Musings from Micronesia

This was something that drove me crazy before I got here, after we were accepted. I found all manner of suggestions from other program countries, but not much from Micronesia, and I am never one to be caught unprepared. I spent countless hours trying to find things that I wanted to bring that would make life easier etc here. I hope that this will help those that are in the same predicament. Also, this is an unfinished list, and it’s only my thoughts on the subject.
First, let me give my general advice first, keeping in mind we are just about passing our two month mark in our final post, and 3 months and change in Micronesia.
-First and foremost, pack light. If you are in any doubt whether or not you will need something, leave it at home. Categorically. No questions asked. Remember, the people here live here, and have things that allow them to live here. It is nearly impossible to forsee what you will need/want (in truth, you will *need* very little, the land and people provide so much here) that they don’t already have.
-Micronesia is a very well-developed country; I can get anything from CO2 cartridges for pellet guns to ground beef and any manner of basic cosmetics (for my wife, of course). Keep this in mind when bringing things, and assume they have it here already.
-Micronesia is again part of the US mainland as far as the USPS is concerned, and getting things shipped here costs the same as it would to send packages within the contiguous 48. Also, it has gotten to be quite fast; packages from the East coast get to Yap within a week. A good idea might be to set aside a box or some such of things that you think you may need, but don’t want to carry, to have sent to you later by a friend or family member. Also, REI, Scuba.com, Amazon etc all deliver here, so you can order it later, if you really, REALLY want it.

Now, a few things that I am quite glad I brought/have:
-A laptop: I just got this from my family, and I should have brought one in the first place. A vast majority of the islands have power, and it’s always nice to work with pictures, emails etc on your own time. Get a dry-bag that will fit it, and some dessicant packs (those little white things that come in new shoes and a bunch of other things, can be ordered on the Internets) to throw in there for storage, to minimize humidity/condensation. If you don’t have a laptop already, don’t bother buying one unless you really really want one, there are plenty of computers around that you can use.
-A digital camera. This is one that I mulled over for awhile, and ended up going simple. I don’t regret that decision. I ended up getting a 6 megapixel canon SD630, which has worked wonderfully so far. I love SD cards, Canon makes great gear, the photo quality is great, and the user interface is wonderful; my gauge for how easy it is to use is how frequently my wife has to ask for help, and that almost never happens with this camera. I also bought a 30 dollar underwater case for it on eBay, and I use it all the time. I almost wish I would have saved money on a few other things (listed later), and spent it on the nice, hard Canon waterproof case. I have seen some other volunteers with waterproof cameras, but the photo quality was pretty lacking. I brought a bunch of SD cards (10 gigs worth), which I haven’t regretted; losing pictures always sucks, and I like to keep them in at least two places.
-My iPod video. I am soo glad I brought this, both for me and my wife. It’s been nice to have music to listen to, as I am quite the junkie. I don’t carry it around and listen to it all the time, but it’s nice for little musical interludes. I also got a waterproof Pelican case for it, and I never regret that. The humidity here is hard on electronic equipment, and I can jam a little dessicant pack on the top on the inside to keep it dry in there. Remember, back up your iPod; mine just took a dump on us, and I have to recover everything the hard way.
-Good snorkeling gear. This is something that I bought after I got here on scuba.com, and I think that may be the best way to do it, unless you already have it. I bought Sporasub travel freediving long-fins, and while they pack down small and are super powerful, I look like some crazy-ass sea lion, and people always gently chide me on it. I don’t regret it, but it’s always a source of entertainment, which for me is a bonus. Don’t bother spending money on “dry snorkels”, they are a pain to dive with, as they keep you buoyant.
-Good shorts. I have three pairs of Prana travelers/rock climbing shorts, and I love them. I only have one other pair of shorts that I brought as an afterthought. They are sturdy, dry quickly, and resist stains. Don’t bring too many, as laundry is done quite frequently, as we have access to a clothes washer.
-A good, large backpacking-style backpack. I had this already as I did a lot of hiking before, but using a suitcase for travel is a huge PITA. Plus, if you can’t fit it all in one packpack, it’s probably not worth bringing. Mine is a Kelty, as they make pretty solid stuff, and is around 4500 cubic inches. Also, one good, solid day pack for books, papers and all the teacherly accoutrements. If you have one or are comfortable with them, a sling pack or some such would be much cooler, but that’s probably due to the fact that I just sweat a lot. Also, I got a military surplus duffel bag to put my backpack in, because airline handlers beat the hell out of bags, especially backpack straps.
-A good multitool. This is a bit of a point of contention with some volunteers, but I use mine all the time. Some people have a problem with losing them or letting people borrow them and not getting them back, but I just keep mine to myself, and keep track of it, and I haven’t had a problem yet (although it is early, and I quite reknown for my ability to lose things). I have a Leatherman Wave that was given to me by a friend, and it’s awesome as it is stainless steel, which is a must for me, with as much fishing as I do. I just put some sewing machine oil on it periodically to keep it in good shape.
-A good watch. I love a good, solid watch. I was given a Casio hiking watch with all manner of wonderfully geeky and handy features, by my father as a college graduation gift (oh, how well you know me), and the thing was a godsend on my hiking trips before we came out here. Out here, timekeeping is a bit of an adventure, but a good watch is well worth it. A lot of the volunteers wear G-Shocks, and had I not been given this watch, that’s what I would have brought.
-Sunglasses. I do a lot of fishing, so polarization is a really awesome feature. Don’t go all out buying fancy-shmancy glasses. Go to REI or the nearest decent outdoor supply place and get a few 20 dollar Peppers or some such and call it a day. No one cares if you have the coolest shades on the market, they’re for blocking the sun (although, I am probably preaching to the choir, from what I have seen of the Peace Corps volunteer demographic).
-T-shirts. 5 or so ought to do the trick, but they are surprisingly difficult to get here. I brought my cheap, 6 dollar target plain t-shirt/uniform, and they are working great. I have also recently discovered that you can barter/trade with people for shirts that you like, and I have found quite a few. A thin, light-colored long-sleeve shirt, for sun protection, is quite useful as well.
-A hat: or two… one normal baseball hat, and another full-brim sun hat. I got a decent one from REI for 30 bucks, and it’s saved my neck and head quite a bit of sun abuse.

