There are no empty stomachs here

One of my roommates points by the oven, “Oh yeah, and we caught a rat.”

This is typical. I bent down on my knees and looked at the little rodent that was just chilling in a trap in our kitchen. It was surprisingly cuter than expected with little whiskers, long claws, and a cute little wiggling nose. I pulled out my camera and it jumped around the cage when the flash from my camera went off. Apparently Alfred is going to drown it later today.

our "what are we doing?" faces

But I’m getting ahead of myself… back to Pohnpei! On Thursday we checked into the airport and played some Dutch Blitz while waiting to go through security. This time, we didn't have to pull everything out of our bags and got through with no problem, and sat down to wait while eating breadfruit chips, banana chips, and granola. Finally we went on the plane and were soon in the air – have you ever tried to play four-man Dutch Blitz with only two people? It takes a while.

view from Blue Lagoon

After about 50 minutes in the air, we saw the islands. Kosrae is just one island, there are no out-lying islands around to go visit on the weekends, but that isn't the case for Chuuk. From the window of the plane we watched in excitement as skinny atolls and tiny islands surrounded by coral and covered with sprinklings of jungle flora came into view. There are so many! It was like being introduced to a whole new world. Looking out the window at the main island of Chuuk as we touched down was like looking at home. These tin roofs, jungle backyards, and the sun glinting off the ocean waves are so familiar to me now, and I felt peace coming out of the plane into the humidity.

Leonard and Janna Quaile - They
have been fantastic people to
travel with these last few days!

The airport was crowded; at least it seemed to be after the “crowds” of people that I am now used to. We all got our luggage, and went to join the principal of Chuuk SDA School, Mr. Walter John, and the security guard/driver, Junior. Junior is a big guy with big hands and a bigger heart. He has a scar on his throat where he was shot with a slingshot dart, but that’s a whole different story. Tough guy.

Heading out of the airport we were surrounded by people; it was what I’ve become accustomed to: skirts and long hair, family shops and banana trees, dogs with matted fur and naked children, and groups of younger and older men chewing betel nut and watching us pass by. Through gaps in the trees and houses we could see the ocean, a dangerous beauty filled with small fishing boats. The paved street was quick to end, and where it did the potholes began. These streets are terrible! It’s like Rose St. in College Place on steroids. As many potholes in one section as Solomon had wives. There were places that a recent heavy rain had made the street into one big gray lake that our van just dove right into. We swayed back and forth while watching how the Chuukese people interacted, and when the van slowed to almost a complete stop we braced ourselves for the big bump that was guaranteed to follow.

Finally we got to the campus and pulled through the gate. Chuuk SDA School is a lovely little place, the entire campus is bigger than Kosrae SDA School, and has many more buildings. There’s a full high school here, whereas Kosrae’s School went to ninth grade.

Mr. John is a man who loves to entertain, so once we arrived we were hurried to some chairs to watch a tribal dance performed by the sixth graders. They waited behind green banners for the drums to start, whispering and giggling like all kids do. Then the drums boomed and we watched as the girls and boys twirled their fingers and hips to the beat, waving pieces of blue cloth tied onto their fingers. The girls wore sarongs over jeans and white shirts, and the boys wore grass crowns on their heads and grass skirts over their underwear.

It was fantastic. They put leis around our necks and crowns on our heads. Jules and I waved hello to the other SM here already, Michellana, and exchanged entertained glances with Mr. Quaile. When the dance was over we made our introductions and then brought our stuff to our apartment.

Jules and I share the apartment with four other girls: Michellana (Mecha), and three girls from the Philippines: Jessa, Jobeth, and Janet. Our room has air conditioning, two sets of bunk beds, blue curtains, and lots of storage space. Usually the electricity turns off during the night, but it didn’t for the first night, so the AC ran most of the night. I slept under an actual blanket it was so cold.

That evening they took us out to eat at the Blue Lagoon Resort, which is right down the street. Since the last time I went out to eat was at the Spaghetti Factory I thought it was only fitting that I order pasta. After a long wait – spaghetti with red sauce and mushrooms had never tasted so good. And oh goodness, I had apple pie. That first bite… that first explosion of cinnamon and apples and autumn was so incredible. For those five minutes it finally felt like September.

Breakfast - the most important
meal of the day!

The next morning – Friday – we were invited to eat breakfast with the principal and his wife. While I was expecting just something simple, I was soon to be proven wrong. Apparently, Jothy is legendary all through GMM for her cooking. So. Much. Food! There was cold cereal, rice, oatmeal with toppings, cantaloupe, oranges that were actually orange, apples, papaya, sweet pineapple, bananas, raisin bread, homemade bread, perfectly done scrambled eggs, and three types of juice. There were these potato things that I’m not sure of the name, but it was like the god of all fries. It was a bit of mashed potato wrapped with a tortilla-like shell and then rolled in breadcrumbs, fried, and then made perfect with a touch of ketchup. I’m such an American. We tried to finish a dish just to have Jothy fill it right back up again (Judelle, come visit your uncle and aunts over spring break and we shall eat all the food).

After that we finished unpacking and did a town trip – yet another trek over those potholes. We stopped at five different stores (apparently that is typical) and spent way too much at every store. We bought a 50 lb bag of rice for $20.93, so that was quite the investment. Rice for dayz! When we got back we had just sat down for our first us-made meal in Chuuk when Jothy knocked on the door, “Come! I made supper.”

You don’t say no.

There was rice, all kinds of tropical fruit, bread, and homemade pizza. When finished, we waddled over to the church for vespers and spend the next hour fighting with our eyelids. The next morning we ate breakfast with the principal and his wife again, and then there was potluck after church. In the short time I've been here, I have come to realize that there are no empty stomachs at Chuuk SDA School. Not if Jothy and Auntie can help it! 

If I come back from Chuuk and you don’t recognize me, please just point me to the gym.

So, I finally found out what I’ll be teaching. I spent Sunday evening pouring over the limited material that I have available for me to teach third grade English, fourth grade Science, eighth grade Science, tenth grade Biology, eleventh grade Chemistry, and twelfth grade Physics. And here I was thinking that I would be done with that class forever… hey, if I only have one textbook that is the teacher’s edition, I’m so thankful that it is for physics.

This blog post can be summarized in three statements: I am in Chuuk. I am teaching science. I have eaten a lot of food.

Cheers!