School is officially in session!

Kaselehlie maingko! (Hello, everyone)

We have officially finished our first “week” of classes. All of Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday turned into half days and they sent the students home at lunch, so I haven’t really had much time with my classes yet. But so far, my students are very shy and timid, but respectful and really funny when you get to know them! They love to joke around and have fun. I am teaching 4 sections of Algebra II to seniors, which are supposed to be 45 minute classes. Most of my sections are bigger, my biggest being 33 students, and one is smaller, just 12 boys. The students are split up by majors, with the A students being Academic, B the Business, and V the Vocational. I have three different A sections and one V sections (12 boys who all want to be auto mechanics). I can already say that the all-boys section might be my most challenging yet my most fun group to teach! 

So far, I haven’t had enough class time to get into the math material, so we have been playing some getting-to-know-you games and going over the classroom rules. Today, I had the students create a big poster for the classroom and we came up with the classroom rules together, like “Ask permission to leave the classroom”, “Show up to class on time everyday”, “Do not hesitate to ask questions”, and “Do not chew betel nut in the classroom” (betel nut is a chewing substance on the island containing tobacco). They all signed the poster to agree to the classroom contract and that they will follow the rules. We also played a fun math game called “I have a number”.  At lunchtime, apparently the power went out so they couldn’t serve lunch and they sent everyone home (which has happened almost every day since). Tomorrow they will run periods 5-8 so it will be a half-day again. Although it’s frustrating, it’s kind of nice because I can really focus on planning out meaningful lessons since I have so much free time. So far, I haven’t gotten any lightbulbs for my classroom but I have gotten a working fan which has proved to be a miracle for me because it’s sooooo hot during the day! I feel so bad for my students because I am sitting in front of them talking and sweating so bad. They probably think I’m disgusting! lol. But I think the fan will help a lot. Overall, the other teachers are very nice and I have complete freedom to teach however and whatever I want for Algebra II, which is really nice. It will let me be creative in how I teach and lesson plan. I want to incorporate a lot of group work and reflection time into my classes. I’ve had the students start math journals in which they can write me notes and write down examples from class, and I keep the notebooks in my room after class so I can look over them. I like the idea of journaling and communicating through writing as well. 

Last weekend, Aaron (my roommate) and I went out to Madolenihmw (Mad-A-La-Neem) to visit some other WorldTeach volunteers (Rachel and Jason) at the house they are staying. They are living with the Augustine family who we have also grown really close to over the past month. Tony (one of the brothers of the family) and his wife Sasha, and their two children drove us out on Saturday which took around an hour. I really like the house out there because it’s more isolated and really far back in the jungle. Although they don’t have as much access to fresh food and amenities, I really like the location and feel of their home. We went to visit Kuproi (Cup-Roi) Waterfall, which was one of the most beautiful waterfalls I’ve ever seen in my life. Because it is on a family owned land, we first had to go to the house of the owner and pay her (it was supposed to be $2 each but she saw that we are menwai and she charged us $3- which I thought was a ripoff!) but it was well worth it. We were the only ones there and we got to bask in the beautiful scenery all around us. It was about a 40 foot waterfall, and Aaron and Jason climbed to the top on one of the sides which really scared me! But they were safe in the longrun. Because many of the rivers on Pohnpei are dirty with pig feces, I decided not to go swimming to try and avoid getting sick. Jason did, but he’s a little more of a risk taker than I am. 

Later that day, Tony took us to Nan Madol, which is an ancient ruins site on Pohnpei. I encourage you to research it more online, because it’s a really interesting area. Apparently, a long time ago the people of Pohnpei lived in this ancient site and created huge houses and tombs out of these very big stones. Nobody knows how they moved these stones there, because they are soooo big that no group of men could move them with their hands. Also, there are no horses or large animals on Pohnpei, so that creates more of a mystery. Anyway, we hiked through the jungle (about 30 minutes) and finally came to the ruins site. We saw the burial place for the kings, the dungeon that they put prisoners in, and the outer walls of the city. It was breathtaking and very interesting to see. It’s right on the ocean too, so we spent some time by the water and listening to the tides crashing in. After we left, because Nan Madol is on the land of the Madolenihmw king, we had to go to his house and pay him some money for letting us go on his property. Pohnpei is ruled by the nahnmwarki (Nahn-Mar-Kee) system in which there is a king, queen, and price for every municipality (there are 5 municipalities total). The kings are chosen by the clans, and each Pohnpeian is part of a clan. Anyways, the Madolenihmw king is the highest of the kings on the island, so we were basically going to go see the king of Pohnpei! We first had to stop on the road to get the leaf from a banana tree, and we wrapped our money in the leaf (totaling $12). Then, we drove to the house of the king, which turned out to be not very different from any other house on Pohnpei! The main difference was that they had a very large pig (the biggest I’ve seen) and a very large stone for pounding sakau. It turns out that the king was taking a nap, but the queen answered the door. We were very respectful, and always kept our heads bowed and did not speak hardly at all. Tony talked to her and told her that we were WorldTeach volunteers, and we asked permission to live and explore their beautiful island during the next year. She said yes, and we bowed and said “Kaselehlie Maing Wasa Lapalap” (I have no idea if I spelled that right) which means “Hello (formal) most highest one”. It was a very unique and cool experience, and I’m so glad we got to go! 

