) and I really do intend on visiting them again. They're just 20 minutes down the road, and if I ever need to get away from Xavier and the students, I will walk down, bring them some chocolate, maybe a gift for the parents, and just chill with them all day, and really immerse myself more into authentic life here. Anyway, the CSP was a hit, I got to know the freshman a lot more, I made some good rfiends outside of school. I can't wait to visit those kids again.

Almost XMAS

So we try to do our advent prayers every night around our make shift advent wreath, made out of cardboard and magazine cut outs. Dwyer and I climbed up side of the school to put up our only christmas lights hanging out of our offices. We've been playing XMAS music constantly. It's insane how it is still 80 degrees and humid, yet the middle of December. Now it's really starting to feel weird to be away from home. Not really too homesick, but I definitely miss everyone at home. But I have been very happy here. Always busy, always satisfied. Um, I guess there really ins't more to say about getting ready for Christmas. Just one more week of classes. We are having a holiday party on Thursday, then on Friday some JVs from Pohnpei are coming, so that should be a lot of fun.
By the way, I learned how to drive stick today! We first went around the school driveway, then down the road for a while. I stalled only once. I'll be a pro in no time. All of that video game playing fine tuned my hand-eye coordination. OK, this was long, but I havent written in a while. Enjoy the pictures. Send XMAS packages, you know the drill. Take care, and enjoy the cold weather. Peace out.

Xavier Day

2005-12-03T16:12:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone. I know my postings are getting less and less frequent, but that is because things have been getting busier around here, and not many new things have been happening lately. There was one big event yesterday, however, but before I get into that, here's what has been going on these past few weeks:
-Thanksgiving was actually very good. The American Jesuit preists spent all day cooking, the day before the JVIs cooked pumpkin carrot cake, which turned out well, and there was a lot of appetizers before hand, some really good cheese and wine. The turkey was really good, so was the stuffing and gravy. No cranberry sauce though, and the food was very simple. But it was still very delicious. Usually we hold office hours from 7:30-9 every night, but not that night, cause we were stuffed and couldnt move.
-We went camping two weeks ago, to the same mountain (or really big hill) that we went to for our JVI retreat. This time we brought along the australian volunteer, the Japanese volunteer, and the other American volutneer. It was basically the same as last time, except this time we didn't have a guide and we left later after school. That means we got lost and it got dark when we were only half way up the hill. That means we were stuck on a steep wet hill engulfed in the thick of the jungle in total darkness. Not that safe, but it was exciting. We literally hacked ourselves a new path up the hill, climbing up rocks and hanging onto vines and trying not to slip on the mud and leaves. We knew (or had a general idea) where our destination was, so we just kept on pushing up until, an hour and a half later than we should have arrived, covered in mud and sweat and cuts, we arrived on the top of the hill, and enjoyed the view of one half of the island and the cool breeze. We ate spagettios and I slept outside on a nice patch of grass, using my blanket and some cardboard as a matress. It was a great time. We came back exhausted, but camping is always amazing. The locals really don't get the idea of camping, because why would anyone hike away from theeir home to sleep outside for one night?
- I need to get a picture of it, but we made our very own Advent Wreath (spelling?) We cut two wide circles out of one of our cardboard boxes and decorated it with green cutouts from magazines. We then poked four holes in it to stick the candles in. We meet at 10:00 every night to say the readings of the day and have a little reflection following it. Sometimes students have joined us. Think of this wreath as the tree in Merry Christmas Charlie Brown, but more pathetic, but with more spirit.

Ok, this weekend was Xavier Day (I put up some pictures). Xavier Day is the big spirit day of the year and everyone gets really into it. It really starts on Friday after classes with some events, such as the basketball games, vollyball and marathon. Saturday starts with a mass dedicated to St. Xavier, followed by a day full of games and events. Actually, the students have been practicing and training for the games for over a month now. The Seniors and Freshman make one team, and the Sophomores and Juniors make the other. For the first time in Xavier history, I think, there was a third team that the faculty and staff made up. We have some pretty athletic people on our staff this year, unlike the previous years (don't worry, I'm not talking about myself), and we actually did pretty well. We won the marathon, basketball, tug of war ... and I think that is it. I played in the basketball game, obstacle race, the dizzy race (where we have to spin around a bat 10 times and run...very funny, all the students loved to watch that one) and the icecream eating contest. I was doing very well, and it was pretty gross, but I would have one if I wasn't going up against Coreleon (pronounced the same way you say the Godfather's last name) who is definiteily over 200 lbs and is a freshman. He's an awesome kid, but he devoured the icecream. But it was a lot of fun.
There were many other events, like arm wrestling, 60 and 100 meters, relays, 5 laps, fat race (yes, that is where the teams get their fattest kids to race against one another. In this culture, being fat is not even close to having the same connotation as it does at home. Being fat or being called fat is not really an insult. Sometimes it is a sign of wealth. So the fact that there was a fat race was not even degrading at all.)
Also, as you'll notice from my pictures, there was this one event called Basket Weaving. Yeah. It was really awesome though. The students cut down some palm leaves and handed them out to the girl participants, and they had to make a basket as quickly as possible. I have never seen hands fly so quickly before. It looked as if the girls were just mashing up these leaves as quickly as possible in one jumbled mess, but patterns were actually created from them and in about 2 minutes they made a sturdy, hand woven basket ready to use. It was pretty amazing. The students noticed the look of amazement on our faces and said "only in Micronesia." Which is probably true. Chris Dwyer and I thought of an event that only Americans can do really really quickly. The only thing we came up with was microwaving pasta. We can do that pretty quickly. That and make PBand Js. But it does not compare to basket weaving.
To backtrack a bit... after mass the teams paraded to the back field where there were many guests from Chuuk and Alumni sitting and watching. Each team had their own opening music. Of course, the students didn'treally tell us that we needed an opening song (in fact, they didn't really tell of any of the events until a week before) so I ran up to my CD collection and gave the students who were manning the stereo system to play one of the songs we picked. The faculty opened up the trophy case of the school so we could each carry a trophy (we didnt have a banner) and we walked out onto the field while John Williams' Superman Theme was playing. The students loved it and though it was hysterical.

Following that, some students sung the national anthems of the three represented nations: Republic of Palau, Republic of the Marshalls, and the Federated States of Micronesia. During each anthem, a student carried the flag on a big bamboo stick on top of the school (check out the picture). It was a very beautiful and moving.
At night, we moved some of the tents to the other side of teh school, where the huts are, and we had amazing barbeque food provided by the alumns. Lots of food! It was a great day in general.
So today we're all a little sore from running and tired from the heat, but we have to do some grading and make our final exams. Finals are this week followed by a short break. There will be a lot of grading to do, but this week shouldn't be that stressful. I do need a break from these kids, however. I love em, but I'm getting a little tired of their antics lately. But other than that, things are going really fine, and I actually miss the cold weather at home. But don't worry, I am very appreciative of the hot weather here, even though it is very weird that it is Dec. 4th and it's 80 outside and I am very tan.
Good luck to everyone who has finals. Keep sending me some lovin. Peace out.
AJ

Shout out to Charlie

2005-11-18T15:33:00.000-08:00

Of course my Uncle would get a shout out, because he's the man, he helped create the universe, and the snacks and garlic tabasco sauce he sends me is glorious. Everyone here at Xavier is aware that I am really Italian because I would bathe in garlic if I had a chance.
Anyway...
Another shout out to my grandfather and Mary for awesome packages. They're great.
If you are planning to send more, send me your favorite books or colored chalk. That'd be great.

So about Chuuk...
things have been going very well these past weeks. Nothing very exciting. The internet has been down for a while, so I have not been able to reach many of you.
Teaching is getting better. I'm halfway through teaching about the Roman Empire. It feels great to know that I will be a World History Expert (at a high school level, of course) by the time I get home. I am also learning a lot while I am teaching (sometimes, I learn the night before my lesson). I am also learning a great deal with writing. Small things, but helpful tips nonetheless.
I am loving my students. I am getting a better read on all of them, and I am figuring out how hard I can push them and how intence my tough love must be. They are all great kids. Some are geniuses, and I try to stay away from them before I bring them down a notch or two. Some kids are really struggling, especially those who do not know english well. It's hard to teach about the Roman Revolution and all of its complicated twists and triumvirates and civil wars and other events when I realized, two days after teaching it, a kid raised his hand and asked me "What does 'Revolution' mean?" I'm making it though, doing the best I can.
Thanksgiving is next week. I cannot beleive it. I heard that most JVIs really feel homesick around this time, which makes sense. I get homesick from time to time, but nothing serious, because I'm so busy here and also relaxed. It honestly doesn't feel like I'm living simply anymore, even though it was a bit rough at first. Power goes off a few times a day, and almost every night? No problem. Cockroaches and termites all around my house? They are pets. Lack of homemade pasta and no Dr. Pepper in over 3 months? I'm surviving. Something that we just overcame, however: the ants. Here is an experiment for everyone at home...put down a piece of food. Anything. A chip, some meat, a piece of cookie, anything wet or dry. Now watch it. Come back to it an hour later. A few hours later. Are there thousands of ants crawling all over it? Can you see the lines of ants making their way to their new mecca? Well, you probably can't, so consider yourself lucky. ANY morsal of food that makes its way to the floor, or left untouched on a table, it will be covered with ants in less than 30 minutes. The ants here are ruthless. Teaches me to clean up after myself.
I'm going to try and send some of my student's essays to you soon. They're doing expository papers, and the ones they are writing about their home islands is very interesting. I'll send those over soon. Also, check out my pictures. I added some that were taking back during WWII, during the actual battles. And some pictures of the school when the Jesuits just took it over. They are really awesome. Also I will try to add some of me with a beard and what I was for Halloween. Who was the only fool dressed up for all of his classes? That's right. Me. Chris Dwyer dressed up after lunch. Anyway, my beard is gone. Keep in touch, and Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Peace out
AJ

