HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
There are so many things I'm thankful for today I feel one day is not enough to say them all. I read a little history of the first thanksgiving to both my classes yesterday and made them write what they're thankful for--and many of them said me! That I was a good teacher and helped them understand things! It's so good to hear that because I know I often suck at classroom management and that there are far better teachers out there, but at least they're learning something! After school we had Performance Club; one of our plays is a Nigerian tall tale called "Master Man." I re-wrote the lyrics to "Nowhere Man" so it fit the play and the kids love it! (I'm doing three plays with them and all have an accompanying Beatles/member of the Beatles song--"The Hidden One," a Native American Cinderella story goes with "All You Need Is Love," and the Buddhist story, "How Violence Is Ended" goes perfectly with "Imagine") Anyway, yesterday, after a very encouraging rehearsal of "Master Man" in which I hardly had to remind the students of their blocking and one of my most struggling students was the first to be 100% off-book!, another of my students began to sing the chorus of "Master Man/Nowhere Man" with his own lyrics: "Miss Swanson, you're the greatest, you're the prettiest . . ."
That's where I cut him off and laughingly sent him home, but I sure am thankful for all of those moments yesterday.
I'm thankful for a nice RPCV who invited us over for Thanksgiving dinner, and I'm thankful to be sharing my grandma's corn casserole with my compatriots today.
I'm thankful for Skype allowing me to spend Thanksgiving with my family! And most of all I'm thankful for my friends and family.
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Micronesia Up-dates: WAY Off-Loop Theatre
After an absolutely perfect visit home to Chicago, I’m back to this funny little island in the Pacific, and enjoying my students and my work twice as much as last year, now that I’m not on such a steep learning curve.
Today I started an after-school performance club with my 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students, and I have to say, I can hardly wait til next Wednesday! There is not much that you could call theatre here in Pohnpei, apart from one life-size puppet show public health produces to educate people about HIV/AIDS (though it is rather a good one). The culture is based on oral tradition, but stories are never so much as pantomimed, let alone acted in a full production. So I have the extreme pleasure of introducing acting to the students of Salapwuk.
We started with physical warm-ups, some basic stretching and an 8-count shake-out. They loved it. I mean, if you’ve ever seen a group of actors warm-up before a play, you’ll agree that it’s a pretty interesting sight; but imagine never having seen a play before, never hearing the resounding projection of a classically-trained actor or seeing the physical possibilities of a well-trained body. Then imagine a strange white lady asks you to shake your arms and legs out while counting to 8, and then pretend to chew a piece of bubble gum that grows bigger and bigger as you chew. Of course they loved it: we all looked ridiculous and no one minded a bit.
Vocal warm-ups were next: the rhythmic repetition of consonants—t, d, k, g, p, b, s, z (and because Pohnpeians have trouble with distinguishing these letters), f, v. And wrap it up with a tongue-twister: “When does the wristwatch strap shop shut? Does the wristwatch shop shut soon? Which wristwatches are Swiss wristwatches, since Swiss wristwatches work swell.” (with several explanations about the words wristwatch, strap, shop, Swiss, and swell).
But it was when I introduced a game of charades that I realized I had my work cut out for me. And I’m excited to turn these kids into actors! ;-) I had some actions written down on cards for them to try and act out for the rest of the group to guess. My first student hopped into the middle of the circle, ready to go then . . . nothing. He just stood there, not able to mime holding a hammer and driving a nail in. And that’s when I realized how very foreign the whole concept of acting is here. I got up with him, and together the group figured out that we were building a house. My co-teacher from last year was also in the room; she loves the idea of acting out stories, so she was a big help in getting the kids up and moving. The next few students did a little better, and I’m sure by the end of next week, they’ll be miming everything, probably even miming doing their homework!
I have another exciting opportunity this year to work part-time with Island Research and Education Initiative in producing culturally-relevant, bilingual educational resources and materials. Our first project is to create a set of story books based on local legends. There are social studies, environmental awareness, early phonics and reading skills materials also underway. Please visit our website islandresearch.org to learn more!
