A Day in The Life

  I don't really have any new exciting adventures to blog about, so I thought I would write in detail what a normal school day for me is like in Pohnpei. My day usually starts out at first light, when I'm woken up by a number of roosters who live in the surrounding area. I'll get up around 7 am and have breakfast and sit on my front porch and collect my thoughts before school. The walk to school takes about a half hour and its mostly up hill, so I can really work up a sweat on the hot days. I'm usually greeted by everyone in the neighborhood on my way to school. Being an American I walk much faster than all the locals so I'm constantly passing people on the way up the hill towards school. I'll usually check the teachers lounge to see if there is any special announcements for the day, and then I head to my classroom. When I arrive at my class there are usually a couple of my homeroom students laying on the front porch waiting to get let in to the classroom, where it is much cooler. I don't really do anything in homeroom and I just let the kids hang out, and usually work on my lesson plan for the day. I have four classes in a row in the morning then I get a nice break for lunch and I have 5th period open. This is a nice break in the day for me and after eating the school lunch I'll usually head to the bus stop to sit and hang out with the other teachers. The bus stop is the unofficial teachers lounge, and it is where all the teachers hang out during the day. There is a guy here, and I think he is a teacher but I never see any where but at the bus stop. The teachers speak Pohnpeian to each other and occasionally ask me a question or two. It is a nice time in the day just to hang out with my co-workers and relax. During my free period I usually read or use the internet. I have one more math class 6th period and then I have another free period at the end of the day. I just started coaching basketball so I stay after school and ref the games for the kids. Now this is a typical full day of school, we have a lot of half days for a number of different reasons, i.e. no power, no lunch, no gas for the buses. We had five half days in a row last week.

 Students here laugh a lot and they laugh louder than any group of kids I have ever encountered. They love Raman and kool-aid mixed together (for real), they love to sing, and dance, and play sports. They like American music especially Usher, Chris Brown, and various hip-hop artists. But above all they love movies. You can't walk 10 minutes without seeing a little stand on the side of the road that rents boot-leg DVDs. My roommate had a case of DVDs sent out here, and he is by far the most popular person in the village. People are always asking to borrow them, or coming over to peruse through his collection. Most of the kids are really athletic and are great volley-ball, basketball, and baseball players. These are by far the most popular sports down here. I feel like I have adjusted to the slow pace of life in the Pacific, and am really enjoying my time out here. 

Nahna Laud

 This past weekend a few of my fellow volunteers and I hiked Nahna Laud. Nahna Laud translates to "Old Mountain" in Pohnpeian. It is the second highest mountain in Pohnpei. We left early Saturday morning and met our guide Weltchin in the small village of Salapwuk in the municipality of Kitti. When we arrived Weltchin was asleep under a tree with a cigarette in his mouth. We woke him from his slumber and he quickly rallied the other guides that would lead us on our trek through the dense jungle. As soon as we embarked on our two day journey it  began to rain, and when it rains here it pours. The mountainous interior of the island receives approximately 400 inches of rainfall per year, making it one of the wettest places on earth. We hiked for a few hours and broke for lunch at one of the many waterfalls. Now hiking here is a little different from what I'm used to. There are no marked trails, and at some points it didn't even look like we were on a trail. Our guide was constantly cutting away branches and vines to continue our trek through the jungle. After a few breaks and about six hours of hiking we reached our shelter for the night. Our shelter was a large rock overhang on the side of the mountain about an hour from the summit. We set up camp for the night and our guides collected large fern leaves to use as bedding. We hung out for the rest of the afternoon, and we were treated to freshwater shrimp that our guides had caught on the way up. I retired to bed fairly early in the night but had a restless sleep, and for one of the first times I was actually cold in Pohnpei. I was awake at first light the next morning and we had a slow start to the day, not pushing for the summit until about 9 a.m. The final stage of the climb was the steepest part of the climb, and the most exhausting. We reached the summit in about two hours. The top of Nahna Laud was absolutely beautiful, I could see the entire east side of the island, and all the reefs that surround the island. We had lunch at the top and started our descent at noon and didn't reach the bottom until sunset. Nahna Laud was quite the adventure and I look forward to hiking it again sometime this year. 