JVI Retreat - Camping and Island Walk, and Halloween

2005-10-30T04:10:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone. First of all, I'd like you to note that there is a new link on the side of this website, called My New Pictures. All it is is a continuation of the same website I was using to show pictures, only the first account ran out of room for free uploads. So I started another one. There are pictures of the camping trip, which I will now explain:
So we have two retreats during the year that involve only our JVI community: Joe, Adrienne, Jackie, Chris Dwyer, and myself. We do all the planning and make the decisions of how it is going to run. For instance, should we go to a remote island and relax or camp out, should there be a priest with us, is there a theme, is one JV organizing everything or all of us? For this one, we decided that, even though a trip to another island would be very relaxing, we wanted something different and we wanted an experience that would be good for community building. What better way than to go camping. We'll go to an island in the Spring. Also, each of us would lead in prayer and reflection at different points along the retreat and there would be no priest with us this time. We just didn't know who to ask, everyone was pretty busy, and it would have been better if it was just the 5 of us for camping.
After leaving campus after the honors assembly, with our backpacks and machetes ready to go, we followed Rutan, a worker here at Xavier and a good friend of ours, to his house through the village of Sapuk. By village I mean there are a few scattered houses made out of wood and tin that you can get to by following narrow trails in the jungle. There aren’t any main roads you follow to get to some of these houses. After walking through some properties and jungle, the bush became thicker and we stopped passing by houses. We started ascending and the trail consisted of a path where the plants were less than 3 feet tall. It was very beautiful, and on this particular afternoon it was very humid, so we were all soaking. We had to navigate through the jungle, all uphill, for about 45 minutes. If we were on a road it probably would have been a 15 minute walk. Even though the sun was setting, there was enough light for us 6 to walk through the jungle. At one point, the canopy was so thick that it was like night time.
We stepped out of the bush into a clearing and we saw the top of this hill about 300 yards away from us, and there was nothing but very tall grass that we had to machete through. Rutan left us, and we continued making our way up the steep hill, cutting through grass.
As we reached the top (not the tip top, but it was flat enough) it was pretty dark. We found a good rocky yet flat part to put our bags down. In front of us was a beautiful view of the eastern part of the island (check out the pictures of the sunrise.) Xavier was right in front of us. About a mile or two away, of course. There was a pretty steep drop at this part too, but we were safely away from it, and it wasn’t a complete drop, just a very steep rocky slope. Behind this view was a huge plain of this tall grass, with a few coconut trees. We didn’t know how far back it went because it was dark. So we found a flat spot on some soft ground in the grass, and made a small fire on this rocky part overlooking the island.
We had tuna and two cans of Chef BoyarDee, which was pretty awesome. We had some water, but not much, because we didn’t want to carry so much. We were only going to camp out for one night.
Each community member had a turn to lead reflections. After dinner I went, and after my prayers, I handed out thank you notes and letters to the other JVs that were written by their students. The two days before the retreat I collected as many letters from students as possible, asking them to thank their teachers and say nice things to them. We divided up the letters and read them, and they were really nice and heart warming. After that we all fell asleep on the nice hard rocks, with a gentle breeze blowing over us. Halfway through the night I left to go into the tent to try and get more sleep. I was the only one to sleep in the tent that night.
At 5:30 Jaclyn woke me up to tell me that the sun was rising. We all silently watched the sunset rise (check out the pictures). There were some clouds, but it was still very beautiful. We also got a good look of what was actually around us. We saw how far back the grassy hills/plains went. After a quick breakfast of leftover cookies and a morning prayer, we walked into the plain, drank some coconuts that Joe got for us by climbing a tree, then we headed up the hill even more to check out the Japanese guns (check pictures). It was about a 30 minute walk through the tall grass to these guns. There were about 5 of them spread out across the top of this hill, all of them rusted and covered with grass and moss. But we got some good pictures of one.
After packing up, we left the hill at around 8:30. Hiking back was interesting, since we got lost and we were literally making out own path through the thick jungle. We got so lost that we ended up finding ourselves on the complete opposite side of the hill we originally started from. We met up with some very kind locals. Joe speaks a little bit of Chuukese. Whenever you bump into someone, they offer you cocounuts by climbing the nearest tree and throwing some down. We each drank about 2, and another stranger came and handed us a freshly picked watermelon. We were kind of late for returning to school (we needed to start on our walk around the island) but it would be impolite to not accept their hospitality. After sitting with the locals for a while and drinking coconuts, we headed off to Xavier, but not the way we came the day before. We ended up being on the wrong side of the hill Xavier is on, and we bumped into another nice family (by bump into I mean we stumbled across their house). We managed to tell them that we were looking for Xavier, and they understood. We had to keep saying we were “Sensei Xavier”, sensei meaning teacher in Japanese (remember teenage mutant ninja turtles? Good.) or else they thought we were tourists. A mother, her son and her daughter stopped what they were doing and we followed them through some trails back to Xavier. The son, who was probably 9 years old, climbed a 30 foot tree for us to give us more coconuts. We got to Xavier around 11:30. After a quick change of clothing (I was smelly and sweaty, but there was no way I was showering) and a quick lunch, we packed some water and some snacks, and headed off for our walk around the entire island.
The way we did the walk was that we were doing a live Stations of the Cross. We would stop at certain points and talk about the station and have a little reflection on it. All in all, the walk was about 12-15 miles long, and we started at 12:30 and returned to Xavier around 8:30, completely exhausted, soaked from sweat and the occasional rain storms, and our legs and feet were killing us. But the walk was amazing, since we got to see all the different parts of the island, from the really poor areas deep in the jungle to the nicer communities closer to the downtown area. People were very friendly, and they loved seeing a bunch of white people walking around the island. When we told them what we were doing, they were shocked, and offered us rides. We stopped a few times to eat and rest, but the stops were not that long. Unfortunately, it got dark around 6 and we still had a little less than 3 hours to go. We had to get out of the downtown area before dark because apparently it isn’t safe. It isn’t necessarily safe to walk in the dark on the main road at certain areas. The problem here in Chuuk is how people get drunk more often than not. We only bumped into two drunk people who wanted my sunglasses and Joe’s hat, but nothing happened, and that was earlier in the day. We were very lucky not to bump into any belligerent people in the dark. But we safely returned at 8:30, we showered, and I cooked some of the pasta I received in a package. Walking around the island was a great cultural experience, and it was a great way to spend a day away from the beautiful and safe hill Xavier is on. We always passed little children, and every single kid on this island is beautiful and extremely cute. Every one. They are always so playful and curious and really sweet, even if you can’t speak their language. I could play with them all day.
So that was the retreat. Physically exhausting, but it was challenging and a good type of exhausting that I found very refreshing.

Halloween

Just a quick description of Halloween here. The students take the haunted house very seriously. It was the Junior’s year to turn the Xavier building into a haunted house. They spent the whole afternoon working on it. Without a doubt, one of the best haunted houses every. They dressed up, had spooky lights, jumped out of every corner, made many detailed props like coffins, an exorcism table, scary things. You had to crawl through on place and the kids grabbed you and it was pitch black. The JVs and I got really into it, almost like a giddy type of scared. It was a lot of fun, except for some reason they had some red paint on the floor at the place where I had to crawl. I hope it can come out of my shorts.
We also went down to the video store to get a scary movie. On the way, we saw many groups of kids and teenagers walking in their costumes. They weren’t elaborate, mostly just face paint and a few masks. But it was really cool to see everyone out after night. They all yelled Happy Halloween to us, and we yelled it back. The video store was crawling with kids and other people. Chris and I pretended to be scared of the kids’ costumes, and I think they thought that was funny. Then we saw Ju-on, the Japanese version of the movie “The Grudge”. It is a FACT that it is the scariest movie ever made, ever. Don’t see it if you have heart problems or want to sleep for the next few days. Dwyer had to move his mattress into my room cause he was scared, and I’m glad he did, cause I was freaking out. Creepy!! Ok, enjoy the pictures. Take care.

Guess what...

2005-10-21T16:04:00.000-08:00

I haven't worn shoes or socks in over 2 months. Just slippers, or zorries. Or mostly bare feet. I play basketball with no shoes or zorries. They are a bit cut up and have a few blisters, but they're getting tough. Also, my thumb cast officially comes off in a little over a week, Halloween, actually. I'll update pictures after then. Some of the boys just went downtown to pick up things for the haunted house. That'll be fun.
It's also been over 2 months since I had a DP. I'll live.
Peace!

