Chillin’ with the King

Yeah, that’s right. Let me backtrack a bit.

Mid terms passed successfully for me, but not so much for some of my students. Grading was a bit hectic but I managed to turn in all of the grades way before the deadline. To celebrate, I visited the Pohnpei Public Library to be a guest reader for its weekly “Story Hour.” Reading the story of Peter Rabbit to a bunch of adorable children totally made my day! The bunny ears were a plus.

Speaking of the library…remember that library contest I mentioned? Well, of the four students who wrote essays and drew artwork from MHS, all four of them WON! Woo-hoo! Their entries were superb, I must say. Even though Pohnpei is, in many ways, their entire world, the students were able to capture the essence of the theme by thinking as global citizens. One of my students even won a brand spankin’ new cell phone and another won an iPod. Hard work does pay off!

The last quarter of the year is in full swing. I’ve been busy typing up plenty of relevant stories for intense reading comprehension as well as vocabulary lists and worksheets of “high words” for my juniors to expand their vocabulary. My health science classes have been discussing the stages of life all human beings go through, from birth to death and everything in between. Erikson, anybody? They also finally presented their poster presentations and skits at the High School Science Fair.

One extracurricular activity I’ve been involved with is being freshman academic advisor. I designed schedules for all 131 freshman to meet with one of their three advisors to talk about their classes, credits, GPA, and goals for the future. When they are all done being advised I will compile common triumphs and issues together and present them to the counselor. I met with my 52 students this week, and I think it turned out pretty well! They were at first a little confused as to why I wanted to talk to them, but most of my students became really comfortable chatting with me about their first year as a high school student. I definitely got some common responses so I will report those to the administration (confusion about credits, not knowing their GPA, teacher and subject complaints, the usual).

Another MHS activity is helping coach the debate team (again). Since I am the token English speaker who will be at the school next year, the Principal and LA department chair recruited me to advise the students. The debate topic was “be it resolved that the FSM Constitution should be amended to allow a state to secede”. MHS was on the “negative team” opposing this proposition. The debaters did a fabulous job in presenting their main arguments, including mentioning the fact that no constitution in the world has such a clause and that the four states of the FSM need to stay together for both economic and political reasons even though they are so diverse culturally and in many ways their own entities. However, due to the fact that they did not even know about the topic or their position until this week, they had little time to prepare arguments for the rebuttal portion of the debate and thus did not win. I was very proud of them though for doing the best that they could with the little time they had. We will be prepared next time!

I also represented Illinois Wesleyan University at College of Micronesia’s first college fair. I bothered my admissions office to send me promotional materials, and by some miracle they arrived the day before the college fair! I received wonderful brochures, informational packets, international student fact sheets, the latest copy of the IWU newspaper (in which I was indirectly mentioned – go Peace Corps!), and even a green tablecloth. I gave away plenty of information to prospective students and did my best to get them excited about studying anywhere in the U.S. (but preferably at IWU).

A Peace Corps activity I’ve been establishing at MHS is what I like to call, “Keep on GLOWing.” Camp GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) is a week-long summer camp for 8th grade girls with the purpose of providing them with a safe environment to discuss women’s issues, to empower them to become the future leaders at their high schools, and to experience what it is like to attend a sleepover camp that is packed full of FUN. It’s absolutely wonderful! I have been periodically meeting with the girls who attended the camp last year to see how GLOW still influences their lives and how they would like to be involved this year. Junior counselors, anyone?

I have been on a mini-quest to sleep over at my fellow PCVs’ houses, just out of curiosity to see what their families and living situations are like. All of the families I’ve visited so far were very welcoming and fun, since they are used to crazy mehn wai. Just saying. During one such sleepover I had the opportunity to chill with the nan mwarki (king) of Kitti since he is the great-grandfather of my PCV friend! The whole church community gathered at his nahs for a mini-celebration and feast, complete with delicious local cuisine and free towels! Everybody listened to speeches given by high ranking people and then dug right into plenty of food.