Now for the things I brought and question my sanity for:
-A portable, rollable solar panel. I don’t know if this stems from my ignorance of reality of life here, or just my unshakable nerd instinct (which is probably the truth), but this thing has yet to be used. It might be handy to mount on our house when it’s finished to charge batteries etc, but I don’t
be thinking “Again, with the nerd disclaimer”. I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt and not mention it again, at least explicitly), and had access to tons and tons of ebooks in the form of PDF’s. I haven’t used it yet, because in every state, the volunteers have amassed quite the respectable library for each other. They have some books that I have actually gotten excited about when I saw them, much to the delight of the other volunteers present.
-5 short-sleeve dress shirts, 4 pairs of pants. Peace Corps packing list suggested two, and I had a bunch already, so I brought them. I only wore them for three weeks, and they are now sitting in volunteer storage. Bring the suggested two, and if you need more, you can get more. Same for the pants; I was under the impression that they would be something I would always wear, which I was pretty elated to find out wasn’t the case. Those things are just plain hot.
-Socks and shoes. People here universally wear flip-flops (Or zorries, as they are called here), because they are more practical, cooler, and easier to use. From what I have seen, everyone here observes the practice of removing your shoes before you enter the house, which makes shoes a bit of a pain to use. Get two good pairs of flip-flops and don’t think any more about it. Shoes here don’t last long anyhow.
-Chacos. I count these separately, but its for the same reason as shoes, as they are a huge pain to get on and off. I have seen a few volunteers with the Chaco flip-flops, and those seem pretty solid, but for the strappy ones, I never wear them. If you do want them, however, Chacos give PC volunteers a 50 percent discount. All you have to do is fax them a copy of your acceptance letter. Pretty easy, and the people there are super helpful and really cool; they sorted out an order problem very quickly for me, at no extra cost to me.
-Steripen. For those of you who aren’t familiar with this, it’s a small ultraviolet light that sterilizes 1 liter of water at a time. I had this anyhow for hiking, and I brought it in one of those “what-if” moments. What a doofus.

