12-12-01
I was in a bit of a funk today, so I decided it would be a good idea to decorate my room with all the pictures of my family and friends that I brought with me and all of the letters and postcards that I have received so far. I’m not sure why this hasn’t hit me until now, but I am unbelievably lucky to have such incredible group of friends and family. I’m not really sure how to put this without sounding dramatic and overly sentimental, but all the love and support has not gone unnoticed and is greatly appreciated.
I may be “roughing it” by American standards, but I’m definitely living well. I’m physically comfortable and healthy, I’m surrounded by good people here, and I have the greatest friends and family I could ask for. That’s pretty much all I need to be happy.
Lots of love,
Ben
December 12, 2010
Campaignin'
12-8-10
Today there was a “campaign rally” the incumbent candidate running for Senator At-Large for Chuuk State. By campaign rally I mean that the guy showed up on the island and the whole island had a meeting. This is not a post about Chuukese politics, but rather just a few interesting observations I made during the meeting.
1. The set up—This is clearly a big event for the people of Satowan. I guess it’s not every day that a senator comes to visit a tiny island 180 miles from the state center. The meeting was held in a large, well, meeting hall next to the Catholic Church. The municipal government of Satowan only owns a handful of chairs, so everyone except the important people (i.e. the senator, the senator’s posse, the mayor of Satowan, myself) sat on the ground. The chairs were arranged and rearranged no less than 12 times before the ceremony began—apparently they had to be perfect.
2. The police presence—I don’t know whether they came with the senator or if they were already here on Satowan, but there were at least 20 police officers present for the ceremony. The best part was when the senator was marching in to the meeting hall, and all of the police officers did a military-like heel turn and salute. This kind of precision is something rarely seen in FSM, and it almost made me laugh out loud. After the senator walked by, the police officers carried on with what they had been doing, namely smoking cigarettes and lounging.
3. The jacket--The senator wore a heavy winter jacket throughout the entire 2 hour meeting. Keep in mind that while it is cold in the States right now, it is decidedly not cold here in Micronesia—it was easily 85 degrees today. It was clear that he wasn’t wearing it because he was cold as he was sweating bullets and fanning himself the whole time. I don’t know if it’s a sign of authority or what, but he looked totally ridiculous and pretty uncomfortable too.
4. The cigarettes—In the middle of the meeting, one of the members of the senator’s posse got up and started passing out cigarettes to everyone in the audience. Here on Satowan, there isn’t a question of whether or not you smoke, just how often you smoke. The reason for the handing out of cigarettes was simple: the senator wanted votes. What the Chuukese call “campaigning,” Americans would call “bribery.” Before he left the island, the senator had given out some 30 bags of rice, cases and cases of canned meat, and countless cigarettes.
5. The breast feeding—Picture this: you’re at the DNC. Barack Obama in in the middle of a moving speech defending some policy decision that he made, and a woman in the second row lifts her shirt and begins breastfeeding her son. Well, I wasn’t at the DNC and it wasn’t Barack Obama defending his policy decisions, but the rest it true. I guess this should stop surprising me by now—I’ve seen women breastfeeding in church, watching basketball, and, my favorite, while driving (yes, I mean operating a motor vehicle not just riding in one). That’s just impressive.
Ben
Today there was a “campaign rally” the incumbent candidate running for Senator At-Large for Chuuk State. By campaign rally I mean that the guy showed up on the island and the whole island had a meeting. This is not a post about Chuukese politics, but rather just a few interesting observations I made during the meeting.
1. The set up—This is clearly a big event for the people of Satowan. I guess it’s not every day that a senator comes to visit a tiny island 180 miles from the state center. The meeting was held in a large, well, meeting hall next to the Catholic Church. The municipal government of Satowan only owns a handful of chairs, so everyone except the important people (i.e. the senator, the senator’s posse, the mayor of Satowan, myself) sat on the ground. The chairs were arranged and rearranged no less than 12 times before the ceremony began—apparently they had to be perfect.
