Hey gang, this is the month that things wrap up around here for me. I suppose that means I oughtta do more than just post pictures on here...I will soon. Things are busily wrapping up.

My last day of teaching will be the 20th of November (just 2 more weeks). I then fly to Santiago for a closing ceremony on the 24th thru the 28th, then jump a bus out to Buenos Aires where I'm meeting none other than THE FOLKS!!!

So stoked! I've been trying to drag the family to Alaska for years...well I'm certainly happy to settle for Patagonia :). Right now the plans look as follows: We'll start out heading down to El Calafate, Argentina to check out the most impressive glacier I've ever seen (the Perito Moreno), then get a place at El Chalten and spend our days hiking, and our evening sipping south America's finest boxed wines. I'll show em around my town, get out to Torres Del Paine, and perhaps check out some penguins around Punta Arenas.

After saying goodbye on the 12th, I'll say my final goodbyes around here, make my way to Buenos Aires, and arrive in California on the 17th of December. Yup, the end of this adventure is near.

Fotos: (might be in reverse order)

*Mirador de las torres

*Fresh salmon from Rio Serrano

*gifted artwork by Lucas, from kindergarten

*a sprintime morning surprise during an overnight trip in the park

A handful of my sixth graders rockin' the house last Thursday. Its incredible how quickly they learned this song.

1. Paulo dressed in traditional cowboy attire for the parade

2. My students in a Queca competition

3. Marching through downtown for the parade

4. Empanadas...they say everbody gains around 2-4 kilos during Independence Day festivities...I fault these delicious little guys

5. 8th Graders carrying our school flag

All schools in the Patagonian Magallenes Region of Chile have 3 weeks off in the middle of winter for vacation. I took the opportunity to visit my friend Matt and his amazing new fiancee Fernanda in Rio De Janeiro. In addition my college roommate Matt French jumped over from Buenos Aires, and a vacation of epic proportions took place. I shall allow this video do the talking. ...it was kinda fun...

Tanto Tiempo!!! Sorry its been so long. I assure you that all is well.

Here's one minute and 46 seconds in the life of an English Opens Doors volunteer at my school, "Escuela-1 Libertador Bernardo O'Higgins." Enjoy! I'll be posting some more photos and excitement soon.

We're back into the swing of things in Puerto Natales, after a MARVELOUS 3 week winter vacation, school is back in session, the family has a fresh set of jokes for the dinner table, and I am back to viviendo el sueno en Patagonia. Mas Pronto!

I think that human beings are meant to always have three day weekends. They are better. I don't think that needs any further explanation.

Yesterday we observed a holiday for San Pedro and San Pablo (St. Peter and St. Paul). I confess, I don't know exactly why the holiday is celebrated...hold on I'll google it.

Ah, June 29th was selected as the date to commemorate the anniversary of the death and martyrdom of the two saints.

Well I happily celebrated the holiday by jumping on a bus Saturday Morning bound for the town of El Calafate with one of my best friends at school, Kathi.

El Calafate, Argentina is less than 200 kilometers as the crow flies, north of Puerto Natales, but is well over 4 hours by bus. The town is the jumpoff point for El Parque Nacional De Los Glaciares, the most spectacular national park in Argentina. On our visit we visited the Perito Moreno Glacier. Ridiculous! Over 250 sq. kilometers with terminus walls up to 60 meters high. There are viewing platforms set up in front of the glacier. It a very cool experience to hear the ice creaking and moaning as the glacier advances. We were also fortunate enough to watch a piece of ice about the size of a city bus come crashing off the face of the terminal wall. That was also kind of cool :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perito_Moreno_Glacier

Lo pase la raja! That phrase will not make sense if I translate it directly (plus its not one for all ages), basically the trip was a blast! The weather was fantastic and the glacier, incredible. The only lousy parts were waking up before the sun to catch buses at 7:30 and 8:30 (The sun is slow to rise down here right now).

Upon review of my photos from this Patagonian Adventure, one may think that I have gone glacier crazy. This may be so. "When in Rome do as the romans do" Well, "When in Patagonia...go check out the glaciers."

The little town of El Calafate was fun to visit as well. It is usually crawling with tourists, but now in the middle of winter had the feel of a ghost town. Around sunset half the town was out ice skating on the lake out in front. It was also fun sampling different Arentinian beers, freshly made ice cream, and getting followed around by street dogs better looking than those in Natales.

I doubt I'll post again before it arrives, so HAPPY 4th of JULY! All of us volunteers are planning a BBQ for all of our families. Should be a blast. Maybe I'll post some pics later.

Ciao,

Joe

Yup, pretty cold. This may well be the coldest June of my life.

I bought some new boots, and I always have a box of wine on hand.

So yeah, bring it on.

...I'm not that tough though...on July 13th, in the face of a three week winter vacation, I'm tucking tail and flying to Rio De Janeiro. STOKED! I'll meet up with French, (Matt French) my college roommate, and college buddy Matt Propeck, and his Brasilian fiancee. Who knows...maybe I'll have some of his luck.)

Mas Pronto.

Besitos,

Don Pepito

Heya Friends and Family,

Everything is going well down here at the bottom of the world. I'm going to try and keep my posts a bit shorter, as in their current length, even I get tired reading them. Just wanted to briefly share the news.

The biggest thing in my world right now is my big brother Tim's deployment to Afghanistan. If there are people checking this blog that have never met him (which I doubt) he is the handsome dude in the middle of the above photo.

He is a first lieutenant in the army, and will hopefully help to bring a quicker end to the war. As you would guess, we're all really proud. As you would also guess his deployment isn't easy for any of us in my family.

He left his place in San Francisco a couple of weeks back, and is right now doing some final training at Fort Dix in New Jersey before he leaves for the war around the end of August.

It has been cool to see the support of my family and friends here in Chile. Upon hearing that I have a brother who is leaving to fight in the war, everyone is instantly interested, and supportive. The other day, while reviewing with my 6th graders a lesson on family, they asked about my bro, (as last time I shared he is a soldier). They happened to ask if he is going to fight in the war, and so I shared that he is right now on the way. They then began HURLING questions at me, which I'm guessing will be flowing constantly throughout the year.

So now, I have a new reason to tell myself to man up, when I don't want to roll out of bed because of the cold in the morning.

Everything else is well. Days are getting shorter and colder (the sun finally makes its way up around 8:30 and heads back down around 4:30), but theres a big vacation in sight. I gotta run. More soon.

Lindo Como El Sol. Chile Chile Gorgeous... Gorgeous just like the sun. I used a bit of my free time during the teachers strike to put this little video together of some of the highlights of the past few months. Enjoy!

The majority of the month of May has seen Chile in a nationwide teachers strike. Of course things down south my region of Magallenes are a bit detached from the rest of the country, so we have only been striking for two weeks, with a couple of days of school sandwiched in between.

The strike is in protest to the Chilean Government's failure to pay all schoolteachers promised bonuses for the past two years. I haven’t argued with this, as it has afforded me some time to relax, get out and do some hiking, y por fin practicar un poco de espanol.

One of the biggest highlights of this was last Sunday when Silvana, the beautiful Argentinian girl who works at our house helping to run the hostel, invited Josh, Emily, and I for a full-day cruise out on the sound. She has been working on this tiny cruise ship for the past few years, and was able to get us on for free (it is normally over 60,000 pesos per person…just about the equivalent to my month‘s salary) We passed waterfalls, condors, sea lions, and snow capped mountains that dramatically rise directly from the waters edge as we made our way north to the glaciers of Mt. Balmaceda (one of the tallest around at just over 6100 feet) in Bernardo O’Higgins National Park. It was a thrill to view the landscape, and feel the POWERFUL winds from the deck of the boat.

We made stops at two of the biggest accessible glaciers in the region. The first, the Balmaceda Glacier can actually be seen way off in the distance from town. We were able to cruise right in front of the terminus (the endpoint), which although very beautiful, was a very depressing display of what I’ve heard some call “the myth” of global warming. Only 20 years ago, the terminus used to stretch directly down into the Ultimo Esperanza Sound, and now has crept back over fifty feet to its current position. (see the above picture). The contrast of the deep azul of the glacial ice, in the mist of the low lying clouds was really beautiful.

We then made our way around to another side of the south face of Mt. Balmaceda, and were able to get out of the boat and hike to the terminus of the Serrano Glacier. Spectacular. This glacier has also receded, but certainly is still breathtaking. At one point a big chunk of snow fell onto the glacier which sounded like thunder. Very cool.

Another highlight was a visit by Sara and Matt, a couple of my favorite volunteers up north. It was fun to swap some stories with them, and see that they are doing well. We ended up renting a car and going up to Torres Del Paine for the day trip. It was like a wildlife safari with herds of Guanacos (a relative of the llama and alpaca) running past, and in front of the car seemingly every kilometer. We also saw Rheas (a relative of the ostrich), bright pink flamencos, many different birds of prey, and ran over a rabbit.

We hiked up a snow covered hill on the back side of the national park, and were awarded with a beautiful view of three of the biggest Torres (towers) Del Paine. We were really lucky to have such great weather. It was one of the most fun days I’ve had down here in Patagonia…complete with a road tripping mix of good tunes, and a post hike bottle of asombroso vino chileno.

Amidst the strike, we took a few days off of school for the national holiday on the 21st of May known as “Dia de las Glorias Navales” which commemorates the 1879 War of the Pacific between Chile and the joined forces Bolivia and Peru. Chile won this war and aquired its present northern border as a result, but the issue has had a major impact on the relations between Chile the three countries.

Here in Natales, we had a Naval parade on the side of our main square, the Plaza De Armas, and boys and girls danced the Queca, Chile’s national dance. We also had a big Carnival on Saturday night but I stayed in because it was pretty cold outside.

That’s all for now. Chao!

Photos:

1. Josh and Emily enjoying the view north from atop Cerro Dorotea

2. Trees along the banks of Rio Serrano

3. Chunks of Glacier Grey

4. Jaime and I

5. A few of the baby gatos getting leftovers from my table as seen from my window

Spanish as spoken in Chile is slightly more difficult to understand than Spanish in other places throughout the world for two reasons. The first is that annunciation is not always upheld as entirely important here. I can relate to this. If you were to ask me back home an important question, like “When do you plan on getting married?,” I would probably respond, “I-o-know.” This lazily pronounced phrase of course translates to “I don’t know.”