Things to not worry about:
-Medical supplies. Peace Corps gives you more medical supplies than you’ll care to have, and access to even more, so don’t worry about it. I brought some extra Ibuprofen and Loratadine, because it doesn’t make me drowsy. Otherwise, medical suppies are a non-issue.
-Too much reading material. With amazon.com delivering, the other volunteers stockpiling, and myself teaching, I am swimming in reading material. Although, my grandparents periodicallyl send me select Science and Nature issues, which is quite a delight. I brought some of my favorite Nietzsche and other philosophers’ writing, and that has served me well, even with being able to read a book a week or so at times.
-Little details. Never mentioned, but quite important. These little things that seemed to occupy my thoughts before I left have completely disappeared from my consciousness. They sort themselves out.

In closing, remember: you’re moving, not travelling. A move of this magnitude requires that you let go of how you live your life right now, and adjust to your new living style. Don’t overpack or spend too much time worrying about what to bring, spend it with your friends and family. Plus, most of the volunteers that have been here awhile tell me that they just end up giving most of their things away, once they get fully acclimated. Finally, for those that have been accepted: CONGRATULATIONS! I know what a perilous and frustrating road the application process can be, and once you get here, all that work and time will pay itself back immeasurably.

I just thought I would post a sort of random list of the land animals I have seen so far here:
-6 different species of geckoes, one of which is only on this atoll (the Ulithi Giant Gecko, about 7 inches long)
-At least 4 different species of skinks, two of which can get up to 10-11 inches long, nose to tail and eat other lizards
-Chickens galore; I also learned that wild chicken is both tasty and their feathers make good tuna lures
-Semi-wild dogs, some of which are nice, and most of which are pretty skittish, although they are particuarly well fed on Falalop. Something I learned fast was the drastic difference in the approach to dogs in the FSM. I went from wanting to pet the dogs in Pohnpei to carrying large rocks to pelt them with within 3 days. The dogs here are pretty nice and I don’t have to worry about being bitten at all.
-A few cats. Obligatory and pervasive, they are everywhere, and they are skittish too.
-A large monitor lizard, of which type I have yet to find out. The Japanese brought these here to control the rats, and they are still here. I saw one yesterday that had to be at least nearly a meter long. The only way I will be able to get close to these guys to see more of them and their behavior is to kill one, because they are fast and can climb trees really well. I don’t know if I will actually kill one, because it sort of makes observing them boring, but I am told the uninhabited islands are crawling with them.
-A ton of seabirds, including one species of long-legged insectivorious bird (haven’t found out what kind yet), that is incredibly endearing. They walk around our house in three-step, halting increments, and occasionally peck at lizards and insects. They look like teddy bears, if teddy bears had long legs, wings and ate insects. And lived in the tropics.
-Some rather large hermit crabs, about half the size of my fist.
-The largest crustacean in the world, the coconut crab. There aren’t any on Falalop, but there are a lot on the uninhabited islands, and they are huge, and incredibly strong. They are pretty interesting too, because they live on land, breed in the water, become part of the plankton/nekton popuation, come back on land and take up a shell like hermit crabs until they are big enough to no longer be food for birds.

