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.
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