The second reason Spanish can be more difficult in Chile is the plethora of “Chilenismos” - the phrases and sayings which are unique to Chile. I think of Chile as similar to Australia, being packed with colorful idioms and slang. This relates to the title of this entry, “Estoy pal gato.” The way it was explained to me, “pal” is the lazily annunciated version of “para el,” so the complete phrase is “Estoy para el gato.”

It means “I am exhausted.” I think this is because it is commonly the cats that get the leftover scraps from dinner, so basically it is like saying I’m completely spent, and nothing but leftovers remain...I think.

On a side note, I tell our housekeeper Gladys (who is an angel…even when she’s not baking loaves of delicious bread that I am enamored…“enamorado“…with) that I am “como un gato,” as I eat the scraps off of everybody’s plates. Some things never change.

So, why am I pal gato? Well...

My alarm pulls me from comatose sleep at 6:47 (after snooze). I roll over, jam headphones into my ears; play some music to get my brain rolling (this has frequently been Iglu & Hartley’s “In this City”); make my way out of bed, get down and do my daily 26 push-ups (soon to be 27...thanks Jake…do your age everyday to keep the sedentary fairy away); exit frigid Natales air / enter warm shower; put on one of my 5 “professional” teaching outfits; head downstairs, greet Gladys, Marie-Estelle, and Carlitos (if he’s awake yet), fill a mug with warm water; stir in coffee; cover delicious home made bread with delicious home-made apricot (ciruela) jam, look over mini notebook for new vocabulary (mil de gracias Lydia!), go to school, kiss/hug hundreds of kids, teach four 45 minute sections of class (today it was 6th graders, and 8th graders…my 6th graders viewed some of my personal pictures of people doing activities, and had to try to name the activity in English…this included pictures of my mom and dad dancing with bananas on their heads, Avital running a marathon, Jenny, Moul, and Jadan listening to music, Tim, Dad and I fishing, playing board games with the Via Gaviota beach crew, Matt Foley sleeping, and Charles Mann spiking a volleyball…I bet you all didn’t realize you’d be props for English lessons); chat (try to) with other teachers; come home to a mountain of delicious lunch; fall into bed for a much needed nap; and then move on to the afternoon’s activity.

On Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday, there is an english workshop with 6-8th graders, 3-4th graders, and kindergarteners respectively. I do this workshop with my lovely co-teacher MarieSol. After this I may join some of my fellow teachers (professoras) for coffee and gossip at our favorite café, “Melissa,” or I head home. At home I have “once” (evening tea or coffee with some more delicious bread) with my family around 6 or 7, followed by dinner around 8 or 9 (we are unique…most families don’t eat more after once…this is no problem by me). Ideally I check my much neglected email account or face book after dinner, then I crash.

So this is my reason for feeling “pal gato.”

I have been extremely lucky to be placed at Escuela Bernardo O'Higgins for many reasons, but primarily because the teachers are extremely warm. I am known there by the students as Meester Jose, but by the professors and professoras as Pepito (little Pepe…which is a nickname for Jose). Aside from being completely patient and helpful when conversing with me, many have invited me out, outside of school. I have been shown around town, taken to a nearby state park, partied, spent afternoons drinking coffee, made bread, played indoor soccer (wow, my friends here have got SKILLS big time), and danced until the sun came up…all with my colleagues. It is a very fun group to say the least.

Over the past couple of weekends, I’ve also had the opportunity to briefly see some of the INCREDIBLE scenery around me.

Two weekends back a new friend Jaime took me and fellow volunteers Molly and Alycia fishing, and then to Torres Del Paine National Park. We hooked a massive fish in Rio Serrano, which after toying with us for a few minutes, gave a mighty tug, and snapped our line. Next time.

We entered the park and went to Glacier Grey. I have never experienced stronger winds. At one point I was able to lean into the wind and be completely supported…as if I were skydiving. After jumping all over the place and spinning circles like a Tasmanian Devil, I asked Jaime if he’d ever experienced anything like it before. He smiled and said it was normal.

We hiked our way out to a point with brilliant blue mack truck-sized glacier chunks/icebergs floating in front of us. Jaime and I put some ice in my sticker-covered nalgene bottle (Thanks Jon), and I poured in some wine that happened to be in my backpack. We sat and watched the clouds dissipate, revealing the STUNNING peaks of Torres Del Paine. Wow. I hope to spend more time there. Its reputation as one of the most beautiful places in South America is WELL DESERVED.

Last weekend a handful of volunteers and I headed for Cerro Dorotea, a long cliff-faced mountain just south east of Natales. I was equally wowed by the color of the trees along the way, the condors, hawks and eagles flying overhead, and the views from the top. I’ll post a few pictures.

In conclusion, my new home is beautiful, and I am happy to have a nice little chunk of time here.

I’ll leave it at that for now. Mas Pronto!

This is what returning home looked like for me. As if the shock of moving back to a bustling continent weren't enough, Mom, with the help of Dan and the rest of the family made sure to greet me properly...with a snowman. Here are a few pics of that.

Tomorrow is my first day of class. I’m not really nervous though as I’ve already been hugged by almost all of the students, and kissed by almost all of the teachers, well except for the men. Such is the custom upon greetings here in Chile (on cheeks). It took me a little while to get used to, but suddenly I’m all in. Twice now I’ve even leaned in for a smooch before even asking for a name. I’ll definitely be doing my best to bring this home with me.

I write from my new home in Puerto Natales, Chile in the southern portion of Patagonia. As you might guess, its completely beautiful, and also completely cold. It was put well during my orientation, “Yeah, basically those of you living in the south will be living in a national park.” This is true, and to be honest, I’d say its more beautiful than I pictured it.

So yes, the title of this blog is PCVMicoJoe, as I created it to share my life in Miconesia while I was a Peace Corps Volunteer...hence the title "PCVMicroJoe." I decided not to create a new blog for just reasons:

1) laziness

2) when I began looking into doing so all of the instructions were in spanish

But literally now, as I write this, I realize it still works:

PCV = PuertoNatales Chile Volunteer

MicroJoe = I feel smaller and smaller the more of the world I see (in a great way of course)

So there you have it. Please feel free to tune in...I'll be teaching here for the entire school year until November 28th, with a scheduled return flight Christmas Eve, and plan on sharing the experience here. Please feel free to post comments on here as well, but I warn you, I have been quite overwhelmed lately and have been horrible at staying in touch (I apologize to all those of you who deserve emails and letter from me).

So...

I arrived here last Sunday night (March 29th) and have been happily watching things start to take shape ever since. I live with an incredibly warm family, I teach at an extremely energetic school, I eat delicious food, I try to learn Spanish, and I sleep.

About my family:

During the application process for this program I was asked to write a letter to my host family introducing myself and sharing anything else I wanted…in Spanish. At which time I knew little more Spanish than “hola,” “donde esta el bano?,” and “via con dios" (from Point Break). Luckily, my buddy Suneal came over and helped me draft the letter.

Naturally, the first thing that I wanted to do in the letter was express my excitement at meeting the family…after all I had been daydreaming about a life in Patagonia for 3 months at that point. So my buddy helped me put together my opening sentence, “Empiezo decir que estoy muy excitado encontarles."

I meant this to say, "I will begin by saying I am very excited to meet you."

The letter went on to tell a bit more about myself, and then closed with, "Otra vez quiero decirles que estoy muy excitado conocerles." (One more time, I'd like to tell you how excited I am to meet you.)

Sounds good right?

Fast forward 2 months to the second day of the two weeks of language training I received in the city of Santiago. At the beginning of class we were told that the subject matter for the day was very important…we were going to discuss false cognates--phrases that sound like similar words in English but have different meanings, and therefore should be used with care.

First we discussed the word “embarrazo” which although sounds like embarrassed, actually means pregnant. You can see how this could lead to potentially awkward situations.

Next we talked about the word “excitado” I felt my heart jump in my throat immediately as I recognized the word from my letter, and had been using it with the few Chileans I had encountered when I told them my feelings over moving here.

I learned that morning that the aforementioned adjective is only used in circumstances of arousal, in the case of one being "sexually excited."

Needless to say, the ice was broken very quickly between my new family and I. Gracias Suneal! I am very fortunate that they have a fantastic sense of humor.

There are five of us living in the house, MarieEstelle, my mother is incredibly warm, and never lets me go to bed without telling me to sleep well. My father, Floredore is a very talented musician, and always patiently waits listening to me trying to express myself in spanish.

My sister Carla lives with her husband Victor and shares a birthday with me on May 17th, and is excited about sharing a carrette (party)...especially because at that point she will have delivered her son...she is due around the 5th of May. She excitedly told me I would soon be an uncle.

I have 2 other sisters living in Santiago whom I have yet to meet. My younger sis Maccarena is an architect and works way too much. I like to make fun of her cheeks always being cold from the outside air, and her time always being occupied with work. I tried to translate the phrase "all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy," That didn't quite work...not easy explaining who Jack is.

My little bro Carlito is a rockstar. Seriously. I thought that his Misfits T-shirt, and the Black Sabbath tunes that were blasting from his room when I met him were just the normal front a 15 year old projects…then after dinner last week he had me in his room to show me a video from his band. It wasn’t what I expected…It was a Pepsi sponsored concert in Punta Arenas with him shredding on a bass guitar, and the rest of his band captivating an audience of hundreds of people. Wth his permission I will post a you tube link to this show on my next blog.

Finally, my American brother Josh Rosenfeld is another volunteer teaching at another school close to the house. I did not anticipate being placed in a host family with a second volunteer, but I continue to learn to be flexible. He's originally from Delaware, but was most recently living in Portland OR after spending a summer in Bend. Most importantly, he shares my desire to learn spanish, and get as much from this experience as possible. I'm aslo fortunate as he has had a big ear to listen to the torrent of thoughts that race through my head.

In addition we have two housekeepers working at the house, Gladys and Sylvia, both incredible cooks, very beautiful, and incredibly sweet.

So much to share, but I think I ought to call it a night. Oh I meant to touch on the others:

About my school:

Wow!...my first impression is fantastic! This is going to be fun. Elaboration soon to come

About my food:

I'm getting fat. Delicious...it is said that it is necessary to eat more to combat the cold temperatures. I have been doing this with no problem. I think I'm up about 7 or 8 pounds just in the last couple of weeks...no joke. So long as I don't jump sizes and have to buy new clothes, I'm not too concerned.

About my Spanish:

Que fome! (It sucks!) I'm having a hard enough time coming here with essentially no spanish background (why did I study French in high school?...and why can't anyone here understand Ulithian?). Chile is kind of the like the Australia of Latin America, jam-packed with slang. "Que Fome" is actually one of many "Chilenismos," which are only used here in Chile. It will be funny later when I can't distinguish what words are chilenismos and what is universal spanish. In all honesty though, I'm greatly enjoying the challenge of learning.