Outer wall of Nan Madol

Dungeon where they kept criminals

Nan Madol

That evening, the family welcomed our visit by making a big batch of sakau. All day, the men took the sakau root and pounded it on the big flat rock. Aaron and Jason took turns also pounding, and they had 4 men pounding at a time. They pound with stones, and it creates this rhythmic and meditative pounding sound. Rachel and I wanted to, but I don’t think it’s custom for the women to help out in the sakau process. From what I’ve been told, sometimes at traditional sakau ceremonies the women will do a special dance to the sound of the men pounding the sakau root with the stones. It’s very much part of the culture, and I’m glad we get to share in this kind of stuff with the Augustine family. That night, after they pounded the sakau, watered it down, wrapped it inside the hibiscus and squeezed the juice out, they put it in the traditional coconut cup and passed it around the circle. I drank only a little (sakau hurts my stomach) but some of the others drank more and got “sakaula” meaning drunk on sakau. We thanked the family for being so gracious and making strong sakau for us.  

The next day, the rest of the Augustine family came out to visit (the part that lives in Nahnponmal close to town) so we got to see some of our other family friends. We had barbecued reef fish over the fire, served with white rice on a banana leaf. We ate Pohnpeian family style, all digging into the food with our hands and eating together around the table. Then, Tony and his family drove Aaron and I back to town, and that evening Aaron and I tried to make fresh crab cakes. We got three live crabs from Saimon’s market (the local market in town), boiled them up, picked out all the crab meat, and made the cakes from scratch. They turned out delicious and I’m so proud of all the cooking we’ve been doing so far! We’re really having fun with buying local produce and seafood and trying out new recipes. Some of my favorite seafood that I’ve enjoyed so far are Skipjack Tuna, Yellowfin Tuna (great served raw as sashimi style!), Mahi Mahi, GT, Rainbow Runner, lobster and crab. We will often pair our dinners with some refreshing coconuts. I’m really getting into the island life :) 

I’m definitely starting to get a little homesick, and I’m missing a lot of Wisconsin culture. The beer, fish fry’s, cheese curds, Packers…. ahhhh I miss it all so much! There is a lot to see on the island, so I’ve done pretty well keeping busy and trying not to miss home too much. Since there’s so much downtime, I’ve gotten to do a lot of reading and reflection, not to mention relaxing and just getting to hangout with the other volunteers! We are working on getting internet at our apartment, but it seems to be a lot longer process than I ever thought. As for now, I’ll walk to a nearby restaurant with wifi to use (as long as I order a drink or two! :)

Well, that’s it for now! The first couple weeks of moving into our apartment and starting school have been busy but exciting. I can’t wait to get to know more of my students and start teaching more of the Algebra II material. Already, I have students come into my room during my free periods just to hangout and ask me all sorts of questions. I’ve received some pretty cool drawings and shown some cool island pop music! I can tell that it’s gonna be a great year on Pohnpei! 

Love, Kadinmadau (my island name, pronounced Katin-Matau) 

Cute neighbor girls hanging out on the hammock! 

Picture of a sea turtle that one of my students drew for me :)

First couple weeks and exploring the island

Kaselehlie maing ko! (Hello everybody) 

I apologize that I haven't done a blog post in over 3 weeks. My first couple weeks on the island have been SO packed full of surprises and adventures. I'll try to give you a recap of everything that's gone on so far...

First off, the plane ride(s) here were comprised of long, bumpy flights that I barely ate any food on. Overall, we were traveling for around 22 hours from LAX to Honolulu, to Guam, to Chuuk, and finally to Pohnpei. I was able to talk with some other volunteers and we got to know each other on our long flights, which was nice. There were about 20 volunteers that we left in Chuuk, and then the remaining 6 volunteers continues onto Pohnpei, which was about a 50 minute flight from the other Micronesian island of Chuuk. When I stepped off the plane, the first thought I had was "am I in a swamp?!" because the air was so sticky and humid. Take into account that it was midnight when we landed. It was 12:00pm and I was sweating since the first second I stepped off the plane. Regardless, we went to go find our luggage (which I found out was left in Guam) so we had to go without our stuff for the evening. We met our WorldTeach program director who drove us to our host families for the night. I felt kind of bad driving to this house in the middle of the night, but we did anyways. So we drove up, the dog was barking non-stop and my host mother came out and yelled at the dog to quiet down. Because it was so late (and I was so jet-lagged and tired from my long trip) I pretty much went right to my room and fell on my bed asleep. 

