I’m officially a Peace Corps Volunteer! :) A lot has happened since my last post, so here we go…
The rest of Phase II included more language study, the dreaded Language Proficiency Interview (for me at least), another teaching practicum (this time with 8th graders), hanging out with the family, finishing all six seasons of LOST (I can’t believe we did it in five weeks), my first experience with Pohnpeian funeral practices, the coconut wireless going crazy (mwahaha), sleepovers, trips to Kolonia and Sokehs Rock (very steep but worth the climb), and the official Swearing-In ceremony.
To be perfectly honest, for the longest time I was scared that I would be kicked out of Peace Corps for not meeting the basic language requirements. Since I’m officially a PCV that did not happen (thank goodness!), but I really, really need to keep studying Pohnpeian. I can understand and respond to basic questions, but most of the time what is said goes way over my head. I’m pretty good at figuring out the gist of it (due to words I recognize and the random English words thrown in – kind of like my understanding of Tagalog) but getting it out is definitely the hard part. Practice practice practice!
The teaching practicum was only four days (so I wasn’t able to do much) but I did get my students writing about their school and participating in class (a little bit at least!). The last few weeks with my training family were filled with card games, random conversations, a few too many power outages, watching LOST when there was power, (a typical day would be training, LOST, dinner, sleep), giving candy to kids on Halloween, drinking more sakau (what else?), and for the first time being left alone when my family had to go to a funeral. I got a lot of reading done, including an excellent fantasy novel (I need more!).
Funerals in Pohnpei are four days long. I went to only one of the four days but I was extremely tired afterwords. People accompany the body in the morgue (in this case located in the hospital) until it is moved to the burial site, where it can be observed. The first day is for the immediate family, the second day is for extended family and friends, the third day everybody brings fish to eat (not sure why fish), and the last day is for cleaning up (I think). Food is important all four days, so everybody gathered can enjoy the company and reminisce about the deceased one. Due to another funeral one of my friends was able to sleep over at my place. Fun times!
The coconut wireless is one of the best things about being in Pohnpei. I’m not sure how it started (I think a few too many walks together) but rumor had it that two of the trainees were dating. When I heard about it I laughed hysterically and really did nothing to dissuade those who believed it (much to the chagrin of the two in question). I loved seeing them cringe, what can I say?
Days before the swearing-in ceremony the fellow trainees and I decided to provide our old and new families with entertainment in the form of singing and dancing. After hard work and practice we perfected two songs in Pohnpeian with accompanying dance moves. The ceremony itself went very smoothly – the families immensely enjoyed our songs. I still can’t believe we swore-in with our sunglasses on! I said goodbye to my training family and met my permanent family in a slightly awkward fashion, but it was all good. My new family has had several trainees and volunteers in the past so they’re used to crazy foreigners. They also like to laugh at my Kitti accent since we live in Madolenihmw (like having a southern accent in the States).
The family I was initially assigned to did not work out for me, but the family I am with now is wonderful. My pahpa is apparently high-ranked (kind of intimidating), my nohno insists on only speaking to me in Pohnpeian (there’s my practice!), my oldest sister has an adorable baby(whom everybody loves to play with), the second oldest sister is an honor roll student at M.H.S., and my youngest sister acts as my tour guide and tries speaking to me in Pohnpeian (not quite at her level yet). I’m still not sure about the other males in my family, but overall they have been great. They’re also Catholic, so I get to go to mass every Sunday (yay!). My room is smaller than the one I previously had and has frequent visitors (a.k.a. cockroaches and geckos), but I am slowly getting used to it. I am also getting used to not having indoor plumbing, meaning that I have an outdoor bathroom and an outdoor shower. Showering in the rain is quite the experience!
My first week at the high school was a bit overwhelming, but once I get into the groove of things I think I’ll like it a lot. The principal has high expectations for the new PCV (like helping the debate team become #1 in FSM) and I’ll do my best to meet them. All of the teachers in the Language Arts department have been very welcoming and have already given me great advice and ideas. Thankfully they are open to the concept of team-teaching. My assigned counterpart works in a totally different department but I think I have found two teachers whom I can work well with. I’ve been observing the different teachers this week and I have already begun teaching. My big plan for the next few weeks (until the end of the quarter) is to conduct interviews with the students in order to gauge their conversational abilities, only possible because I am team teaching. We’ll see how it all works out!