About my sleep:

I need more. I come to the conclusion of each day exhausted. I sleep with a beanie on my head, under a sheet, three wool blankets and a comforter. Yup, its not even the close of autumn yet. This is going to be a brisk winter. We'll see if this California/Ulithian boy can take it.

I'll write more soon.

Here's a link to a cool website with some pics of Puerto Natales.

http://www.patagoniawebcam.com/index.html

Mas Pronto!,

Jose'

PS my friends here call me Pepe' which is a very common nickname for Jose'

I've decided to use the same blog to share my next adventure. This one, teaching english in Puerto Natales, Chile will most certainly be very different from the last. Before I do though, It is necessary that I share a bit more about the end of my service.

I think that my lack of ever getting around to it is somewhat telling of how I feel about its close. Now, over a year after my return to the US, I still have many mixed feelings over leaving. What can I say? It was really hard.

Both the school and then my family threw me incredible parties, and we had one of the biggest drinking circles Falalop has ever seen right in my front yard, with the band playing later in the night. It was fantastic.

November 14th was easily the hardest day I've ever experienced. Perhaps I'll elaborate more later.

For now, I just wanted to post some pictues of the end.

Maria (Mary) Liouilik, a student of OIHS tragically passed away on Thursday evening. She was medivacced off Falalop and taken to the hospital in Palau. Mary is from Satawal Island. She was one of my favorite students in my English class. We are all deeply saddened by her loss.

Her body will arrive in Yap from Palau on Thursday morning, and will soon go on the ship back to Satawal Island. I plan on joining this trip along with my friend Scott. Please join the her family, the community of Satawal, and the community of Outer Islands High School with your prayers.

1. Peterson (student from Fachylap who took care of me on the last student run) and a friend from Satawal (I think) on my first trip to Meradag (the eastern outer islands)

2. Ifalik (pronounced ee fa luke)

3. Scott, Larry, and Logan surrounded by taro in the center of Lamotrek

4. Georgeson and some of the students re-roofing our kitchen

5. Yiig (fish)

Here are a few of the literally thousands of pics that I will always chersish from my time spent here:

Picture 1: Bidding farewell to the Micro Spirit with my island...this was in March and we rode out in 2 boats, decorated the ship, chanted and sang songs, and presented the crew with leis and baskets of food. It was a blast!

Pic 2: Stanley Fahoreg sounds the opening of a conference on Asor, while Sherry welcomes its attedees with leis

Picture 3: Jenny and I waiting for the ship

Picture 4: Skylene, Bridgette, Erica, and LalDamian

Picture 5: Bidding Farewell part 2: presenting baskets to the crew aboard the Micro Spirit

Picture 1: The group that I came to Micronesia with

Picture 2: The Yap volunteers last night together

Picture 3: The women from the Peliow Village dancing at Falalop's opening of summer celebration

Picture 4: Livian and I inside Hotel CA

Picture 5: Celebrating my birthday with my drinking circle

Wow, looking over those pics I just posted I realize 3 of the 4 that I'm in, I have the same silly look of gitty happiness on my face. Hmm...perhaps there's something to that...anyhow, on with the post...I wrote this last night:

I guess I really am going to go home pretty soon. This was one of our main points of discussion at our close of service ceremony last week. It has been drifting around the back of my mind for a while now, and I've even talked to my family about our plans for the holidays, but seeing a printout of our itinerary was really a trip.

I'm sure there are many more trips to come. The good news is I still have a good chunk of time here, and the best news is my goodbye does not need to be permanent. Anyhow, Peace Corps offers volunteers the option of a direct flight home or else the cash amount of that ticket. A direct one way flight from Yap to SFO is $1,375. You can guess what I did. Yup, I took the cash, bought a breadfruit tree from one of my neighbors for $15 and a case of ramen, then hacked it down and am in the middle of fashioning an outrigger canoe which I plan to use to island hop my way back home across the pacific.

If for some reason that doesn't work out, my backup plan is to go visit my Uncle Frank in Hong Kong on my way home. I figure the culture shock of one of the biggest cities in the world may be even more challenging than the aforementioned voyage home. Anyhow, I plan to be home by Thanksgiving.

In other news, my college buddy Matt Propeck is sailing around the world. He sold all his stuff, and left from West Australia on July 1st, and is now in the Coco's islands...an atoll south of the equator in the Indian Ocean south of the equator. One of his pics looks a lot like Falalop...I wonder if they have fun nights, or mix yeast, or have men's houses? If so, I'm sure he's currently enjoying himself. Anyhow, please feel free to check out his blog as he will be updating it during the course of his journey.

http://ahoymate.blogspot.com

Should the internet be working on Falalop, I will write more in the near future. If not, I will be enjoying my summer. I hope that this message finds all its readers well.

Adios,

Joe

Hey gang. The Close of Service ceremony was great...it really stirred me up though. I think that is part of the plan...to try to stimulate the volunteer breakdown before he/she returns home. No, I'm being dramatic. I do anticipate having a very hard time leaving.

I'm going to post some pics and thoughts from COS in the next couple of days, but wanted to quickly throw the following up. One of our exercises was writing a letter to an incoming volunteer to Micronesia. I went off on a bunch of tangents, and didn't feel all that great about my letter, but really enjoyed this one from my friend Adam (pictured doing the heelflip) who has been living in Kosrea (The easternmost FSM State). Here is his letter:

Dear New Volunteer,

It's probably best to just accept the fact that you are doing everything wrong and feel really stupid all the time. It’s okay, its not your fault.

And since this is going to happen anyway, try all of the things you’re afraid you might be bad at. In fact, while you’re at it, try all of the things that seem really stupid and boring too. The worst thing that could happen is that you get bored for a little while. But you never know, it might turn out that you really like singing at church, feeding pigs, or preparing for a funeral.

Spend at least a half an hour every day sitting with your host parents. Even if you don’t say anything and can’t understand a word, it will help your relationship.

Make sure you learn to dive.

Everyone will tell you not to worry too much about your work project. They’re right, so don’t. If you spend time in the beginning getting to know your co-workers instead of focusing on bigger goals, you’ll be surprised how much easier it is to accomplish those goals later on with their help and support.

Church and rice are the same thing. Just learn to accept that they’re always going to be a part of everything in your life. You will not change this, just shrug your shoulders, roll your eyes, and stop worrying about it.

Keep a journal.

If your family stops sending you letters in the mail, its not because they don’t miss you, or don’t care, they’re just idiots. They can’t possibly understand what this is like for you.

I think that I’ve run out of platitudes for now. Good luck. You’ll be okay. Its all worth it.

Adam Leff, Kosrae PCV

Pic 1: the MS Hapil Mahol

Pic 2: showing off while docked at Ifaluk

Pic 3: Roland (one of the many students who took care of me on the trip) and I

Adios Ngaligami. I just stepped off the new passenger/cargo ship servicing the outer islands of Yap State. Before I give you my “Kaptelewey” (the story of my canoe…essentially the story of my journey, and the reason for it) I’ll give you my reason for being on the main island of Yap...its time for my Close of Service ceremony which will be held here on Yap Proper. The ceremony will begin on July the 11th, and will bring all of the volunteers from my group in Micronesia here to share stories from our experience (I’m going to do my best to hold back so that others don’t become too jealous of my life in Ulithi…only 5 others know the joy of living on a tiny atoll and the full community emersion that results), and to discuss what it will be like to return home.

I’m working on putting together a slideshow for the ceremony, and have been going through pictures…it’s a trip to reflect on all that has happened. Anyhow, more sappy talk later. Let me tell you what its like making a journey across a 500 mile stretch of the Pacific Ocean.

I joined a similar trip last year dropping my students off on their respective islands, and knew that it would be enjoyable to say the least.

The rest of the world could blow itself up, and the inhabitants of these islands would be business as usual…enjoying the fruits of the tropical pacific. Not to say there is no care or appreciation for the rest of the world, but there really is no required dependence.

Just after we left Ifaluk hundreds of 30-60 pound wahoo tuna fish swam into the lagoon and were fished and caught by the men of the island. The men went out on small outrigger canoes and used a very long rope to corral the fish, and then a net to catch them. Different from the meat department at Safeway. Hundreds of these fish were then smoked so that the meat would last, and put on the ship to be distributed to relatives on other islands.

When we arrived on Lamotrek we were greeted by a group of Satawalese men who had recently voyaged there from Satawal (over 40 miles of open ocean) on their massive outrigger canoe. One of my students from Ifaluk told me a story of a voyage he had just gone on with his father to Fachylap over 80 miles away. Can you tell that I’m impressed? I have great respect for the self-sustaining life style of these islands, the strength of these communities, and the warmth of these people. Don’t worry Mom, I will come home. I’m excited to return to the US as a witness to all of it…tuba circles, fun-nights, countless jokes, beautiful and hilarious people, delicious food, a different life style, and so many stories that I will have fun telling for the rest of my life. Such is I think the greatest good of the Peace Corps program, and I’m ecstatic to participate.

Picture 1: Chief Joseph on Yeaar Island (one of the turtle islands)

Picture 2: TJ and Carrie Ann on her baptism day (my sisters)

Picture 3: Angel, Rina, and LC...a picture from the yearbook

Hey gang. Sorry its been a long while. I composed this message a couple weeks ago but the internet has been shoddy. I'll write again after my voyage which should depart on the 15th...I'll add some pictures too. Hope all is well for everyone.

Thank you thank you thank you! For all mybirthday wishes. Wow...I certainly know that I am loved. Thanks everybody for writing, sending, wishing, and thinking of me on my birthday. I had an excellent 25th. I'm not sure that I'm up to the task of writing each of you back, but I promise to do my best to have a beer with each of you when I get home.

It has been a while since I have written. There are many reasons for this...the main one being that I have been really busy. In the month of May I put together a yearbook and a slideshow for the high school here, both of which I'm really proud of and look forward to showing off when I get home.

I suppose I should revert to my usual opening of throwing out some cutesy anecdotes. I vomited abunch of times this morning accompanied by a harsh case of diarrhea, and I almost broke my foot trying to kick my dogs two nights ago. How's that for cute? Yup, I've changed over the past year and a half. Actually let's not talk about that. Let's talk about what's been happening in Ulithi.

