Saturday, November 5, 2016

betelnutgeuse, betelnutgeuse, betelnutgeuse.

Hello, hello!

It’s been more than a couple of weeks since I wrote last, and there is lots to fill you in on. I’ve been super busy, and every time I thought about writing I thought, dang, I have way too many things to cover … so I just kept putting it off. But here I am, in the midst of a three day weekend, taking advantage of the opportunity to lay down the highlights of the past few weeks here in the FSM because some of you are aggressively reminding me that I haven't written lately. 

I'm still as cute as I used to be, don't worry.
This will just be a series of updates:

1. Update on my lavalava - 

this is Angie. she always has a bright, beautiful smile on her face.
I have been too afraid to wear it again (see: binder clips, one post back) but I did get the opportunity to watch my neighbor Angie make a lavalava. It is such a cool process, but I don’t know how to explain it. You have to use this super thin string and weave it over a series of pipes. As I watched her weave, it made absolutely no sense to me how the string would end up as a flat piece of fabric. Like, it didn’t appear as if it would hold itself together. But I’ve seen her finished products. She knows what she’s doing. 

2. Update on volleyball - 

#coachackels
Well, our tournament season is officially over. We played three regular season games and two post-season games. There were four teams total and we finished 4th with losses making up 100% of our record. But hey, we didn’t get swept in two of our five games, so that’s gotta count for something, right? The girls played hard and progressed a lot throughout the past several weeks (no thanks to me) and I am proud of them. I’m looking very much forward to basketball season, where I actually know a little more about what is happening / how to coach. In the picture above, you may notice I’m wearing converse, even after I was explicitly told “not to bring closed toe shoes to Yap unless you’re a runner,” which I am definitely not.

As a coach, I thought I would feel like the one from Hoosiers, or like Denzel in Remember the Titans. But really I'm just Phil Weston from Kicking and Screaming during like the first two games he coaches, or Tim in Heavyweights in that one scene where they play baseball. "You can do it. Keep your eyes on the bat. Put it in the pocket. Swing harder. I have no idea what I'm saying." I need Mike Ditka to come show me some pointers, or some Italians to carry the team.

3. Update on school - 

rainy mornings at school.

I feel like I’m killing it as a teacher, and that feels really great. I know there is exponential room for improvement, but I love my job and I know that in this particular time and place in my life it is the best job for me. 

I’m having so much fun with my sophomores in Literature. We’re reading 1984, so we spent two class periods before we began reading going over some background stuff so they wouldn’t be totally confused by the novel (though, the novel is in fact totally confusing and many of them are very, very lost…but whatever, that book is dope). By “background knowledge” I really mean “conspiracy theories”. That’s right, we talked about conspiracy theories for two class periods. 

What really happened is I mentioned subliminal messaging, and the rest is all a blur.

If you know me at all, you know I love conspiracy theories, almost as much as I love leftovers and the Jim Carey version of The Grinch

One thing led to another and my kids kept asking questions about conspiracies, so we just kind of went nuts. Of course when I say "we" I mean "I". We got into all sorts of things. I may or may not have played some backmasking clips for them. You know, when you listen to records backwards. Freaked them out, sure, but I was in heaven.

They asked if I could start a conspiracy club as one of the electives for next semester. I still haven’t asked if that’s something I can do, but if it is, I’m psyched. BIG shoutout to Mrs. Santosuosso and all the chicks in my JFK class who lit this fire within me. Now people all over the world think I'm crazy.

PS - Tupac is alive. Paul McCartney might not be. And there is absolutely no way we landed on the moon in ’69, I don’t care what Ren Stevens says. 

My history class has been a blast lately. We spent a large portion of first quarter working on some note-taking and study skills so there wasn’t a lot of time for “fun,” but we’re getting there. I’ve tried (and both failed and succeeded) with some cool history activities. It’s easy to be creative in this class.