Faculty Retreat (Spear Fishing Adventure #1)

2005-10-15T15:33:00.000-08:00

So the first quarter is officially over. Friday night we had a meeting in the chapel to begin our 24 hour retreat. It was not a silent retreat, but we had to do some exercises to look over the past few days and weeks. That night we just bummed around, chillin on the porch. When the power went out at 10:30, we just went to the roof and it was pretty bright since the moon was almost full. And that's when I ate turtle for the first time. The two Chuukese teachers, Joel and T.R., brought some turtle and had it with soy sauce, hot sauce and lime. It's pretty good. It basically tastes like salty, soft pork. So I ate turtle. It was pretty awesome.
Saturday we got up early to leave campus around 7:30. The entire faculty left the campus (I'm still not really sure who was in charge of the kids.) Anyway, we all piled into this flatbed truck that we have, loaded a bunch of food and water, and made our way downtown to someone's house who lives on the water. We loaded up a big boat and took a 15 minute boat ride to another island in the lagoon. The water was so clear it was amazing. It was a beautiful day, too. I posted up new pictures so you can see. When we got to the island, we couldn't just go directly to the beach, but we had to go all the way around because there is only one enterance to the beach. We stop the motors when we get to the coral, and there was a narrow canal that the boat can fit through where the coral was blown up to allow boats to pass through. Some of us had to get out and push the boat through the shallow water.
The island is pretty big (probably half a mile wide) but people lived on it, so we only could stay on one section of the beach. Still, it was beautiful, and they had some shady areas for us to sit in and there was plenty of shade frmo the trees. CHeck out the pictures. So basically we had a group prayer, time to reflect, a one-on-one with other faculty to share thoughts, lunch, and more quiet time. In the afternoon I went snorkling (I made sure no storms were coming this time) however this time I brought the spear! Usually when you go spear fishing you have this big rubber band that you attatch to it to make it shoot out, because you can't really throw it underwater, which is what I was doing. So I really didn't go spear fishing, but I had a spear with me and I went snorkling, trying to poke at little fish whenever I could. Also, when you go real spear fishing, you do it at night, with a flashlight underwater, when the fish are sleeping. I'll do that one day. So when you see the picture of me with the spear in my hand, I'm just practicing spearing leaves next to the shore, nothing that cool. But snorkling, as usual, was a lot of fun. Many beautiful tropical fish. It's scary when you get to the point where the floor drops 50 feet, but that's where all the fish are. Adrienne said she saw a shark, so Chris and I started looking for some, but unfortunately we didn't find any. Next time.
Then we had mass outside, and the family that owns the island came with dinner. Two of their daughters go to Xavier, and I actually teach both of them. So we had a very delicious meal, ate under the moon light, then headed home. It was actually pretty hard to get out of the island since we had to navigate through the coral using flashlights. If we hit any, well, we could have punctured the boat. It was a great time overall.
Today I'll be doing some major grading. I have to grade the tests, plus do profile grades. Profile grades are when the teachers rate the student's Compasion, Integrity, Responsibilty, and Initiative and hand them in as grades. So that will take a while to do. Tomorrow, monday, we have off to do some more grading. I expect to be done today, but tomorrow I really need to plan far ahead for my lessons and get ready for an awesome 2nd quarter.
As I was writing this, I was on sports illustrated.com, reading the updates of the ND USC game. They just lost. I'm really upset about that. 61 yard pass with a minute and a half left?! ND, the game was yours! Ah! Any good movies coming out? Am I missing anything important in the world?
Keep in touch. Peace
AJ

Teaching Thoughts

2005-10-08T18:48:00.000-08:00

I thought now would be a good time to reflect on my teaching experiences. Today is Sunday, October 09, 2005, and this upcoming week is the last week of the first quarter. That means that we’re all trying to squeeze in assignments to give the students more chances to bring up their grades, we’re calculating all of the grades, and getting ready for the faculty retreat next weekend. For me, this means the coming of a new era in teaching. The first few weeks of teaching were, in all honesty, a trial run. It was an experiment. That doesn’t help my students much, but come on, we all know I was thrown into the fray of the teaching battlefield, willing but inexperienced. I have learned a lot in these past 7 weeks of teaching. I am eagerly awaiting the second quarter because I can finally change my pace, some of my teaching methods, and my whole planning in general.

So here are some thoughts for current teachers, new teachers, and those thinking about teaching. I’m not saying that I will about to impart any wisdom for new teachers, but these are just my experiences that I would like to share.

First of, I got some feedback from my Juniors last week that I would like to share. I asked them questions such as, “How challenging are the assignments I give out?” “Are my lectures and assignments clear?” and I asked them to list some general problems with the class and specifically me. Some examples I wrote for them to choose from were “The Professor speaks to fast” “The Prof.’s examples are too complicated” “The Prof’s outside help is not helpful.” Things like that.
Generally, my Juniors like my class, they like how I present the material, and they understand what I’m trying to say. Here are some common problems I need to work on, however:
-I speak way too fast.
-I move through some lessons too fast, especially going over new vocab words.
-I need to spend more time on vocab words, for instance, using them in sentences (however, sometimes I even have trouble with that. Yeah, I’m college educated.)
They also complained that I do not do that many fun things in class. I lecture too much, or I do not change up the assignments. I’m tough on them, meaning I am trying to get them ready for college, but maybe I should have a fun assignment every now and then, and get less serious. No too fun, though. Some wanted to play outside more. Typical high school student comment, I think. But those are the main things I need to fix.

Reflecting on the pace of my lessons, I really need to slow down. Someone once said it’s not about how much information you know, but how well you know it. For my Junior English Skills, I should maybe slow down a little. We had our two big assignments (Descriptive Essay and Personal Narrative Essay), and I have the whole second quarter to work on the last two (Expository Essays and Persuasive Essays).
My Sophomore World History class, however, is not going well. I cannot wait for this quarter to be over. As I have mentioned before, I was supposed to teach the sophomores everything they were supposed to cover their Freshman year in a few weeks. Those weeks turned into an entire quarter, so I’m a little behind in general. I haven’t even started the Sophomore Year curriculum yet. I rushed through too many things with my sophomores, and there is a huge gap between really smart students and students that have trouble with English and studying. But after talking to Anne, our principal who graduated from Notre Dame 4 years ago, said that it is OK to slow down and even skip chapters if I needed to. That made me feel a lot better, so I’m going to be a lot more selective in what I teach and spend a lot of time on what’s important instead of trying to frantically teach them everything they should know.
So after this week is over, I will slowly move into the Romans, which is actually part of Freshman Year, but I don’t want to rush through the Romans.

My friend Kristin Wheeler sent me an article about this book someone wrote about what makes a good teacher. This author read over a hundred autobiographies and examined their thoughts on their teachers. He discovered three common things memorable teachers had: 1) knowledge for their subject, 2) care for the individual student, and 3) a unique character. I think the first quality is lacking with me, because I am not experienced at all. I usually learn what I teach the students a week or a few days in advance. There have been those fun days when I learned my lesson the night before. Those made for fun lectures. The second two I think I have down. I love office hours and having informal conversations with the students about their classes, the subject, and life in general. I do a good job helping the students who come in for extra help. I encourage that a lot. The unique character part…well, I assume I have a unique character, but I cannot really put my finger on that. Hopefully my students can sense that. But that first quality comes with experience.

So this first quarter was a roller coaster ride, but I’ve learned a lot. I will definitely slow things down and go over the lesson a lot until everyone gets it. I will also try and work on trying to teach multiple intelligences (teaching the geniuses of the class as well as those who are struggling) and I will need to vary up my lessons.
I have the reputation for giving the hardest quizzes in the Sophomore class. They dread my quizzes, which I think is great. It really makes them study and take these things seriously. The sophomore class is a little, well, troubled compared to the rest of the school. We think it has to do with a new type of selection process that started with that year, and the Senior class last year was apparently really spoiled and had an awful attitude, and the Senior class usually mentors the freshman class and leaves a big impression on them. The sophomores don’t like to try that much, and their attitude in class is a bit sub par. My quizzes certainly wake them up. They keep telling me that my quizzes are like tests. I respond, “well, just wait for the actual tests!” Then they look like they have a big stomach ache. It’s a great look.

I’ll let you know how the faculty retreat goes next weekend, and maybe I’ll add to this blog. Give me your thoughts on teaching if you are a first time teacher or an experience one. I’m learning, slowly but surely.
Peace
AJ

New Student Entertainment

2005-10-01T02:17:00.000-08:00

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

New Pictures, Near Death Experience, and an Alternate Universe

2005-09-17T17:53:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone,
Check out new pictures in my webshots website. They include pictures of me and my fellow JVs teaching, some of my living situation, and the students. I'll try to get more of me and the students later. Enjoy.
Don't be alarmed by the title of the blog. I'm OK. But here's what happened.
We went swimming to the Japanese dock again. It's nice to get off the Xavier campus on the weekend. It's hard to have time to yourself or time away from the teaching world. Anyway, it was a beautiful, very hot day. Perfect day for a swim and some snorkling. We went in, and it was nice an relaxing. Anyway, we were out pretty far, past the small coral reef that's about 50 yards from the dock. I was with Adrienne and Chris Luthie, another American teacher 3 years older than us. We looke up and noticed that the rain and clouds that were approaching the island were closer than we expected them to be. The waves were starting to get choppy and the current pushing us slighty away from land because of the wind. I looked up as we decided to head back and noticed that half of the island was covered in a grey mist, meaning the storm was coming a lot faster than we thought. I started swimming against the waves back to the dock, but not directly towards the dock in a straight line, because we had to swim aroun the coral. But then it started to rain really hard, which meant I had to stop using the snorkle to breath through. The rain and the waves were getting in them anyway. When I looked up again, I couldn't see anything other than greyness from the rain and clouds. It was even a bit hard to see the coral underneath me. I didn't want to swim into any where it was too shallow. So that was probably the scariest moment: not really seeing where the dock was and anything infront of me, and the waves being really big and the rain being really hard. But I wasn't freaking out, unlike Chris, who was kind of panicking and swimming on his back right towards the coral. So I had to swim to him to calm him down and to make him not swim right into the coral. We found Arienne (I was the only one without flippers) and I told them to head to the coral so we can atleast rest on it. It was sharp at first, but once we grabbed on we were able to stand on it. I got a few cuts since the waves pushed me into it, but I felt a lot better knowing I can stand on it. I told them we should just wait until the storm passed. It eventually did, and we made it back to the dock. The rest of our group was waiting at the dock for us, a little worried, but I was fine. Chris was very glad to be out, because he was freaking out a bit. Adrienne was ok. So it was just for that one minute where the waves were really strong and I couldn't see anything where I got a little freaked myself. But it was only for a minute. Nothing more. I'm brave.