1. Parties, parties, parties...just wrapped up the high school graduation (which was great), preceded by the elementary graduation (again awesome...took just short of a gigabyte of pictures), preceded by celebrating my birthday with a few different friends, then again with my family, then again with my drinking circle. Oh, I've just been told there's another party tomorrow in celebration of Peliow, one of the two villages on the island. Hopefully my stomach cooperates.

2. The chief's wife passed away two weeks ago. Although death never seems good, It seems a more peaceful experience here on the island, bringing everyone together. After the burial we gather each morning just before sunrise to say the rosary for the following nine days. I really enjoy being part of the community for events such as these...it reminds me that I really am part of it...or at least everyone is good at making me feel so.

3. I was the advisor for the sophomore class, so back at the beginning of the month I got to chaperone an overnight trip to one of the uninhabited neighboring islands. It was a blast...joking around and telling stories with the guys, and listening to the girls laugh at me as I tried to climb coconut trees. It was lots of fun to take a break from being a teacher with the students, and I could tell they felt the same way.

4. Have I written since Easter? That was a blast. Apparently after his resurrection, Jesus mixed a massive batch of yeast, and everybody got wasted and danced and sang songs on the beach. At least that's what he did here in Ulithi...and I am certainly thankful. We had a mini easter egg hunt at the house, too, which was fun.

5. Enough with the numbers. Overall, everything has really clicked in the past few months. Mom, Grams, don't be nervous as I write this...Falalop, Ulithi feels like home...or another home anyhow. I used to wake up here and be aware thatI was away from home, living a different life as aPeace Corps volunteer. I don't do that anymore. I wake up and set about doing whatever I had planned. This realization came a few weeks ago and made me really happy.

I suppose I'll briefly write my summer plans, and then get back to this sometime soon when I'm more in the mood to write. I first plan on joining the ship which will be dropping off students on their home islands. The student run last year is one of my biggest overall highlights of living here in outer island Yap State. I can't wait. We're scheduled to be leaving on the 29th which is the day after my baby little sister Carrie Ann's 1st birthday...another party. It's usually about a 10-15 day trip, so I should be back in Ulithi around mid June. In JulyI'll be going to Yap for my Peace Corps close of service ceremony (3 months before the actual end of my contract). At this conference we'll discuss things like how hard it is to come home when nobody wants to hear much about your experience, but would rather focus on getting re-caught up. I'm sure this won't happen to me. Be sure to give me lots of attention, and tell me I look good in my thu when I come home.

To be completed later...that ship isn't scheduled to come for another week...maybe I'll jump on that one and go straight down to Yap.

More later. Fatoot ngalgich.

Pic 1: The Outer Islands High School Staff

Pic 2: My Freshmen Class

Pic 3: The sophomore class on our overnight trip to Sohalie Island

Pic 4: Loreen, Hellen, and Ginger on Sohalie

Pic 5: Some boys from Falalop after their dance on Asor (island next door to Falalop)

(written two Sunday mornings ago)

Adios from Ulithi! (Adios means Hi in Ulithian)

Ichiil fairu choeg (I'm still doing the same). All is really well on my peaceful and quirky island. I woke up this morning with a slight hangover from maybe one too many cups of tooba last night. The extra cup of yeast was probably unnecessary as well, but a few people have complimented me on my dancing at the fun night last night.

It is complete coincidence that we had a fun night on St. Patrick's Day...not too many Irish folks out here. I didn't even remember the holiday until sunset, so quickly put on my green thu and started pinching people. I remember last year I spent St. Patty's Day with Charless over on MogMog and we spent the entire afternoon searching for some dye for our tooba. We ended up settling for eating the cooked blood of a Green Turtle (sorry Grams, too much info?).

The big news here is the upcoming arrival of the Hokulea and the Maisu, two outrigger canoes which are set to arrive in Ulithi around the end of the week. They have voyaged all the way from the Big Island of Hawaii in honor of Mao Pialug, a master navigator from the eastern island of Satawal (pictured a few blogs back with the children playing with toy canoes). The navigational skills of "Papa" Mao (and others here in the region) are incredible. They use nothing but the stars to travel thousands of miles.

In other news, March Madness has caught on in Ulithi big time. Yup, I'm doing my part to Americanize my new corner of the world, by introducing the joy gambling on college basketball. Our atoll after all does have a title to defend with Charless on MogMog winning the entire pool last year.

My host dad Teo is pretty confident that this is his year, but I told him he made a big mistake taking Wisconsin over my Ducks. I think the bracket my mom filled out for me actually has them going all the way to the championship game...we'll see about that.

This year Outer Island High School is getting in on the action with our first bracket submission. I held an impromptu meeting in the staff room on Friday where we discussed, and finally settled on a pretty good looking bracket. We still haven't decided on what to do with the winnings...perhaps a picnic to one of the neighboring islands, a few more goats, or a massive pile of betel nut.

Thanks Avi! Teo and I are enjoying our newfound status as the most famous men in Ulithi.

Micronesia: Paradise, If You Can Find It

http://travel.latimes.com/articles/la-tr-nuyap11feb11

Talk about remote -- even Yap's souvenir T-shirts poke fun at the obscurity of this Micronesian island chain. But what a getaway for divers and daydreamers alike.

By Avital Binshtock Los Angeles Times Los Angeles, Calif. February 11, 2007

Colonia, Yap — THE slogan is silk-screened on T-shirts sold in stores on this tiny Micronesian island: "Where the heck is Yap?" It's also the question I fielded most after telling people I was headed here.

Yap, one among the Caroline Islands, is in the Western Pacific and part of the Federated States of Micronesia, or FSM. I visited last summer with my boyfriend, Tim, and his family to spend time with his brother Joe, a Peace Corps volunteer assigned here.

Although Yap has only 83 square miles of land, it is made up of 134 islands — including one that locals call "Yap Proper." This was the lush green strip that was becoming visible as we descended at the end of a 48-minute flight from Palau. The most striking part of the aerial view was the water, which was at least 10 shades of blue. It was easy to see why divers love the region.

On the ground, we passed through immigration and were greeted by a topless girl in a grassy skirt. She smiled graciously and placed a plumeria-strung marmar (crown) on my head.

Joe's host family — the locals with whom he lives during his Peace Corps service — greeted us at the baggage claim area and bedecked us with more marmars for our heads and noonoos (like Hawaiian leis but more intricately woven) for our necks.

A 10-minute ride to our hotel gave us a better sense of the island's lushness: Save for the road, almost every inch of land was blanketed in tropical plants. At a small intersection, I caught a glimpse of several bare-breasted women sitting by the side of the highway; they stared curiously after our van.

When we arrived at our hotel, the Pathways in Colonia, a portly innkeeper greeted us warmly with chilled pineapple-orange-grenadine juice. He showed us to our rooms, passing a prominently displayed collection of the stone money, the unique currency for which Yap is known.

The nine-unit hotel, straight out of "Swiss Family Robinson," was a glorified treehouse made comfortable with air-conditioning. Full-length windows afforded bay views.

It was evening, so we headed down to the hotel's outdoor restaurant, JM's, where Joe's host family met us for dinner. I ordered the $2.50 veggie burger, a satisfying mishmash of vegetables deep-fried together and placed on a mayo-slathered bun. Tiny cats milled around us begging for scraps; the air buzzed with mosquitoes and fireflies. Teo, Joe's host family's father, dominated the conversation with stories about the islands' politics. He'd been a state senator for 16 years.

I asked whether tourists are welcome in Yap. Teo paused, then conceded that they are now that locals realize they're a source of income. There was a time, however, when, because property rights are very important to the Yapese, tourists were liable to be beaten if they wandered uninvited into a village, he said.

Micronesians are quick to laugh at even the slightest humor; at one point during the dinner conversation, a kitten I'd been holding hoisted itself onto the table and sprinted across. I was embarrassed, but the locals loved it and laughed heartily.

After dinner, we strolled through Colonia, Yap's capital. It was 10 p.m., and the only signs of life were a few scruffy dogs sleeping on the one-lane road.

An obsession to chew on

THE next morning, Tim was the first out of the room, and a housekeeper greeted him with a hibiscus-and-thistle marmar. Breakfast at JM's was pancakes, and the day's first stop was the Peace Corps office, where Joe's boss, Larry, introduced us to betel nut.

Betel nut is Micronesia's national obsession. It's a palm seed that, when chewed raw, produces a mildly narcotic effect. Locals chew it constantly — far more than Westerners chomp gum — and I'd been put off by descriptions of its effects: dizziness, wooziness and slight euphoria. But now that it was being offered, the reasoning typical of travel manifested itself: "When in Rome … "

Larry split one open, sprinkled ground coral on it, wrapped it in pepper leaf and presented it to me. I stuck the bundle in my mouth and gnawed. It was bitter, hard to chew and produced a lot of red saliva, which we spat into a communal soda can. Soon I felt lethargic and foggy, as though my brain were working half-speed.

Leaving the Peace Corps office, we walked into Colonia's center, where we rented an SUV and took off on a tour through the 39-square-mile island. Scott, another Peace Corps volunteer, joined us on the drive.

Although jungle and wild foliage were everywhere, the road's flanks were manicured, courtesy of public works employees. Our first stop was to tour the Micro Spirit, a supply ship that weaves its way through FSM, stopping monthly at each major island to bring supplies and transport people. The boat was noticeably dilapidated but seemed to serve its purpose.

Next, we drove to a spot on the map marked "Stone Money Bank," which I envisioned as a columned building erected to protect these national treasures. In reality, Stone Money Bank was a cluster of rock coins lying against the highway's embankment. But they were indeed impressive. The largest were about 7 by 10 feet. Today the coins are used only for significant transactions such as buying a house; the U.S. dollar is the main currency.

The most stone money we saw in one place was in a narrow space between two men's houses — large mahogany-and-bamboo huts where men regularly convene to have meetings. It's typical for unmarried adult males to sleep in men's houses every night, using logs as pillows. In Yap, sleeping on wood is almost preferable to a bed, because fabric holds in the humid heat found on the island.

Continuing our drive, we passed a rural graveyard with huge decorated crosses — most Yapese are Christian — and a bit later, a white church with color-stained windows. Its gable framed a vivid Crucifixion painting, with Jesus wearing a thu — a loincloth worn by Micronesian men.

Scott directed us to his village, Toruw, a cluster of stilted huts near shore, where the village chief welcomed us. While we made small talk, Scott climbed a notched palm tree to fetch a coconut. A short distance away, pigs stood, tied on ropes. They, along with the chickens scratching around them, would be dinner sometime, I knew.

