A summer on the move

It’s been some time since my last substantial entry here. I’m not even sure when that was exactly, maybe late May or early June. Lack of activity certainly isn’t the culprit here. More likely, it’s the opposite, combined with travel and turbulent emotions, that has conspired to keep my fingers from the keys.

There was quite a bit of jabber about site closing and transfer during my time in Yap, along with a post rather out of left field that quoted backparker.com. Otherwise, I think I’ve not described much of what’s been going on with me since round abouts the start of June. I’ll give a brief overview here, then explain a few key moments in more detail in later posts. Let’s see, May 26th we were told Woleai was being closed as a Peace Corps site, my amazingly impressive reaction to which was recounted earlier. The following week brought the training we’d been pulled in for.

Training sessions were geared mostly towards drawing lessons from our first school year and preparing to make the most of the upcoming second – better relationships with co-workers/supervisors, more effective lesson plans, etc. As you can imagine, the relevance that might have been there otherwise wasn’t shining through so much for me, and I suspect the same goes for the other two Woleai volunteers. My focus was also ‘off’, so to speak while I ruminated over leaving my new home. There were some really enjoyable moments outside of training, however.

We started on a Thursday, and that evening Eriks and I hung out with Kaz and Koji, two guys from Japan volunteering for a Japanese program with some similarities to Peace Corps (full description in a future post). Suffice it to say, for now, that it was a blast. Friday night, nearly the whole group (one PCV shy) got together for some serious fun (that expression makes me think of golf fans and their stoic faces while they politely clap for good putts). Had some drinks, had some laughs, bit of a dance party, a couple heart-to-hearts with my fellow Woleai PCVs, hit the town (a.k.a. that one bar), tried to break dance, woke up in the shower.

Thanks to the benevolence of our Program & Training Officer, Janeen (she’s like the assistant director for PC Micronesia), and the poor showing of our local counterparts/ supervisors we ended training a day early but got to stay that day at the hotel just kicking back and relaxing. We checked out Sunday morning. Eriks and I spent the day hanging out around town before going up to see his host family. He’d talked me into going on the ship’s run to Ngulu earlier that week, and when we got to his house, we found out the ship would leave on Monday. So I hustled home to let my host family know and get packed. I already described the Ngulu trip in an earlier post, so I’ll suffice it to say that getting away from things for a bit was very good for me. Also, we met a guy on the ship whom I would later spend a bunch of time with, named Alex. He was born in Texas, raised in Michigan, and his dad is Yapese and owns a resort in the north of Yap. Alex came out to get to know that side of his family and himself while helping to manage the resort.

A week after getting back from Ngulu, my parents arrived in Yap. So great. I arranged with Alex for my folks to stay at his family’s resort while we waited for the ship’s run to the outer islands (a run that never actually happened, they’re still waiting for the ship to go). We ended up staying at the resort (Village View in Maap, Yap—tell your friends) for our whole time together. It’s a great place, right on the water in the most beautiful part of Yap, far from the main city, quiet, full of folks that end up feeling more like friends than staff. Guests stay in the duplex style units, which sit upon three-foot stilts, have AC a mini-fridge, a bathroom and two beds. Pretty simple, but comfortable.

We spent the days hiking, playing cards, snorkeling, kayaking, BSing, reading, and spent the evenings sipping beers and gin and tonics, watching the gorgeous sunsets, and on more than one occasion, partying with the Peace Corps crew plus Alex. That reminds me—hope Alex doesn’t mind me telling a story on him, ‘cause this one’s good—the first weekend we were there marked the end of ‘Men’s Health Week’ in Yap, which Alex had been observing: no booze, no smoking/chewing betelnut. Starting at midnight Friday, Alex proceeded to get super-sloshed. That was also a night the other volunteers visited us in Maap. I’d had my fill before Alex was ready to start and went to bed when he and a couple others headed out to the bar. The next morning, my folks, the PCVs and I were having a late breakfast at the resort restaurant when Alex rolls up. We say ‘good-morning’, and he’s kind of a goofy guy so at first I didn’t notice. Then he kept saying funny but not quite relevant things, winking at me, pointing at me and making clicking sounds with his tongue. He was still drunk, in fact, hadn’t stopped drinking. We made, with his help and pineapple, pina coladas that afternoon, strong ones. He started at midnight on Friday and didn’t stop till late afternoon on Saturday. Slept till Sunday. I remember watching him go stumbling by our place to the unit he was staying in just before he crashed. He was a man on a mission, letting nothing distract him from making it to his destination: bed.

