In the New Year

I can’t believe it’s already 2011! 2010 will be a hard year to beat – besides finishing my final semester of college, graduating from IWU, visiting my sister in Sunnyvale, babysitting my adorable cousin, volunteering as an ESL teacher, and going to GATECON, I actually got a job – with the Peace Corps!

Before Christmas break, I wrapped up the semester by grading lots of papers and tests and turning in my very first grades. During the break I have been cleaning up the library space and stacking books, attending numerous Christmas parties (ice cream and presents are usually involved), watching Filipino soap operas with my family (very frustrating yet addictive), reading a lot of books, and going to Kolonia to run errands and hang out with people (I saw Harry Potter 7 Part 1!). I’ve participated in family sakau time, family movie time, and family nap time. On Christmas Eve I attended a family kamadipw (lots of sitting and staring at all the crazy things going on). On Christmas Day I went to mass with my family, gave and received presents, and drank lots of sakau, resulting in me being seriously ohn sakau (drunk) the next day (oh well!). On New Year’s Eve my entire family (which is very rare) attended a village party, complete with Lucky Number (you give a present, you receive a present), dancing, and BINGO. We rang in the New Year five minutes early (according to my watch) with noise makers and handshakes.

This year, I will do my best to be an effective PCV, whether that be in teaching, in doing community development work, or in cultural integration. Nantioahng! I will leave you all, my dear readers, with a quote from Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere that perfectly summarizes my experiences in Pohnpei thus far. Happy New Year!

“It was pure madness – of that there was no doubt at all. It was loud, and brash, and insane, and it was, in many ways, quite wonderful” (109).