By now a heavy rain had begun, so we loaded back into the car. The day's last stop was Moon RiZE Café, a covered open-air restaurant with a limited but interesting Japanese menu. I ordered a soupy soba dish garnished with egg and seaweed, which I slurped contentedly while watching the tide pull out.

The restaurant's owners, Japanese expat siblings Daisuke and Sayaka Jomi, also operate an adjoining dive resort. Before we left, they persuaded Tim's family to come diving the next day. I wasn't interested, but I agreed to snorkel while the others dived.

Shortly after dawn, we were back at RiZE Diving Center. A speedboat whooshed us over azure water. And though I'd confined myself to the surface, this was by far the best underwater scenery I'd ever seen.

I gazed at a rich wonderland of psychedelic colors, brain-like coral and unusual fish species. At a certain point, the shallow ocean floor gave way to a cliff so sheer it appeared infinitely deep. The divers were exploring this teeming wall. Later they reported that they'd seen sharks, octopuses and manta rays — a species Yap is known for.

That night, we were guests of honor at a barbecue coordinated by Joe's host family. We were again humbled by their customary generosity; they showered us with handmade purses, lavalavas (skirt-like garments) and more marmars. We dined on taro and breadfruit and drank tuba, effervescent wine made from palm sap.

The next day was our last, and we intended to spend it exploring the island, perhaps taking a hike and then dining at Mnuw, a ship-shaped restaurant that's reputedly the island's best. But during breakfast, a tropical depression took hold and fierce winds blew the bay's water inland, flooding the town and its stores. We spent the morning helping shopkeepers move wares to higher ground. The storm eventually died down, but winds kept up, and businesses stayed closed for the rest of the day, so we lazed in our hotel room.

Sometime after midnight, a taxi driver sporting a thu and a big, bare belly took us to the airport for our red-eye flight. We were relieved the extreme weather hadn't delayed our plane.

As we flew out, I thought about how I'd answer that question now: "Where the heck is Yap?" Before visiting, my answer was simple: east of the Philippines and directly north of the Indonesia-Papua New Guinea border. But after my experiences, I knew I'd never answer that way again. The question opened the door for me to say much more. It offered a chance to explain the place, its beauty and its generous people.

http://travel.latimes.com/articles/la-tr-nuyap11feb11

Picture taken on Pohnpei-immediately following the announcement of our site placements, it began to pour rain so we took the opportunity to slide down a massive grassy hill at our training site...fitting the hippie Peace Corps stereotype perfectly. Pictured: Sean (Palau), Charless (Yap), Paul (Yap), me, Rebecca (Pohnpei), and Sarah (Palau)

I wanted to share my buddy Charless' website. He is the handsome Nebraskan second to the left in the above picture, and has rapidly become one of my best friends on the planet. Perhaps this happens automatically when you live in the same atoll (he's on Mog Mog, about 6 miles north). I think there's more to it though...he's a pretty cool dude. Anyhow, his site is far better than this one, so perhaps you just start checking his instead. Here's the link:

http://www.xanga.com/Tanthalas

In addition, I'm aware that the links on my site aren't live. For those with complaints, I'd like to state that a while back my Dad managed to live in Antarctica for two years without any "live links," in fact he did just fine and didn't even have a blog site...or email, or a satellite phone, didn't even get mail.

I took this picture on Satawal Island last summer and was just told by fellow Peace Corps Stevie that her folks are blowing it up and putting it in their bathroom. If anyone else is interested please send me some money.

All is well in the Western Pacific...at least I can say so for Ulithi and Yap. I write from Yap. I came back last Wednesday for Yap Day. My buddy Lawler pointed out to me in an email the other day that it seems like every time I post on this blog site or else send emails it seems like I'm on Yap. This is partially true for two reasons. 1- I am unable to update my blog from Ulithi due to what I think are server restrictions (although I cannot complain as internet access is not all that common on low lying coral atolls in the middle of the ocean). Luckily I have Momma back home to help me, but the second reason is that its still a bit overwhelming for me to try to keep both worlds fully operational...US and Micronesian. I find myself focusing on the Micronesian world while on my island, and the US world for the random week that I am on Yap.

I suppose what I'm doing right now is explaining myself, and providing excuses for why I haven't been the best at keeping in touch lately (as usual). The reason for my explanation is that I feel really guilty about it. A while back I left my favorite people on the planet, with excited plans to someday return to them, but have gotten so wrapped up in a group of new favorite people on the planet that I have for the most part neglected to keep in touch with the former. I apologize. People always give me the out, saying "well you're serving overseas in the Peace Corps," but I still feel really guilty.

Anyhow, when I come in to Yap I do my best to get slightly caught up, which still never happens as then it's important to me to spend time with all of the Peace Corps volunteers here as well. I think my host family on Yap fears that I am involved in some sort of large-scale drug cartel here on Yap proper as when I come back I seem to spend all of my time in the office, instead of at the peaceful house in Denai.

Yap Day last Thursday was great. It was hosted by the Gagil municipality this year, and was MC'ed by Larry, my boss, and role model. He did an excellent job keeping everything running smoothly, as did all the villages that danced. I was still struck as I watched the intricate dances and thought to myself, A: this is my home right now, and B: this is completely authentic...not some tacky Hawaiian Luau or production for outsiders, but a celebration of the unique and thriving culture here in Yap State. I have heard rumors that next year there may be dances from the Ulithi Atoll as well demonstrated at Yap Day. I hope so, because I'm guessing we would win...of course I'm a bit biased.

Anyhow, the dances and cultural demonstrations carried into Friday. I wore my thu traditionally, blinding the crowd with my powerful white thighs. Peace Corps had a booth in the shade which we shared with the JOCV volunteers (Japanese Overseas Cooperation Volunteers...known throughout Yap as Japanese Peace Corps).

All is going really well in Ulithi. My good friend Xavier (displayed in the pictures on my post on tuba) has been on Yap for the past month and a half to be with his wife as she gave birth to a baby girl. This meant I had the Freshmen and Sophomore classes all to myself. I was given a big affirmation that my presence here in Ulithi is being felt through the goat project, and as English teacher when I was correcting one of my sophomore's homework assignments a few weeks back. The assignment was to practice writing sentences using past tense and at the same time practicing new vocabulary words. For the vocabulary word "doubt" I was thrilled to read, "We had no doubt that Joe was the father of the new goat." Grammatically perfect.

Here is some information on tooba, my new drink of choice here on Falalop. It is quite common in the rest of the world...I guess I was always just ignorant in California...my vision blocked by the products of Budweiser, Tecate, and Pabst Blue Ribbon. Anyhow, check the wikipedia encyclopedia at the following link...unfortunately it doesn't mention the biggest drinking circle on Falalop, Ulithi (mine).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm_wine

Alright gang, I think that's all I've got for now...oh wait, here's a funny story...well I think so anyway. One of the funniest ladies on the island named Beya was sitting eating valentine heart candies with her daughter last week. Her daughter, named Jalan is a really cute little girl who is really young and therefore has yet to begin studying English in school. She took a look at the green heart she was about to eat and told her mom. "It says A-L-W-A-Y-S." She then asked, "Mom, does that mean "Kiss me Please" or "Come on Baby?"Ela, isa nguuch irel taffah ngaligami. Adios nga?Ngaang Choeg,Joe

On February 14, 2007 Stevie, aruably the most

attractive goat in Ulithi, gave birth to a male which

has been appropriately named by the students

"Valentino." Thanks to the efforts of many across

Micronesia and a generous donation from California,

there are not 5, but now 6 healthy goats on Falalop,

Ulithi, accompanied by (of course) a lot of

excitement.

More news to come.

I'm going to spare you all the hippie talk about my world perspective growing, and feeling a greater connection to humanity after spending time in a brand new part of the world and observing a new way of life. Obviously though, this trip had a big impact on me...

What I will say is: Go to Indonesia. I just had too much fun.

Pictures:

1. Buddies: back: Charless, Adam, Scotty, Ngaang, Paul,

Front: Stevie, Rachael, Cynthia, Sarah

2. Scotty (fellow Ulithi volunteer) and a macaque (? think) monkey on Mt. Rinjani Lombok

3. Surfing Medewi Point (west coast Bali...Java in background

4. Me and a couple babes on the east rim of Mt. Rinjani, Lombok

5. rafting in North eastern Bali

Its official...I'm halfway through my two year contract here in Micronesia. Actually a couple of months beyond that. In recognition of the midway point, Peace Corps brought our entire group together for a training session/opportunity to share stories and celebrate what we're all doing.

On December 5th we all met up on a tiny outer island of Pohnpei named Nahlap. It was incredible. I'm really proud of our group, and I was completely energized by seeing them and sharing our experiences thus far. I'm happy to report that great things are happening out here in the Federated States of Micronesia. For example, one volunteer on Kosrea had his high school students write to Hormel foods to tell how much they like Spam. They were promptly sent a care package full of canned meat, and I'm guessing will be writing to other businesses in the near future. In addition health centers are going up, marine environments, enthusiastic teachers in classrooms, and most importantly great friendships thriving across cultures (yup, I'm still pretty excited about the Peace Corps program overall).

Anyhow, it was awesome. I think 2007 will be full of good stuff out here.

Right now as I lay outstretched on the couch in the Peace Corps office typing this message, a brave crew of livestock are crashing their way across the Western Pacific. Their vessel: The Caroline Voyager. Their destination: Falalop, Ulithi.

A year of emailing, the collaborated funding of the Yap State Department of Education and a few generous donors from home, advisory support from the University of Guam, the coordinated efforts of various Peace Corps Volunteers, and clutch help from agricultural extension officers in Pohnpei, have yielded the apparent success of importing goats to Falalop Ulithi!

I imagine the goats are now island hopping somewhere in Western Chuuk. They are scheduled to arrive in Uilthi, after a voyage over 2,000 miles, sometime next week. Just in time (as our principal points out) to be supporting cast members in the manger scene at the OIHS Christmas program this year.

Look forward to many posts on these fine animals in the near future. I wish I could post some pictures, but have yet to meet them. For now you'll have to settle for a glimpse of what these five goats can expect to see on Falalop.

A massive thank you to all who have been involved in the project.

-Joe

Pictured: Charless (from MogMog) and Rachael (from Fais) aboard the fishing boat

Life hasn't cut me any breaks...This year I'll be spending Christmas and New Years in Indonesia. I've read and heard some incredible things about Bali, and so I'm pretty much ecstatic. At the same time, it is unfortunate that I will again miss Christmas on my island. Last year I joined my family on Yap, and so I have yet to experience the biggest holidays on my island. In addition it is kind of confusing to think that I'm leaving paradise only to go to...paradise.