I was recently given this spear gun by one of the guys in my drinking circle, to practice with and get better at spearing and diving. I have been waiting for awhile to finish the house (just need to wire and tile it… I’ll post pictures and a build report when it’s competely finished) to start making one, and this is an awesome gift. It’s made from ironwood, which grows abundantly here on the islands (as well as mahogany), and is a great wood to use, because it doesn’t float and is great to carve. While this may seem like a negative thing, it helps me to sink faster without having to kick as much, saving oxygen. Also, ironwood doesn’t allow saltwater to soak in very easily, making it really durable. The spear is made out of steel, and is pretty well worn in; there are stainless steel rods on Yap mainland that I can get once I get the hang of it that should last indefinitely. You can see that at the tip of the spear, there is no method of retaining the fish, like on a fish hook. This is because, believe it or not, this is a relatively small spear gun, and is meant for smaller fish. The larger ones, some of which are 6 feet long, have a stainless steel retainer, similar to the toggles that are used on drywall to hang things (now that I think about it, that may be exactly what they are), to retain the fish. Those same spears have a line and a retaining loop on the spear, so that they can be fired into open water without losing the spear. As this is a smaller spear gun, it doesn’t have that, so I have to be careful where I fire. I am told that this is a good thing to start off with, because you develop aiming habits that work well once you get a bigger spear. On the front of the spear gun itself is a small diameter copper pipe to help keep the spear on the gun, and near the back is the trigger and another, smaller copper retaining pipe. The trigger on my spear gun is a large ground and shaped serving spoon; I have seen rebar, threaded steel rods and any manner of metal used. I like the spoon handle because it fits well on my finger. Also, the trigger on this one is on the top of the gun. On the larger ones, it is on the bottom, because they are longer and keeping your thumb on the top can sometimes throw off your aim. For the trigger to sit in, there is a notch ground into the spear, and just in front of that is a small bit of steel welded on to attach the rubbers. These are thin-walled, small diameter rubber tubing, with a bit of wire looped on the ends and retained with tightly tied fishing line. We used thin walled because this allows slower, more even accelleration, making it more accurate. Plus, the spear isn’t all that heavy. These are pulled back and attached to the welded bit of steel sticking out on the top of the spear itself. This spear weighs probably 150 grams, and with these rubbers, I can (relatively) accurately fire about 40 feet diagonally (haven’t gotten good enough to sink to the bottom and fire horizontally). The larger ones usually have about 60 feet of line, which seems to make sense; the heavier the spear, the more rubber needed, and the harder it is to pull back, limiting the total range of spears to about that range. Also the fish are damn fast, and super smart. Once someone hits the water with a speargun, they scatter. I went in without one the other day, and a large school of fish swam right up to me. It’s maddening, and I’m assured that since Falalop is so heavily spearfished, the fish are smart, and the fish on the neighboring islands are dumber. That at least gives me a chance.

Well, I haven’t updated in awhile, mostly because the Christmas-season (which spans the entire month of December here), also includes a holiday called Family Day, where, oddly enough family gets together and has a good time, and New Years, where, well, everyone gets together and has a good time. Here is the general structure as I have seen it for holidays and celebrations of every sort. First, enough food to feed a regiment is gathered, and the meat is marinated and grilled on open-pit grills made of 55-gallon drums or the like, using dried coconut husks as fuel (they burn *forever*, are really hot, and give the food a great taste). The other food usually consists of taro, rice, bread, sometimes potato salad, fried rice, pork (this year we killed the largest of our two pigs, a rather brutal but interesting sight, and damn tasty) and chicken, not to mention any manner of fish. Then after the food is cooked, or while it is cooking, the men have a few drinks of tuba (faluba, as it is known locally, or palm wine internationally) or beer, and the food is served. Usually, the padre or a deacon from the church is at the festivities, and seasonally-appropriate blessings are had. Usually, while the men are finishing up barbequing the meat, the women are weaving bowl/plates from palm leaves (I’ll have to post a picture of these sometime in the future, they’re super handy and really easy to make), and the ladies get food for their immediate family, whereupon the whole family sits down together and eats. It’s a great time, and more or less the whole island got together for Christmas, and Family Day this year was spent in Mogmog, where our host-mothers’ family is from. Family Day was lighter on the grilling and heavier on the drinking, which is always a good time. Really, holidays here are more or less the same as at home, minus the presents (who needs presents when you are grilling on the beach?) and with substitutions on the drinks. I took plenty of pictures, which I will post on my photoblog when I get the time/energy.

