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July 31, 2017

The best thing about being a PCV....

I don't want to overdo it by talking about how great Peace Corps is. You know those surveys where they ask if you would recommend the thing you're being surveyed about to someone else? I would recommend Peace Corps 10/10 to anyone, but explaining the best thing about being a PCV is fairly intangible. I don't think I can do it justice. Google/Youtube this and you'll get plenty of examples. I'll leave you with some thoughts from friends and colleagues that I've collected.

experiencing a new culture

learning to be a better person while trying to do some good

unexplainable moments

when something works

host family

seeing things I couldn't have imagined

realizing how much we all share, no matter where we come from

the unexpected

building relationships that will last a lifetime

coconuts

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July 24, 2017

The biggest challenge I overcame...

Without complaining about food again, I can say that the biggest challenge I overcame was the feeling of constantly being unhealthy, rundown, and isolated. In this case it's not just the food. It's the not sleeping well because there's some noise I can't identify and maybe there's a creature in my room that will pounce as soon as my eyes are closed. It's the heat, I mean really the heat and humidity were so much harder than I ever thought. It's the intention to workout, but not doing it because I had yet another bad day at school and all I want to do is escape into my current book or binge Friends yet again. It's the sedentary lifestyle, where everyone is constantly telling me to sit down and rest, despite the fact I've been in a chair for the past four hours. It's seeing pictures on Facebook of friends at home together, or hearing about a get-together in town that I couldn't make it to. It's being close enough to visit another PCV whenever I want, but not being able to leave these thirty six square miles for months on end. Being a PCV is tough, but through two years I've overcome these challenges to grow as a person, and, hopefully, do some good.

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July 17, 2017

Someone who has been special to me

This is a weird post for me to write, I don't do emotional well, so talking about someone who has been special to me is strange. Without singling any one person out, I want to talk about how special my students have been over the past two years. Working in a small school, and working two full years with one group of students I've gotten to know them better than most teachers get to know their students. The eight students that I've worked the past two years with alternatively made me pull my hair out and had me slumped over laughing. They both frustrated me, and made me so proud. I hope they continue to ask questions, continue to read, continue to study hard, and continue to do their best. From art projects and movies, to spelling quizzes and dance parties, we've shared a lot over the 360 days of school I spent with them, and I hope that they continue pushing themselves to succeed.

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One Week in Ulithi

July 11, 2017

From July 3rd to 10th I was lucky enough to help out with a summer camp on the island of Falalop in the Ulithi Atoll. There are two ways to get from Yap to Falalop, on the ship, which makes rounds of the outer islands every few months, or on a small plane via Pacific Mission Aviation. I got on the PMA plane about 9:30 on Monday morning. It’s like a clown car of passengers, coolers, and other cargo. I had not only my bag, but 16 dozen eggs and ten pounds of popcorn kernels to complete our camp supply run. We had sent out nearly 600 pounds of other food and supplies several days earlier. PCVs Jared and Stephen met me at the airstrip right before camp stared. Camp was primarily held at the Falalop Ulithi Elementary School. Ulithi atoll was hit very, very hard by Typhoon Maysak in 2015 during which the school and much of the island of Falalop was completely leveled, and Falalop itself experienced a tornado on Christmas 2016. So the school is still under construction, but we stayed in three completed classrooms.

We had 22 campers ranging in age from 11 to 14 from the islands of Falalop, Federai, and Mogmog. Each day included three meals, a snack, loads of games, and sessions on health, active living, or the environment and climate change. We even had a quick session with a few guys from One People One Reef, which works in marine management. We painted a four square court at the elementary school, and held several insane games of capture the flag on the beach. We also swam at least once every day, if not more. The water out in Ulithi is so unbelievably clear, and the beach is amazing!

Food was a coordinated effort between PCVs and community members. We had lots of fish cooked in a variety of ways, and with a health focus for camp, we tried to limit rice to once a day. We incorporated veggies whenever possible and even had chicken barbeque two nights, as well as cheeseburgers for a Fourth of July treat!

Jared, the PCV on Falalop, was able to arrange a visit to one of the turtle islands for the day on Sautrday. It’s literally an uninhabited island where the turtles come to lay their eggs. We hung out and swam, the boys went spear fishing, and we got to enjoy fresh caught coconut crabs for lunch. Coconut crab meat is sweeter than normal crab, and they got their name because they are strong enough to crack coconuts themselves! There were also a gazillion hermit crabs, like to the point where it seemed as if the ground was moving, think that scene in the third Pirates of the Caribbean movie where the crabs move the Black Pearl around. So cool!