While my folks were around, we of course checked out the Peace Corps office and pretty much all of Yap main island. We ate at the restaurants, had a couple microbrews at the Mnuw, checked out men’s houses and a local canoe-building site (where Alex’s uncle works as the master builder), and generally had a blast. There were many times where it felt like, save for the climate, we were just hanging out at home on the patio, times when my folks just cracked me up (like my pops getting a bit sauced and making the ‘hang loose’ sign with both hands for a photo), and times when they showed what awesome people they are. We played cribbage, and they made fun of me for getting too riled up over it. I told them about my difficulties with the closure of Woleai, and they consoled me. We drank coffee in the mornings and watched the breeze play through the palm fronds. The visit helped me put my head back on straight and start preparing for the next step.

Alex and I dropped my folks off at the airport for the ridiculous 4am flight East. Gita had made (with her host mom) a lavalava for my mom, which I gave her once we made it to the airport. She loved it. The four of us got a drink at the little restaurant/bar—sodas for my folks and brews for Alex and me. We waited till Mom and Pops made it through security then grabbed a second beer and waited for the new guest that had just arrived to clear customs. Once her luggage was stored, the three of us piles into resort rig and took the long ride back to Ma’ap. We had a pretty interesting conversation—impressive considering the hour—covering the bases of where we all are from, what we do and the political situation in Thailand. Regular stuff, you know. Back at the resort, Alex and I helped ourselves to some scotch and watched a flick before calling it a night.

Starting that next week, I helped out at a Peace Corps/Yap Youth Services run soccer camp. Each summer since 2004 PCVs have put on the S.O.S. camps, named after Hurricane Sudal, which effectively leveled Yap State. Initially meant to give kids something to do during the summer and take their minds off things, S.O.S. camp has become a fixture and is in the process of being turned over to Youth Services, to make it more of a local thing and less of a Peace Corps one. The camp was excellent. We did some drills and played a bit of soccer, but large amounts of time were spent just goofing around with the kids, doing ‘fun activities’ and swimming in the bay. The first day we let the kids swim there was a big rainstorm. It got the cement wet at the sports arena, so we couldn’t be running around. The kids had been clamoring to swim each day, so we figured, why not? Quickly it turned into a free-for-all of jumping and diving into the water and roughhousing. It was a blast. Dunking kids, launching them through the air, watching some of the acrobats flipping in, and getting some great photos along the way.
I was strongly reminded of how much I love coaching and playing sports with kids. Meeting all those Yapese and Outer Island kids, getting to know them, it was absolutely rejuvenating. One of the campers, Cedric, and I became especially close. He’s a great kid, full of ‘tude, the kind of kid who has had to look out for himself a bit too much, and in doing so developed a thick skin and the habit of getting into trouble. As we got closer, I got to see what he’d be like if there was someone consistently filling the role he has bestowed on me for the week, something like a big brother. He softened, dropped the tough guy routine at times, and, well, was a kid. It made me so happy, but broke my heart at the same time. I knew I was leaving, and I knew I might just end up hurting him more in the long run. Friday was the last day of camp. I let Cedric borrow my iPod for the weekend, planning for us to meet up on Monday at the next camp. I didn’t see him again before leaving Yap.

On Thursday evening, Eriks and I met up with Koji and Kaz, yet again. We went to Koji’s apartment and Eriks and I provided the food: chips and salsa, sausages with mustard, and tacos. It turned out alright, if I do say so myself, though I don’t think Kaz and Koji were used to so much spicy food. The first time we got together the talk was fairly sophisticated, whereas this time we got a bit more personal and a bit cruder. A great time was had by all and solid friendships have been formed. Pretty cool, huh?
The weekend following the camp, I went to stay with Regina’s uncle, Jesse. I met Jesse on the patrol boat coming back from Woleai. We’d had a great chat and I asked if I might visit him some time while I was in Yap. He lives in the village of Ruu, the land of which was purchased by people from Fais (Regina’s home island). Thus, folks from Fais who move to Yap Proper will almost always live in Ruu. Jesse’s family compound is tucked back away from the main cluster toward the end of the road, and, aside from the fancy bathroom and car, it might as well be on an outer island. No power, no running water, simple structures of wood and tin or local style. Plenty of local food in the cookhouse and so much vegetation all around, including dozens of pineapple plants. Jesse loves pineapple. Most importantly, it’s quiet, the kind of quiet that can be unsettling to the unsettled or healing to those seeking a calm to overtake the mind and soul. While I have certainly been part of both groups for a few months now, I can say that membership in the latter was more potently felt that weekend. I talked with Jesse and his son, read a book, wandered around Ruu and napped. It was the perfect way to reflect on the previous weeks and the changes coming ahead.