So yeah, it was Adrienne's birthday, so we all went out to the Blue Lagoon, the really fance resort on the island. This is where all the divers come when they stay in Chuuk. It was really an alternate universe. The grass looked well trimmed, the hotel rooms and huts looked beautiful, like something out of a Hawaii resort. The service and food was also very good. There were some Americans and Australians at the bar that we hung out at. It was a really nice time, but it was as if we left the third world and entered Florida. It was a nice break, but I actually felt weird entering into the Blue Lagoon property.

Ok, so that's all that's new. Enjoy the pictures. I have a lot of grading to do, since it's Mid-1st quarter. Peace out! Thanks for the comments and emails.
AJ

Shout-outs and Lists

2005-09-09T19:27:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone.

I am going to begin by giving a huge shout-out to Mary from Holy Cross. She sent me an AWESOME care package with lots of goodies and treats. But it was the way she labeled everything that was a really creative and fun idea. It brightened up my day. I ate a lot of the chocolate (NOTE TO EVERYONE: CHOCOLATE DOES MAKE IT IN THE MAIL) already. If you do send things, however, make sure that you wrap it carefully, so the ants don’t get in. I hate the ants. They’re everywhere.
So, if you want your very own shout-out in my blog, send me an awesome care package. It’s kind of like buying your own ad space before the movie starts I the movie theater. Does it still take 20 minutes before the actual start of the movie and the proposed time that the movie is supposed to start?
Anyway, this is a good time to list off some great ideas for care packages.
What to send me:
Snacks (Chips – preferably cheese/sour cream/or olive oil, tomato and Romano cheese flavored; peanuts, yummy snacks in a bag or sealed container)
Sweets (Junior Mints, Hershey Kisses, Junior Mints, York Peppermint Paddies, Junior Mints, Mini Junior Mints, Twizzlers, and anything that is in a bag or box, M&Ms, Junior Mints, anything Dark Chocolate) – As you can see, sweets are hard to come by here.
Pictures – I would love to know what’s going on with you guys. The funnier they are, the better.
CD Mixes – I am probably missing out on awesome, awesome music that you all listen to. Send them my way.
And just be creative.

Next list…
Here is a list of things that the other community mates and I came up with that deal with what we have taken for granted back at home now that we live a very simple lifestyle. Hopefully this list will give you a better perspective into how my life has changed in this short time:
Things We Have Taken For Granted:
-Leaving food out (here they get bombarded by ants)
-Getting food at any time of food whenever you wanted it
-shower
-hot water
- vending machines
- power (it goes off allllllllll the time here)
- copy machines
- nice mattresses
- going places by myself
- paved roads
- internet
- steak, pasta, fresh food, basically any good food
- (for girls) pants – they’re not allowed to wear pants here
- season changes
- the cold, snow, autumn
- public transportation
- a bug-free environment (here, just because you’re indoors, does not mean that there will be less bugs around)
- paper products
- recycling
- basic waste management (thank you Mafia, you kept home so clean)
- radio
- movie theaters (there are none here)
- current world news
- cheese and Junior Mints
- that things actually start on time (here we have something called “island time”…you kind of just show up when you feel like it)
- wounds would heal rather than fester
- having to dry everything completely
- the lack of humidity – also not sweating all of the time
- everyone knows the same language
- things are reliable (construction, computers, businesses)
- long evenings (it always gets dark after 6:30 here)
- carpets!

Here is a list of things that we will probably realize we have taken for granted once we leave this place in two years.
- eating or drinking a coconut whenever we wanted to
- our students (sometimes)
- how diverse our community is
- baked bananas with coconut milk
- ocean/lagoon view
- no snow
- papaya
- walking around barefoot everywhere
- eating fish with the heads on them
- seeing the entire Milky Way at night
- palm trees everywhere
- the quietness/peacefulness
- no TV
- slow pace of life
- no bombardments of advertisements (I hate that!)
- connection with nature
- a little candy you get instead of receiving change (once a store I was at ran out of pennies, so instead of getting 3 cents I got 3 pieces of candy)

If I think of any more I’ll write them down later. But this should give you a pretty good idea of what we have and don’t have, and how that puts a different perspective on things. If you have any questions, send them this way. And send packages. Sending love is fine too I guess.

Still going....

2005-09-06T15:48:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone.
Here's what's new.

Nothing big really. You remember how I said I want to end the lives of those roosters outside of our house because they like to wake us up at random times in the morning? Sometimes, it is as if a dog starts barking, and the rest of the dogs in the neighborhood go off. Think of that but with roosters!! Insane. Well, surprisingly, I'm totally used to it now! They may wake me up at 3, but I'm used to waking up at many times during the night, and I tell myself (well, there go the roosters) and then fall back to sleep, involuntarily swatting at small flys and bugs that buzz near my head (kind of like a cow swatting his tail at the bugs, yet not really caring that he has to do the swatting). So I'm like a cow, is what I'm trying to say.

I had the worst class yesterday. First of all, teaching World History is very hard. We changed the curriculum from last year, so I have nothing to base lesson plans off of. I'm all on my own. Also, there are not enough books for the kids to take home to read for homework, so that is aweful. We have to spend class time reading or group reading. And what's more, I can only get the books for my class 2 times a week, maybe 3 if I fight it out with the other teacher.
Anyway, so I had this class planned where I needed books and the kids would get in groups and read certain sections and report important info to the rest of the class and it was going to be great. The first section went very well. The second section, well, I had 5 kids go to the library before the start of class and they came back saying the library was locked. Ok, no problem. I had one kid go to where the offices were to find a teacher to get the key. Then he came back and said that no one knew where the library key way. I was stunned, and I think the kids kind of picked up on my frustration. The person who is supposed to be in charge of the key isn't very responsible sometimes. Needless to say, 3/4 of my planned lesson was now gone, so I tried to lecture longer than I was supposed to to buy up time, but finally I had to give the last 15 minutes of the class to the students to do other homework. I was very upset. It was aweful. My students in that section think I'm probably rediculous. So moral of the story: don't teach a class where a text book is critical unless you have textbooks.

If anyone has suggestions on how to teach world history without a textbook, let me know. Thanks.

Other than that, things are good. I had spam again for lunch today. That's a regular item. I haven't gotten sick yet (knock on wood) and it's been a little over a month since I've been here. That's good.
It's sad to hear about all the crazy stuff happening back home in New Orelans. It's really weird to be completely disconnected. We're just recieivng bits and pieces. I hear HC is accepting students from Loyola New Orleans. That's really cool of them. Go HC.
Anyway, you're all in my prayers. Eat some Junior Mints for me. Peace
AJ

Drunken Spanish Rice

2005-09-03T16:02:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone. Thank God it's the weekend.
Last week was a typical week of teaching, nothing big going on, except that I was completely exhausted by the end of every school day. I'm in bed by 10...earlier if I'm lucky. I think I talk too much in class. I need to foster more group discussion out of these kids, or at least get them to participate more. That will take a lot of planning from this experienced educator...

So what else? Friday was very low key. It was the weekend, so that's all we really cared about. Every Friday after school there is choir practice for the entire school. I don't know how that came about, but it seems that every student here is very musically talented. They all have great voices. So we hear groups of students singing here and there. Especially when there are the black outs, and students are still in the main building, their beautiful voices echo through the halls while we wait in the dark for the power to come back on. Anyway, listening to the first choir practice was really great, since the gym they practiced in is close to my office window, so it gave me something nice to listen to as I was grading papers.

Now, once a month a group of faculty and staff will cook for the rest of the faculty and staff on the first Saturday of that month. Yesterday was the first time a group had to go, and my JV community picked to go first. We named ourselves the Tin Sweedish Chefs, which spawned from my original idea "The Food Network" which bacame "The Iron Chefs" which became "The Tin Chefs" and then we had to add "Sweedish" in the title because the Sweedish Chef from the muppets is really, really funny.
Anyway, we all left the campus early in the morning to go food shopping. We had a budget of $100 that the director gave us. It was absolutely pouring cats and dogs yesterday, so by the time I got to the store, despite being covered by my rain jacket, I was soaked. Oh well, at least it was warm out.
Quick side note....Joe had to meet this guy named Clark while we were downtown to discuss sports programs in Chuuk and other sports related things. Nice guy. We all talked for an hour or so. However, I heard him quickly mention his son's name, which sounded very familiar to me. After the meeting, Joe and Jaclyn decided to run up back to campus for a workout, and Adrienne, Chris and I drove back to one more shopping center to buy some final ingredients. We bumped into Clark again, thankfully, because I approached him and asked him if his son went to Holy Cross. It turns out that both of his sons did. They are the two HC grads I am supposed to be looking for because as soon as people found out I was coming here, some HC friends said that they actually know some kids from Chuuk. Anyway, I thought that was interesting. Small world. I'll meet up with them soon.