2. The police presence—I don’t know whether they came with the senator or if they were already here on Satowan, but there were at least 20 police officers present for the ceremony. The best part was when the senator was marching in to the meeting hall, and all of the police officers did a military-like heel turn and salute. This kind of precision is something rarely seen in FSM, and it almost made me laugh out loud. After the senator walked by, the police officers carried on with what they had been doing, namely smoking cigarettes and lounging.
3. The jacket--The senator wore a heavy winter jacket throughout the entire 2 hour meeting. Keep in mind that while it is cold in the States right now, it is decidedly not cold here in Micronesia—it was easily 85 degrees today. It was clear that he wasn’t wearing it because he was cold as he was sweating bullets and fanning himself the whole time. I don’t know if it’s a sign of authority or what, but he looked totally ridiculous and pretty uncomfortable too.
4. The cigarettes—In the middle of the meeting, one of the members of the senator’s posse got up and started passing out cigarettes to everyone in the audience. Here on Satowan, there isn’t a question of whether or not you smoke, just how often you smoke. The reason for the handing out of cigarettes was simple: the senator wanted votes. What the Chuukese call “campaigning,” Americans would call “bribery.” Before he left the island, the senator had given out some 30 bags of rice, cases and cases of canned meat, and countless cigarettes.
5. The breast feeding—Picture this: you’re at the DNC. Barack Obama in in the middle of a moving speech defending some policy decision that he made, and a woman in the second row lifts her shirt and begins breastfeeding her son. Well, I wasn’t at the DNC and it wasn’t Barack Obama defending his policy decisions, but the rest it true. I guess this should stop surprising me by now—I’ve seen women breastfeeding in church, watching basketball, and, my favorite, while driving (yes, I mean operating a motor vehicle not just riding in one). That’s just impressive.
Ben
Island Time vs. American Time
12-7-10
Two facts of life here: 1) planning doesn’t really exist in Chuuk, especially on outer islands and 2) even when there is a plan, nobody pays too much attention to it and therefore it is rarely followed. I have been here for over three months now, and I would like to think that I have adopted “island time,” in many capacities. I know that I cannot control the schedules of other people or companies and I acknowledge and accept that. In a way it is very freeing to be on island time. Don’t worry about it, whatever it was that you had to complete today can probably be completed tomorrow.
In general, island time and American time do not mix. When talking with other volunteers, you have to be specific about what kind of time frame you are operating on (e.g. “Please be there at 2:00, American time.”). There are, however, instances when island time and American time have to intermingle. This tends to causes problems.
My December 6th, 2010:
Today is a Monday, but school has been cancelled because there is a funeral on the island. Funerals take precedence over everything, work and school included. However, the funeral is on the other side of the island and the deceased is not related to my family, so nobody in my family is planning (there’s that word again) to go. Therefore, I have nothing to do today except have radio conference with other Peace Corps Volunteers at 4:00 pm (American time). I have already talked to one of the teachers at the high school, Thomas, and he said that I could use the radio at the school. All set, right?
7:20—I wake up and am immediately told that I sleep very late. My host father has apparently been up since 4:00 for some church function. I eat a leisurely breakfast, knowing that I have nothing to do for another eight hours.
8:15—I go swimming/fishing with my host father and a couple of other guys.
10:30—I get out of the water and go take a shower. Afterwards, I lie down, listen to some music and do some reading.
11:30—I eat lunch.
12:00—I call the Peace Corps office in Weno using my Satellite Phone. I have questions about the School Improvement Plan (SIP) that I am working on for my school and would like some help from another volunteer. I talk to my friend Porter, and while he gives me some advice about the project, it is mostly nice to just hear another American voice.
12:15—Having nothing else to do, I take a nap.
2:00—I get up and begin to consider this radio conference. This will be the first time that I have used one of these radios. Also, I have no idea what I am supposed to talk about or even who is going to be on the other end.
2:15—Thomas, the teacher at the High School who has agreed to let me use the radio, says he wants to meet with me about their school’s SIP. I remind him about the radio conference at 4:00, but I tell him that I can meet with him after that.