One Day at a Time

 I have not posted on this blog for quite some time now, because I don't really have anything new to say. We are six weeks into the school year and I find myself very comfortable in the classroom. However this has been quite the roller coaster. Somedays I love everything about this island, and I'm really happy. Other days I get really frustrated at school and I ask myself why I ever came here. I guess thats life though, so regardless of how I'm feeling up or down I know that I have to keep going and make it through the year. I just video chatted with Cody over the internet (Cody is currently in London) and I got to show him what my classroom looked like and it was really good to talk to him. If anyone wants to video chat I'm usually on my computer before school (4pm EST) or during lunch (9pm EST). Today I'm heading into town, and a few of my fellow volunteers and I will be hiking the tallest mountain on the interior of the island. We will be spending the night in the jungle and plan on reaching the summit sometime Sunday morning I believe. Besides that life is pretty much the same as my last post. I've taught a bunch of the local kids how to play football and they love it. We're still working on most of the rules but they get the basic idea of the game. September is almost over and it has gone by pretty fast. Chris is coming to visit December 3rd. and staying for a little over two weeks and then we will be heading to Maui for Christmas with the family. Its a long time away but its something to look forward to. I was appointed assistant basketball coach at our high school and I get paid twenty bucks for the entire season. I'll try to post more often but life here is really slow and everyday is pretty much the same. I'm missing the seasons already and could use a break from the heat and humidity that never gives up here. If you are reading this blog, know that you are a person I miss. 

Endless summer

So another week has gone by and I'm starting to get into a rhythm with my classes. I find myself being less nervous and have a good time with all of my classes. The kids are grouped by their ability level so I have a really easy time with my 10A class and a really hard time with my 10d class. School here is so different from America some kids come just for free lunch or to hang out with their friends. So it is really hard to motivate and teach my 10d class who have no ambition to go to college or even pass the 10th grade. Anyway I get frustrated from time to time but try to keep my cool and be as patient as possible. The other weird thing is no other teachers or administrators check up on me. I could play games with my kids all day and no one would know. The principle is hardly ever at school and the other teachers play games on the computer in the office. So I have a lot of freedom but I have developed my own curriculum that teaches toward the COMET (college of micronesia entrance test). One day I was talking to one of my louder students who likes to joke around, and I told him in America we  would call him a class clown. He looked at me with the most serious face and said "Teacher I am not a clown, I am a person." I laughed hysterically. School is good overall and the kids make me laugh a lot. Living in Madolenihmw is quite a challenge however besides for my roommate Lucas their are no other Americans or non-islanders for that matter. Its hard to break out and meet people in the community because the tend to be a little shy. I have no television or internet and I read a lot. I play basketball with the kids usually and even brought a football up to the fields to play but that didn't go over too well. Explaining the rules to them was no easy task. So I get lonely from time to time and think about how different my life was a year ago at this time when I lived in a house with my friends and was constantly surrounded by people my age. Its okay though because I'm learning a lot too and the only constant in life is change. Last weekend I went to the surf day for kids at Nahlap island and got to hang out there all day and do a little surfing. The water was so shallow on the reef and I cut up my feet and hands. The guy who owns the surf club brought his jet ski and I got to go tubing off the back with another volunteer. Thursday is a holiday here and we have the day off so it'll be nice to have a short week. Anyone with book recommendations I would love to hear them. 

Karakar

Karakar means hot in Pohnpeian. This is a word I find myself saying all the time. My students usually fan themselves with pieces of paper and tell me the classroom is too Karakar and that I should open the door to the front porch. Since my classroom is a single building I have a front porch and a back porch, which is nice, the kids can hang out on it before and after class. It's also useful because I can go out onto it and yell at the students who are late and tell them to hurry up. I call my classroom "the shack" because well thats what it is but I love it. I've really taken a liking to all my classes and I can already tell the students will be the thing I miss most when I leave, weather thats June 09' or '10 ( I haven't decided if I will stay the second year yet). However I've only been teaching for two weeks and I may want to wring their necks in a month or two. I feel comfortable in front of the class now and some students are really helpful with translating things or explaining cultural differences. For example in Pohnpei it is culturally acceptable to say yes simply by raising your eye brows. So when I'm asking a student if x equals -7 he will raise his eyebrows and I find myself repeating the question. Since I don't have internet in Madolenihmw this is more than likely going to be a weekly or bi-weekly blog post, or whenever I make it into town. Last Sunday we hiked Sokehs rock, I know I wrote about hiking sokehs ridge a couple of weeks ago but these are two differnet hikes. Sokehs rock is a more technical climb that involves climbing up a steep rock face. Once we reached the top we found miniature pineapples and broke them open on rocks and ate them. They tasted absolutely delicious and were a wonderful treat while I checked out the reefs surrounding the island of Pohnpei. You can camp up there and plan on doing that when Chris comes out in December. Tomorrow I'm volunteering with the Pohnpei Surf Club at a teach kids how to surf day at Nahlap island. I won't be teaching anyone, more like acting like a lifeguard as the wave at Nahlap breaks on shallow reef. Hopefully I won't have to make any saves. Life is good out here, I find it to be very slow at times but I appreciate that because it seems like the last four years of my life flew by.  I'll try to put some more pictures up but I don't have a camera and have to steal pictures form other volunteers. Oh yeah we're planning a two day hike to the peak of the tallest mountain in Pohnpei. We camp out under a rock overhang the night we spend up on the mountain I think we're doing this sometime in late September, and I'm really looking forward to it. Lastly I apologize for the terrible grammatical mistakes and misspellings on my blog. Most of you are probably saying why is this guy teaching English. However I have very little time to spend on the internet and I try to write these posts as fast as I can. Thanks for understanding.