Anyway, we get back to campus and at 3:00 we all start cooking for the 6:00 dinner. It was Mexican night. We made burrito meat, Spanish Rice, Chris' mango salsa and other assortments. However, the Spanish Rice took a while to bake, and we just threw in a lot of spices, and instead of using a lot of water to cook the rice, we threw in a lot of Japanese beer. It was ... interesting, but still good. Chris was unable to find any Mangos for his salsa, and unfortunately the black beans we bought were drentched in soy sauce, which did not help the salsa. It was also very interesting. We finally decided to pour in the little Mango Rum we had to give it a kick. All in all, cooking was very enjoyable, and the feast was a huge success. We all ate soo much that none of us wanted to move afterwards.

It was a nice weekend, especially to get off campus and not think of school work for a while. The school week is very stressful. The whole notion of "island time" gets thrown out the window if you're a teacher here at Xavier. But it's a challenge and it is exciting. Tomorrow I'm having final tryouts for Romeo and Juliet. Which reminds me, I need to go through the script the students wrote today and "correct" anything that needs correcting. I'll be spending all day lesson planning today. I appreciate the emails and letters I've been getting. Keep sending love. Peace

Nudity!

2005-08-27T17:09:00.000-08:00

I know I just update my blog with a looooooooong post about teaching, but I need to post a new one now...
Every Saturday night the class officers plan a school-wide event for the students. Last night was capture the flag, which was really cool because there are about 100 boys here on campus and the campus is great for it. However, they do things differently here in Micronesia. It's a tradition that they strip down to just their underwear and smear themselves with baby oil. Yup. So, from a safe distance on the roof, some of the other JVs and I watched the campus grounds sprawling with half naked Micronesian boys, gleaming in the few lights that were still on, running and screaming.
If you know the rules of Capture the Flag, there is a line that divides each side. If you run onto the other side and are tagged, you go to jail. However, most of the fun for these kids involves a bunch of them gathering at the line and trying to pull each other across the line so they can be tagged and go to jail. That's where the oil comes in. And it is also a fun thing to try and rip each other's underwear off. Yup. So we had completely naked boys running around or just chillin while they were guarding the flag. And they didn't care. There was none of this sexual tension or embarrassment here. The boys were just being boys and having a great time. It was really funny to watch though.
At one point Joe, Arienne, Jaclyn and I started throwing water balloons at them from the roof. At first the kids had no idea what was going on, and we scared them some times. But soon they thought it was fun, and they yelled at us "Good! Shower time!" However, the waterballoons had little effect because they were already half nake and covered with oil.
And mind you, these are tough kids. Really tough. For instance, when they were pulling each other over to their side, there would be gravel, roots, hard ground, and other rocks all over the place, and they didn't care. I heard one kid say "Oh, watch out for this area, there is broken glass. Ok, let's try to pull them across over there." And they would tip toe around the glass and continue pulling kids over. I saw kids walk around today and saw scratches all over them. But another note about their toughness: after we threw waterballoons at them, I think they were dissapointed that we were not throwing other things at them, like rocks or sticks. They would have found that to be more fun. So they started throwing some rocks at us, playfully, and us snipers on the roof backed away right away.
This went on from 7:30-10:30. I went to bed around 10:15, but I lay in bed listning to the final cheers and yelling of the game. As the 10:30 bell rang, everyone started cheering, and then they all shouted out that cheer I mentioned before, which was really cool.
Before I tried to go to sleep, however, Joe came down to the JVI house and came out side my window and said "AJ, get up, this is the best part." So I walked out onto our patio and listened. Suddenly, all 100 boys started signing Amazing Grace. Joe told me that they get in a big circle, arms around each other, and sing the first verse. It sounded amazing. Really beautiful. I wish I was there to see it, but even though our house was probably 100 yards away from the front of the school where they were signing, it still sounded phenomenal. It was really moving. Then one of the loud seniors yelled "St. Francis Xavier..." and the rest of the boys screamed "PRAY FOR US!" And they all cheered and went to bed. What an amazing finish.
I wish that happened in the states more often. Not necessarily singing Amazing Grace, but the whole part when we come together after a competition and become united and ... just feel good together. It was really moving. I can't wait to be part of that next time.
Take care.

Teaching!

2005-08-26T23:55:00.000-08:00

What a week. I started teaching on Tuesday, and it has been one of the most exhausting, yet exhilarating and eye-opening week of my life. Teaching is very hard, as I’m sure all of you teachers reading this are and nodding your heads. I was waiting until Friday after school to add to my blog about teaching, so here we go. This is a long one.

I was very nervous for this day. Chris explained it as “we know a nuclear bomb has been launched and is heading for our direction. All we have to do now is wait, and waiting is hard.” That might have been a little over-the-top, but I knew what he meant. All of the lesson planning was done, and I just wanted to get up in front of the class for the first day and get it over with. I knew if I survived the first day I’d be all set. I was deathly afraid of making a first impression and laying down the rules.
So we had morning assembly at 8:00. Teachers made a few announcements. The Juniors and Seniors demonstrated this cheer for the new freshman, a cheer that students would do at a pep rally or at a sports game. They were banging on desks and shouting, and it was really cool. I am planning on recording it somehow and showing it to everyone. I’m also brining it back to the States.
Anyway, my first class. Junior English Skills. I have two sections, each with 17 kids. I introduced myself quickly, took attendance, told them that I WILL NOT remember their names for a while and that I will butcher their names as well when I called them out. The students laughed at that. A teacher admitting that he or she is about to make a mistake eased the tension a bit. I then explained prayer, how I will say a quick prayer before each and every class. Then I handed out the syllabus and we went over everything (introduction to the course, course objectives, materials, grading, assignments, and finally the rules). I only have three rules, and they are the same for each of my classes: Respect Yourself, Respect Me, and Respect Each other. We talked about those three rules, and then quickly discussed what specific rules would fall under each of those main rules (for example, talking in class disrespected the teacher and others, so that’s breaking two rules, and so on.) Most of the syllabus and rules were modeled after some from a JV last year, but I also came up with a lot.
I did this in each class. I talked a lot. I surprised myself when I started getting really passionate about why each subject is important (the other one is Sophomore World History).
I also had each class call me “Professor”. They seemed to like that a lot and are still calling me that.
Classes are 40 minutes long. The first day was very technical. Just handing out syllabi and going on about rules and why this course is great. I was hoarse by the end of the 4 classes, but I made it. The Juniors are great, because they are not shy, they are more outgoing, and more willing to speak out in class. There are some kids who are still shy. For instance, when I ask if a certain student is there for attendance, he or she will basically whisper their name looking down at the desk. It’s cute. The Sophomores will take a lot of work to get them to participate. They are very shy and quiet. I head the Freshman are even worse.
After school was over for that day, I felt very good. I didn’t do anything too embarrassing, and I had the kids in class laugh a few times. I even noticed they were all interested when I was talking at some points, which was great. So it was a great day. The nervousness and excitement did not wear off for a few hours.

The second day was also fine. The students and I got past the nervousness of the first day. I spent the entire English Skills and History periods focusing solely on “Why This Subject Is Important”. I figured once we were all sure of this, the students would not questions this for the rest of the year. For the Juniors I gave them homework to write “What Writing Means to Me” and for the Sophs I had them write their own history. Writing their own history allowed them to point out things they wrote about, and I showed them how they picked things that were important and helped them notice certain themes that were similar in everyone’s histories. I also pointed out that each person will find certain things different with the same set of facts. The Juniors equated writing with many things, like fishing, running, playing a game, being stranded on an island, drowning. It was great because they were very honest. I let them know before I gave out the assignment that if they really really hated writing, that would be great, but they had to let me know. I think that threw them off guard, a teacher saying it’s ok if their students think writing awful. So we had fun reading off some of the examples in class. Then in each class I handed them a short list of why I think each of those subjects is important. We discussed it, then the day was over. Again, I was exhausted and even more hoarse since I did so much talking.

The next morning, during morning assembly, I made an announcement for signing up for this year’s drama production Romeo and Juliet. However, in front of all the kids, instead of saying Romeo and Juliet, I was about to say “Shakespeare in Love.” I caught myself before I finished, but everyone caught on and started to laugh, which I in turn thought was actually really funny, so I bounced back fine. So now under the sign up sheets, and whenever I remind people to sign up, the sheet reads or I say “Sign up for Romeo and Juliet….not Shakespeare in love”
The third day was fine. I realized a few things from the first two days of teaching: I need to talk slower and I need to dumb things down a bit, especially for my sophomores. See, the whole Social Studies curriculum is completely changing this year (I don’t know if I mentioned this yes….I’ve been writing this blog over a span of 3 days) and I am supposed to teach these Sophomores everything they were supposed to learn Freshman year in like 2-3 weeks. I found out that I not only have to teach them the material they missed, but the skills they do not know. They did geography and Pacific history last year. They do not know note taking, reading a time line, graphs, charts, and their geography is pretty poor. I decided to put that to the test on the third day for World History class: the entire day’s lesson was on how to take notes, and I was going to give them notes on Themes in History as an example. However, an hour before class I photocopied blank maps, wrote 17 different places on a key (as easy as places like North America and the Pacific Ocean to difficult things such as Egypt, Europe, The Mediterranean Sea, and Cuba). Out of 40 pairs of students ( I let them work in pairs) only 2 got all 17 perfect. A lot of people do not know very simple geographical locations. That bothered me a lot. What did these kids learn last year as freshman. So now I have to spend time having them review geography.
Anyway, in English skills I had the students write down 10 topics they want to write about this year. I told them if they can only become better writers by practicing their writing, why write about boring things. I’ll let them write about things they want to, as long as it can turn into long essays. They liked to hear that. Then we did a grammar review (what I’ll be doing next week too before we get into the serious writing aspect of the course).
At the end of the day, it started to pour, I mean a lot. I thought I was going to experience my first typhoon, but the winds did not get that strong. However, it poured nonstop from about 4 in the afternoon until past midnight. The girls, who get driven home every day at 5:00 PM, were stuck on campus until 7:30 because their bus was having problems. It was hectic for a while as soaked students were running all over the place, and the girls were waiting in line to use the one phone in the school. The guys were a little rowdy after they left, I think because the girls were on campus for so long.