One would think that getting around a small island isn’t too hard, it took me about three days to get my bearings on where things were, but I also had to manage wearing a lavalava, which is a type of wrap skirt that is worn by the women throughout the outer islands. They are super fun looking, but are held in place by a belt and frequently work their way loose, especially while walking! The girls at camp were helpful in making sure I didn’t embarrass myself while I was there!

After a dance party on Sunday night, and a breakfast of bacon and chocolate chip pancakes, it was time to get back on the plane and head home to Yap!

Check out the Flickr album to see more pictures!

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July 10, 2017

How my two years of service have changed me

This is a tough one. A lot of the things that other PCVs say when you ask them how they've changed aren't things that we notice ourselves. One PCV in my group mentioned that when she was home a few months ago, everyone commented on how much less chatty she had become, something that the PCV just hadn't realized. We all talked about how we've become more self-aware, more confident, more patient. Two years gives a person a very good idea of what they can or can't handle, and working in a culture that has a fluid relationship with deadlines and work ethic, lack of patience would have resulted in complete failure, but at the same time we've all seen ourselves succeed in things that we may never have imagined, gaining a confidence in our abilities and our potential. Peace Corps gives you a lot of time to reflect. I had always had teaching in my mind as a potential career, and I can tell you now that teaching is one thing I do not want to do. I have a much greater respect for the teachers who spent their time working with me over the years. I feel like people say all the time that they never realized how hard teaching is until something happened, and for me, Peace Corps has been that something. So how have two years of service changed me? Let me know when you see me!

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June 26, 2017

Something I am looking forward to after Peace Corps...

Well, I am 100% looking forward to spending time with my family and friends, many of whom I haven't seen in almost two years! I'm fortunate that most of my family will all be gathering shortly after I return to the states, not to mention I'm excited to meet those who have joined the family since I left! I'm also looking forward to getting back to CrossFit and healthy eating. You've all heard enough about my food issues here, so going home and being able to choose what I eat, when I eat it, and getting a bigger variety of food are clearly important to me! I am super looking forward to being able to drive again. It's one of those things you don't thing will be that big a deal, until it totally is. I am also in awe of the other volunteers in my group who are looking forward to things like getting married, starting medical school, and planning awesome multi-month trips. It's funny that we've never hung out in the states together, it will be fun to get to know each other in new ways back home!

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June 19, 2017

What I will miss the most...

What will I miss the most about Yap? It's hard to know what I will miss while I'm still here, especially since there's always those little things you don't notice until they're gone. I will definitely miss fresh tuna, the quantity/quality/price is probably unmatched, I mean we get sashimi pretty much anywhere. I will miss fresh coconuts (I finally learned how to open them with a machete!), and the multitude of beautiful flowers that are absolutely everywhere! The scent of the plumeria along with road is always amazing. I will miss sunsets (still trying to check a sunrise off my bucket list!), and living along the ocean. I will definitely miss the island, but what will I miss the most? My students? The village lifestyle? Local food? Who knows....

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June 12, 2017

Continuing with the prompts from COS conference, I bring you “What will my community remember about me?”

While I cannot definitively say what people will or will not remember about me, I have some decent guesses. I think it's fair to assume that people will remember that I worked out a lot. I jog three days a week, and I see plenty of people along the road as I run, sometimes my students even jog part of the way with me. Hopefully people will also remember me for re-opening the library, and setting it up to be student friendly. The computer classes, organized books, and game shelves have been pretty popular among the students, so I would love if that's what my community remembered me for. The last thing I think my community will remember about me is Bear. I will probably be known forever more as the Peace Corps who ran all the time and had a dog.

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June 4, 2017

Ten weeks. That is all that's left until I return to the states. School ended last week and Peace Corps is helpfully helping me count down the remaining time by sending me weekly emails with re-entry tips and career advice. Other than booking plane tickets and figuring out how to get Bear back to the states with me, I haven't done too much towards getting ready to go, despite the page long list of things that I have to accomplish, just for PC staff. At our COS conference, we had an exercise where we completed some sentences that they wrote on posters around the room. I decided to go ahead and use these prompts to write a series of closeout blog posts. Let's kick things off with “something I will not miss...”

I feel like most of you could guess this easily since I have not been subtle about it at all, but food here is mostly terrible. Taro and fish are great, but the reliance on ramen, canned meat, and rice make me feel awful. I will absolutely not miss dealing with this diet. Given that I've talked about the food situation a fair amount, I'll go ahead and give some other examples of stuff I won't miss, hopefully this does not come off as complaining. I will not miss rumors and gossip. This is such a part of island life, and what people come up with is truly mind boggling. For example, the rumor that one volunteer in my group was dispensing abortion advice, or the rumor that we are actually here to spy on schools for the department of education. I also will not miss all the rules. Peace Corps has a lot of rules, and while I agreed to live by them, after two years it's all getting to be a bit much.