First Week

I just completed my first week at Madolenihmw high school. It was great overall, but I still have a lot to learn. The first couple of days I just did some get to know you activities and told them about me and my background. I teach four sections of 10th grade Algebra and one section of English. The math class is fine, but the english class I struggle with a little because of the students speaking ability. I have a english only policy in all of my classes but I find the students speaking Pohnpeian a lot and laughing, which makes me think they're talking about me. The walk to school is about 30 to 40 minutes but sometimes we get picked up by someone and we'll hope in the back of a pick up truck or onto a bus filled with students. The students refer to me as "teacher" and I think most of them have taken a liking to me, but others know that I am only temporary and foreign so the lack some respect for me. School was cancelled on Thursday because of the free medical check ups offered by the U.S. Navy on the island, so that was a nice way to break the week up. The volunteer from last year said he could count on one hand how many times there was a full week of school over the entire year. After school I'll usually play basketball with some of the locals at the court near my house. At night I lesson plan for the following day and head to bed pretty early. Life is slow but I like it, its a nice break from the past pace lifestyle in the states. The bus driver from School Wilferd Mudong had my roommate and I over to his house to drink Sakau (mildly narcotic drink made from the root of a plant) I don't really like Sakau because it tastes like mud and upsets my stomach. Sakau is very sacred here and you must respect it so when they offer it to me I just put it up to my lips and pretend to drink or just drink a little. We sat under his nask (a little hut next to the house) and he served us dinner. Next weekend I'm volunteering  with the Pohnpei surf club to help run free surf lessons for local kids on the island. Everyday is an adventure here. 

How do I Reach these kids

This is the view from my front porch. 

Home Sweet Home

I have just spent my first week in my new home in Madolenihmw. Its a small house that has a view of the harbor, and a nice front porch. We get neighborhood dogs that come by and hang out looking for food. We also get chickens coming through the yard, and they double as an alarm clock. I was supposed to start school on Monday but my assignment was switched from Seniors to Sophmores, so I do not start till next monday. It was a relaxed week I spent most of my time reading Jurassic Park in the hammock in the front of my house. I usually play basketball with some locals in the afternoon. I had to clean out my classroom, which is a one room building supported by cinder blocks. It has a hole in the floor where supposdely students like to spit betel nut juice through. I am currently in town, but we just got our phone hooked up at our house so I will have dial up internet access. Hopefully I will be able to put some pictures of my classroom and house up for yall. We are going to visit Nan Madol this weekend, which is an ancient city in Pohnpei from around 1000 A.D. Some refer to it as the venice of the Pacific because there is a massive network of canals between each of the smal islands. If anyone has any ideas for first day activities for my students let me know.

Sokehs Ridge & Nahlap

This past weekend my fellow volunteers and I headed to Nahlap Island Resort located about two miles south of Pohnpei. We took a boat ride out to the island and stayed there for the day. I got to go sea kayaking and snorkeling. The reef was beautiful the water is really clear and I got to see some beautiful fish. On Sunday we got to hike Sokehs Ridge which overlooks all of the north side of Pohnpei. It was absolutely amazing on the hike up we got to check out some heavy artillery the Japanese had left during World War 2. They had crazy bunkers dug into the mountain side. When we reached to top of Sokehs ridge we had an unbelivable view of the north side of the island. We got to see the reefs and the passes where all the waves break. We just wrapped up orientation and I will be moving to the remote village of Madoleneem tomorrow. I start school on Monday teaching Algebra II to highschool seniors (wish me luck I´m going to need it). Last night we went out to dinner with the entire World Teach group to the Village hotel. I can honestly say I witnessed the most beautiful sunset I have every seen in my life. Iĺl have to get some pictures from the other volunteers because I don´t have a camera. I picked up some good books as I prepare for an extremely slow pace of life in this remote municipality in Pohnpei. If anyone wants to send mail my address is World Teach p.o. box 2378 Kolonia Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia. If you can send Garden Catering that would be lovely.