The next week was paddling camp, you know, outrigger canoe-style paddling, not rowing like in crew. It went better than I’d expected, what with the exhausting, technical and monotonous nature of paddling and the short attention spans of the elementary school-aged. There were some really fun moments, races and goofing around with the group of kids left on shore while the rest were using the canoes, and there were some moments when the challenges of a paddling camp were more obvious, such as constantly chastising the kids to not sit on the canoes while they were on land or campers losing interest while our coaches were trying to explain things. I only ended up helping the first couple days, because my travel plans took a sudden turn on Tuesday and I needed to prepare a few things.

So check this out: on Monday, the DOE supervisor for Woleai drives by me on my way to the Peace Corps office, sticks his head out of the window of his little beat up station wagon and tells me I have a radio conference scheduled with my friend Jo for the next afternoon. She’d made it out to Woleai to help with summer school, and wanted to chat about why I still hadn’t made it back for the summer. After camp on Tuesday I head up to the DOE to talk with her and let her know that it looks like I had to give up on a boat to Woleai. That I’d have to take a plane to Houk, completely bypassing Woleai as I flew to Chuuk and then to Houk. Radio calls are very tricky thanks to all the static, hearing the other party’s words requires a trained ear and explaining things requires tremendous patience. Jo and I managed to communicate a bit about what we’d been up to and how things were going, and I told her about my expected travel plans.

As soon as I finished the head honcho of the outer islands for the DOE tells me that there’s a patrol boat that’s going to be leaving Yap soon, headed back to Pohnpei, and that along the way it would stop in Houk. He says I should be on that boat. I figured, yeah, that’s perfect. Much easier than flying. I go straight back to the Peace Corps office and tell Regina. She then tells me that the boat will also be stopping by Woleai, it would be leaving that Friday and that I definitely needed to be on it. Wow, I was blown away. Within thirty minutes of telling Jo there just wasn’t any way I’d be making it out to see her, I found out I’d be doing just that. I did the last minute prep stuff, hung out with the PCVs on island and my buddy Alex for a final evening and said good-bye to my host family during the next couple days. Then it was Friday and time to get to the boat. On my way there, I stopped at store and one of the workers told me that the boat was actually going to take two runs: one to Satawal (eastern most outer island of Yap) and back to Yap proper to help transport students who’d been stranded by the state ship breaking down, and one trip back to Pohnpei, stopping at Houk and Chuuk along the way. Double bonus, that’s what it was. Instead of just a quick, possibly over night stay in Woleai, I would get to stay as long as it took the boat to go from Woleai-to-Satawal-to-Yap-back-to-Woleai. That was great news. By Saturday, I was home again.

I ended up with a week and a half in Woleai, the best week and a half of my time in Woleai and my time in Peace Corps. In other words, the best ten days of my past year. Time spent with friends, family, at the men’s circle, cutting tuba, fishing, talking with Jo, coffee mornings with Andy, playing with my little niece Katie, helping with summer school, watching local dances and songs, and speaking my best Woleaian. It was fantastic, went by in a blur, and showed me just how amazing Peace Corps service could be if I was able to just stay at site, in my community. Highlights include the dance practice on Jo’s last evening (she had to hop the patrol boat to Yap in order to catch her flight), an island-wide fishing day, men’s circle party nights, a school picnic on Tagailap, my ‘good-bye’ dinners (ended up having three of them thanks to the patrol boat being delayed multiple times), a big church celebration complete with dancing and singing, and my last morning in Woleai when the guys in my village took it upon themselves to ensure I was as drunk as possible when I left. They wanted to send me off properly. I had gotten to the point where I felt totally apart of the community on Falalap, I could have basic conversations and even joke around in Woleaian, I was cutting my tuba as well as the average guy, and I was able to tell those people closest to me just how much their friendship meant—especially important with my host mom. All that emotion overran me as I boarded the patrol boat and I spent a good ten minutes shouting out my love for Woleai and waving good-bye from the bow of the boat. Also, I shaved off my beard, but kept my handlebar mustache, which looked amazing.

Three days, three visited islands and a variety of belongings gone missing later I landed in Houk. I’d seen Elato and Lamotrek (both atolls like Woleai) and Satawal (a island all by its lonesome, like Houk), talked to each of my students who’d been accepted to the national campus of the College of Micronesia in Pohnpei, lost my hat and sandals, and had to dry out all the contents of my backpack, which had gotten soaked by rain the first day on the boat. We arrived at Houk as the sun and a rainstorm came sweeping out of the horizon. It was gorgeous and filled me with optimism. I’ll come back and describe my first few weeks at site and the past few here on the main island of Chuuk in later posts. For now, suffice it to say that I’m doing well and looking forward to the start of school.