Dry Season and Other Things

Over the past few months, I've heard a lot from people back in CA about the rain that they're having. It seems that wherever I go though, drought follows. We're in the midst of the dry season, which is especially harsh this year due to El Nino. The only fresh water here comes from rain water, so as you can guess, lack of rain means lack of potable water. Right now, our million gallon tank (which we got filled to over 600,000 in November) is under 400,000. Sounds like a lot, right? Well, this tank is shared with the village (it was a gift from Chuuk govt to Sapuk, which we have been invited to also share in), plus about 90 boys, cooking, cleaning, and showering. Our goal is 30,000 a week, or less. This isn't meant to sound depressing, just factual due to the current weather patterns so that you all back home may join me in the realization that what is going on in the States (even with weather!) can effect the lives of people living on a tiny island in the middle of the Pacific.

This Lent, I'm trying to eat more fish. I've been remotely succeeding in this.
My tongue has decided that my favorite local foods are: unripe mangos, Chuukese apples, and tapioca with coconut milk (although I can never eat much of it, but it tastes so good!).

And now, some pictures from Cultural Day:

Yapese Stick Dance

Pohnpeian Stick Dance

Pohnpeian Sakau

Palauan girls starting their dance

Cultural Day

Wow! It's been a crazy few weeks and the weeks are promising to get crazier.
At the beginning of the month, we celebrated Catholic Schools Week, which started off with a big Mass in Nepukos followed by games which the JVs planned and organized. Note for the future: Do not start with water games! Slipping ensued like crazy...

We received two of our three new Australian volunteers last week, Tom and Tom (Tom and Randy), who both seem pretty awesome. Lucky for them, they arrived just in time for Cultural Day, which was on Friday.

Pictures and videos to be posted eventually (hopefully be June), suffice it to say that it was a thoroughly entertaining day in which we got to see our students doing things they really enjoy doing while wearing traditional clothes. Used up pretty much my whole stipend purchasing a few things I wouldn't be able to get elsewhere, like a Marshalese necklace, and a few other things for people (sorry don't want to ruin the surprise for the person/people). I also got to try drinking some sakau (a muddy drink made only in Pohnpei) on Friday night with the Pohnpeian uppers, which was pretty cool, although I didn't stay very long due.

Saturday we took the boys down to Blue Lagoon to perform for some tourists. It was sad to see that a few of the tourists were completely uninterested as they watched and were too involved in their own conversations to watch something they may never see again, as well as because they probably didn't realize the amount of work and effort the boys took into practicing their dances. But overall, a good night and a nice chance to get off campus...the stars were amazing.

It seems like there's about a 90% possibility I'll be placed in Pohnpei in the summer, most likely helping with the HAP program.

Shout out to the men of the St. Claude de la Calumbiere house, who are celebrating their feast day today (Monday). My prayers and thoughts are with you all.

Micronesian Seminar Website

I can't believe I haven't shared this website with you all yet, but now is better than never.

www.micsem.org

A link to the site has also been posted on the side of my blog with the Chuuk info and JVC website.

You may be wondering what the MicSem is. Well, here's the scoop in short: Micronesian Seminar is an organization centered in Kolonia, Pohnpei. It contains information on many things Micronesian and is run by Fr. Francis Hezel, SJ, who has been living in the FSM for roughly 40 years now. The website includes things like photos, documents, videos, and forums for people to discuss and share their thoughts on various issues in the FSM.

Happy Sunday!

Spirituality

This past weekend, we had our Winter Retreat on Psiwi. It was great. Our last activity was to write a poem on spirituality (one of the four pillars of JVC). I thought it would be cool to share it with you all, in the spirit (no pun intended) of my last post.

Spirituality...
The need for a person to
enter into the self and
discover relationship to the
Creator is at its root.
In no other way can we act,
outside of it. We all
have one or maybe two
on which we base our lives.
Not just how we do, but
how we be.
There are few rules
but many guidelines formed,
shaping decisions made and
thoughts thought. All so
that one becomes self and
may understand the One.

Happy 2010!

Happy REAL New Year! The holidays were absolutely fantastic and relaxing. It involved relaxing on campus, visiting Saramen more frequently, and spending New Years Eve with my host family (which included embarrassing myself playing volleyball). New Years is celebrated from New Years Eve through Jan 2/3 (people are still saying Happy New Year!), by banging pots and pans to drive out evil spirits. Meg and Steph had family members visit, and Sam (indy volunteer) had one of his friends over as well. School’s started up and it’s looking good so far. It’s started off well so far, and I hope to update a bit more than I have in the past.

