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

"When asked to write a poem for Caitlin's birthday on Tuesday"

By Joshua D. Kalscheur

I will clam up
And wonder how to make the lines
less contrived, and how
to confetti each syllable
without using the words
“love”, “party hats” “happy”.

And I have wanted to put this poem
In Vegas, have her traipsing
The pixilated Bellagio steps.
I’ve wanted my Chuck E. Cheese
wetdream with live bands,
and comped G and T’s
for this birth anniversary,

This poem though,
it’s equatorial in locale,
it’s Pacific,
and the electricity
moves as the tide does,
or sometimes worse.

Whatever we toast to tonight,
it will be with rice,
and we’ll be saying cheese,
but not partaking in it.

This pen,
like everything else here that rolls,
will die soon,
dry up and become
gallery fodder for this impromptu museum of an island.

For Caitlin in Chuuk,
I ask for the placid
lagoon waves
and for a Plumeria
tucked behind her ear.

I ask only for what
the ocean will give.
I do not ask for potholes,
parasites or heat stroke.

But I do ask that you
walk to the highest peak
here and change your mind
about being alone, because
this reef will hold you in,

(and we might too).

Honeymoon?

August 11, 2007

I am standing in a Chuukese supermarket holding a pinapple, looking blankly at Ellen and Marcos as they discuss the type of beans we should make for dinner. I have just arrived in Micronesia maybe 3 hours prior, and have barely slept between DC to Houston, Houston to Honolulu, Honolulu to Majuro- Kwajalein- Korosae- Pohnpei- and finally Weno. I am now home, but it feels nothing like home. All I want in this moment is to go back to Saramen, be fed dinner and put to bed. Which, thankfully, happened exactly as i desired. Thanks Ellen and Marcos!

After I emerged from my jet lag- I awoke to discover that I am in a very strange, but amazing place. Downtown Weno is a juxtaposition of gorgeous tropical scenery, palm trees, placid blue water, distant uninhabited islands mixed with a dusty foreground of noisy cars, potholes, haphazard markets, and people bustling about. It is the manifestation of a Pacific Island trying to live and thrive in an American system that has been forced upon it. Yet Chuuk is not exactly thriving. I am only beginning to understand the complex issues that Chuuk faces, but i know that the number is many.

On our very first full day in Chuuk Ellen and Marcos took us off-island to a neighboring lagoon island, Fefan. There are no cars on Fefan, no roads, no island power and it is very, very beautiful. The island is surrounded by mangrove trees which have large roots jutting into the water, and the church is perched on a hill overlooking the lagoon. We attended the Chuuk Youth Festival, which is an annual Catholic youth celebration involving Chuukese liturgy and much singing and dancing. The 2 day affair would have been fantastic had Jessie and I been completely out of sorts with the sleep deprival/jet lag that left us attempting to sleep in the middle of singing practice that our group decided to commence at 12 am in the ut we were sleeping in. An ut being a meeting house, an open structure with a roof and tile floor where our parish was staying the night. The experience was somewhat like a dance party going on in our bedroom, generator lights, synthesizer. It was crazy, but it is becoming progressively more hilarious as time goes on. It was great to experience Chuukese culture and ecclesiology immediately after arriving.

This past week I began faculty meetings at St. Cecilia, the Catholic Elementary school where I will be teaching 6th, 7th, and 8th grade English...without textbooks. I am the only American working in the school, only white person, only native English speaker. This means that my placement at times may be lonely or seem very foreign, but also that I will have the opportunity to learn much more about the Chuukese people, and more fully enter into relationships with my Chuukese co-workers. The faculty has been amazing and very welcoming to me.

That's all the time I have for blogging today, the JVs and I are headed to mass. I will post more soon if the power chooses to come on.

kinamwe (peace),
Caitlin