Today I started an after-school performance club with my 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students, and I have to say, I can hardly wait til next Wednesday! There is not much that you could call theatre here in Pohnpei, apart from one life-size puppet show public health produces to educate people about HIV/AIDS (though it is rather a good one). The culture is based on oral tradition, but stories are never so much as pantomimed, let alone acted in a full production. So I have the extreme pleasure of introducing acting to the students of Salapwuk.
We started with physical warm-ups, some basic stretching and an 8-count shake-out. They loved it. I mean, if you’ve ever seen a group of actors warm-up before a play, you’ll agree that it’s a pretty interesting sight; but imagine never having seen a play before, never hearing the resounding projection of a classically-trained actor or seeing the physical possibilities of a well-trained body. Then imagine a strange white lady asks you to shake your arms and legs out while counting to 8, and then pretend to chew a piece of bubble gum that grows bigger and bigger as you chew. Of course they loved it: we all looked ridiculous and no one minded a bit.
Vocal warm-ups were next: the rhythmic repetition of consonants—t, d, k, g, p, b, s, z (and because Pohnpeians have trouble with distinguishing these letters), f, v. And wrap it up with a tongue-twister: “When does the wristwatch strap shop shut? Does the wristwatch shop shut soon? Which wristwatches are Swiss wristwatches, since Swiss wristwatches work swell.” (with several explanations about the words wristwatch, strap, shop, Swiss, and swell).
But it was when I introduced a game of charades that I realized I had my work cut out for me. And I’m excited to turn these kids into actors! ;-) I had some actions written down on cards for them to try and act out for the rest of the group to guess. My first student hopped into the middle of the circle, ready to go then . . . nothing. He just stood there, not able to mime holding a hammer and driving a nail in. And that’s when I realized how very foreign the whole concept of acting is here. I got up with him, and together the group figured out that we were building a house. My co-teacher from last year was also in the room; she loves the idea of acting out stories, so she was a big help in getting the kids up and moving. The next few students did a little better, and I’m sure by the end of next week, they’ll be miming everything, probably even miming doing their homework!
I have another exciting opportunity this year to work part-time with Island Research and Education Initiative in producing culturally-relevant, bilingual educational resources and materials. Our first project is to create a set of story books based on local legends. There are social studies, environmental awareness, early phonics and reading skills materials also underway. Please visit our website islandresearch.org to learn more!
Merna’s Questions: Part II
Promised comparison of U.S. to Pohnpei as requested by Merna: Can you compare the U.S. to Pohnpei: schools, grocery stores, streets, homes, baby equipment, snacks, etc
Schools | The Pohnpeian school system, started by European missionaries in the 18th or 19th century, has now been modeled after the American school system. It looks pretty similar to the American school system, but with extremely limited resources. And when teachers have professional development or training, they are given American educational research. Sometimes this is applicable here; sometimes not. There are also 'standardized' tests, but I don't think they've worked out all the kinks of those yet; the 3rd grade test was twice as long as the 7th grade test last year and half of it was in English, even though Pohnpeian is still the primary instructional language through 3rd grade.
The textbooks we use are mostly American, and pretty much irrelevant to Pohnpeian children. It tends to be kind of a craps shoot whether the textbooks you're given will be at all useful to you. I lucked out this year with a great reading textbook—selections from real books, not written-for-textbook selections—and geared toward ESL learners. Many schools have photocopiers, but they frequently don't work for one reason or another—they're out of ink, or, in our case, there's no electricity to start with (we do have a photocopier and a new overhead projector, but we're still waiting for the electricity to be connected).