This trip was prompted by our midsevice conference on Pohnpei...I depart for that at 4:00 in the morning tonight. I'm already midway through my contract of service here. This is in some ways hard to believe, but upon reviewing pictures for the past few hours of all that's happened a year seems inadequate to contain all.

Anyhow, I'll save the deep thoughts for later. Our midservice conference is sure to be excellent. All volunteers (the remaining 22) in our group are being flown to FSM's capital to have our health evaluated, discuss challenges we've faced, share triumphs, discuss the remaining year, ah yes...and I anticipate some very colorful storytelling amongst volunteers. I'm hoping that I will have the opportunity to check in with the Rosario's as well, the family that first looked after me when I arrived last September.

We recognized the opportunity to save a few bucks on the flight from Yap to Guam, and found a decent airfare to Bali, and so we jumped on it. All seven of us are Yap volunteers, one from Palau, and I think one volunteer from the Mortlocks in Chuuk are all bouncing off the walls right now as we are hours away from beginning what promises to be a pretty decent vacation.

I am very relieved to be back on Yap, and out of the way of the recent typhoon. When it passed through Ulithi, it was just shy of a tropical depression with strong winds that found me chopping up fallen banana trees the next day (Yes I'm showing off...I'm still excited at the drastic difference between my chores here and home). Anyhow, that storm churning up the oceans paired with the absence of the weekly plane for the past month has left me on edge waiting to see if I would be able to make it off the island for the conference.

On Wednesday, the storm passed, and the Peace Corps dropped $5,000 of your tax dollars to charter a small fishing boat to pull Rachael from Fais, Charless from MogMog, Scott from Asor, and your truly from Falalop. I assure you our input at our conference will be well worth it (I emailed the country director the same message).

The boat ride was great! We sat on the hatch, threw stories back and forth, sat through a good session of horizontal showers, and pulled into port on Yap at 2:30 Friday morning.

Hopefully I'll find ample distraction to keep from missing any of you too much over the holidays. Merry Christmas! For your gift please get in touch with Dan or Anthony for a copy of the cds of a bunch of my favorite Pacific tunes I just sent them (can you guys help me with that?...Ant, perhaps you can pass some copies around at W. Debauchery this year). Enjoy the holidays! Adios.

written 11-18-06

(Pictured: Xavier Lamangthal, expert tooba cutter from Satawal)

Things are in full swing in Ulithi right now, and nothing is slowing down with Christmas just around the corner. With our religious population being 100% Catholic, the birth of Christ is easily the biggest party on the island. To help get ready for the upcoming festivities, the Falalop Youth put together a fund raiser this weekend in the form of a “Fun Night” at the Youth Center.

It was awesome…I’m not sure if I’ve written about Fun Night’s in the past but it is one of my favorite things about living on Falalop. They are usually held at the Youth Center in the middle of the island, and attended by everybody on the island who can dance, or has fun watching others do so. We have an electric keyboard and an awesome sound system here on the island which is set up as the sun is going down, and the party usually goes until 11:00. Right now there are two bands on the island: "Cousins" and "Future Boys."

One of lead singers of Cousins just returned to the island which is a relief as Fun Nights will hopefully happen more frequently now...last year an entire fun night was cancelled when the lead singer of Future Boys was grounded for not doing his homework.

Anyhow, the fund raiser was a big success. There was an international fashion show, with kids dressing up as models from all over the globe, and dancing their way down the runway accordingly. In addition there was some awesome hula dancing from some of the high school students, and as always a hot night of dancing.

In other news, my drinking circle continues to attract more and more members. We were the biggest circle on the island back when we were averaging 8 members a night...now we're up to 12-14 at least each night. In recognition of the need for more juice, I'm learning to cut falooba (tooba).

****When I get more time I will include the steps for cutting here and go into detail...for now, I need to get packed for midservice training. Adios****

So there I was sitting on the beach of an uninhabited island drinking coconut while looking out on the vast western Pacific, when all of a sudden I heard family members Celine and Cindy screaming from down the beach. I looked to my left to see the two woman backing up away from the shore with their fishing poles, and my host bro Tim charging in with a machete. He made his way straight for something thrashing in the water and immediately slashed at it twice with his blade. The next moment thirteen children, a bunch of friends and myself were cheering as Tim pulled a mutilated four-foot black tip shark up out of the water and then pulled Celine’s fish from its mouth I asked Tim later on if he’d ever killed a shark with a machete. He looked at me and flatly said, “yeah.” This took place yesterday, on the island of BulBul about 2-3 miles south west of Falalop.

I went there yesterday with my family, and a bunch of friends for a picnic, and we all really enjoyed ourselves. If you were to picture an island paradise, it would look like BulBul. We spent day hunting for coconut crabs, wrestling with the kids, cooking lunch, gathering turtle eggs, swimming in the turquoise channel between the neighboring island of Yeeawb, and I got in some good practice climbing coconut trees. I’m proud to report that I can now climb trees without notched steps thanks to the help of Boisilus and Ike, and encouragement of my family. Of course I don’t move too quickly, and I need to rest for twenty minutes when I return to the earth, but progress is progress. That’s all I’ve got for now...it's Sunday, and I need to do some lesson planning to prepare for next week. Eat some Mexican food for me.

What am I doing not sharing on this blog more

often! I hope nobody is counting how long its been

since my last post, because its been more than a

couple months. I'd like to make an official

semi-commitment to post more often...in fact I plan on

writing something weekly, or perhaps "almost weekly".

I will not commit to it always being thoughtful or

clever though. I'll leave anything profound or

mountain-moving to the pictures I post, coming soon.

The first thing I ougtta share is that Halloween

this year was the best I have ever experienced

(although that one in high school with all the smoke

bombs by Fremont Ave. is a close second).

It was my second Halloween here on Falalop, and

I must admit this year was better than last. This

year we incorporated trick or treating which was

obviously a big success. There must have been 70 or

80 costume clad kids who came to our house and were

floored to received the gummy eyeballs my mom sent.

Before the Halloween festivities began,

everybody in my family gathered to make costumes for

the kids...two fairies, a vampire and batman. In the

evening was a parade around the island where everyone

said the Catholic Rosary for the last time in

recognition of a recent funeral. Batman and I joined

the somber procession.

When we got back to the house it was time for

all the kids to gather at the Youth Center to start

trick or treating. After little thought I decided I

would be a banana tree.

We trick or treated our way to the church

where most all the community gathered in two groups

facing each other, and had a singing contest. I found

myself on a side with only children who were all

looking to me for leadership...not easy as I don't

know any church songs in Ulithian. Everybody laughed

at me as we went with Jesus Loves Me, and then I

pretended to sing along with a few others that I let

the other children lead. Our side actually won

(anything is possible on Halloween, I guess).

There was then an awesome hula dancing

performance by a couple of the girls, some hip hop

dancing from some other girls, and another dance from

a group of the boys that turned hilarious when all ran

off except for one.

We then all ate some deep fried breadfruit and

called it night. If anybody is looking for a good

party next Halloween, I strongly recommend Falalop

Ulithi.

If you were to ask me how I'm doing, I would

tell you "Taor, ichill fairou choeg." This is the

most cheerful response which is commonly heard here on

the island, and means "Nothing has changed, I'm still

doing the same." The implication is that you're

always doing really well.

I adopted the phrase early on, and it is finally

becoming true. The intense highs and lows that I

experienced early on are starting to level off, as the

novelty of living here is starting to disappear.

We're near the end of a long weekend in

recognition of Independence Day which was Nov. 3rd.

I'm going to run off and find my family who are having

a picnic with our catch from fishing yesterday.

Seral Ngalgich, (See you in the future)

Joe

Pictured: Joe, Dad Teo, Dad Andy, Mom Cindy, Brother Tim, Sister Zorah, Mom Rita, Tim's Girlfriend Avi

(the following is posted by guest writer Cindy Andrews, as requested by Joe):

Ohhh, the pressure…….Where do I, Mom, begin to describe the “Most Amazing Andrews Vacation (to date)” publicly on Joe’s Blog?? Suffice to say, these memories will last a lifetime. This novelette is roughly divided into 4 “adventures”: Palau, Yap Proper, Falalop, and probably a beeline to your sofa after reading this.

It is not an easy trip to make as, in this part of the world, jets may only fly to a particular destination once or twice a week, OR may be scrubbed altogether if a Tropical Storm appears……..in fact, our return to the states began from Falalop, Joe’s island, with a 9 a.m. flight, connecting that night with a 3 a.m. flight which was delayed until 5 a.m., connecting with a 6:30 a.m. flight, which hooked us up to a 7 p.m. flight and touchdown at 11 a.m…….a grand total of 54 hours in the same clothes….hmmmm, not a pleasant visual. But I’m getting ahead of myself…..

Our vacation began in Koror, Palau, where we had our first glimpse of Joe Andrews sequestered behind a window of the Palau International Airport restaurant, shaved head, almost cleanly shaved face, and thu-less. Joe had arrived 3 days earlier for reconnaissance & had already found the perfect breakfast spot, the perfect Mexican Restaurant, and the perfect kayaking adventure. After an enormous in-person greeting, Andy, Tim, Avital (Tim’s girlfriend), Joe and I headed for our first home: The Cliffside Resort. Those first few days were spent “downloading”…..unhurried conversations about everything (read it: unhurried grilling by the parents…poor Joe!). We played cards, drove around the islands, snorkeled, visited museums, and rediscovered food that Joe has been without for the past 9 months. Joe taught us how to chew betel nuts, fun little habit known to locals all over the Pacific Islands….makes your teeth turn a deep crimson red and produces quarts of saliva. We, in turn, found that our refrigerator could nicely chill particular beverages if we opted out of betel nuts.

We spent 3 days out at the Carp Island Resort, an hour away from Koror by boat… in the middle of the Rock Islands. We had the island to ourselves and it was absolutely gorgeous, albeit a bit warm without air conditioning in our cabin. (Note, humidity aside, the heat is not like the normal heat we might experience at, say Furnace Creek, Death Valley. Instead of an oven bake, one might liken it to being zap baked by microwaves permeating hair, scalp, skin~~anything exposed. The locals have all learned not to mess with the mid-day sun.). We played cards, ping pong, walked, and found the hammocks. Palau & Micronesia are known for it’s “wall diving”—vertical walls of hundreds of feet of coral and dazzling tropical fish. We snorkeled (and even scuba dove once) in various locations seeing things such as gorgeous fish, giant clams, blue starfish, sharks, octopus, jellyfish, barracuda, and Manta Rays! As I awoke on my birthday, Joe surprised me with a mar mar he had made for me early that morning…..a mar mar is a flower lei you place on your head. (Joe, it couldn’t have been a more perfect gift!!).