I will do my best to post roughly once a week between now and when I return to the states. I've still got projects going on, so keep an eye out for posts on other stuff too!

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COS Conference

May 17, 2017

Close of Service Conference. Every Peace Corps Volunteer attends a close of service conference, roughly 3 months before their actual close of service date. Ours was the second week of May, in Pohnpei, back where it all began, though this time we were not baed at PATS, but rather put up in a hotel in town and given free reign over Kolonia. Team Yap left on Tuesday night (rather, really early Wednesday morning), and after a layover in Guam, boarded the island hopper to Pohnpei, via Chuuk. The Kosrae girls and Chuuk Lagoon boys had arrived before us, so it was nice catching up, though the Mortlocks crew did not arrive until the next day. On Thursday the three of us had our final medical exams and dental appointments, no cavities! Once the Mortlocks crew arrived, everyone coming in from off island was finally present, though Brady, our sole Pohnpei volunteer, was not due until the weekend. We all took advantage of the hotel and restaurant, chicken alfredo was probably the most ordered dish on the menu, followed by hash browns, and were able to relax. On Saturday, Brady and I planned a trip out to a picnic island, for some snorkeling and BBQ chicken. Pohnpei has many of these islands, which are small and basically uninhabited. So we all checked out PFDs from the office, piled into taxis and met Brady behind his school, getting into a small boat for the ten minute journey to the island. We all enjoyed the chicken Brady had prepared, as well as the hammocks and the sunshine. It may sound funny, given that we all live on islands, but some of us spend hardly any time outside. Sana and Laurel did not accompany us, hiking the Six Waterfalls of Pohnpei instead.

On Monday our group of 11 (yes, 11 volunteers out of the 19 who departed the states) got in the van to the conference room, where we participated in the three day conference covering anything we would need to know about closing out our service. The first day focused on how to emotionally come to terms with everything, and what to expect when we get back to the states. Staff asked us to start thinking about what we want to finish before we leave, and how to go about saying goodbye. Day two focused on re-entry, specifically resume writing, applying for jobs, and a panel with Returned PCVs who currently work in Pohnpei. That night we also cooked chili as a group and handed out superlatives. Day three was mostly administrative, with sessions about financial stuff (including our plane tickets home!), health insurance, and a final session where we all picked names and had to say something nice about each other, tears ensued. Throughout the three days we were also given the opportunity to provide feedback to staff about our training, projects, and the staff itself. Our Country Director has been here for less than six months, and our DPT only arrived a month ago, so they were very receptive to our feedback and we all feel great about the direction our post is headed. The conference itself ended with dinner at the US Ambassador's home. Ambassador Riley was a PCV himself, and it was great of him to host us for pizza and pasta.

Following the conference, we departed, as we arrived, in waves. Saying goodbye was strange. We had done it before, like at the end of PST, but it was different this time, as we're all headed home in the next three months and will have ample opportunity to see each other again, instead of being flung across the islands of Micronesia with limited means of conversation. Many of us have exciting things to look forward to, like med school and marriage, while the rest of us are still figuring stuff out. 90 days and counting.

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photos from COS

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Fruit Bat Friday

March 25, 2017

Peace Corps Volunteers eat a lot of weird things, during PST alone my training group was invited to try grilled dog, pig blood stew, pig intestine, plus all the fun canned items we had never before experienced. But this past Friday I learned to cook something that probably tops my list of strangest things I've ever eaten, fruit bat. Fruit bat (magl'aw in Yapese) is not found on restaurant menus, but has a devoted following among Yapese, in fact several of my students lick their lips at the mere mention. Another Yap PCV, Sana, arranged for the three of us to learn to cook fruit bat from her neighbor Julie. The fruit bats were delivered to Sana, frozen, about a week ahead of time. There are a number of different preparations, but I'm going to go through the one we made, fruit bat with coconut milk and turmeric. The bats had been defrosting for a while before Laurel and I arrived in Maap, but they had yet to be removed from the bag. Sana eased one free from the pack, and began opening the wings. She started out fine, but in the process got a little icked out and kind of dropped the bat. 

We finagled the other three out of the bag and into the cleaning water, and of course posed for some entertaining shots. Julia showed us how to wash the bats and cut some green papaya into the pot for seasoning. We then built a fire and put the bats, papaya, and water on to boil. In the meantime we grated turmeric and mixed it with shredded coconut.

