Summer calm

Xavier becomes quieter by the minute! Fr Arthur arrived back from Pohnpei today after a Jesuit retreat. Anne has gone home for the summer break, and Jackie leaves with the Chuuk track team for the Micronesian games in Saipan on Thursday.

The weather has been beautiful here and the mangoes have finally ripened and are falling quickly from the trees. With island power off at night from 7-11, we now spend the time playing cards and cooking new mango recipes, including mango custard, mango crisp and mango jam! (Last night we peeled and cut 85 mangoes, and 45 the night before that.)

I have been preparing work for the summer program, which Fr Arthur will run until we get back.

Lately there have been a few funerals in Chuuk and it has been a strange experience witnessing the Chuukese funeral traditions. Four of our workers have had a relative die recently so I have been to four funerals. People come to their home to pay their respects. You shake hands with the men and enter a room full of women singing sad songs around an open casket. You drop $1 in a vase next to the casket and are given a meal and drink when you leave. I’m still not quite used to the open casket.

I hope all the uni exams are going well. I can’t say I’m missing that!