Salapwuk

Jumping Off at Nett Point

Jumping off at Nett Point

You're never late on island time

Its been a while since I last posted but I've been pretty busy with orientation. Anyway life is good here weekdays are packed with orientation activities and we usually have a trip planned with the World Teach group on the weekends. Last weekend we went to Salapwuk in the south end of the island for a six waterfall hike. The hike was great, first we picked up this local guy to be our guide into the thick interior of the island. I followed him for most of the trip and he chain smoked the whole time while toting a machete doing some trail maintenance. The locals here are hard core they brought their dog ( which looked like it hadn't eaten in a month) and kept throwing it off cliffs into the water and then they would jump into like two feet of water. The waterfalls were amazing we hiked for about an hour through some seriously dense jungle to the first one. We got to go swimming and hang out there for a bit and headed on to the next. The waterfalls kept getting better and we trudged up river to reach the final waterfall where we got to do some cliff jumping (not as good as the res). It was probably my favorite day in Pohnpei so far, I talked to the guide after and he said he could take me on a two day hike to the highest mountain in the interior of the island. So I think I'm going do that at some point this semester. I move out of my host families house and into my house for the year next week, which I'm pretty excited about. I'm also going to start spear fishing with some of the locals once I move into my house on the harbor in Madoleneem. Hope people are actually reading this blog I've yet to see any comments. Anyone that went to Andrews wedding on Saturday I'd love to see some pictures. 

Kasalalie

Kasalalie (Pohnpeian for hello) I finally made it to Pohnpei. We had a twelve hour delay in Hawaii and had to stop in Majuro, kwajelin, Kosrae, before finally arriving in Pohnpei. I met my host family at three in the morning and they weŕe drinking sakau (like Kava in Fiji). My host family keeps chickens and hogs and for a shower we have a hose and two buckets. It may sound bad but after I played basketball in this heat it was the best showere I´ve ever taken. We visited my school and home today and it was great. The house is pretty small and my roommate Lucas and I have to share a room but we have a beautiful ocean view and supposedly we get great sun sets. The Pohnpeian people are so kind and welcoming and they offer me more food than I can eat. I´ve only been here two days but it feels much longer than that. Iĺl try to put some pictures up soon but I don´t have internet access at my house so I have to use the computer at the FSM telecommunications department. I start language and teaching classes on Monday and will start teaching August 16th. Iĺl keep everyone posted.

Pre- Departure

So this is my first entry for my first blog ever. I thought it would be a good idea to start a blog to keep people updated on whats going on in the middle of the Pacific ocean. When I told people I was going to start a blog they seem really pumped about it. So let me give you a run down on my situation.
I'm headed to California on Sunday to hang out with Field for a couple of days. I'll be meeting the World Teach group at LAX on Tuesday, and we fly to Honolulu that night. We'll be spending the night there than off to Pohnpei Micronesia the next moring. Pohnpei is the capital of the Federated States of Micronesia, and has the largest population (35,000). We have a month long oreintation program where we stay with a host family in the main town Kolonia. Here we will take an intensive language coure in Pohnpeian, as well as a number of teacher preparation classes.
Pohnpei has a very tropical climate and is considered one of the rainiest places on earth. Also Pohnpei has no beaches since the island is protected by coral reef one to two miles off shore. From the shorline out to the reef is thick mangrove swamps. However there is some great surfing in Pohnpei but I really don't know how much I'll be doing since I don't have direct access to a boat and I will be stationed in the rural village of Madolenhim located in the souteastern region of the island.
I have been assigned to teach highschool math at Madolenhim High School. Math is probably my biggest weakness academically but luckily the curriculum will only cover basic algebra and maybe some Algebra II. I think I can handle that but I am still a little nervous about teaching 30 highschool seniors. I'll be posting hopefully on a regular basis but I don't know my internet situation over there.