The buildings themselves are concrete structures with tin roofs and open windows covered in wire screens. There are no hallways—my students don't even really know what a hallway is; the classrooms open out onto the sidewalk. The roofs slope far over the sidewalk to protect teachers and students from frequent downpours, although there is no way to block out the sonorous drumming of these tropical rains during lessons. |
Grocery stores | No one-stop shop; the selection is limited by what comes in on the plane—you can sometimes wait months for one item to come, while there is an abundance of something you really don't need; prices vary greatly from day to day and store to store. Some imports are incredibly expensive (Pohnpeians envy how cheap cereals are in America—I try to remind them how expensive papaya and mangoes are, but they're not interested), while some are relatively cheap compared to U.S. prices |
Streets | Only in Kolonia and the layout of the streets may make sense to someone from Boston, but to this Chicagoan, used to rectangular blocks and names that follow presidential history, Kolonia is a small, but confusing maze, and, unlike Boston where "you can't get there from here", every road seems to connect to everywhere else, so you just keep walking and you'll get there eventually. Apart from Kolonia, there is one road that encircles the island, and mostly gravel or dirt roads shoot off of it to the various communities. There are efforts to get some of these side roads paved. |
Homes | Homes are usually a group of structures: one for sleeping, one for cooking and eating, sometimes one for storage (many of the Pohnpeians I know are hoarders—but they really do re-use a lot), a nahs for sakau. The local style is a wooden structure, usually with a dirt floor and one or two sides with a raised platform about seat height where people sit, cook, store things, etc. Roofs are corrugated tin or thatch. Some people have concrete houses of one, two, or more rooms. Where I live we have both: a concrete, two-room sleeping house, a local-style cookhouse, and a mixed style nahs (concrete floor, wooden frame, corrugated tin roof). |
Baby equipment | Very little: strollers aren't much good on gravel and dirt roads, car seats exist, but not often used—mostly babies are held in the car; baby formula is getting big (but my aunts will be happy to know, there is a "Breast is Best" campaign); |
Snacks | Soda with twice the normal amount or sugar, really sugary candies, and artificially-flavored, highly processed not-food (I don't know how else to describe it—packing peanuts, maybe?) from Thailand and China; these are the favorite snacks of Pohnpeians. If that doesn't sound appealing to you, I'd suggest ripe papaya, mango, or any of the many varieties of banana spread with peanut butter; those are my personal favorites. You can also nibble on sugar cane, and for the true local spirit, try the breadfruit. ;-) |
Friday, August 20, 2010
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Where the Hell is Pohnpei? 158* 15E, 6* 55N
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Camp GLOW 2010!!!
Definition: Camp GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) is a fantastic world-wide Peace Corps initiative to promote gender development by helping young girls to be independent, self-reliant, and educated about themselves and their world.
This past week my fellow Pohnpei PCVs and I led the four-day overnight camp at Nihco Marine Park on Pohnpei. It was everything that camp should be, and brought me back to my camp days at Pilgrim Park and Tapawingo. The following is a full account of our camp—I hope it isn’t too tedious for you all to read, but I am so excited about every detail of how it worked that I had to put it all in!
Day 1
In the pouring rain, the 60-some 8th grade graduates set out from their communities all over Pohnpei to the well-known picnicking beach of Nihco. Though most of us arrived soaking wet, our spirits weren’t dampened and our Peace Corps cheerleader, Mollie, led some fun ice-breaker activities. Thanks to our grant from AusAID and several local businesses (including my friends at IREI, Pohnpei ACE Hardware & ACE Office), the girls each received a tote bag with Kate’s design for our program “Serepein en Camp GLOW” (Camp GLOW Girl), a notebook and pen, and the direction that they would bring these to each of our sessions—they would do more self-reflection in the next 4 days than they probably ever have done in their lives!
The first presentation then began: on the benefits of local foods by Island Food Community of Pohnpei. This was followed by a potluck dinner brought by each girl, PCV, and the wonderful Pohnpeian (and Pakin) ladies who attended the camp with us. The evening’s entertainment was provided by our token male PCV present at the all-girl camp, Albert, with stunning renditions of ABBA, A-Kon, and Tom Petty on the ukulele. I joined in loudly, if not tunefully. Albert escaped after his most enjoyable program, and the rest of us lady PCVs prepared ourselves for some girl talk: when the girls had gotten ready for bed, we had an open discussion before lights-out in the several nahses (like cabins, but without walls) where we would sleep. The girls were encouraged to write any questions they felt uncomfortable about asking aloud on pieces of paper and put them in the ‘question box’ kept in the main nahs where presentations were given. 10:00 was lights out, to the chagrin of 60-some girls and the relief of 20-some Peace Corps volunteers and local chaperones.
