The hardest part of goodbye..

The past month has been a whirlwind of emotions, memories, and goodbyes that leave me speechless in a bittersweet kind of way. It's taken me a while to find the words to fill these experiences I've had, moving from this tropical paradise of a slow, simple life back to the life I once knew. Saying goodbye to my students who have taught me so much about what it means to be flexible and what is truly important about education, saying goodbye to the volunteers who have been my family for the past year and have shared all our ups and downs, and saying goodbye to this island so far from reality yet somehow in retrospect makes sense, has been the hardest thing I've ever done in my life.

Some people ask me, "How could you just leave your life and move to the middle of the Pacific Ocean?! How scary!" but in all honesty, it was easy for me to embark on this journey. It was the excitement of something new, something different from what I've known my whole life, something life-changing that made it easy for me to get on that plane headed to Micronesia. I knew that I would face challenging and hard times, but I also knew that there were many things to be discovered, both through cultural experiences and self-reflection. Leaving the comforts of my once-known reality, I came to this island and somehow took on a new kind of reality. My normal day now consisted of long walks in the sun, the refreshment of a cold shower, the morning nourishment of a local carat banana, and the kaselel greetings of young children as I passed by. My normal day now consisted of power outages, school bells ringing at the wrong time, and hours spent just simply sitting around and relaxing in true "island style". This new kind of life sometimes didn't make sense, but we adopted it as our own and at some point throughout the year it became my new sense of reality. And to now leave this comfort, this simple life, this routine that became so ingrained into my day is the scariest part.

The hardest part of goodbye is the uncertainty of knowing what comes next. To look into the eyes of my students, my new-found friends and not know if I will ever see them again is absolutely terrifying. As I said my goodbyes to Pohnpeians and volunteers alike, it was scarier than anything I've ever done before, for I wasn't really ready to leave my new reality and return again to the old. But as all good things must come to an end, I boarded that Island Hopper plane saw Sokeh's disappear below me, the small island I once called home becoming smaller and smaller in the vast Pacific Ocean. It's crazy how fast a place can take root in your heart, the people becoming part of your memories and the smells and sights of your once-known reality fading into your past. I pray that I never forget this place, the lessons it taught me, and the people that will forever hold a place in my heart.

Although there is sadness to be felt leaving my volunteer life, there is the excitement and hope to meet again in the future. The impacts that have been made on me will be lifelong, and I surely know that if I ever return to this small island it will feel like home once again. I have new adventures in my future, teaching next year and moving to a new area of Wisconsin. I will meet new people and start a different chapter of my life, but it will certainly be very different from this one. My thankfulness to those who have supported me including family, roommate, and the friends and family I have met on Pohnpei is deep beyond words. I could not have done it without you.

And so I end one chapter and begin another. Pohnpei, you will forever be in my thoughts and memories, and I hope to once again return to your quiet tranquility and peacefulness that I have found this year. Kaselel, Kalahngan en komwe for now...

A Day in the Life...

Ever wonder what a day in my life is like here in Kolonia, Pohnpei? I'm gonna do my best to describe a typical day with the little details thrown in here and there, here we go!




6:50am Alarm goes off   (meinseng mwahu; good morning!)

7:15am Laura actually gets out of bed

7:17am Jump in the freezing cold shower (but feeling good since you woke up sweating already!)

7:30am Breakfast time! Heat up coffee, scramble up some                           eggs, eat a local carat (Cah-Rah-ch) banana






8:00am Get dressed in local skirt, throw hair up in a bun and head out on the 10 minute walk to PICS










8:30am Morning bell (aka old oxygen diving tank) is rung to signal start of homeroom. I'm already sweating profusely from my walk to school, better get used to it!








8:50am-12:30pm I teach four 45 minute classes of Algebra II students, sections A4, A5, A6 and V4 with some awesome students like these ones! I teach in all English, as most of my students are fluent in both Pohnpeian and English, and many speak a third language like Mwokillese or Kapingese from the outer islands.

Uh oh, raining again today!

Spider found outside my class, ick!

12:30pm Lunchtime! I can either eat lunch in the cafeteria (which serves mackerel soup everyday) or go home and fix something myself. Most days I opt to go home and make something quick like a PB&J or canned beans and corn- fresh veggies on the island are hard to come by!






