Fourth Day in Pohnpei

Pohnpeian Word of the Day: nohno = "mother"

As usual, I have risen with the sun (and the roosters) and trudged down to Telecom to report yesterday's events... unfortunately, there isn't too much to say as we spent most of the day down at PICS for orientation. Anyway, here's the highlights:

I now have a Pohnpeian driver's license - and though I didn't have to take a test to obtain it, that does not mean it was easy. First, we had to get photos taken at the public library. Then we walked to the license office (about 15-20 minutes away) to fill out a form and have an instructor sign off on it, after showing him our American licenses. The license fee had to be paid at the finance building, another 10-15 minute walk away. After paying the $6.50, we walked back to the license office, where we were eventually handed simple paper cards with our basic information typed on them and our pictures affixed. Of course, like anything paper in this humidity, they will fall apart soon - so I had to walk all the way to the NIHCO store (across from the library) to have it laminated. From there, the walk home was at least 25 minutes. I have been told this is pretty much standard for the way things are done around here. 

At least I'll get plenty of exercise. :)

Upon my return home, I was greeted by Floid (11) and Sousol (5), both of whom are very enamored of me at this point. I don't know if Sousol realizes how poor my Pohnpeian is, but he rattled away at me for quite some time, and I took this as a sign of being accepted into the family given these people's culturally ingrained shyness. I tried to return the affection by flipping through a volume of an old encyclopedia with him, explaining space travel and the Apollo missions with a scattering of Pohnpeian words like usu(star), maram(moon), aramas(people) and sampihl(airplane). 

The three of us watched "300" on bootleg DVD for a little while, before I decided it was time for some downtime with the drum. The irony of this island is that it is actually somewhat difficult to get close to the ocean, though you can see it from just about anywhere, but the one good place is the airport causeway so I decided to head there - it's also the only place I could think of where I could practice alone and not disturb anyone. I played through the sunset (hidden from my view behind Sokehs ridge), and when I was tired I laid down on one of the benches with the sea breeze blowing over me. It was peaceful beyond any words I have to describe it. I was afraid I would fall asleep out there, but I soon trudged home and passed out.