We took a boat out to Black Coral Island, which is about a 20 minute boat ride from the dock in Kitti. It is still inside the protective reef barrier that surrounds Pohnpei, so we didn't encounter any rough seas or have to take our big life saving equipment with us. There were around 18 people staying on Black Coral, which is a small enough island that you can see all ends of from any point. Black Coral is literally a honeymoon vacation island, accompanied with sandy beaches, small huts to stay in, hammocks to relax, and a beautiful channel for snorkeling. It literally couldn't get any better. So we spent our weekend drinking Red Horse and relaxing on our island.. I was even able to wake up early enough to watch the sunrise over the ocean. I cannot put into words how beautiful that moment was- just me and the ocean waves crashing up while looking at the sun come over the horizon. We also did some snorkeling in the channel that is next to the island, with beautiful colored coral reefs and millions of types of fish. I even was able to see an eel (don't worry, I stayed far away from it!) and a small seahorse. Wow, looking back at pictures I can't even describe the beauty of the scenery around us. I literally don't think I took my swimsuit off the entire weekend- that's how much we were in the water!
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| Group photo swimming at Black Coral |
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| WorldTeach volunteers at Black Coral |
This past school week was shortened due to Education Day (Thursday) and UN Day (Friday) so we had some free time on our hands. It is also Japan culture week here on Pohnpei, so they were offering free Japanese movies at the movie theatre here in town. Although I didn't really enjoy the long, confusing, crazy Japanese murder mystery we went to go see, I was able to sit in a fairly comfy theatre chair with AC for a couple hours- so, no complaints! Afterwards, we went to go check out a restaurant here on Pohnpei called Nett Ramen. Now, when I hear the word ramen I want to gag (literally, some people here on Pohnpei eat ramen for EVERY meal of the day!) but this was a real Ramen restaurant with homemade noodles, rich broth, and fresh vegetables. It's run by this cute little French woman and her Pohnpeian/Japanese husband, and it was one of the best meals I've had so far on Pohnpei! Sooooo delicious. Overall, it was a fun night with both new movies and new food!
Saturday, we were supposed to go on a snorkeling trip but opted out (money is low at the end of the month) so we took a day adventure instead. We hitchhiked (through 4 different rides) out to Kitti, which is an outer municipality of Pohnpei (basically, on the other side of the island from where I live in Kolonia). We arrived at the house of the family who owns the land that some waterfalls are on, and although it was a little late in the day they agreed to let us go visit the waterfalls. Our guide ended up being a high school student, and after he grabbed his machete and left his sandals to go barefoot, we were off into the jungle. Overall, it took us around 1-2 hours to hike down into this large gorge where we could get to the bottom of the waterfalls. I was stupid enough to wear flip flops (what was I thinking?!) so I left them to go barefoot as well. There were two different waterfalls that we visited, I would estimate that the first was around 60ft and the second one around 100ft tall. They were absolutely gorgeous! I wish I could show a video or somehow be able to describe how majestic they were. The coolest part is that there is no signs, no other people, no "touristy" stuff... just us! So many of the sights that I see here on Pohnpei are that much more beautiful just because it is 100% natural. This is their everyday life here- walks through the jungle and playing at the waterfalls.
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| Sawarlap falls (one of the falls I saw) |
That's all for now. I gotta go lesson plan #lifeofateacher
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