2:18—I learn that the ship carrying all of my belongings (oh yea, did I mention that because I came on the plane I was only allowed to bring 20 pounds of stuff… so I’ve been living out of the contents of my small backpack for a week now) is due to arrive at the dock around 4:00. This is a problem. I need to get my stuff off that ship, but I also need to use the radio. I ask my host father if he will help me. He says that he is going to the burial (remember that funeral?) but after that he will get my stuff from the ship.
2:45—My host father and I walk to the burial. It’s only about a 10 minute walk from out house. I run into Thomas there and remind him (again) about the radio conference.
3:30—Thomas and I leave the burial. We have to stop at the principal’s house to get the key from him so that we can get in to the school and use the radio.
3:35—We arrive at the principal’s house and are told that he is at a canoe blessing ceremony down the road.
3:40—We arrive at the canoe blessing ceremony. The principal is there, but he is somehow involved in the ceremony and is unavailable at the moment.
3:45—Food is served. Thomas and I are given a huge plate of rice and three sizable fish to eat. I remind Thomas that I need to use the radio soon and that we still haven’t talked to the principal about the keys. He nods and says that we should probably eat quickly.
3:53—The ship arrives. My host dad, who is also at the canoe ceremony, leaves to go get my stuff.
3:57—Thomas and I finish eating (he has eaten the vast majority of the food) and finally talk to the principal about the keys. The principal leaves to go get his keys.
4:07—The principal still has not returned. I go to his house and find him sitting on his porch eating a banana. When he sees me he gets up, goes into the house, and returns with one key and a hammer. He tells me that he lost one of the keys so he will just pry the lock off.
4:12—We finally get to the school. The principal pries off the outside lock and unlocks the inside door.
4:14—I finally get to use the radio. I turn it on, call for any Peace Corps Volunteers, and hear nothing but static and Chuukese in return. For 15 minutes I call for Peace Corps and get nothing. I am either too late or the radio is not working. Great.
So, to recap, I had one thing to do all day, and it didn’t happen because everybody on this island operates on island time and not on American time. I was pretty upset that I missed the radio conference, but now that I think about it, I really didn’t miss anything important. I’m sure that there was nothing discussed that we can’t talk about next week. All of the volunteers that I would have talked to know how island time works, so none of them will be pissed that I wasn’t on the radio.
Island time, baby. Take a breath. Relax. Everything's OK.
Two facts of life here: 1) planning doesn’t really exist in Chuuk, especially on outer islands and 2) even when there is a plan, nobody pays too much attention to it and therefore it is rarely followed. I have been here for over three months now, and I would like to think that I have adopted “island time,” in many capacities. I know that I cannot control the schedules of other people or companies and I acknowledge and accept that. In a way it is very freeing to be on island time. Don’t worry about it, whatever it was that you had to complete today can probably be completed tomorrow.
In general, island time and American time do not mix. When talking with other volunteers, you have to be specific about what kind of time frame you are operating on (e.g. “Please be there at 2:00, American time.”). There are, however, instances when island time and American time have to intermingle. This tends to causes problems.
My December 6th, 2010:
Today is a Monday, but school has been cancelled because there is a funeral on the island. Funerals take precedence over everything, work and school included. However, the funeral is on the other side of the island and the deceased is not related to my family, so nobody in my family is planning (there’s that word again) to go. Therefore, I have nothing to do today except have radio conference with other Peace Corps Volunteers at 4:00 pm (American time). I have already talked to one of the teachers at the high school, Thomas, and he said that I could use the radio at the school. All set, right?
7:20—I wake up and am immediately told that I sleep very late. My host father has apparently been up since 4:00 for some church function. I eat a leisurely breakfast, knowing that I have nothing to do for another eight hours.
8:15—I go swimming/fishing with my host father and a couple of other guys.
10:30—I get out of the water and go take a shower. Afterwards, I lie down, listen to some music and do some reading.
11:30—I eat lunch.
12:00—I call the Peace Corps office in Weno using my Satellite Phone. I have questions about the School Improvement Plan (SIP) that I am working on for my school and would like some help from another volunteer. I talk to my friend Porter, and while he gives me some advice about the project, it is mostly nice to just hear another American voice.
12:15—Having nothing else to do, I take a nap.