We learned about a specific Micronesian legend that explains how the island of Chuuk (one of the other states in the FSM) was settled, and then I had all of the students write their own Micronesian legends. They also shared some real legends with me. They are so fascinating, and it makes my day to see their faces light up when they get to share a piece of their culture with me. I love the freshmen so much. They are always, always a step beyond happy. They’re also ridiculous and super entertaining to be around. They keep me young, haha.

Scripture has been great. We spent a couple of class days planning an all school mass, and it turned out to be a lot of fun. There is a lot of talent in that class. Many great singers and musicians. 

We’re flying through the Old Testament, and it’s been cool to see the ways they are appreciating this text. I couldn’t stand the OT (honesty hour) when I was in high school. I had no appreciation for it. But my students seem to have a better ability to see what it’s all about, to recognize God’s mercy and goodness. 

We’ve been doing a lot of skits, and though they usually get out of control, they’re very hilarious. This class is only 16 students and they’ve been in school with each other forever, so their humor has been perfectly cultivated over the years. They always have the best comebacks and their timing is amazing. I’m constantly impressed by the way they make each other laugh. It’s a high-quality humor many kids their age haven’t quite mastered.

In general, the atmosphere at school has been a little melancholy. There have been several tragedies in the community lately, and our students are very much impacted by them. It has been hard to see sadness overcome many of them, but it is also wildly beautiful to see the love and support they have for each other. I have cried with many of my students over the past couple of weeks, and I have realized how real my love is for them.

Every student at YCHS has a special place in my heart and in my life. Every single one. I know and understand my place as their teacher; my role is to educate them. But beyond that, I love them all so deeply. I cannot express the joy they bring to my life. It really is unlike anything I have ever experienced. Being a teacher in this school is the happiest place I have ever been, and it is 100% because of my students.

Guess what followed me all the way to Yap? THAT STUPID PICTURE THAT’S IN THE STUDENT CENTER AT SPRING HILL. You know the one. The one that’s right at the bottom of the staircase. The same one that’s also cut out into the word “BADGERS” above the drink machines in the caf. The one that has been/might still be the banner picture at the top of the school website. That heinous picture, where someone said something hilarious right as it was taken and I have the ugliest laugh painted on my face.

We received eight copies of some college catalogue and all of the kids are flipping through it. The director of our school, one of the Jesuits, spotted the photo first. I arrived at school one day this week to the page ripped out of the catalogue and pinned up on the fridge in the faculty room. Rude. I’m just holding on until the students find it and point it out or draw a mustache on my face. Hid.

4. Update on my health - 

4/5 of the posse lookin' fresh.
One of the municipalities, Nimgil, had a health fair a couple of weekends ago at a beautiful beach park on the coast. There was perfect weather and a great turn out, we couldn’t have asked for a better afternoon.

beautiful display of healthy, local foods. check out those snake beans!
The health resources on the island aren’t up to snuff, but it’s really cool to see the moves people are making to improve that. It was really inspiring to me to see local people coming together to campaign for a healthier way of life on Yap.

tellin' people what's up with their BMI.
There is not a lot of awareness about nutrition or healthy habits in general, but a lot is being done to combat that. Diabetes and various cancers that come from chewing betelnut are prevalent here, so this health fair was put on to spread the word about how to live a more healthy life. Overall, it was a very informative day full of good friends and even better food.

all of this food is 100% local - every ingredient, down to the oil, was grown and made on Yap. del.
And my health was analyzed and PSA I’m super healthy!!!11111!1! Except my arms got v bruised last weekend from playing volleyball for like 9 minutes so maybe I’m not as healthy as I once appeared.

Just a little by the way for those of you who don't know what betelnut is:

It's a locally grown nut that is used the same way people might use chewing tobacco. It is a very large part of the culture here to chew betelnut. People often wrap it in a certain type of leaf, which causes the whole thing to turn a reddish brown color, which stains people's teeth. You chew the nut, which you first fill with lyme (crushed coral) and sometimes tobacco, and then spit out the juice. Thus, betelnutgeuse. Puns on POINT.

we got cups that were carved out of bamboo. pretty sick, right?
Oh! This isn’t super related to health, but I guess it fits well enough here. A couple of weeks ago I was going for a bike ride so I put on my leggings and in a matter of seconds my legs were on FIRE. I didn’t really understand what was going on so I just kind of stood in my room for a minute and waited for it to pass, only, it didn’t pass.

