Massive apologies for having not updated for a long time. I have however just discovered that if I sit at exactly the right spot in the jungle then a wireless signal appears. This is true. So hopefully this will make me be able to update sooner.
But by far the best thing about this is that I could now be attacked by jungle dogs WHILE CHECKING MY EMAIL. Best headstone ever.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Monday, July 28, 2008
Kaselehlia! (hello!)
I've been on pohnpei for a couple of weeks now, and things have been pretty crazy busy right from the start, so this has been the first time that I've been able to really get down to writing about what's happened. Unfortunately, a combination of time differences, early starts, and the pohnpei telecom building (the only phones available at the moment) closing at inconvenient times means that I haven't been able to keep in touch that well so far. Hopefully these posts will at least give a slightly more impersonal feel of what's going on :)
The background:
Me and about 6 other volunteers are here on the pacific island of pohnpei (throw a dart at the map of the pacific ocean and you'll get the idea) to teach at various secondary schools. Our efforts are coordinated by a field director, who to some extent - looks after us and makes sure that the programme runs smoothly. Unfortunately however, we've been told that it is not the responsibility of the field director to cut our lawn - we get machetes for that ;) - serious. Before we actually all move to the places where we will eventually live when we start teaching at our schools (which are spread over the island), we're spending some time living with 'host families', so that we can hopefully get to experience the Pohnpiean life a bit more closely and integrate to the actually way of life here a bit more thoroughly. And it seems to working pretty well...
There are also 9 other volunteers with us during this orientation period, also living with host families. The 'Kosrae nine' as they are known to the police, will move at the end of next week to another relatively nearby island called Kosrae (not so near if you had to swim it), where they will be teaching.
The arrival - Jetlag hides in wait:
I arrived Monday morning at 12:30am and was feeling pretty wrecked after 35 or so hours of being carried half way around the world by specially shaped pieces of metal. I didn't actually manage to legally arrive though until about 1:30am because of visa issues (which were fortunately completely resolved by the end of it. w00t!).
I was met and picked up by the pohnpei field director for the worldteach programme as well as another teacher/volunteer who is staying with the same host family as me.
We drove to my host family's house, which is in the only town on the island, Kolonia. After meeting my host family, I went straight to bed, because my head felt rubbish.
Later that day - Monday - I woke up at 6:45 in time to get ready for the 8am start that we had at the secondary school down the road where we're having orientation sessions.
From this point onwards I have not experienced any jetlag whatsoever, and have somehow managed to adjust to the time here pretty much immediately. This of course means that either;
a) I'm some kind of a machine
or
b) My head has, or will shortly, explode.
Also, I've still managed to avoid the dreaded 'culture shock' even though whilst typing this i'm sitting outside on a terrace between palm trees watching the stars and listening to sabrepulse.
Monday morning was the first chance I got to see pohnpei. The pigs squeeling/dogs fighting noises that I had heard during the night had yet to endear me to the little bit of land. But if squeeling pigs and fighting dogs scored a -1, then the rest of the day totted in a +100,000,000, bringing my overal opinion of pohnpei from the first day to a WHOPPING total of +99,999,999. That's pretty freakin' high. The only other thing to come close to that is chocolate milkshakes. Especially the $5 chocolate shake that I got from honolulu on the way here. That thing rocked with no socks. But it was like a squillionth as cool as Pohnpei.
Monday consisted of a day of orientation (we get lessons about adapting to island life and also some on teaching skills etc...) and then travelling to Nett point, where thou canst swim and snorkel. Lovely green-ness, coconuts and bananas everywhere, 'them mountains', and MEGARAIN that is like what would happen if you put rain in a machine gun - and that falls very quickly and then dries up almost instantly :D Sometimes it's so loud that you can't speak over it.
Also, my host family is AWESOME. Of course I miss my real family back at home a MILLION MILLION TIMES, but rest assured that this family is doing a fantastic job of looking after me during your temporary absence :). The food they cook for us is amazing, and includes lots of bananas and breadfruit (which is a bit like bananas, but with more to it) and fish. In the family there's Marlene - the mom of the family, and then there's Mel and Nad, the childrens. This is a picture of the house (with the green roof in the middle bottom).
Since monday, loads of cool stuff has happened. Every day we have lessons and stuff at the school but then in the late afternoon and evening we get to go out (and perhaps occasionally do some homework :) ). On wednesday we had a visit from the US ambassador here and was able to ask them questions, which was really interesting. They did however seem reluctant to admit to neo-colonialism.
Also, tonight we went to the village, which is a really posh restaurant that has a really cool view. It was a 30 minute ride (in taxi) from kolonia, but it was beeee-aaauuutifuuull...
Basically, so far so good. I haven't felt ill (which i guess would perhaps be expected because of acclimatization to the environment and food), everyone here is really nice and friendly, the food is amazing! and my nose is doing great! I'm not even getting any headaches or owt! And my ickle pc seems to be doing ok so far. w00t for linux!
