Waterfalls, Long Hikes, and No Cheese!

This week, school is going good... the kids are progressing and we are having fun learning new Algebra stuff. Couldn't ask for anything more :) I can honestly say that I go home each day with a smile on my face because my students show me something new every day. Whether it be their creative drawings, funny jokes, or hard work learning the Commutative Property, they amaze me all the time.

Last week was only a two day school week (I know, cool right?!) because it was what's called Liberation Day on September 11th. Liberation Day here on Pohnpei is a national holiday, although I'm not 100% sure what is celebrates. I think it has something to do with the Pohnpeians and World War II, maybe it's the day that they were freed from slavery? Not exactly sure. Regardless, it is a day that is celebrated by all and huge sporting events are held around the island. Although we did not go to view any sporting events, we chose instead to go visit Liduduhniap waterfall.

Here on Pohnpei, waterfalls are considered sacred by the locals. It is thought that spirits of passed ones linger at the waterfalls, so it is extremely important to be quiet and respectful while visiting them. If you are too loud or being disrespectful, it is thought that the waterfalls may take your life (which has happened before in the past). For example, a couple years ago during the last Microgames, a group of visitors from Palau were at Liduduhniap (I think) and being extremely loud and noisy. Locals warned them to be quiet because of the spirits, but they did not listen. Soon enough, it started raining, and when it rains here it pours! It quickly turned into a flash flood, and they were carried down the waterfall and perished. Not a fun story, but it shows the importance of respecting the local culture!

Liduduhniap was beautiful, and a two-part waterfall. We payed the local family $1 for visiting the waterfall on their land, and made our way down the very groomed path. At the upper waterfall, we were able to stand on the riverbed and watch as the water tumbled over the giant waterfall. I felt like I was on the edge of the world! Then, after climbing down the path on the side, we were able to go to the second waterfall and sit at the bottom of the pool, looking up at the water falling down. Honestly, I could feel the majesty and spirituality that the locals talk about. Something about this place is so beautiful, and so pure. I sat there for a while, meditating and just taking in the scenery all around me. It was a very beautiful day- quiet, respectful, and scenic. 

*Not my own photo, my camera is MIA :( 

The next weekend, we took a hike with some fellow WorldTeach, Peace Corps, and menwai on the island. Our guide was a local Pohnpeian, and he helped guide us up the twisty and turn path through the jungle in Uh (one of the municipalities on the island). Once you get into the jungle with a treetop roof over your head, although it is not necessarily sunny it is EXTREMELY hot and sweaty. Not to mention sticky, slippery, and wet. So we took a 10 hour trek through the jungle, all of which the entire time I was dripping in sweat and slipping on moss-covered rocks. If you've ever seen the tv show LOST, that's literally what I was living. I was basically walking through the jungles of LOST (which is my freaking DREAM!!). Our guide used his machete to help cut our path as we walked. It sounds like a horrible time, but honestly it was really fun. The hike was beautiful, and we were able to see some Japanese cannons and bunkers leftover from the war. When we got to the top, which was around a 2,000 ft cliff overlooking the lagoon and island, I swear I've never seen a prettier lookout on the island so far. It was cool to look below me and see the birds flying over the treetops, while dangling my feet over the edge and feeling invincible. It was a beautiful day, accompanied with great friends and a great end to our weekend.

Best of friends! 

Our guide for the hike

The view at the top was spectacular!

Now, to the most important and heartbreaking announcement.... there's no cheese on the island!! I repeat, NO CHEESE! :( Being a true Wisconsinite cheesehead, I'm basically dying. Throughout the past couple weeks, I've gone store to store and cannot find any more cheese. Only a couple frozen, $30 bags of shredded mozzarella, which I cannot find in my heart to purchase quite yet. Not only an absence of cheese, but potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, green lettuce.... it goes on. At times, in-between boat shipments, the island can run quite short of many fresh produce. You would think that there would be some local produce, and there is, but it's hard to find any especially because I'm living right in the middle of town. If I were in one of the outer parts of the island, maybe I could have access to more farms, but right now I can only get what's shipped into Kolonia (town). So that means there's a lot of Chinese cabbage, yams, taro, onions, and cucumbers all the time. And tons and tons of bananas. Not that those are bad.. but I would like to have more of a variety sometimes. I can only hope that the next boat comes in soon, because then we can have access to a lot more produce from California, like grapes, tomatoes, fresh lettuce, and cheese. If you don't know, taro is a root that many locals eat on the island. They usually boil it in coconut milk to give it a sweeter taste, but to be brutally honest I think it still tastes like wood haha. But the locals love it!!

Local taro root

Ok- so that's it for now!! I really do appreciate everyone who takes the time to read my blog and stay updated with all my stories. It's one way that helps me to feel connected with loved ones back home. Although I do miss Wisconsin and everyone so unbelievably much, I'm only a letter or email away! If anyone ever wants to write to me on island, or send school supplies (I'm in dire need of pencils, reading books, and calculators!) you can write or flat-rate ship to this address:

Laura Tracy 

C/O WorldTeach

P.O. Box 2378

Kolonia, Pohnpei 96941

FSM (Federated States of Micronesia)

Stay cool everyone- I know I wish that I could!!! 

