First Month or so in Woleai

Started: 12-09-09, Finished: 12-24-09 Falalap, Woleai
It’s the ninth of December, we arrived here on November eighteenth, the semester is fast drawing to a close, and Christmas is on the horizon – as well as my birthday. The state ship was just here, headed out to the eastern most islands of Yap and will be back soon on its return trip to the main island. It’s pretty amazing that it actually came on time, ahead of schedule no less! I’ve been told many times that the once-a-month schedule of the ship is more of a nice idea than reality. Considering that the last ship to be out here was not the state ship but rather the Caroline Voyager – the ship I rode – and I didn’t hear of the state ship ever making it out to Woleai during my training in Yap, I’m thinking that I’ve heard the truth. Before Monday, the state ship hadn’t been to Woleai at least since early September, possibly longer. I’ll get a better idea of how things go in the months to come, though.
Ok, now it’s Christmas Eve (oh yeah, let this one slip through my fingers), and I’ve decided to change the approach I’m taking to this entry (the whole blog, actually). I wrote a nice little life recap to my fellow PCVs in Yap. It’s sort of a Christmas-card-style-year’s-end-wrap-up, and I’m just going to post it here. To those of you who recognize that much of what’s included here resembles/matches material I included in the letter I sent you around Christmas time (right now for me, though this post won’t make it up till late February or early March when I get back to Yap proper), I hope you won’t be upset or feel slighted. Yes, it’s a bit less personal, but it gets exhausting trying to tell person after person the same accounts with novel wordings. Seriously, I wrote eighteen letters to send out on that ship (I think 100-percent original recaps lasted till about letter ten or eleven). So please search your amazing patience to find the way to just cut me half as much slack as I’m cutting myself. Also, be assured that I’m not simply changing the name at the top of a stock letter each time you get mail from me and that even if I’ve said the same thing to more than one person, I meant it every time. Well, enough justifying. Let’s get to it!
“A hearty Woleai hello to you Mainlanders! How are you six doing? How are classes, families, communities – all that good jazz – going? I hope you all are living exceptionally well these days. For you M75s, you may likely still be away for MST and travels when this letter reaches Yap. So, how was it all? Did it rock to see all your M75 buddies and kick it w/them for a week or so? How was Australia?! How was Japan?! I hope you all had awesomely fun and safe trips.
You can trust that I am healthy, happy and that life is treating me very well. Woleai is a wonderful place, packed w/beauty both natural and human. The people here are incredibly friendly and welcoming. It’s amazing to feel so wanted by so many who literally know nothing about me aside from my membership in the Peace Corps.
My host family is wonderful, taking much better care of my than I deserve. I’ve got a great house, right across from the health dispensary, within which I have access to a proper American style bathroom – not something I expected, but it’s sure nice when digestive issues crop up. My host father takes me w/him to the drinking circle, and that’s been a fun experience. They sure do love to throw ‘em back here. I can’t keep up – I tried once and ended up very drunk. My host mother is an awesome person, incredibly caring but also gruff in a really fun way – full of sass. She doesn’t speak any English and doesn’t tone down or slow down her speech to my level of understanding. We have some fun w/my ineptitude, connecting on funny topics every now and again, and she calls me ‘maweshe’ (a term of endearment) sometimes, which always makes my day. Gita really likes her host family, too and has been really well received by the women here – no surprise there. Emily’s family is pretty protective, which just seems to be the status quo for her, but she’s got a nice set up and is happy there. The community on Falalus is really excited to have her there and actually had three families battling over who should get to house her! So, looks like she can pretty much live wherever she wants.
On the job front, the high school and its students are also being very good to me. The kids aren’t very tough to manage, but sweet sassy it is hard to get them talking! I hope your students are more outwardly engaged than mine are. It’s so hard to help them improve their English when they refuse to use it. That’s got to be my biggest challenge at this young stage in my service. Today is a great example, I’m helping in the senior computer classes, and we’re switching from a databasing program to Microsoft Word (why this is happening the last week of the semester is a mystery to me), and I took them through a refresher power point to jog their memories. Let’s say it didn’t go as well as I hoped – had visions of a well engaged class guiding me through the steps in the power point. This and a couple other experiences in the English classes make me think some time in dental school prior to coming out here would have been wise (ha, ha, ha! like pulling teeth! Right?! … right? Ok, I’ll stop.). I do trust it’s just a matter of time, though. Need to keep up the good fight (I wish it wasn’t a fight) and hopefully win them and their effort over time.