Back on Koror we stayed in the Palau Pacific Resort and reacquainted ourselves with air conditioning. One of the largest highlights of our time on Palau was getting to meet some of the other Peace Corps volunteers (part one of Joe’s worlds colliding), some of whom are stationed in Koror. Sean and Julian are Micro 71’s (they are the 71st group to work in Micronesia); Sarah, Scott, Char-les and Joe are all Micro 72’s. Their jobs range from teaching to helping gather data on the Micro Spirit ship. Sarah gave us a tour of the turtle facility on Palau, where she works, and spent a ton of time answering even my most mundane questions…thanks Sarah! More about the Peace Corps volunteers toward the end.

After 10 days, the 5 of us boarded Continental Air and flew an hour to Colonia, Yap, to which would begin part 2 of the major “collision” of Joe’s two worlds. Yap is one of the four states of the Federated States of Micronesia, and is made up of about 16 inhabited small islands that stretch about 700 miles across the ocean…..(Joe’s island, Falalop in the Ulithi atoll is about one mile by one mile). We were met at the airport by Joe’s wonderful and thoughtful “family”: Teo~Joe’s dad, Rita~Joe’s mom, and Zorah~Joe’s sister, as well as cousins and uncles. Rita had flowers flown in from their home island of Falalop and had made mar mars for all of us~~one for our head and one to hang around our necks. We couldn’t have felt more welcome and the collision of Joe’s world turned out to be a unity! They had 2 vans waiting to take us to the Pathway’s Hotel, where we all enjoyed getting to know each other over dinner. This was also the first time we heard Joe slip easily from English to Ulithian, the native language of Falalop, when conversing with his new family and friends. Rita and Teo are in Colonia for the summer, taking education courses at the community college (we call that re-current training in our school district in California). We will never forget their warm welcome.

Yap Proper (the main land mass) is a low lying group of about 5 bridged islands, and surrounded by coral reefs. It has paved roads, cars, stop signs, about 2 higher end accommodations, and has the feel of what Kauai might have been like 120 years ago. Like Palau, it is a diver’s Mecca, but virtually untouched by tourists. Our first stop was the Peace Corps office. It was great to actually see where both e-mails and phone calls home have been emanating all these months. We met others in the Micro ’72 group: Cynthia, Stevie and Rachael, as well as Char-les, Scott and Director Larry. PC Scott, who lives in a village on one of the islands, spent the afternoon showing us all around the islands, including a guided tour of the Micro Spirit, the ship that supplies Joe’s island, Falalop, and the other outer islands once a month. We saw the massive Men’s House, where they held Culture Day last year. Ancient giant stone money that I had learned about in an anthropology class about an eon ago can be seen leaning in front of structures and around villages throughout the islands. It is actually still used today as local custom (along with US currency).

Joe’s family threw an elaborate bar-b-que for us the next night…..Guests included extended family, friends and neighbors from both Falalop and Yap. Rita, Joe’s other mom, and Joe’s sister T.J. presented Avi and me with lava lavas, which are hand woven skirts that the women of Falalop make and wear exclusively after coming of age. For the bar-b-que Rita had breadfruit, taro and bananas flown in from their home on Falalop….add to that fish, chicken, beef, rice, salads, hot dogs, potatoes, sushi, and other local foods, plus the TUBA drink they had brewed and we all felt like royalty! Joe made us tear up with the words he spoke to the group about his families….Truly a night to relive in our minds for a long long time.

We said good-bye to Tim and Avi, who had to head home, and Andy, Joe and I boarded a little twin engine and headed 120 miles to the Ulithi Atoll where Falalop is located. I caught my first glimpse of the islands about 40 minutes into our flight…you know, those postcard perfect turquoise blues that hint at shallow waters alive with coral surrounding little swaths of jungled islands….and not any sign of cars, pavement, or speeding tickets.

We climbed out of the plane and onto the runway, which is a clearing in the jungle, and dozens of islanders were sitting on the ground in front of the Airport/Post Office to see who had come. This is a favorite activity every Monday when the plane comes to the island, and then resumes on the beach every month when the Micro Spirit ship comes to bring supplies and an occasional traveler. In the 5 days that we were on his island, the people of Falalop couldn’t have been more genuine and welcoming. Shy by nature, they would give us a shell, show us how to prepare some local food, or sing us a song. Apparently Andy and I are the first Peace Corps parents to ever visit the island, so we were a certain curiosity to the islanders.

Besides everyone else on the island, we were greeted by Celine, Rita’s niece, who came with mar mars for each of us, huge warm smiles and a sense of humor that wouldn’t quit. Again, we were given a welcome that was fit for kings. We got into a truck (one of the four vehicles on the island) and were chauffeured through the jungle to the Hotel California, Joe’s home, which is located in Rita and Teo’s yard. After seeing pictures and hearing stories about Joe’s new home, I about pinched myself when I actually stepped inside…….first off, he’s got a bigger place than at home (must do something about that to lure Joe back to the states), new floor on which he sleeps sans mattress, mosquito net, and cute little geckos that cling on the walls and ceiling and are not very well toilet trained.

Our room was located in Teo and Rita’s blue cinderblock home, which is probably one of the nicest homes on the island. The amount of preparation that Rita & Teo made in our behalf was absolutely astounding, and had obviously taken weeks of planning.…Since they had to remain on Yap to attend classes, their hospitality was abundant in absentia. Teo had ‘borrowed’ an air conditioning unit from the high school office window, and installed it in our bedroom window for Joe’s wimpy parents. Rita had enlisted niece Celine to be our housekeeper & cook. For the next 5 days, Celine saw to our every need: cooking unbelievable dishes, filling the shower bucket, teaching us card games and keeping us in stitches.

Falalop…..…gorgeous tropical island, swaying coco-palm and breadfruit, banyan and fig trees, heavily jungled with footpaths that wander past huts and homes, an occasional pig or two, taro patches, flowering bushes and trees, sun and humidity so stifling that the locals know to respect it, beaches thickly layered with ancient coral and shells, kids tagging along and hanging all over Joe, shy and semi untamed dogs, happy kids playing safely all over the island (in fact, in our 5 days we never heard one argument or see one tear from a child), Men’s’ house, Women’s house, Catholic church, elementary school, Outer Islands High School (where Joe works), Community Center (a covered basketball court where everything from dances to elementary school graduation takes place), electricity, no television, 2 local stores located in private homes selling rice, dish soap, spam, top ramin, and other staples, a smart population of 250 who have collectively the finest singing voices I’ve every heard…..this is Joe’s home. (All of my English teacher friends are rolling their eyes at the preceding “sentence”!!)

We walked around the island, which took about an hour. Joe showed us the Outer Islands High School, where he works, is located next to the airstrip. We saw the teachers’ room and Joe’s open air classroom, but unfortunately couldn’t see either the library or the computer lab where he has focused much energy these past months. One complete wing is missing the roof, which was lost in a typhoon in 2003. It is scheduled to be replaced as soon as budget allows.

BLUE. Any hue you mind can conjure up….that’s the sea around Falalop and the other islands of Micronesia. Absolutely stunning. We snorkeled in the incredibly clear surf, which had been pretty churned up by a fledgling tropical depression (that turned into a major typhoon killing over a hundred in China a week later).

One day was “Youth day” and the entire day was a festival to honor the youth of Falalop. It was held at the Community Center, which happens to be located across the path from Rita & Teo’s home. We were told that 3 weeks prior had been “Men’s Day” and a week later Women’s Day. Games and races dominated much of the day except at noontime when families sent handwoven baskets of food to share. That night, there was a community dance, and Andy & I were even asked to dance by the locals!

One of the major tasks for the men is making sure that there is plenty of Tuba for each night’s Drinking Circle. Men tend to 4 or 5 coconut trees tapping the growth spears that appear between the coconuts. The end of the spear is sliced off about a quarter of an inch, and then a tourniquet type knot is tied to force the flow of the juice. A coconut shell is hung from this spear to collect the juice, to which is then added yeast. The men do this 3 times a day, and after dinner, the bottles of juice, called Tuba, are shared at the Drinking Circle. Andy and I were invited to join Joe’s circle &, as women are usually excluded, I was flattered. Happily, we brought pistachio nuts to share, so we were included for the following 4 nights. The Tuba doesn’t have an unpleasant taste, though not really like coconut juice. Apparently the yeast makes the Tuba mildly alcoholic, but I didn’t notice.

The Caroline Voyager, supply ship to the outer islands, dropped anchor one afternoon, and the entire island ended up on the beach to sit and watch the dingy empty its goods. In the pouring rain, a line of men passed the supplies from the dingy up the shore “fire brigade” style to the waiting truck bed. Of course, Joe and Andy were in the thick of it.

Celine had a going away party/birthday party the last night of our stay on the island….besides us, she invited Louch, who was celebrating her birthday, the Drinking Circle, which included Louch’s husband, various kids, and other neighbors. Of course, we all sang “Hoppy Bir-day to You”. I don’t know how she did it, but Celine served coconut crabs her husband had gathered, chicken, molded rice, papaya, breadfruit, fried breadfruit chips, and hot dogs, among other dishes. She also made mar mars for Louch, and then 3 more for our departure. This woman was absolutely amazing, and a ton of fun.

The next morning, Peter, our PMA pilot, braved the Tropical Storm Billis to fly Andy, Joe and me back to Yap for our connection. As I kept looking at Peter’s knuckles to see which color they were, I decided that my own knuckles didn’t need to be quite as white.

Our Continental Micronesia flight was scheduled to take off at 3:00 a.m., so we had been invited by the Peace Corps volunteers to a bar-b-que that evening at Scott’s house in a village in the north. Char-les, PC teacher on Mogmog Island, Rachael, PC teacher on Fais Island, Stevie, PC teaching on Yap, Cynthia, PC in health care on Yap, and Scott, who had been working on the Micro Spirit Ship, took great care of us. Scott’s host father invited 3 of his friends, all of whom were chiefs of their villages! We hardly noticed the downpour as we enjoyed roasting hot dogs over the fire under Scott’s newly built platform home. Cynthia, Rachael and Stevie even made us an amazing cake for dessert! We felt in awe of ALL of the PC volunteers we met both here and on Palau, and are so grateful knowing that they “have each other’s backs”. Smart and enthusiastic, (and TONS of fun) they are giving 2 years of their lives in such humanitarian endeavors thousands of miles from home…. we are immensely proud of all of you! You are heroes and you are making a difference….Absolutely humbling, in our opinion.