Right away in the morning, we had to go meet the Director of Education on the island and start our orientation. After a very nice breakfast of eggs, toast, and fresh mango, we went with the other volunteers to meet some very important people on the island. Despite the fact that I hadn't showered or changed clothes yet, I sweated my way throughout the day and learned some new Pohnpeian sayings and met lots of new people. The day ended with a scavenger hunt around the island, which I was finally able to see in daylight the beauty of my surroundings. I was absolutely blown away with how gorgeous everything is here- between all the different colors of flowers, the uniqueness of all the coconut and palm trees, and the jaw dropping lagoon scenes. I am definitely excited that I'll be able to live on this island for the next whole year! Our luggage came in that night, and I was able to go home and enjoy a nice cold shower and get to know my host family a little more. They are very welcoming and provide me with a gracious home and amazing food. I'm blessed to be living with such a family! 

Since then, I've moved into my apartment with a fellow WorldTeach volunteer that will also be at PICS high school with me. We live right in the middle of Kolonia, walking distance from both school and many local shops. Our apartment is nice and breezy with 2 bedrooms, a cozy living room, stocked kitchen and large bathroom. Although we don't have any hot water, it hasn't bothered me too much to shower in cold water. It's almost refreshing. We don't have internet at the apartment yet, but we've passed the time watching movies, drinking on our balcony, and getting to know the town. We often walk to the grocery store and look at the selection of produce (which is very limited at times- a block of cheese can be from $8-$15!!). We've been going to one of the local markets, Simon's, and trying whatever fish they have in that day. So far, we've enjoyed Skipjack Tuna, Rainbow Runner, Mahi Mahi and fresh Mangrove Crabs. We just ask what's best that day and they filet it right up for us! I've been pretty spoiled with all the home cooked meals we've made so far :)

Throughout our teacher orientation training, we were able to explore a lot of cool places on the island with the other volunteers. We have 8 volunteers altogether, but we will be teaching at various places on the island. Two will be in Kitti, two in Madelenine, two at the College of Micronesia, and I'll be with the other volunteer at PICS high school. We all had our orientation training right in Kolonia, so we got to know each other pretty well and had a blast going to some of the local bars and checking out the gorgeous views. Last weekend, we went out to Ahnd Atoll (pronounced Ant), which was the absolute prettiest place I've ever been in my life. Because it is privately owned by a local family, when we visited that day we were the only ones on the island. We were on a deserted island in paradise. We drank fresh coconuts (and maybe a little Malibu!), walked the beaches, found cool shells and went snorkeling. Because we were in the sun all day, I suffered from it the next couple days with a horrible sunburn lol. Words of wisdom- next time I go to Ahnd I will apply sunscreen every 30 minutes!! It was a gorgeous day that capped off our orientation in the perfect way.

The boat we used to travel to Ahnd

Fun on the boat!

We went to PICS high school and I was able to see my classroom. I met a lot of the staff, including my department head, and found out that I'll be teaching 4 sections of Algebra II to the seniors. I have three A sections (academic tracked students) and one V section (vocational tracked students). My classroom is very large, and I will be posting pictures once I have it all decorated. School starts in only 3 days, so I have a ton of work ahead of me to get my classroom ready and prepare my first few weeks of lessons! I'm really excited to start teaching in my own classroom, and get to know my students. From what I've heard, Micronesian students are a lot more timid and shy than students in the US, so this will force me to be creative in my lesson planning and running my classroom. I think it will be a challenge, but one that will be good for me! I can't wait to see what the school year brings.

As for the weather, it is tough for me to handle- especially in the middle of the day. The heat from the sun added with the humidity of the air is almost unbearable. I am doing my best to not complain and always stay hydrated, but I hope that I will get used to the weather sooner rather than later. Despite the heat, the island is so beautiful with coconuts and bananas within reach almost everywhere. There's a large Japanese influences on the island because of the close proximity to Japan, along with Australians and expats from the US. Overall, there's a lot more "white" people than I thought there would be on the island. I'm learning more and more of the language every day, and I hope that my students can help me learn even more. I doubt I will be fluent by the end of the year, but I want to be able to have a conversation with locals without trouble. 

One local custom that we've partaken in (and really enjoy) is the drinking of sakau. It's very similar to kava, if you've ever heard of that, but sakau is the Pohnpeian drink and it only is drank on this island. It is a local root taken and watered and pounded in hibiscus, giving it a liquidy, muddish consistency. Technically, it is a mild narcotic, and it gives you the feeling of a numb mouth and very relaxed. It is very much part of the culture here, and it is a highly respected act from the locals perspective. When we came, we were given a traditional sakau ceremony at one of the local sakau bars, and my good friends the Augustines. They rubbed our arms down with coconut oil (which is GREAT for skin, hair, and practically everything!) and we were given mar mar's to wear on our heads. We passed the sakau cup around and drank and enjoyed each other's company. We often drink sakau to just hangout and pass the time at night. I have yet to really feel the effects from it, but I'm sure it will come with more time on the island. 

At the sakau ceremony (coconut cup in my hands)

Overall, my first weeks on island went by so unbelievably fast! If it is any taste of what's to come this year, I'm very excited. I've loved getting to know the customs and traditions of the Pohnpeian people, and it is such a beautiful place. I'll try to post more and more picture and stories as they happen, but for now Kaselel and Pwohng mwahu! (goodbye and goodnight)

Picture from a dinner at Cupid's restaurant (with a gorgeous lookout view!)