Second Day in Pohnpei

Pohnpeian Word of the Day: karakal = "hot"

Meghan and I woke up early Saturday morning to get picked up by Mikayla for a tour of the entire island. Around 8:00, we took off for what would turn out to be my first experience with motion sickness. Our driver, Tatsuo, took little note of the 25-30 mph speed limit sign as our retro-fitted school bus van tore around the winding island roads like a roller coaster from hell. 

We circled the whole island in about three hours, stopping at Kitti and Madolenihmw to visit the houses those volunteers will stay at and the schools they will teach at. After seeing them, I can definitely say I'm glad to be teaching in Kolonia - one of the houses had no walls, just wood lattice work. The breeze will be nice - the bugs, not so much. I'll take my two-bedroom apartment in town, thank you very much.

When we finally got back into town, we ate lunch at PICS and finally headed back to our host families. When we arrived, we met a new cousin by the name of Floid - I have all but given up on figuring out which kid belongs to which parent, opting instead to simply identify which generation they belong in. Floid immediately took to me, and we spent the next few hours watching bootleg chinese DVDs, including the second Fantastic Four movie.

Floid is in special-ed classes at Ohmine Elementary School in Kolonia, and I believe this is because he has ADD - he's quite intelligent, but very unfocused. I told him I would tutor him in Math once the school year begins on the 14th, and I hope he takes me up on it. I want to make him my own personal project.

Our field director Mikayla was running a half-marathon at this time, and the finish line was just down the street from us, so Meghan and I walked down to meet her. On the way, I noticed a dozen people or so gathered in an apartment courtyard for a barbecue, with a strange pounding sound emanating from them. At first, I thought they were playing drums but I soon saw that they were instead pounding sakau.

Sakau is a local drink and mild narcotic sedative made from the roots of the Piper Methysticum plant. It is prepared by pounding the roots of the plant for over an hour and then straining the juice through freshly cut hibiscus bark. This is always a community production - it took four men at any time to pound the roots, and another prepared the bark.

After prodding Meghan a little bit, we walked up and asked if we could observe. We struck up a conversation with a man named Marvin, who told us he was a state senator representing the district of Kolonia - he then introduced us to his cousin, the governor of Pohnpei himself. Marvin explained how the Pohnpeian legislature works, and we ended up sampling some sakau as well - it tastes like slimy dirt and makes your tongue numb. All in all, a very productive encounter.

Anyway, my plan today is to sit around the air-conditioned Telecom building and drink soda, watch cable and write some letters home. Enjoy the attached video of AJ and his sister Trini (pronounced charini) - she has the cutest smile you have ever seen, and I rarely see her without him on her hip.