I still don't know if I'm really here. But then I haven't met any giant centipedes yet ;D
Will update with more news soon. Hopefully getting some equipment for building a spear tommorow. Spear fishing - w00t! Ooh and here's a pic of the whole group....
I've been on pohnpei for a couple of weeks now, and things have been pretty crazy busy right from the start, so this has been the first time that I've been able to really get down to writing about what's happened. Unfortunately, a combination of time differences, early starts, and the pohnpei telecom building (the only phones available at the moment) closing at inconvenient times means that I haven't been able to keep in touch that well so far. Hopefully these posts will at least give a slightly more impersonal feel of what's going on :)
The background:
Me and about 6 other volunteers are here on the pacific island of pohnpei (throw a dart at the map of the pacific ocean and you'll get the idea) to teach at various secondary schools. Our efforts are coordinated by a field director, who to some extent - looks after us and makes sure that the programme runs smoothly. Unfortunately however, we've been told that it is not the responsibility of the field director to cut our lawn - we get machetes for that ;) - serious. Before we actually all move to the places where we will eventually live when we start teaching at our schools (which are spread over the island), we're spending some time living with 'host families', so that we can hopefully get to experience the Pohnpiean life a bit more closely and integrate to the actually way of life here a bit more thoroughly. And it seems to working pretty well...
There are also 9 other volunteers with us during this orientation period, also living with host families. The 'Kosrae nine' as they are known to the police, will move at the end of next week to another relatively nearby island called Kosrae (not so near if you had to swim it), where they will be teaching.
The arrival - Jetlag hides in wait:
I arrived Monday morning at 12:30am and was feeling pretty wrecked after 35 or so hours of being carried half way around the world by specially shaped pieces of metal. I didn't actually manage to legally arrive though until about 1:30am because of visa issues (which were fortunately completely resolved by the end of it. w00t!).
I was met and picked up by the pohnpei field director for the worldteach programme as well as another teacher/volunteer who is staying with the same host family as me.
We drove to my host family's house, which is in the only town on the island, Kolonia. After meeting my host family, I went straight to bed, because my head felt rubbish.
Later that day - Monday - I woke up at 6:45 in time to get ready for the 8am start that we had at the secondary school down the road where we're having orientation sessions.
From this point onwards I have not experienced any jetlag whatsoever, and have somehow managed to adjust to the time here pretty much immediately. This of course means that either;
a) I'm some kind of a machine
or
b) My head has, or will shortly, explode.
Also, I've still managed to avoid the dreaded 'culture shock' even though whilst typing this i'm sitting outside on a terrace between palm trees watching the stars and listening to sabrepulse.
Monday morning was the first chance I got to see pohnpei. The pigs squeeling/dogs fighting noises that I had heard during the night had yet to endear me to the little bit of land. But if squeeling pigs and fighting dogs scored a -1, then the rest of the day totted in a +100,000,000, bringing my overal opinion of pohnpei from the first day to a WHOPPING total of +99,999,999. That's pretty freakin' high. The only other thing to come close to that is chocolate milkshakes. Especially the $5 chocolate shake that I got from honolulu on the way here. That thing rocked with no socks. But it was like a squillionth as cool as Pohnpei.
Monday consisted of a day of orientation (we get lessons about adapting to island life and also some on teaching skills etc...) and then travelling to Nett point, where thou canst swim and snorkel. Lovely green-ness, coconuts and bananas everywhere, 'them mountains', and MEGARAIN that is like what would happen if you put rain in a machine gun - and that falls very quickly and then dries up almost instantly :D Sometimes it's so loud that you can't speak over it.
Also, my host family is AWESOME. Of course I miss my real family back at home a MILLION MILLION TIMES, but rest assured that this family is doing a fantastic job of looking after me during your temporary absence :). The food they cook for us is amazing, and includes lots of bananas and breadfruit (which is a bit like bananas, but with more to it) and fish. In the family there's Marlene - the mom of the family, and then there's Mel and Nad, the childrens. This is a picture of the house (with the green roof in the middle bottom).
Since monday, loads of cool stuff has happened. Every day we have lessons and stuff at the school but then in the late afternoon and evening we get to go out (and perhaps occasionally do some homework :) ). On wednesday we had a visit from the US ambassador here and was able to ask them questions, which was really interesting. They did however seem reluctant to admit to neo-colonialism.
Also, tonight we went to the village, which is a really posh restaurant that has a really cool view. It was a 30 minute ride (in taxi) from kolonia, but it was beeee-aaauuutifuuull...
Basically, so far so good. I haven't felt ill (which i guess would perhaps be expected because of acclimatization to the environment and food), everyone here is really nice and friendly, the food is amazing! and my nose is doing great! I'm not even getting any headaches or owt! And my ickle pc seems to be doing ok so far. w00t for linux!
I still don't know if I'm really here. But then I haven't met any giant centipedes yet ;D
Will update with more news soon. Hopefully getting some equipment for building a spear tommorow. Spear fishing - w00t! Ooh and here's a pic of the whole group....
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