I found out recently that during breeding season for sea-birds, some of the locals will go to their nesting islands around the atoll and gather a frigatebird chick or two and raise them as pets. How awesome is that?! They can have up to a 2.3 meter (7.5 feet, for the metrically-challenged) wingspan and are predatory. The coolest thing is that after you raise them, they will come back later for fish, so that you can have a frigatebird visit your house where you raised it for years. I talked to a biologist that was on his way out to another island near here to study dragonflies, and he said that he had heard about this, and he was quite happy about it. Apparently, the Ulithi atoll is an important nesting site for these guys, and their numbers are dwindling due to a number of factors, mainly human interference. It’s basically tantamount to a decentralized repopulation program, which got me excited; combining my love of decentralization, biology, and predatory animals was just about too much for me. I can’t wait until their breeding season, in July, which also coincides with the Green Sea Turtles’ breeding season. I’m planning on helping with the tagging, and possibly with the effort to get the tagging program an NGO status, which would help with funding. Long story short: this summer is going to kick ass.

Having spent this weekend sick gave me some time to think about the nature of disease, and how it’s treated in different countries. In the US, we sterilize everything; we boil baby bottles, we use bleach and any manner of antibiotic and antifungal treatments on all the vertical and horizontal surfaces of our houses, we refrigerate and freeze everything, we use antifungal and antibiotic creams on the slightest of scratches. This is all done with the pretext of keeping us healthier over the long run. While this works fine as long as you don’t leave the confines of such abundant sterilization (can you consider the lack of something abundant? :P), we’re really setting ourselves up for failure as soon as we leave it. I have gotten some pretty nasty cuts while hiking that ended up getting infected a day or two later, as well as some coughs and usual travellers illnesses when leaving the country (this latest bout was probably enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli, or ‘travellers diarrhea’, and a pretty mild form). My question is: how far can we take sterilization, and still have it serve us? There are whole fields of epidemiology that study this, and I’m nowhere near an expert, but it’s a fun question to ask. I see children here with huge cuts and scrapes that are left untreated, and these same kids heal incredibly quickly. With things like immunity, it’s hard to draw correlations as to causality, but it’s just another thing to investigate for me. The way sickness is handled here is more of a fact of life, not something to stop it. I also realize that it is hard to fully prepare yourself physically for completely new situations and pathogens, but E. coli is something that is everywhere, and from what I can gather, something that I can build an immunity to. I had several people offer a few local medicines, which I turned down because I was skeptical. Next time they will be the first thing that I try… I will be here for awhile, and I definitely need to work up my pampered/weak American immune system, so I can at least enjoy my weekends.

I haven’t had a chance to post these past few days because of a bout of some rather heinous intestinal parasite which kept me out of service all weekend and Monday. There is a big ship coming in today with supplies for the whole island, and my family here owns a store, so we will have a lot of heavy lifting to do. I have a few incomplete blogs saved, so there will be more later.

I learned this weekend while I was on Mogmog, the ‘chiefly island’ (or where the main chief lives), that all turtles, fish and whales that are caught or found are to be brought there to be slaughtered and distributed. The turtles use Ulithi as their nesting grounds, and traditionally all turtles that are caught are to be brought there, as a control against overfishing; as abhorrent an idea as that is to someone like me; while I consider myself a conservationist, I have to remember that it’s a long-standing tradition, and that this system is a pretty good control to keep the turtle population managed. Also, the same people who hunt turtle help with government and NGO programs to tag turtles to study their migration patterns and feeding habits. Natural resources have to be just that, a resource, to be managed properly. That tangent aside, I learned that boats that come in to the island have certain approach angles to the island depending on what they have on the boat. The fisherman have the largest angle, which is almost straight in. When someone brings turtles in, they come in at 45-degree angles. What killed me though is that someone came in almost parallel to the island on a boat this weekend, and I heard jokes about them bringing whales. I learned that when someone finds a whale washed up on one of the uninhabited islands, they have to tow its carcass to Mogmog to be distributed. A whale. Being towed by a 40 horsepower 2-cycle engine. It doesn’t happen that often (only once in most peoples’ memories), but I really hope I get to see that.