So I ripped off my leggings only to find that my legs were COVERED in fire ants which were actively biting every inch of my legs. I ran to the shower to drown them all viciously but they had left their mark.

Ant bite city.

They ended up eating very decent-sized holes in my leggings. Who knew ants could digest Nike products? Add that to the list of things I’m learning out here.

Related: my mom suggested that I dress up as an ant trap for Halloween and she laughed SO HARD at herself when she said this, but I booed her and dad was on my side, so I was Noah instead. Except everyone thought I was Moses because I didn’t have any animals. And three of my students asked if I was Gandolf so I just said, “sure”.

5. Update on cool things I’m doing with my time - 

Our Peace Corps friend Sana, the one who lives on the beach in Maap, is a beast. She is a certified yoga instructor, so on Sunday evenings she invites us up to Maap to do yoga and then swim afterwards. It’s awesome. The yoga is mad challenging, like she’s not playing around. Try to plank for four minutes and then do a chair pose without falling. I’m so bad at it, but the view makes it worth it. 

sunset in Maap, lovely as ever.
Tim Bigelow, another absolute beast and a half, put on an event for us the other night called “Tacos and Tuba”. 

I don’t know if you guys know about tacos, but they’re amazing. Tacos, for those of you who don’t know, are a Mexican-inspired food dish where you wrap a protein, along with various, other ingredients, into a tortilla. They are delicious. You should try them.

And tuba, well, everyone knows what tuba is. But for explanation’s sake, in simplest terms, tuba is coconut wine. Wine is any alcoholic beverage made from fruit juice (thank you farms to pharms and Dr. C). So, this is just that. With coconuts. Aaaaaaand it’s not good. But it's hella cultural (hella....can you tell I live with a Californian?).

If you know me well, you know I’ll pretty much eat anything. Like, the other night we were eating dinner and there was this cucumber that was covered in ants and someone held it up and was like “hahaha ew this is covered in ants what if someone ate it” and then I just ate it. Like, gross. That’s where I’m at with eating.

But I won’t drink tuba. 

I tried it, didn’t hate it so much, but didn’t enjoy it at all. (“Peach iced tea, you’re gonna hate it.”) I think my brain gets confused around it because it smells like food, but then it’s not food because it’s a drink. So, you can see my hesitation to consume it.

Last weekend, there was another traditional dance in one of the villages in the Gagil municipality. It was at a stone money bank on the grounds where they hold Yap Day, a multi-day cultural celebration that takes place every March. It was cool - we got a tour of the area before the dances and we got to see some of the remains of a school that was built and used while Yap was under Japanese occupation. Good stuff, rich history. I dig it.

local dance feat. stone money.
OH! Tamil movie night! THE FREAKING BEST (sorry for saying “freaking,” mom. Sometimes you just really gotta grab life, ya know?). So another one of our Peace Corps friends, Laurel, lives with a host family in Tamil. And if I haven’t said this already, Tamil knows what’s up. They have their stuff together. They kind of remind me of The Others in Lost. Even the way some of their buildings are set up, it kind of looks like the school grounds and stuff. Wild. I was feeling a lot like Kate. Except I'm not caught up in a love triangle at the moment. In due time.

 — side note — remember when Jeff watched ALL of Lost in one week during spring break 2011? And emerged from his cave at the end of the week with bloodshot eyes, a full beard, and nothing in his stomach except for hot pockets and goldfish? Classic Peg.

They have this big lawn in the middle of the municipality and on the lawn is a big screen where they project a double-feature every other Saturday night. So Laurel invited us up a couple of weeks ago and they showed the new Ghostbusters movie and the new Independence Day. It was pretty legit. 