Friday, yesterday, the fourth day of teaching, was a beautiful day. I had a study period second period (meaning I had to sit in the study hall as I watched over the freshman study) but other than that it was a drop day for the Juniors, so I only had two classes at the end of the day with the sophomores. We went over note taking again, then I played a map game with them, where I asked them questions and then they had to point to a piece of paper covering a place on the map indicating that is where their answer is located (for instance, my question would be “Gandhi is from here” and they would say India and the team that got it right would point to a note card covering India on the map….sadly, no one in both classes has heard of Gandhi. Seriously. No one.) It went very well

After the last class, I felt great. I loved the weekend so much at that point. It is now Saturday afternoon as I’m finishing this blog. I was so tired. Except I promised myself that, as a reward for finishing my first week of teaching, I would start Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. I was up until 1 reading it last night (my usual bed time is now 10, earlier if I can help it) and I finished it this afternoon. Amazing book. I was quite sad at the end.
After a nice game of Frisbee and a good night’s sleep, I’m excited to make next week lessons more efficient, and hopefully, I will have to do less talking. It’s not that I don’t want to do anything, but I feel I’ve been lecturing too much. This isn’t college. They would probably do better reading mixed with group activities mixed with individual research. A little bit of lecturing would be good.

Thanks for reading this blog. If you have any specific questions about teaching (I’m sure I forgot a lot) please please please ask me. Anyway, thanks for the letters to those who have sent them out. I miss you all a lot. I think reading Harry Potter has made me a little homesick for the first time, but I’m surrounded by really cool and fun people here, and I’m very busy. I’ll write again soon. Much love.

PS: With all of the love I have been surrounded by here, I have found some room for pure hatred: there is this rooster, I may have mentioned him before, who we affectionately call Peevus. He makes a racket at ungodly hours during the night and way to early in the morning. He now has a friend who screeches for minutes on end at like 4 and 5 in the morning. I think one morning I will hunt them down and kill them. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a loving person. I love to eat chicken.

The Exorcist...Chuuk style...

2005-08-19T03:49:00.000-08:00

This is no joke. I was eating dinner (rice and some beef stew with Lawrey's season salt ....Garden Catering season salt) with a few teachers, and Father Author, the Fijian Jesuit Director, was sitting with us. Reaally smart guy, on the level. I don't know how it came up, but he was talking about a student of his (back when he was head mater at a Fijian school) was possessed by an evil spirit. He was completely serious. The other Jesuit priest at the table heard of this too and took the conversation seriously.
For a week this 16 year old boy would fall on the floor between 5 and 8 at night and a girl would possess his body. Fr. Author was summoned to the dorm where this boy lay, and the "girl" spirit would be laughing at him. He sprayed holy water on the boy and everything, asking the girl spirit to leave this boy, and that this boy belonged to him. He didn't perform an actual exorcism because he needed permission from the bishop and it's a very risky process. How crazy is that! Apparently possessions are normal here in the Pacific. But only with a certain age bracket, something like 12-18 year olds. It was really interesting to here. The other priest, Fr. Bill, really beleieved in evil spirits, since he beleives equally in good spirits. One, long ago when he was a young priest, he was playing around with a Ouija Board, just kidding around. He was playing with a male and female student. Out of no where, the girl said she was pregnant. Fr. Bill asked from who. She said it was an evil spirit. So he jokingly decided to ask the Ouija Board who was the father. After a while, the three of them apparently spelled out "The child is mine." Freaky stuff. So just to let you know, possessions are a regular occurance here, so if i mention it in the future, don't be freaked out. Don't be freaked out by this blog, i just thought it was interesting.

Also, dont' see The Emperor's Club with Kevin Kline. We thought it would inspire us to be awesome teachers, like Dead Poets Society. Awful movie.

Crunch Time

2005-08-17T03:18:00.000-08:00

Nothing really new to report. The male students are arriving on campus. So this quiet place will soon be busy with highschoolers. I've been doing a lot of reading (reading the leadership books the school Director "recommended" that I should read, my English and Debate books, and a lot of history books. The first couple of chapters in World History (the Byzatine empire, rise of Islam, Middle Ages) are parts of history I have NEVER learned before, so this will be interesting. We're going to meetings about school policies and stuff like that. Hopefully I figure out how I will be a teacher in the next 5 days.

Just a heads up, check out the pictures on my web site. I adde some to both my "Chuuk 1" and "Orientation and Travelling" albums. The ones I aded in Orientation and Travelling are mostly from Hawaii, since I didn't bring my camera to the north shore but Jaclyn did. The other ones I added are just more pictures to make all of you jealous.

But seriously, nothing really new to report. Just a lot of time in my office, avoiding cockroaches, and trying desperately hard to sleep in the silent, very hot nights when the generator shuts off and so does my fan. We also went out to eat to the island's second fanciest resturaunt (the Truk Stop ... Chuuk used to be called Truk). At best it tasted like something found at an OK Chinese Buffet place. Not the good ones, like the one in Worcester, but an OK one.

Anyway, please keep posting comments. I love them. If you need something to write, write suggestions on how to run an effective classroom. The zannier the better.
I also got some letters, so thank you for those who wrote to me. I'll write back as soon as possible. Much love.

Fanu

2005-08-13T00:13:00.000-08:00

Fanu is an island at the edge of the atoll. The 4 other JVs, Kieran, the Xavier staff and I took a few motor boats from a nearby dock to go there for a picnic today. The ride was awesome. It took about 25 minutes to get from Weno to this other small island. There were not many waves, but we were going pretty fast and the small boat was bumping up and down hard, which was fun. Only if I can travel to my friends' houses like that at home.
Passing by the island was amazing. I haven't really seen a tropical paradise getaway until this. If you can picture a deserted, uninhabited island that you day dream about, this is it. The water was clear and hot, and the sand was white. The island was probably not even 50 yards big in every direction. In the back of the island there was very shallow coral that we could walk on. We walked through it, checking out the small tropical fish swimming around and the amazing plants and coral. You walk about 30 yards through this shallowness until you hit the actual Pacific Ocean. Today was calm, so the surf wasn't the bad, but the waves were pretty big. We would have gone swimming in the waves, but there was no real beach or sand to crash into, just sharp hard coral.
Lunch was great. By great I don't mean a bowl of Angel Hair pasta with home made pesto sauce with a Dr. Pepper on the side. I mean it was an experience. They had local food: bread fruit, taro, fish they literally just caught (they swim out, tred water, and lower a hook down. Pretty simple, but effective), rice, and some cooked chicken. The best part was that we had to eat it with the local utensils: our fingers. I actually ate the fish, too, thank you very much. So it was pretty cool to eat this local food, on a small itty bitty island with sand, coral and palm trees, with some Chuukese staff. After lunch Joe, Chris and I put on our flippers and went snorkling (towards the lagoon side, obviously). We were in the water for about 2 hours. I have the sunburned back to prove it. But snorkling made snorkling by the Japanese dock look pretty bad. The day was pretty clear, so we were able to see pretty far down. We saw huge, pretty coral, hundreds of tropical fish, and two small sharks (coral sharks, half the size of your arm, don't worry). We even saw one of the staff members spear fishing. One Chuukese staff said i can learn how to spear fish with him next time.
So we were there all day. I'll need to get the pictures out soon, cause they were honestly those types of pictures you'd find on the tropical posters or postcards. It was pretty amazing.
I'm glad this week is all about hiking and swimming and travelling around the island and lagoon. Next week will be quiet, but a lot of prep for actual work. Then the week after that the kids come to campus, and things will be insane. And next thing I'll know it will be Christmas break, sunny and 83 degrees an palm trees still around me.
Keep on posting.