Day 2
The morning began with the painstaking process of cooking pancakes for 80 on two kerosene stoves. When we finally finished cooking at 11:00, half-way through the morning sessions, we decided to scrap the idea of pancakes for the remaining two mornings and instead prepare the Pohnpeian fast favorite, doughnuts. So much for nutrition lessons; aren’t home-made doughnuts at least more nutritious than the processed ones? Or than ramen, typical Pohnpeian breakfast fare? Possibly not—but there were bananas and oranges and an endless supply of mangoes!
The morning’s session dealt with substance abuse and covered the big ones: cigarettes, alcohol, beetlenut, sakau, and marijuana. Pohnpei’s Mental Health Department presented. After this session came the really good, all-American camp activities: Amanda and Kate led volleyball and swimming, Erica and K.C. conducted tie-dye t-shirts, Amber taught nutrition and serving sizes (this was a big focus for us this year), and I led dream-catcher making, introducing the concept of Native Americans (before white people came to America) and the concept behind dream-catchers to the girls. The girls were broken up into small groups for these activities and rotated around the activities over the course of two days.
Lunches and dinners after the first day were provided by local women’s groups and included lots of local fare: breadfruit, mango, fish, cucumber, and, of course, rice. After lunch I led a session on mental health which was a lot of fun: I talked about stressors as things which cause bad feelings: sadness, anger, loneliness, tiredness, worry, etc. The girls helped to develop a list of bad feelings. Then they got into groups of two or three. Each group got an unopened canned item, the label covered in construction paper. Then each group had to agree on and write one thing from their lives which causes one of these bad feelings. When everyone had finished, one volunteer went around and collected all the cans in a big bag. We watched as the bag got heavier and more difficult to carry and the volunteer got more and more tired of carrying it. Finally I read out all the stressors and stacked the cans for a very visual pictogram of the girls’ stressors. Number one was chores and other work—sound familiar? Pohnpeian kids aren’t much different than American kids. Other big stressors were break-ups/friends leaving (in the causing loneliness category), family problems, and funerals. Finally, we ended with a brainstorm session on ways to boost your spirits and your self-esteem when you’re feeling low, and of course, some journal reflection. I was really pleased with the way the session went; it was direct, but not too personal, and it also showed the girls how they are all going through many of the same things.
Another rotation session followed, then dinner, then some games and free time. We again ended the night with nahs talks and extended the girls’ curfew to 11:00! I got to sleep about 1:00, after doing my turn at watch from 12:00-1:00, making sure the girls were safely in their nahses, and there were no unwanted nighttime visitors . . .
Day 3
The volunteers and chaperones rose early to prepare a nutritious breakfast of doughnuts and fruit which this time was ready by 8:00. The girls were fed and ready to go by 9:00, and, because we’re on island time, our morning’s presentation began at 9:30. The presentation, given by Public Health, was a humorously told, but informational puppet show (not really puppets, but people wearing large, cartoonish masks), on HIV/AIDs. The girls were encouraged to get tested and to encourage their partners to get tested, and to use condoms. These are topics not generally talked about here, and it was great to have Pohnpeians speaking directly to the girls about it.
The third rotation session followed, lunch, and then Public Health returned explain more academically the physical development of adolescents and to answer questions. The fourth and final rotation session followed and then some much needed (for all) free time for the girls to play, eat dinner, and practice for the TALENT SHOW! At 8:00 on our last evening of camp, the campers and many of the chaperones performed musical pieces and dances (primarily hula); the PCVs closed it with our own adaptation of ABBA’s “Take a Chance on GLOW!” (new lyrics by Kate and Kate). With a further extended curfew for the final night (12:00!), the girls danced, talked, made friendship bracelets (at my command post, the “quiet nahs”—it was, in fact, very quiet! I think we wore ‘em out!)
Day 4
Same deal with the doughnuts this morning. The girls’ last session was to hear the stories of some local women and to ask questions about their lives and the challenges they faced growing up. My host mother spoke about her experiences in the first class at Salapwuk Elementary School and how hard they worked to keep the school going. All of us did a camp-site wide clean-up, prizes were awarded to girls who had shown excellent participation in camp this week, and finally, the girls had a chance to evaluate us (it wouldn’t be Peace Corps without an evaluation!). Before we knew it—before we even had a chance to take a group picture—all the girls were on the two buses, one going to the east side of the island, the other to the west, and we volunteers packed up our supplies and left Nihco to spend the weekend recouping (. . . or not recouping) together in Kolonia.
