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.
Tuesday, August 5, 2003 ~ Pohnpei
Lynn, for reasons totally unrelated to what Peter tells me about how to treat her and not to trust her, likes Peter, but also doesn't trust him. He's got a great sense of humor, and is very forward and direct, like Lynn. They've both spent time on Guam, and that "American-izes" them a lot.
Lynn says, because she suspects for reasons I don't comprehend, that Peter lies about his heritage ~ that he's not Pohnpein, but Mokolese, a different island. He's says he's pure Pohnpein. Mwokiloa (Mokol (ph)) is an atoll about 100 miles away. Lynn is fiercely possessive of her paternal link to Pingelap, which is somewhere between here and Kosrae, the State (of the four) to the east of Pohnpei. East to west, it's Kosrae, Pohnpei, Chuuk, Yap. This whole country has 125,000 people less than the rinky-dink city I left, and the inter-tribal and clan rivalries are incredible. There are five kingships on this island. But that's nothing. The kings are called N'marki (ph). Everyone else has titles upon titles.
Take every racial/ethnic conflict you can imagine in the States and just condense them, then spread them out over a million square miles of ocean. Back home, depending on where you live, it's between black and white; or it's white and latino; or in certain cities, it's white and other groups ~ Iranians, Iraquis, Arab, whoever we've decided to pick a fight with at the time. Or it's between different religious groups. The more things are different, the more they are the same. The ACLU wouldn't have a clue what to do here. I certainly don't. Yet.
Both Peter and Lynn seem to know me very well on an intuitive level. Both have their own, but not so different, way of teaching me what it means to live here. Some explaining, more and more just throwing me in the water to teach myself to swim.
I'm going to hate not being with Lynn, but I understand it's probably for the best for both of us. Such passion here.
It's raining right now. On. Off. The soft, gentle Microneisan rain I love. Lynn and I are going to talk, and, more importantly, be with each other today. I don't know what will happen after, let alone today.
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