1-3pm Time to run some errands. Check the Post Office for care packages from family, run to Palm Terrace and pray that the ship came in with fresh vegetables, but often I'm let down. End up going to Saimon's local market and picking up some fresh fish or bananas for dinner. If there's time, I can walk to the local laundromat and do some laundry and then let air dry in the sun.

3:30-5pm Story hour at the library! Spend about an hour reading stories, playing games, singing songs and doing crafts with younger local kids.







6:00pm Walk home from town, taking in the beautiful sunset over Sokeh's rock tonight.









7:30-8:30pm Time to dance! Local women's Zumba group is made up of women from all ages and body shapes. We dance to a mixture of new pop songs and local Pohnpeian music. My exercise for the day (not that I haven't sweat enough already!)


9:00pm Dinner tonight is some yellowfin sashimi, don't worry it's safe to eat! And very delicious, I promise :)


10-12pm Time to lesson plan, catch up on emails, and let's be honest a little bit of Netflix! So glad I have a roommate to spend these evenings with and have some company.


Midnight Pong-mwahu! (goodnight) 




Well I hope you enjoyed a glimpse into my average day teaching on Pohnpei! It's not much, but my days are pretty low-key and relaxing, fitting in with the "island" lifestyle. Our weekends are filled with lots more exciting adventures, such as waterfall hikes, sunset cruises on the ocean, nightlife in Kolonia at Mangrove and Flamingo, and lots more! Although it's a small island, we've certainly found lots to do here. Thanks for reading, and that's it for now!

                                                                 Signing out- Laura V

Kaslehlie from Laura & Aaron!

"Mahlia goe" from Kapinga Village

Kapingamarangi; an outer atoll of Pohnpei located about 740km south of the island, population less than 500, Polynesian heritage

Kapinga (Pohnrakiet) Village; a small village on Pohnpei where many immigrants from Kapingamarangi atoll live while on island, also shared with the people from Nukuoro atoll

March 15th; a day of celebration similar to Thanksgiving in the Kapingamarangi culture

"Mahlia goe" (MAH-lee-ah-koi); greeting in the Kapingamarangi language

A few weeks ago, I had the joy of experiencing a very unique cultural celebration here on Pohnpei. I have many students that are from islands other than Pohnpei, coming from places like Palau, Chuuk, Kosrae, and even smaller islands such as Mokil, Pingelap, and Sapwuahfik (don't get too hung up on pronunciations) but the ones that stand out the most are my students from Kapingamarangi. Many of these students have traveled to Pohnpei via cargo ship The Caroline Voyager which can take months just to travel between islands and arrive at your destination. Anyways, they have left their home atoll and come to Pohnpei in hopes of attending high school, as there is no upper education on Kapingamarangi atoll. Some only speak their own language, Kapingese, and have to adapt and learn both Pohnpeian and English to interact with the other islanders here. They are some of my most dedicated and respectful students, with a real desire to learn and unique cultural heritage. I can honestly say that out of all of the different cultures I've seen here, the people of Kapingamarangi are my favorite. 

I have one Kapingese female student who I've grown especially close with, and she recently invited me to their village for their March 15th celebration. From what I know, this day originates from the Kapingese people's liberation from Japanese control during the Second World War. Comparing to American holidays, it most closely resembles Thanksgiving with all families and groups coming together and bringing different food dishes, colorful clothing, and spending time together with music and dance. The traditional food on this day is eel caught fresh from the ocean, paired with taro root mashed with coconut milk. Eating eels here on Pohnpei is somewhat taboo, but for the Kapingese people it is part of their culture on this day. 

So on March 15th after our school day ended at 12pm (half day, what a surprise), I set out to the Kapinga village in the middle of Kolonia, the biggest "city" on Pohnpei. Their village was so much different from the rest of Pohnpei that I've seen, with a truly "communal" living arrangement- every little housing unit literally next door to all your relatives, sharing bathroom/shower areas, each house as open and inviting as I've ever seen. I think it is almost impossible to keep a secret in this village, only because everything is shared. I was able to meet my student's family including her newly 9-month baby, and they immediately began offering me a costume to dress in for the special occasion. So, freshly spruced up with a colorful lava lava wrap and handsewn seashell earrings, we ventured to the center of the communal living village. 