This past week my fellow Pohnpei PCVs and I led the four-day overnight camp at Nihco Marine Park on Pohnpei. It was everything that camp should be, and brought me back to my camp days at Pilgrim Park and Tapawingo. The following is a full account of our camp—I hope it isn’t too tedious for you all to read, but I am so excited about every detail of how it worked that I had to put it all in!
Day 1
In the pouring rain, the 60-some 8th grade graduates set out from their communities all over Pohnpei to the well-known picnicking beach of Nihco. Though most of us arrived soaking wet, our spirits weren’t dampened and our Peace Corps cheerleader, Mollie, led some fun ice-breaker activities. Thanks to our grant from AusAID and several local businesses (including my friends at IREI, Pohnpei ACE Hardware & ACE Office), the girls each received a tote bag with Kate’s design for our program “Serepein en Camp GLOW” (Camp GLOW Girl), a notebook and pen, and the direction that they would bring these to each of our sessions—they would do more self-reflection in the next 4 days than they probably ever have done in their lives!
The first presentation then began: on the benefits of local foods by Island Food Community of Pohnpei. This was followed by a potluck dinner brought by each girl, PCV, and the wonderful Pohnpeian (and Pakin) ladies who attended the camp with us. The evening’s entertainment was provided by our token male PCV present at the all-girl camp, Albert, with stunning renditions of ABBA, A-Kon, and Tom Petty on the ukulele. I joined in loudly, if not tunefully. Albert escaped after his most enjoyable program, and the rest of us lady PCVs prepared ourselves for some girl talk: when the girls had gotten ready for bed, we had an open discussion before lights-out in the several nahses (like cabins, but without walls) where we would sleep. The girls were encouraged to write any questions they felt uncomfortable about asking aloud on pieces of paper and put them in the ‘question box’ kept in the main nahs where presentations were given. 10:00 was lights out, to the chagrin of 60-some girls and the relief of 20-some Peace Corps volunteers and local chaperones.
Day 2
The morning began with the painstaking process of cooking pancakes for 80 on two kerosene stoves. When we finally finished cooking at 11:00, half-way through the morning sessions, we decided to scrap the idea of pancakes for the remaining two mornings and instead prepare the Pohnpeian fast favorite, doughnuts. So much for nutrition lessons; aren’t home-made doughnuts at least more nutritious than the processed ones? Or than ramen, typical Pohnpeian breakfast fare? Possibly not—but there were bananas and oranges and an endless supply of mangoes!
The morning’s session dealt with substance abuse and covered the big ones: cigarettes, alcohol, beetlenut, sakau, and marijuana. Pohnpei’s Mental Health Department presented. After this session came the really good, all-American camp activities: Amanda and Kate led volleyball and swimming, Erica and K.C. conducted tie-dye t-shirts, Amber taught nutrition and serving sizes (this was a big focus for us this year), and I led dream-catcher making, introducing the concept of Native Americans (before white people came to America) and the concept behind dream-catchers to the girls. The girls were broken up into small groups for these activities and rotated around the activities over the course of two days.
Lunches and dinners after the first day were provided by local women’s groups and included lots of local fare: breadfruit, mango, fish, cucumber, and, of course, rice. After lunch I led a session on mental health which was a lot of fun: I talked about stressors as things which cause bad feelings: sadness, anger, loneliness, tiredness, worry, etc. The girls helped to develop a list of bad feelings. Then they got into groups of two or three. Each group got an unopened canned item, the label covered in construction paper. Then each group had to agree on and write one thing from their lives which causes one of these bad feelings. When everyone had finished, one volunteer went around and collected all the cans in a big bag. We watched as the bag got heavier and more difficult to carry and the volunteer got more and more tired of carrying it. Finally I read out all the stressors and stacked the cans for a very visual pictogram of the girls’ stressors. Number one was chores and other work—sound familiar? Pohnpeian kids aren’t much different than American kids. Other big stressors were break-ups/friends leaving (in the causing loneliness category), family problems, and funerals. Finally, we ended with a brainstorm session on ways to boost your spirits and your self-esteem when you’re feeling low, and of course, some journal reflection. I was really pleased with the way the session went; it was direct, but not too personal, and it also showed the girls how they are all going through many of the same things.
