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, July 8, 2003 ~ Pohnpei
The cat got back in through the cardboard I used to patch the window pane. Threw up or shit on my bedroom floor. Being mean to it and tossing her out doesn't seem to help ~ as repeatedly as I've done it. I want the windows fixed.
At least my next door neighbor, K'Nease, didn't show up last night. The story is that he fell down asleep on the side of the road one night and his head was rolled over by a car, so he's none too bright. Another version is that he was beaten up. He was drunk at the time, either way, probably on Sakau, a local narcotic drink made from a local pepper plant. My boss, the AG, who lives just down the road very close by, befriended him some time ago and now he makes a pest of himself showing up at Mehn Why's (sp?) homes, bumming cigarettes and booze. (Mehn Why is a local term for the whites, like haole, in Hawaiian. I understand it's a bit perjorative. On Yap, I'm told, the whites are called "awshits," because early sailors to the islands used to say "Aw, shit," a lot.)
The locals here get drunk pretty quickly, quiet and morose when they drink, an odd dichotomy compared to them smiling the rest of the day. No women involved in their get-togethers usually, the men in one group, the women in another. So while it isn't exactly high testoterone, the men getting quieter when they drink, it's not exactly balanced with estrogen either. K'Nease is already showing up here, offering to do my laundry, take me places. My boss is away in D.C. for two weeks, so K'Nease had plans on being with me. He called and left four messages on my answering machine last Sunday while I was out diving ~ his plan I think was he was going to show me where the laundry was and keep me company ~ each call progressively slower and thick-tongued.
I actually slept through the night pretty well last night. The ceiling fan and light in the living room died. And sometime during the night the air conditioning went off, but I didn't notice it. Guess I need to buy some floor fans, but I'm quickly running out of places to plug them in.
I wake up very early. An hour or more before dawn. I swear the roosters are crowing Kaselehlie (kah-seh-leh-lee-uh)!!! "Kaselehlie" is the Pohnpeian version of Aloha, and is evidently also Pohnpeian chicken for "Cock-a-doo-dle-doo!!!"
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