2:00—I get up and begin to consider this radio conference. This will be the first time that I have used one of these radios. Also, I have no idea what I am supposed to talk about or even who is going to be on the other end.
2:15—Thomas, the teacher at the High School who has agreed to let me use the radio, says he wants to meet with me about their school’s SIP. I remind him about the radio conference at 4:00, but I tell him that I can meet with him after that.
2:18—I learn that the ship carrying all of my belongings (oh yea, did I mention that because I came on the plane I was only allowed to bring 20 pounds of stuff… so I’ve been living out of the contents of my small backpack for a week now) is due to arrive at the dock around 4:00. This is a problem. I need to get my stuff off that ship, but I also need to use the radio. I ask my host father if he will help me. He says that he is going to the burial (remember that funeral?) but after that he will get my stuff from the ship.
2:45—My host father and I walk to the burial. It’s only about a 10 minute walk from out house. I run into Thomas there and remind him (again) about the radio conference.
3:30—Thomas and I leave the burial. We have to stop at the principal’s house to get the key from him so that we can get in to the school and use the radio.
3:35—We arrive at the principal’s house and are told that he is at a canoe blessing ceremony down the road.
3:40—We arrive at the canoe blessing ceremony. The principal is there, but he is somehow involved in the ceremony and is unavailable at the moment.
3:45—Food is served. Thomas and I are given a huge plate of rice and three sizable fish to eat. I remind Thomas that I need to use the radio soon and that we still haven’t talked to the principal about the keys. He nods and says that we should probably eat quickly.
3:53—The ship arrives. My host dad, who is also at the canoe ceremony, leaves to go get my stuff.
3:57—Thomas and I finish eating (he has eaten the vast majority of the food) and finally talk to the principal about the keys. The principal leaves to go get his keys.
4:07—The principal still has not returned. I go to his house and find him sitting on his porch eating a banana. When he sees me he gets up, goes into the house, and returns with one key and a hammer. He tells me that he lost one of the keys so he will just pry the lock off.
4:12—We finally get to the school. The principal pries off the outside lock and unlocks the inside door.
4:14—I finally get to use the radio. I turn it on, call for any Peace Corps Volunteers, and hear nothing but static and Chuukese in return. For 15 minutes I call for Peace Corps and get nothing. I am either too late or the radio is not working. Great.
So, to recap, I had one thing to do all day, and it didn’t happen because everybody on this island operates on island time and not on American time. I was pretty upset that I missed the radio conference, but now that I think about it, I really didn’t miss anything important. I’m sure that there was nothing discussed that we can’t talk about next week. All of the volunteers that I would have talked to know how island time works, so none of them will be pissed that I wasn’t on the radio.
Island time, baby. Take a breath. Relax. Everything's OK.
That Satowan Post
12-5-10
Well, here I am.
Satowan is a small island—it only takes about 40 minutes to walk from one end to the other. All the people live on the lagoon (west) side of the island and there is one main road that goes the length of the island. The road is made mostly of packed sand and is pretty well maintained. One thing that I never considered before coming to the FSM is how much of an impact a good, clean road has on the aesthetics of a place. It makes the entire area feel safer, cleaner, and like that people care about their island. I live about 100 yards from the ocean and can go swimming whenever I feel like it. To be honest, I haven’t really taken advantage of this yet, but I’m sure that I will once I get a little more comfortable. My house and living conditions are very comfortable. I have a real queen sized mattress, a wardrobe-ish thing to hang my clothes and some cubbies to store my things, and a manual flush toilet (as in, you dump a bucket of water in the bowl).
My first two weeks have actually been pretty busy. The Department of Education in Chuuk mandated that every school in the state complete a School Improvement Plan and turn it in to the DOE by December 15th. This is a large document that schools and communities were supposed to work on all semester. Well, I arrived on December 1st and quickly discovered that my school had done pretty much no work on their SIP and expected me to essentially write it for them. I did my best to throw together some meetings so that this would be as much of group effort as possible, but I still ended up writing pretty much the whole thing. Also, the principal of the high school on the island asked me to “help” write their SIP as well. I kind of put my foot down about that because that isn’t my school. I told him that I would minimally help correct it, but that I wouldn’t write it because it isn’t my job to do that. I’m not here to do anyone’s job them. I am happy to help you do your job better, but I will not do it for you.