I do really enjoy the high school aged students. They are at a good age for my natural tendencies in teaching – not that I have much experience, but I do lean strongly towards putting the onus for educational attainment on the learner. That plays much better w/older students than the younger and especially well w/those who get to choose whether or not they’re in school. However, I do quite envy you all and the younger students. Although I am very happy w/my assignment, I had planned on and hoped to work w/elementary students, pre-pubescence. For one, language is more easily acquired before the brain gets all scrambled by puberty’s hormone influx. For two, I love goofing around w/little kids, which is something that is harder to come by here than it was in Pohnpei and Yap b/c the quarters aren’t quite so close. I just need to get out there more, I know.
Gita and Emily are sharing the problem of student silence, but overall seem to really be enjoying their schools. Gita has a great counter-part at the elementary (actually the guy they listed as my counter-part on the site request form, oddly enough). He studied in the U.S. and actually does some serious lesson planning for class. Gita is very impressed. Gita and I made it over to Falalus the second weekend we were here and got to see Emily’s digs. She introduced us to her counter-part and had many nice things to say about her. I have a few co-teachers but wouldn’t call any one of them a real ‘counter-part’ at least as I understand the position. All three are great guys and we’re building good working relationships.
Shifting gears here, a rumor drifted across the waves from Yap the first week we were in Woleai. It scared the SHIT out of me. My host father tells me on Friday night that an American woman teacher was raped and killed in Yap while jogging early in the morning. Needless to say, I was worrying about you gals. I must have looked a bit frantic, b/c my host father made some radio calls and set up a radio conference for me w/Regina the next day. I talked with her on Saturday and found out it was the SDA teacher. It’s so sad that happened to her, but I was also relieved to know you all were ok. I celebrated knowing all my friends on Yap were safe by drinking far too much at the men’s circle on that Saturday night – paid for it Sunday. I promise you that Gita, Emily and I will do our best not to provide any terrible news. And I would really appreciate it if you’ll return the favor.
I’m getting used to this loincloth business. I’m never in danger of completely losing my thu, but it can be also be a battle some days to keep the thing in place. Sometime the wrap-around drops a bit in the back, leaving me a little exposed; sometimes it’s far too tight; other times I can’t keep it tight enough, and it constantly sags. I know that for outer island Yap PCVs that I have it easier in the ‘keeping your island clothes on’ area, but please at least the ladies don’t have a bed sheet rolled up between the cheeks.
Life here is very peaceful but full. The days seem to absolutely be flying by. As of Friday we will have officially been in Woleai for one month! Feels like we just barely got off the ship. The little bit of the school quarter we’ve been here for has gone by amazingly quickly, and Christmas break is almost here (this Friday is the last day of classes, wow!). We won’t have class again until January 4th, which kind of makes me wonder what exactly I’ll be doing until then… Actually, I feel confident there’ll be more than enough to keep me busy – there always is.
Another unpleasant thing here was receiving a briefing from the DOE in Yap, which explained that a ‘consolidation plan’ is being considered for all the Yap high schools. Perhaps you’ve already heard, the director of the DOE is deciding now whether or not to approve the plan, close down the high schools in Ulithi and Woleai, and send all our students to Yap High School. It could go into effect as soon as the 2011-2012 school year. I think that’d be less than awesome for our students and their communities, and that seems to be the general opinion of Falalap, Woleai. If it does happen, I wonder how my position will be impacted. Do I keep on with the capacity building model w/teachers who may soon be out of work indefinitely? Or do I change my approach and focus only on improving the English skills of my students? I don’t know, but – fingers crossed – hopefully it won’t end up being an issue.
On the happy side of life, Emily, Gita and I celebrated Thanksgiving together the weekend before last. Emily came in from Falalus w/her dry bag full of tasty Thanksgiving Day supplies. I was fishing with the men, so she found Gita, and they went to the elementary school to show Emily around. I met them there, and the three of us headed up to the high school. We hung out for a bit and then went back towards Gita’s house and on to mine to make our feast. We added hot water to dehydrated mashed potatoes, stuffing mix, gravy mix and used dried green beans for chips w/mashed potato dip before digging in whole heartedly. It was a lot of fun and delicious. Also, Gita and I made little videos of our lives here for our families. I had a blast doing that, and can just imagine my mom’s excitement when she receives it.
Anyhow, life’s good here, and I hope the same still goes for you all. Take care of yourselves, and keep in touch when you can!”