That’s right; I found out this week that a week or two before X-mas, the Air Force dispatches a C-130 cargo plane from a base in Japan to Guam, to pick up donated supplies that are then airdropped via parachute and pallet to a bunch of the more “remote” islands. There are usually plenty of clothes, some tools, fishing supplies, canned meat (which is quite the staple here) and some random supplies and oddities that can be a real trip. The parachute and most of the cording goes to the chiefs of the islands here on the atoll for use in building temporary community structures. The rest of the items on the pallet are distributed on Falalop by one clan whose job it always is to distribute limited supplies. It should be interesting to watch… I like Santa with an Air Force uniform much more than the semi-creepy, breaking-and-entering kind that most people think of. Apparently the airdrop here may happen tomorrow, December 15th, or some time during the weekend.

Lorry and I went to a neighboring island to Falalop, Mogmog, this weekend for a funeral for a close family member of our family here. It really brings home how close everyone is here, and how much family matters. Family here is another concept that is completely different; almost the entire atoll is related in some way, however distant, and what I would consider a distant relation still has a lot of importance. For example, the woman who died recently after a long fight with cancer was from Mogmog. My family here sort of adopted her while she was in high school, because her father had died, and she had to come to Falalop for high school. This meant that my family here became her immediate family. This meant a few things for my family here. First, when a person dies, their entire extended family comes out to the island to pay their respects and help out with funeral preparations. Also, the families are so varied and extended and intertwined that before the funeral, they all get together to decide which clan/family the deceased belongs to. Whomever gets that honor takes care of the funeral arrangements, which are varied, and which keeps the family and island quite busy.

Once all the family gets together, the heads of each family/household send out a group of men to go fishing for the island and the visitors. On Saturday, two boats with about 6 men on each went out both net fishing and spear fishing, and both brought back about 2 wheelbarrows full of fish. The fish get divided by the women in each house evenly, and are brought home for cooking. While this is going on, the close male relatives of the deceased are busy building the coffin and digging the grave, taking turns doing both, as they are an honored task. To cover the grave, a group of men go out to concrete slabs left over from the American base here during WWII, and chip and break off three huge slabs of concrete, and carry them back across the island as cover. Also, during this time, the brothers or sisters of the deceased sit vigil by the body, rubbing a local medicine on the body to help preseve until the funeral. The island comes by to visit and support the family, and bring food and flowers. At the same time, the heads of the households get together to decide on which family the deceased belongs to. Once that is done, the head of that clan/family gathers lava lavas, a local skirt that is handwoven and takes about 40 hours each to weave, for the body. There were at least 30 at this funeral, and I have heard it can be as high as 100. Next, they take the personal belongings of that person and each close family member can take something of theirs that can still be used, such as a knife or other such items. Those things then become a reminder of the deceased. The very personal things like letters and photos and the like are buried with the person.

Once all the preparations are taken care of, the person is put into the coffin, and a Catholic mass is held. All the islands in Ulithi are Catholic, so during this time they weave Catholic ceremonies with local songs and prayers. The persons’ relatives attend the mass, and at this funeral there were at least 100 people there. This funeral we broke with tradition, because some of the family members have higher-up government jobs, and had to get back, so they buried the body right after mass. According to tradition, the family and the island wait 7 to 9 days, praying rosary in the early morning and at night, and sitting with the coffin and the deceased. The body is then buried, and the family hosts a bread and fish dinner for the people who stayed as thanks for the help. When the body is buried, the men who dug the grave, and any close male relatives take turns backfilling, while everyone throws flowers in with the dirt. The three huge concrete slabs are then taken and placed on the grave, and the concrete headstone is then made, with the male relatives again helping with that process.

It’s all amazing, and vastly complex, and humbling to see this going on in front of me. During this chaotic and busy time, somehow the family found a way to be very hospitable and nice to us, and to underline that we are now members of the community, so we are able to move and do anything like a local. Lorry and I weren’t sure where we could be of use, and our family we are living with here ended up getting the deceased as a clan member, so they were very busy, so we just laid low and made ourselves present when we thought it would be appropriate. It was an amazing weekend.