Another rotation session followed, then dinner, then some games and free time. We again ended the night with nahs talks and extended the girls’ curfew to 11:00! I got to sleep about 1:00, after doing my turn at watch from 12:00-1:00, making sure the girls were safely in their nahses, and there were no unwanted nighttime visitors . . .
Day 3
The volunteers and chaperones rose early to prepare a nutritious breakfast of doughnuts and fruit which this time was ready by 8:00. The girls were fed and ready to go by 9:00, and, because we’re on island time, our morning’s presentation began at 9:30. The presentation, given by Public Health, was a humorously told, but informational puppet show (not really puppets, but people wearing large, cartoonish masks), on HIV/AIDs. The girls were encouraged to get tested and to encourage their partners to get tested, and to use condoms. These are topics not generally talked about here, and it was great to have Pohnpeians speaking directly to the girls about it.
The third rotation session followed, lunch, and then Public Health returned explain more academically the physical development of adolescents and to answer questions. The fourth and final rotation session followed and then some much needed (for all) free time for the girls to play, eat dinner, and practice for the TALENT SHOW! At 8:00 on our last evening of camp, the campers and many of the chaperones performed musical pieces and dances (primarily hula); the PCVs closed it with our own adaptation of ABBA’s “Take a Chance on GLOW!” (new lyrics by Kate and Kate). With a further extended curfew for the final night (12:00!), the girls danced, talked, made friendship bracelets (at my command post, the “quiet nahs”—it was, in fact, very quiet! I think we wore ‘em out!)
Day 4
Same deal with the doughnuts this morning. The girls’ last session was to hear the stories of some local women and to ask questions about their lives and the challenges they faced growing up. My host mother spoke about her experiences in the first class at Salapwuk Elementary School and how hard they worked to keep the school going. All of us did a camp-site wide clean-up, prizes were awarded to girls who had shown excellent participation in camp this week, and finally, the girls had a chance to evaluate us (it wouldn’t be Peace Corps without an evaluation!). Before we knew it—before we even had a chance to take a group picture—all the girls were on the two buses, one going to the east side of the island, the other to the west, and we volunteers packed up our supplies and left Nihco to spend the weekend recouping (. . . or not recouping) together in Kolonia.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Oh, where in the world is Ruthanne Swanson?
My P.E.O. sister, Merna, started her 2009 Christmas card to me with this question and then proceeded to ask many more questions to understand where I am and what I'm doing. I thought they were all such good questions that maybe all my friends and family would like to know the answers (and three months later am getting around to answering them), so here is Merna's interview:
- You are teaching teachers how to teach, right?
In theory, I am working with teachers to improve their instruction in English. In practice, there is always a shortage of teachers and so I don't always get to work with teachers, but often take over a class whose teacher is absent.
- Did your Pohnpeien co-teacher go to college?
Yes, she did, but when she started teaching about 30 years ago, she only had finished high school. Nowadays, college is required for a teaching certification.
- What is the weather like there? Rainy? Humid?
I am lucky to live up in the mountains; it's much cooler here than pretty much all of the other communities in Pohnpei which have migrated down out of the mountain jungles. It rains a LOT up here, but the whole region recently experienced nearly three months of drought. There was enough water, but it didn't flow freely from all of our taps anymore. We're back to lots of rain now. In fact, we had a "rain day" at school earlier this week. It rained so much that the students were soaked to the bone before classes even began and the principal called off classes at noon for fear the students would be swept away while crossing the low bridges which were already covered with several inches of water. Fortunately for me, I really like rain!
- What does Nahnsahu mean?