Last month we all enjoyed Xavier Day. It was filled with some awesome games, some dancing at the end of the night, and the eating of our pig, Isabella (we fed her leftover or half-eaten foods that we can’t use as left-overs, we now have another pig we’re getting ready for graduation). I got to take part in a few events, the most memorable being the “dizzy race” and an eating contest (I ate a bowl of whipped cream with an alum). This semester, we have cultural day to look forward to (it only happens every other year), and the students are already preparing dances and finishing up their huts for it. We also have track and field day, Catholic schools week, and probably some other things I’m not aware of.




Following: a reflection (optional reading!):


Although the Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord just happened, marking the end of the Christmas Season, I figured this would still be a worthwhile reflection, something I’ve been thinking about for some time. NB: for the sake of this focusing on Jesus (a historical man who Christians believe to also be God), I’ll be primarily using the masculine pronoun in reference to God.

This reflection is based on the song “One of Us” by Joan Osborne…Not the most Christmas-y, but it drives a good point home.

The lyrics (I think, didn’t try to copy and paste):

"If God had a name, what would it be and would you call it to his face if you were faced with him in all his glory, what would you ask if you had just one question. And yeah, yeah, God is great, yeah, yeah, God is good. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, what if God was one of us? Just a slob like one of us? Just a stranger on the bus, trying to make his way home? If God had a face, what would it look like and would you want to see, if seeing meant that you would have to believe in things like heaven and in Jesus and the saints and all the prophets? [Chorus] Back up to heaven all alone, nobody calling on the phone, except for the pope, maybe, in Rome."

This song offers a few thoughts for reflection. What was the point of the Incarnation, the Word becoming flesh in the person of Jesus? It was to become one of us. God humbled Himself in order to allow us to know how much He cares for us, all of us. Jesus experienced life as a refugee in Egypt, as a learner, as a young boy (or man) who experienced the death of his earthly father, a teacher, healer, prisoner, and convicted criminal (and others…). God showed His love for us by becoming human and living a human life, showing us that all aspects of humanity are able to be holy, that God desires to be part of our daily lives – not just on Sundays or when we really need our Creator.

Another thought that this song reminds me of is the parable of the last judgment in Matthew 25. For those unfamiliar, this is the parable when Jesus declares that what we do for the least of others (the poor, homeless, hungry, thirsty, naked, sick, imprisoned, etc), we do to Him. Do I see Jesus in the people around me, even those I don’t know, or perhaps wouldn’t want to associate myself with? Do I see Jesus in those I live with or those I regularly serve? Do I see Jesus in my students and those in my local community? Do I serve all those with love regardless of how I feel about them personally?
Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

Well, happy liturgical new year at least! Today we celebrate the first Sunday of Advent, the beginning of the new liturgical cycle (year C for any of those who care to know). We celebrated last night at 8 pm with pizza, soda, and a brief prayer with all the boys. The weekend we celebrate Xavier Day, a day after the actual feast and into the weekend. I'm sure that'll be all brought up in a later post (since it hasn't happened yet). There will probably be two more posts this month (one catch up, another a reflection I've been praying and working on).

Finals are in two weeks, crazy! I've had time to write one exam, hopefully it's a "good" one. One of the coconut trees fell yesterday in Peniasena (sp?) and is currently being held up by electrical poles. SO, we're on generator power until that gets fixed. Unfortunately, the tree is hanging over a road, and we're pretty sure the busses won't be able to get through (nor are we sure about the safety if they could!). So, up in the air if we'll have classes tomorrow.

I hope everyone back home has had a good Thanksgiving weekend and a not too stressful black Friday for those who ventured out.

Yeah, Definitely Need To Update

View on Pisar
Sunset on Param
Sunset on Pisar

Boys on Param

So, as has been mentioned in a few e-mails, I'm very behind on updating my blog. Part of this is because the past two weekends and this weekend I am off-island on other islands. Two weeks ago was our JV retreat on Pisar, this weekend we are having a staff retreat/outing there as well. Last weekend we were on Param for the Junior CSP (Christian/Community Service Project, we're not exactly sure which is the correct C).
Teaching has been getting better and busy. I also now have a host family, they're awesome and very involved in the Sapuk community. My brother is thinking of having me help him next year with some youth group stuff...we'll see! Lately our electricity has been on a 4 hour cycle, which can get frustrating if you forget to save a document on the computer (just an FYI if it takes me a while to get back to you). However, it's easy to get used to. I've also finally gotten ok with showering in the dark in the morning (our power doesn't turn on till 8 am-ish).
Other news: Boils are gone, I have 20 envelopes which means I will be writing letters again soon (sorry for those I owe letters to!).
Above are the pictures taken from Param and Pisar. I'll post more on Facebook sometime in the near future, hopefully. Some may already be posted thanks to Robin (Australian volunteer).