 Once the bats were almost done the pot was drained, we added water to the coconut and squeezed it to make coconut milk, which we poured over the bats in the pot. After adding lemon leaves, salt, and pepper, the pot went back on the fire for some more boiling. It was actually a relatively simple process, I guess getting the bats is the most difficult part!

As it turns out, basically the whole bat is edible, and we ate ours with taro and copra. We started with the wings, which had the consistency of cooked seaweed. Bats actually have a lot of fur, but thanks to the boiling, you can actually peel the skin and fur right off. Laurel and I declined to try the fur, but Sana went for it. The meat itself has a very strong flavor, with the texture of chicken. We kept trying to relate the flavor to something, as we all felt that it reminded us of something, but just couldn't put our finger on it. Sana was also adventurous enough to eat the intestines and tongue, which is apparently the best part. Some people crunch down and eat the head, but we all declined that opportunity. The three PCVs split one bat, Sana's host mom ate another, and the last two went home with Julie as her husband really enjoys bat. It was a cool experience, but I didn't enjoy the bat enough that I will seek it out in the future.

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Photos from our fruit bat cooking adventure!

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I drank plenty of this stuff on Pohnpei, where it goes by the name sakau, though as everyone agrees, it tastes pretty terrible and I’m not sure I’ll ever make it to kava bars in the US.

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andthefinalroundoflibraryphotos!whycantiaddspaces???

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Library pictures!!!

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The Library is Open!!

December 23, 2016

The library is finally open! We had our school Christmas party on December 22, and officially opened the library. I started the process about ten months ago when the Seabees finally finished our bathrooms and moved their equipment out of the library room. The first big move was getting all the textbooks and teachers companions out of the room and into the classrooms and office. After that my principal and I decided that the tall metal shelves, which are a bit unstable and rusty, weren't suitable for an elementary school library, so my principal began negotiating with DOE for materials to build new shelves. In the meantime I sorted through the existing library inventory. I tossed any science books published before 1980 and any book published before 1965, except in the case of reading classics like Tom Sawyer. Then the third and fourth grade helped remove all the old encyclopedias (published circa 1960), which we saved since they have pictures that can be cut up for projects. While the sorting of what to keep and what to toss was going on, I was also inventorying all the books that came in via donation.

By the time the room was empty, it was the end of the year and DOE had not yet delivered on materials, so we waited, and waited, and waited. Finally the materials were dropped off about a month into the current school year and the school board organized a few days for community members to come and build the new shelves.

They are a huge improvement over the old ones. It was finally time to put the books on the shelves. We decided on a color coded organization system so that students will be able to help maintain the library and even the youngest can figure out where the books belong. I used a simplified version of the Library of Congress Classification System and just gave each of our categories a color. We had hoped to get stickers for the spines of the books that matched the categories, but instead I and the third grade colored pieces of scrap paper which were then cut into small strips that will be taped to the spine of the books. This process is ongoing, though the books are categorized, the taping of almost 700 books will take some time. I was also able to put together a special Pacific shelf which highlights books about the Pacific region, especially fiction.

We finally have a place to put the student computers, which are in the process of being hooked up to the internet. There are plans in the works to start a computer club with topics like typing, safe internet usage, and word processing. Aside from the books and computers, the library also contains our school's e-readers, all of which have the same books on them. They are available for the older students, and especially useful for English classes given that we don't have any reading books other than the textbooks. Now teachers can assign books from the e-readers and broaden the curriculum beyond the textbook. The final piece of the library are the shelves in the front room full of games! Many people (including the Seabees!) generously donated many different games for my students. We are so happy that these games help develop critical thinking, logic, and strategic skills. There are about 25 games available to the students with cards, board games, and some that don't fit either category. Connect Four is by far the most popular game, with Chess, Checkers, Sorry! and the Rubik's Cube following. We just added Guess Who? and Battleships to the shelf, I bet they'll both be very popular.

It has taken about ten months to fix up the interior, sort books, build new shelves, and organize everything, and the students are so excited! The PTA chairman and members of the community were on hand to witness the event and the “ribbon cutting.” The day of the opening the students spent three hours looking around, picking out books, and testing the e-readers. We took a break for lunch and most of them came right back, only leaving when their parents came to get them. We are going to kick off the new year with a reading challenge, and I am so excited to see what students choose to read.

The internet has been terrible here, which is why it has taken me so long to post this, so I’m going to try and do the photos in another post, keep an eye out!