Nahnsahu is the title I was given by my host father's father, the chief of Salapwuk, and I believe it is the title that would be given to the son of my host father. Most men are born into their titles. Some unmarried women have titles, but it is less common. Most women get their titles through marriage; as I had no intention of getting a title that way, I was graciously given one anyway! J
- How many in your extended family?
Ha. I don't even know where to begin. My host father is the fifth of eleven children, and most of his siblings have nearly as many children, and some of their children have children. My host mother's family is about the same. And then Pohnpeians typically count their aunts and uncles as parents and their cousins as siblings. By the time you finish, I'm pretty much "related" to the whole island.
- You mentioned a couple you live with . . . no children?
I live with a wonderful couple who, very uncommonly for Pohnpeians, do not have any children of their own. But more commonly for Pohnpeians, they help their siblings raise their kids whenever necessary.
- What is your house like? I have a vision of a hut . . .
The house I sleep in is a very comfortable, two-room, concrete house with a tin roof and a big porch. But we don't spend a whole lot of time there. Most of our time is spent in the cookhouse which will fit your vision of a hut much more closely. It is a frame of local wood with a corrugated tin roof. It has no walls, but a part of it is a raised floor where we sit and eat our meals and rehash the day's events for hours. The other half is just a dirt floor where we build fires to cook. In most homes, mine included, the cookhouse is second only to the nahs in importance. The nahs is a local style house (wooden frame, usually thatch roof), open on all sides with a raised floor in a П -shape. At big feasts, the important people sit at the top of the П, and the men pound sakau (kava) inside it. In addition to these three buildings, we have several more small, local-style houses which are used to store endless numbers of things: a washing machine for which we have no electricity to run, old clothes, tools, etc. All of these buildings and a lot of jungle make up my home.
- Do you sleep on a regular bed?
Yes, I am one of the lucky ones to have a full size mattress (on the floor) in my room; it's Peace Corps policy in every country that volunteers have their own room and a bed, but what kind is not specified J
- School is in a regular building?
The school consists of two concrete buildings of two classrooms each and a small, corrugated tin building which serves as the office/library/toolshed. Because we don't have electricity, we rely on natural light through large windows covered in security wire screens. The fresh air is great, but the wind and rain often make it difficult to hang posters and display kids' work on the walls.
- We read an article in TFK last fall about school on a barge-like boat in Cambodia in a community close to or on a river that often floods. They had computers and books and "all" the teaching tools for modern teaching—do you also?
Well, we are lucky enough to have a lot of books for a school our size. We have a library with three full bookshelves (though it's a matter of the donators' interests what those shelves contain) and full sets of textbooks for most of the classes and subjects. One problem is that the textbooks are American, and therefore often irrelevant to Pohnpeians. As for computers, well, we don't have electricity, so we don't have computers. The grid has reached all the other communities in Pohnpei at this time, so we are just waiting for the powers-that-be to take enough of an interest in our little community to complete the grid (this is likely to happen around election time).
- What are the curriculum/goals for the grades you are concerned with?
The current education system here is based around the U.S. education system, so the curriculum standards seem pretty familiar to me, except that a major component of the language arts curriculum deals with learning English as a second language which is of course different than language arts in which the primary language used is the student's first language.
- How does one consider their isolation and world-wide experience? Teachable? Understanding?
Well, there certainly is an island perspective; the island is, after all, only about 60 miles in circumference, so life takes place in an area the size of one of Chicago's smaller suburbs, but far less populated. On the other hand, nearly all Pohnpeians have family living in the United States, and so they hear a good deal about life outside the island. There are interesting challenges in explaining foreign concepts to island students, but they seem eager to learn.
- Do they [Pohnpeians] know what we [Americans] have that they do not and is what we have/know important to their big picture? Or do we complicate their world of simplicity?
Excellent questions, and one I grapple with constantly. You see, life seems to have worked seamlessly here in Pohnpei before the entrance of foreigners, some three or four hundred years ago (that is, from the oral history that has been passed down in those many generations). Foreigners brought new diseases and unhealthy foods and behaviors (sound familiar?), but they also brought education, religion, and modern medicine. Yes, Pohnpei is much more complicated today than it was several hundred years ago, but such seems to be the case for any land you can think of. Yes, Pohnpeians are aware of the abundance of American life, and some of it is important to them, and some is not; but you can hardly blame them for wanting to use washing machines instead of scrubbing laundry on a stone by the river, or electric burners instead of smoky fires, or to escape into a Hollywood world for a few hours. It's modernity, no?