The whole SIP fiasco and just school in general has been a bit frustrating. I will save my ranting for private emails and letters, but suffice to say that there are a lot of issues with the school. The principal clearly sees me as an all-inclusive fixer of everything and defers to me on pretty much everything even though I have made it clear that I work for him, not the other way around. Hopefully things will improve the more we work with each other.
Other than the school situation, pretty much everything else is good. My Chuukese is coming along, albeit slowly. I have met some people in the community and I meet more every day. I have gotten into a routine of playing basketball with a bunch of the guys every afternoon for about an hour, which has been really nice. I do end up spending quite a bit of time alone, which has taken some getting used to. I am not a solitary person at all, so living even a partially solitary lifestyle is a bit tough. I find that I often think about friends and family back home and my fellow PCVs who I won’t see until March. I have learned, however, to see the benefit in being alone at times as it gives me time to process what I am doing and why I am here. As it turns out, the answer to those questions is much more complicated now than they were before I left. I guess it’s all part of the adjustment.
Happy holidays everyone! Christmas and New Years are supposedly the two biggest holidays of the year here, so I’m sure I’m in for a good old time.
Lots of love,
Ben
Well, here I am.
Satowan is a small island—it only takes about 40 minutes to walk from one end to the other. All the people live on the lagoon (west) side of the island and there is one main road that goes the length of the island. The road is made mostly of packed sand and is pretty well maintained. One thing that I never considered before coming to the FSM is how much of an impact a good, clean road has on the aesthetics of a place. It makes the entire area feel safer, cleaner, and like that people care about their island. I live about 100 yards from the ocean and can go swimming whenever I feel like it. To be honest, I haven’t really taken advantage of this yet, but I’m sure that I will once I get a little more comfortable. My house and living conditions are very comfortable. I have a real queen sized mattress, a wardrobe-ish thing to hang my clothes and some cubbies to store my things, and a manual flush toilet (as in, you dump a bucket of water in the bowl).
My first two weeks have actually been pretty busy. The Department of Education in Chuuk mandated that every school in the state complete a School Improvement Plan and turn it in to the DOE by December 15th. This is a large document that schools and communities were supposed to work on all semester. Well, I arrived on December 1st and quickly discovered that my school had done pretty much no work on their SIP and expected me to essentially write it for them. I did my best to throw together some meetings so that this would be as much of group effort as possible, but I still ended up writing pretty much the whole thing. Also, the principal of the high school on the island asked me to “help” write their SIP as well. I kind of put my foot down about that because that isn’t my school. I told him that I would minimally help correct it, but that I wouldn’t write it because it isn’t my job to do that. I’m not here to do anyone’s job them. I am happy to help you do your job better, but I will not do it for you.
The whole SIP fiasco and just school in general has been a bit frustrating. I will save my ranting for private emails and letters, but suffice to say that there are a lot of issues with the school. The principal clearly sees me as an all-inclusive fixer of everything and defers to me on pretty much everything even though I have made it clear that I work for him, not the other way around. Hopefully things will improve the more we work with each other.
Other than the school situation, pretty much everything else is good. My Chuukese is coming along, albeit slowly. I have met some people in the community and I meet more every day. I have gotten into a routine of playing basketball with a bunch of the guys every afternoon for about an hour, which has been really nice. I do end up spending quite a bit of time alone, which has taken some getting used to. I am not a solitary person at all, so living even a partially solitary lifestyle is a bit tough. I find that I often think about friends and family back home and my fellow PCVs who I won’t see until March. I have learned, however, to see the benefit in being alone at times as it gives me time to process what I am doing and why I am here. As it turns out, the answer to those questions is much more complicated now than they were before I left. I guess it’s all part of the adjustment.
Happy holidays everyone! Christmas and New Years are supposedly the two biggest holidays of the year here, so I’m sure I’m in for a good old time.
Lots of love,
Ben
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