Floatin’ along

“You want to read this fantasy book?”

“Why not?”

“You want to listen to this Korean boy band?”

“Why not?”

“You want to join the Peace Corps?”

“Why not?”

My “why not?” philosophy in life has made me the person I am today, I like to think. Why not give something a try? If all doesn’t go according to plan, at least there will be no regrets.

So when I read the email inviting me to spend the weekend in Pakin, of course I replied yes. Since this was right after GLOW I was already packed with everything I would need. Following a brief respite, I boarded the boat that would take our band of adventurers to this outer island atoll of Pohnpei. The ride itself was beautiful – bright blue skies and clear ocean waters, with the greenery of Pohnpei disappearing in the distance. Our destination was the Chief’s Island, inhabited by only two families. After some enthusiastic greetings I set out to explore the land in the fading light. “Gorgeous” does not do justice to describe what I saw.

Rising with the sun the next day, I took in all of the little things that made Pakin a lovely place. The sound of the waves breaking on the sand. The breeze hitting my face as I swayed back and fourth on the chair swing. The kids singing bright tunes accompanied by a boy playing a ukulele shaped like a rock guitar. The gang set out to explore the rest of the atoll via boat. I was mesmerized by the vibrant colors of the ocean as we visited the other islands.

Our longest stop was on Pakin’s main island, home to most of its population (100 or so people), its school (three classrooms), and its tireless PCV (pictured on the left). I actually made a shot into that basket!

Upon return to the home base I spent the rest of my time swimming in the ocean, making sand castles with the resident 4-year-old, showering using well water (makes me appreciate Pohnpei’s never-ending rain all the more), and drinking tea while watching the stars. Absolutely glorious.

August so far for me has been a time of recovery from the business of the summer. I attended the 45^th anniversary of the Peace Corps in Micronesia at the U.S. Embassy (wow!). I am honored to be a small part of that legacy. Now I am back to working in the library (organizing the fiction books), planning for the school year (teaching sophomore language arts classes and BIOLOGY WHY), spending quality time with my host family (going to parties and rainy day picnics), and contemplating my future while floatin’ along in the Pacific Ocean.

At CAMP

Remember those summer activities I’ve been blabbing about in past blog entries? Well, they finally came and went and (in my humble opinion) were highly successful.

First I helped out with Library Camp, hosted by the Pohnpei Public Library. For two weeks children of all different ages and backgrounds participated in a variety of activities centering on the theme of “One World, Many Stories.” They learned about library and reading skills, made crafts and played games, and checked out books to bring and read at home.

Due to my long-lasting love of libraries (hehe), I volunteered to teach the kids about library skills. We talked about taking care of library books, parts of a book, fiction and non-fiction books, how books are organized, and reference books. I had the kids hug books, draw pictures about fiction books, do word searches about non-fiction books, sort books by genres, reshelf books, and make their own “ME” books complete with dictionary entries and mini self-portraits. I had a blast and I hope they did too!

Next was the 27^th Pacific Education Conference, sponsored by Pacific Resources for Education and Learning (PREL) and hosted by Pohnpei State. This conference brought together educators from all over the Pacific, specifically from the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of Palau, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, Guam, and Hawai’i. Educators attended speeches and sessions based on “The Pacific Child: Cultivating and Preserving the Pacific Identity.” I went to some very helpful and informative workshops, including one on how to better prepare high school students for college and another on how to narrow down the achievement gap. I was also able to observe some really cool cultural presentations. Palau represent!

Finally it was time for GLOW – Girls Leading Our World. This camp took the most preparation and work but resulted in a pretty incredible experience for the campers. This year’s theme was “Healthy Girls GLOW” so the speakers and activities focused on how the girls could lead healthy lives. About 60 girls from eleven schools around Pohnpei participated in the four days of camp, jam-packed with speakers on physical and emotional health, different break-out sessions (tie-dye, friendship bracelets, sports, etc), leadership sessions, and nightly entertainment (fashion show, dance party, talent show and smore’s).

I was responsible for my two junior counselors from MHS, making sure we had enough local food to eat for lunch and dinner (there was plenty!), running the environment breakout session (I had the girls do a garbage pickup then discuss recycling), supervising the picture frame making session (with some very creative results), facilitating the leadership sessions (YOU can be a leader), and leading morning karate classes (talk about empowering girls!).

Besides all of this, I was also able to celebrate the 4^th of July with American food and carnival games, listen to live music courtesy of the navy band, chill with the U.S. Ambassador on the Spanish Wall, pretend to be a shopkeeper for a day, kill large amounts of cockroaches with RAID, party with the peeps, act like a local for the hike up Sokehs Ridge, lay around in bed devouring Alex Delaware novels, drink lots of sakau (too much), work on my library (just a tad), and meet the Japanese Ambassador to the F.S.M. July 2011 will go down as one of my most memorable months in the Peace Corps.