After an hour of speeches from the village chief and special guests (all which I had 0% understanding of, I need to practice my Kapingese) the food was prepared and I was given my takeout box complete with fresh eel, taro, chicken, and white rice. Although I was nervous to try the eel for the first time, it turned out to be delicious! Very similar to fresh reef fish. We cleared a big space after the meal, and a line of women came and sat on a mat with two small sticks in their hands, and a line of men came behind them with a large bamboo pole and wooden spears. They performed the traditional song/dance  of the Kapinga people in which I was amazed with all the intricate handwork and beautiful harmonies. Overall, a very fun day filled with new foods and cultural experiences. 

Eel on top left, mashed taro root with coconut milk bottom right

Traditional Naas where the men typically gather

Prepared food for Section 4 of Kapinga Village

Make sure to check out the video! It only took about a BILLION hours to upload because of our slow internet connection haha. Totally worth it though, Enjoy!

*A huge shoutout goes to my beautiful female students from Kapinga, you know who you are! I've enjoyed partaking in your culture and learning all about your life in the village, be proud of where you come from and don't ever give up on your dreams! You are beautiful, strong, and intelligent beyond belief. Mahlia goe! 

Death at a Funeral, and lots of women dancing...

Kaselehlie,

I can't begin to fathom that I have less than three months left here on Pohnpei. This year has turned out to be one of the calmest moments of my life, filled with many moments of thinking and just being. It is commonly said that Pohnpeians are "expert sitters", as life here can often be slow, calm, and at times all you can do is just sit and take it all in (and at many times there's honestly nothing else to do). If anything, this place has taught me to just relax, which can be expected from living on an island for a year. I'm a bit nervous to transition back into the mainland lifestyle, especially being a full-time teacher back in the US. It is quite literally the opposite of my experience here, which consists of loose lesson planning, much flexibility as school is bound to be cancelled at least once a week, and expecting that up to 50% of my students won't show up on a consistent basis. The biggest thing I'll take from here is learning to be flexible as a teacher, and just go with the flow of your class, wherever that may take you.

Anyways, back to the point of this blog post. Last week, I was able to participate in some really cool aspects of Pohnpeian culture, aside from the biggest staple of the culture which is sakau. A friend's host grandfather had recently passed away, and I had the experience of attending one day of the funeral. Yes, I said one day, as Pohnpeian funerals usually last around 8 days with each having different traditions and practices. And since everyone on this island is basically related, when someone dies in a village, life as they know it stops for 8 days. Everyone takes off work, school, etc. to help with the preparations and give their respects to the family.

So we headed out to Palikir, which is about a 15 minute drive from where I live. The families residence was far back in the jungle, so we had a bumpy ride but we finally arrived around noon. My first few glimpses and smells were that of women preparing food like rice and taro, the men washing and preparing the sakau, and a few of the younger men carrying in two pigs that were tied to large poles by their feet. Of course they were still alive at this point, and were clearly distraught and squealing loud enough for neighbors for miles to hear, but noone blinked an eye because they have seen this a million times before. As my grandma even said (from her experience of growing up on a farm in Wisconsin) "it's part of life". So we had our few respectful sips of the slimy, mucky sakau (this was very strong sakau, meant for funerals) and watched as they killed and prepared the pigs for the local oven called an uhm which is made from stacking coconut shells and hot rocks off the fire. All of the little boys were so interested in butchering the pigs as they crowded around and tried to learn the ways so in a few years, they would be able to do it themselves. There were also some sea turtles, but thankfully they were killed before I got there (that would be hard for me to watch). We stayed for a couple hours, paying our respects to the family and taking in the cultural experience. It was then that they started carrying in two more live pigs, in which I bowed out and called it a day and headed back to the "city".

Sakau preparation

Everyone's so excited to watch!

