Beginning with my June 2008 post "It's Been Five Years," the following is the continuing story of my travels from the United States into Micronesia ~ Pohnpei, Guam and Saipan ~ and my life since June 2003.
Saturday, August 2, 2003 (continued) ~ Pohnpei
Work's going well. Very productive day, yesterday, but by 4 p.m., I was beat. The last few hours of the day are often like that. You never know which way you're going to be pulled, or what new thing will be dropped in your lap. Very collaborative atmosphere for the most part. We review/edit each other's work, which I like. I got some real good criticism of some things I was working on, which I'd wanted for years, but never got.
The whites in the office ~ mehn why; haoles; gringoes; gaijin; gwai lo ~ seem to keep to themselves more than they should. Two of them anyway. The AG doesn't. And I don't. There's a young (26 yr. old) Pohnpein college intern that I've gotten friendly with, who gives me the male counterpart perspective to what Lynn says. They're much alike. They get mad at certain Micronesian mentalities, and mad at the weather with the same passion. Very intense feelings about certain things.
The overwhelming intensity of the place has calmed down for me. I can see details that I couldn't see before. Before, I felt like Dorothy stepping out of her black and white house from Kansas into a technicolor Oz. (Dorothy handled it a lot better than I did.) Now that I'm comfortable driving, I can sightsee a little better while driving.
My car's getting filthy inside, and I'm not sure why. I leave the windows rolled up when it's parked because you never know when it's going to rain.
The only gas stations here are Mobil Oil. There's only one airline service, Continental Micronesia, only one phone service, FSM Telecom. Sheer, out and out monopolies. People here resent it, and I can understand why. No competition, higher prices, much higher for those things than elsewhere.
I don't use a hair dryer anymore. I have a 20 minute drive to work, so with the windows down, it dries on the way in. I brush it when I come to a stop or slow for traffic. I think I may grow a pony tail again, although I'm going to ask Lynn to trim the rest for me this weekend. She did a great job on my beard a few weeks ago.
It rained a lot today. More continuously than it has since I've been here. All morning. Usually, since I've been here, it passes after ten minutes. But the house has been nice and cool. Usually, I sweat for the first hour I'm here after work.
I think I need to trade up to a truck of some sort. My car's good, but it's not always easy getting up my driveway after a rain.
Yesterday started out OK, but the afternoon turned into a bizarre nighmare of things going wrong. I don't even remember most of them. I'd dropped off my laundry at lunch at a place I'd been told did it for you. They did it two weeks ago. I went back after work and it wasn't done. They didn't have quarters. It was four loads worth, including the only sheets I had for the bed. What to do, what to do? Take it back home? Turns out that's not what they did, but the girl suggested I go up the street to a store and get $15 worth of quarters, and then come back in two hours or so, which I did. We got my laundry and I tipped the girl two bucks for doing my laundry.
So Lynn and I went to a famous or infamous little local bar called "Hideaway." A real dive, a local attraction for expats. The kind of place Popeye would've gone to, but smaller. There was one customer in there, an Aussie with a big bushy mustache. I invited him to play pool. Many Aussies here. The ones I've met are most worth talking to. The live broadcast news comes from an Australian network. The first few weeks I was here, I really didn't care to hear the news reported with an Aussie accent. Just too weird. Now, I don't even pay attention to the news.
Lynn went to a funeral today. Three day affairs here. The first night you bring coffee, rice, sugar, bread, pastry. There's much drinking of sakau and coffee, staying up all night. The second day they bury the body and there's a cooked pig and people bring lots of food. The third day, you clean up. Lynn spent the day serving. If you think about it, it's not unlike the Jewish tradition, or probably lots of funeral traditions around the world.
So much betel nut use here. Such a shame. They have the prettiest smiles. And the red-browned teeth just ruins it.
Lynn made me breadfruit salad two days ago. Her mother's recipe. Tasted just like American potato salad, with mayo, salt, pepper, chopped boiled egg, onion. Breadfruit is a pretty bland food, but I've actually developed a craving for it at times. Must have some nutrient in it I need. I'm told it's good with coconut milk. I'm not chasing coconut milk because of the cholesterol issue, but I love coconut juice from the green ones. Most refreshing. I drink a lot of Japanese fruit juice products. And use a Japanese soap that has a real nice light lavender smell.
People's night vision around here is really impressive. We're so used to having everything lit up for us at night. Not so here. Driving a winding mountain road at night with no street lights, you develop a sense of when to flick your brights on and off when driving. You rely on the moon and starlight to light the path. I love the night here. It's cool. The last few nights Lynn and I just sat on the front porch talking. Really late. Last night probably until 2 a.m. Not good for wanting to get up and get to work by 8 a.m., but I have. For some reason, the later it gets, the more we can understand each other without having to repeat ourselves. Thank goodness for roosters.
In order to acclimate, I don't use air con in the house (people here say "air con," not "AC"), but rely on fans. That's all great on reducing the need for electricity. I've also made it warmer in my office, trying to de-acclimatize from the use of air conditioning, so the transition between cold and warm/humid isn't so much. That's helped a lot. Today was a great no sweat day.
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