In sukuhl

I am currently in the midst of Phase II of PST. The end of Phase I included the conclusion to the teaching practicum (I’m going to miss my class!), bonding activities with all of the trainees (including lots of cards games and pizza), and a party for all of the host families and co-teachers with the trainees (including myself) providing entertainment. My family gave an excellent farewell party to my cousin (another trainee) and we all did the Cha-Cha Slide. Even though I wasn’t going anywhere I went to the airport to take photos and say my final goodbyes to the trainees who were leaving. If I ever get free internet I will definitely post pictures! That same day I went to a feast in my village and somehow ended up doing the Macarena in front of everybody – I know I’ll be remembered as that crazy dancing Peace Corps.

Phase II kicked off with a trip to Nahlap with the Pohnpei trainees, our Program Assistant (PA), and his family. We went swimming in the ocean, ate leftovers from the feast, and basically had lots of bonding time (complete with card games, land crab chasing, and too many rats). Learning Pohnpeian has been quite interesting, to say the least. Our teacher is the chief of his village – Peace Corps has some excellent connections! I know lots of random vocabulary (some words not as practical as others) but putting everything together to form sentences is a totally different matter. I try to practice by speaking phrases at home but my family pretty much resorts to English (oh well)!

Speaking of which – after living with me for five weeks my family finally decided to bust out some very strange Filipino movies and, much to my delight, a genuine Magic Sing karaoke microphone. Besides singing and puzzling out the love squares the main thing I have been doing is watching lots and lots of LOST. We’re already halfway through Season 3! The best part is that I have gotten my family hooked, so we all watch (and are confused) together. I also went to a Catholic church for the first time since coming here (my family is Protestant), went with fellow trainees back to the waterfall (good exercise), and fixed my doorknob. Don’t laugh, I was very proud of myself for doing it on my own. Drinking sakau with my family has definitely made me more determined to study Pohnpeian, while dancing at feasts is pretty much expected of me (and the rest of the Peace Corps) from now on.

Phase II is basically language training with cultural, teaching, and community development sessions thrown in, which has definitely been good for me. However, so far I have benefitted the most from the overnights with current Peace Corps volunteers. The first night I stayed with a PCV in Madolenihmw (woot!). It was great seeing her interact with her family (they are all hooked on a Filipino soap opera) and observing her in the classroom (and helping out a little bit too). I hope to one day reach her level of Pohnpeian! The next night I stayed with a PCV in Sokehs. She is very comfortable with her family and vice versa. I ended up playing Super Smash Brothers and other N64 games with her brothers! I also got to help her catalog the non-fiction books in her library. For me, the entire experience (minus the island tour which got me slightly car sick) was a wonderful opportunity to get to know some of the current PCVs better and see what my own experience could possibly be like when I finally get to my permanent site.

Sorry for my lack of updates, I’m just monumentally lazy (for those of you who know me personally). I would like to give a big thank you to everyone who reads my (sometimes boring but hopefully informative) blog and for those of you who leave comments. Please look forward to more posts in the future!