Ran Anim (sp?) from Chuuk, Micronesia! I’ve been on-island (as the second year volunteers say) for about a week now and have already managed to have a handful of adventures!
Last Sunday the seven of us new volunteers headed out together from Boston to begin our mega two-day travel extravaganza to the middle of the Pacific Ocean. We flew Boston to San Francisco, where we had about 45 minutes to catch our next flight to Honolulu. After about 10 hours of air travel, we arrived in Hawaii where we spent the night and geared up for our 12 hour travel day that would bring each of us to our homes for the next two years. From Honolulu we flew to Majuro in the Marshall Islands; an incredibly skinny atoll that felt like a popsicle stick as we touched down on the plane. It was as wide as two, maybe three football fields at the point where we landed (!). From there we bounced to Kwajalein, a military base where we weren’t allowed to get off the plane for security reasons, Kosrae, the eastern most state in FSM, Pohnpei, another state in FSM, and finally, Chuuk!
We arrived to see all of our wonderful second years pressed up against the fence at the airport smiling and waving. It was so nice to finally touch down and meet the people we had been stalking through blogs and facebook for months! After some quick introductions, we piled into a van and headed to Saram, the school where I will teach and live with Charles (the other first year), Tyler, Caroline and Jessica.
We spent one night at Saram and shared in an end-of-summer-school BBQ with a few of the teachers and the principal. The next day, we all headed across the island to Xavier High School, where the other volunteers (Alex, Emily, Peaches and Mike) are placed. We spent several days at Xavier, hanging out and getting to know each other as well as adventuring around the island. On day one we hiked up to an old lighthouse from which we took in the most gorgeous 360 degree view of the entire those moments where I had to struggle a bit to believe that this was my new reality – that tropical island views are the new norm. After soaking up the scenery, we headed down to a dock to swim; it was refreshing, but only mildly so. The water was certainly the warmest non-bath or pool water I had ever swam in! Nonetheless, after pouring out buckets of sweat from the lighthouse hike, it felt wonderful. On the walk back to Xavier, we enjoyed our first tropical rainstorm and got thoroughly drenched by the time we arrived back – I loved every second of it (in fact, it’s been pouring all morning and I am continuing to love it!).
The following day, we took a longer hike into the rain forest back to some waterfalls. The first was a series of two falls that both lead into protected hot-tub-size pools and both of which required rather precise jumping so as to land in the deepest parts of the pool (don’t worry Mom and Dad, we all made it just fine). It was so incredible! Probably the most enjoyable waterfall jumping experience of my life (and yes, I’ve had a few). After we had our fill with the first pair, we hiked back to a smaller waterfall with a larger swimming area that was full of local kids. This waterfall was sloped at exactly the right angle, and covered with precisely the right amount of cushiony moss to be an excellent slide. And so, along with all of the village 5-12 year olds, we clambered up the rocks to the falls and slid down over and over and over. So much fun!
In between all of these adventures, we spent a lot of time playing games (bananagrams and Werewolves – basically the same as mafia), hanging out on the porch drinking out of fresh coconut, tossing the Frisbee and practicing (very well, if I may be so bold) the JVC value of just being.
On Saturday, the Saram community (that’s mine) headed back home to SCA (Saramen Chuuk Academy) for our first night alone as a community. Saram is “downtown”, while Xavier is off at the end of the island a bit removed from any areas of commerce. It was nice to get back home, and to experience a little bit more of the (very limited) hustle and bustle of town. We went to mass as a community that night, followed by stargazing together on the roof and dinner. Yesterday we all walked down to Blue Lagoon, a resort on the end of the island opposite from Xavier; definitely the most touristy spot of the island I’ve seent, though there weren’t that many people there. Touristy as in the spot most developed specifically to attract tourists. Micronesia (specifically Chuuk lagoon) is the number one spot in the world for wreck diving, and Blue Lagoon attracts a lot of foreign divers. While there we treated ourselves to lunch at the (mercifully) air-conditioned restaurant, followed by two hours lounging around and chatting, timed perfectly so that 50% of our hour long walk home was in torrential downpour.
Today is our first “free” day, so I’m taking advantage of the time to use the internet and start looking over materials for my classes. I’ll be teaching Junior and Senior English Lit as well as Junior Environmental Science; a schedule that could only be more perfect if I were able to teach a French class as well! Needless to say, I’m looking forward to my classes (looking forward to, though a bit terrified).
I think that about sums up my experience so far. Look forward to a forthcoming post about my impressions of Chuuk; this post is already far too long for me to include anything more today.
Thanks for reading this far, to those of you who made it! I miss you all, and hope that you’re doing well and enjoying the summer.
- Meg