One Tree Mountain

2005-08-11T01:44:00.000-08:00

So that's what we climbed today. It's the highest point on the island. I thought treking to the lighthouse yesteray was intense, but the jungle we had to go through today made the lighthouse journey seem like a clean-cut backyard in Greenwich. I had to take my sandles off at one point (don't freak out) because my feet were too muddy and wet and were slipping around on the rocks, clay, and whatever else I was stepping in. The jungle plants and "grass" went as short as 1 foot high and as tall as probably 20 feet. Chris, Jaclyn, Joe, Adrienne, Kieran, and Boody (Booty? He's from Indonesia) even had to scale some pretty steep slopes at one point. But it was well worth it to stand on the grassy hill overlooking the air strip, small towns and lagoon with countless small islands scattered about. It's called One Tree Mountain because the Peace Corps planted a tree up there as the result of finishing a bigger project down in the town ... or something like that. The tree is definitely foreign. I'll get the pictures up soon.
Father Author is a really cool guy. He's Fijian, like I mentioned. He looks like that famous Japanese actor that played opposite Tom Cruise in The Last Samurai. Fr. Author is very smart, but likes to take his time and comes off as a very wise, experienced person. I decided to go mass in his little house. It was simply 5 of us sitting around a cheap, plastic table with a bible on it, the water and wine in minuature water bottles, and Fr. Author sitting in his normal, sweaty clothing behind it, except with a finely pressed ... thing that goes around his neck and flows down his body. I forgot what they're called. Someone help me out. Anyway, mass was nice.
I won't be pulishing posts this often. It just so happens that I have free time now and there is so much that's going on. Starting tomorrow I will start going over my curriculum for World History and English Skills. I'm reaing another book Fr. Author gave us that is for beginning teachers. It emphasizes that the first day makes or breaks the rest of the year. No pressure. I think I'll stand on my desk Dead Poets Society style. If any of you have great ideas for my first day that will get my students to love, fear and respect me, please comment.
Anyway, keep sending love. I love, I mean, really love it when you post comments. And here is my adress again:
A.J. Cabrera
Jesuit Volunteer International
Xavier High School
P.O. Box 220
Chuuk, FMS 96942

Peace

Still doing fine...

2005-08-10T03:26:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone.
So last night we decided to go on the roof of Xavier and look at stars. We busted out a big telescope to check out the moon and stuff. We also looked through an old book on stars that was probably made in the 1960s and looked for constelations. Then we had the great idea of sleeping under the stars. So we got out some "mats", which meant we weren't touching the concrete. We "slept" until 4 in the morning, when the rain started. It didn't get any lighter, so we went back into our rooms.
Now about my room, if you were curious. It's by far the smallest room on the campus. It is a small room in this old, rickitty house at the edge of the property with two stories. 4 girls rooms upstairs, 2 downstairs. Mine used to be a kicten, apparently. There is enough room for a bed, a small table...and that's it. The sink doesnt work, there is room to walk to the shared bathroom, and there are two shelves above my bed. You're supposed to keep books up there, which is what I do, but I also keep all of my other belongings, incluing all of my clothing. I think I will tie string to the random nails in the wall so I can hang some clothing. There is a clothes line outside my room which is where the patio is. That's where I hang my dirty clothing for now.
So all around us there are cats, chickens, roosters (the one named Peevus ... Jaclyn name it... wakes us up every morning at 6) geckos, cockroaches, spiders, ants, mangy dogs, huge moths, frogs and I think that's it. The wild kittens are pretty cute. I played with them outside for about 45 minutes.
We just drove into town to pick up some things. Our only vehicle is a blue pick up truck, and the front can fit three people and the rest have to ride in the back, which is fun since it rains all the time an the roads are incledibly bumpy and full of potholes. I decided that I will not ride shotgun for the next two years so I will have to ride the back whenever we drive some where. It's a lot more fun that way, and I can wave to all of the locals all the time.
Quick Chuukese lesson, which I have been having for an hour for the past three days:
Ran annim - good day
nessor annim - good morning
nukion annim - good afternoon
nepwong annim - good evening
kote pwang ekieki - dont worry
ifa assum - how are you
petekum - Fine
Most surprising thing about Chuuk so far...honestly, the smell. They do not do a good job...or any job... with waste management or garbage disposal. They leave everything on the side of the road or even at the edge of the water, so it's really hard to find a good place to swim. That's why we swam at the japanese dock.
Yesteray we hiked to the Japanese light house, the third highest point on the island. We had a MUCH better panoramic view of the island and the lagoon. We could see the coral reef that protects the lagoon. I took many pictures. Hiking there was fun. It got so thick that it seemed like jurassic park or the beginning of Radiers of the lost ark. A local gave us some cocnuts which he just cut down and we all drank them. They're not that sweet, but it was very refreshing in the intense heat. Oh yeah, I took a big knife and cut up a cocnut on the first day. I forgot to mention that.
I met with the director of the school today, a Fijian Jesuit name Father Author. Great guy. This is the first year that we will be revising the Social Studies curriculum, so it will be interesting to teach it this year. He also asked me to help him with his Leadership project for the school. Once a month the entire school will participate in activities that combine traits of the traditional Micronesian Navigators (also the mascot of our school) with the traits of leadership. He actually studied leadership in Stanford, and gave me two leadership books to read from a guy who teaches at the Kennedy school of business. I'm just trying to sound impressive now. But seriously, it seems like interesting stuff, an I'm glad he has asked for my help. Why me, I don't know, but it will be good.
I'm reading the Life of Pi now. I highly recoomend it.
Each class name has it's own name, like the Patriots or Gladiators or something "cool" like that. Father Author wants to get rid of that name because it promotes violence in the long term (studies have proven that if you are assosiated with a violent mascot/idea/name you are more prone to acting out in violent ways in the future). So if you can think of any cool yet non violent class names, send them this way.
Ok, I'm getting pretty tired. Sometime this weekend we're going to travell to another island in the lagoon, which will be awesome because it will be more rugged and the people will be more traditional than those here on Weno. We will also meet our host families, which will be awesome. I love your comments, so keep posting them.
Peace out
AJ

What a week

2005-08-08T16:06:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone.
It's my 4th day here in Micronesia. A lot has been going on, but I need to say what has happened in the past 6 days or so. This will be a long and detailed blog, so I have divided it by chapter titles. Enjoy!

Hawaii - Part 1
Hawaii - Part 2
Flying
Chuuk Days 1 and 2
Chuuk Days 3 and today

Hawaii - Part 1

So after a quick stop in DC, I fly out of Dulles at 6 in the morning. I arrive in Houston about 2 hours later, and after a quick 1 1/2 hour lay over in Texas, I start my 7 1/2 hour flight to "paradise", as the pilot kept repeating over the loud speaker. I watched XXX:State of the Union with Ice T (or Ice Cube), and I am sorry for that. But I did get much needed sleep and slept for like 4 hours on the plane.
It was my first time travelling alone, and it felt good. I was travelling alone because for whatever reason JVI booke my ticket a day later than the other 5 "islaner" volunteers (two of them being Chris and Jaclyn, my community mates, an the other three, Jacqueline, Emily and Greg, going to Majuro in the Marshall Islands). But when I arrived in Honolulu (which was beautiful to say the least) Trunce (what we call Jaclyn, since her last name is Truncelito) was nice enough to meet up with me at the airport. I got my bags, and Julie, a former JV who is married and lives in Hawaii, picked us up and drove 20 minutes to downtown Honolulu by Waikiki beach, the famous tourist hang out.
It was beautiful. Very touristy, but you can still get the tropical feel. It wasn't too hot and it was beautiful. We had the tall, green mountains towards the middle of the island, with misty clouds covering the tops of the mountain, and then there was the beautiful Pacific beaches behind the luxurious hotels and resturaunts. Not bad.
I met up with the other volunteers who have already been there for one night and we rented bikes from a BYU grad who was very nice, as most Mormons are. Biking through downtown Honolulu and up the hill towards Diamond Head park (a volcano crator) was an amazing time. I could have been doing this forever.
We hike up the mountain all the way to the top, and we were able to see all of Honolulu and the mountains and the Pacific. I honestly have never seen so many shades of blue in my life.
After hiking we bike back down to the city, ate dinner, then chilled on the beach for a while an then passed out. It was very relaxing and comfortable. Hawaii is really everything everyone says it is. So I had my fill, and I was ready to wake up at 4 the next day to make our 7:00 flight to Chuuk.
Little did I know that I was not done with Hawaii yet.

Hawaii - Part 2

It's Wednesday. So we get to the airport, put our bags in, get through security and all of that. However, Chris and Jaclyn don't have seat numbers. The rest of us do. When we board, we find out that the flight is over booked and there is no room for those two. We try to get people to stay in Hawaii, but it doesn't work. So I volunteer my seat and the three of us end up getting a paid hotel, free meals and taxi for the next two days. Not a bad deeal, but we did want to be in Chuuk. We were all very psyched and ready. But we coulnd't really complain.
So we had food at Dukes (this nice and inexpensive resturaunt on the beach. It was the only place the voucher worked other than this upscale restuaruant that would not really have gotten us much).
After a much needed 4 hour nap, we went to an international flea market, bought some board shorts (oh yeah, since our bags were in Chuuk at this point, all I had was one pair of underwear and two shirts. I think I had more than what chris and Jaclyn were carrying with them). Jaclyn had to buy guy board shorts as well that went over her knees, because girls are not allowed to have skirts or shorts shorter than their knees. She looked pretty funny.
We then walke on the beach, which was very unreal because whenever I turne around to look at the buildings, it was just like a postcard.
The next day was amazing. I had 3 "Best ___ Ever" experiences.
We took a bus to the North Shore, meaning we wanted to get our of the city and go through the mountains and see what Hawaii was really about. Our first stop was at this beach/park, but since we got there early no one was there. It was honestly one of the most beautiful beaches ever, making it my first "Best Beach Ever" experience. If you're a marine biologist, you woul have been jealous. There was a huge, steep green mountain behind us and palm trees all over the park. There was also a good sized rock formation about 200 yards out from the beach, and this beach went far out into the bay, so we can see Hawaii all around. I'll get pictures soon.
Then we caught another bus and stayed on for literally 5 minutes until we saw awesome waves (since the road went along the coast) and we got off and found a very small strip of sand whhere the waves were crashing. It wasnt techinically a beach, but there was sand and water. And noooo people. This was on the East Coast of the island. So we had our own private beach and went swimming in the huge waves for abour 3 hours. After swimming in the ocean for hours, Jaclyn Chris and I let the waves push us aroun on the beach for another hour. It was therefore my "Best Ocean Swimming Experience" ever. We were exhausted, sun burnt, sandy and salty, but it was great.
We caught the bus again, smelling like beach bums, started talking with a Chuukese teacher, then got off at Sunset Beach in the North Shore. The North Shore is world famous for surfing. But the waves were very tame. They are intense only in the winter. We got some ready made pasta from a local super market, brought it to a nearby beach, sat on some rocks, and watched the sunset. Honestly, most "Beautiful Sunset Ever" experience. I don't have pictures, but Jaclyn does, so I'll set up a link for that soon. The colors and beams of light and shaes of blue in the sky as the sun set in the vast Pacific ocean was very moving. Great times.
So we got back on the bus after the sunset, went back to Dukes, met a waitress from, you got it, Greenwich CT, and then passed out.
We got up the next day around 5 and then heade to the airport, to try to make our destination one more time.