- Are they [Pohnpeians] happy existers? Or do they long for/ need the modern world for happiness?
Well, here in Salapwuk, the general consensus seems to be that they could be happy without modern conveniences, but as the modern conveniences have come to them, they cannot be ignored. Salapwuk might once have been self-governing, but it is a part of the Pohnpei State which is a part of the Federated States of Micronesia which has an American-based system of government, and so, the people of Salapwuk must move into the 21st century with everybody else. Pohnpeians are trying to figure out right now how to "not Westernize our culture, but modernize"; this is in fact the current theme of a state-wide essay and art contest at the moment. I think everyone is hoping the kids will have the answer to this question. And why not? The future is, after all, in their hands.
- Are you connected to the internet?
About once a week, sometimes once every two weeks, I go to Kolonia on the north side of the island where I can get mail and access the internet.
- Spiders? Snakes?
Yes, there are spiders—lots, but only one kind is vaguely dangerous, and I haven't come across any so far. Snakes, none, thank goodness! I can't get over my phobia of them. But honestly, there is nothing very dangerous on this island.
- Can you compare the U.S. to Pohnpei: schools, grocery stores, streets, homes, baby equipment, snacks, etc.?
Coming soon!
Monday, January 4, 2010
This post perhaps goes along with the previous one: in addition to simply having more books, I think it is extremely important for the stories of Micronesia to be written down and preserved, but also published and made available to Micronesians themselves and to those outside Micronesia wishing to learn about Micronesian culture. We in the West are fortunate to have an extensive literary tradition which has helped us preserve our culture and share it with others. I often hear Pohnpeiens of the older generations despairing of the loss of their culture and believe the lack of written tradition to be a prime contributing factor.
I have recognized in my co-teacher, Eleanor, a penchant for writing and storytelling, despite discoruagement from her friends and family who feel more strongly for the deep-rooted oral tradition. I believe Eleanor has something to contribute to her community and her culture with her writing. It is to this purpose I make my next request: if any of you are connected to the literary world and know of any grants, scholarships, or publishers who might be interested in the little-explored literary world of the Pacific Islands, please advise me so that I may advise Eleanor. I am also doing some research into this, but it is slow-going with only and hour or two's internet access every couple weeks.
On a related note, my 5th and 6th graders "published" (with markers and construction paper) their first stories just before Christmas break. Nearly all received A's and some A+'s, and I am proud to bursting of their first success as writers, despite the micture of past, present, and future tenses, sometimes all in one sentence ("the mas was go to fising and he will catch a big fish"). I look forward to seeing more improvement in the coming year and I know their pen pals at Palatine's Paddock Elementary School look forward to their writing as well!
Thanks to all of you who sent books! I'm looking forward to using them this week! The students will be able learn all about genres with the books you sent!
I have recognized in my co-teacher, Eleanor, a penchant for writing and storytelling, despite discoruagement from her friends and family who feel more strongly for the deep-rooted oral tradition. I believe Eleanor has something to contribute to her community and her culture with her writing. It is to this purpose I make my next request: if any of you are connected to the literary world and know of any grants, scholarships, or publishers who might be interested in the little-explored literary world of the Pacific Islands, please advise me so that I may advise Eleanor. I am also doing some research into this, but it is slow-going with only and hour or two's internet access every couple weeks.
On a related note, my 5th and 6th graders "published" (with markers and construction paper) their first stories just before Christmas break. Nearly all received A's and some A+'s, and I am proud to bursting of their first success as writers, despite the micture of past, present, and future tenses, sometimes all in one sentence ("the mas was go to fising and he will catch a big fish"). I look forward to seeing more improvement in the coming year and I know their pen pals at Palatine's Paddock Elementary School look forward to their writing as well!
Thanks to all of you who sent books! I'm looking forward to using them this week! The students will be able learn all about genres with the books you sent!
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