The Pohnpei PCVs are, for the most part, doing well. It’s always great catching up with their daily lives at our various meetings. We all got to spend quality time together thanks to In Service Training (IST). For three days we discussed our progress at our schools, shared teaching practices, and learned about behavior change (very exciting). We are, once again, very lucky because we have pretty much unlimited access to the staff at the office and therefore can bring up our common concerns to people who can do something about them. In addition, our host families got to meet each other at an orientation and learn about the roles of their PCVs and their own expectations and responsibilities.

I think I’ve ranted about taxis here before, but it’s worth mentioning again. If you, dear reader, ever come to Pohnpei, be wary of all the taxis! ARGH! Taxi base phone lines always busy, taxi base forgets about your call an hour later, taxi fails to show up for another two hours, taxi has errands it MUST do while you’re waiting for another hour, taxi crowds eight people in a traditionally five-seater vehicle (talk about way too close for comfort!), taxi driver tries to propose marriage (a little too fast there, buddy)…just NO. AISH!

Happy thoughts. I will be going to the Philippines in June (I officially bought the plane ticket!). I think I will be more prepared for this trip compared to last time back in 2009 since I have been living in a country very similar to the Philippines, as well as all the Filipino soap operas and movies I’ve been watching. I still feel very much Filipino-AMERICAN and disconnected from my cultural heritage, but I will get to spend time with relatives and maybe get an actual cup of coffee! We’ll see. Other summer plans include a student organized library, library camp in Kolonia, and Camp GLOW. I’ll update with progress on all of these activities in the future.

In my cultural corner, one HUGE event took place on Thursday, March 31. Micronesian Culture and Tradition Day was a day off of work and school so everybody could celebrate with their communities. My family and I drove to the village of Temwen’s nahs, where everybody who cared to come from Madolenihmw municipality gathered together. I got an excellent place to sit in the nahs, alongside the women and the food. Hehe. The kamadipw began with the traditional pounding of sakau (kava) by the men and the passing of the cup to the nan mwarki of Madolenihmw (the highest king) and to other high ranking folks. I was surprised that my pahpa was the one doing the passing of the cup. I knew he was high ranking, but it was still impressive to see just how high ranking he is in the community. Pretty cool, huh?

Next came the bringing up and passing out of all the food. LOTS of food. I received an awesome basket made of woven banana leaves containing only local produce (such as local chicken and yams). After eating came traditional dances. Some high school students (including some of my own) performed this intricate dance involving hand gestures, little sticks, and a big stick that was constantly pounded on by mini spears. They were all dressed in grass skirts and coconut oiled up. It was lovely to watch them do this dance knowing that they are keeping their traditions alive. Following this were speeches, giving of the mwaramwars, and passing out of the pig parts (I received a very hairy leg that my family proceeded to cook in the days following). Needless to say, I was very tired but very pleased after this kamadipw. I know that Pohnpei wants to “catch up” to the developed world but its people still treasure and preserve their culture. It’s a beautiful thing.

Another event for the cultural corner is the celebration of Holy Week in Pohnpei. As you may recall, Pohnpeians are pretty much all Christian, and fortunately for me my family is Catholic. Holy Week began with Palm Sunday, but my family and I were late to mass because of the Blue Monstrosity’s flat tire (yes, I call the family car that. I always think it’s going to break down at any moment!). My nohno gathered some palms from our yard that we blessed on our own with holy water before entering the church. That was interesting. During the Holy Thursday mass the deacon washed the feet of twelve prominent church members (including my pahpa). Good Friday began with a three mile walk for the Stations of the Cross, then service around 3PM. Holy Saturday was the Easter Vigil, complete with the lighting of the candles and many, many readings. Finally, Easter Sunday was a solemn yet joyous mass, reminding us that on this day we “inherited the victory of life.”

I hope you were not intimidated by all of this text! I am plenty busy here, as you can tell. I’ve had good days, bad days, and mean days (just ask my students!) but for the most part I am happy with the work I’ve been doing here and the life I’ve been leading. I have been thinking about future plans and I am considering extending my service for maybe half a year to a full year. Now to improve my dismal language skills and integrate into the community more! As always, feel free to contact me about anything or just tell me about life updates. Tupene mwur!