Travelling

It was a bit startling at first when we found out that Chris and Jaclyn did not have seats again. But the airline remembered us, so we got boared first. The plane was packed again, and it was a 747, i think. Three seats and three seats on either side, with 29 rows. I would know that number, because I was seat 29 E. I sat next to a minister from Tennessee going to the Marshall Islands for a conference and we talked a bit, and on my right was a Micronesian woman who was pretty big. Most Micronesia women are pretty big in size. Nothing wrong with that.
I slept a bit for the 4 hour ride to Majuro in the Marshalls. It was beautiful to see the atoll from above, and I have a picture of that. We stopped for a bit, then went to Kwajelon (spelling?), a bigger atoll. Then after that was Kosrea, which is a small island 6 miles wide in the middle of nowhere. There were cars and people lined up around the airport fence to either see people off or just watch the plane land. Planes come into the islands every 3 days. Perhaps watching this plane land and take off is one of the more exciting things on the island to see.
Then we went to Pohnpie (spelling) which was beautiful and it had the most modern airpport (meaning there was airconditioning inside). I have a nice picture of me in the airport and some from the air.
Finally, after moving in through some clouds, we reached Chuuk. We first flew over the coral reef surrounding the islands in the lagoon, then we saw Weno, the 3 mile wide island. I have pictures, even though it was a bit misty we could see it clearly.
We had to make a second pass at the runway, which was a bit unsettling, and us three volunteers wanted to get there already! But during the whole time we cirlced the island we just coulnt beleive that this was going to be our home for the next two years. Crazy.
We landed in the small airstrip and then got inside the airport.

Chuuk - Days 1 and 2

Joe, Adrienne, Anne and Keirran met us with a big sign saying "Welcome to Beleize Rostro de Christo". Beleize is another JVI placement, and Rostro de Christo (Face of Christ) is another international volunteer group set in Ecuador that shared the orientation with us. So it was good to start off with silliness. Joe is the other JV, red hair from Montana, and Adrienne is the other JV from Michigan. Anne finished her JV tour last year, but is staying on for a third year as Principal of Xavier High. That's right. I can be Princepal in two years. Scary. Keirran is just out of high school from Australlia who is volunteering here with us through an Austraillian program. He's here until Decemeber and then he'll go to Sydney U.
We found our bags that have been chillin in the airport for the past 3 days (although it took a while, since once the plane takes off again, most of the Airport staff goes home) and then put everything into the back of a blue pickup truck, which is our only means of vehical transportation. We all sat in the back, which was awesome, and made our way up the hill to Xavier.
We passed many locals who are extremely friendly and curious. Chuuk is interesting since it is literally a tropicall paradise yet there is a lot of garbage and sewage and poverty all around us. Yet the people are very welcoming and beautiful.
Xavier is on top of a hill so we have a pretty nice view. The school used to be a Japanese bunker. I'll show you pictures later. It is pretty big, and even though it looks like it's crumbling from the outside, inside is pretty nice. Xavier is one of the more elite schools in Micronesia.
We put our bags in our rooms. The JVs have their own little house at the edge of the property. It is literally right next to a jungle. I am pretty sure I have the smallest room. It is quite a wake up call. I don;'t really have room to put my clothing, and on the first day alone I found two big cockroaches and a gecko chillin in my room. I share a bathroom with Joe who lives right next to me. Chris is currently sleeping in a faculty room above the boys dorm, but we're going to move him into Joe's room soon. Adrienne an Jaclyn live above us.
Since we were pretty exhausted from travelling, and it was getting late Hawaii time, we just chilled in one of the huts the students made and had some snacks.
It was pretty hot, so sleeping was pretty hard. But I passed out around 10 Chuuk time and woke up the next day to roosters at 6. They didnt stop until 7. I showered (and to save water, I quickly drench myself, turn off the water, then apply soap and shampoo, then quickly wash it off), had breakfast in the faculty lounge, which is pretty nice, met more of the staff, and then went back into town for Sunay mass.
It was long! 2 1/2 hours sitting in a packed church which was pretty hot. But everyone looked really good, and even though it was all in Chuukese, the children's choir was amazing. I could have listened to them all days. They were very cerimonious when it came to presenting the water, wine and hosts. They put the gifts onto a small canoe and carried it down the isle as the children were signing.
After the mass we were invited to a community hall behind the church where we ate local food for the first time. There was a lot of bread fruit, fish, tapioca, sweet soup, and pig. I ate most of it. Then some girls from the youth group put on a show for us and did some traditional dances which was very similar to Hawaiian dances. Then they started picking people from the crowd to dance with them, and of course, they picked me, and of course, I pretended to be shy at first and then started breaking it down. Not full force, but enough to get everyone laughing at the crazy American. A lot of elderly women came up to me afterwards to tell me I was a good dancer. It was a lot of fun. The girls always where dresses so they are always very pretty, but they are very shy. They like it a lot, especially the children, when you say hi to them, especially when we're in the back of the pickup truck an d we have to them.
After lunch, we heade back to Xavier, then hiked down to the other side of the island, deep into the jungle, until we reached a rock dock that streched out to the lagoon about 50 yards. We jumped in the extremely warm water and went snorkling for about an hour. It was very beautiful and fun. I saw many tropical fish and plants. It was very safe, so don't worry.
Walking to and from the dock gave us an even clearly view of how poor this island is. It is very sad but joyous at the same time to see how happy everyone is.
Back at Xavier we cleaned up, took a tour of the place, ate some fried chicken an rice for dinner, then passed out again. I saw a huge spider in my room but i was too tired to care.

Chuuk - Days 3 and Today

After a nice night's sleep, I went running with Trunce, Joe and Chris. Trunce is a hardcore runner, and hopefully she gets me back into the habit. It was pretty brutal, since it was aso hot and humid, but it was fun running down the road passing locals. They love it when you try an speak to them: "Ran annin" means "good day" and "nessor annim" means "good morning". Little kids ran with us every now and then. It was really nice.
After breakfast, which is usually cereal, we went farther down town to the markets and post office. There i got some mouth wash, some Austriallian cookies calle Tim Tams (Adrienne says they're amazing, which they are), and something called a style towel, which you can wear aroun your neck or over your head to wipe sweat away or make a bandana or something cool. I'll get pictures of it soon.
When we got back we had a llonger tour of the place, checking out the huge shower room the boys use (it's like a cave with shower heads sticking out of the wall) and their toilet house, which is literally stalls with a hole in the ground surroune by walls and a roof. Then we got a quick Chuukese lesson from a local which was fun. Then we had dinner, relaxe a bit, then had a meeting with the community to go over expecations for the year in terms of how we define community, spirituality, social justice, and simple living. Then we went up to the roof quickly and checke out all of the stars since it was the first clear night since we got there.
Today I ran again with Trunce, which was good, but it was hotter this time. I'll be in shape soon enough.
After lunch we're going to hike to the Japanese light house on top of a hill, then eat down town with a former JV.

All in all, this place is very exotic and interesting. I feel as if I'm adjusting to the hot weather easily, and the bugs and humidity are not bothering me as much. I cannot wait until school starts. I saw a bunch of great books in the library. I will be a World History expert by the time i come home. Also, since I'm teaching Junior English skills, it will be more focused on writing essays and debate and not so much on basics, which makes me feel a lot better. I really cannot wait to teach, because it will be a learning experience for me as well.
Being thrown into this strange and wonderous culture is very overwhelming, but it's an adventure that I am sure is feeding my restlessness and curiosity. Everyone here is so nice and helpful, and the Chuukese people are great human beings.
Alright, I've been on this computer way too much. Time for lunch and more reading, then hiking. I miss you all. Post comments or email me. I'll talk to you all soon.
Much love,
AJ

Hello from Chuuk, Micronesia

2005-08-08T14:08:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone.
Welcome to my blog. Instead of getting mass emails from me, this is where you can find out what's going on in my life. You will also be able to get to my pictures link and other fun things.
I have many things to write about, especially my last 2 days in Hawaii and my first 3 days in Chuuk. SOO much to talk about.
My next post will be pretty long, but remember this site. This is where you should go to get updates on my adventure and you will be able to post comments, which I would like a lot.
Talk to you soon and keep in touch. Peace
AJ