More Photos from Walung

Here are some more photos from my trip to Walung a few weeks ago. While in Walung I made a stupid mistake of eating a Kosraen pepper and then touching my eye with the same finger. Some of the chili dust got caught in my eye and then a river of pouring hell insued...Ten minutes later after pouring about a gallon of water in my face and fanning my eyes out (all with the help of Hilman George who was crying with laughter at the same time) I regained my eyesight. Lesson learned: When in Kosrae, Chili is for eating. Not for putting in eyes.

Me cooking hot dogs Kosraen style...

A bucket of fish I helped catch...

Swearing in Ceremony...At Last!

So the big day finally came last Tuesday and I was offically sworn in as a Peace Corps volunteer. The Peace Corps Country Director from Pohnpei, Kevin Carley flew in to swear us in. To my right is Michael Wang. He is from San Diego and is working at Tafunsak Elementary School. We unfourtunately lost a trainee who decided to go home to Indiana so now we are the only new volunteers. This brings the total number to 4 on Kosrae. We are the smallest main island staff but boy are we motivated...

Teaching has gone smooth. For the past 9 days I have been teaching 3 Sections each of 8th grade Reading and Writing. There are only 6 sections in a day so I have certainly been kept buisy. Things are always in influx and it turns out I will also be teaching 9th grade Writing. Not sure how I will be in two places at once yet. Things will work themselves out.

As it turns out Kosraen's celebrate Thanksgiving. There are no turkeys, only turkey tail. There is lots and lots of singing in each village. I am part of the Malem Choir belching away some base arpegios. (In Kosrae all women sing soprano, alto, and tenor and all men sing only bass. There is no exceptions.) To do otherwise I would be labeled an Elahn Muhtan which in Kosraen is to call me a sissy.

I continue to pick up the language. Kosraen is not as complicated as English or Spanish. However pronounciation is the trick. Some of the worst curse words in English form the foundation for about 90% or Kosraen words. Till next time...Kuht Fah Ohsun

Some More Pictures

The following are some pictures my fellow trainees and I have snapped over the past couple of weeks.

I last week took a three day trip to Walung. Walung is the smallest village in Kosrae. Here Madison is teaching me how to make a Kosraen plate out of two sets of Palm tree leaves.

The following three pictures are from the Kosraen state games that have taken place over the past two weeks. Each village has had teams participate and it has been very exciting. I have gotten to meet a lot of new members from the community at the various events. Tonight is the final evening with Malem's girls volleyball team playing Lelu for the championship.

One of Malem's canoe racing teams when it rained for a little while on the first day of competition. Canoe Racing in Kosraen is called Koal.

Malem's big entrance at the start of the first day of the canoe racing.









On Water Safety Day Madison cought a big "Wahoo" fish.

Moving On

So today I passed the big language proficency exam. I was evaluated as an intermediate. My swearing in ceremony is this coming Tuesday. I will begin teaching next week at Malem Elementary School and start meeting with some community leaders to propose some ideas/projects they might be interested in and see what happens. The above picture is where we had our training. The majority of out sessions were on the beach, however if it rained we would go inside the building pictured in the background.

Foxy Lady

So the most common question I received from people writing me letters here on Kosrae is why is it called "The Island of the Sleeping Lady?" Driving from my home in Malem towards the east of the Island is a mountains area that really looks like a sleeping lady. It is quite a site...

Many more pictures and stories to come. I am wrapping up training this week and hopefully (knock on wood) will be sworn in next tuesday as a Peace Corps volunteer. I begin teaching at Malem very soon. Over the past week the island has been at a stand still over the Kosraen games. Each village participates. There has been an Olympic athmosphere throughout the events. Singing, dancing, and lots and lots of eating. Barbequed Chicken, Fish, Tuna, Taro, and lots and lots of Coconut milk. The first two days were Canoe Racing, followed by Basketball, then Track and Field, Baseball, and will be closing tommorow with the volleyball finals. In Canoe Racing Lelu and Utwe dominated the event. Both Malem and Tafunsak do not have marinas or harbors but are looking to improve for next year. I have already been drafted for next year and hope to learn how to Canoe Race very soon. Much more to come. As they say in Kosraen, Kuht Fah Ohsun (We will meet again)