Big fish

This cat finally has internets!

After successfully moving once again – and finally, at least for the year – to a cute home on the water and visiting the telecommunications office at least seven  times, a man arrived last week to spend one minute installing a modem. Being without internet certainly was peaceful and good for my reading habits, but for communication and lesson planning purposes being wired is the way to go.

So now I can update mah blob!

Since I wrote last I’ve graduated from bucket showers to having an actual shower head, from my host family’s rickety bike to a new (although obviously meant for the shorter heights of the people living to my west) mountain bike, and from learning how to be a teacher to actually being one.

I started teaching last Monday: world history to four groups of seniors and geography to one group of juniors. They’re not the most participation-happy students (probably due at least somewhat to their ESL status), but they haven’t given me too many problems other than the time when one of my students said a Kahlua shot was her favorite Kosraen “food,” causing quite the uproar. The female students are also fond of wearing shirts depicting such sayings as “Future MILF,” but I think even in such classy garb they’ve been pretty interested in the prehistory topics we are covering. I certainly thought the story about the Ice Man was captivating! Oh, and I confiscated my first betel nut yesterday - definitely a coming of age moment for every Micronesian teacher.

I do enjoy being a teacher, and I think the subjects I’m teaching are well-suited for my abilities. I’m really enjoying learning about topics in world history and relaying them to my students, although it can be difficult to maintain my voice’s loudness and clarity for hours on end. The plight of teachers everywhere…

School is from 8:30 to 1:30 , and following my transformation into “Helen, certified teacher in the Federated States of Micronesia” (Yes, I am actually certified whatheheck and even managed to make a 100% on the math section of the certification test, thank you very much!) I’ve been spending a lot of my time at home or running errands to make my life/our place run smoothly here. There is lots of termite dust/poo to sweep, rats named Scat to exterminate, an extremely sweet dog named Heartz (ok so her name was Choko but I renamed her Heartz because she has a heart-shaped spot on her back) to pet, and bread to bake. I really enjoy making homemade bread here, and the results have so far not disappointed. Now it’s time to get creative!

The house is cute as a Micronesian button, the perfect size for two people with the perfect view. Peter, my roommate, and I each have our own room and bathroom as well as a water-side common room and an ample-sized kitchen to share. The best part of the house, though, is the back porch: OK so it’s actually a concrete slab, but plastic patio furniture allows us the perfect vantage point to look out over beautiful Lelu Harbor, just 10 feet away from our back door, and the jungle-ridden mountains of Kosrae in the background. We have enjoyed many a morning coffee and many an evening sunset outside. The backyard also has a plethora of coconut trees, and the front yard offers us fresh papaya. I lucked the heck out.

In the past couple weeks I’ve tried to soak in some cultural opportunities: a variety dance show, featuring girls who can really shake those hips to island music,  a traditional leaf basket making class, and an “uum” session with a local family here. An uum is an outdoor cooker (think cooking things over campfire coals but on a slightly grander scale), which produced the most delicious Kosraen food I’ve had to date: fresh baked breadfruit, juicy chicken, and turkey tail! Nom nom.

I’ve also done many not-so-cultural but still awesome activities such as observing a meteor shower from my backyard, having my host family over for dinner for some green bean casserole, and completing a 300-piece cow puzzle. Boredom is not a possibility, as long as you are creative in spending your time here :)

There have also been frustrations, probably arising from some cultural misunderstandings…but really? We learned this week that we’ve been drinking contaminated water for essentially the first month: from an unclean catchment at the high school, from another unclean catchment at our field director’s house (e coli…eek!), and for the past week from our own faucets…our landlord “forgot” to tell us the city water, not the water from the catchment, was turned on. It’s alright, though, because we got some worm/parasite pills from the hospital without having to see a doctor and fo free! The wiles still work here.

A big fat fish is for dinner tonight!

Pictures to come :)