uchuub.

I wanna be where the people are.

The Yapese word for coconut is “uchuub” (oo-choob). And it is my favorite word of all time.

Especially because I recently discovered another use for coconuts. And that is filling them with rum and kahlua. 

where it's at.

But none of this is of extreme importance because I had a very busy week full of non-academic activities. It was a blast, so here are the highlights: 

yakkin.

Last Saturday, we went to a beach park down south in Dulkan. It was beautiful! Tim organized the day for us and had kayaks and barbecue and live music on deck. Nick and Mike are in a band with two other awesome guys. They’re called The Breadfruit Revolution, and they play covers of songs by bands like The Beatles, Coldplay, Pearl Jam, Young the Giant, and more (remember: breadfruit is local produce. Originally I despised it then realized there are nine hundred million ways to prepare it and nearly all of them are amazing). They played their first live show at the end of the evening. It made me super excited to go home and go to a million concerts. I miss live music so much.

spotted: deflated blow fish.

The following Monday, Nick and I went on two more dives. First to Vertigo (where the sharks are, if you recall), and then to another spot with a complex German name that I can’t remember. There was a German tourist on our boat and he told us that the name of the site was a German word that is used to describe a table that a group of regular patrons sits at each day when they visit the same pub. The dive site was named with this same word because it is a cleaning station for manta rays.

little blue beebs.

Speaking of German pubs… @Rua, remember when we went to Munich for your birthday and everyone got put in the same room except for me?! And then we went to the bar and that guy kept calling you the wrong name hahahahahaha.

…..anyway.

drop off.

Vertigo was pretty sick. I was definitely expecting more sharks, but we saw about ten total and they got really close, which was cool. The sharks were really mild and seemed pretty uninterested in us, which I’m only mentioning so that all the olds out there can wrap their head around how safe/not scary this experience was. 

reef sharks.

The cleaning station was kind of a bust. We went to see mantas, which Yap is really well-known for, but it’s only guaranteed that you’d see them on a dive during mating season, which has passed. So we sat on the ocean floor, holding fast to a rock so as not to float away with the current, while we watched a myriad of fish eat microscopic bits of food off of corals. Wasn’t the worst way to spend an afternoon.

hungry.

But I will say, I really wanted to watch the fish clean a manta because I had so many good Shark Tale references on deck. And of course when I say good I mean terrible. But WHATEVER.

not as cool as a manta.

Also, I was crossing my fingers to see this one specific manta that’s been named “Dot Com” because I’ve been watching a lot of 30 Rock re-runs this year and that would’ve just made me happy. Wasn’t meant to be.

ya girl.

Tuesday was very busy. Three things to do in one day is out of control, out of the ordinary busy. We had STEM/robotics day in the morning at the community center in town. This was an opportunity for all of our students to showcase experiments they had been doing in groups at school as well as show off the robots the robotics club built and programmed during their elective period. 

chunky, patriarch of island dogs, bouncing the bake sale.

YCHS is sending three students to Washington D.C. in July to compete in an international robotics competition. It’s a SUPER big deal. So we had a bake sale to fundraise. We killed it.

my loyal crew.

After that, we took an hour to clean the island up a bit. We split into huge groups and went around picking up trash just to make everything in town look a little nicer. It was a good time. I’m always impressed by my students’ willingness to serve the community and each other.

After a long nap, it was time to chaperone the end of the year dance. Which was, essentially, casual prom. We had a local DJ, food, a dance floor, and bottomless iced tea. Could not, would not ask for more.

two of the most wonderful smelling flowers on island completed my prom look.

OBVIOUSLY I opted for pants when I was getting dressed for this event so I could dance hard. And y’all know I danced hard. It was a great decision.

Wednesday morning I went to breakfast with Gail. So let me take a minute to tell y’all a little bit about this incredible woman.

forgive the eagles shirt & you can see Gail is the best.

Gail is the most selfless woman I’ve met this year. She is unbelievably hard-working and she inspires me every day. She is dedicated to her family, passionate about teaching, and just an awesome friend. She taught the other three literature classes this year and was a tremendous help to me, especially as I struggled with teaching my own class in the beginning. We shared ideas and learned a ton from and with each other all year. She and I are kindred spirits. We like and dislike a lot of the same things and have similar feelings and opinions. She is my best and favorite Yapese friend as well as the single person or thing that I will miss the most once I return to the states.

can you tell these two gave me a hard time all year?

Thursday we spent the entire day at Maalay Beach Park with our students. And when I say the entire day, I mean it. A full seven hours with a million teenagers at the beach. 

The day went as you might expect. My energy levels started out as high as possible but rapidly declined hour by hour. 

mangroves in maalay.

We waded for a while, had mud fights, and explored the mangroves all while the tide was still high enough for us to be in the water. After a couple of hours, the water disappeared and we walked around on the newly exposed sandbar. We also played volleyball and ate way too much fish and taro. 

sand, for once.

SHOUT OUT TO FISH AND TARO AND ALL THE TITAWS OUT THERE WHO MAKE IT SO DELICIOUS.

food of the gods.

Friday evening we had a Baccalaureate Mass for the seniors and their families. Many students took most of the afternoon to decorate the chapel with flowers and wreaths and all kinds of beautiful things. It was so lovely. After Mass, there was a feast. Naturally.  

flora.

my juniors led the music and sang beautifully at mass.

Saturday was graduation day!!! The ceremony was short and sweet. And big news: I DIDN’T CRY! 

But the thing about graduations here is that after the ceremony, the graduates get completely dominated by leis. 

congrats, grad!

Family and friends bring scores of leis to the ceremony and once the official business is finished, the students all line up and just stand there as leis are placed around their neck until they can’t breathe/see/support the weight. The leis are made of yarn, flowers, money, candy - all kinds of stuff. It’s so fun.

!!!

Last week, we also went to Summer’s graduation from the Early Childhood Education center. In case you forgot, Summer is our neighbor and she’s the most beautiful little girl that exists currently on this planet. 

cutest little graduate.

She’s also the smartest child her age on the island. That’s not, like, an official fact but it’s got to be true. She’s brilliant. So she was chosen to speak on behalf of her class at graduation and it was THE CUTEST.

bestowing leis.

After YCHS graduation, The Breadfruit Revolution had another concert. It rained for most of the night, but there was great food, company, and music. So it was a success overall. 

And here we are - Sunday. I have three days left on Yap and its the WEIRDEST. You know why? Because goodbyes are the WORST. I’ve really met some amazing people here and it’s unfortunate that I don’t know if/when I’ll ever see them again. I’ll miss my students, my co-workers, my peace corps friends, the local people who have taken such good care of me, and the people I interact with daily. 

More than most things, I’ll miss the post office and the people who work there. I love the United States Postal Service, even though they recently let me down and lost a package I sent. I’m learning a lot about forgiveness through this challenging time. But I will miss checking P.O. Box 98 for messages from all of you wonderful people who love me so much. Thank you to everyone who wrote to me this year. I am coming home with a giant box full of letters - I couldn’t imagine throwing any of them away.

Cheers to these last three days of uchuubs and extreme heat. I’ll let you know when I’m on the other side!

All my love.

final sunsets.