I'm 22!

My 22nd birthday was last Tuesday and it was a wonderful celebration here in Chuuk. It was a school day and upon arriving to St. Cecilia I realized that I have never gotten to celebrate my birthday in school. The Sisters picked me up at 7am as they do everyday after mass at Holy Family, our parish which is right next door to Saramen. They greeted me with maramar, a decorative necklace or crown-ish adornment usually made of flowers, given to people when they arrive in Chuuk or on special days This one was a necklace made of shells. I received many other pieces of maramar on my birthday. At school while beginning my first period class of 7th graders, Sr. Toni pushed her students into my classroom, who then began to sing happy birthday in english with my students. The 8th graders sang too, and some of my students gave me small gifts. Mariano, my principal, gave me a new mumu. I never thought I would be excited for a mumu, but it is the first one that is my own, all the others i have are handed down from the JVs. Mumus are the formal dress here, we wear them to church and sometimes i teach in them.

After school, I was resting in my apartment when Jessie came in and told me I wasn't allowed to go downstairs because they were cooking me birthday dinner. So I obeyed and a little while Jessie came back saying Ellen had just called. Ellen lives at Xavier in the other JV community 45 minutes away, saying that she was downtown and wanted to take me to the store we call "Guam" (because it is so nice) to buy me candy for my day. So i quickly throw on my skirt and t-shirt, the women don't go out in anything that doesnt cover our knees and shoulders, and get in the truck. Lincoln, Marcos, Monica, and Jessie all come along and soon we are at a restaurant. One of the only few in Chuuk, as I walk in Colleen, Josh, and Katie pop out from behind the seats- explaining that they were taking me out to dinner and it was a surprise! This is a big deal in Weno.

Dinner was great. Afterward we went back to Saramen for cake and presents. Those were a surprise too. The downstairs apartment was all decorated with signs and confetti made out of construction paper. I never expected presents but a got a new skirt, and a bunch of things for my apartment. I ALSO got mancala, which Jessie bought in advance from the states. The last present was a poem that Josh wrote for me. I posted it below. Josh is a really talented writer, he's putting off creative writing grad school to be here in Chuuk with us. He's also famous for his Big-O poem, that, in my mind, won the talent show for Micronesia. So he read the poem to us and we all got chills. Then we ate lots of confetti cake that Ellen baked. It was a successful surprise birthday celebration. I loved every minute of it. I really have a wonderful community here in Chuuk.

Kinamwe,
Caitlin