Looking back, it was hugely important for us to see Joe in his world~~~meeting his Peace Corps family…meeting his mom and dad…...watching him interact with his friends and neighbors…..breaking into the Ulithian language with everybody…seeing the kids following him around like puppy dogs; pulling out the guitar with The Drinking Circle. Being able to experience one iota of Joe’s daily life on his little island was worth the cost of the trip, (which we will be paying for for the next few decades). Thank you EVERYBODY, especially Joe. Now if our mosquito bite welts heal, and chills and fever subsides, we will be truly gratified!

Cindy Andrews~~Mom

5:40 AM...2 hours and twenty minutes left on Yap proper. I will soon be flying 7.000 feet over the Pacific ocean making my way back to my home in Ulithi. The past month and a half has been completely packed with action, and I am very anxious to get back to Falalop and focus. As usual I don't have time to write a proper post. There are many things I was hoping to complete over the past week that I haven't. This has been one of my most consistent stressors during my Peace Corps experience, and the things I speak of are almost all related to remaining in better touch with you friends and family back home. I apologize if you too are aware of how distant I am, or how much you deserve to hear from me. Its coming soon...hopefully by the beginning of the school year.

I plan on finishing my previous blog on my Micro Spirit trip sometime in the near future (it was easily one of my biggest highlights of my time in Micronesia). Another highlight was the arrival of my family this past June, and having the opprotunity to share my new life with them.

I thought that it might be fun that rather than I publish a blog on it, I hand this one over to my mom to give you a fresh perspective on my experience. I will then come back and add any necessary commentary afterwards.

Unitl my Mom posts, we'll have to rely on the folling pictures to tell the story. I wish you all well.

Much Love,

Joe

Family in Micronesia

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=2AZNWzFo4bsXrg

My First Voyage Aboard the Micro Spirit

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=2AZNWzFo4bsXvw

As I mentioned a few weeks back, my good buddy Dan recently had his book published. For those of my college buddies, yes this is Franklin...the guy that lived with French and me in Thornton Hall for almost a month while taking internet classes (and had new friends coming by asking for him months after he left)...For those of you beachouse Moms, this that same good looking, charming Dan who drops in year after year...for those of you Peace Corps volunteers this is the who lived in the van with Haley and I after college for a couple months...for those of you high school buddies...This is Dan Franklin!

Well as you may have guessed I am extremely proud of him. More importantly, the book is excellent and I strongly recommend it. It is entitled "So You Graduated College" and is written as a financial guide to life after college. Its really fun to read...from Dan's suggestions of using creativity to cut dating costs, to his thorough advice on investing and saving for retirement. It has already been picked up by numerous colleges as required reading for courses ($$$ way to go Dan).

It would make an excellent gift for any recent graduate (obviously), or anyone who would like to start planning for the future. You can check the book out by clicking the following link to where the book is listed at Amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0978514904/

Enjoy!

Hey Gang,

He probably wouldn't want me to say anything about it because he's so modest...but my lifelong buddy Dan Franklin just published a book! Its full of financial tips for what to do with yourself after graduating college and with his permission I will soon put some ordering information on here for those of you who want to move out of your parents' house.

In other news, I want to briefly and inadequately thank everybody for all the messages and gifts sent on my birthday. You have no idea how much all that support means to me. To be honest I was feeling pretty low around that time and those messages really picked me up.

In the past couple days I may not have been able to publish a complete blog, but I have managed to finally figure out how to post links, so please check those...the first two on are from a returned Peace Corps volunteer named Neil Mellen who used to be working on my island. Here is a quick message from him on his recent project:

Following 3 years in the Peace Corps I was left

wondering: “What can I do to make a more long term and

sustainable contribution to the people (and students)

in Micronesia’s Outer Islands?”

The answer is Habele.org

Habele is a not for profit, incorporated in South

Carolina, that I have established with two other young

Americans with Micronesian teaching experience. We are

working to raise money in order to grant scholarships

to those Outer Island children seeking to attend

independent schools in the “big” district and state

capitals.

This effort is an extension (and a formalization) of

the personal efforts many former volunteers and

teachers had been making on a private and individual

basis.

I hope you will take a few moments to visit our

website

http://www.habele.org

and our blog

http://www.habele.blogspot.com

in order to learn more about Habele. I will also ask

you to consider making a small online contribution by

clicking on “You Can Help” and then “Make a Donation”

and/or to spread the word about the site and our

efforts. If you have comments or suggestions feel free

to email or call.

Thanks!

Neil

Neil Mellen

HABELE OUTER ISLAND EDUCATION FUND

http://www.habele.org

ha-be-le [v.] to wish, to realize a future; compound of "to make" and

"to be"

As I sit at the computer in the Yap office, I feel the room still bobbing side to side as my home has for the past ten days. As I think I've mentioned in past entries there is a ship that services all of the outer islands of Yap, named the Micro Spirit. Let me backup for a second, Yap State consists of approximately 6 stand alone islands, and I think 9 atolls, most with a large reef, lagoon, and many tiny (a half mile is big) islands. For a nice map of the region (the same map I used to crudely provide the information in the last sentence), please click this link:

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/islands_oceans_poles/micronesia_pol99.jpg

The Spirit is a cargo ship which makes a field trip over 600 miles east roughly every month stopping at most islands depending on scheduled needs and requests. For most outer islanders it is the only link and mode of transportation from their home island to the outside world. The ship carries livestock (pigs, chickens), building supplies (concrete, tin roof, wood), the essentials for small local stores (rice, spam, yeast, sugar, corned beef, coffee, tuna, vanilla creme cookies, and ramen), occasional mail, betel nut, and the toughest crowd of passengers I have ever seen. In terms of an adventurous journey, and gritty, durable passengers, and the Greyhound Bus has absolutely nothing on the Micro Spirit.

I've been hearing of the islands to the east since I've arrived in Yap last October...their beauty apparently unmatched, and their traditional lifestyle practically untouched by western civilisation. On my trip I found both to be true.

With a small window of time between the school year ending (May 26th) and leaving for Palau on June 14th for the best Andrews vacation to date, I didn't think I would have the opportunity to go on the trip until later this summer. This was a bummer because this particular trip would have many of my students on it who could take care of me, and possibly introduce me to their families. I awoke on May 31st to the news that the ship had just arrived in Ulithi, and would be making a speedy trip in order to drop off the students, and pick up teachers in time for summer courses in Yap, and would be back to Yap proper sometime around June 11th. I was ecstatic. I threw aside my plans of drinking coffee, relaxing, and then taking a nap, and bolted for the high school campus to notify my boss I'd be on the ship.

While on campus I raced to label a few boxes of books I would bring out to a fellow volunteer on Fais. When I made it back into the village, my host dad looked at me like he's seen a ghost. "You didn't get on the ship he said?" Me: "No not yet, I've still got to pack" HOst Dad: "The ship left." Me "What?"

I haven't felt that stupid in a long time. A bunch of friends were over at the house and just looked at me. I can only guess what they were thinking. Usually when docked outside of Falalop Ulithi, the ship takes a long time...at least 6-8 hours to offload. I assumed this trip would be the same...well of course this is how they were able to make this a quick trip; by cutting out the offloading. By the time I had returned to the village, the Spirit was already about two miles away from Falalop.

Let's not forget that I am Joe Andrews, and I must say up till now in my life I have been blessed with a considerable amount of luck. It turns out the ship was on its way to Guilap, one of the turtle islands just a few miles south of Falalop, and that there was a fishing boat just about to leave the beach to meet the ship. My host dad made a quick phone call, and told me to hurry. I jumped on that boat and caught the ship, glowing in embarrassment.

For the rest of this entry I won't use as much detail, but I will say it really was an incredible experience. I'll touch on the following themes: Possibly the least comfortable I've ever been over a ten day span, Easily the most hospitality and care from others I've had to accept in my life, and certainly the most most vast difference in culture I've ever intimiately experienced.

On discomfort: hahahahaha wow. The ship has a maximum capactiy of 125 passengers. For eight of the ten days the total Micro Spirit population was well over 200 maxing out at approximately 240 on the stretch between Woleai and Satawal. Don't tell the Coast Guard, or else the captain will lose his licence - no joke. A select organized few are awarded slight comfort in the ships crammed double bunk cabins. These rooms have electrical outlets, a fan, and come a key to a "cleaner" restroom.

Every Peace Corps volunteer I've ever heard of making the trip beyond Ulithi gets a cabin. I din't have one of these (I told you I'd make you proud out here). Those without cabins sleep anywhere and everywhere they please...causing everyone to stake out some territory at the beginning of the trip...perhaps a hammock on the side rail, a mat in the narrow central hallway, under the stars and rainclouds on top of the offloading boats on the front deck, body to body on top of the hatch covered by canvas, a crammed space among fifty - sixty others on the crowded top deck...there are many different ways to go.

When I first got on the ship I kicked off my zorries/sandals and slid next to some of my students on the hatch. When I got up a half an hour later my zorries were gone. That night I slept out on the offloading boats surrounded by students and other youth. When I woke up in the morning, my sheet was gone. I was too stubborn to ask to borrow someones footwear the next morning as I went to visit my Peace Corps friend Rachael on Fais (my first island stop), and so cut my feet on rocks on the way into her village...HOLD ON, this is sounding really negative and tiring so I'm just gonna throw out the funny/uncomfortable anecdotes:

-With no sheet, and a strong breeze, nights were chilly so I began joining the mass of body to bodies sleeping on the hatch. The third night for some reason there was a 3-4 foot space between me and the little kid sleeping in front of me, and I was really cold so I literally grabbed the kid and pulled him next to me like a blanket. This was not an isolated event.

-I awoke suddenly on the 5th or 6th night from some lousy sleep laying in the 4 foot wide hallway in front of the galley to a surge of pain in my left foot. When I looked down I was first surprised to see a fistsized puddle of blood on the floor, and then more surprised to find the cause - a thumb sized cock roach making a meal of a meal of a once small cut on the underside of my foot.

YYyyyaaarrrrrrrr!!!! I'm out of time. I apologize, I'm going to have to come back to this blog and finish it later. I've been scrambling to get ready to leave tomorrow. I'm off to Palau to meet the long lost American Family tomorrow (!!!!). Stoked!!! Adios.