a little privacy please

Sorry that it has been so long since I’ve been able to post an entry; we have been in a state of transition ever since the recent tragedy.  We were supposed to have moved out to our placements on August 8^th but instead, we stayed in Kolonia for an additional week.  Thankfully, we were able to stay together as a group while we tried to understand what we were feeling and adapt to our new reality.  I don’t want to dwell too much on the sad things but I do want to say that the support extended by the community has been tremendous and extremely thoughtful.  Several hundred dollars were raised by the DOE and other organizations to support Becky’s funeral services and many strangers have approached me to express their condolences.  Additionally, our host families were very gracious to continue to support us in their homes while we cleared our heads.  Although our group will never be quite the same again, our lives have regained some sense of normalcy thanks to the many caring individuals around us. 

A view from Cupid's Restaurant on one of the last days before we moved to our placements.  Sokeh's Island is in the center.

So, a week later than expected (August 15^th), Gabrielle and I moved out to our placement in Kitti.  This is the day that seniors started class, and since we thought that we’d be teaching seniors, we thought that we would be missing the first few days of school.  As it turns out, Gabrielle is teaching Language Arts to freshmen and sophomores and I am teaching Algebra I and Geometry to sophomores and juniors, so we’ll be starting school on time on the 22^nd.  Unfortunately, there are not enough teachers at our school so the administration was forced to get rid of 4^th block.  We are using this time instead to conference with the local teachers in mutually beneficial way – we’ll be able to learn how to become more than just novice teachers and in return we will be able to teach them what we know about subjects they have never taught before. 

A view from my couch at the ladder up to the bedroom.  The kitchen is on the right.

Our house has been very interesting to get used to.  The walls are made out of lattice work covered with mosquito netting, there’s about a foot gap between the top of the wall and the thatched roof, and I’m pretty sure that if you looked at the house from the street, you would be able to see everything that we’re doing at any time.  Because of this openness, I actually felt cold for the first time since I’ve been in Pohnpei.  It happened early in the morning, around 7am, lasted around an hour, and was glorious.  Very soon afterwards, I was back to sweating through my shirts and looking like a wet mess.  Another effect of having a house that is fully integrated with the jungle is the intrusion of many jungle creatures.  Despite our concerted efforts to wash dishes immediately after using them, our kitchen is covered with ants.  I’ve actually eaten a lot of them because they weren’t able to jump off of my spoon in time.  Additionally, we’ve begun to notice more and more cockroaches that not only appear unexpectedly but disappear even more suddenly.  Since they are capable of flight, this is a very unnerving occurrence….WHERE DID IT GO?? DEAR GOD, IT’S NOT ON ME IS IT????

Believe it or not, this is a candid picture of Gabrielle as she struggles to deal with her deathly fear of spiders.

Gabrielle and I have also invented a system of rating the spiders around the house so that we know what threat level we are currently at.  Stage 1 spiders are the size of the biggest ones you will see back home – about the size of a dime.  Stage 2 spiders are large enough that you can start to see some of their anatomy clearly but are mostly nothing to worry about.  Stage 3 is big enough to give you a scare if you saw one but are too small and numerous to go around killing them.  There is one happily sitting on his web above me right now.  Stage 4 will scare the bejeezus out of you and are capable of making webs that span five or six feet across your kitchen… When he stopped by, I asked my host brother, Nadaniel, how to get rid of one of these guys and he proceeded to snatch it out of the air with his hand and throw it outside.  While I was commenting on Nadaniel’s bravery, I watched the same spider run across my feet, under the door, and back into the house where it remade the web by the next day.  Stage 5 spiders are the ones you see at the zoo and until last night, the ranking was just theoretical.  I spotted one in my bathroom while I was on the toilet – I guess you could say it scared the shit out of me.  Five inch wing span, hairy, and capable of eating adult human beings.  The picture might not do it justice, and I concede that it may be possible for spiders to get larger, but c’mon, how am I supposed to feel comfortable getting naked in my bathroom when I know that thing is looking at me?

We named him Hairy.  I don't have the heart to kill him - he seems friendly enough.

For now, I am off to make another dinner of rice ($25 for 25 lbs!) and canned vegetables ($943875498 per can).  I’m not saying this to guilt you into sending me food, but I don’t not want you to send me food either.  Don’t feel obligated, but just fyi the shipping address is in my About Me section and flat rate priority boxes go for under 20 dollars… Love you guysssss!