Kadinmadau

The weekend full of ups and downs

Kaselehlie Maingko,

We are officially on our third week of school now, and I can honestly say that I love getting to know more and more about my students every day! We are finally up to 8 periods per day (so I am able to see all my classes) but they are only 30 minutes long. Although it goes by fast, I have been managing to get a good lesson into the 30 minutes every day. So far, we've covered the topics of Order of Operations, Evaluating Expressions with Variables, Combining Like Terms, the Distributive Property, and Translating Algebraic Expressions. We usually do two days for each topic, where I will give many examples and the students then have time to work in pairs on a couple practice problems. Although they were very shy at first, I can tell that they are starting to open up to me and I even have students often come to the board to show their work to the class. It's so nice to have students that genuinely love math and are excited about their education- which is a big change from my teaching experiences in the US! We've already established our classroom rules and routines, which is most important (in my opinion), especially for a first-year teacher.

Picture of my classroom before the first day of school!

This past weekend was definitely full of it's own ups and downs..... To start, I'll talk about the ups (literally). Our friends Jason and Rachel came to visit us from Madolenihmw, and we decided to go to Sokeh (a municipality of Pohnpei) and hike Sokeh's rock. This is one of the "must see" spots if you ever decide to visit Pohnpei, and it is known for it's beautiful scenic outlooks and is considered one of Micronesia's best-known geographical features. Going into the hike, I knew it was going to be difficult but I did not nearly expect what I was getting myself into. I have gone hiking before, but nothing like this, equipped with no ropes or climbing gear. We took a cab to Sokeh's and met some high-school aged kids on the road who informed us that we have to have a guide to take us up the mountain, and they generously offered to be our guides. They turned out to be super cool and I'm so glad I got to know them! It took us only maybe about 15 minutes to hike through the jungle to the base of the cliff, in which I then looked up and realized we were going to be climbing straight up the rock face which was practically at a 90 degree angle! I struggled to find secure footing and somehow managed to pull myself up most of the way, breathing heavy and shaking from fear the whole time. I've always thought that heights did not bother me, but I know now that they do! There were a couple ropes and metal poles that were put in place into the rock, but it was barely anything by my climbing standards. If I would have slipped at any point, I would have literally fallen to my death! When we got to a certain point, I was able to see the top but I was unable to keep climbing. At some point (maybe later on this year), I want to go back and conquer Sokeh's Rock, but for the day I was finished and had enough life-threatening experiences. While most of the group continued to the top, I sat at a lookout point and caught a beautiful glimpse of the side of Sokeh's. To be honest, I was very glad I was alone in that moment because I finally had a chance to just breathe and take in the beautiful scenery around me. I feel as if I need to try and do that more often, because there is so much beauty surrounding me on this island. 

Lookout at Sokeh's rock (I can't take credit for this picture, I'll tell you later!)

After we finally got back on flat ground, we headed back to our apartment (we call the Party Palace) to hangout for the night. Most of our nights consist of Red Horse (a beer imported from the Philippines that I've grown to love!), card games, and spending time with friends. That night although, came the low point in our weekend. When I woke up the next morning, I noticed that my camera and iPhone were missing, but at first thought nothing of it. Then when Rachel noticed that her iPhone and Blackberry were also missing, we thought something was up. When I searched around the outside of our apartment, I discovered my purse with all contents on the ground, and it was then that I knew we were robbed the night before. Fortunately, they did not take anything other than my iPhone and camera, and no one was hurt. It happened while we were all sleeping, which is a little scary. To be honest, I'm very surprised that this would have happened because it is not in Pohnpeian culture to be any type of distrustful or violent. Everyone here is so nice and willing to help anyone out, which is why I cannot believe that someone would break into our apartment. I do have hopes that my valuables will show up again (word spreads fast around this island!) but if not, it's not the end of the world to not have my iPhone anymore. I'm just sad that I lost all my pictures from hiking Sokeh's! Oh well. 

Overall, although there were good and bad things about the weekend, it ended on a good note. On Sunday, we visited our friends who were house sitting for another couple and got to see their beautiful house right on the ocean. I was able to watch some of the Badger game using their wifi (in which they really disappointed, but I'll always be a Badger at heart!). My favorite part of the day was going kayaking in the ocean, where we explored the Mangroves and saw some cool coral reefs and colorful fish. It was the perfect ending to the weekend. We also were able to finally setup the Wifi at our apartment, so hopefully I can be in contact more often now! Ok, time to cook some dinner and get lesson planning. Goodbye for now!


*UPDATE* Since the weekend, I've been able to snag some pictures from a friend who had their camera the day of the hike. So here are a couple photos of me during the big climb up Sokeh's Rock! 

One of our guides for the hike