In honor of Halloween, they had another movie night the following weekend. They played Charlie Brown and the Great Pumpkin, Betelgeuse, and Suicide Squad.

L

O

L

Did you see Suicide Squad? When I saw that was the last movie, I kept laughing to myself and thinking about Jeff and our friend Zach and all of the jokes we had about that movie at the end of the summer before it even came out. Then it came and went and I never saw it, so it took me coming all the way to Yap to understand that it was just as bad (if not worse) than everyone said it was. What a dumb movie. Like, it didn’t even make sense?! But maybe it didn’t make sense because I fell asleep for over an hour.

Dafrad, our beast of a neighbor, just completed his altar server training, so Abby and I went to watch his second mass as a server on All Souls Day. Like I said before, he's a total beast. Brought me back to my early days as an altar server and all of the jokes we used to make. "Tennis shoes Mr. Ackels?" "Caaanes, Mr. Bob?" All I remember is fighting with my siblings over cross, book, or bells. Book was where it was at.

6. Update on things I need - 

Taylor Swift’s Red album. I need to listen to "Treacherous" right now. NEED. Also "State of Grace". And all the rest of it, except for “Stay, Stay, Stay” because that is the biggest farce of all time.

Veggie Straws, because they don’t have them here but I did find a bag of “Veggie Chips” at the store the other day and it was $17 which is less than a gallon of ice cream at select stores so obviously I have better ways to spend my limited dough.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, or whichever one is the fifth one because I just finished the fourth and DANG I DON’T KNOW HOW ANYONE READ THESE BOOKS WITH GAPS OF TIME IN BETWEEN. Talk about zesty. 

7. Update on things I don’t need - 


A machete. Because I got my own. And it’s totally zesty. So far I have used it to cut down trees, open coconuts, and pick up leeches (because ew, I’m not touching those with my bare hands).

8. Update on random thoughts that I have - 

The stars here are absolutely unreal. Because it is still raining all the time, the sky is not typically clear at night. But when it is, WOOO. Breathtaking. 

I mean, think about it. I’m on a tiny little island in the middle of the ocean. Imagine how well you can see stars in a place that is covered by real darkness? It’s so amazing. I wish I could photograph it, but I don’t have a sweet camera. But I think not photographing them makes the nights where I go outside and lay on the ground and gaze at the sky just a little more special.

I can’t stop thinking about how much I love stars and flowers. Both of these things are so beautiful here. The flowers that grow in my backyard are those that would cost unbelievable amounts of money to include in an arrangement at home. It’s kind of crazy to think about. I am being exposed to two things I love very much, it’s great to take the time to appreciate them. 

I am almost 23 years old. My Jordan year, as they say. I don’t know what to do with it. Suggestions are welcome. I just keep thinking about how all of the birthday presents I got from my friends last year were food. Is that the legacy I want to keep? Absolutely. My cousin doots taught me a very important lesson when I was little. She told me her life motto was, “Food is good. Eat it.” And so I did. All the time. And I still do. 

I’d cut my right arm off for some kib right now. 

taking advantage of days where we get invited to beachfront properties.
Shout out to all of my siblings. You guys are seriously the best. Aaaaand scene.

Shout out to all you fine people who are continuing to send me letters and to those who are still reading this blog. It means a lot that you are taking the time to sit down and spend a little time with me. I feel it. Helps me to ignore the vast distance between us. ILY.


One final note - I’m very much anticipating the election this week. Not to sound all “I’m better than you,” but if I can vote from Yap, you can vote too. Don’t waste your right. No matter the outcome, something insane is going to happen. Be a part of it.

Much love to all my peeps and to my mom's friends who I have never met that also read this blog. You're my heroes.

1 comment:

  1. That is crazy about the fire ants? Those things are crazy. I am sorry but I hope you think of mobile whenever you see them. 😉. I'm surprised you didn't have a more serious reaction. Can't.stand.those.things!! Haha I'm so entertained reading these. The conspiracy theory stuff has intrigued me. You'll have to clue me in one day. Keep these posts comin'!

    ReplyDelete