The rest of my day was filled with significantly less animal deaths, as I headed to the PICS track to the big celebration for International Women's Day. Women were gathered together from all areas of Pohnpei, the Mwoakillese, Sokeh's, women of Madolenihmw and many more. Each different group wore beautiful costumes of bright, colorful, flowery muumuu's and traditional dress. I watched as they all took turns going up in front of the audience and higher seated titles (like village officials, Embassy employees, and governors) to perform choreographed dances. My favorite was that of the Mwoakillese women, who performed a traditional dance that told of how to pick the local breadfruit from the trees and prepare them for eating. It was a great celebration, and one that highlighted the beauty of the local island women and their traditions and customs.

Loved their costumes!

Describing this culture can be difficult, as one cannot really explain all the odds and ends of everything you see here. There's a lot of odd things, a lot of surprising things, but in the end, a lot of things that you grow to become comfortable to. As the year is coming to a fast ending, I am finding myself having feelings of not wanting to leave my routine that I have settled into here. Yes, there are so many things that I miss back in the US, but I've gotten used to my simple life here. My daily routine of waking up to roosters crowing, walking to school and seeing the tropical flowers, going to the grocery stores just to see it not stocked with essential items again but resorting to our usual meal of local fish and pasta, and having the relaxing feeling that if something didn't get done today it's okay because we can do it tomorrow. "Island time" has definitely found a way into my lifestyle.

Anyways, it's time to settle down to bed with my Netflix for the night. Yes, I still get Netflix here! (I'm currently watching the complete Friends series :) Keep an eye out for my next blog post soon- it's gonna be a fun one!

Pwohng Mwahu (pong-mwau; goodnight)

The COMET is upon us!!

You guys,

First of all, I'm sorry that I haven't been too updated with this whole blog thing. Although I'm on this island whose number one hobby is sitting around and doing nothing, I've kept myself surprisingly busy the past couple months. Not only am I running the Girls on Track club, library story hour, and teaching four sections of Algebra II, but I've found this great new Zumba women's workout group who meets once per night (once the sun goes down- it's impossible to workout here during the day!). I tell myself that it's good to keep busy, otherwise I think I would go completely insane some days.

This whole year I have been preparing my students for the COMET exam (College of Micronesia Entrance Test) which is comparable to the SAT. To gain entrance to the college here on the island, they must pass this multiple choice test comprised of a math section, essay, vocabulary, and reading comprehension. As their math teacher, we have spent these past couple weeks focusing intensely on algebra (mainly quadratics), basic geometry, and problem solving techniques. For most of my students, this is the most important test of their lives because it decides if they will be able to go to college and possibly gain their ticket off of this island. I asked my students today what their plan was after high school (assuming that they pass the COMET) and I got a variety of answers including starting a family, attending COM on-island, transferring to another island college like Palau or Guam, and attending college in the States. I can only hope that I have adequately prepared them for this exam, as the rest of their life can easily depend on the outcome. The exam starts tomorrow, so I'm crossing my fingers that they do well!

Christmas here on-island was the hardest holiday I've ever had, if you want the truth. Not only have I never experienced Christmas without snow, but never one away from my family. I was able to Skype with them back home, so that helped me feel connected. I spent Christmas day in mid-90's weather walking along the Nett Point beach and collecting seashells, which was beautiful to say the least, but still a struggle for myself. It's hitting that point in the year that I'm counting down the days until I can return to Wisconsin and just be home again. I genuinely and truly appreciate the experience to live in another country and culture for this year, and it has taught me more than I can compose in words, but at the heart of it I realize that the culture I come from back home is pretty great.

It's surf season right now on Pohnpei, which by the fact is considered one of the top surfing destinations in the world. Professional surfers have been visiting every few weeks to catch the waves out at Palikir Pass, which have been in the high 20ft range! It's fun to see new faces out at Mangrove Bay bar every weekend, and I've been able to meet people from all over the world, What a small world- for all of us to be pulled to this tiny island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean to meet at this short place and time. Sometime it still fathoms me that I am actually here. When I look up at the stars and realize that I am on the complete other side of the world, although scary and overwhelming, it can be very eye-opening.

Thank you to those of you who have stayed in touch these past few months- even a short message or few words can help me to feel connected back home. I could not have done this journey without your support.

Time for Zumba~~ let's dance!!